# Absurd Full Content > Expanded machine-readable export of the live public site. ## Canonical Site https://www.thisisabsurd.com ## Discovery Sitemap: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/sitemap.xml LLMs summary: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/llms.txt Markdown export: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/markdown?path=/work API catalog: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/.well-known/api-catalog Agent skills index: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json OpenAPI description: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/openapi.json API documentation: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/docs/api API status: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/api/status ## Homepage Summary Absurd is a digital product studio and Gold Umbraco agency combining strategy, design, and engineering to help organisations deliver better customer experiences. The studio focuses on digital strategy, UX/UI, web engineering, enterprise CMS delivery, Umbraco development, product thinking, and long-term optimisation. ## Current Capabilities - Service design - Experience design - Platform development - Product management - Gold Umbraco agency and partner - Umbraco development and maintenance - CMS, web engineering, and platform delivery - LLM SEO and AI search readiness ## Explicitly Not - A marketing agency - An advertising agency - A paid search agency - A PHP agency - A WordPress agency - A Drupal agency ## Contact General: hello@thisisabsurd.com New business: newbusiness@thisisabsurd.com Phone: +44 (0)161 399 2314 ## Offices - Absurd Manchester Office Camellia House, Water Lane Wilmslow SK9 5BB GB - Absurd Florida Office 2295 S. Hiawassee Rd FL 32835 US ## Public URLs https://www.thisisabsurd.com/ https://www.thisisabsurd.com/about https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog https://www.thisisabsurd.com/contact https://www.thisisabsurd.com/docs/api https://www.thisisabsurd.com/umbraco-maintenance https://www.thisisabsurd.com/umbraco-partner https://www.thisisabsurd.com/llm-seo https://www.thisisabsurd.com/service-design https://www.thisisabsurd.com/ux-ui-experience-design-agency https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work?category=service-design https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work?category=experience-design https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work?category=platform-development https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work?category=product-management ## Work Category Deep Links Service Design: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work?category=service-design Experience Design: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work?category=experience-design Platform Development: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work?category=platform-development Product Management: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work?category=product-management ## About ## The people who started it. URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/about Subhead: Founders Founders: Oliver Bailey, Oli Taylor ## Work ## Supporting digital transformation within the UK's energy infrastructure sector URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work/calisen Client: Calisen Category: Platform Development Services: UX Strategy, Service Design, Product Design, Umbraco Excerpt: How Absurd partnered with Calisen to improve digital experiences, support customer engagement and create a stronger foundation for future digital products. About Calisen Calisen is one of the UK's leading providers of smarter energy infrastructure and technology services, supporting the transition to a more flexible, sustainable energy system. The organisation plays an important role across smart metering, asset management, data services, meter reading, EV charging infrastructure, solar, battery storage and other low-carbon technologies. Operating in a highly regulated sector, Calisen serves a broad range of audiences with different needs, including consumers, energy suppliers, commercial partners, investors, employees and wider industry stakeholders. That complexity means digital experiences need to do more than present information. They need to make Calisen's role in the energy transition understandable, credible and useful for people arriving with very different levels of knowledge and intent. The challenge Calisen's digital estate needed to support a complex organisation operating in a rapidly changing market. Different audiences came to the site for different reasons: customers looking for support, suppliers evaluating infrastructure partners, investors seeking confidence, candidates exploring the business and stakeholders trying to understand Calisen's role in the UK's net-zero transition. The challenge was not simply improving a website. It was creating a clearer digital experience across a business with multiple services, brands, responsibilities and future growth opportunities. The platform needed to improve information discovery, explain complex services, support customer engagement, strengthen recruitment and employer branding, communicate with investors and create a foundation for future digital initiatives. Our approach Absurd partnered with Calisen to create a clearer experience around audience needs, organisational priorities and future digital growth. We began by understanding the different groups Calisen needed to serve and the questions each audience needed the digital experience to answer. That meant looking across user journeys, content structures, service propositions and organisational requirements to identify where complexity was creating friction. Using this insight, we shaped an information architecture that made Calisen's services easier to understand while giving each audience a clearer route to relevant content. The work balanced customer needs with business objectives, helping Calisen communicate its role in smart energy infrastructure while supporting practical journeys across customer support, supplier engagement, recruitment, investor communications and group services. Product thinking was central to the approach. Rather than treating the platform as a fixed corporate site, we focused on creating scalable foundations that could support new content, future propositions and digital initiatives as the business evolved. Umbraco provided the CMS flexibility needed by internal teams, but the strategic focus was broader: helping Calisen build a more coherent digital foundation for a complex, regulated and fast-moving sector. Results The work gave Calisen a clearer, more scalable digital experience across its core audiences. Customers and stakeholders could better understand Calisen's services, find relevant information more easily and move through journeys with less friction. The improved structure also created stronger foundations for content governance, making it easier for internal teams to manage complex information across services, audiences and group initiatives. By creating a more coherent digital architecture, the platform supported clearer stakeholder communication, stronger customer engagement and greater flexibility for future growth. The challenge was not explaining energy infrastructure. It was making a complex organisation understandable to every audience it serves. Outcomes Calisen gained a digital foundation designed to support customer experience, organisational alignment and future transformation. The work helped simplify a complex proposition without reducing its strategic importance, giving the business a clearer platform for communicating with customers, partners, investors, employees and industry stakeholders. The result is a more scalable digital experience that supports Calisen's role in the energy transition while creating stronger foundations for future products, services and growth. ## Accelerating customer acquisition in a rapidly evolving energy market URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work/plug-me-in Client: Plug Me In Category: Platform Development Services: UX Strategy, Lead Generation, Umbraco, Experience Design Excerpt: How Absurd helped Plug Me In create a scalable lead generation platform that simplifies complex purchasing decisions and supports growth across multiple energy services. About Plug Me In Plug Me In helps homeowners and businesses adopt cleaner energy technologies, including EV charging, solar, battery storage, heat pumps and wider renewable energy services. Operating in a fast-moving and highly competitive market, the organisation supports customers through decisions that are often unfamiliar, technical and commercially significant. For many customers, the challenge is not simply choosing a provider. It is understanding which solution is right for their home, business, site, budget and long-term energy goals. The challenge Customers rarely arrive ready to enquire. Before making contact, they often need to understand unfamiliar technologies, compare options, assess installation requirements, evaluate costs, consider long-term benefits and determine whether they are eligible for funding, grants or specific installation routes. That creates a different kind of acquisition challenge. The website could not simply push users towards a form. It needed to educate customers, build trust and support decision-making before asking them to take the next step. At the same time, Plug Me In needed to support multiple propositions across EV charging, solar, battery storage and renewable energy services without creating a fragmented or confusing experience. The challenge was to create a platform that could generate leads by helping customers understand enough to become confident prospects in the first place. Our approach Absurd redesigned the experience around customer intent rather than internal business structures. We looked at the questions customers needed to answer before they could make an enquiry: what technology was relevant, what installation might involve, what costs and savings could look like, what support was available and what would happen after submitting their details. This shaped the information architecture, content strategy and conversion journeys across the platform. Instead of treating each proposition as a separate destination, we created clearer routes through related services, helping customers move from early education to more specific decision-making. The platform was structured to support multiple service lines while giving internal teams the flexibility to evolve messaging, add content and launch future propositions as the market changed. Umbraco provided the CMS foundation for that flexibility, but the focus of the work was customer acquisition: creating a clearer, more scalable experience that helped the right customers reach the right enquiry path. Results The new platform gave Plug Me In a stronger foundation for acquiring customers across a rapidly evolving energy services market. Customers could better understand the available services, find relevant information more easily and progress towards enquiry with greater confidence. Clearer journeys helped reduce confusion across complex propositions, while improved content structure gave internal teams more flexibility to explain new services, respond to market changes and support future growth. The work strengthened Plug Me In's ability to turn education into action, creating a digital experience that supports both customer understanding and lead generation. The challenge wasn Outcomes Plug Me In gained a scalable platform designed around customer acquisition, education and confidence. By aligning content, journeys and enquiry pathways around the way people make energy decisions, the work created a clearer route from interest to action across multiple propositions. The result is a digital foundation capable of supporting future service launches, stronger lead generation and better customer experiences in a market that continues to move quickly. ## Creating a global digital platform for Umbro URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work/umbro Client: Umbro Category: Platform Development Services: Platform Development, Umbraco, CMS Migration, Content Strategy Excerpt: How Absurd helped Umbro move from WordPress to Umbraco, creating a scalable global platform with centralised content workflows and stronger brand consistency. About Umbro Umbro is a globally recognised football and sports brand with a heritage stretching back to 1924. From football boots and kits to training wear, rugby, futsal and lifestyle-led collaborations, the double diamond has become part of sporting culture across generations, teams and markets. The brand operates internationally, with products, campaigns and content needing to work across multiple countries, languages and commercial contexts while still feeling unmistakably Umbro. For a brand with that level of heritage and global reach, the website needed to do more than publish content. It needed to support consistent storytelling across international markets. The challenge Umbro's previous WordPress setup had become difficult to manage at global scale. Countries and regions were effectively managing their own content strategies independently, which created inconsistency across brand presentation, content quality, campaign rollouts, product storytelling, publishing workflows, governance and localisation. The challenge was not simply to migrate from WordPress to Umbraco. Umbro needed a global digital platform and content operating model that could give the central brand team greater control while still supporting local market needs. Content needed to be created centrally, governed properly and deployed globally, giving international teams a more consistent foundation for campaigns, product launches and brand storytelling. The platform also needed to support the realities of a global commerce model, including multi-region publishing, locale-specific storefront journeys and translation workflows for markets with different language and layout requirements. Our approach Absurd worked with Umbro as a platform development partner, helping the brand move from a fragmented publishing model to a more scalable global Umbraco platform. We began by understanding how content was being created, managed and published across countries and regions. This included mapping existing workflows, identifying governance issues and understanding where regional autonomy was helping local relevance, but also creating inconsistency for the global brand. The new platform was designed around reusable content components, centralised content creation and clearer publishing governance. Instead of every country owning its own content strategy independently, Umbro gained the ability to create, manage and deploy content centrally across global markets. Umbraco provided the CMS foundation for that operating model, giving the central team more flexibility, better maintainability and a clearer route for managing campaigns at scale across multiple regions. Content governance A key part of the work was defining how the platform should support global publishing, not just how pages should be managed. Umbro needed content structures that could maintain brand consistency while allowing markets to adapt content for local audiences. We created a platform model that supported centrally governed content, reusable campaign patterns, product storytelling and more consistent publishing processes. This reduced duplication and gave Umbro clearer control over how content moved from central creation to international deployment. Regional publishing Umbraco allowed Umbro to manage multi-region publishing from a central platform, giving teams a structured way to create global content, adapt it for local markets and maintain stronger governance across regional versions of the site. We also used IP detection to help direct customers to the most appropriate locale storefront, connecting people with the right regional commerce journey instead of forcing a single global route to purchase. For translation, we used Translation Manager to support more reliable localisation workflows across languages and markets. This included Arabic, where right-to-left content needed to be handled properly so translated pages could remain usable, consistent and commercially useful. Results The new platform gave Umbro a more scalable foundation for managing global digital content. Brand presentation became more consistent across markets, while centralised workflows made it easier to manage campaign rollouts, product stories, regional publishing and editorial activity. The move away from a fragmented WordPress setup improved governance, reduced duplication and gave internal teams a clearer way to maintain and evolve the global website across