Barry Khan - Design Consultant

Weeknotes – AI deep dive

2025-11-29T00:00:00Z

Weeknotes – 29 November 2025

These last couple of weeks have been so productive and exciting for a nbumber of reasons. Both in work and on side projects, and sorry for those bored of hearing about AI, you might want to miss this one.

Work

NotebookLM + Gemini 3:
In work, off the back of the face to face workshop in Manchester there's been some collaboration, making some high level screen flows using the GOV.UK mural templates.

There's been more of a need to leverage the NotebookLM toolm for the project I'm working on. I've been using it to help with storybaording, and specificaly around an area of our project we've not been too close to.

NotebookLM allowed me to understand the policy, its intent and the legislation that drives it. It allowed me to see what should happen for users of the service.

I've used NotebookLM to help with mapping and storyboarding, and previous timeline mapping. We then can take these artefacts to user research and draft up a gap analyis of the intent and the implmenetation, and the many wonderful work arounds users do to circumvent services whtne issues arrise.

Using notebookLM to keep us honest and as close to policy as possible, then using Gemini to create visual artefacts. Its working very well.

I have also been experimenting creating digital, interactive blueprints using some of these tools.

Away from Work

Gemini and Nano Banana Pro:
Googles latest AI unpates have been so powerful, Gemini 3, nana banana pro and the wide Google AI suite have, in my mind, blown all other AI tools and language models out the water.

I've cancelled my cursor AI subscription and been using Gemini to build some apps.

Playground:
I've created a few apps using gemini, and some "artwork"

Notetaker (opens in new window) A browser-based AI transcription tool for capturing meeting notes with real-time auto-save.

Business Pots (opens in new window) A financial prototype for allocating business funds into smart categories.

TAKT Content Creator (opens in new window) A workflow tool to manage the pace and consistency of content creation.

Blueprint creator:
I have also experimented making interactive blueprints with Gemini, using publicly available content, guidance and legislation. It's work so well for a work project, that I decided to create a blueprint creator UI.

The intention is that its used on day 1 of a project. It takes existing artefacts and guidance etc, and creates an initial blueprint, that identifies gaps and assumoptions, that we as UCD professionals can decide the best way to fill those gaps. That could be desk researuc, user research, SME engagement.

I'm blown away by this, and I think it's such a great use of technoclogy.

So much so I will right a separate blog post about this shortly.

A bit about me: I'm a UCD specialist focused on Service Design, with a passion for accessibility and creating services for all. I navigate the world with a dry sense of humor, finding the funny side in the most mundane tasks.

Weeknotes – Past Meets Future

2025-11-15T00:00:00Z

Weeknotes – 15 November 2025

This week had a real “past meets future” vibe — a blend of digging deep into UX mapping at work while revisiting old haunts in Manchester and Birmingham. Between the nostalgia, the travel, and a growing obsession with AI tools, it all felt surprisingly energising.

Work

Most of the week centred around collaboration and getting clearer on the chronological flow of the service.

Chronological mapping:
I spent a good chunk of the week building out the key events and timelines for one of our key users, including overlaps and dependencies. It’s already helping the wider team spot gaps and opportunities.
Manchester workshop:
I travelled up for a session with other UCD colleagues — a brilliant day of sharing ways of working, war stories, and ideas for future collaboration. Lots of energy, lots of alignment. The train home was chaos, but it gave me time to prototype a simple weeknote-creating app using Google’s Gemini.
Follow-ups and flows:
Thursday and Friday were packed with follow-up calls and refining the mapping. I also sketched out some high-level screen flows to support the content designers and attraction team.

Away from Work

BMX nostalgia spiral:
My son’s getting into BMX and loves the pump track, so obviously I had to start hunting for a secondhand BMX too. One minute I’m scrolling for a cheap kids’ bike, the next I’m deep in a nostalgia wormhole thinking about the skateparks I grew up around.
Digbeth trip:
I had to run an errand at the Custard Factory and couldn’t resist wandering around the old agency spots. Digbeth’s evolved a lot, but it still feels familiar. Ideal Skate Shop is still there — which makes me very happy.
Manchester memories:
Walking around the Northern Quarter brought back all the uni-era memories. Funny how a place you haven’t lived in for years can still feel like part of your wiring.
AI experiments:
I fell deeper into the Gemini and Google AI Labs rabbit hole this week. The progress over the past few months is unreal — good enough that I’ve cancelled my Cursor AI subscription.

Two Eyes One Mouth

2025-10-25T00:00:00Z

Weeknotes from the 25 October 2025

Listen first, talk later

That’s probably the only saying my dad gets right when he dispenses wisdom. He usually mashes two together, and that’s been the case for as long as I can remember, not just since turning 90 or because of the dementia. You are who you flock with. Same same.

But “two eyes, one mouth” has stuck with me this week. Observing and resisting the urge to over-explain has been a conscious effort as I settle into a new contract.

It’s been a month now at DEFRA, and I’m really enjoying it. It’s a new domain for me, with a lot to absorb. My focus so far has been to understand the as-is user experience across a very broad landscape, by watching, listening, and chatting to as many people as possible.

Early on I made the classic mistake of trying to map everything in one go, a sprawling end-to-end visual with too much detail to be useful. Lesson learned. By week three I shifted to a high-level service stage map, listing stages, supporting tech, and touchpoints, with plans to link these to deeper artefacts like blueprints and process flows.

I’ve also started a storyboard to help newcomers (and myself) understand the “why” behind the service, and I’m preparing some user experience mapping to support two upcoming design sprints.

It’s been a fast-paced month with fantastic teams forming and sharing knowledge at speed. It’s a challenge, but it’s exactly the kind I enjoy.

AI update

AI is quickly becoming part of the day-to-day toolkit in digital teams. I’ve been using Notebook LM to digest hefty policy and guidance documents, it’s genuinely sped up the learning and listening phase.

It’s remarkable how well these models make sense of complex, knotty public-sector services. Understanding policy intent is one thing; understanding how it plays out on the ground, across the country, is quite another.

Hardware upgrades

New contract, new kit. I picked up a MacBook Pro M4 Pro, mainly for the headroom when juggling design tools, AI tasks, and video editing. No regrets, it’s handled giant Miro boards and Murals without a hiccup.

I also upgraded my ageing Google Mesh routers, jumping from 100–150 Mbps to around 900 Mbps. The difference in stability is night and day, the home office finally feels wired, even though it’s not.

BMX bandits

My son’s taken to BMXing and spends every spare minute at the pump track. The 80s/90s kid in me can’t resist, which, of course, means I probably need a BMX too. Purely for research purposes.

Closing Chapters, Opening Laptops (and Pizza Ovens)

2025-09-27T00:00:00Z

Weeknotes from 27 September 2025

Things I did

At work

Closing the MoJ chapter

This week marked my final days at MoJ. I’ve been there since April last year, and it feels like the end of a meaningful chapter.

Over that time, I’ve worked on some genuinely interesting projects: mapping the end-to-end prison journey, with a focus on education, skills, and work for people in prison. On the other side of the scale, I spent time on a victim-facing tool—first as an Interaction Designer moving at pace for test-and-learn, then more recently rejoining to kick-start a data mapping project.

Seeing the service from both perspectives was a highlight. It reminded me how much depth you uncover when you deliberately switch lenses.

I also nudged teams to explore AI opportunities - while keeping the focus firmly on user-centred design. Alongside the day job, I ticked off courses in systems thinking, a Bikablo drawing workshop, and learned a huge amount about AI, AI ethics, and tooling.

It’s been a rich mix of design work, learning, and reflection. Time now to step back, breathe, and think about what’s next.

At play

A new machine for new ideas

Away from work, I finally upgraded to a new MacBook Pro (M4). I convinced myself I needed the extra power to survive the multi-Miro boards, prototyping, and AI experiments. Early signs suggest it was the right call.

