Mike Pertwee

Well that's a wrap! 4 weeks flew by but I am the proud new owner of this certificate from Designlab's Advanced Usability and Accessibility course (and of course, a wealth of new knowledge about accessible design and coding practices)! I've sharpened up some old skills, added new ones to my toolbox, and come away even more inspired to design with accessibility as priority #1. As AI tools become more popular and their inherent biases emerge in the work they produce, it has never been more essential to get educated about how you can keep your work inclusive and not leave users behind in the pursuit of efficiency. See y'all in the Lighthouse Reports!

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Our Senior Product Designer Rosie Dent-Spargo held a superb session in February with the Product Design team to create values and principles. Using guidance from Dan Makoski's book Uplifting Design, the session was dynamic and layered. The focus wasn't solely on creation, but also how we might embed principles and values into daily work. This write up is the Rolls-Royce of "How to"s, and is a very valuable read for those looking to create and instil values and principles within any team. https://lnkd.in/e7DXm_Ca #productdesign #principles #values

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Last week I put out a call to arms around entry level roles in UCD/Service Design. Here’s a summary of what I think could help next year: 🧠 Sharing knowledge: People writing more about what their organisations are doing and sharing this so others can borrow their approach. Rachel Bucknall committed to doing this, it would also be great to hear from Simon M. re the apprenticeship at HMRC. 📧 Visibility of roles: Matt Jukes has committed to sharing more entry level roles in his jobs newsletter but we need to send them to him. Let’s not avalanche him so maybe if you see something on here tag Matt. I’ll be sending anything I see his way directly.  ✏️ Opportunities to get project experience: It sounds like Adam Haesler is running a great initiative in this space and I will be personally exploring how I can offer shadowing opportunities next year. I’d be keen to hear from any other freelancers who are up for doing this alongside me. I also think there is room here for the design agencies out there to be offering (paid) placements.  💬 Access to advice: I’ve been running free walk n talks for people looking to get into the industry for years now. It looks like other freelancers like Ella Botting are keen to replicate this model and I’d love others to borrow it too. 👨‍💻 Shifting procurement: This is a biggie but a key part of the puzzle that Martin Wright, David Robson and Ray Newman brought up. Building this in as a procurement criteria, changing the narrative between suppliers and clients and agencies taking the hit were all mentioned as solutions. Things are not going to change over night, I recognise this. However it’s heartening to see the conversation start to shift from problems to solutions. I do think this is a drop in the ocean however, and some key voices are missing. So, how do we continue to make progress in this space? Do I need to ‘run a thing’ next year?! #servicedesign #ucd #entrylevel

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We got our first website accessibility audit in quite a while done recently. It's important not to be daunted by the report you get back – we are thoroughly working through it to make the improvements needed. We're trying to design and develop things in a robust way, and a nice bonus was some big recently shipped work had no known issues. It just shows that when you build accessibility in from the start it makes a huge impact. #accessibility

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Do you know why UK Startups Are Investing in Professional UI/UX Audits? Picture this: I have launched a product. I’ve built it, and marketed it, but something’s off. Users aren’t engaging the way I hoped. Is it my idea? My marketing? What is it? For many startups, the answer lies in the UI/UX. Sometimes, it’s not the design but how users experience it. A professional audit is like a health check for a website or app. Experts analyze the user journey, identify friction points, and highlight areas causing frustration or confusion. Why UI/UX is a game-changer for startups like mine? 1. User Retention: An audit reveals what’s working and what’s not, ensuring we don’t lose potential customers due to poor design choices. 2. Boost Conversion Rates: Small changes, like simplifying navigation or optimizing buttons, can drastically improve conversion rates. 3. Stay Competitive: A polished, seamless user experience often decides whether users choose us or the competition. Investing in a UI/UX audit doesn’t just improve the product, it shows customers that we care about their experience. If you're looking for a comprehensive UI/UX audit, UIUX.STUDIO is here to help. We provide in-depth evaluations to enhance your user experience and design efficiency. Book a call with us: https://lnkd.in/dtE-2mwD Visit our website: https://uiux.studio/ #UIUX #CustomerExperience

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New work: Hota - Instantly create beautiful plant bed designs 🌷 Hannah Shaw and Toby Gale came to us with a great idea — then, in rapid time we worked with them to design and build a high fidelity prototype, using ProtoPie, to bring their idea to life! ...and now you can download it in the flesh, so pleased to see this one land in the AppStore. Before you do, check out the case study 👀 #prototype #productdesign #protopie