multiple languages, regions and storefront journeys. Most importantly, the work gave Umbro a platform that supported how the brand needed to operate: centrally governed, internationally relevant and flexible enough to support future digital activity. The challenge wasn Outcomes Umbro gained a modern Umbraco platform with stronger content control, clearer governance and more consistent global storytelling. The project created a scalable foundation for future brand campaigns, product launches, international content delivery and regional commerce experiences. The result was a global digital platform that gave Umbro greater control over its brand, content, campaigns and customer journeys across international markets. ## Turning complexity into confidence for tado° customers URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work/tado Client: tado° Category: Experience Design Services: Research, UX Strategy, Information Architecture Excerpt: How Absurd used research, UX strategy and information architecture to help customers navigate a complex smart home product ecosystem with confidence. About tado° tado° is one of Europe's leading smart home energy platforms, helping households reduce energy consumption through connected thermostats, radiator controls and intelligent heating management. As the business expanded, so did the complexity of its product ecosystem. New product lines, evolving smart home standards and varying installation requirements meant customers were often required to understand a significant amount of information before making a purchase. The challenge The launch of the V4 product line and support for Matter Thread technology created a significant opportunity for tado° to strengthen its position within the smart home market. However, the existing website had evolved over time and become increasingly difficult to navigate. Product information was fragmented, customer journeys were disconnected and users often struggled to understand compatibility, installation requirements and the differences between product ranges. At the same time, internal teams were seeing growing demand for support around product selection and compatibility questions. tado° needed a clearer way to educate customers, simplify product discovery and support confident purchasing decisions without oversimplifying a technically complex proposition. Our approach Absurd partnered with tado° on a five-week research and design programme involving stakeholders across product, content, SEO, sales, ecommerce and leadership teams. We began by analysing existing behavioural data, conducting stakeholder interviews and auditing the current experience to identify areas of friction, uncertainty and opportunity. Alongside this, we reviewed existing customer personas, mapped journeys and carried out a gap analysis to better understand audience needs, motivations and levels of technical maturity. Research revealed recurring themes around product complexity, compatibility concerns, customer education and onboarding. Using these insights, we developed and tested multiple information architecture approaches, facilitated ideation workshops and designed a series of experiments focused on product discovery, compatibility guidance and customer decision-making. Concepts were validated through user testing across the UK, Germany, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands, ensuring recommendations reflected the needs of multiple markets and customer groups. Results The programme uncovered significant opportunities to improve product discovery, customer education and compatibility guidance across the tado° ecosystem. By restructuring the information architecture around customer goals rather than internal product structures, customers were able to navigate the website more intuitively and access relevant information at the point they needed it. The work informed a new product finder experience, improved compatibility journeys and provided a framework for supporting both the V4 product launch and Matter integration. Research also identified wider opportunities to reduce pre-sales support demand, strengthen customer trust and create more personalised experiences in the future. The challenge wasn Outcomes The engagement provided tado° with a validated strategy for improving customer experience across discovery, evaluation and purchase. Beyond interface improvements, the work created a roadmap for future enhancements spanning customer education, onboarding, personalisation, CRM integration and product discovery. Most importantly, it established a clearer, research-backed foundation for helping customers navigate an increasingly sophisticated smart home ecosystem with confidence. ## Building the UK’s largest private Covid-19 testing platform URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work/express-test Client: Cignpost ExpressTest Category: Platform Development Services: Service Design, Platform Engineering, Product Design, Umbraco Commerce Excerpt: How Absurd helped ExpressTest scale from launch to over £400m in revenue in 12 months, supporting travel, live events and workplaces throughout the pandemic. About ExpressTest ExpressTest was one of the UK's leading Covid-19 testing providers, operating testing services across airports, workplaces, events, homes and high-street locations throughout the pandemic. As international travel reopened and testing requirements evolved, ExpressTest needed to scale rapidly whilst meeting stringent regulatory, operational and reporting requirements. Within 12 months, the business generated more than £400 million in revenue and became the UK's largest private Covid-19 testing provider. The challenge The Covid-19 pandemic created one of the most demanding digital delivery environments imaginable. Cignpost engaged Absurd to design, build and scale the digital products and services behind ExpressTest at a time when speed, compliance and operational resilience were critical. Testing was a distressed purchase. Customers weren't browsing for products they wanted; they needed confidence, clarity and speed during a period of uncertainty. At the same time, government policy changed frequently. A regulatory announcement on Thursday could require entirely new booking journeys, reporting requirements and operational processes to be designed, built and deployed by Monday morning. The platform needed to support airport testing, workplace testing, event testing, home testing, high-street testing and VIP testing services whilst remaining simple enough for millions of customers to use. Success would ultimately help reopen international travel, live events and workplaces across the UK. Our approach Absurd assembled a dedicated team of more than 30 specialists spanning service design, product management, UX, engineering, quality assurance and delivery. Working alongside Salesforce specialists, management consultants and a large client-side product organisation, we designed and delivered a service capable of operating at national scale. Built using Umbraco Commerce and Microsoft Azure, the platform provided the flexibility required to adapt rapidly as regulations evolved. Rather than focusing solely on the customer interface, we designed the entire service ecosystem. This included booking journeys, testing centre operations, laboratory workflows, customer communications, regulatory reporting and business intelligence. The platform integrated with Salesforce, Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS), DHSC reporting services, Xero and Microsoft Power BI, creating a connected operational environment capable of handling significant demand. These integrations enabled automated booking management, laboratory processing, regulatory reporting, financial operations and business intelligence from a single platform. Alongside the public platform, we also launched a dedicated VIP service used by celebrities, high-profile business leaders and political stakeholders requiring enhanced levels of service and discretion. Results The platform played a significant role in the UK's pandemic response and recovery. ExpressTest became the UK's largest private Covid-19 testing provider, generating more than £400 million in revenue within 12 months whilst operating over 30 testing locations nationwide, including major transport hubs and high-street locations such as Manchester's Market Street. The digital platform supported millions of customer interactions and enabled the organisation to scale rapidly whilst maintaining compliance with continually evolving regulations. The platform played a critical role in helping ExpressTest secure and maintain DHSC approval, progressing from more than 100 providers under consideration to become one of the final authorised testing providers in the UK. Daily integrations with the Department of Health and Social Care ensured test results, compliance data and operational reporting could be shared reliably at national scale. When the rules changed every week, success depended on designing systems that could adapt just as quickly. Outcomes Within 12 months, the platform supported more than £400 million in revenue and became a critical operational capability for one of the UK's most important testing providers. More importantly, it demonstrated how service design, product thinking and engineering can work together under extreme pressure to deliver outcomes at national scale. The result was not simply a website or ecommerce platform. It was a connected digital service that helped people travel again, attend live events and return to workplaces during one of the most challenging periods in recent history. ## Transforming the journey from enquiry to vehicle purchase URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work/zuto Client: Zuto Category: Service Design Services: Service Design, Research, Business Analysis, Customer Experience Excerpt: How Absurd helped Zuto redesign a complex car finance ecosystem, identifying opportunities to streamline customer journeys, strengthen dealer relationships and improve operational efficiency. About Zuto Zuto is one of the UK's largest car finance brokers, helping customers find and secure finance for their next vehicle. The organisation sits between customers, lenders and vehicle dealers, supporting people from the first finance enquiry through to vehicle selection, approval, purchase and payout. That makes the journey more complex than a typical ecommerce transaction. Success depends on customers understanding their options, lenders assessing affordability and risk, dealers providing the right vehicle information, and internal teams coordinating each step within a regulated consumer finance environment. The challenge The journey from enquiry to loan payout involved multiple lead sources, different customer circumstances, varied finance products, dealer interactions, compliance checks, FCA requirements, vehicle sourcing and internal operational processes. The challenge was not simply improving conversion. Zuto needed to understand how the entire service ecosystem functioned and where friction existed for customers, employees, lenders and dealer partners. Customers were often making a high-value decision in a market they did not fully understand. They needed clarity, reassurance and momentum, while internal teams needed enough information to manage applications efficiently and responsibly. At the same time, any recommendations needed to operate within FCA regulations and consumer finance requirements. The work had to improve the service without simplifying away the controls that protected customers and the business. Our approach Absurd worked with Zuto as a service design and transformation partner, helping the business make sense of a journey that crossed digital channels, call centre operations, lender processes and dealer relationships. We began with stakeholder research across sales, operations, customer service, compliance, leadership and dealer relationship teams. This helped us understand how the service operated day to day, where teams were dependent on each other and where internal processes created friction for customers or partners. Alongside this, we spoke to customers at different points in the journey, including people who completed the process, people still considering finance and people who had abandoned before purchase. The research explored customer motivations, barriers, confidence levels and the moments where the service either created reassurance or introduced uncertainty. Operational immersion A critical part of the engagement involved embedding ourselves within the operation. We spent time in the call centre observing real interactions, listening to how advisors explained finance options, understanding how customer details were gathered and identifying where customer and business needs became misaligned. This gave the work a practical grounding. Rather than mapping an idealised journey, we were able to see how the service behaved under real operational pressure. Service mapping Using the research, we mapped customer journeys, operational processes, internal teams, dealer interactions, data flows and compliance touchpoints. This created a complete view of the service ecosystem from enquiry through to vehicle purchase and loan payout. The maps highlighted handoffs, dependencies, duplicated effort, communication gaps and points where customers were asked to make decisions without enough context. Service blueprinting We translated the research into service maps, service blueprints and ecosystem maps that visualised front-stage interactions, back-stage processes, operational dependencies, regulatory requirements, pain points and opportunities. For Zuto, this created a shared view of the service as a whole. Teams could see how customer experience, compliance, operations, lender requirements and dealer relationships connected, making it easier to prioritise improvements around the areas that would have the greatest effect. Results The programme gave Zuto a clearer understanding of how its car finance journey operated across customers, employees, lenders and dealer partners. It identified opportunities to reduce friction, shorten customer journeys, improve operational efficiency, strengthen dealer relationships and reduce unnecessary handoffs. The work also helped clarify where communication could be improved, where customers needed greater confidence and where internal teams could be better supported by clearer processes and information flows. Rather than producing isolated recommendations, the programme created a strategic view of the service and the operational changes needed to improve it. The challenge wasn Outcomes Zuto gained a service design foundation for improving one of the most complex parts of the car buying journey. By making the end-to-end ecosystem visible, the work helped the business identify where customer experience, operational efficiency and partner relationships could be improved together. The result was a clearer strategic roadmap for transforming the journey from enquiry to vehicle purchase, built around the realities of a regulated, multi-stakeholder service. ## Scaling Lucy & Yak through ecommerce transformation URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work/lucy-and-yak Client: Lucy & Yak Category: Platform Development Services: Research, UX Strategy, Shopify Development Excerpt: How Absurd helped Lucy & Yak increase revenue by 15% and conversion by 21% through research, UX and a complete Shopify rebuild. About Lucy & Yak Lucy & Yak is one of the UK's fastest-growing sustainable fashion brands, building a loyal community through ethical manufacturing, bold design and a distinctive brand identity. As demand increased, the ecommerce platform needed to evolve alongside the business. The challenge Lucy & Yak's existing Shopify store had been adapted over time through multiple releases, plugins and tactical improvements. While the brand continued to grow, the digital experience was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. Customer journeys lacked consistency, performance was being impacted by ageing dependencies and the platform was becoming harder to evolve. The challenge was not simply to redesign the website. Lucy & Yak needed a stronger ecommerce foundation capable of supporting future growth whilst improving the customer experience and commercial performance. Our approach Absurd approached the engagement as an ecommerce transformation programme rather than a visual redesign. We combined technical discovery, UX design, visual design, technical specification and software development to understand where friction existed for both customers and internal teams. The solution centred around a complete rebuild using Shopify 2.0 Dawn, a custom theme architecture, API-led integrations, Algolia-powered search and a redesigned basket