Pizza progress continues

Friday nights are still pizza nights. I’ve been pushing my pizza making further—tweaking the Dough Jo app I built, and putting my pizza oven through its paces. It’s become a nice counterbalance to the work side: hands in flour, mind in dough, chasing consistency (and usually making a mess of the kitchen in the process).

That’s it for this week. Closing one chapter, keeping the oven hot, and looking ahead—on Monday I’ll be starting a new service design contract at DEFRA, working in the circular waste space. Excited for a fresh challenge and curious to see what this chapter brings.

A bit about me:
I’m a UCD specialist with a service design lens, exploring how AI and design can make services more human. I balance work with curiosity, humour, and the occasional pizza experiment.

Designing Services, Baking Dough, and Catching Sun

2025-06-06T00:00:00Z

Weeknotes from 06 June 2025

Things I did

At work

Back to one design hat

It's been a great few weeks, with new designers onboarded, I've stepped back from the Interaction work on my current project. I'm still keen to be designing and testing but at a service level.

Trip to Sheffield

I had a great day in the office, meeting up with other Service Designers, working Prison services. Really collaborative day and great to meet up with other Service Designers, and see what's happening elsewhere in the prison space.

At play

Pizza dough calculator app

I've been making a lot more pizza recently, using my trusted old ooni Koda 12, that I bought 6 years ago! I've re-started our tradition of Friday Night Pizza. This usually involves me rushing about in a panic, while making a massive mess of the kitchen, the family try to avoid me for the 35 minutes before I serve up 6 pizza (more like 5 as one pizza often ends up mangled and in my gob, as I eat through the tears and shame!).. but all in all its a good night!

I've been changing my dough recipe as it was never consistent before, and after looking through different tools and apps I decided to create one for myself.

Introducing Dough Jo - Recipe generator. I'm not massively sure of the user need, if I'm totally honest. The main driver for me was I wanted to save and tweak dough recipes each week, and create a recipe and and give it a rating, so I can learn as I go. Other apps exist in this space, but I wanted to use some of the tools I've been playing with. I'm still working on improving the accessibility before moving it on to its own domain, if I even do that.

I got side tracked by tone, and design (UCD fail) but the tool allows me to tweak default recipes, show me the prep method, but adding notes is manual. I can copy the recipe into notes and add feedback there. I can also save a recipe I'm happy with and store it in the session.

Tools used:

Chat GPT for the initial v0.dev prompts
V0.dev for the UI components and look and feel (about 3 versions but wasn't too happy with the output)
Cursor AI, I restarted the project in here and it worked great

The tool I've created is pretty simple, and doesn't use any python, its all hosted on Netlify and the feedback form is using Netlify contact form integration.

As I mentioned, there's not a overwhelming user need answered here, a feature or two that similar tools are missing, but due to the minimum effort to create the payoff was worth it.

However it does make me think, with lower boundaries to entry and less friction between concept and delivery...

How do we validate ideas before the become a reality!

New ? old oven

I purchased a second hand electric pizza oven (effeuno p134H), as keen to do more NY style pizzas, crispier base and better heat retention, mainly as my ooni looses heat between pizzas and as I make around 6 pizzas per session it does become a bit of a faff. A bonus is that I can just about power it on solar and the battery!

Solar Panel and Battery update

It's taken ages, but finally got the required documents back from the grid, to allow me to start selling unused energy to my energy supplier. I think it still takes another few more weeks for my tariff to change, but moving in the right direction.

I'm currently generating more than I can use, so charging my car on a slow charge while the suns shining, but hopefully be selling back to the grid soon enough.

Thats enough ramblings for now, I'll be honest I struggle to write work related weeknotes, due to the sensitivity of some of the areas i work in, hence more non work jibba jabba.

Till next time!

A bit about me:
I'm a UCD specialist focused on Service Design, with a passion for accessibility and creating services for all. I navigate the world with a dry sense of humor, finding the funny side in the most mundane tasks.

Two Hats and Solar Stats

2025-06-05T00:00:00Z

Weeknotes from 05 May 2025

Things I did

At work

Two hats

This week has been great—jumping between Interaction and Service Design is what I love. A good friend of mine left our team after a fantastic 2–3 years at MoJ. Until they’re replaced (a tough act to follow), I’m covering both roles.

Picking up someone else’s prototype is never ideal, but having worked with the former Interaction Designer for years, it felt natural.

I also migrated some of the Figma designs into the prototype using Copilot.
See last weeknote for more

The latest version includes dynamic pages powered by JSON data—less manual work, more scalability.

The service supports people in custody to prepare for employment and build work ready skills before release.

Trip to Sheffield

I had a great day in the office, working with wider teams looking at the Service Design of services spanning custody and post release.

Bikablo

I've continued to use my newly acquired skills. I really enjoy this method of storytelling and look forward to more training. With AI everywhere, I’m keen to push against the tide a bit and pick up creative skills I can use in person.

At play

Photography

In keeping with the theme of human made creativity, I've picked up the camera again—this time, a Fuji XE2. I’ve enjoyed capturing moments without my phone, but the camera wasn’t pocketable enough. Having gotten used to shooting with my phone, portability has become a must.

So I made the swap. I’m now using the Ricoh GR3—a legendary street photography camera. I’m hoping it helps me capture family moments without reaching for a phone.
See my posts on digital detox

Solar Panel and Battery update

The solar panels are really generating power since installation—far more than I can currently use. The sunny weather’s helped, though I’m aware things will balance out across the year.

I'm still waiting on some paperwork from the grid to switch energy tariffs with Octopus. This will let me sell excess energy back to the grid—either at a fixed rate (15p per kWh with Intelligent Octopus Go) or a variable rate via Intelligent Octopus Flex.

Since the panels were installed, I’ve hardly paid for electricity—apart from one or two EV charges, mostly done overnight on the cheap rate. I’ve also managed to charge the EV using daytime solar excess.

AI and side projects

Still quiet on the side project front, and I’ve eased off using AI tools for coding. That said, I’m still experimenting with Gemini and ChatGPT—mainly for summarising, analysing, and collating online material rather than creative work. Still working out the right balance between “useful” and “overwhelming.”

Time off

Had a great few days off near Lytham St Annes (up near Blackpool) with family and siblings. The long weekend followed—so plenty of walks and bike rides.

A bit about me:
I'm a UCD specialist focused on Service Design, with a passion for accessibility and creating services for all. I navigate the world with a dry sense of humor, finding the funny side in the most mundane tasks.

Back to first principles

2025-04-11T00:00:00Z

Weeknotes from the 11 April 2025

Things I did

At work

The last two weeks have been really productive. The team I'm working with is changing shape, with temporary gaps needing to be filled. This opportunity means I get to pick up some interaction design work, which is great.

Prototype migration

One task I've been looking at is moving Figma designs into the GOV.UK prototype kit. The main reason for this is that there's more scope for iteration on a specific product, and as we move into user research getting granular with interaction will be key.

Moving designs from one platform to another is quite laborious and could easily sink a few days, perhaps close to a week. You could argue it's "busywork," and I could list a few other activities that might be better value for the UK taxpayer. However it was needed to be done, but I looked into ways to automate this task.

I decided to use Microsoft Copilot to generate the HTML from the Figma designs, as the department is using it on trial. I made sure the images didn't have anything sensitive and the designs were generic.

I followed these simple steps:

Export screenshots
Create empty screens in the prototype kit, with the head and footer
Add the images to Copilot, with a prompt: Please convert this into GOV.UK prototype kit syntax using the table component, ensuring it matches the design standards for a GOV.UK screenshot.
Copy outputted HTML from Copilot into the blank template files in VS code
Tested the output locally and made any adjustments

The good

This worked really well, and I didn't need to specify the component, and in many instances, it worked well without it. Copilot also did a good job providing hidden text for screen readers.

