Got two minutes? Take your pick… I started writing these articles back in 2009 as a way to consolidate my thoughts. I’ve tried to boil down each article into a two minute read. Enjoy… I did.
- Looping the Loop? (Lessons Learned in an Aircraft Hangar).
Drawing looped lines began with a task: uncovering how visitors moved through an aviation museum. We aimed to gain insight from patterns, pathways, ...
- I’ll have what she’s having… (When visuals go viral)
It’s validating when clients see my research visuals elsewhere and ask for ‘The same, but for our stuff’. It’s partly because they are social. They ...
- If money talks, what does it say to a research participant?
No, I haven’t won the lottery, the $$$ in the clip are to pay research participants. That’s business as usual for field research, ...
- Design research using simultaneous translation
Three seconds later – it’s like firewood. This is the answer to the question – How do you interview people in a different language? … ...
- Listening. How hard can it be?
Ask Global Creative Director at Apple Music, who says they’ve ‘really only just learned to listen’. Zane Lowe has been described as New Zealand’s ...
- Zoompathy. Coming to a research project near you?
One of the biggest points of value in conducting qualitative research – putting yourself in your customers’ context – has been wiped off ...
- Kia ora Ōtautahi.
After 10 years living in towns with no traffic light, I’ve come full circle. Back to where it began. My first NZ client was ...
- Flipping the lens, and becoming Neil. [Podcast]
Cicadas chirping, cabbage trees awakening to a summer breeze and with the rest of the house emerging to another day of an island ...
- USERPALOOZA! I wrote a book.
Yes, an actual book. Spine. Cover. Pages. Ok, it’s a draft in the photo, but …Somebody pinch me! USERPALOOZA is a how-to for planning and ...
- Safety in numbers during design research
On the edge of NYC in a sleeting-cold January storm, two colleagues and I arrived at a home visit with instructions to ‘go ...
- Breaking the wall in Design Research
Film directors use a term to describe zooming out from the scene to deliberately demystify the production process. This reveals backstage activity usually out ...
- A year in the life of this design researcher
“So, what do you do for a crust?” When asked about my line of work, I talk about the project I’m currently working on. ...
- See what I mean? (Video)
A few weeks back at our very own UX Homegrown conference, I shared my story of how I combined visual communication styles from ...
- Anything to declare?
How packing for fieldwork made me unpack my biases There’s a good reason for the saying to ‘check your biases at the door’ – carrying ...
- Duped by the Double Diamond?
It’s a masterpiece of over-simplicity and an idealised vision of the human centred design process, but now there’s proof this blueprint for breakthroughs is ...
- On being an expert…
There was a time I was comfortable being the expert. That’s changed. I was asked to do an ‘expert’ experience review recently. Ever since it’s ...
- UX, Flow, and learning by osmosis
A few people have asked why I’m running FLOW a design, research & strategy conference in London. They say (about New Zealanders) that isolation ...
- Deer pizzle ethnography (Part 2)
(For the back-story, read Pizzle Part 1) As I stepped through the door with a “Ni hao”, I watched all my norms float out ...
- Deer pizzle ethnography (Part 1)
Yes, it’s a two-parter. Here’s the main course. I’d heard of nose-to-tail eating, but apparently there are parts of certain animals which do more ...
- War stories. ‘Those’ user research projects…
There are user research projects where the exact objectives fade over time. …but certain moments, and the people leave lingering bright spots, ripe to be shared. I’m talking ...
- You had to be there. (Video)
In this video from a talk at eBay Design, I explain how I try to help client teams discover their own punchline from ...
- Patterns in design research. (Video)
Steve masterfully summarises some of the most commonly asked questions before a design research project…
- Userpalooza? Are you blinded by UX language?
Two solid arguments for how the language and terms so ubiquitous in UX can (but shouldn’t) mask, or blind us to what really ...
- My shout. Free tickets to UX homegrown
Yes, it’s my shout… ’seems on any given week there are a couple of UX conferences going down somewhere in the world. But in New ...