experience. Alongside the customer-facing improvements, we documented user stories, acceptance criteria and delivery requirements to ensure the platform remained scalable long after launch. The objective was to create a faster, more flexible ecommerce platform that enabled Lucy & Yak to continue growing without accumulating technical debt. Results The new platform delivered measurable improvements in both customer experience and commercial performance. Revenue increased by 15% whilst conversion rates increased by 21%, demonstrating the impact of simplifying journeys and improving the overall shopping experience. The rebuild also provided Lucy & Yak's internal teams with a significantly cleaner operating environment, reducing maintenance overhead and creating a more efficient foundation for future releases. The project wasn Outcomes Lucy & Yak gained a faster, more scalable ecommerce platform aligned to the ambitions of a rapidly growing retail brand. Customers benefited from clearer journeys, improved performance and a more consistent shopping experience, whilst internal teams gained a platform that was easier to manage, evolve and optimise. The result was a stronger digital foundation that improved commercial performance and positioned the business for continued growth. ## Designing digital experiences across 32 European markets URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work/brother Client: Brother Europe Category: Experience Design Services: UX Strategy, UI Design, Design Systems Excerpt: How Absurd became Brother Europe's UX and UI partner, supporting digital products, ecommerce and customer experience initiatives across Europe. About Brother Europe Brother is one of the world's most recognised technology brands, serving businesses and consumers across Europe through a diverse portfolio of printing, labelling and business solutions. Operating across 32 European territories, the organisation faces the challenge of delivering consistent digital experiences whilst accommodating the needs of different markets, audiences and commercial objectives. The challenge Brother Europe engaged Absurd as its European UX and UI partner to help evolve digital experiences across a wide range of initiatives. The challenge extended beyond individual projects. As customer expectations evolved and digital channels became increasingly important, Brother needed a consistent approach to experience design that could support multiple markets, products and business objectives. This included improving ecommerce journeys, supporting personalisation initiatives, enhancing customer engagement and creating scalable design foundations capable of supporting future growth. Our approach Working as an extension of Brother Europe's internal teams, Absurd provides ongoing UX and UI expertise across multiple digital initiatives. Our role spans research, experience strategy, interface design, journey optimisation and design system development, ensuring new initiatives align with both customer needs and wider business goals. One significant area of focus involved helping Brother introduce direct-to-consumer ecommerce capabilities whilst protecting its established dealer network. This required extensive research into customer behaviour, purchasing journeys and market requirements across Europe. Alongside ecommerce initiatives, Absurd has supported improvements across navigation, product discovery, merchandising, personalisation and broader customer experience programmes. To support consistency at scale, we developed a design system in Figma that enables teams across Europe to deliver more coherent experiences whilst accelerating delivery. Results The partnership has enabled Brother Europe to accelerate delivery whilst improving consistency across its digital estate. New ecommerce capabilities have been introduced without compromising existing dealer relationships, while design system adoption has created a stronger foundation for future product and platform initiatives. By embedding design thinking into strategic programmes as well as delivery projects, Brother has been able to make more informed decisions about how digital experiences evolve across European markets. The challenge wasn Outcomes Brother Europe now benefits from an ongoing design partnership that combines strategic thinking with hands-on delivery. From ecommerce and personalisation through to navigation, engagement and design systems, Absurd continues to support the evolution of Brother's digital ecosystem across 32 European markets. The result is a stronger foundation for innovation, improved customer experiences and greater consistency across the organisation's digital products and services. ## Redesigning the home-moving ecosystem URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work/simply-conveyancing Client: Simply Conveyancing Category: Service Design Services: Service Design, Ecosystem Mapping, Digital Transformation, Technical Strategy Excerpt: Service design and transformation work helping Simply Conveyancing rethink how property information moves between buyers, sellers, agents and conveyancers. The challenge Simply Conveyancing is one of the UK's leading conveyancing specialists, supporting buyers, sellers, estate agents and property professionals through the legal process of moving home. The UK home-moving process is still shaped by disconnected systems, manual administration and fragmented communication. Critical information is often gathered after a sale has been agreed, creating delays, duplicated effort and uncertainty at the point where buyers and sellers most need confidence. Simply Conveyancing wanted to challenge that model. The ambition was to create a sale-ready property journey, where sellers could prepare key information earlier in the process and reduce delays once a buyer had been found. This meant looking beyond a single product or interface. The work needed to address the wider service ecosystem around property transactions, including estate agents, conveyancers, buyers, sellers, property data providers, mortgage stakeholders and compliance services. Our approach Absurd was engaged as a service design partner, helping Simply Conveyancing understand where friction existed and what a more connected home-moving journey could look like. We began by mapping the end-to-end ecosystem, identifying the people, systems, processes and dependencies that influence the speed and success of a property transaction. Through workshops, stakeholder interviews and journey mapping, we examined how information moved between organisations and where handovers created delay, duplication or operational risk. This work highlighted opportunities to capture property information earlier, reduce repeated data collection, improve visibility across the transaction and remove unnecessary manual administration. Rather than treating these as isolated improvements, we developed future-state service blueprints and operating models focused on making properties sale ready before offers were accepted. Ecosystem design A significant part of the programme focused on defining how a more connected property ecosystem should operate. Absurd helped shape integration strategies between Simply Conveyancing, estate agency platforms, Moverly, property data providers, compliance services and internal operational systems. The aim was to create a smoother flow of information across the home-moving journey, replacing disconnected handovers with clearer, more consistent data exchange. We also supported the design of technical architecture aligned to emerging industry standards and the Open Property Data framework, helping ensure property information could be shared more consistently across participating organisations. Service blueprinting Using the research and ecosystem mapping, we developed service blueprints that visualised customer journeys, internal operational processes, data dependencies, technology touchpoints, third-party integrations and regulatory requirements. This gave stakeholders a shared view of how the future home-moving experience should work and where investment would have the greatest impact. The blueprint made the complexity visible, allowing teams to prioritise changes that could improve transaction speed, reduce administration and create greater certainty for buyers and sellers. Results The programme gave Simply Conveyancing a clear roadmap for modernising the home-moving journey. By focusing on sale-ready properties, earlier data collection and stronger integration between industry stakeholders, the organisation gained a practical framework for reducing delays and improving transaction efficiency. The work also positioned Simply Conveyancing to take advantage of wider industry initiatives around standardised property data, interoperability and more connected transaction services. The opportunity was not to digitise the same fragmented process. It was to redesign how the whole property transaction ecosystem works. Outcomes The engagement transformed a complex conveyancing challenge into a strategic opportunity. Instead of optimising individual touchpoints, the programme reimagined how information, people and technology work together throughout the home-moving process. The result was a clearer vision for faster transactions, improved customer experiences and a more connected property ecosystem capable of supporting the future of conveyancing. ## Aligning 30+ brands through a global design operating model URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work/entain Client: Entain PLC Category: Service Design Services: Research, Service Design, Business Analysis, Design Systems Excerpt: How Absurd helped Entain align four global design teams, standardise workflows and create a shared operating model for product design across 30+ brands. About Entain Entain is one of the world's largest sports betting and gaming groups, operating more than 30 brands across multiple international markets. With design teams distributed around the globe, maintaining consistency across products, brands and customer experiences had become increasingly difficult. The challenge As Entain's portfolio grew, four design teams located across different regions were solving similar problems in different ways. Design systems and guidelines already existed, but adoption was inconsistent. Teams regularly created new components rather than reusing existing ones, leading to duplication, fragmented user experiences and growing operational complexity. The challenge wasn't simply to improve a design system. Entain needed a scalable way to align teams, standardise decision-making and create consistency across a large global product estate. Our approach We began by auditing Entain's brands, products and existing component libraries to understand the scale of duplication and inconsistency across the organisation. Alongside this, we researched how teams were working day-to-day, mapping the processes used by designers, engineers and product teams to create, review and implement new components. What emerged was not simply a design problem, but an operational one. Using a combination of research, service design and business analysis, we mapped the end-to-end process for how design decisions were made, communicated and governed across the organisation. We then designed a new operating model that connected Figma, Jira and a centralised design system platform. This provided a shared workflow for both design and engineering teams, enabling them to discover existing components, request new patterns and contribute improvements through a governed process. The result was a system that encouraged adoption rather than circumvention. Results The new operating model provided a clear and consistent process for component governance, contribution and adoption. Design and engineering teams gained access to a shared source of truth, reducing duplication and increasing consistency across products and markets. Requests for new components became structured and transparent, while existing assets became significantly easier to discover and reuse. By aligning people, processes and tooling, Entain moved away from fragmented design practices towards a more scalable and collaborative way of working. The challenge wasn Outcomes Entain now has a more consistent approach to designing and delivering digital products across its global portfolio. The programme established clearer governance, stronger collaboration between design and engineering teams, and a framework for evolving products at scale. Most importantly, it transformed the design system from a static library into an operational capability that supports consistency, efficiency and collaboration across the business. ## Redesigning the booking experience for CitySuites URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work/citysuites Client: CitySuites Category: Product Management Services: User Research, UX Design, UI Design, Umbraco Excerpt: A mobile-first website and booking platform redesign that helped CitySuites reflect its premium offer and support more confident reservations. The challenge CitySuites operates premium serviced apartment hotels across Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool, giving guests the space of an apartment with the quality and service of a hotel. The website was not carrying that experience clearly enough. Navigation was difficult, key decision-making information was hard to find and the booking platform was converting below expectations. For guests considering a longer stay, confidence depends on detail: location, room types, facilities, policies, booking terms and what happens after a reservation is made. Too much of that information was either fragmented or hidden, increasing reliance on inbound calls and making the digital experience feel less considered than the stay itself. CitySuites needed a website and booking journey that made the offer easier to understand, easier to book and more useful once a guest had confirmed their stay. Our approach We began by looking at the decisions guests needed to make before booking, especially for longer stays where the stakes are higher than a standard hotel reservation. Through research, workshops and usability testing, we mapped the points where users were losing confidence: unclear content hierarchy, hidden facilities information, weak routes into room details and a booking journey that did not always answer practical questions at the right moment. We redesigned the information architecture around the way guests evaluate a stay, bringing together neighbourhood content, luxury facilities, FAQs, room details and reservation information so that users could move from interest to booking with less friction. The interface was redesigned mobile first, with a calmer visual language that better reflected the CitySuites brand. We also prototyped improvements across the post-booking experience, including reservation lookup, guest details, add-ons and online check-in. Results The redesigned platform gave CitySuites a clearer, more useful digital experience across discovery, booking and guest management. Guests could find the information they needed more easily, compare options with greater confidence and complete more of the journey online. The new experience also supported additional functionality introduced during the pandemic, including express online check-in. By improving the content structure, interface design and booking flow together, the platform helped increase online bookings and create stronger opportunities for upgrades, add-ons and higher-value reservations. The work was about making the booking journey feel as considered as the stay itself. Outcomes CitySuites gained a mobile-first website and booking platform designed around real guest needs rather than internal content structures. The work gave the brand a digital presence more aligned with its premium offer, reduced friction in the reservation journey and created a stronger foundation for supporting guests before, during and after their stay. ## Transforming clinician engagement through service design URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/work/ftse100-pharmaceutical Client: FTSE100 pharma Category: Service Design Services: Research, Service Design Excerpt: Service design and behavioural research for a FTSE100 healthcare organisation improving specialist clinician engagement. The Challenge A global healthcare organisation was investing heavily in programmes designed to engage specialist clinicians. Despite significant investment, participation and engagement levels were declining. Traditional approaches were becoming less effective, and increasingly stringent industry regulations meant that many conventional engagement tactics were no longer viable. At the same time, clinicians were facing growing pressures on their time, making it harder than ever to earn attention