This saved hours of time and does just what I want from AI, automating mundane tasks. Although I could use Copilot to create designs for user pain points, I really don't want AI to do that. It's by far one of the most enjoyable aspects of my work.

The bad

When giving Copilot full screenshots, the results sometimes are a little less consistent, occasionally making designs full width and forms and input fields very wide.

For better results, breaking apart more complex designs into components works well.

The "Check your answers" screen also had mixed results so splitting out the sections of the page worked much better.

Prison process mapping

I also enjoyed some mapping of processes and operating models in a specific prison that is trialing one of our products. It's working really well in that prison, so we are trying to visualize what good looks like and see how scalable the processes are.

In-person planning

Had a great day in Sheffield planning for the next year of work, taking pain points, rephrasing them as opportunities, and mapping them against impact and confidence.

We ended up with a loose roadmap and a growing backlog of activity.

At play

Bikablo

Outside of work, I took an intro course to Bikablo. Really enjoyed it and hopefully it will help me improve my visual storytelling and facilitation. I will be looking at further courses in Bikablo. Really recommend Work Visible - training

Solar Panel and Battery installation

We had solar panels and a battery installed at home, so expect some boring energy posts over the next few months. Much like the panels, no doublt I will be less active and vocal when the suns stops shining! The main driver was to have more control over our energy and where it comes from. Really happy with the results so far, but the weather has been fantastic so I know I've been spoiled so far. Perhaps will look into a heat pump at some point.

AI and side projects

I've slowed down on my AI rampage and side projects. This is mainly because I've been so busy at home and work, that it's taken all my headspace.

Over the last couple of years I've fully embraced AI tools and tutorials to learn as much as possible in a short time. From the basics of Python, Next.js, prompt engineering, AI, LLM theory, conversational design, and many AI UI tools.

There's so much to continue to learn, but as great as the emerging tech is, I do question the ultimate value of many of them. Over the last 6-12 months, I've had premium subscriptions for the following:

Chat GPT
Midjourney
v0.dev
Cursor AI

Ultimately, products and services are only as good as the idea and the user needs they are trying to solve. This has some parallels with learning I did many moons ago, after years of designing websites and apps using photoshop, then relearning fireworks, sketch, marvel and figma. So many transferable skills, and by focussing on the user needs allows us to seperste the solution from the tool required.

Picking up the camera

With some leave planned, and a drive to create in the face of the AI wave, I'm looking firward to pick up my camera after tha hiatus of the kast few years. Hoping to do some more street photography and perhaps a new photography project.

Have a great Easter break all.

Shiny but problematic - The pitfalls of leading with technology

2025-01-23T00:00:00Z

Have you ever struggled with a touchscreen in your car, trying to change a setting while keeping your eyes on the road? You’re not alone. An article in today's Telegraph got me thinking about how touchscreens are reshaping the driving experience—for better or worse.

When tech gets distracting

Touchscreen dashboards have finally taken over and ruined driving the Telegraph today

In a recent article in the Telegraph, it was stated touchscreens are ruining driving for many users, a sentiment echoed in countless other forums and publications.

I generally use a car to get form A to B, and less emotional about the driving experience, so couldn't say it's ruining driving for me, however it definitely introduces niggles and makes me think, who asked for this feature, what user need is it addressing?

Have you ever tried to adjust the temperature while driving, only to end up frustrated by an unresponsive touchscreen?

Touchscreens work well for devices like phones and tablets. But in a car? That’s a different story. A car’s primary goal is to get you safely from A to B, and introducing complex interfaces can compromise this. Similarly, with AI, while it has exciting use cases, it’s easy to over apply the technology without a clear user need.

As excited as I am about AI, I am equally concerned about the pace and desire to "AI stuff" without understanding or having a clear user need behind it.

It’s a classic case of what problems allow us to use this tool. It’s happened many times before but perhaps not with such a drive and ambition.

When good tech fails without a clear need

There are countless examples of technology driving ideas, without a clear user need established.

Google Glass: Cool idea, but people didn't see the point and had privacy worries.
Microsoft Zune: Couldn't compete with the iPod; didn't offer anything new.
Amazon Fire Phone: Too pricey, not enough apps, and no standout features.
Webvan: Expanded too fast without solving delivery issues; went bankrupt.
Boo.com: Fancy website, but hard to use and didn't attract enough customers.

These examples illustrate how important it is for tech companies to understand and meet user needs, rather than just chasing trends or relying on hype.

Amazon' putting user needs first

Amazon thrived by putting user needs first. Jeff Bezos identified the need for an extensive, convenient online bookstore something physical stores couldn’t match. By addressing this core need, Amazon offered competitive prices, easy access, fast delivery, and customer reviews. These elements built a strong value proposition, with technology following the needs rather than leading them.

Amazon's core value proposition

Convenience: Customers could shop from home at any time, avoiding the need to visit physical stores.
Wide Selection: Amazon provided access to a vast range of books and other products that many local stores couldn't match.
Competitive Prices: Without the overhead costs of physical stores, Amazon could often offer lower prices.
Customer Reviews: Online reviews helped customers make informed decisions, something not easily available in physical stores.
Fast Delivery: Amazon's efficient logistics network ensured quick delivery, adding to the convenience.

These factors made Amazon a more attractive option for many shoppers compared to traditional high street stores. Technology followed after user needs were identified.

AI's Impact: Environment and Society

AI is awesome I get it, but we need to be selective about its use cases and understand the negative impact, thinking about it in a systems thinking approach.

AI's environmental toll is significant, with high energy consumption, increased greenhouse gas emissions, electronic waste, and resource-intensive hardware production. Data centers also strain water supplies. Sustainable AI development is essential to address these challenges.

AI’s rapid advancement risks outpacing human and business adaptability. It can lead to job losses, perpetuate biases, compromise privacy, and foster over-reliance on technology, reducing critical thinking and human skills.

While we continue to measure success by productivity, environmental and social impact will always take a back seat, but good luck selling social and sustainability metrics to those holding the purse strings.

Summary

Good design starts with people, not just possibilities

As we continue to integrate technology into our lives, let’s pause and ask ourselves: what problems are we solving? And are we solving them in the best way possible?

A bit about me: I’m a Service and Interaction Designer passionate about accessibility and creating inclusive services. With a dry sense of humor, I find joy in exploring the quirks of everyday tech

Catching Up and Moving Forward

2025-01-10T00:00:00Z

Weeknotes from the 10 January 2025

Things I did

At work

This week, like many others, I've been "playing catchup," "wading through emails," and other clichés we say on our first few days back from a good break. As expected, it took a while to track my laptop down (#restinglikeachamp).

Away from my inbox, I've been split across two projects and actually joined a call regarding a third project! The first one is a public-facing cross-justice community tool. We've created a prototype at pace, with assumptions, but it has allowed us to uncover unknown unknowns and put a spotlight on the known unknowns! No major surprises, but connecting data will be the main focus.

Often we think we need UI, shiny interfaces, but the technical heavy lifting is what's needed. It's not sexy or quick; it takes effort and investment. As a designer, I often advocate for the heavy lifting in the backend to be done first using existing interfaces and improving design second. It's a knotty, "gnarly" problem that keeps reoccurring, and there's nuance and a different approach needed each time I come across it.

The other project is a prison-facing tool that's currently being rolled out to a number of prisons during a trial. It's landing well and making a difference.

At play

Outside of work, I've been teaching myself Python, through a mix of fumbling about clumsily, trial and error, podcasts, online tutorials and chatbots. I wrote some promots to give me daily tutorials ending in a challenge. I find learning by doing the easiest method, like most people probably. I've been building plenty of mini services and automated tools that answer problems I see around me each day.

