Ross Chapman A weekly collection of product design, user research, cycling and coolness from @rosschapman of @etchuk 263 subscribers 88 issues Subscribe to my list This thingy has to be empti pwieshh
#88 September 14, 2017 Share, don't care 💌 #88 – Last Friday, Etch hosted the Summer Summit: An afternoon of digital and drinks. I shared my views on
#87 September 2, 2017 Coping with the workload 📇 #87 – The long break is over and I'm back!I've been reading a couple of books and it's really made me think
#86 August 8, 2017 Summer vacation ☀️ #86 – I'm on my summer holidays next week, so no issue from me this or next Friday (and sorry this issue is
#85 July 28, 2017 More workshops, less meetings ✏️ #85 – This week, we met with a new client who works in the events sector and ran a requirements gathering w
#84 July 21, 2017 Know yourself to improve yourself 👨🎨 #84 – Do you know what your role is? Understanding that can help you decide on the next step. It did for me
#83 July 16, 2017 Designers can sell too 🤑 #83 – It's been a while since I sent my first proposal for a design project. Luckily, times have changed an
#82 July 7, 2017 Tomato timing for discipline 🍅 #82 – I've been looking at improving focus this week, and it seems it's a common problem in the industry. I
#81 July 5, 2017 Don't forget the "U" in "UX" 👩🚀 #81 – In a bid to improve our design process, I've been evaluating each part and this week, I've been looki
#80 June 30, 2017 Product design process 🦄 #80 – This week, I've been trying to discover how to improve our product design process for a design agency
#79 June 23, 2017 I've joined Etch ✌️ #79 – Who? Etch UK is a user experience design and marketing studio. Why? You had better read this Medium p
#78 June 9, 2017 I'm leaving Wiggle 👋 #78 – Well, if you somehow missed the subject line, then read again - I'm leaving Wiggle.I'm stepping out o
#77 June 2, 2017 Where do you get your inspiration? 🌟 #77 – When you're part of an in-house design team, sometimes you can get under-nourished. I make sure I'm k
#76 May 26, 2017 Copy that 📝 #76 – Copy guides are so important. They detail tone of voice. They talk about the direction words should f
#75 May 19, 2017 Complexion reduction ✂️ #75 – “I strive for two things in design: simplicity and clarity. Great design is born of those two things.
#74 May 14, 2017 Create best practice ✔︎ #74 – Looking back at past issues, I've been sharing links on what some call "best practice." I'm asked wha
#73 May 8, 2017 Drive digital transformation 💻 #73 – Businesses leveraging digital are going to accelerate their growth. And as we learnt from last week's
#72 May 1, 2017 Conversion begins with conversation 📈 #72 – Quoted from the father of web design: Jeffrey Zeldman. I've often strived to balance qualitative and
#71 April 21, 2017 If I rest, I rust ⛲️ #71 – Davie Bell was a pioneering off road cyclist and tourer/randonneur. His motto was "if I rest, I rust.
#70 April 12, 2017 Issue #70 🎯 Staying on target – I set targets in my work and even my personal life. What they do is ensure that I have a long-term pl
#69 March 31, 2017 You either win or you learn 🎖 Issue #69 – According to Daniel Burka, design partner at Google Ventures - you either "win or you learn" in a des
#68 March 27, 2017 Quality or speed 💫 Issue #68 – There's been a conversation recently about speed over quality - something you get with a minimum viab
#67 March 17, 2017 Show and tell (and sell) 😎 Issue #67 – Never launch on a Friday? 😂 Happy to share with you the new Design Manual we've been working on at W
#66 March 14, 2017 Gender diversity✌️ - Issue #66 – I've enjoyed reading lots of articles this past week about women in tech, cycling and design.With Int
#65 March 3, 2017 It's not colour. It's contrast 🌓 Issue #65 – I had a conversation with my team on Wednesday and we were talking about design. The conversation got
#64 February 28, 2017 Play the long game 🎲 Issue #64 – "Play the long game ... Treat people with the intent of having a relationship forever" @GaryVeeI beli
#63 February 17, 2017 Push on 🚨 Issue #63 – One thing athletes do well is push on. I was reminded of this with Rapha's new film Perspectives, tha
#62 February 10, 2017 Show off ⭐️ Issue #62 – I saw a question posted on LinkedIn asking:What's the difference between a good UX professional and a
#61 February 2, 2017 Culture recruits 👏 Issue #61 – Many companies local to ours are hiring, but getting mixed success. Experienced designers and develop
