Issue #35 - What's your priority?

By Ross Chapman • Issue #35

I’ve never missed a publish date until now. What happened?! Life got in the way, and rightfully so - something that Dann Petty reminded me of earlier today.

Priority is a single word. Author Greg McKeown wrote about this word in his book Essentialism:

“The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing.”

McKeown further wrote:

“Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term [priority] and start talking about priorities. Illogically, we reasoned that by changing the word, we could bend reality.”

When everything is important, nothing is. That’s something worth bearing in mind when you’ve got multiple projects on at the same time. Someone gave me a piece of advice a while ago, when I asked him “how do manage delivering projects at the same time?” He replied quite simply “doing a bit by bit makes my world go round” and that can be applied to work. Three projects, three hours on each per day: you’re going to get three projects delivered.

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UX design

This blind Apple engineer is transforming the tech world at only 22

“[Accessibility] isn’t something where you just do it once, check that box and then move on to do other things.” Can be applied to user experience more generally! 22-year-old Jordyn Castor found at an early age that she could help make technology more accessible for blind users. She also has this fantastic view that “You aren’t going to know unless you try. You aren’t going to know unless you talk to them … so go.”

mashable.com • Share

Remote workshops: Collaboration done virtually

Remote design heroes show how to get their UX design done spread across the world and across disciplines. Times are a'changing and the number of organisations embracing remote work is constantly rising. Get on board!

logbook.hanno.co • Share

Nine Nasty UX Truths

This hits home hard! My colleagues sometimes struggle with understanding some aspects of design, so here’s some myths laid to rest. Number three has come up a lot this past week, especially in eCommerce (nobody reads!).

medium.com • Share

eCommerce

We gave up on retail, then it gave up on us

Bricks and mortar shops are an area I’m getting more and more interested in (reminds me - I should catchup with a school buddy of mine who works here)!

There’s a common use case of customers viewing in store, but buying at home - which plays to eCommerce quite well. So are the eCommerce-only offerings excluding a large source of revenue? This is particularly of interest as I see Tens, the sunglasses startup I invested in, opens its first popup store in London after years of eCommerce-only.

medium.com • Share

23 clever uses for colour in eCommerce UX

Colour plays an important part in web design and eCommerce. This is particularly useful at a time where I’m refining the checkout process user experience. Using colour for success and for warnings is particularly key, as well as introducing styles to areas that you want the user to input. Here’s a tip from me: stand 6 feet away from your screen and see whether you can spot the primary call to action.

econsultancy.com • Share

Microfeedback - Introduction & Free Get Started Guide

Microfeedback is critical to understanding what customers think of your product. Learn how to integrate microfeedback into your product experience.

www.sarahdoody.com • Share

Coolness

The Purpose Hotel: Change the World in Your Sleep by Jeremy Cowart

I’ve followed Jeremy Cowart’s work for a while. He’s not just an artist and photographer, but someone who works to give back to those less fortunate. He’s currently raising funds for The Purpose Hotel - watch the video for an intro!

www.kickstarter.com • Share

Google Self-Driving Cars Can Read Cyclists' Hand Signals

Google has taught its self-driving cars to recognize cyclists and how they behave to better predict their course. Pretty cool tech!

fortune.com • Share

Giz a job (it'll boost cycling)

Getting more people on bikes could be boosted by getting more people employed in the cycling business. That’s the learnings from this BikeBiz article, featuring Wiggle. I think the UK is starting to realise what a big industry it is, and doing something about it!

www.bikebiz.com • Share

Here's to deciding what your priority is!

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By Ross Chapman

A weekly collection of product design, user research, cycling and coolness from @rosschapman of @etchuk

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