- Facing up to brutal UX home truths
I’ve had to take a big swig of my own medicine. It tasted awful. Here, I’ll share the embarrassing but enlightening story, and the 5 ...
- Are you cut out for design research?
I’m currently ‘recovering’ from an intense project – interviewing corrections clients for a week. …A project during which a relative I was staying with questioned whether I ...
- Which customers are you talking to?
(Higher res version) A common oversight in user research recruiting is to avoid ‘rejectors’ of a product or service. The thinking goes something like: “If they’d never use ...
- Nine nourishing nuggets
Over the NZ summer, I deliberately made time to nourish my professional self. Inspiration came from 5 podcasts, 2 books and a 2 short but atmospheric films. I’d squirrelled dozens ...
- The UX gender spectrum…
Does UX research attract more women than men? I sometimes refer to the various roles within UX as running along a spectrum from research at ...
- Visualising Design Research
How to put down your bullet points and pick up a pencil… I’ve almost given up on delivering written reports as a UX research output, favouring video ...
- New York … New focus
I’m off to New York with Better by Design, for a fresh take on being customer centred – shifting focus to a different ...
- Capture the moment with video diary studies
Two and three at a time, 25 diary study packs arrived back by courier – this time containing not just logbook and photos ...
- Use a smartpen to free your eyes and mind during UX research
Two eyes, two ears and one mouth – …We’re all born with these essential three tools for user research. The proportions are about right too. ...
- Ethnography. Only the curious need apply
How can a product team gain empathy for their customers and draw meaningful insights if they aren’t driven by their own curiosity? I’ve been ...
- A formula for losing touch with your customers
I love a great metaphor, like this one from the 2015 Better By Design CEO Summit. The speaker likened an organisation to a growing sphere to ...
- User research is valuable. Now get on with it.
It’s official, customer insights lead to better products. During 2014 I noticed a proliferation of articles like this one (McKinsey) championing user research as a somewhat ...
- Curious? Go cold turkey to gobble the insights
Curiosity is one of a UX researcher’s most valuable traits, but it’s also a vulnerable one, because it can be dissolved by a ...
- Respect, instinct and bedside manner – My patient experience toolkit.
Design research in a hospital environment is super rewarding. You’ll reveal a wealth of insight and opportunity to improve patient experience but face ...
- Games people play during user research
How and why I use games as ‘tools for talking’ during fieldwork interviews… A couple of universal truths stand in the way of discovering what ...
- 83 seconds, 14 actors and one question.
Given the choice, I’ll use video to share customer stories with my clients. …so when I refreshed my bowmast.com home page last week, I ...
- 8.5 Postcards from People-watcher’s Paradise
Numerous occupational hazards beset the professional observer of people, their contexts and behaviours. Absorbing everything in a city as stimulating as Tokyo results in visual and ...
- Humble pie, served on a bed of chaos.
Being comfortable with chaos is a blessing in UX and design research. This comfort can save you drowning in the depths of customer insights. And ...
- Context is everything, even in a motorcamp
Design research, especially ethnography, means being right there with your customer while they interact with your product. In my current project this means collecting ...
- My sharpest user research analysis tool
I’ve found it’s easier to ‘see the wood for the trees’ if you’re chopping them with a sharp axe. Yep, I just had my ...
- Dream design research projects from 2013, Part 2
The second half of the year was no less exciting with client work, but was boosted by the buzz of my own product ...
- Dream design research projects from 2013, Part 1.
Be careful what you wish for. When I moved from design into design research, I dreamed of projects like these. 2013 was the year ...
- User centred design, coming to a government near you.
The UK government has built a serious design team, with a bias towards user research and a user centred approach. All signs (Read below) ...
- Lost and found in the design process
Which is better: Having courage to explore the unknown, or a map to help you find the way? When heading on a design journey, ...
- Redundant, by design
I’ve been willingly doing myself out of a job, and it feels great. Since 2013 I’ve been on the design integration coaching team for ...
- To uncover the story, first lose the script.
