Prior to the Model 3 test drive I was both fascinated and nervous about its ‘iPad’ style screen which replaced traditional controls.
It is claimed that the Model 3 is a total revolution in transportation and product design for many reasons — One is the new AI self-driving capabilities, the second is removing all the physical controls bar to four or five. The third is removing the traditional automotive combustion engine replacing it with an electric motor and high voltage battery.
As a UX Designer, it has been an intriguing journey. Before test driving the car, there was a thought which went through my mind. Have Tesla taken onboard user affordances and behaviours? Dieter Rams, the godfather of production design famously said that the ‘indifference towards people and the reality in which they live in’ is actually the one and only cardinal sin in design. The main question is how can a product design firm like Tesla produce a radical design that is both user friendly and innovative. …
It has been 4 weeks since we instructed the team to work from home. At Cyber-Duck we temporarily closed down our Farringdon and Elstree & Borehamwood offices and initiated WFH early (13th March) for the safety of our team.
It goes without saying that we have the upmost respect to the NHS, shopkeepers, drivers, food providers and various manufacturers that keep the world healthy and moving.
This article offers the digital community some tips and guidance on what you can do to sail through the storm and actually grow.
In this article I will share some tips on how to start with content migration.
I previously wrote about where to start with data migrations. These are different to content migrations as they generally rely less on user data and more on pure content like web or app pages with static or CMS driven content. Nonetheless, it is easy to under or overestimate how much work is required which is where a content migration strategy is crucial. Here are Cyber-Duck’s top tips to ensure your content migration plan is succesful:
- Import migration plan — Identify the scope of items and pages to export/import early on and ensure you assess the export challenges.
- Governance — When you move to a new CMS, are the user permissions the same? …
When I first started Cyber-Duck 13 years ago, I couldn’t imagine just how much the world would change and just how pervasive digital would become. How can brands and agencies continue to compete in this brave new world where technology is second nature to us all?
As the character Brooks says in the Shawshank Redemption, ‘I can’t believe how fast things move on the outside. I saw an automobile once when I was a kid, but now they’re everywhere.’ The scenes where Brook tries to get to grips with how his world has changed are touching, but not in a good way. I’ve had a better experience than Brooks, not with automobiles but with how far digital has come. When I started Cyber-Duck thirteen years ago, it was just my geeky mate and I with a really glorified feature phone (a good old Nokia E61). …
Many organisations underestimate data migrations. There is inherent complexity moving data from an incumbent system to a different one including data integrity, formatting, testing, security and the user experience (UX) of the new system.
In light of the recent TSB data migration failure, its often easy to underestimate how critical it is to have an effective data migration strategy. In this article we have written our top 9 tips for a succesful migration.
At Cyber-Duck we recommend the following principles for data migrations:
- Strategy — We recommend a strategy for schema and structural changes so no legacy data is made unusable and legacy/new functionality is accounted for.
- UX — Any changes to the UX and user journeys, however small, should be documented and tested with real users throughout the project lifecycle
- Automated testing — Test scripts and automated testing should be utilised to robo-test thousands of permutations from login to functional usage of the system. …
When you’re responsible for a budget of tens of millions and motivating an entire organisation to embrace digital ways of working, the stakes are ‘organisational life and death’. But culture is the vital ingredient you need to succeed. If culture isn’t truly embedded in the organisation, from top down to bottom up, you will fail.
Most brands today recognise the importance of being ‘match fit’ to compete in today’s digital world. On the face of it, it looks easy: hire a few analysts, management consultants and digital designers and you’re ready to develop products! Wrong.
Recently, I have been collaborating with Abby Thomas, Director of Transformation at British Telecom (BT). Since both Abby and I are Digital Transformation focused, we decided to create a talk about the role ‘culture’ plays in the transformation programme and how it puts customer centricity and staff at the fore to drive success. …
While branding has always been a complex field, paradigm shifts in technology and consumer behaviour have presented some modern challenges. The same rules that worked in the 90’s for Blockbusters, Lehman Brothers and Yahoo are not working today.
Marty Neumeier wrote in the ‘The Brand Gap’ that brands can lead through innovation, differentiation, collaboration, validation and cultivation. While these elements are still critical, they need to be grounded with a brand development system that is geared towards the digital age.
WHAT’S CHANGED
In today’s world, you don’t decide what your brand is, your customer does. Brands’ values, personality and promise can sway customers to purchase again and again… even sharing with others, so generating a ‘tribe like loyalty’ is now the aspiration of any branding professional. …
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