#60 January 27, 2017 Design is now different 🍥 Issue #60 – Design has evolved. The role of design used to be that designers would get a brief, go away for a few
#59 January 20, 2017 👫 Together is better 👫 Issue #59 – Doing things as a group is far more interesting to me than as an individual, whether that be work or
#58 January 13, 2017 🙏 How not to fail 🙏 - Issue #58 – 7 out of 8 digital transformation projects result in failure, according to Forbes (great share Nomens
#57 January 6, 2017 🔔 Establish a routine 🔔 Issue #57 – Now most of us are back at work after a long break, I personally find it a good opportunity to look a
#56 December 30, 2016 Issue #56: How to do UX design – I met Thomas Barber of Svelte London on Wednesday (after a freezing 6 hour ride from Southampton). Ov
#55 December 29, 2016 Issue #55: Any fool can sing at night – Give me a man who can sing in the morning ....any fool can sing at night (ref)I love the mornings. My
#54 December 16, 2016 Issue #54: Time well spent – I find getting to work is a pain. According to a recent report:Traffic congestion costs UK business a
#53 December 9, 2016 Issue #53: Bricks versus Clicks – Bricks versus Clicks. In the same week that the 309 year old Fortnum and Mason announce 12% growth in
#52 December 2, 2016 Issue #52: Let's go retro – I find retrospectives invaluable. Identifying what was good, bad and what you'd do differently next t
#51 November 25, 2016 Issue #51: Understand the problem before you design the solution – Understand the problem before you design the solution.It's Black Friday and it's really interesting f
#50 November 21, 2016 Issue #50: Get past the numbers – It was Frontier Conference last week! So pleasing to share some ideas and experiences, but also hear
#49 November 11, 2016 Issue #49: Happiness is unachievable – It's around this time of year that I start looking towards the next. What do I want to do? What do I
#48 November 4, 2016 Issue #48: Thinking versus making – Thinking versus making.I find an increasing amount of my time is spent thinking through problems or s
#47 November 2, 2016 Issue #47: Lead with design – I attended the first Leading Design Conference in London last week. It was a fantastic opportunity to
#46 October 21, 2016 Issue #46: Hiring people smarter than you – I went to the Evening Of event last night in Southampton to hear from Rob Hampson about how he design
#45 October 19, 2016 Issue #45: How you do UX design – I'm getting lots of good feedback from the post I shared last time on how we do usability testing out
#44 September 29, 2016 Issue #44 - Feedback is how we learn – I'm just putting the finishing touches on to a usability testing session evaluation that we ran at th
#43 September 16, 2016 Issue #43 - Bringing people with you – There's no point in doing great design if you don't bring people along the process with you. That's b
#42 September 12, 2016 Issue #42 - New perspectives – I've been looking at screen readers today. It's just one experience that I haven't really investigate
#41 September 6, 2016 Issue #41 - Change for great and don't settle for good – Change can take a long time and that's why it's worth celebrating the rewards they bring. We've been
#40 August 22, 2016 Issue #40 - There is only hard work – Quite often, there isn't a process. More than often, people ask for one.The interesting thing about U
#39 August 12, 2016 Issue #39 - Keeping on keeping on – "There is an increasing demand for digital devices for children, especially in schools to provide an
#38 August 9, 2016 Issue #38 - Design never stops – So late publishing this issue, but not ready to disappoint!I've been designing for both iOS and the w
#37 July 29, 2016 Issue #37 - Fall in love with customers – Marcin Treder said this week on Twitter that "falling in love with your competitors leads to a medioc
#36 July 22, 2016 Issue #36 - Just Do It! 👍 – When I went to secondary school, I had a multi-coloured Nike branded backpack. The message emblazoned
#35 July 20, 2016 Issue #35 - What's your priority? – I've never missed a publish date until now. What happened?! Life got in the way, and rightfully so -
#34 July 8, 2016 Issue #34 - Plan, adapt, DO THE RIGHT THING! – So great to pass 100 subscribers - thank you so much! That might be a relatively small number, but ha
#33 July 1, 2016 Issue #33 - Bucking trends and analysing spend – Copycats never prosper.In nearly every single meeting I go to, we somehow end up looking at what othe