and participation. The organisation needed to understand why engagement was falling, where assumptions were wrong, and what could be done differently. Our Approach Understanding Real Behaviour Rather than relying on assumptions, we began by building a picture of how clinicians actually sought information, interacted with professional bodies and made decisions in their day-to-day roles. Using digital footprint mapping, we analysed online behaviours, information sources and engagement patterns across the ecosystem. The findings challenged several long-held beliefs. Resources and channels that were assumed to play a central role in clinician decision-making were often far less influential than expected, while other touchpoints were significantly underutilised. Speaking Directly to Stakeholders To validate our findings, we conducted interviews with clinicians alongside internal stakeholders responsible for engagement, education and programme delivery. This provided a holistic view of both sides of the challenge; understanding the realities faced by clinicians while identifying the organisational barriers preventing more effective engagement. Mapping the Ecosystem We mapped the complete engagement ecosystem, identifying: - Key actors and influencers - Professional bodies and information sources - Digital and offline touchpoints - Decision-making triggers - Organisational dependencies - External factors shaping behaviour This created a shared understanding of the environment in which engagement activity was taking place. Service Blueprinting Using the research, we mapped the end-to-end clinician journey and developed a detailed service blueprint. This enabled us to visualise how clinicians interacted with the organisation, where friction existed and which investments were creating little or no measurable value. The blueprint revealed several opportunities to simplify the experience, improve relevance and redirect investment towards higher-impact activities. The Outcome The work provided a clear, evidence-based view of how clinicians engaged with information, education and support services. We identified and prioritised opportunities using an impact-versus-effort framework, allowing stakeholders to focus investment where it would create the greatest return. Beyond strategy, we continued to support implementation, helping teams translate insight into practical changes across programmes, channels and services. The result was a more informed engagement strategy, stronger alignment across stakeholders and a clearer understanding of where investment could drive meaningful value. ## Blog Articles ## Is Human-Centred Design Still Relevant in an AI World? URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/is-human-centred-design-still-relevant-in-an-ai-world Published: 2026-08-12 Tags: featured, insights Excerpt: AI can design, build and optimise digital products at extraordinary speed. Are we still solving the right problems? For most of the history of digital product development, one of the biggest constraints on innovation has been our ability to make things. Ideas needed designers. Designs needed developers. Products needed months of planning, prototyping, building, testing and refinement. Even relatively simple changes had a meaningful cost attached to them. AI is starting to dismantle that constraint. The economics are changing remarkably quickly. Stanford's AI Index found that the cost of running an AI model performing at roughly GPT-3.5 level fell from $20 per million tokens in November 2022 to $0.07 by October 2024; a more than 280-fold reduction in around 18 months.[1] At the same time, generative AI is finding its way into almost every part of the product development process. We can generate concepts in seconds. Prototype experiences in hours. Produce functioning code increasingly quickly (to an extent). Create hundreds of variations of content. Analyse enormous datasets. And build products capable of adapting their behaviour to individual users. The cost of exploring possibilities is collapsing. And that creates an interesting problem. When we can make almost anything, deciding what is worth making becomes much more important. Which brings us back to human-centred design. The problem with human-centred design Human-centred design has become one of those phrases that is difficult to disagree with. Of course we should understand users. Of course we should solve real problems. Of course products should be useful, accessible and intuitive. But somewhere along the way, the principle became confused with the process. Human-centred design became synonymous with workshops, personas, stakeholder interviews, journey maps, research reports and walls covered in Post-it notes. Entire projects could spend weeks documenting the world before anybody actually changed it. Some of that was necessary. Some of it probably wasn't. And AI should force the design industry to confront that. There is also an uncomfortable possibility that some of what we've historically called human-centred design wasn't particularly human-centred at all. It was organisation-centred design dressed up in research: long discoveries shaped around procurement processes, artefacts created because a methodology expected them, and validation exercises designed to give organisations confidence in decisions they had largely already made. AI won't fix that. But it might make the inefficiency harder to justify. If a research team can use AI to interrogate thousands of support conversations, reviews, analytics events and research transcripts, should people still spend weeks manually categorising every observation? If a designer can create ten functioning prototypes in the time it previously took to create one, should we spend two weeks debating which idea deserves to be prototyped? If we can put functioning software in front of users almost immediately, should a static representation of that software always come first? Probably not. The future of human-centred design shouldn't be about protecting the processes we've become comfortable with. It should be about protecting what those processes were supposed to achieve. Human-centred doesn't have to mean human-powered There is a strange contradiction in some of the conversation around AI and design. We talk about keeping humans "in the loop", while continuing to ask those humans to perform enormous amounts of work that machines are becoming very good at. That isn't necessarily human-centred. It's just inefficient. There is already evidence that AI can materially improve productivity in some types of work. A large study of more than 5,000 customer-support agents found that access to a generative AI assistant increased productivity by around 14% on average. Interestingly, the effect wasn't evenly distributed. Less experienced and lower-skilled workers improved by around 34%, while the impact on highly experienced workers was minimal.[2] An earlier controlled experiment involving software developers found participants using GitHub Copilot completed a defined programming task 55.8% faster.[3] But the story isn't as simple as AI makes everyone faster. A later randomised study by METR looked at experienced open-source developers working on real repositories they already knew. Developers expected AI to make them faster. Instead, using early-2025 AI tools made them 19% slower.[4] That contradiction is important. AI doesn't automatically create productivity. The task matters. The expertise of the person using it matters. The quality of the system matters. And, perhaps most importantly, how we design the relationship between the human and the machine matters. That itself is a human-centred design problem. Execution is becoming abundant. Judgement isn't. Imagine asking an AI system to redesign a customer onboarding journey. Increasingly, it could analyse the existing experience, identify friction, generate alternative flows, write the interface copy, create the UI, produce the code, implement the analytics and potentially begin optimising the experience based on what happens next. That's extraordinary. But there's a more difficult question: What should it optimise for? The shortest journey? The highest conversion rate? The greatest amount of customer data captured? The lowest operational cost? The highest customer lifetime value? The fewest calls into the contact centre? Because those aren't simply design problems. They're decisions. And decisions require context. A business has commercial objectives. Customers have needs, expectations and anxieties. Technology has constraints. Organisations have operational realities. Society has expectations around privacy, accessibility, fairness and trust. The "best" experience depends on how those things are balanced. AI can help us understand that landscape. It can't absolve us of responsibility for deciding what to do about it. We're moving from designing interfaces to designing behaviour There is another, potentially bigger change happening. Most digital products we've designed over the last 30 years have been relatively deterministic. A user clicks something. The system responds. A user fills in a form. The system processes it. Designers could map the journey because, broadly speaking, we knew what the system was going to do. AI changes that relationship. Increasingly, digital products won't simply present interfaces - they will interpret intent. Recommend. Generate. Predict. Decide. And, increasingly, act. A banking experience might not ask a customer to navigate through six screens to move their money. An intelligent system might understand what they're trying to achieve and orchestrate the process for them. A commerce experience might not require somebody to browse hundreds of products. It might understand the problem they're trying to solve and assemble an appropriate solution. A business application might not require employees to learn a complicated interface at all. They might simply describe the outcome they need. In that world, designing the screen is only a small part of designing the experience. We need to design how the system behaves. When should it make a decision? When should it ask? When should it explain itself? When should it remember something? When should it forget? When should it act autonomously? When should it hand control back to a human? And what happens when it's wrong? These aren't hypothetical UX concerns. Microsoft's human-AI interaction research identified many of exactly these problems years before the current generative AI boom: setting appropriate expectations, making clear what a system can do, allowing users to correct it, explaining why it behaved in a particular way and giving users meaningful control over its behaviour.[5] The technology has changed dramatically whilst the human problems haven't. Trust becomes part of the interface Traditional usability was often about making technology easier to operate. AI introduces another requirement: making technology easier to trust appropriately. Not blindly trust, but appropriately trust. That distinction matters. If an AI system recommends a restaurant and gets it wrong, the consequences are relatively small. If it recommends a financial product, rejects an insurance claim, prioritises a job applicant or influences a medical decision, the relationship changes dramatically. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology's AI Risk Management Framework identifies characteristics including reliability, safety, transparency, explainability, privacy and fairness as fundamental considerations in trustworthy AI.[6] Those aren't simply technical requirements. They're experience-design requirements too. A technically explainable system isn't necessarily understandable to the person affected by its decision. A system can expose a confidence score without somebody knowing what that confidence score actually means, and a user can technically have control while having no realistic idea when they should exercise it. Design therefore has a new responsibility. It isn't simply about making AI feel easy to use. It's about helping people build an appropriate mental model of what the system knows, what it doesn't know, and how much authority they should give it. In some cases, the most human-centred thing an AI can do might be to admit that it doesn't know. Personalisation changes what a "user experience" means There's another assumption AI starts to challenge: that everybody needs to experience the same product. We've traditionally designed experiences for groups: segments, personas and audiences. We might personalise some content or change a recommendation, but the underlying product remains broadly the same. Generative systems make something much more radical possible. The interface itself can become adaptive. Information can be presented differently depending on someone's expertise and complexity can expand or disappear depending on what somebody is trying to achieve. Journeys can be generated rather than predefined. An interface might increasingly become something that is assembled in response to an individual rather than something designed once and served to everyone. At first glance, that sounds like the ultimate expression of human-centred design. But it creates a paradox. How do you design an experience that you can no longer completely predict? The answer probably isn't more wireframes. It's about defining how the system should behave, the constraints it should operate within and what happens when it gets things wrong. The designer moves from specifying every possible interaction to defining the conditions within which good interactions can happen. That's a significant change in the discipline. The interface might not be the product There's an even more fundamental possibility. For decades, improving a digital product usually meant improving its interface. Better navigation, better information architecture, fewer steps, clearer calls to action, better forms. But increasingly, the best interface might be less interface. If an AI system genuinely understands intent, why should someone navigate your organisation's internal structure? Why should a customer understand which department owns their problem? Why should they search through 500 pages of a website? Why should they complete a twelve-field form if the organisation already possesses most of the information? Why should an employee learn a complex enterprise application simply to ask it for an outcome? For years we've tried to make complicated systems easier for humans to operate. AI gives us the opportunity to ask a different question: Why are we asking the human to operate the system at all? That is potentially a much bigger shift than adding a chatbot to a website and it requires human-centred design to operate at the level of the service and organisation, rather than simply the interface. Perhaps human-centred design needs less design This may be the uncomfortable bit. AI probably will automate a meaningful amount of the work currently performed by designers, researchers, developers, strategists and content teams, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. There is little inherent value in manually producing 50 wireframes if a machine can generate them, or spending days transcribing interviews. And there is certainly little value in writing a 100-page research report nobody will read. The value was never really in producing those things. The value was in the understanding and decisions they enabled. AI gives us an opportunity to strip away some of the ceremony that has accumulated around digital product development. Research can become more continuous. Prototyping can become almost immediate. Testing can happen earlier. Production and experimentation can move closer together. The distance between idea → experience → evidence → improvement can shrink dramatically. That's exciting. Because it allows human-centred design to become less about documenting what people might need and more about continuously discovering what actually works for them. The scarce resource is changing For years, execution was expensive. You needed significant time, money and expertise to turn an idea into functioning technology. That's changing. The rapidly falling cost of AI inference is one indication of just how quickly sophisticated computational capability is becoming commoditised.