I've also been learning more about AI tools, capabilities and limitations and reading more about quantum computing.

Many, many years ago while at Uni, I studied computer science despite focusing my degree on Human Computer Interaction. That might be why I often stray into the tech spaces (tech arch and dev discussions). Design has always come more naturally, but still keen to learn something new.

Hopes for 2025

I'd like to continue to work within the Interaction Design profession and look back at some of the experience I brought into the public sector, way back in 2017 when I first worked at HMRC. Before then, I had around 15 years of private sector experience in startups and large established organizations.

Recent news and trends have been asking the Civil Service to take a "startup" approach to delivery. I have witnessed so many dynamic, experimental, and fast approaches to digital transformation across GOV.UK agencies, despite all the constraints GOV.UK services are under. I think it's worth continuing to look at inspiration from all sectors, as many of those working in this sector are doing each day.

Hopes outside of work, to keep being present for my family, maintain some of the habits I learnt when doing my digital detox. Do some more photography, perhaps pick up my camera more often than the phone and play a bit more basketball.

Test link to image library Test image gallery.

Wrapping Up 2024 - A Whirlwind Week

2024-12-23T00:00:00Z

This week has been quite the whirlwind as we near the end of 2024, especially since one of the projects I’m working on is wrapping up its current phase.

Even though I’ll still be working on this project in the next phase, I always make sure to document all the design decisions through a design history. This makes handovers a breeze and also helps me pick up where I left off after a break.

When I’m working, I can get really into it—often staying up late or starting early when ideas hit me. But when I’m on leave, especially during Christmas, I tend to fully disconnect. My first day back usually starts with me trying to remember where I left my laptop, which is always a good sign of a proper break.

Reflecting on the Year

It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster for me this year. I started the year as an Interaction Designer on the GDS project Gov One Login, which I really enjoyed. It was my first IxD role in a while, and I’d forgotten just how much I love the profession.

After that, I worked as a Service Designer on an internal, staff-facing project at the Home Office, and then I moved back to MoJ. I do love jumping between interaction and service design, but this year I’ve particularly enjoyed revisiting interaction design.

One highlight has been working with JSON data, experimenting with AI-generated data to test scalability, and balancing efficient design with scalability.

Learning and Evolving

This year, I’ve also learned new things like Python and delved deeply into AI. It’s both exciting and scary how fast AI is evolving—it’s moving faster than we can keep up with. Although I approach it cautiously, I believe it’s better to learn as much as I can.

I see opportunities for UCD and human-computer interaction to evolve alongside AI, ensuring users are consideredbut also beyond humans, there are also ways AI can be made more sustainable, addressing the massive impact of LLMs on data usage. More on that next year!

Looking Ahead to 2025

In January, I’ll be back at MoJ, working on a cross-government public-facing service and a prison staff-facing service area. It’s going to be busy, but I hope there will still be opportunities to continue skilling up.

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B1w5Uzl7VaP5Z6

Have a great break, all!

Back to Work, Mapping, and Mountain Biking

2024-09-28T00:00:00Z

Weeknotes from the 02 September 2024

Things I did

After a great couple of weeks in Cornwall, I spent this week playing catch up and getting my head back into the complex knotty problems and constraints of the Service area I'm focused on.

Mapping

Before I took leave, we were successful with a proposal for some key iterations and some discovery work. This was great to come back to, and meant that we needed some mapping work to visualize our intended design and release approach, subject to user feedback.

Outside of Work

Off the back of the trip to Cornwall, and some great family bike rides I've been looking at getting a new mountain bike.

Growth Nothing to mention just yet. Share Nothing to mention just yet. Creative I've always enjoyed film as a medium, and in a past life did create some corporate videography for clients. I've not forced myself to experiment with it and started to explore a couple of topics close to my heart. Watch this space! Focus Slight dip in focus, as been researching bikes.. a lot!

Automating Everyday Tasks with iOS Shortcuts - A User-Centered Approach to Enhance Efficiency

2024-07-16T00:00:00Z

A personal post about using automation to reduce duplication of effort.

As a UCD practitioner and same applies for pretty much anyone with experience of working on complex services and systems, that are used on a daily basis, reducing duplication of effort and the rekeying of information is a well documented goal. It leads to more accurate data, time saved doing mundane tasks, and working towards giving users of those services more time doing more meaningful work.

I've always been fan of automating mundane tasks, and letting humans do what we do best. Make connections, build relationships use creativity to solve problems, and collaborate to work towards visions and real transformation, when those opportunities arise.

This post documents me using IOS Shortcuts to automate some repetitive tasks, but lets start with the problem.

What's the problem I'm trying to solve?

As always, its best to start with the problem not the solution. I'm quite aware of this, and as a User Centered Designer, I do have a slight bias towards technology, and I could quite easily fall into the trap of saying, this tech is cool, what problems can I fix with this... This would lead to me over exaggerating the problem so it would warrant the effort and fit to the technical solution.

In this instance, the problem was real... although more of an inconvenience, but I do think if we can remove lots of small niggles it can have a significant impact on user experience and life in general.

Pain points

So last year I took out a lease on an EV. I've never owned a new car, or even driven one, so had a few concerns, these included:

Will I need to charge the car on longer journeys - to my parents up north!
Will it cost me a lot if I go over the contracted milage allowance?

As I started using my phone less, using it for mundane tasks made me we more conscious about using the device. This got me thinking:

I don't want to use my phone to capture ideas.
I don't want to use my phone to make weeknotes.

Job story

Let rephrase these as user or job stories.

When making journeys, I need to feel confident in the remaining range, so that I can get home comfortably.
When making longer journeys, I need to feel confident, when to charge and how long to charge for, so that I can get home comfortably.
During the contract period, I would like to understand the current excess milage cost, so that there's no surprises at the end of the contract.
When I have an idea, I want to capture the note with minimal distractions, so that the idea is captured accurately.
When capturing weeknotes, I want to make the process as painless as possible, so that I'm more likely to maintain the practice.

How might we resolve them

Well, in work I would explore a few options, landscape different approaches that are used in private and public sector. But to be honest, I had access to IOS Shortcuts, and chatgpt, so seemed the best solution. Also I knew it would be very minimal effort to automate some of these, so could alway try a different approach in the future.

IOS Shortcuts IOS Shortcuts, is an APP inbuilt on IOS and Mac OS. Much like tasker on Android. It allows you to create shortcuts of tasks and then automate them. All these shortcut can be triggered by siri.

Calculate range to destination

So this first pain point I want to address was range anxiety. There are apps for this, A Better Route Planner (ABRP), however it was a little overkill for what I needed.

This shortcut does the following:

Ask me to for the remaining battery %
Works out the number of miles from the current location to my home location
Calculates the average kwh I should maintain in order to allow me to get home with 20 miles remaining
If the recommended kwh was unrealistic for the car to achieve, it would suggest stopping for charge, and work out how much charge would be needed.

This proved very useful, however I felt that I would like to have the insight before getting to the destination.

Iteration The iteration on this, is that it asks me for the destination, then the remaining battery %. The shortcut then works out the total miles needed to get to the destination and back home, and as above recommends a kwh to maintain or to stop for a charge.

Calculate milage costs

So this was a small niggle and a very easy one to solve.

This one came about, as I often asked siri to do a number of calculations, and soon became cumbersome.

This shortcut does the following:

Takes the annual milage allowance and then divides it by 365
Asks for input around the current mileage
Works out how many days have passed since the contract started
Takes the number of days and multiplies it by the daily allowance
Takes the above allowance and subtracts the current mileage
Multiplies the difference by the excess mileage cost per mile
Then get siri to say "You currently owe x"

Iteration To build on this, I automated this to run once a week, once my phone was connected to the car by car play. This allowed me to get the right information, at the right time and in the right place!