A while back I clocked up my 1000th interview. This got me thinking how much my approach has evolved over the years. Interviews with ...
- Outsourcing user research… to your customers.
It took some balls to design and launch a product for the hard-to-impress and razor-critical user experience market a year ago… My first batch ...
- Stories in stereo – Sketching customer journeys
How do you share stories collected during dozens of interviews? What if your ‘Customers’ are actually patients in a hospital? …Rather than take notes and ...
- Design thinking – One size doesn’t fit all
“It’s not about going from left to right and some magic happens on the other side, it’s about understanding the intention”. …Said Director of ...
- Design Thinking – The road-trip of a lifetime.
A couple of years ago I visited the Eames’ ‘case study house’ and thought I had entered design nirvana. …Well, it did have a ...
- All-hands-on-deck …for rapid user insights
This year I’ve surprised myself by recommending some super short approaches to user research. When there’s no time, money or buy-in for a ‘full ...
- Ethno-unpacked – A design research toolkit.
(UPDATED Feb 2016) Every band needs a manager and a ‘roadie’. The manager books the gigs – The roadies set the stage so the ...
- Advice for a career change into UX
Often I’m approached by Kiwis wanting to make a sideways leap into UX and always try to help out via either introductions or ...
- Customer insight from… the Yellow Pages
The dull thud of a phone book hitting the desk. …Probably not a sound you’ve heard since the 90’s, but the humble yellow ...
- Tool tips – When should design explain itself?
Should a hacksaw or staple gun need a manual? Mine have permanently moulded instructions to help get the most out of using them. This sort ...
- Visualising UX research
I’ve never seen clients stand around a written report gesturing at various pages discussing their implications… but when this happens with a drawing, ...
- Life or death usability
Over the last couple of years I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in the R&D programme for a ground-breaking medical device to ...
- Customer Experience conference in NZ
Next week I’m presenting at this conference. With the US and Europe groaning under the weight of web-focused User Experience conferences, it’s refreshing and ...
- Getting a Grip. Prodesign Magazine showcases my approach to UX
This month I’m featured in Prodesign mag. The article harks back to my days designing surfboards and the moment I became ‘hooked on usability’ ...
- Motivations. Delivered fresh to your door
I’m in London this month and just received a boxful of fresh produce from Abel&Cole. Two things become very clear upon opening the veggie ...
- End to end customer experience for Swiftpoint
All too often, I’m working on one aspect of a product while valuable insights emerge relating to other areas of the broader customer ...
- User Experience takes hold in NZ
These two snippets make me wonder if a customer focused approach to business and design has truly taken hold here. One’s about Banks, ...
- Explaining UX research to my mum just got easier
When I designed and made things for a living it was easy to explain what I did. People formed a mental model of ...
- Swipe this way
You know you’ve overlooked basic design research when your customer can improve your product in a few seconds using a pen and some ...
- 10 tips for usability studies with children
Children are some of the most demanding and discerning users of interactive products, making them difficult to design for and challenging to moderate ...
- Are we headed this way?
With UX still taking shape in New Zealand I think we can learn a lot from what’s happening in other centres. Having just ...
- UX research. Making every minute count
Facilitating ‘face to face’ interviews with your clients’ customers is central to UX research. It’s also one of the most difficult of all ...
- Tune in to customer behaviour, or you’re buggered
With technology and the way we consume all types of media advancing at a blinding pace, following changes in behaviours, motivations and expectations ...
- Apology, or invitation. What’s your message?
If this were a checkout operator speaking to you, which would you think was most friendly and helpful? Two signs; Same context, audience ...
- Skype takes the hassle out of remote usability
Remote research brings cultural relevance to usability findings, providing the kinds of insights which can only be gained by being there…virtually at least. I ...
- Keeping it ‘old school’ with Diary Studies (Or not)
Yep, the original article from 2010 has mutated and is now about halfway down this page because: UPDATE 2017. Seven years on and the landscape of remote diary ...
- User Centred Design, for the long haul.
