Afternoon people 🏴
It’s been a great week for personal development and I feel like I have ended the week with a whole extra layer of knowledge in my brain. Lot’s of goal-setting, future planning and networking. All the stuff I love!
Here are my top five stories of the week:
Creating user profiles.
Recently, I have been thinking about how we deliver research insights to clients in a speedy and digestible way so that they can pick up and use anytime without having to read a never-ending set of notes or tirelessly skipping through a recording. I also want to create a reference point for the project so user needs are never forgotten - an easy thing to do sometimes for people who are busy with their day jobs, especially in larger organisations where UCD is relatively new.
I have explored a profile which contains quotes, great things, not so great things, key insights, attractors and concerns. I will be presenting some of these profiles back to our client, Homes England, next week with hopes it stimulates conversation and highlights opportunity for change.
Really keen to know what other impactful research artefacts or methods people use so please reach out!
Developing my personal brand.
By the end of the year, I want to have established my personal brand along with a strong digital presence.
I decided to invest in Skillshare and do a course to help guide my thinking and I have to say, it got my imagination running wild. I cracked on with some creative exercises to help me think about my strategy and personal brand perception, and one activity that stood out for me was the character worksheet.
I selected 10 key words off the list which represent me and then rate them in terms of importance. My top 5 were energy, creativity, play, change and meaningful work. This list of words should formulate your personal values and everything you share should align with this, to ensure your brand is authentic and true to you as possible.
I hope to one day be a design leader and disrupt the industry by challenging mindsets and inventing new ways of working. How that happens, I am still figuring out, but a small step towards my goal is to shout out and tell stories, hence why I started writing weeknotes.
UX&D Trainee catch up.
The lovely Yan Shum, UX Designer at BBC, has been doing some eye-opening research on how to improve the BBC UX&D Trainee scheme for future cohorts, so it makes sense, as an (ex-trainee myself) to jump right in and share my thoughts.
We went through her final analysis presentation and had a discussion on our experiences and what the ideal next steps are. One thing I LOVED in this entire process was the initial workshop, influenced by one of my favourite Disney films ‘UP’. Balloons represented joy and excitement and sandbags represented difficulty and frustration. Creative storytelling at it’s finest.
It’s so important to stay connected to people and meaningful projects like this. Looking forward to what happens next. Good Luck, Yan.
Show and tell: Content Design London.
Content design. A term that I keep hearing more and more every week. Prior to joining dxw I hadn’t worked with a content designer before so I was really intrigued to learn more about the discipline and what it means for design. The first thing I have learnt, is the importance of language — ‘design for humans, not search engines’. Also, it’s easy to think that Content Design is just about words but it goes far beyond that.
“We don’t just write words, we look at all elements on the page and display them in the best way possible for the audience. As a content person, you have as much skill in not writing words as you do in choosing the right ones. You can ask users 5 questions and give them a tailored answer, rather than present them with 500 words of text. Tools, calculators and calendars can save a thousand words.”
— Sarah Richards | Founder of Content Design London
I got a last-minute notification from Eventbrite about a show and tell by Content Design London Academy and thought, ‘get on that call!’. It was really compelling to see how the team approached the process and how it links to disciplines like Service Design. Think I’m tempted to take the course soon 👀
New book: Good Services
In a recent catch-up my line manager, Gaz Aston, I asked about what truly makes a great service and if there are any key practices that I should be aware of. Straight away, he suggested I read ‘Good Services’ by Lou Downe.
Lou Downe, was the Director of Housing and Land transformation for the UK Government, based at Homes England and has written this book about how to design services that work. I’ve only read the first chapter and wow I’m impressed. Firstly, the design and readability of the book is second to none. Plus I love things in plain english so this is just my cup of tea. Keen to see how I can start applying this stuff in my work.
Finally, it’s coming home.
Will leave you with a little illustration of mine that I drew up earlier this week, inspired by Raheem Sterling, in excitement for our win tonight 🏴
