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Dolly Parton, a UX Researcher, and an AI image generator walk into a bar...How an impromptu experiment with new AI tools*at the office prompted a discussion about UX research and creativity A few weeks ago, I had a strange and vivid dream about Dolly Parton playing a sad song on a mall bench, unnoticed by shoppers walking by. If you know me, I sometimes like to muse lightheartedly about my dreams, much to the bemusement and sometimes ire of friends and family. As a Senior UX researcher, I decided to use a bit of downtime in the office to experiment with some of the new AI image generating tools to see how I could craft different prompts to recreate as best I could the memory of my sad Dolly dream. I shared the image I felt best represented that dream to my UX colleagues, and it prompted an interesting conversation about UX research and creativity - you can read about my thoughts here : https://lnkd.in/gy6gj4wa Athida Valdez Tedde van Gelderen Siobhan Kennedy Ricky Leung Lotte van Gelderen Athena Herrmann Scott Plewes Leo Poll Ausra Cerkauskaite #ux #uxresearch #AI #dollyparton #akendi

There’s No Replacing a Room Full of Stickies: Personal Interactions Matter When running a remote UX workshop, you can do a lot with virtual tools and strong organizational skills. But in a virtual environment, it’s hard to 100% capture the face-to-face experience. The spontaneous conversations, the personal connection, the ease of manipulating artifacts, and the flexibility for change. If you can do a workshop in person, do it. If the pull to stay remote limits this, here are some ideas that can help: • Get at least some of the people in a room or set up rooms where people are together in different locations • Shorten the time commitment by breaking up the activities into smaller workshops • Put in more preparation time (this helps with the point above) by doing stakeholder interviews and pre-populating some of the stimulus materials • Give people as much notice as possible to plan to attend in-person • When some or all participants need to be remote, spend the time and effort on customizing the experience with the appropriate technology and test it out ahead of time • Remember to keep it interactive and have activities that support different ways of communicating Rethink the remote workshop and bring people together in a fun experience that they will enjoy. An experienced facilitator can help you reach your workshop goals and ensure that you get the most from your stakeholders and the time spent. Feel free to reach out to me to ensure your next in-person or remote workshop goes the way you intend, or check out one of Akendi's most popular workshops: https://lnkd.in/eY6zaS-W.

Not every product needs a dark mode, but I still encounter scenarios where designing for use in a low-light environment would be beneficial. For some clients, a dark mode made perfect sense: 🔍 Radiologists switch between medical images and other tools, where dark mode reduces eye fatigue and helps maintain focus. 🎭 Tech crews working in dark theatres and dark mode ensure their screens don't disrupt others However, there were times when dark mode was unnecessary and driven more by personal preference: 💼 Finance users in brightly lit office environments Recently, during a late-night drive-thru visit for a caffeine boost, my eyes were overwhelmed by the brightly lit menu displays. It took several seconds for my eyes to adjust to read the menu and then another few seconds to readjust to the dark environment outside. A few changes to the design can eliminate a rather jarring experience. ☕ As companies update their drive-thru displays, it's an opportunity to consider a redesign that could improve the user experience in various lighting conditions throughout the day. 💡 Can you think of other improvements to the UX for the drive-thru experience? Trying to determine if your product needs a dark mode or helping design for use in dark environments. Contact Akendi to see how we can help. #UXDesign #DarkMode #UserExperience #UIDesign #DriveThru #Innovation #DesignThinking #TimHortons #Fastfood#Innovation #DesignThinking

Adopting UX is a Balancing Act There are two extremes when organizations adopt UX, both of which are well-intentioned but cost-ineffective. One extreme is implementing beneficial standards, processes, and best practices but not hiring people with the expertise and experience to carry them out. The other extreme is the reverse: hiring experts but not evolving your product or service design process to take advantage of their skills. This balancing act is harder than it sounds. Here are some key points to consider: ◦ UX expertise in leadership is mandatory to adopt UX successfully. ◦ It's essential to follow a structured adoption process to ensure the organization adapts; look for established models to guide the steps. ◦ Successful UX implementation involves the usual considerations and hard work of change management. ◦ The stages of adoption tend to be the reverse of a proper UX process, starting with adopting design, then testing, then research, then strategy. ◦ To take this evolution seriously, it's important to hire experienced practitioners rather than just providing your product or service teams with a short course (although that can be a good start). ◦ Hiring the right people without proper support can be challenging because hiring managers often don't fully understand the nuances of user experience. ◦ Consulting with trained and experienced practitioners will expedite your progress. I can help; please comment on this post or feel free to send a direct message! Alternatively, take a look at Akendi's fractional leadership consulting and coaching offering for UX change management: https://lnkd.in/eaUBfYYB Other fractional leadership points of contact: Tedde van Gelderen, Daniel Iaboni, Siobhan Kennedy #UX #ChangeManagement #FractionalLeadership #ServiceDesign