Brad Nunnally

⏱ “Just in time accessibility docs” I think I’ve been doing it all wrong. As we build out our design system, we’ve been continuing to add lengthy accessibility documentation to each of our components, check. But is it actually helpful? → W3C Guidelines are verbose and many of the guidelines become redundant once the component has been built. → Text based documentation can be hard to visualize without examples or access to assistive technology. → While components may test accessible in isolation, new issues come up when components are used in context. 👏 Some folks who are doing it right that we're trying to learn from at Exygy → Carbon design system from IBM provides context specific tips for both designers and developers. The guidelines they provide act as quick implementation checklists. https://lnkd.in/gbmeJe5F → GOLD Design System by Design System AU is really unique in the way that it provides accessibility previews of components. I really dig how they simulate keyboard navigation and color blindness! https://lnkd.in/gDBgUiyN → USWDS from GSA goes above and beyond any system that I have seen by providing accessibility testing documentation that can be used when doing QA of components in the wild. ...whoa https://lnkd.in/gYP2ptrR 💎 A couple of things our team has taken away from these amazing resources that might be helpful to others: → Focus component documentation on the most "actionable" implementation details for both designers and engineers. → Reserve verbose technical setup requirements for the initial component acceptance criteria. → Experiment with ways to easily preview accessibility options and outputs. → If possible, document how someone could test issues that could come up during ongoing product feature development and QA. 🧙‍♂️ This post was in part inspired by a talk from Dan Mall at the last Figma Config when he referenced "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" to describe the "notes in the margins that help Harry improve his potion skills" as a way to describe better "just in time" design system documentation. If you do actually need the verbose stuff for component acceptance criteria you can always get it here: → W3C Authoring practices guide https://lnkd.in/g_MUENbn #accessibility #designsystems #documentation #ui #uidesign

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Craft is work done with intuitive expertise - learned deeply by conscious practice through mentorship. Craft is expensive. The mimicry and pattern replication of AI will upend digital craft much like the Industrial Revolution did for physical craftspeople (only faster). It will likely be CFOs who crush craft like origami as they optimize balance sheets. If you love your craft, find a complex niche whose business model is based on value creation not eyeball acquisition. Government especially needs you.

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Worth reading through this article on the ever important topic of Accessibility. https://lnkd.in/e8JamZSS #design #designthinking #designbuild #designstrategy #product #producctdesign #productmanagement #productstrategy #designprinciples #innovation #designers #digitaltransformation #ux #uxdesign #uiux #uidesign #designinnovation #application #software #softwaredesign #usability #userresearch #research #usercentereddesign #productleadership #uxwriting #designsystems #empathy #interfacedesign #usabilitytesting #userexperience #productdesign #accessibility #ui

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Inspiring thoughts one "How Design Leads Organizations through Five Urgent Challenges" by Institute of Design (ID) Design is still often seen just as an add-on, let's change that. 1. Organizations need to work at speed ➡ Design makes speed possible. 2. Organizations need systems thinkers ➡ Design thinks in systems. 3. Organizations need facilitators ➡ Design translates, facilitates, collaborates. 4. Organizations need new metrics ➡ Design balances quantitative and qualitative measures 5. Organizations need to demonstrate their values ➡ Design leads with purpose. At #icon we #design brand / product / user / customer #experiences shaping the future of #mobility with our clients and partners, including organizations and processes. ➡ read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/eAqfa-r3 icon group icon incar icon impact #AI #innovation #design #strategy #experience #experiencedesign #strategicdesign CHRISTIAN ECKERT Anijo Mathew Institute of Design (ID)

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Stéphanie shares lots of great resources for designers -- and if you don't follow her, you should. She does a beautiful job of using plain language and incorporating enough imagery to explain concepts so that it's easy to understand. This particular article is great for designers that are trying to incorporate accessibility into their design work. #Accessibility #a11y #UX #UserExperience #DigitalDesign #ProductDesign #UXResearch #DesignResearch #UserResearch #VisualDesign #InteractionDesign #FrontEndDev

