Trying out Vibe Island, a macOS app that keeps an eye on all your active AI chats and agents, and nudges you from the notch area when one of them needs your attention. Already looking like a really useful addition to my toolset.
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Two years on, and I'm back on the market
5 min readYou may notice that this is my first post here for a while... two years, in fact. In those two years, I've been busy working in a Principal UX Consultant role for a Cambridge digital agency, and when I'm working I rarely find the time to write or post content. However, this week I was notified that my role was being made redundant in a restructure, and so, like many people at the moment, I find myself unexpectedly back on the job market, with the clock ticking.
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Running the Goggins 4x4x48 challenge to help create a safe haven for Caitlin
2 min readThis past weekend (21-23 June), a group of 38 of us gathered in Willingham, Cambs, to take on the David Goggins 4x4x48 challenge to raise money for a local girl, Catilin Passey, and her family. Caitlin has CLN3 Batten disease, a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder, and the aim is to raise funds to create a safe haven for Caitlin and to help her family give her the environment and experiences she needs.
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Progressive cognition: the slow reveal of complexity through user action
5 min readSome thoughts on reframing 'progressive disclosure' in situations where you're trying to teach users what's possible and increase discovery and learnability of features. In these cases, the term 'progressive cognition' encourages focus on the user's perception and on building their mental model, and this then drives what you disclose at each step. I also look at 'signalling the proposition', where what is presented in the initial pre-interaction state communicates underlying messages to users.
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Content design principles for skim scrollers
3 min readAs users scroll down web pages (a low interaction cost), they're only noticing big things - headlines, images, movement, calls to action. When something catches their attention, they'll slow and start to look more closely at what surrounds it. The detail comes into focus. Here are some useful content design principles aimed at making the most of this 'skim-scrolling' behaviour.
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Umbikers on Tour: Ireland
13 min readAndy and I have known each other for several years through the Umbraco community; we're both regular attendees at the Umbraco London meetup as well as a variety of other events. We also share a keen interest in motorcycles (hence "Umbikers"!) and both attended the ABR Festival last year (and will be there again this year!). Earlier this year, we decided to take the bikes on a week-long tour of Ireland.
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Navigating AI responsibly
4 min readIn an agency environment, the plethora of AI tools coming onto the market present an opportunity to fundamentally transform the way we work. But there is a danger of getting caught up in the excitement and losing sight of the fundamentals.
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