[1] Ideas, variations and content are becoming cheap to produce. Prototypes are heading the same way, and increasingly so is code. But judgement isn't. Understanding why somebody behaves in a particular way, recognising when you've been asked to solve the wrong problem, navigating the operational reality of a business or spotting when optimisation is creating unintended consequences - none of those things suddenly become easy because the software is easier to make. In fact, those capabilities become more valuable as the cost of execution falls. Human-centred design at AI speed So, is human-centred design still relevant? Absolutely. Arguably more than ever. But that doesn't mean every human-centred design method we've used for the last 20 years needs to survive. Some of them shouldn't. We should automate research tasks that don't require human judgement. We should generate and discard ideas much faster. We should prototype before we've finished arguing about the prototype. We should replace static deliverables with working experiments wherever possible. We should allow AI to do more of the production work. And we should spend more of our time understanding people, businesses and the consequences of the systems we're creating. Because the future isn't human-centred design versus artificial intelligence, and it isn't really about bolting AI onto human-centred design either. It's about what happens when human-centred design can operate at AI speed. When the cost of making something approaches zero, making something is no longer the achievement. Knowing what to make is. AI compresses the execution layer. It doesn't remove the need for judgement. It makes judgement the scarce resource. References 1. Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, AI Index Report 2025: Research and Development (https://hai.stanford.edu/ai-index/2025-ai-index-report/research-and-development). 2. Brynjolfsson, Li and Raymond, Generative AI at Work (https://www.nber.org/papers/w31161). 3. Peng et al., The Impact of AI on Developer Productivity: Evidence from GitHub Copilot (https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.06590). 4. Becker et al., Measuring the Impact of Early-2025 AI on Experienced Open-Source Developer Productivity (https://metr.org/blog/2025-07-10-early-2025-ai-experienced-os-dev-study/). 5. Amershi et al., Guidelines for Human-AI Interaction (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/guidelines-for-human-ai-interaction/). 6. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework (AI RMF 1.0) (https://www.nist.gov/itl/ai-risk-management-framework). ## Why Membership Organisations Love Umbraco URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/why-membership-organisations-love-umbraco Published: 2026-08-12 Tags: featured, insights Excerpt: Membership organisations have some of the most complicated digital ecosystems around. Perhaps that is exactly why Umbraco has become so popular with them. Membership organisations have some of the most complicated digital ecosystems around. Perhaps that's exactly why Umbraco has become so popular with them. At first glance, a membership website doesn't sound particularly complicated. You need some content. A way to join. Somewhere for existing members to log in. Perhaps some events, news and resources. Then you look under the bonnet. There's an Association Management System or CRM containing the member record. An events platform. Email marketing. Payments. Learning and CPD. Gated content. Member directories. Authentication. Analytics. Personalisation. Sometimes ecommerce. Often several decades of content. And somehow, to the member, all of this is supposed to feel like one coherent organisation. That's where things get difficult. It's also one of the reasons Umbraco has quietly become such a dominant platform in the membership sector. According to the MemberWise Digital Excellence Report, Umbraco has been the most popular CMS for membership organisations and associations for five consecutive years. That's an interesting level of concentration for a sector with some very specific digital requirements. So why does it work so well? The CMS isn't the centre of the universe This is probably the most important point. For most membership organisations, the CMS shouldn't be the system that does everything. Your CRM or AMS should probably remain responsible for the member record. Your LMS should probably remain responsible for learning. Your event platform should probably remain responsible for events. Your payment provider should probably process payments. And your CMS should be very good at orchestrating those capabilities into an experience that makes sense to a member. Umbraco fits that model particularly well. It's API-friendly and deliberately designed to integrate with other systems. Umbraco's own integration ecosystem covers CRM, analytics, email marketing, automation, payments and other services, while its composable architecture is intended to let organisations connect the technologies they actually need rather than buying everything from a single vendor. That matters in membership. Because replacing your website shouldn't require replacing your entire organisation. Membership organisations already have technology One of the traps in a digital transformation programme is assuming you're starting with a blank sheet of paper. You aren't. A membership organisation might have spent years implementing Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, iMIS or another membership platform. It might have a specialist events system that works perfectly well. Its learning platform might contain years of CPD records. There will be processes built around those systems, teams trained to use them and data that absolutely cannot disappear because somebody has decided it's time for a new website. The question isn't usually: What platform can replace all of this? It's: How do we make all of this feel like one experience? Those are very different problems. Umbraco's composable approach means you can leave specialist systems doing the jobs they're good at while creating a much better experience over the top. That makes gradual transformation possible too. You don't have to solve the entire technology estate in one enormous programme. Individual systems can be integrated, improved or eventually replaced without rebuilding the entire digital experience every time something changes. For organisations with complicated estates and limited appetite for another five-year transformation programme, that's significant. A member doesn't care about your technology stack This sounds obvious, but plenty of digital experiences suggest otherwise. A member doesn't know that events are managed by one department and professional development by another. They don't care that their membership record lives in the CRM while their learning history lives in the LMS and they don't know that the website, event platform and member portal have different suppliers. They just know they're a member. Yet organisational and technological boundaries have a habit of appearing in the experience. Different logins. Different navigation. Different designs. Information you already gave the organisation being requested again. A website that knows you're a member followed by an event booking system that apparently doesn't. The technical architecture might make perfect sense internally while making absolutely no sense to the person using it. The role of the digital experience is to hide that complexity, and that's where a flexible CMS becomes particularly valuable. Umbraco can act as the experience layer across multiple underlying services, bringing content and data together without pretending they all need to live in the CMS. The website has two very different jobs Membership websites also have an unusual tension built into them. They need to convince people to become members, and they need to continually convince existing members that membership is worth keeping. Those are completely different jobs. For a prospective member, the experience is closer to ecommerce or lead generation. Why should I join? What do I get? Is this relevant to me? What does it cost? For an existing member, the questions change. What's happening in my industry? What events can I attend? Where are my resources? What's the status of my CPD? When does my membership renew? The same digital platform needs to support acquisition, onboarding, engagement and retention. That means the idea of one generic "website experience" starts to break down fairly quickly. Umbraco gives organisations the flexibility to create different journeys around those needs, while still managing the underlying content centrally. And increasingly, that opens the door to much more personalised experiences. Membership should change the experience Logging into a membership website shouldn't simply reveal an extra item in the navigation called "Member Area". The fact that the organisation knows who you are should fundamentally change the experience; a graduate member shouldn't necessarily see the same thing as someone who has been in the profession for 30 years, and someone who has already booked an event doesn't need to keep seeing advertising for it. A member halfway through a qualification might need different content from someone who has completed it; someone approaching renewal has a very different relationship with the organisation from somebody who joined yesterday. Once Umbraco is connected to the systems holding that information, those signals can begin shaping the digital experience. Content can become more relevant, journeys can become shorter, events can be recommended, resources can be surfaced, renewal messaging can appear at the right time, and the website starts behaving less like a publishing platform and more like a membership service. Umbraco itself is increasingly investing in this area, with personalisation and engagement capabilities designed to use first-party data to tailor digital experiences. Your content team still has to use it There is another reason Umbraco works particularly well in this sector that is considerably less exciting, but just as important - people actually have to use the CMS. Membership organisations can produce an enormous amount of content. News. Policy updates. Guidance. Research. Events. Training. Resources. Campaigns. Consultations. Industry updates. If publishing all of that requires a developer, the technology has failed. Umbraco has always put a lot of emphasis on the editor experience. Content structures, reusable components, permissions and workflows can be designed around how an organisation actually operates rather than forcing editors into a rigid publishing model. That's important when content is being produced by multiple teams, subject-matter experts and sometimes regional or specialist groups. The sophisticated bit should happen underneath and publishing a page shouldn't feel sophisticated at all. It doesn't force you into someone else's idea of a membership organisation This might ultimately be Umbraco's biggest advantage. No two membership organisations really work in the same way; one might revolve around professional qualifications and CPD, another around events and networking, another around lobbying and representation, another around research, standards or accreditation, and another might do all of those things. The temptation with large digital platforms is to buy an enormous suite and gradually reshape the organisation around the way the software thinks it should operate. Umbraco takes almost the opposite approach. The CMS provides the foundation, but the experience can be designed around the organisation. That flexibility is one of the reasons Umbraco is used across organisations including the British Medical Association, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the Chartered Institute of Marketing and The Law Society of England and Wales. These aren't identical organisations running identical membership models. That's the point. Open source matters more than it sounds There is a commercial argument here too. Membership organisations tend to think in decades rather than funding rounds. Technology choices have a habit of sticking around. That makes vendor lock-in, escalating licence costs and proprietary technology particularly uncomfortable. Umbraco's core CMS is open source and built on .NET. Organisations aren't locked into a single agency, hosting provider or proprietary development environment. That doesn't mean running a sophisticated digital platform is free. It obviously isn't. But there is a meaningful difference between investing money in the digital experience you actually want and spending a large part of the budget simply for permission to use the software underneath it. For membership organisations where every pound ultimately comes from members, that distinction matters. Complexity underneath. Simplicity on top. Perhaps the reason Umbraco works so well for membership organisations is that the philosophy of the platform matches the problem. Membership organisations are complicated. Their technology estates are complicated. Their audiences are complicated. Their content is complicated. Their relationships with members can last for decades. Trying to solve that complexity by putting everything into one enormous system rarely makes it disappear. It just moves the complexity somewhere else. A better approach is to let specialist systems do what they're good at, connect them properly and put a coherent experience over the top. That's what Umbraco is particularly good at. The member shouldn't need to understand your CRM, LMS, AMS, CMS or events platform; they shouldn't really need to know they exist. They should just feel like the organisation knows who they are, and perhaps that's the simplest explanation for why membership organisations love Umbraco. It lets the technology underneath be complicated, without forcing the member experience to be. ## When Self-Service Becomes Self-Defence URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/when-self-service-becomes-self-defence Published: 2026-08-07 Tags: featured, insights Excerpt: When self-service transfers labour, risk and accountability to customers, efficiency becomes fragile and the customer is left to defend themselves. Yesterday, I flew home from Málaga with Ryanair. I was travelling with an oversized item: a child’s car seat. That put me outside the airline’s standard check-in process, although hardly into an unpredictable edge case. Ryanair carries millions of families. Car seats, pushchairs and oversized baggage are part of the everyday reality of running an airline. Yet the process felt as though it had been designed without any real thought. Checking in required a phone. The airport used dynamic QR codes. To deal with the car seat, I first had to find and flag down an assistant. The assistant then produced another QR code - not from a piece of airport equipment or an official check-in system, but apparently from WhatsApp on their phone - which I had to scan with mine. Consider how many things had to work for that interaction to succeed. My phone had to be charged, connected and in my hand. The right assistant had to be visible and available. I had to understand that there was a separate process for the car seat, despite there being little obvious guidance. Their phone had to be working. The QR code had to load. My camera had to recognise it. And we both had to complete this improvised digital handshake while surrounded by luggage, children, queues and the low-level anxiety that accompanies almost every airport departure. This may have reduced the amount of equipment or staffing Ryanair needed to provide. It did not feel efficient to me. More importantly, it did not look particularly efficient for the airport staff either. The process had not eliminated work. It had redistributed it. Some had been transferred to the passenger. Some remained with the assistant, who now had to be found and interrupted. Some had been turned into uncertainty, delay and repeated attempts. What appeared efficient from the centre became fragmented and fragile at the point of use. That is the curious thing about badly designed self-service. It asks the customer to become the employee, troubleshooter and quality-control department - then treats the customer as the problem when the process fails. Self-service becomes self-defence. Customers do not always have a meaningful choice It would be easy to dismiss this as a complaint about a budget airline. Ryanair is inexpensive. Its business model is built around operational efficiency. Everyone knows it is not selling luxury. But that misses the point. I was not looking for champagne, a red carpet or somebody to carry my bags. I wanted a clear, reliable process for checking in an item that families take onto flights every day. Nor was I standing in an ordinary competitive marketplace at that moment. Several airlines might fly between Spain and the UK. But once I had booked a particular journey, arrived at Málaga Airport and needed to get home at a particular time, the theoretical existence of another airline was largely irrelevant. Ryanair had what we might call a situational monopoly. It controlled the service I needed at the moment I needed it. Walking away was not a meaningful option. This is what makes some transactions different from ordinary