Capture idea

This shortcut allows me to capture an idea without having to look at my phone. It does this by doing the following:

Siri asks "Whats your idea?"
Takes that audio input and adds it as text to a specific Note
Provides feedback, "Idea captured"

Iteration As I started using notebooks more, and prefer the friction and consideration that comes with writing ideas down, I created a new version that did the following:

Opens camera and takes a photo of hand written notes
Extracts the words from the image
Adds it as text to a specific Note
Provides feedback, "Idea captured"

I then went a bit too far with it and got Chat GPT to expand on these ideas, and created an shortcut that does the following:

Captures the idea as above
Takes that input and asks Chat GPT to provide a detailed analysis of that idea, with pros, cons and first steps.
Provides feedback, "Idea explored"

Record weeknote

I used a similar approach as above to capture and record weeknotes.

Summary

I hope you enjoyed some of these shortcut ideas. I will add a link to them all, once I work out how to remove any personal details.

Some others I've found online and used, include prompting me if I'm near a supermarket and have items in my shopping list.

A bit about me: I'm a UCD specialist focused on Service and Interaction Design, with a passion for accessibility and creating services for all. I navigate the world with a dry sense of humor, finding the funny side in the most mundane tasks.

Adventures in Product Revitalisation

2024-07-12T00:00:00Z

Weeknotes from the 12 July 2024

Things I did

Ah, the start of another week. Nothing says excitement quite like a prioritisation marathon. Who doesn't love sifting through tasks and deciding which ones to push off until the next crisis?

Planning for an Ideation Workshop

We’re gearing up for an ideation workshop, diving into the dusty archives of a product that’s been untouched for so long, it’s practically an archaeological dig. But hey, sometimes the best ideas are buried under layers of neglect.

High-Level Storyboarding

Engaged in some high-level storyboarding, which is essentially a way of saying we drew some pretty pictures. It’s all about showing a rough vision of the service without getting bogged down in those pesky details. The "how" will reveal itself once we dive deep into user needs and start testing our wildest assumptions.

End-to-End Discussions

Supported a series of end-to-end discussions as part of a handover. Picture a relay race, but with more jargon and fewer gold medals.

Outside of work

RSS feeds

I finally got round to finding a free tool to allow me to keep upto date with bloggers that I'm interested in. Since not using X or LinkedIn quite as much, I am still keen to know whats going on, especially in the UCD space. I've been using feedly.

Usability Mysteries, "Good Enough" Workshops, and Culinary Adventures

2024-07-06T00:00:00Z

Weeknotes from the 6 July 2024

Things I did

In work

Had a busy week buulding up to an election. The week covered at least one call about measurements of success, and I can see that will be the case for the near future.

I had a number of issues come to be that someone percieved were UI issues but soon realised tha the root causes of the issues needed adressing. Imagine trying to fix a sinking ship by repainting the deck. Spoiler: it didn’t help.

All day event Had a great all day event, looking at how we approach projects and ensure a conscious decisions in choosing the right tools for the right problems.

Email Catch-Up Caught up with emails. Inbox zero is a myth, much like unicorns or meetings that could have been emails.

Outside of work

Long Weekend in Bath

Ah, Bath. Spent a weekend there, and let me tell you, the Romans knew a thing or two about relaxation. The Roman baths were utterly fascinating—nothing quite like soaking in the remnants of ancient hygiene practices.

Took a leisurely boat trip down the River Avon. It was remarkably serene, aside from the occasional swan giving me the side-eye. Nature's way of keeping you humble, I suppose.

And the food! Let’s just say I sampled more of Bath's culinary delights than perhaps was strictly necessary. But hey, when in Rome... or at least in a city heavily influenced by Rome. All in all, it was a delightful blend of indulgence and education, with a side of swan-induced humility.

Extra-Curricular Activities

A busman's holiday

It's like a busman's holiday for me, as outside of work I've been helping my wife create her food blog. Imagine spending all day making digital experiences user-friendly and then spending your evenings making kale salads look Instagram-worthy. But honestly, I wouldn't have it any other

The blog documents her exploration into nutrition, as she carries out a Diploma in Culinary Medicine with a particular focus on gut health and longevity. Yes, while I'm knee-deep in user journeys and heuristic evaluations, she's delving into the mysteries of kombucha and the secrets of sauerkraut.

That's all for this week. Until next time, may your usability be high and your error rates low.

Unteathering from My Phone - A Journey to Reclaim Focus and Intentionality

2024-07-02T00:00:00Z

A personal post about practical steps taken to untether from my phone, and why.

Why I wanted to reduce my phone use

It's safe to say we all use our phones a lot. I'm on a train now, with my phone in my bag, but everyone on the train is staring at a phone, swiping, working, laughing. Being productive, connecting with people, and getting joy from their phones.

It's hard to not see it as a win-win. I used to be very productive with my phone, responding to work messages within seconds, capturing ideas in seconds, and writing to-do lists like a ninja!

However, with that 5 seconds of productivity, followed 5-10 minutes of distraction. This is the mental model.

Get Slack notification
respond to message
check in on channels
follow a link to LinkedIn
Scroll LinkedIn for 10 minutes
Look at jobs
Respond to an AI-generated post aimed at keeping me on the platform

I probably did this 10 times a day, and it was completely unconscious, passive time spent, fed on drips of dopamine to keep me online.

I also felt like I was cruising a bit. I've always been driven, and never standing still, looking for ways to grow and learn. That recently has been less present, and I do think it's because of being distracted by social media, LinkedIn, etc.

Role model

I would still be doing this if it wasn't for one thing. My daughter recently got a phone, as she moves into High School. We held off giving her a phone, for all the reasons we are all aware of:

impact of social media
impact of short form content on concentration
impact of not allowing kids to get bored
distraction to her main goals - dance
impact on understanding how bigger effort = bigger reward
impact on creativity

When we gave her the phone, with the caveat that it's just to be used for messaging and calling. We instantly wanted to show how best to use the phone, and her seeing us staring on social media, etc. wouldn't be great.

It led me to look at my screen-time. Some days around 7 hrs of screen time use. That is misleading, as it often included Maps and Spotify, but still!

Steps taken to reduce screen-time

I thought I didn't really use social media that much, but screen time stated at least 1 hr a day, so for someone not that attached to it, it was an easy one. I literally deleted them from my phone!

I originally used the clunky mobile version of the platforms, and then stopped that and used the web version on a desktop. I really only use it to see school updates, and now and then on LinkedIn.

Made the phone less smart

I took a number of steps to simplify the phone to do just what I wanted from it.

Removed notifications All non-essential notifications were disabled, leaving just text, phone call alerts.

Enabled accessibility features Used tech to reduce the number of phone pickups allowing announcements for calls and messages.

Made the phone less interesting This was a creative one, I did this doing the following:

Simplified the phone

Decluttered the home screen to just the following:

Phone
Messages
Spotify
Notes (soon to be removed)
Mail
Calculator
Camera
Calendar widget

Used IOS shortcuts to do the following

Turn always on display off from 5pm
Turn the screen black and white from 5pm

Bought an alarm clock

This was a game changer, I stopped using the phone alarm clock, instead using a DAB bedside alarm clock.

This has improved my sleep, mainly due to the impact the light and stimulation had on my body clock. The alarm clock was £10 off eBay!

Changed my approach to weeknotes

I used to make weeknotes, using notes on my phone, which often led to further distraction.

I leaned on some new learnings I made in IOS Shortcuts, to automate the process a little.

The shortcut

Uses Siri to capture audio
The audio is converted to text and added to a note called Weeknote
On a Friday at 4pm, it formats the notes using Chat GPT and outputs it in Markdown ready for me to paste into my website.

