On my team, we’re just past the two-year mark of a fully remote work environment (with a few rare exceptions). I sometimes long for the days of sketching on a massive whiteboard, bringing pads of sticky notes and boxes of sharpies to almost every meeting.
UX team in-person debrief, 2019
I’m not a fan of talking-only meetings, which is what we expect from most of our Zoom meetings. Too often, one or two people dominate the discussion and others don’t contribute, often because they aren’t encouraged or given the opportunity. And when you have sometimes 6 or 7 hours of Zoom meetings in a day, it can be especially rough.
I would much rather be doing things in our meetings: visualizing concepts, generating ideas, solving problems, creating something new. We used to do this with whiteboards and sticky notes in our physical meeting rooms. Fortunately, we have tools that can mimic the experience. So I thought I’d share some examples.
Retrospectives
We love our retros, and sticky notes are a must to allow people to generate all their thoughts on what we’ve learned for the future. When we did our first Tiny Café since the pandemic began, we did a retro to discuss how everything went. On top of using sticky notes to share comments, we used stamps to up-vote things we agreed with.
Retrospective using Figjam
At the end of last spring semester, we did a broader team retrospective using the 4 L’s: what we liked, learned, lacked, and longed for.
Retrospective using Miro
At the closeout of the recent Advancing Research, my attendee cohort did a version of a retro by using Miro to share what stood out to us, what we wanted to do next, and how we might stay connected with one another.
Retrospective using Miro
Debriefs
Soon after a research session (e.g., user interview, usability test), it’s helpful to debrief on what stood out and begin to identify any patterns. More in-depth debriefs after a lengthier studies are also important as you start to dive in to the analysis. This is usually a wall of sticky notes in a physical space, but virtual can work just as well.
Debrief on employee experience study using Miro
Emotions check-in
How we feel matters and impacts how we approach our work, and I’ve found great value in practicing awareness and naming emotions out loud. In a recent meeting where we were tackling a thorny issue around organizational structure, we started by asking how everyone was feeling. Using a Figjam board with some pre-populated descriptors on sticky notes (as well as the option to write something new), people named their emotions with stamps.
Learning how people are feeling using Figjam
I helped lead a similar activity at the end of the Advancing Research conference to see how people in my cohort were feeling after three days of conferencing.
Learning how people are feeling using Miro
Team planning
We do kickoffs at the beginning of each semester, and use remote collaboration tools extensively. At our most recent one, we found Figjam helpful for identifying skills areas to build. Since we all had Figjam accounts, we were able to place our avatars on sticky notes.
Identifying learning goals using Figjam
Team thank-yous and celebrations
Virtual parties can sometime be awkward and sometimes a bore. Inviting colleagues to share their kudos and thanks can be a great way to foster appreciation and recognition.
Employee farewell recognition using Miro
Idea or artifact reactions
When we were embarking on a website redesign project last year, we put a screenshot of the existing homepage up in Miro, then asked people to add their comments and observations using sticky notes and reactions.
Getting feedback on a design using Miro
Notetaking
Less about collaboration, but I’ve been playing around with using these tools for visual notetaking. Sometimes I’ll use physical sticky notes for capturing takeaways when attending a conference. Virtual tools have some benefits and more flexibility to add screenshots, connect ideas, and re-group things as you go.
Notetaking using Figjam
Getting creative
These are just a few examples of some of the ways I’ve used virtual sticky notes to facilitate engagement, participation, and richer employee experiences.
Are you working remotely? What are some other examples of ways to leverage the power of the virtual sticky note? Share in the comments!
I’ve written and taught on the topic of web content for a number of years. And this past year, I’ve been thinking a lot about how our content decisions impact the accessibility and inclusivity of our websites.
The goal of this presentation was to cover the key principles to creating content that is useful, usable, and accessible to all. I discuss techniques including plain language, heading structure, content prioritization, meaningful links, alternative text, and more. My 5 tips for better, more inclusive web content are:
Know your audience. Create content with your readers in mind.
Keep it focused and simple. Reduce cognitive load with straightforward and succinct content.
Focus on clarity. Strive for immediate comprehension.
Organize and structure. Your content flow should be intentional, point-of-need, and easy to skim.
Make it readable. Be intentional with font choice, white space, and formatting.
Big thanks to Ferris State for inviting me, and for recording and captioning the presentation!
Forms are prevalent across the web, yet so many are poorly designed. They can quickly become a source of frustration.
Last year, Ann Shivers-McNair and I bonded over our passion for form content and design. So we developed a presentation on making better forms for people, presented at edUi last October.
Forms have been on my mind a lot recently, and I thought it would be useful to unpack the presentation into some of the key principles and considerations for easy reference. And I’ve added and slightly revised a couple based on other things I’m learning. So here goes.
3 key principles
Simplicity. Avoid the complicated and unnecessary.
Avoid instructions on how to fill out the form
Make sure every field serves a purpose
Get rid of any unnecessary fields (e.g. phone number, fax number, birthdate)
Never require a field if you don’t really need it
Inclusivity. Create forms for everyone.
Avoid jargon
Avoid legalese
Write like you talk
Be inclusive in your options
Readability. Use logical sequencing and follow conventions.
Be succinct
Place field labels above the field
Left justify, rag right
Allow for lots of white space
Use sentence case
Small but mighty considerations
Form names. Make it clear what you’re doing.
Start with a precise action verb (e.g. “Apply,” “Request”)
Use an action verb in the link to the form, too (e.g. “RSVP for event”)
Avoid too many nouns in a row
Optional vs. required fields. Make them intuitive to recognize. (Be aware these conventions are a moving target and may depend upon audience).
Most fields should be required
Indicate which fields are optional by saying optional
Be consistent in how you indicate required vs. optional fields
Asterisks are a common convention to mean “required”
Name fields. Make them inclusive.
Don’t limit character length (or if you must limit, make that limit 70 characters for full name or 50 characters for first name or last name)
Don’t force first-letter capitalization (e.g. charley)
Don’t prevent capitalization of a second name or within a name (e.g. Bonnie Jean; McClelland)
Allow hyphens in names (e.g. Sykes-Casavant)
Use one “Full name” field over separate “First name” and “Last name” field, unless it’s really necessary
Gender fields. Make them inclusive.
Avoid binary gender selectors
Allow write-in responses
Make it optional (when possible)
Selectors. Give clear options.
Pick a thoughtful default that’s either the most common answer or the first in a logical sequence
Put the most common options at the top, and for longer lists, use alphabetical sequencing
Use the right selector for the information you are soliciting (e.g. dropdowns, radio buttons, check boxes)
Question scope. Ask one question at a time.
Don’t combine multiple questions into one
Isolate the pieces of information you are asking for
Use logic to order questions that follow from previous information
Contextual help. Provide helpful hints at the appropriate time. (Be aware these conventions are a moving target and may depend on audience).
Use field labels to describe the field, and place them above the field
Use help text to provide an explanation or further information
Maybe use placeholder text to suggest the type of content you expect
Be cautious with placeholder text, and don’t use it as a substitute for field labels or help text
Feedback messages. Provide informative messages at the right time.
Make it clear when there are errors
Make it clear what any errors are
Don’t stress users out with error messages before it’s necessary
In confirmation messages, make it clear what the user just did and what to expect next
The slidedeck
Here’s the slidedeck that these tips were based on. It includes a few more details and a whole bunch of examples.
Hope you find this helpful! Please share comments on other things I should add.