#32 June 24, 2016 Issue #32 - Painting stripes on a horse and calling it a zebra – I was invited to a rather lovely wine-tasting evening yesterday on HMS Warrior, from the fab guys at
#31 June 17, 2016 Issue #31 - Original content from me! – I've been wary of sharing ideas in the past, fearing that I'd add to the noise I find in design. I al
#30 June 10, 2016 Issue #30 - Focus – Putting the hours of work in is important, but they need to be focused hours, otherwise you're going
#29 June 3, 2016 Issue #29 - Execution is the GAME – "It’s impossible to have a good strategy poorly executed. That’s because execution actually is strate
#28 May 27, 2016 Issue #28 - Some decisions aren't yours to make – "The time is always right to do the right thing." - Martin Luther King, Jr.I'm asked to make decision
#27 May 21, 2016 Issue #27 - Which path will you choose? – Given a choice between increasing revenue or increasing customer happiness - which do you choose?That
#26 May 13, 2016 Issue #26 - Hot this week! – This issue starts with a bang (quite literally!).Design needs to be bold and sometimes you need to te
#25 May 9, 2016 Issue #25 - UX design, User Research and eCommerce – There's been an awakening. Have you felt it? Businesses are waking up to the fact that to stay in bus
#24 April 29, 2016 Issue #24 – Execution. It's all very well collecting great ideas, reading articles, going to conferences, writing
#23 April 25, 2016 Issue #23 – Knowing that I have to keep learning to keep earning means that I'm constantly challenging myself to
#22 April 15, 2016 Issue #22 – Apple famously doesn't use focus groups. Why? Probably because focus groups tell you what you want to
#21 April 11, 2016 Issue #21 – I design to solve the big problems. The problem statements where I'm able to offer the most value are
#20 April 4, 2016 Issue #20 – Shipping late, but shipping great!I was fortunate to meet some really inspiring people last week in L
#19 March 25, 2016 Issue #19 – Just prepping this issue before the Easter holidays!Last week's issue resonated well on the subject o
#18 March 18, 2016 Issue #18 – After talking to a couple of rather excellent people last week, I felt like making this issue about g
#17 March 11, 2016 Issue #17 – Yesterday, I made my way to London to visit the Retail Design Expo at Olympia, and to meet up with ne
#16 March 4, 2016 Issue #16 – I've been challenging the status quo most of my adult life. Why are things like this? Why do I have t
#15 February 29, 2016 Issue #15 – A couple of days late, but just as great!I've been sharing my 10 UX Design Hacks this past week, with
#14 February 19, 2016 Issue #14 – This week has been mental! Making connections, talking to people and generating new ideas (while also
#13 February 12, 2016 Issue #13 – We're nearly 50-strong in issue #13. Unlucky for some, but not for me - thank you for reading!The not
#12 February 5, 2016 Issue #12 – Over 40 subscribers! Thank you for supporting this mailshot - it gives me hope that what I'm sharing
#11 January 29, 2016 Issue #11 – Thank you for following and welcome new subscribers!This week I've started to get my mojo back, after
#10 January 22, 2016 Issue #10 – Changing stuff just for changes sake is old news. Designing with data is hot. Making design decisions
#9 January 15, 2016 Issue #9 – It's been a week of talking, sharing and asking "Why?" When I pick up a task and go through the docum
#8 January 8, 2016 Issue #8 – With the first working week of 2016 behind us, I'm focusing all my energy into being the best designe
#7 January 2, 2016 Issue #7 – Late, but great. I've been taking time out this Christmas period to spend time with the family, think
#6 December 18, 2015 Issue #6 – A slimmer version this week (as it's been a bit busy with work!) and a slightly tweaked format, but h
#5 December 11, 2015 Issue #5 – Another action-packed week has passed. I've started to think about how people understand UX design. I
#4 December 4, 2015 Issue #4 – Hello again! How quickly a week goes by!This week, I've been coding prototypes, firmly believing that
#3 November 27, 2015 Issue #3 – It might be Black Friday, but colour me inspired! Lots of learning this week, researching our users,
#2 November 20, 2015 Issue #2 – The difficult second issue! This week I've focused on teams - it's best to do stuff with each other!
#1 November 13, 2015 Issue #1 – Welcome to the first weekly mailshot from me, Ross Chapman, a user experience designer in the UK. I h