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Advanced Usability and Accessibility is perfect for those looking to deepen their understanding and application of universal design principles, enhancing both usability and accessibility in their work. You'll walk away with the insights, best practices, and frameworks to advocate for your users effectively. You’ll learn: - The Fundamentals of Universal Design: How to integrate universal and human-centered design principles to create accessible and inclusive digital experiences. - Advanced Usability Practices: Techniques for evaluating and enhancing user interfaces with usability heuristics and best practices for a seamless user experience. - Accessibility Assessment and Implementation: Strategies for applying accessibility tools and standards, including WCAG AAA guidelines, to improve content and interface accessibility. - Usability and Accessibility Advocacy: How to articulate the value of inclusive design and advocate for usability and accessibility improvements within your organization or team. Save $100 when you enroll in the inaugural cohort, launching June 3rd - no code required! https://lnkd.in/grMUWF-5

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We are long overdue in letting go of the term “user”. In early 2018, I worked on a study to understand “digital and people”, to help a company understand how to transition to being a “tech” company. While working on triangulating the research, a colleague kept saying, “It’s all about the user." That’s when it occurred to me: the tech world sought out to make sticky, addictive technologies for users, and they succeeded in creating addicts, aka users. Since then, colleagues, clients, and students I work with know the word “user” will not be seen in my work. Words are powerful as they set the intention. #designforpeople #humanitycentereddesign #designwithintent #ethicaldesign

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"The strategic design gold rush is over." While this might sound like a scary sentiment at first, I'm choosing to see it as an opportunity for design leadership. It's a chance for reinvention of what role design led teams can play in corporate settings. Users are increasing their demand for simple and straightforward user experiences. Every company continues to need more user and customer advocacy and design leaders are perfectly positioned to be the fabric of that advocacy and stitch together the functions required to deliver it to market. Rather than being relegated to a subordinate capability in product-led companies, design leaders can now redefine their purpose, leveraging their skills in user empathy, strategic experiential planning and continue to tie together the often disparate agendas at play in organizations. #Design #Leadership #Reinvention #Innovation

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I spend much of my time at work 'doing' diverse usability testing. Here's a recent blog post that I wrote to demystify the process: https://lnkd.in/eFqjDwBR #abilitynet #usertesting #accessability

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Simple portfolio presentation tip for design leaders today: Include something about why this job. Why do you want it? What do you like about it? Don’t overcomplicate. I added one slide at the end when I applied for the Maps role. Idea is it helps you confirm what you think this role is going to be about. AND, it tells the interviewers you understand the challenges and the landscape.

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Portfolio tip for design leaders: Unless your values/leadership style/‘how I lead’ slides are unique or clearly showing why they make you a good fit for this specific role, skip all that in your portfolio presentation. It’s a waste of time and if it sounds like what all the other candidates are also doing(which is true 90% of the time), it will make you blend in. Not good: Generic words like empathy, team building, servant leadership etc Good: Super specific values that apply to this role Better: Super specific values that are actually then evidenced in the work you will shortly present

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🌟The Power of Sketching in UX Design: Elevating Concepts to Solutions 🌟 Exciting read about the importance of sketching in the UX design process! Here are the key takeaways from the article "Real Designers Sketch" by Nate Schloesser: 🚀 Idea Exploration: Rapidly explore multiple concepts to reach innovative solutions. 📚 Communication: Use sketches as a universal language to convey complex ideas effectively. 💡 Concept Over Visuals: Focus on the concept, encouraging open discussions and reducing tension. 🔄 Agility: Enable quick iterations for rapid design evolution based on feedback. 🤝 Collaboration: Foster a collaborative environment by democratizing the design process. 🔍 Problem-Solving: Visualize pain points and solutions with powerful sketching tools. It's time to debunk the misconceptions around sketching and embrace it as a versatile and essential practice in UX design. Remember, sketching is not just for artists - it's a tool for all designers to transform initial ideas into clear and innovative solutions. Let's elevate our design work from pixel-pushing to true design thinking by incorporating sketching into our process! Share your thoughts on how sketching has impacted your design work and let's start a conversation on the power of sketching in UX design. Keep sketching, keep innovating! 💭💡 💬 Share your thoughts on how sketching has influenced your design process! #uxdesign #productdesign #sketching #designthinking --- Incorporate sketching into your design process today! 🎨💡 #designthinking #uxdesign #productdesign https://lnkd.in/eSVHDCJB

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Have you thought about the physical accessibility of your digital designs? Getting physical controls right is really hard, and industrial designers spend a lot of time learning about how to use data as a starting point for making design decisions. As we create digital designs that we interact with using our bodies, it's going to become important for digital designers to understand physical ergonomics too.

