UX Digest - best posts

In Defence of Friction (Sometimes) Not all friction is bad. Low-consequence actions should be smooth, but high-consequence ones deserve a respectful pause that protects, teaches, or restores context. The goal is keeping the human present—good friction makes users feel considered, not stupid NNG: Project Postmortems for UX Teams - Learning from Success and Failure Although postmortems are one of the most powerful learning tools in product development, most teams haven't yet discovered how to use them effectively Prototyping: Why Reading on Mobile Is Uniquely Challenging Mobile comprehension drops from 39% on desktop to 19% on mobile due to distractions and cognitive load. The solution isn't better layout but simpler language, because the real test is whether content makes sense when life gets in the way AI: I let AI into every stage of my UX research process. Here’s what happened AI is terrible at writing interview questions and can't replace real conversations, where unexpected insights come from. But it excels at turning transcripts into personas and critiquing PRDs to reveal blind spots. The future belongs to researchers who orchestrate multiple AI tools—and have the judgment to discard bad outputs Experience: Solo UX Research - The Job No One Explains Being the first UX researcher means building the function from scratch. Focus on creating lightweight intake and reporting structures, teaching others to do basic research, and making insights actionable—not just running studies. Your goal is a system that survives without you Opinion: What is a full-stack content designer? A full-stack content designer has multiple deep specialisms across the discipline—research, UX writing, strategy—plus broad knowledge of related fields. Unlike a generalist (broad but shallow), this "comb-shaped" professional offers true versatility with depth. The label must be earned through genuine experience, not self-promotion Interesting: Managing a participant panel for a government service Managing a government user panel requires ongoing care—recruitment, engagement, and governance. Treat it as a living ecosystem, balance urgent requests with long-term sustainability, and prioritize trust and data protection from the start @uxdigest