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November vs June. There's something happening and it's a problem I learned about yesterday at New Designers following a load of conversations. Some product design courses are having very low numbers of students doing placements. Typically, without a placement, the students go on to do their final year and the degree is completed as a 3 year course. (I'm aware this may not be true for EVERY University). My view is that a 12 month placement makes you much better in your final year, and a better designer when it comes to trying to land a job. It's incredibly valuable. My bet would be that most people in industry would agree. So why is the 3 year completion with no placement apparently becoming more common? I was told students have to lock in their accommodation for the following year in November. So, when it gets to November there's the feeling of "Oh shit. I haven't landed a placement. I need to live somewhere. I'll commit to accommodation, not do a placement and do final year". This is happening in November but lots of postings for placements don't go out until Dec-Jan! At other Universities I spoke to, there was a complete all-in commitment to landing a placement. The mindset wasn't that it's a 3 year course and you CAN do a placement. The mindset was that you DO a placement and it would be odd if you didn't. With this, the "Oh shit" moment wasn't in November but in June - needing to desperately find somewhere to live. Either way, the students are put in a tight spot and the accommodation factor causes a lot of stress. And that's without the general feeling that there are fewer placements around. Thought it was worth sharing as I wasn't privy to this but was always curious when so many seemed to be doing 3 years. The other part of this is graduate expectations of walking into a product design job after 3 years and no internships when the competition of designers from the same graduating year have 12 months of experience. #industrialdesign #productdesign #designplacements

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🔉 Time for a Change June 14th marked my last day at Rōnin, after it sadly had to close its doors. Just two weeks later, my daughter was born. Yes, hard to believe, but I’m a dad now! 🙇‍♂️ Thank you Rōnin My time at Rōnin was nothing short of amazing, and for that, I’m truly thankful. I worked on award-winning projects, led numerous workshops, won pitches, lost pitches, spoke at the Awwwards, hired people and built a UX team, had to let people go, worked with incredible clients (like ASICS, G-STAR, TrainMore, SNIPES, and many more), laughed so much and so hard (the kind that makes you spit out your drink and come up your nostrils), broke the window shutters at the office (yes, that was me) and so much more precious memories! Writing this makes me tear up a little—being a dad has turned me into such a crybaby. 🚀 What’s Next? When one door closes, another opens (ugh, what a cliché phrase). But not having a job anymore allowed me to take some time off and spend it with my family. Well, not really "off," since being a dad turns out to be a pretty demanding job—who knew! It’s time to get back up and running again, this time as a freelancer. It might not be the best time to jump on the freelance train, but it’s worth a shot! So, if you're looking for a freelance UX Lead, UX/Product Strategist, or Sr. UX/Product Designer with 10+ years of experience in both agencies and corporate environments, hit me up for a chat or a (digital) coffee. 🔥 TL;DR I’m available as a: - Freelance UX/Product Designer & Strategist - Starting in December - 24–32 hours a week - Remote/Hybrid #available #freelance #digital #userexperience #uxlead #uxdesign #digitalstrategy #productdesign #cx

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Is the end in sight? These are my remaining tasks to get Pocket Adventures and the Parklander trading card game launched on Kickstarter in 2025. The law of cause and effect means completion is inevitable if I take one step at a time. Two things happened yesterday that made me realise I'm lacking confidence in my ability to progress through this seemingly never-ending task. The first was a conversation with fellow Ikigai Ichi member, Jenny Chatwin, who offered some encouraging words about my ambitious deadlines. The second was a question presented in my current read, Kokoro, which instructed me to tune into my Kokoro and ask - what do you need to know today? At first I felt confused and frustrated. I didn't really NEED to know anything, and only mundane tasks came to mind. How was this a useful or meaningful reflection? Then I remembered my conversation with Jenny. Here's what I needed to know yesterday: Believe that you will reach the end, no matter how long the journey. Just because it feels never-ending, doesn't mean it is. This reminded me of something Albert Ellis, founder of Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy, wrote in one of his books. Just because you believe something and FEEL its truth, doesn't make it true. I'm wary of tuning into my Kokoro. Chasing gut-feelings can be compulsive, signalling an irrational fear of uncertainty. But another realisation I had in my reflections recently is that the goal is never certainty, but having faith in the probability of a positive outcome. Any failures on my horizon can be tackled with the same tools I have today, but I have faith in the success of Parks & Japan, and I will try to have more faith in myself.

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I too have long since stopped giving portfolio reviews. The advice I give instead is that designers need to show they have done the work that the hiring manager is looking to hire for. Smart hiring managers have a to-do list already in mind for their new hire. They have a list of things they need the new UXer to accomplish in the first year. (Note: not all hiring managers are smart about hiring. Many are pretty bad at it, in fact. We shouldn’t worry about them. They likely aren’t good to work for.) They describe that list of what they need done in the job ad. And when they are in the interview process, including reviewing an applicant’s materials, they are looking for solid evidence that the applicant has done comparable work. They are hoping to hire someone who has done these things before, because that will get them up to speed fastest. Therefore, I tell folks to create a portfolio that speaks directly to the job ad. Make sure every point in the portfolio references something on that manager’s to do list. The job of the candidate’s portfolio is to grab the attention of that hiring manager. It needs to speak directly to the ad. It needs to scream “I HAVE DONE THIS JOB BEFORE. I CAN DO IT FOR YOU!” That’s the best advice I can give people who ask for me to review their portfolio.

