Weeknotes, Friday 13 September
The dark clouds have given way to a crisp Autumn chill, now we’re talking. None of this wet nonsense, let’s keep things crispy.
Anyway, here’s what’s been happening this week.
Cost of living content
Started drafting a new section for financial support, bringing together bits of content that are currently spread across the council website in various ‘hubs’ and sections.
One snag is uncertainty around where Household Support Funding will be allocated, but we’ll find out soon enough. Another tricky part is getting info on community supermarkets: where they are, how costs work, when they’re open. Probably more suited so some kind of directory, but will have to just be a page of content for now.
Forms research
Had a lot of fun piloting a user research session to test out a form to ‘apply to be a school governor’. Looking forward to testing it for real. Some questions stolen directly from Caroline Jarrett’s book were particularly effective. We’re thinking of using this discussion guide to test other forms, with a little bit of tweaking.
Looking forward to SD in Gov
This has come around quick, looking forward to attending Service Design in Government for the first time. Only heard good things. The keynotes and sessions look great, particularly looking forward to hearing from Rachel Coldicutt and a session on escaping the discovery doom loop from Priyanca D’Souza and Ian Ames.
Interesting stuff
Brat summer has given way to Platformland autumn, the new book from Richard Pope, which “describes the types of interaction we should expect from the next generation of public services, the digital platforms and infrastructure they will be built with, and the public sector design values needed to make them a reality.”
Anh Duong / How to consider non-native English speakers in UX #id24 2024 (youtube.com)
Living with dyscalculia | LinkedIn
Distractions
Listening
WOOF. by Fat Dog (album). Chaotic, reminds me of IDLES, Fat White Family kinda vibe.
Manning Fireworks by MJ Lenderman (album). Interesting indie song writing.
Watching
Beast on BFI Player, tense thriller about falling in love with someone who may of may not be a serial killer.
Kaos on Netflix, modern adaption of Greek myths.