purchases. Sometimes we choose a product because we want it. Sometimes we enter a service because circumstances compel us to complete it. We have to catch the flight. Submit the mortgage application. Make an insurance claim. Restore access to a frozen bank account. Prove our identity. Attend the hospital appointment. Fix the broadband connection. Resolve the fraudulent payment. Complete the visa process. Cancel the contract. These are distressed purchases or, more broadly, high-stakes service moments. The customer may have chosen the provider months or years earlier. They may theoretically be able to choose another one in the future. But inside the moment itself, they have little agency. They need the process to work, and the cost of failure belongs overwhelmingly to them. That imbalance matters because it can disguise poor service remarkably well. Customers still complete the journey. The transaction still converts. The flight remains full. The test gets booked. The form is eventually submitted. From the organisation’s point of view, the process appears successful. But completion is not the same as satisfaction. When customers cannot walk away, completion may not even be evidence that the service worked. It may simply reveal how much difficulty they were willing - or forced - to endure. We saw the other side of this with ExpressTest Our work with ExpressTest took place in a very different context, but it involved the same underlying service-design problem. During the pandemic, international travel was governed by testing requirements that changed frequently and differed between countries. For many journeys, passengers were required to obtain a valid negative Covid test within a specified window. UK government guidance directed travellers who needed tests towards private providers that met the relevant minimum standards. Testing was not an optional enhancement to the journey. It could determine whether the journey happened at all. [1] Our client became one of three solution providers operating in that space. At first glance, the proposition appeared simple: book a test, take the test and receive a result. But nobody was really buying a medical procedure. They were buying certainty that they could travel. Even that does not capture the whole emotional context, however. The test did not merely present an administrative risk. It presented a health risk. Customers were worried that their certificate might not arrive in time. They were worried that they had booked the wrong type of test. They were worried that they had misunderstood the entry requirements. They were worried about losing the money they had spent on flights, accommodation or family events. And, beneath all of this, they were worried that they might actually have Covid. A positive result did not simply mean a failed transaction. It could mean illness, isolation and possible transmission to someone they loved. It might mean being unable to attend a wedding, see a relative, return home or take a long-delayed holiday. During the most uncertain periods of the pandemic, it could provoke genuine fear about what would happen next. Research confirms that this was not a marginal emotional response. A 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis found high levels of Covid-related fear and anxiety across different populations, while a later review connected fear of Covid with anxiety, depression, stress, sleep problems and poorer mental wellbeing. [2, 3] This was therefore a service with two possible sources of distress: 1. Will the process allow me to travel? 2. What will the result tell me about my health? The customer needed logistical certainty while approaching an outcome that was inherently uncertain. That distinction shaped the challenge. We could not promise everyone the result they wanted. No honest service could. But we could design the experience so that people understood what would happen, what was required from them, where they were in the process and when they would hear from us. We could absorb as much procedural uncertainty as possible, because the customer was already carrying enough emotional uncertainty of their own. That, to me, is one of the most useful definitions of good service design: Good service design absorbs complexity on behalf of the customer. Bad service design exposes the customer to the organisation’s complexity and asks them to manage it. The problem is not self-service I am not against self-service. Good self-service can be faster, calmer and more convenient than waiting for an employee. I would rather check in online than queue at a desk. I would rather track a delivery than phone a call centre. I would rather make a simple change myself than explain it to three different people. The academic literature has recognised these benefits for decades. Self-service technologies can give customers more control, improve access and reduce waiting. But research also shows that satisfaction depends heavily on whether the technology actually solves the customer’s problem. One of the foundational studies in this field, published by Matthew Meuter, found that both the success of the technology and the customer’s ability to recover from a failure are central to the experience. [4] That is the crucial distinction. Self-service is valuable when it gives the customer agency. It becomes destructive when it merely transfers labour, risk and accountability to them. Researchers have described this transferred effort as “consumptive labour” or “shadow work”: unpaid work once performed by employees that is now performed by customers. [5] There is nothing automatically wrong with that exchange. I am happy to scan my own boarding pass if doing so saves time. I am happy to assemble a simple piece of furniture if that lowers its cost. I am happy to manage my account online if I gain speed and control in return. The problem begins when the value flows in only one direction. The organisation saves money, while I inherit another password, device dependency, unexplained error message or recovery process. The service has been optimised for the organisation’s cost-to-serve, but my own cost-to-be-served has been ignored. That cost is not limited to minutes. It includes attention, cognitive load, uncertainty and emotional effort. In a high-stakes situation, it also includes the risk of missing a flight, losing money, delaying medical treatment or being locked out of something essential. The happy path is not the service Many digital experiences are designed around a “happy path”: the cleanest sequence through which an ideal user completes a task. The passenger has the right document. The customer remembers their password. The applicant’s address history fits the form. The patient speaks the expected language. The traveller has a charged smartphone and reliable data. The luggage is a standard size. The test result is negative. Designing the happy path is useful, but it is not enough. The real quality of a service is revealed when something deviates from it. What happens when the passenger has a car seat? What happens when the customer cannot receive the verification code? What happens when the person has no smartphone, poor eyesight or limited dexterity? What happens when a result is inconclusive? What happens when the rules change between booking and travel? What happens when somebody is frightened? Exceptions are often discussed as if they were rare defects around the edge of the service. At sufficient scale, they are the service. A process used by millions of people will encounter dead batteries, forgotten passwords, accessibility needs, delayed messages, unusual names, disputed payments, distressed customers and luggage of every conceivable shape. None of these is surprising. The precise individual may be unpredictable. The existence of the exception is not. If the official journey cannot handle these circumstances, employees create unofficial ones. They use personal messages, handwritten notes, unofficial spreadsheets, screenshots and workarounds. That ingenuity may rescue the customer, but it also tells us something important: the service is relying on frontline improvisation to repair a design failure. This creates what systems thinker John Seddon calls failure demand: additional demand caused by an organisation failing to do something, or failing to do it correctly, the first time. The customer asks for help because the instructions were unclear. They call because the app did not explain the error. They approach a member of staff because the kiosk cannot handle the exception. Each contact appears as new work, but it is actually work generated by the original service. This is why badly designed self-service can create the illusion of efficiency. A task disappears from one departmental spreadsheet only to reappear somewhere less visible: in longer queues, repeated contacts, staff interruptions, customer anxiety and abandoned trust. Why conventional measures miss the damage The most dangerous feature of a distressed purchase is that many familiar business metrics become unreliable. A customer who successfully boards the flight counts as a completed transaction, even if they found the process bewildering. A traveller who receives a Covid certificate counts as a fulfilled order, even if they spent the previous 24 hours uncertain whether the result would arrive. A person who eventually recovers their bank account counts as a resolved case, even if it required four calls and caused days of anxiety. The organisation sees the outcome. The customer remembers the ordeal. Research into customer effort provides a useful corrective. Matthew Dixon, Karen Freeman and Nicholas Toman argued that reducing the work customers must do to solve a problem is a stronger route to loyalty than trying to manufacture elaborate “wow” moments. Their research found that difficult service interactions were especially likely to drive disloyalty. [6] I think this is particularly important in high-stakes services. “Delight” can sound frivolous when somebody is waiting for a medical result or trying to get home. The customer does not need theatre. They need clarity, competence and reassurance. In these moments, delight is often simply the absence of avoidable distress. It is seeing immediately which test you need. It is knowing that your booking has been received. It is understanding when the result will arrive. It is being told what happens if something goes wrong. It is finding a human being before you have exhausted every automated route. It is a fallback that feels like part of the service rather than an admission that the service has failed. Design for the emotional job, not only the functional task A service journey normally contains at least two layers. The first is functional: What is the customer trying to accomplish? The second is emotional: What are they trying to feel, or stop feeling, while accomplishing it? At ExpressTest, the functional job was obtaining a valid test result. The emotional job was achieving enough certainty to continue with an important journey while confronting the possibility of illness. At Málaga, the functional job was checking in a car seat. The emotional job was knowing that my family and our belongings were correctly processed and that we would be allowed to board the flight. A purely operational design sees the transaction. A genuinely customer-centred design sees what the transaction means. This is not a plea to make every interface sentimental. It is an argument for recognising that anxiety changes how people process information. Under pressure, customers have less patience for ambiguity and less cognitive capacity to decode unfamiliar instructions. Every unexplained step becomes evidence that something may be going wrong. The service should therefore communicate more clearly, not less, at moments of high uncertainty. This also connects with the peak-end rule, associated with the work of Daniel Kahneman and others. Research suggests that people’s memories of an experience are influenced disproportionately by its most emotionally intense moment and by how it ends. The principle has since been explored specifically in service settings. [7] For ExpressTest customers, opening the result was the emotional peak. The arrival of a valid certificate was the end of the service and the beginning of their journey. Those moments deserved disproportionate design attention. For an airline passenger, an unresolved problem at check-in may also become both the emotional peak and the final meaningful interaction with the airline before security. A fragile process at that point can colour the memory of the entire experience. Five questions every organisation should ask This issue extends far beyond airports and pandemic testing. Every organisation has moments in which the customer’s freedom, time or emotional bandwidth is constrained. Those moments deserve more scrutiny precisely because customers are less able to leave. I would start with five questions. 1. Where can our customers not realistically walk away? Look beyond legal monopolies. Find the situational ones. These may occur when a customer is locked into a contract, facing a deadline, dealing with an emergency or has already invested significant time and money. The question is not whether another provider exists. It is whether switching is a credible option in that particular moment. 2. What are customers really carrying? Map the emotional stakes as well as the transactional steps. Are customers confused, embarrassed, bereaved, frightened, angry or short of time? What happens if they make a mistake? What does the outcome mean beyond the immediate transaction? The same five-minute delay feels very different when ordering a T-shirt and when waiting to learn whether you can travel, or whether you have Covid. 3. Where have we transferred work without transferring value? List everything customers now do that an employee or system once did. Some of that work may be entirely reasonable. But what do customers receive in exchange: greater speed, control, convenience or lower cost? Where are they simply subsidising an internal efficiency programme with their own time and attention? 4. What happens outside the happy path? Do not ask only whether the main journey works. Test expired batteries, poor connectivity, accessibility needs, missing documents, unusual luggage, changed plans, inconclusive results and frightened people. Observe what frontline employees actually do, including the unofficial workarounds absent from the service blueprint. Those workarounds often contain the clearest evidence of what the formal service has failed to provide. 5. Are we measuring completion or confidence? Completion tells us whether the customer reached the end. Confidence tells us whether they knew what was happening, understood what was required and trusted the organisation to handle a problem. Both matter. Only one of them is normally visible on an operational dashboard. Useful measures might include repeated attempts, requests for clarification, avoidable contacts, time spent recovering from errors, intervention by frontline staff and the customer’s confidence at critical points, not just their eventual completion of the transaction. Efficiency and care are not opposites There is a tendency to frame this debate as a choice between commercial efficiency and customer care. That is too simplistic. A well-designed service can reduce both operational cost and customer effort. Clearer instructions can prevent calls. Better status updates can reduce uncertainty and repeated contact. Thoughtful exception handling can stop staff being interrupted. Accessible digital journeys can allow more customers to complete tasks independently. The goal is not to add a person to every interaction. It is to put human support where human judgement or reassurance is valuable, and ensure that digital systems do not generate the very demand they were introduced to remove. ExpressTest operated under extraordinary pressure: shifting regulation, significant volume, medical responsibility and customers with immovable travel deadlines. The answer was not to pretend that those constraints did not exist. It was to prevent as much of that complexity as possible from landing on the customer. That lesson applies anywhere a transaction carries consequences beyond the transaction itself. Customers may forget a slick animation or a clever piece of copy. They will remember whether the organisation made a frightening moment calmer. They will remember whether the process gave them confidence or made them feel foolish. They will remember whether someone took responsibility when the system stopped working. And they will remember being treated as a human being rather than as unpaid infrastructure. Self-service should extend our agency. It should make ordinary things easier and give us more control over our time. When it instead forces us to locate the right employee, obtain an unofficial QR code, diagnose the organisation’s process and protect ourselves against its failure, it has crossed a line. It is no longer self-service. It is self-defence. References 1. UK Government, Private providers of coronavirus testing (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/list-of-private-providers-of-coronavirus-testing). 