Creative networking platform The Dots is a prime example of an ethical tech company. Here founder Pip Jamieson explains what had made it so successful and how it helps businesses build diverse teams
Previously, The Dots — dubbed ‘the next LinkedIn’ by Forbes — removed the ability for companies to search the platform for talent based on where people went to university. Now the London-based startup has gone a step further and launched a bias blocker tool. Recruiters can toggle it on to hide personal data (such as name, photo, and educational background) from profiles, so people are judged solely on their skills and the quality of their work.
“It came about because one of our clients, AKQA, who have a blind recruitment policy in place, sent us a photo of how they…
What happens when we’re done with a product or service? According to Joe Macleod, founder of the world’s first business dedicated to helping companies end their customer relationships, overlooking the closure experience is a huge wasted opportunity. Here he tells us why
As an industry, we’re obsessed with the onboarding experience. We study it extensively and refine it to perfection. Everything is about attracting new customers. So it’s a surprise that Joe Macleod, formerly head of design at digital product and service studio ustwo, wants us to focus on the offboarding experience.
“We have lost the ability to end consumer relationships with meaning,” he explains. “I think it’s the cornerstone of all the consumer ills that we have. There are profound meaningful endings at the end of stories, films and games, but at the end of consumer experiences we have nothing. …
Self-taught front-end developer and UI designer Ire Aderinokun on building sites for the next billion users, enabling Nigerians to trade cryptocurrency instantly, and going from tinkering with a fan site for online game Neopets to speaking at events all over the world
Unlike many of us, Ire Aderinokun experiences first-hand what it’s like to develop websites for the much-talked about next billion users — people who are coming online for the first time in countries such as India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Nigeria, where Ire lives.
“One of the most annoying things about Nigeria is the lack of consistent internet,” Ire explains. “If it rains heavily, for example, the internet will not work very well, and you just need to accept that. I have four or five different ISPs in my house. When one doesn’t work, I just use another one. …
The design team at the UK’s biggest telecommunications company BT (which includes the EE and Plusnet brands) firmly believes that all great design must be user-centered. This means putting their 34 million customers at the heart of everything they do and involving their perspective in all steps of the design process, straddling human-centered product design, content design, inclusive design, service design, user research, SEO, and DesignOps.
We sat down with BT’s director of design Conor Ward to find out more about the evolution of the company’s user experience — one of the world’s biggest digital transformations — and how to…
Designing intuitive products is more important than ever. We talk to customer experience consultant Gerry McGovern about the Top Tasks methodology he created to identify, measure and improve what matters most to an organisation’s customers
“Anybody can code and wireframe, but having a genuine ability to put yourself into other people’s shoes and really understand them is the most valuable skill any digital team can have,” exclaims Gerry McGovern, founder and CEO of Customer Carewords. “And it’s so rare to find: there are many UX people who don’t interact with their customers — what the hell is your purpose?! They know all about tools and methods, but the percentage of actual time that most digital people spend with customers — getting to know and understand them — is tiny. …
Design has had a massive impact on the success of many organizations, especially tech companies. However, there are still plenty of sectors where design doesn’t have a seat at the table yet. Healthcare is one of them.
In healthcare, change isn’t embraced as much as in other industries. It comes more slowly, partly because it can have serious implications on the health of millions of people, and the user experience in some areas hasn’t changed in decades. Healthcare products also have the tendency to be very technical and scientific, and often don’t take the people interacting with systems or processes…
Web typography is experiencing its biggest surge since the arrival of web fonts. We sat down with web typography evangelist Richard Rutter to talk about his book on the subject, the potential of variable fonts and how good typography induces a good mood
Typography on the web has come a long way. About a decade ago it was still woefully underused and done very poorly. Texts weren’t very readable online and the same typefaces were used over and over again. People were throwing their hands in the air, claiming you couldn’t do typography on the web well. But there’s one man that has been trying to convince people otherwise, and that man is Richard Rutter, co-founder of influential UX consultancy Clearleft. Now there’s a real surge of excitement about web typography, and he’s at the centre of it.
One of the biggest game…
We have just a few seconds to get our users’ attention on digital platforms. Content strategist Sarah Richards argues the key to hooking them is compelling content design
Sarah Richards created ‘content design’ at the UK Government Digital Service (GDS). Between 2010 and 2014, her team worked on making copy on public sector information website GOV.UK findable, usable and understandable. It was a massive, complicated project, based on user-centred design, which was unusual at the time— especially for governments.
She now runs Content Design London, a small eight-people agency providing training and consulting in content strategy and content design for
organisations around the world. She’s also written a book about the discipline that she created, aptly named Content Design.
“Content design is a way of thinking,” Sarah explains…
Psychology can be applied to UX and UI design to create better products — but only when used responsibly. UX and product management consultant Joe Leech discusses psychological principles, best practices, and the ethics involved
“A designer who doesn’t understand psychology is going to be no more successful than an architect who doesn’t understand physics,” claims UX consultant Joe Leech, who has made psychology for user experience and product design his speciality. There is absolutely no doubt that data and testing are important and that they help you look at trends on a large scale, but it’s quite hard to determine how individuals think and behave with data alone. You need to understand how the brain works to design products, apps and websites that match human behaviour.
“The best and most successful teams I’ve seen…
Bad design can have tragic consequences. Shopify’s head of UX, Cynthia Savard Saucier, discusses the tools and techniques we can apply to avoid harming and excluding users
In 2007, Cynthia Savard Saucier was backpacking across Central America with her two best friends and, while in Guatemala, stayed in a remote hotel that could only be accessed by boat. It was there that her friend suffered a severe allergic reaction after having eaten a cereal that contained nuts. He always travelled with his dual injector, but as his muscles started to spasm, he was unable to inject himself. Cynthia managed to administer the first injection but when they were on the boat speeding to the closest clinic, wind whipping her face, the driver shouting in Spanish, she tried…
Oliver Lindberg
Independent editor and content consultant. Founder and captain of @pixelpioneers. Co-founder and curator of GenerateConf. Former editor of @netmag.