I later iterated this to allow the notes to be captured from a paper notebook.

Say "Siri capture weeknote"
Camera turns on and records an image of the notes
Adds text to weeknote

I am still working on this, but my weeknotes are pretty much a place to experiment right now.

Using notebooks more

I've always doodled and jotted things down in notebooks, but never with much intent.

Falling down the rabbit hole of notebooks has been wonderful. I'm not always near to a notebook. I have a personal one and a work one, and am about to get a pocket notebook!!LOL.

I find the notes I make in a paper notebook have more intention, I find it easier to recall information from them, and there's lots of science to prove that.

I also find the ideas I create on paper are automatically filtered, and feel more focused and easier to act against.

This reduces the need for notes on the phone, but still, that has its place.

Ditching the smartwatch

I used to love Apple "eco-system", the phrase alone evokes a sense of nature and normality, but it's starting to feel liberating as I pull away from it.

I generally use the Apple Watch for telling the time, but also to ask Siri questions. Having instant untapped access to a thin layer of knowledge seemed wonderful, but I did start to wonder why the need for urgency and maybe that thin layer of knowledge may not have enough depth.

I also use the smartwatch to track my sleep. I love seeing metrics and data around sleep, fitness, and health. However, wearing the watch impacts my sleep negatively, and also I know when I have a good night's sleep, it usually coincides with when I go to bed early, and no children wake up in the night.

I've started to move away from the health indicators on the Apple Watch and phone and trust my body more.

More steps ahead

Being passionate about photography and using it as a creative outlet for many years, it seems like an easy choice to pick up one of my old cameras, instead of an iPhone. However, due to my children still being the same height as a camera on a strap, and forever getting bashed, it's still too inconvenient to bring out on days out.

I do use a fuji X camera around the house, and occasionally take a Campsnap camera, but still revert back to the phone.

Previous photography social media accounts (that I may or may not return to in the future) Link to my street photography and Lichfield Life Instagram feed

For now, the old saying, "the best camera you have with you", still rings true.

Summary

In summary, untethering from my phone has been a transformative journey, allowing me to reclaim my focus and intentionality.

By removing social media apps, simplifying my phone’s functionality, disabling unnecessary notifications, and incorporating more analog methods like traditional alarm clocks and notebooks, I've significantly reduced distractions.

This shift has not only improved my productivity and creativity but also set a positive example for my daughter. Embracing these changes has been liberating, providing a clearer path toward personal growth and a more balanced life.

I wrote this from pen to paper then to screen in 1 hr while on a train trip to work.. that says it all!

Digital detoxes and digital sprints

2024-06-28T00:00:00Z

Weeknotes from the 28 June 2024

##Things I did

###Monday

I embarked on the grand journey of crafting a high-level storyboard. The goal? To show how our products play could nice together and eliminate the endless rekeying of information.

###Tuesday

Had a session with Performance Analayst, iut was realy useful, and very much like the Google HEART Framework sessions I have run previously. View Google HEART framwork details on the IxD Foundation site.

Also was involved in an Alpha Assessment. The results were positive. We'll take that as a win.

###Wednesday

Had a great ideation session. The ideas were plentiful, the results... to be determined.

###Thursday

Managed to do some more sketches, in an ideation session led by the awesome Interaction design on the team. A rare treat these days. Embracing the design sprint approach, fast and furious.

Rediscovered an old design history tool I created back at GDS. Shared it with the Ministry of Justice. Nostalgia trip successful.

###Friday

Planning for another workshop. Carried out some desk research, and gathered artefacts for a new service designer. Hoping the team doesn't lose hope.

##Outside of Work

Growth Delved deeper into ChatGPT and iOS integration. Who knew AI could be so chatty?

Share Writing a post about digital detox. Because apparently, staring at screens all day isn't great for you.

Creative Kicking off a new side project aimed at community building and connection. Because we all need a little more connection, right?

Focus Spent less time on social media and my phone. It's like discovering a new world out there.

Assessments and iOS Shortcuts - A Week of Design Adventures

2024-06-21T00:00:00Z

Weeknotes from the 17 June 2024

Things I did

Monday

Started the week by organizing the post-MVP backlog. It was like Marie Kondo-ing our project: tidying up features and improvements for after our MVP launch. If it doesn't spark joy (or improve user experience), it's out.

Tuesday

I supported a team as they are having an their first assessment. This one is for leaving alpha phase. Spent the rest of the day juggling those post MVP tickets and emphasizing user-centric priorities with the team, because, you know, users are people too.

Wednesday

Had a kick-off meeting for our design team. Picture a lively session where we set goals, defined roles, and brainstormed like our lives depended on it. The energy was high, and the ideas were creative, to say the least.

Thursday

Held an exciting ideation session. The team threw around ideas like confetti, using mind mapping and rapid prototyping. It was productive and inspiring—a bit like a brainstorming party, minus the cake.

Friday

Spent today diving into technical constraints with the dev team. Not the most glamorous task, but essential. And started planning a workshop with some bigwigs!

Reflecting on a week filled with planning, collaboration, and creativity. Looking forward to riding this wave into next week.

Things I learnt

Automation

Wrapped up the week diving deeper into iOS shortcuts to automate tasks and reduce phone dependency. It's all about working smarter, not harder.

Some examples of IOS shortcuts I've been creating include:

Range journey planner for the EV (very accurate)
A tool to help capture weeknotes, used it for this actually.
Excessive milage calculator for the EV lease
Sharing ETA to family

Will write a post about the shortcuts with some steps, as I did take a UCD approach to pain points I've identified and it might be interesting to someone.

Away from work

Reducing phone dependancy

I've started afew thing:

Removed social media apps off my phone. I've been trying to use clunky websites on the laptop instead.
Using an old fasiohed alarm clock instead of the phone
Dusted off my Fuji X series camera, and made sure it was handy
Using Siri more (including the shortcuts above)

Weeknotes 03 May 2024

2024-05-03T00:00:00Z

What I did

I've been getting more familiar with the different strands of work I'm looking at. Really interesting work with some complex challenges, and opportunities.
I met new team that is doing fantastic work for people in prison, and those workign in prison.
Had a great call with a user researcher about insights from recent research sessions, and spoke with accessibilty and inclusive design expert, which I had some overlap with while back working on Test and Trace, some years ago.

What I learnt

Not much formal learning as still getting up to speed with the services I'm working with

Next week

Next week I plan to do the following

Be in Sheffield for some face to face workshops
Start planning for the next few months

Away from work

Just started to use my old Apple Watch just for sleep tracking, and tracking any excersise away from zwift. I moved away from it as prefer being disconnected so an analgoue watch is my preference, however I'm also a simpleton who is motivated by numbers and gamification.

Surprise surprise I dont sleep enough... I knew that, but trying to sleep more to address the deficit.

Weeknotes 26 April 2024

2024-04-26T00:00:00Z

What I did

I've been getting more familiar with the different strands of work I'm looking at. Really interesting work with some complex challenges, and opportunities.
I met new team that is doing fantastic work for people in prison, and those workign in prison.
Had a great call with a user researcher about insights from recent research sessions, and spoke with accessibilty and inclusive design expert, which I had some overlap with while back working on Test and Trace, some years ago.

What I learnt

Not much formal learning as still getting up to speed with the services I'm working with

Next week

Next week I plan to do the following

Be in Sheffield for some face to face workshops
Start planning for the next few months

Away from work

Surprise surprise I dont sleep enough... I knew that, but trying to sleep more to address the deficit.

Weeknotes 20 April 2024

2024-04-20T00:00:00Z

New contract

This week I started a new Service Design contract with MoJ. Back with a team and services I have worked with before. I've really enjoyed my first week, and got up to speed a lot quicker than I would have usually.

