Weeknotes 20 Apr –3 May 2020
I am writing these notes a little too late again, but I didn’t want what has happened in the last couple of weeks to slip by.
What’s happened in the last two weeks
We had to put on hold the project I was working on to focus on other pieces of work around the COVID-19 response. Good Work Camden will be crucial in the near future to help rebuild the economy and reduce the impact of the crisis. However, at present it’s more urgent to focus on getting direct help and support to residents and connecting them with the volunteer services in the borough.
Camden Council has done a great job at mobilising their resources, working together with other local authorities and FutureGov to come up with quick and effective solutions, like the coronavirus help directory and the beacon platform.
In the last days, we wrapped up the research for GWC and completed the last round of remote user testing for now. In one of the sessions, one of the participants began describing their new reality and the difficulties they were facing during lockdown; eventually, they broke down and began to cry. I stopped recording and just continued listening, trying to offer them support. I had conducted user research around sensitive topics in the past, but never in a situation like this. After that day, I gathered some resources to help us cope and be able to help others in these scenarios. I am sharing them here in case they are helpful.
- User research: how do you look after participants?, by We are Snook
- Put on your oxygen mask before helping others, by We are Snook
- Self-care in User Research, by Jane Raid and Janice Hannaway
Other things from the past days include running and facilitating remote workshops to collaborate with others and synthesising our user research and user testing results using a behavioural analysis matrix; this helped us see what participants could really do and measure usability.
Next week:
I am excited to be involved in the next phase of work around services to help Camden residents during this pandemic.
Some other things I have been pondering/listening to:
- The UX Podcast episode #235 about Internet Anxiety with David Swallow, and how we as designers can increase or reduce it. With so many people struggling with mental health, this is something we should all think about more.
- In the same line, this article about ‘Better Tech: Why We Need Calm Technology Now More Than Ever’.
- I also attended a UX copywriting webinar with Jen Schaefer, Content Design Manager at Netflix, about how to measure copy success and create copy that is clear across multiple platforms and products.
- Talking about local gov, I was highly impressed with the new design for the city of Oslo! The new visual identity and design system goes beyond digital and helps unify all of their services. It’s clear, effective, accesible and also looks great.
- Last but not least, I also attended a webinar about Mural and recently begun using it as our main visual board tool for remote workshops. I was also invited to join their pro users list, which is great… I can’t wait to share more as I continue to learn!
I think that is all for now. Thanks for reading, take care of yourselves and stay safe.