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Is it just me World Usability Congress or should your website adhere to at least WCAG 1.0 standards? Text as an image over video, days with no month or dates, white text on teal, no ability to tab through content, hover drop-down menus... woud be great to see this brought up to a level its intended to represent. https://lnkd.in/gwU5mGim #usabilitystandards #accessibility #customerexperience #designstandards #ux #cx #uxaudit

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I finished the Practical By Design, Current State Blueprinting: Intro to Practical Service Blueprinting course. I am looking forward to applying this new (to me) strategy for my next Service Blueprinting project. Next up: Future-State Blueprinting. https://lnkd.in/eXUdHFwf

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UX Design for Specialized Domains is something we at Boston UX know a lot about. Check out this great article from my co-worker Dorothy Shamonsky!

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Lucy Woodcock spends much of her time at work 'doing' diverse usability testing. She has recently blogged "#UserTesting Unveiled: A Step-by-Step Exploration" and aims to demystify the process. Here are #KeyTakeaways from her blog: 1. Importance of #InclusiveDesign and #Accessibility: Inclusive design and accessibility are crucial factors in shaping user experiences. User testing with people with disabilities can help reach a broader audience and cater to diverse needs. 2. Meticulous Planning: User testing begins with meticulous planning, including setting dates, arranging calls, and recruiting diverse participants. A clear research plan aligned with client objectives ensures a valuable and inclusive testing project. 3. Remote Usability Testing: Remote usability testing provides flexibility for testers and clients alike. It gives clients the opportunity to observe sessions first-hand, turning the testing day into a collaborative experience. 4. Analysis of Results: Analysis of user testing results is a crucial part of the process, highlighting key issues and forming recommendations. Different tools and methods may be used for analysis, but the goal remains insightful insights and recommendations. 5. Comprehensive User Testing Report: The user testing report is the end deliverable for clients, containing evidenced insights and relevant recommendations closely linked to client objectives. A clear, justified, and measurable report increases implementation and improves accessibility. 6. Continuous Improvement: A #retrospective allows the team to review successes and identify areas for improvement, ensuring #adaptability to evolving client needs and making each project a stepping stone to future success. 7. Enquiring about User Testing Service: User testing services with companies like Accessible Me Ltd, eLaHub Ltd, or AbilityNet ensure you asking the right people the right questions at the right time and making the best use of their feedback. 8. Self-Conducting User Testing: Learning how to conduct user testing can provide reassurance in making accessibility improvements and focusing resources in the right areas. Like AbilityNet, Accessible Me Ltd offers training courses (both online and offline) for those interested in starting their own #AccessibilityTesting. Accessible Me Ltd's focus is in the #eLearning, #LearningAndDevelopment, and #BrandMarketing areas; helping to make learning accessible to everyone. These takeaways highlight the importance of meticulous planning, remote usability testing, thorough analysis, and continuous improvement in creating inclusive and accessible user experiences through user testing.

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IMO, quality in experience design is about attention to details in usability, usefulness and/or immersion. And the intangible outcome is satisfaction, desirability and/or emotional investment. Form, mechanics & structure is in service of those criteria. In digital interaction, mechanics and structure can refer to the full stack and data models that enable the experience, including machine-assisted capabilities and automation. Experience Design has never belonged to Design alone. In the age of AI and spatial computing, experience design isn’t even conceptualized by Design alone. However, I don’t think the criteria for quality above are enough. Two of Dieter Rams’s design principles are that good design should be honest and long lasting. Technology is disposable; algorithms are opaque, and a lot of AI models are downright dishonest (see Microsoft VASA-1 deepfakes). Experiences should strive to do no harm at a minimum. In an era where companies strive for hockey stick growth, design without a compass can have long lasting repercussions to society at large.

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