Way back in April, in the midst of lockdown, we spoke with the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) as they were questioning how to adapt this year’s Summer Exhibition for reduced visitor numbers. We responded by hypothesizing five digital approaches that would enhance the overall experience. The approaches are rooted…

Qualitative research is typically conducted in-person, in a lab environment. There is a general consensus that meeting participants face-to-face provides a richness that is difficult to achieve otherwise. In some cases that can be true. But for many qualitative studies remote research can be just as good, if not better…

Summary: In this article we’ll look at how some museums are approaching the design and organisation of their navigation on desktop. Museums are often large, amorphous organisations. When designing a museum website this poses a challenge for information architecture and the design of navigation. With their strong physical location, the…

I’ve noticed a pattern, it reveals itself through my mood and my energy, my self esteem and my ego, and my vigor or my listlessness. I refer to this pattern as the Creative Cycle. — The three acts of the Creative Cycle Act I: Inspired A period of time filled with promise, a sense that anything is possible, a warm urgency that fills the gut, a mass of energy waiting to get out. Act II: Acting Exerting the energy, containing it, managing it, running with it, and playing with it. It feels like progress, like we’re doing what…

Behavioural design is the application of behavioural science to the design of a product or service. In many cases designers are already applying some of these concepts to their work. It may be that they aren’t fully aware of the prior research, frameworks and methodologies, and that’s OK. But when…

Our natural social behaviours can hinder a deeper understanding of users. But what are these conversational tendencies and how can we avoid them to conduct better user interviews? — Humans are particularly good at socialising. Over thousands of years we’ve developed a complex set of behaviours that enable us to converse, convey thoughts and ideas, debate, and relate to one another. To watch an interaction between two people is observe a symphony of conscious and subconscious expressions, gestures, and…

When putting together a kit for conducting research keeping things simple is my top priority. Each tool in the kit needs to serve a specific purpose to justify carrying it between sessions. In the end, all you really need is a good dictaphone. But of course research sessions aren’t always…

How bias affects product teams and the need for a dedicated researcher. — As my colleague walked the participant out of the room and back to reception, I sat reflecting on the interview. I felt a warm glow, it reminded me why I love doing what I do — to help solve people’s problems. During the last hour, as my colleague probed a…

A look back at the art I made in 2018 and what I learned along the way. — I started 2018 full of blind ambition, a giant canvas that barely fit through my front door, an aspiration to paint a masterpiece on it, and not much clue what I was doing. The result was an unconfident piece. I was sort of obsessed with a single line…