Festive findings
With Christmas in(coming) full swing, work this week has naturally reflected everybody’s burning desire to head home / switch off / bring out the alcohol / think about literally anything other than work. I swear I'm not a grinch — but as I've mentioned my solo Christmas this year ft. recent burnout — I'm still clueless as to how I plan to unwind for my one week off, much less for Christmas day.
I do however know I'll be cooking myself some pistachio pasta alla nerano and downing a bottle of Lambrusco (random Bologna souvenirs plus lots of leftover zucchini). Maybe have some instant ramen for breakfast. Who knows.
Week in a tiny nutshell
Kicked off the card sort UR sessions with participants, as mentioned previously
Talked about useless / 'out of date' frameworks
In a world of frameworks, how often do you find journey maps, blueprints and metrics diligently made, only to be never used again? As a team, we had a mini rant about bringing 'dead' frameworks back to life, and whether these efforts have any value at all.
Some things are simply better served to tell a story rather than function, and as designers, we need to make a conscious effort to distinguish between usable, functional frameworks VS evocative maps/models/concepts that act as powerful narratives.
Proud of myself for setting up a personal cashflow on Excel. Don't worry, I'm keeping my promise (no more spreadsheet talk).
Challenges
For context, the purpose of our research was to explore the information architecture of a giant internal service — to be adopted into one giant CRM system. For starters, looking at the navigation.
We figured that users already had a mental model, or way of working, to find the things they need to complete their tasks. Therefore, the approach was validation rather than exploration; we set up a closed cart sort and asked them to group tasks into buckets.
To our surprise, not only did we discover an existing folder structure in place — most users were almost entirely complacent — and for some, even hesitant — to do the card sort. It challenged the purpose of our research: do we simply follow suit and design a navigation based on what already exists?
Whilst designing for familiarity in a service of complexity might make sense, the reality is that it's much harder to translate file organisation into usable, findable navigations. Some reasons why:
Folders are flexible structures, where names and level of taxonomy can be changed anytime.
Folders rely on 'navigation' as a way of retrieving information (as opposed to search, which is more of a linguistic process, implying that users lack content consensus/awareness).
Folders act to conceal information, limiting the workflow by hiding key links between different files/tasks (our design intervention).
Folder navigation rely on a cognitive path which can always change, or as we've uncovered, looks different for everyone.
Next week in store
I still don't know how I'll spend my next week: is it sad that I plan to continue working? I'm still for lack of better terms…‘working’ on how to unwind, and I feel like it's something I'll trial and error for the rest of my working life.
It's closing the year nicely for me, where I'm ready to start setting some goals.
Reads of the week
Firebreaks on GOV.UK, Alan Wright and Catherine Gordy
What next for digital government and Government as a Platform?, Martin Lugton
Defining services, products and platforms in health & care, Tero Väänänen
Distress and design, Alice Whitehead
If you don’t have time to read the whole article, skip to the image of the hierarchy of emotional needs.
“Design is the backdrop to significant life events… Claiming asylum, divorce, medical diagnoses, accusations of crime, large financial transactions: these are the situations in which people most need to be able to effectively navigate services to get the right outcome for them. The services are not a neutral portal – they are the experience: best when they guide, defuse and resolve, worst when they cause additional shame, pain or fear.”
Systems thinking for policymaking, Alyx Slater
Navigation patterns in mobile applications. How to make the right choice?, Ksenia Toloknova
A common language to understand services, Kate Tarling