2. Luo et al., Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Fear of COVID-19 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34177712/). 3. Şimşir et al., Fear of COVID-19 and its association with mental health-related factors (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35307051/). 4. Meuter et al., Self-Service Technologies: Understanding Customer Satisfaction with Technology-Based Service Encounters (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1509/jmkg.64.3.50.18024). 5. Koeber, Wright and Dingler, Self-Service in the Labor Process (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0160597611433273). 6. Dixon, Freeman and Toman, Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers (https://hbr.org/2010/07/stop-trying-to-delight-your-customers). 7. Oxford Academic, The peak-end rule (https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192864543.003.0007). ## How Should Boards Manage the Risks of AI? URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/managing-the-risks-of-ai-at-board-level Published: 2026-07-13 Tags: insights Excerpt: AI introduces an entirely new category of organisational risk, one that sits at the intersection of technology, governance, trust and competitive advantage. Artificial intelligence has moved rapidly from experimentation into everyday business operations. Marketing teams are generating content in seconds, customer service departments are deploying AI assistants, software teams are accelerating delivery, and employees across every other function are exploring increasingly powerful tools. For boards, however, the challenge extends far beyond controlling adoption. AI introduces an entirely new category of organisational risk, one that sits at the intersection of technology, governance, trust and competitive advantage. The question is no longer whether businesses should embrace AI, but whether they have the guardrails to use it responsibly. Many organisations are implementing AI without fully understanding the implications. Data is being shared with third-party models, automated decisions are being made using incomplete or unreliable information, and AI capabilities are increasingly embedded into the software businesses already rely on. At the same time, regulation is evolving, customer expectations are changing and boards are being asked to oversee technologies that few directors have practical experience with. The organisations that succeed over the next decade will not necessarily be those that adopt AI the fastest. They will be those that establish the right foundations: trustworthy data, clear accountability and governance frameworks that enable innovation without compromising control. The five AI risks every board should understand 1. Data risk AI systems are only as effective as the information that powers them. Poor-quality or poorly governed data can quickly become a business-critical issue. Boards should consider the risks associated with: - Sensitive commercial, customer or employee data being shared with third-party AI providers. - Intellectual property leakage through public or consumer-grade AI tools. - Inaccurate, incomplete or outdated datasets leading to flawed outputs. - Data sovereignty, privacy and compliance challenges across different jurisdictions. Many businesses already have mature cybersecurity and data governance programmes, but AI introduces new questions around how data is processed, stored and used to train models. 2. Decision risk Traditional software executes instructions. AI systems generate predictions and recommendations based on probability. That distinction matters. Boards must recognise the risks associated with: - AI hallucinations producing plausible but incorrect recommendations. - Embedded bias influencing hiring, pricing, lending or operational decisions. - Limited explainability, making it difficult to understand how outcomes were reached. - Over-reliance on AI outputs at the expense of human judgement and expertise. The challenge is not simply whether AI can provide an answer, but whether organisations can trust the answer enough to act on it. 3. Operational risk AI is no longer confined to standalone applications. It is increasingly embedded within productivity suites, customer platforms, analytics tools and operational systems. This creates operational risks, including: - Unclear ownership and accountability for AI-driven processes. - AI failures disrupting critical business operations or customer journeys. - Security vulnerabilities introduced through third-party integrations. - Inconsistent governance as departments adopt different tools independently. Unlike previous waves of technology adoption, AI can spread across an organisation quickly and often without central oversight. 4. Strategic risk Boards face a difficult balancing act. Moving too slowly risks losing competitive advantage, while moving too quickly risks investing in technologies without a clear purpose. Key strategic risks include: - Falling behind competitors that successfully leverage AI for growth and efficiency. - Skills gaps at executive and board level limiting effective oversight. - Significant investment in AI initiatives that lack measurable outcomes. - Failure to establish the governance frameworks required to innovate safely. AI strategy should not begin with technology. It should begin with business priorities and a clear understanding of where AI can create meaningful value. 5. Regulatory and reputational risk Perhaps the most significant risk is the erosion of trust. Customers, employees and regulators increasingly expect organisations to explain how AI is being used and who remains accountable for its decisions. Boards must consider: - Breaching emerging AI regulations and industry standards. - Unclear accountability when AI-driven decisions cause harm. - Loss of customer confidence following inaccurate or unethical use of AI. - Reputational damage resulting from poorly governed AI initiatives. ## Why Geography Still Shapes Innovation URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/why-geography-still-shapes-innovation Published: 2026-06-29 Tags: insights Excerpt: Talent is everywhere, but innovation still clusters around the places and cultures that create the conditions for ideas to collide. Talent is everywhere. Innovation isn't. If I asked you where the world's most innovative places are, you'd probably answer with the same handful of locations. Silicon Valley. Shenzhen. London. Tokyo. Stockholm. Now ask yourself a harder question. Why there? For all the talk about remote working, cloud computing, and global collaboration, innovation still happens in clusters. Thousands of miles apart, these places continue to produce disproportionate numbers of world-changing ideas, products, and companies. That's not an accident. It's geography. Haven't we moved beyond geography? The internet was supposed to level the playing field where anyone could build a billion-pound company from anywhere in the world. Knowledge became free, collaboration became global, and capital became easier to access. Yet, decades later, the same cities continue to dominate innovation. Silicon Valley still attracts founders from every continent, Shenzhen still manufactures much of the world's hardware, and Cambridge continues to spin out world-leading research. Why? Because geography has never just been about location. It's about ecosystems. Innovation has always clustered History tells the same story time and again. The Industrial Revolution began in Britain, the Renaissance flourished in Florence, Ancient Athens became a centre of philosophy, mathematics, and democracy, and the Dutch Golden Age transformed trade, science, and finance. None of these movements emerged by chance. Each was shaped by a unique combination of factors: access to trade, political stability, investment, skilled workers, centres of learning, healthy competition, and, perhaps most importantly, the free exchange of ideas. Innovation rarely appears in isolation. It thrives in environments where people, perspectives, and opportunities collide. Silicon Valley isn't successful because of technology This is perhaps the biggest misconception about Silicon Valley: technology wasn't the secret, culture was. For decades, entrepreneurs, engineers, academics, and investors have lived and worked within a few miles of one another, creating an environment where ideas move quickly, talent flows freely between companies, and experienced founders mentor the next generation. Investors understand that risk and failure are part of building something meaningful, while world-class universities provide a constant pipeline of talent. Over time, this has created a self-reinforcing ecosystem where success attracts more talent, more investment, and more ambition. That's incredibly difficult to replicate elsewhere, because you can't recreate decades of relationships, trust, and shared experience overnight. You can copy a tech stack. You can't copy an ecosystem. Geography shapes culture This is where things become interesting. Geography doesn't just influence where people live; it shapes how they think. Island nations have historically become trading nations, harsh climates often encourage long-term planning and careful resource management, resource-rich countries innovate differently from resource-poor ones, and densely populated cities create far more opportunities for ideas and people to collide than isolated communities. These aren't hard rules, but they are recurring patterns. Geography shapes culture. Culture shapes behaviour. Behaviour shapes innovation. The hidden ingredient: collisions In Where Good Ideas Come From, Steven Johnson argues that innovation thrives when ideas are allowed to collide. Cities create those collisions. Universities do too. So do coffee shops, coworking spaces, and even well-designed offices. These aren't just places where people work; they're places where conversations happen that otherwise never would. One unexpected discussion can reshape a product, one introduction can spark a new business, and one challenging question can overturn an assumption that's gone unquestioned for years. The most innovative environments aren't simply full of smart people. They're full of opportunities for those people to connect. Innovation, it turns out, is surprisingly social. Can companies create their own geography? Most organisations can't relocate to Silicon Valley, but they can recreate many of the conditions that made it successful. By encouraging collaboration across teams, reducing unnecessary hierarchy, rewarding experimentation over certainty, and bringing together people with diverse perspectives, businesses can create their own innovation ecosystems. The goal isn't to copy California. It's to build a culture where ideas move as freely as people do. The future of geography Artificial intelligence, remote working, and global collaboration will undoubtedly change how we innovate, but geography won't disappear. If anything, physical communities may become even more valuable. When everyone has access to the same technology and information, the real competitive advantage comes from relationships, trust, culture, and serendipity. You can't download those. They emerge when people share ideas, challenge each other, and build something together over time. Final thought Innovation isn't distributed evenly around the world because the conditions for innovation aren't distributed evenly either. Geography still matters, not because great ideas belong to certain places, but because some places consistently create the conditions where those ideas can flourish. The same is true for organisations. The question isn't, "How do we become more innovative?" It's, "Are we creating an environment where innovation has a chance?" ## We're Hiring: Business Development Manager URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/were-hiring-business-development-manager Published: 2026-06-15 Tags: news Excerpt: We're looking for a commercially minded Business Development Manager to help us build awareness, create opportunities and accelerate growth across the UK. About Absurd At Absurd, we help organisations solve complex problems through strategic design, product thinking and software development. We work with ambitious businesses to create digital products, improve customer experiences and unlock measurable commercial value. Our clients range from fast-growing businesses to large enterprises, and our work spans strategy, service design, UX, software engineering, experimentation and optimisation. We're looking for a commercially minded Business Development Manager to help us build awareness, create opportunities and accelerate growth across the UK. The Role This is a hybrid role combining account-based marketing, outbound business development and growth marketing. You'll own the entire top-of-funnel process, from account selection and messaging through to campaign execution, reporting and opportunity handover. You'll be responsible for identifying high-value target accounts, creating campaigns that engage decision-makers and generating qualified opportunities for our leadership team. You'll own the entire top-of-funnel process, from account selection and messaging through to campaign execution, reporting and opportunity handover. What You'll Do - Develop and execute account-based marketing strategies targeting key sectors and organisations - Build and manage target account lists using data and market insight - Research decision-makers and identify buying triggers - Create and manage multi-channel outreach campaigns across email, LinkedIn, events and partnerships - Write and refine campaign messaging, outreach sequences and supporting content - Manage outbound and CRM platforms to ensure accurate reporting and pipeline visibility - Coordinate webinars, events and thought leadership initiatives - Track campaign performance and continuously optimise messaging, channels and targeting - Qualify opportunities and coordinate discovery sessions with the leadership team - Work closely with strategy, design and engineering teams to develop propositions and case studies What We're Looking For - Experience in account-based marketing, growth marketing, business development or demand generation within a digital agency, consultancy or technology business - Strong understanding of outbound prospecting and multi-channel campaigns - Experience using CRM, sales engagement and prospecting tools - Excellent writing and communication skills - Strong commercial awareness and the ability to understand complex business challenges - Highly organised and comfortable working independently - A data-driven mindset with experience measuring campaign performance and pipeline impact Bonus Points For - Experience selling or marketing digital products, software development, UX or transformation services - An existing network within digital, product or technology communities Success Looks Like - A predictable pipeline of qualified opportunities - Increased awareness of Absurd among target accounts - Improved engagement with decision-makers - Measurable contribution to new business revenue If you enjoy combining strategy, creativity and commercial thinking to drive growth, we'd love to hear from you. ## Is the wireframe dead? URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/is-the-wireframe-dead Published: 2026-06-15 Tags: featured, insights Excerpt: For years, wireframes were the centrepiece of digital product design. In 2026, the question is worth asking — is the wireframe dead? For years, wireframes were the centrepiece of digital product design. Entire projects were planned around them. Weeks were spent producing page after page of grey boxes, annotations and user flows before anyone had seen a design, spoken to a developer or tested an idea with a customer. But in 2026, the question is worth asking — is the wireframe dead? The answer is both yes and no. Wireframes aren't dead. The way we use them is. The original purpose of a wireframe was simple. It allowed teams to think about structure before aesthetics. Navigation before colours. Content before visual design. In theory, this was a sensible approach. In practice, wireframes often became a project phase rather than a thinking tool. Teams would spend weeks refining documents that nobody outside the project team really understood. Stakeholders struggled to visualise the end product. Developers waited