Week 4

Scrambled eggs with crab — 6/10 (too rich, feel a bit sick)

A quietish week. But the main thing was seeing our first ‘design exploration’ of what our new website might look like. I can’t show any screenshots which is a shame as the new website is coinciding with launching a whole new brand. But it’s looking good.
As I was looking over a few of the designs I was thinking about where the line is between:

1️⃣ Clear, simple design (think NHS and GOV.UK)

2️⃣ Design which is much more visually distinct (maybe something like Farewill)

I’m not sure where I stand, but we’ve had a beta website live for a while now where real users have been giving feedback and there is a split between those who have positive things to say about something like this:

People have said things like:

I found the old site clunky to navigate and signpost to relevant documents. This is much easier to navigate and find what you need.

But people have also said:

It’s a horrid format. De-personalised government feel.

Ouch.

I think I prefer simplicity and something which means users completing tasks and consume information as easily as possible. I think we’ll end up somewhere in between… either way the designs I saw this week make me think we’ll land in the right spot.
In other more important news I finally stumped up the £12.99 required to become a premium member of BorrowMyDoggy. In case you’ve not heard, it connects dog owners with trusted local people who would love to look after their dog. Long story short, walked my first dog called Reilly:

Pictured: Reilly from BorrowMyDoggy