In January 2026, Alex Burford, a learning technologist from the School of Informatics contacted the UX Service following completion of the new Effective Digital Content online course. Alex had really enjoyed the course and was keen to explore ways to implement the content design best practice principles it teaches within Open Course – the platform […]

As we approach the first anniversary of the launch of the new Effective Digital Content course it was timely to review our approach to marking the content design exercises completed by learners to look for ways to simplify and potentially automate aspects of the process. In May 2025 the UX Service launched a new version […]

AI tools to support content tasks are becoming more and more widespread. As part of my contributions to open-source Drupal I’ve been researching how to prepare and package content design and style rules that these tools can use effectively. Using AI to help with content design tasks (and indeed, any other type of tasks) is […]

Progressive thinking about inclusive content combined with a review of our content design tools prompted us to look at the effectiveness of our Inclusive Language Guide. Before we could think about improving the guide, however, we needed to ensure staff knew it existed. Since the relaunch of our Effective Digital Content course last year, and […]

A question has been doing the rounds recently: do we actually need site search? It’s a fair question and one I have been giving a lot of thought to. With AI-powered summaries increasingly answering queries before users even reach a website, and with navigation that, when it works, can get people where they need to […]

Last month I was honoured to receive a national award for Outstanding Leadership from industry body UCISA, recognising my work driving positive change through UX. This achievement prompted me to reflect on my experiences leading UX in different realms over the past few years, and to think about what UX leadership means to me. At […]

  Content Improvement Club is our regular meetup for web publishers. In our March session, with a focus on accessibility, we explored how effective use of links and headings can make content easier to navigate and use.  Accessible content is effective content Accessible content is simply effective content. If people cannot access, understand or use […]

The Role of Profiles project produced 10 recommendations for an improved University profile provision. To start actioning these, I assembled a working group of specialists and drew on UX design principles – implementing practical prioritisation while seeking innovative solutions that addressed the research findings. Recognising the widespread value and strategic importance of communicating the work, […]

Drupal is the University’s content management system and Drupal CMS – its new ready-to-use site-building product – is developing apace. As Drupal UX Research Lead, I’ve used concept testing to gather quick insights that keep interface decisions user-focused and keep development moving. As part of the Drupal CMS leadership team, I take responsibility for improving […]

Following a successful launch of Effective Digital Content, our internal course that staff complete to learn and practice fundamental content design skills, the UX Service saw an opportunity to make the course more widely available, on the University’s Short Courses platform. In May 2025, after months of user research-informed development work, my UX Service team […]