I’m working at a couple of different lenses. Quite close to the detail in a few services that could join up a little better but also feed into a much wider cross services space, that could have a really impact on the Justice Community.

The problem space I’m working in is pretty complex, and I usually gravitate to Technical Architects, or bring my daft questions to them. This gives me a sound understanding of perceived constraints. Often decisions made from a technical level impact the end user and influence design decisions. Also if a tech architect is patient enough to handle my daft questions, it’s a good litmus test to tell me if I’m working in a nice service space. So far so good! As before being surrounded by people passionate about their work is very inspiring.

Systems thinking

I finished a short course on Systems Thinking, from the Uncshool of Disruptive Design. I really enjoyed it and it was full of practical methods to bring a more systemic approach to solving service problems.

Next week

Next week I plan to do the following

Have 1:1s with as many different professions as possible
Revisitng TISDD book
Read further into System Thinking
Resist temptation to do any mapping
Speak to another team I'm providing Service Design Support for
Start planning for the next few months

Away from work

I've just built a shelf for my camper van, lthough I should be doing more in the house! Also frantically looking for cheap getaways.

Indoor cycling a bit and doing some HIIT classes but have a tendon issue which means I should be resting. Very frustrated to be missing out on basketball, with my local middleaged dads team, the Lichfield Legends!

Feel free to follow me on strava Strava.

The new year - 2023

2023-01-04T00:00:00Z

As we move into a new year, what will I do more of, less of or cut out completely. I'm trying to phrase this not as New Year Resolutions, but who am I trying to kid... thats pretty much it!

Start

I've always been interested in film and cinematography. I've created a number of corporate films before, however would love to create a documentary at some point. Could 2023 be the year I do it, not likely but heres hoping!

More of

I hope to do more design, this year. An odd thing to say for a Service Designer, however recently I've wanted to get closer to the projects I work on, and ultimately closer to its users. Over the last 12 months much of the work I've done has been quite strategic. I'm looking forward to a couple of new projects I'm about to begin, which will be very much in the detail!

I've recently got back into running, primarily just at park runs but really enjoy it. Feel free to follow me on strava Strava.

Also would like to play more basketball. Me and a few other dads from school have set up an informal basketball training session for other busy people who can't commit to formal league matches. View more at Lichfield Legends - very much work in progress!

I also look forward to more photography this year. I do take a lot of images, but keen to take less images but better photographs. Managing the 10,000's of images is becoming laborious.

Less of

I'd like to cut down on my sugar intake. I always feel loads better when I cut it down. Lots more energy and generally lighter!

I hope to be a tad less attached to my phone. I'm guilty of checking emails and slack and also writing long emails on phones. Also hoping using my standalone camera more will keep me from distractions on my phone.

Cut out

I've very rarely on social media, Twitter and Mastadon are the exception. Almost never on Facebook, Instagram etc.. so I hope to cut out facebook, instagram and other visual first social media channels, as the lack of context with the imagery often skews perception.

Getting paid

2022-12-02T00:00:00Z

Losing passion by being paid

A post about the conflict felt when getting paid for things you are passionate about, and would ultimately do for free, if in a position to do so. Also how I don't see that happening within my design career.

For the last 20+ years I’ve been an avid photographer. It started at University when the first few digital cameras came about. I was mesmerised. Later I discovered film photography, picking up a Pentax half frame camera my dad bought while in Saudi in the 70s. Other film cameras include the Leica M6, which I regret selling and the fantastic Contax G2.

After documenting university, and a number of storytelling workshops later, I started to documented weddings of my friends, and soon fell into reportage wedding photography as well as corporate photography.

Meanwhile I would follow a passion of street photography, all whilst freelancing as a UX designer from agency to agency.

Once I had children my passion for professional photography dropped. In fact passion for any photography dipped.

I went from having multiple cameras and lenses to using just a phone. Constantly trying to strike the balance between enjoying the moment, not needing to capture everything, and having just enough documented to bring back memories.

I hope to pick a new camera up in the new year but I think years of being paid for something, Im passionate about has left me not wanting to pick up a camera any time soon.

View more images on my flickr image gallery.

The day job

With regards my day job, I very much enjoy designing accessible services while answering those unmet needs the public are faced with on a daily basis.

In addition to working on services for public and private sector clients, I do often provide charities free advice and consultancy when needed via Digital Candle.

If it wasn’t for seeing users satisfaction when completing a previously tricky interaction, or the fact that there’s so much to learn, new techniques and problems to face, my day job could be victim to the same demise.

My drive is to keep learning and keep finding unmet user needs. I think that should keep me busy for a while!

My design journey

2022-10-01T00:00:00Z

My introduction to user centred design

I've always been creative and back in school often enjoyed using tools like publisher to make album covers for my favourite bands at the time, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Public Enemy (very eclectic I know). It wasn't until I went to university to study Multimedia Computing, part of the Computer Science course at Manchester Metropolitan University.

That course covered a lot, from coding with Java, data mining with Oracle, interaction and animation in Macromedia Director and HTML.

There were some great classes in Human Computer Interaction and was immediately drawn to that, and the Director course. Thought I might become a CD Rom designer, probably a good move I didn't stick to that niche!

The areas I focused on while at university and was the basis of my thesis was:

Human Computer interaction
Psychology inc, cognitive, classical and operant conditioning
Memory theory
Accessibility
Practical skills using software
Basic coding

In 2003 while at University I managed to get a placement year working for an NHS initiative, through the Modernisation Agency. The role involved designing E-Learning tools to empower NHS staff. There were some great talented people on the team, many with lived experience of being Nurses and leaders within the NHS. Due to the hard work of the team that project went on to win an award at the IT Institute.

After graduating in 2004, I went to work for Birmingham City University (UCE then). Initially as a graphic designer, but the role moved into digital as CSS became more common.

Variety

For the next 10 years I worked for different design agencies, apart from a 2 year stint client side for a shipping company. Really interesting role that meant a lot of travelling, including two trips to West Africa.

Creativity

After freelancing for many years I became a permanent UX designer at fish in a bottle. I really enjoyed how creative that role was. The platforms varied from project to project; including:

interactive exhibitions with the Natural History Museum
educational online services for Warwick university
HTML games for BBC
interactive storytelling with BBC Casualty,
brochure sites for Telly Tubbies

Back to the user

Throughout my career I always brought a user centered design approach to all problems I face, championing research and bestowing its benefits to stakeholders.

The move to Senior Interaction Designer in 2017, to a high profile HMRC project, came very naturally. The mix of design and tech is the perfect mix for me.

My government design work includes:

Ministry of Justice Working within Reducing Reoffending, through transforming education in prison.
UK Health and Security Agency Working on Test and Trace
Ministry of Justice Working on secure messaging across the justice community
HMRC working from Discovery to Live on Making Tax Digital, covering the VAT Return service and Self Assessment

Read more about my current work at Ministry of Justice.

Read about the Senior Interaction Designer role on GOV.UK.
Read about the Senior Service Designer role on GOV.UK.

Lichfield Life

2022-02-09T00:00:00Z

Shining a light on the small but creative city of Lichfield

Lichfield Life is a photography project aimed to promote Lichfield creatives, businesses and community organisations that make Lichfield a better place to live, work and visit.

It was a project born out of lockdown boredom. After a hiatus from my photography, I decided to dust off a camera or two and start shooting anything he found interesting.

View Lichfield Life Instagram feed.

It morphed from a small creative project to a a channel to support start ups and independent businesses through lockdown.

View Lichfield Life website.

The perfect prototyping tool

2022-01-04T00:00:00Z

I recently was interviewed for a research session about prototyping. It may have turned into a bit of a rant so thought it best to waffle about it here.

Prototyping is one of my favourite activities in the design process. It’s all about experimenting, proving or disproving any hypothesis.