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I'll be running an Introduction to User Experience Design for codebar Norwich on the 9th of May at Fuel Studios 🎉 Wether you’ve been a developer for years or just starting out, when you are coding you make decisions all the time that can effect the user’s experience. 🧠 In this interactive workshop, you’ll learn the ‘UX cheatsheet’ to help make decisions that improve a user’s experience. We’ll then look at using that cheatsheet to pull apart websites to understand the decisions they’ve made that have led to a poor user experience. 👎 You don't have to be a developer if you are also just interested to know more about UX, come and join us. 🤓 Link to sign-up in the comments 👇

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Google releases their new feature to Google Meets: 'Whose watching me? 👀' - Now you can see who's looking at you on a Google Meet call - get HR involved if they stare too long! Satirical Screens | 07 #uxdesign #uidesign #productdesign #satiricalscreens #productdesigner #uxdesigner #uidesigner #productdesigner #Google #Googlemeets #Zoom #Slack #MicrosoftTeams

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I've been working on some service design patterns with Dave Skinner for his project Design Patterns for social housing - https://lnkd.in/eC9p5RRv A service design map is often inaccessible - the designers will have worked hard to capture all the stages but the map will be a PDF or a diagram which doesn't easily resize to fit your phone. Your audience can't resize the text. It can't be read by screen reader software, either. As a solution: try making the map into an HTML table with two columns. For a mobile view, make each row resemble a card. Sorted! 😎 Hire interaction designers to find ways of putting content online. 😇 Transcript: 1. A numbered service stage with a representative icon Describe the stage in detail. Capture any pain points and improvement ideas. "Include verbatim quotes from research." Optional: include an emoji for how the person is feeling at this stage. Backstage - a policy or legal factor (grey) Backstage - a technical factor, such as a database (green) Time-based process (blue) Pain point or blocker (pink)

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I recently spoke with FLUX about my career journey and product design leadership. Kristie Craft was a stellar interviewer, which helped me articulate a few things that I've been noodling on over the last little while... 👽 After years of struggling with impostor syndrome, it was when I chose to be brave and have the audacity that the best opportunities came. It's not easy, but it starts with the core belief that you are deserving of your dreams. 👀 The prerequisite of being a great designer is curiosity. Get curious about an aspect of craft, process, leadership, or business and dig like you're doing a deep dive on the hand in the IG story your crush just posted. 🏀 Put in your 10,000 hours. Practice makes perfect, the cliche is true. Whatever part of your skillset you're trying to grow, be patient and put in time — before you know it, you'll be an MVP. 📣 Great communication is a hallmark of a great leader. Great communication and feedback is clear, succinct, and aligned to the business. 🖼 Visual design craft excellence is a hot topic in product design lately. I have a love for graphic design, where I started my career. I just got this book, Sun Ra: Art on Saturn, a collection of sketches and album art Sun Ra created for his works. Very different than what most PDs are looking at every day, which is precisely why I recommend it. Look for inspiration outside of a screen. Check out the full interview and let me know what you think.

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GDS content designers - any advice on paper forms? My online service has a valid need for a paper-based route. I don't have access to basecamp/Slack to ask the gov.uk design community and the design system isn't very helpful for paper. What I want to know is: - how do I make a paper form? - is there a template with GOV.UK branding? - anything else I need to think about?

I saw something recently that just doesn't sit right so I'll just get it off my chest As technocrats and creatives, we need to uphold honesty in our job histories and the positions we've held and I think it makes absolute sense to do so So a colleague I worked with on a startup some years ago currently claims a C-level position on LinkedIn. But the truth is, we were all just employees at the time, he wasn't in any leadership role talk more of a C-level. The startup had a bit of ties and unfortunately never levitated, but fast forward to today, his profile paints a different picture This is a problem. Not only does it mess up the credibility of LinkedIn work experience, but it also creates an environment of distrust and undermines the real meaning of those roles Let’s be clear: attending a Senior, CEO, or Co-founders Bootcamp doesn’t magically make you a Senior or C-level executive it's only the beginning of a beautiful journey into becoming Upgrading your past positions on paper might get you a job, for sure. But can you actually deliver at that level with the expected experience you don't have? Hell no!

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Do you know which recently launched rebrand this is for? If you've not seen other posts or articles on it, I'm sure you'll find it hard to guess. It's actually Land Rover Jaguar's new teaser for their rebrand. At first when I saw it in my social stream, I thought is was a joke. However upon reading more about the strategy behind the bold rebrand, it does make sense. They are looking to reset completely, to attract a new younger market of car lovers: 'Exuberant Modernists'. Will it work? Only time will tell, but the rebrand has certainly got people talking about the Jaguar name, placing it forefront in people's minds. #branding #jaguar #rebrand

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I’ve mentored 80+ junior designers Really?! I saw that first line on here yesterday and here’s the thing for me - Mentorship is not transactional - We can’t measure mentoring in minutes - Massive numbers isn’t a sign of success - It's not just about answering questions or offering advice Maybe you have coached people But mentorship = relationship It is not a transactional few conversations It requires time and emotional investment to build the right bond. In my experience, effective mentorships focus on the long game. In fact the best ones form often without either side really realising it is more than just a friendship. It's not about inflating numbers, but making a lasting impact on someone’s life and career. Moan over now #Design #Relationships #Mentorship

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