During a 9 month project with IDEO, Air New Zealand took a user centred approach to improve seating design for their long haul ...
- The tip of the User Experience iceberg
Some websites provide more of an experience than others, but the number of web agencies and even individuals who offer User Experience in ...
- When less is less and more is too much.
This Honda trunk-lid has been simplified and streamlined so much that the owner has crudely screwed on a ‘hardware store’ handle to make ...
- Picture, or thousand words?
Outcomes of UX research projects can be difficult to put in a nutshell, and a bullet pointed list sometimes just does not cut ...
- Air New Zealand listens to customers. Or do they?
A UK based Air New Zealand campaign highlights the attitude and friendliness of cabin crew as something uniquely kiwi. The idea for the ...
- Prototype, Test, Rinse & repeat
The value of iteration. Switched-on digital agencies understand the value of user testing with early stage website mockups; ironing out sticking points and identifying ...
- Banking on Usability?
This ad from Kiwibank shows a customer turning to rage while checking his balance online …presumably on a competitor bank’s website. Banks were one ...
- UX in the physical world
This project from 2009 allowed me to work on interactions with a different kind of digital – gripping fingers and thumbs, … taking ...
- Running. A user centred business.
Where can I go for a run around here? Concierge at my hotel in Singapore only needed to be asked this a few times ...
- Making the most of Optimal Treejack
If you want to find out how well your website navigation structure works for your customers, Treejack is a great tool for the ...
- An augmented reality-check
Classic lack of end user understanding here from Weet Bix. A marketing campaign using augmented reality aimed at early teenagers fell at the first ...
- Equal opportunities in User Centred Design?
IDEO, The worlds greatest proponent of User Centered Design have released a ‘toolkit’ to promote a human centred approach to social development projects. It’s ...
- Back in Black
Since being back in New Zealand I’ve heard people reckoning we are a few years behind Europe and the States in terms of ...
- The oldest trick in the customer experience book
Every Tuesday NZ business strategist Lance Wiggs issues ‘Three ways to improve your business’, Last week at number two is ‘Meet your customers’. This ...
- Customers who bought this chocolate brownie also bought…
I love the way these Singaporean bakeries help me make a choice from their vast selection. Are these popularity-based recommendations an internet norm which ...
- Prepare to be disappointed. Customer service in an over-subscribed city
I’m en route to London and am bracing myself for the reality of ‘the nation of shopkeepers’ London shopkeepers’ best intentions to deliver great ...
- UX Research participants. Harder to pick than a broken nose?
Recruiting the right participants is a numbers game, so I was unsure sure what to expect returning to New Zealand from London. All the ...
- Best laid plans. Blueprint for a charity home page
To help the client team moving forward I’ve produced a home page blueprint for the website built during Full Code Press. With web projects ...
- Code Blacks’ winning website built on empathy
Yes, the New Zealand ‘Code Blacks’ team has retained the trophy. Full Code Press is a competition big on challenges: Build a charity website from ...
- Full Code Press. 24 hrs to build a great web experience
Next week I’ll be part of an NZ team competing in Sydney against the Aussies to build a website for a charity at ...
- Kiwi teacher’s User Centered Design approach wins over students (and Microsoft)
A geography teacher from an Auckland school is hailed as the ‘most innovative teacher in the world’. Delivering lessons via students mobile phones. Nathan’s ...
- Customer experience pilgrims: Experience economy brings a new kind of tourist to NZ
Some Kiwi brands are attracting their global customers back to the source of their product, creating new customer experience touch-points as well as ...
- Personas. Journey or destination?
After a personas workshop last week I came out feeling the process was actually more valuable than the personas themselves. Along with eye tracking, ...
- The price of cookies when booking your flight
Air New Zealand’s current advertising cheekily claims their fares have nothing to hide… …have you ever checked flight availability and prices then returned later ...
- Those who adapt, survive.
When it comes to adapting, we Kiwis are experts. Our ‘Number 8 wire’ attitude sees us modify, improve and invent products out of necessity, ...