Creativity

I’m naturally a bit of a maker, and being able to create something that can cause conversations and breakthroughs is wonderful. It’s also the closest I get to being an “artist” apart from when doing my photography. By artist I mean create something that provokes further ideas or opinions.

Looking at the design process, once we’ve explored in discovery and honed in on defining a problem, we get to finally start thinking about solutions..

Quantity not quality

I’ve witnessed many times where designers jump in to prototyping too early, focussing too soon on a solution and rarely pivoting away or scrapping an idea entirely. By delaying prototyping we get to explore more ideas and the crappier the better. With the quantity of ideas we have more chance of coming up with true transformation.

The right tool

Each client I have has their own preferred tool. Figma, Mural, GOV prototype tool kit, sketch, marvel, inVision, balsamic the list goes on. It’s often the first tool they use when visualising a solution and testing it as a prototype.

Prototyping and testing with users is great but limiting ourselves to one tool for all problems also brings in bias and it's not always the right tool at the right time of a project. Using one tool is great for reducing design ops workflow and cost but I do think using more than one approach will be beneficial.

Prototype stacks

I’m sometimes asked what’s my favourited tool to use, and I struggle to answer. A TISDD course introduced me to a term Prototype Stack and that’s a great approach. Just like you wouldn’t use one tool for all your DIY, like screw a screw with a sledge hammer or a knife, although I have tried that multiple times; I round the screw and the knife.

Using multiple tools and understanding what tool is best for specific projects is invaluable and leads to better insights from research.

These are the tools I use to prototype:

Pen and paper
Marvel
Miro
Figma
Gov.uk prototyping toolkit (a lot)

I also use investigative rehearsal, since Adam StJohn Lawrence introduced me to it at a fantastic TISDD course! Thanks Adam StJohn Lawrence, Markus Edgar Hormeß and Marc Stickdorn.

Rubbish first drafts

2021-11-22T00:00:00Z

Background

Nostalgia alert! Many moons ago I’d like nothing more than spending hours in photoshop pushing pixels around a screen. I’d never be that happy with the result as too close to it.

I would finally unveil said design to a client or design lead, and that’s the perfect word to describe it. We would talk about the design process, the inspiration, the client brief and how we've smashed it after hrs of pixel pushing. Finally the veil drops and the client is happy, usually.

Where’s the user

Were my hrs well spent pushing pixels? Well I quickly realised they weren’t, for many reasons. Back then UX was in its infancy and my role was to use my “expert opinion” and insight on human computer interaction to deliver usable, inspirational designs.

The user wasn’t considered any more than that, so my bias steered the product vision. Fast forward at 10-15 years and user research is at the forefront of design decisions. User centred design has matured and the understanding of what it can give to businesses has been realised.

Image showing 2 designs with slightly different UI So if the user is at the heart of decisions why do I keep seeing UI polls on linkedIn; “which is better” 🤦🏻♂️. Why are junior designers still pushing pixels.

Crappy first drafts

With experience came confidence to share my crappy first drafts, because when you design for users the quicker the user is involved in that design the better.

The better for your stakeholders, your product and services, your margins and your internal workforce, but most importantly better for your users.

The insight we can get from testing our ideas early and crappy, are huge. It allows us to pivot, step back and think wider or scrap the project entirely.

The insight we get from a pixel perfect solution could be just as rich, could also be massively misplaced, too focused and cost considerably more effort. It’s also harder to move away from a design that has been refined.

I will discuss this more in a prototyping brain dump coming soon.

Clarity

Sharing crappy first drafts is great, providing those that view them have full understanding that what they are seeing is rough and far from refined. This becomes second nature when you work closely with your team and even stakeholders. In the early days of a project this does need to be spelled out.

Multiple ideas

When we have one idea, even when its rough, we can still get attached to it. In my experience it’s always best to explore multiple approaches and take them to a rough draft view, whether that’s a prototype or a journey map. Having more than one idea also makes its really easy to drop the weaker ones, and still keep the project moving.

Wrap it up

So in a nutshell share crappy with your team and communities sooner, just ensure you explain to others that’s what it is. Go for quantity of ideas over quality in the early days of ideation and get those ideas in-front of your team, communities and your users.

Image of Barry Khan, Service Designer About me. I'm a Service Designer with nearly 20 years design experience in the public and private sector, for agencies and in-house design teams.

Currently consulting for the UK Government, and like to waffle about all things design including service design, interaction design, agile, product strategy and accessibility and inclusivity.

Barry Khan - Design Consultant

Weeknotes – AI deep dive

Work #

Away from Work #

Weeknotes – Past Meets Future

Work #

Away from Work #

Two Eyes One Mouth

Listen first, talk later #

AI update #

Hardware upgrades #

BMX bandits #

Closing Chapters, Opening Laptops (and Pizza Ovens)

Things I did #

At work #

Closing the MoJ chapter #

At play #

A new machine for new ideas #

Pizza progress continues #

Designing Services, Baking Dough, and Catching Sun

Things I did #

At work #

Back to one design hat #

Trip to Sheffield #

At play #

Pizza dough calculator app #

New ? old oven #

Solar Panel and Battery update #

Two Hats and Solar Stats

Things I did #

At work #

Two hats #

Trip to Sheffield #

Bikablo #

At play #

Photography #

Solar Panel and Battery update #

AI and side projects #

Time off #

Back to first principles

Things I did #

At work #

Prototype migration #

The good

The bad

Prison process mapping #

In-person planning #

At play #

Bikablo #

Solar Panel and Battery installation #

AI and side projects #

Picking up the camera #

Shiny but problematic - The pitfalls of leading with technology

When tech gets distracting #

When good tech fails without a clear need #

Amazon' putting user needs first #

Amazon's core value proposition #

AI's Impact: Environment and Society #

Summary #

Catching Up and Moving Forward

Things I did #

At work #

At play #

Hopes for 2025 #

Wrapping Up 2024 - A Whirlwind Week

Reflecting on the Year #

Learning and Evolving #

Looking Ahead to 2025 #

Back to Work, Mapping, and Mountain Biking

Things I did #

Mapping #

Outside of Work #

Automating Everyday Tasks with iOS Shortcuts - A User-Centered Approach to Enhance Efficiency

What's the problem I'm trying to solve? #

Pain points #

Job story #

How might we resolve them #

Calculate range to destination #

Calculate milage costs #

Capture idea #

Work

Away from Work

Work

Away from Work

Listen first, talk later

AI update

Hardware upgrades

BMX bandits

Things I did

At work

Closing the MoJ chapter

At play

A new machine for new ideas

Pizza progress continues

Things I did

At work

Back to one design hat

Trip to Sheffield

At play

Pizza dough calculator app

New ? old oven

Solar Panel and Battery update

Things I did

At work

Two hats

Trip to Sheffield

Bikablo

At play

Photography

Solar Panel and Battery update

AI and side projects

Time off

Things I did

At work

Prototype migration

Prison process mapping

In-person planning

At play

Bikablo

Solar Panel and Battery installation

AI and side projects

Picking up the camera

When tech gets distracting

When good tech fails without a clear need

Amazon' putting user needs first

Amazon's core value proposition

AI's Impact: Environment and Society

Summary

Things I did

At work

At play

Hopes for 2025

Reflecting on the Year

Learning and Evolving

Looking Ahead to 2025

Things I did

Mapping

Outside of Work

What's the problem I'm trying to solve?

Pain points

Job story

How might we resolve them

Calculate range to destination

Calculate milage costs

Capture idea

Record weeknote

Summary

Things I did

Planning for an Ideation Workshop

High-Level Storyboarding

End-to-End Discussions

Outside of work

RSS feeds

Things I did

In work

Outside of work

Long Weekend in Bath

Extra-Curricular Activities

A busman's holiday

Why I wanted to reduce my phone use