for decisions. Customers were rarely involved. And by the time something was built, the original assumptions had often changed. The result was a lot of certainty on paper and very little certainty in reality. Modern product teams work differently Today, the most effective product teams are focused on reducing risk as quickly as possible. The question is no longer: "What should this page look like?" It's: "How quickly can we validate whether this idea works?" Instead of creating hundreds of wireframes, teams are increasingly using: - Service blueprints - User journey mapping - Rapid prototypes - Design systems - AI-generated concepts - Live experimentation - Product analytics The emphasis has moved away from documenting assumptions and towards testing them. The rise of the prototype A clickable prototype often communicates more in five minutes than fifty pages of wireframes ever could. One of the biggest changes over the last few years has been the speed at which ideas can be visualised. Tools like Figma, AI-assisted design platforms and modern design systems mean that teams can move from concept to realistic prototype in hours and days rather than weeks and months. When stakeholders can interact with something that feels real, conversations become dramatically more productive. Feedback improves. Decisions happen faster. Problems surface earlier. A clickable prototype often communicates more in five minutes than fifty pages of wireframes ever could. Customers don't experience wireframes This is perhaps the most important point. Customers never interact with wireframes. They interact with products. They experience journeys. They encounter friction. They abandon processes. They convert. The objective of product design is not to create documentation. It's to create outcomes. That means understanding customer behaviour, business objectives, operational constraints and technical realities. A wireframe can contribute to that process. It cannot replace it. The real danger of wireframes The danger isn't the artefact itself. The danger is believing progress has been made simply because documentation exists. Many organisations still confuse activity with momentum. A 100-page wireframe pack can feel reassuring. It can create the impression that decisions have been made. But until an idea has been tested with real users, measured against business goals and challenged by technical constraints, very little has actually been validated. The most successful teams have learned to become comfortable with uncertainty. They prototype. They test. They learn. They adapt. So, is the wireframe dead? Not entirely. Wireframes still have value. They can help communicate ideas, align teams and explore concepts quickly. But they are no longer the primary output of product design. Nor should they be. The best digital teams today are less concerned with producing artefacts and more concerned with producing evidence. Evidence that customers want something. Evidence that it solves a problem. Evidence that it creates value. In that world, wireframes become what they were always supposed to be: A tool. Not a deliverable. ## Is A/B Testing Still Relevant in 2026? URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/is-ab-testing-still-relevant Published: 2026-06-02 Tags: insights Excerpt: In an era defined by AI-driven automation, predictive algorithms and hyper-personalised experiences, it’s fair to ask: do we still need A/B testing in 2026? The answer is simple: yes, more than ever. As technology becomes more sophisticated, so does the risk of relying too heavily on assumptions made by machines. AI can identify patterns. A/B testing proves what actually works. AI can identify patterns, predict outcomes and suggest what might work. A/B testing proves what actually works. It remains one of the most dependable ways to validate decisions, reduce uncertainty and ensure strategies are grounded in real user behaviour rather than theory. Personalisation needs proof Personalisation is no longer a competitive advantage; it’s an expectation. A/B testing enables brands to continuously refine experiences based on real interactions, not just algorithmic predictions. It ensures that every message, design decision and customer journey is supported by evidence. Experimentation has become continuous Over the past few years, experimentation has evolved significantly. Modern testing platforms, analytics tools and automation capabilities allow experiments to run continuously, delivering insights in near real time. This enables teams to learn faster, adapt more quickly and respond to changing customer behaviour before competitors do. Feature flags changed the model Much of this evolution has been driven by feature flagging. Rather than bundling multiple changes into large releases, teams can now deploy features safely behind feature flags and selectively expose them to specific audiences. This allows organisations to test new functionality in production, gather real-world feedback and measure impact before committing to a full rollout. Feature flags have transformed experimentation from a marketing activity into an organisation-wide capability. They allow: - Product teams to validate new features - Engineering teams to reduce deployment risk - Businesses to make investment decisions based on evidence rather than assumptions In many organisations, feature flagging and A/B testing now work hand in hand. One provides the mechanism for controlled releases, while the other provides the data needed to determine whether a change delivers value. Confidence still matters In a world where content is everywhere and customer expectations continue to rise, standing out requires confidence. A/B testing gives teams the confidence to take creative risks. By removing the guesswork, it transforms ideas into measurable outcomes, allowing innovation to flourish without sacrificing performance. A/B testing is broader than it used to be In 2026, experimentation is no longer limited to comparing two versions of a single page or campaign. From multivariate testing and dynamic content optimisation through to AI-assisted experimentation, organisations can continuously refine experiences and scale what works faster than ever before. The most successful brands are not those with the biggest budgets or the most sophisticated technology. They are the ones that create a culture of experimentation, where decisions are tested, validated and improved over time. The strongest teams combine three things Looking ahead, the organisations that succeed won’t be those that rely solely on automation or intuition. They’ll be the ones that combine AI, feature flagging and experimentation into a continuous cycle of learning and improvement. - AI can identify opportunities. - Feature flags can safely deploy change. - Experimentation can validate impact. Together, they create a more intelligent, evidence-driven approach to digital decision making. The bottom line A/B testing isn’t outdated. It’s evolving. And in 2026, it’s still essential. ## User testing - and how we deploy it at Absurd URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/user-testing-and-how-we-deploy-it-at-absurd Published: 2026-04-27 Tags: insights Excerpt: User testing is one of those things everyone says they do. Far fewer do it properly. User testing is not about collecting reassurance. It is about reducing uncertainty in a way that makes decisions more reliable. The difference usually comes down to methodology. Not tools, not budget, not even team size. Just how you approach learning from users. Why methodology matters Without a clear approach, user testing quickly turns into random feedback, leading questions, confirmation bias, and the familiar line that everybody seemed to like it. That is not research. It is reassurance, or something close to it. A structured methodology does two things. It makes your findings more reliable, and it makes your decisions more defensible. That is what actually helps products move forward. The core methodologies we use At Absurd, we do not treat user testing as a single activity. We use a mix of methods depending on the stage of the product and the type of uncertainty we need to reduce. 1. Exploratory research This is where most projects should start. The goal is to understand behaviours, motivations, and problems. At this point, we are not trying to validate solutions. We are trying to understand reality before shaping one. Methods often include: 1. 1:1 user interviews 2. Contextual inquiry, where we observe users in their environment 3. Open-ended questioning designed to surface behaviour rather than opinion The key rule is simple: do not talk about the product too early. Many teams jump straight into asking what people think of an idea or interface. We focus first on how they currently solve the problem, what workarounds already exist, and where frustration or effort shows up. That tells you far more than an early reaction to a design ever will. 2. Concept testing Once there is a direction, we test ideas before committing to build. The goal here is to reduce risk, and therefore unnecessary cost, before development starts. Methods can include: 1. Wireframes 2. Clickable prototypes 3. Journey walkthroughs At this stage, we are looking for clarity, relevance, and immediate friction. If users hesitate, misread the intent, or struggle to move forward, that is a signal. It is not something to explain away. Concept testing is valuable because it gives teams the chance to challenge an idea while it is still cheap to change. 3. Usability testing This is where most people think user testing begins, but it is only one part of the picture. The goal is to identify where users struggle with a product or service. Methods often include: 1. Task-based testing, where participants are asked to complete specific actions 2. Moderated or unmoderated sessions 3. Screen and behaviour observation The important distinction is that we are not asking users what they think. We are watching what they do. That difference matters more than almost anything else. There is also a common misconception that usability testing has to be expensive, involving recruitment agencies, lab hire, and specialist equipment every time. We do use labs where they are useful, but we are equally comfortable finding lighter-weight situations that still meet the research objective. Sometimes that means standing with an iPad in the centre of Manchester’s student village. Sometimes it means sitting in a hotel lobby asking customers for ten minutes of their time. The point is to match the method to the question, not inflate the process for its own sake. 4. Quantitative validation Once patterns begin to emerge, we validate them at scale. The goal is to confirm that the insights hold across a broader audience and are not just isolated observations. Methods can include: 1. Surveys 2. Analytics review 3. A/B testing Qualitative research tells you why something is happening. Quantitative validation tells you how often it is happening and how widespread the pattern really is. You need both if you want your insight to stand up to scrutiny. So how is this deployed at Absurd? The methodology itself is not the hardest part. The real challenge is integrating research into live projects without slowing everything down. Our approach is based on a few principles. 1. Research is continuous, not a phase We do not treat research as something that happens neatly at the start, in the middle, or at the end. It is embedded into design and development as an ongoing input. Small, consistent feedback loops are usually more effective than one large research sprint followed by silence. 2. We translate insights into impact Raw research is not useful on its own. We do not hand over recordings or notes and leave the rest to chance. We connect findings directly to product decisions, technical implications, and business outcomes. If a finding does not change a decision, it is noise. 3. We prioritise ruthlessly Not every insight deserves immediate action. We map findings against likely user impact, development effort, and business priority. That keeps teams focused on what matters most and stops research from becoming a bottleneck to delivery. 4. We manage expectations early User testing often reveals complexity that stakeholders did not expect. That is why we do not simply present findings. We frame them clearly. If an insight affects one part of the product, we explain what else that changes, what that means for scope, and how it may affect timelines or priorities. That alignment is what keeps projects moving, even when the learning is uncomfortable. User testing is not about asking users what they want It is about reducing uncertainty. The teams that get the most value from it are not always the ones doing more research. They are the ones applying the right methodology at the right time, then translating what they learn into decisions in the right order. That is the difference between insight and noise. ## The Value of UX in a world of “Vibe Coding” URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/the-value-of-ux-in-a-world-of-vibe-coding Published: 2026-04-26 Tags: insights Excerpt: AI-assisted development makes it easier than ever to ship quickly, but speed alone does not create clarity, usability, or trust. That is where UX still delivers its value. There’s a noticeable shift happening in how software gets built. It’s called “vibe coding” - it’s fast, intuitive, AI-assisted development where ideas go from concept to working product in hours, not weeks. And it’s genuinely really powerful, as well as exciting. It has made barriers to entry lower than ever: - You don’t need a huge team to get something live. - You don’t even need deep technical expertise in the same way you used to (although you’ll go a lot further if you do). Speed doesn’t equal usability Just because you can build something quickly doesn’t mean people will understand it. Or use it. Or come back to it. That’s the gap. Vibe coding optimises for output. UX optimises for outcome. And those are very different things. What gets lost when you move too fast When products are built rapidly, a few things tend to get skipped: - Understanding real user behaviour - Defining clear user journeys - Thinking through edge cases - Validating assumptions before building - Iterating based on actual feedback Instead, decisions are made on instinct. Sometimes that works. Most the time it doesn’t. Because users don’t experience your product the way you imagine it. They experience it in fragments: - A confusing first step - A moment of hesitation - A lack of clarity - A broken expectation And that’s usually enough for them to drop off. UX is what makes products usable, not just possible Good UX isn’t about polish. It’s about making something: - Understandable - Navigable - Predictable - Trustworthy Without forcing the user to think too hard, it answers questions like: - “Is this for me?” - "Is this what I need?” - “What do I do next?” - “Why am I here?” - “Is this working?” That doesn’t happen by accident. And it definitely doesn’t happen just by moving fast. The real shift: building is no longer the advantage For a long time, the hardest part of software was building it. That’s no longer true. Now: - Tools are better - AI accelerates development - Templates and frameworks do a lot of the heavy lifting Which means the competitive advantage has moved. It’s no longer about who can build. It’s about who can build something people actually use. Where UX fits in now UX becomes the filter between something that works and something that works well. In a world of vibe coding, UX is what: - Slows things down just enough to think - Validates decisions before they become expensive - Turns rough ideas into coherent experiences It doesn’t fight speed. It makes speed more effective. Vibe coding is here, and it’s not going anywhere. But if everyone can ship quickly, then speed stops being the differentiator. Clarity does. Usability does. Experience does. And that’s exactly where UX delivers its value. ## Service Design in 2026: What Actually Matters Now URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/service-design-in-2026-what-actually-matters-now Published: 2026-04-24 Tags: insights Excerpt: Service design has shifted. Not gradually, but fundamentally. Most companies already have journey maps, personas, and data. That part is done. The gap now isn’t insight. It’s execution. At the same time, AI has noisily moved from “feature” to “infrastructure”. Put those together and you get the current state of service design: less about designing touchpoints, more about designing systems that actually run the business. AI is no longer a layer. It’s the system. AI used to sit on top of services. Chatbots, recommendations, a bit of automation and potentially some machine learning. Now it’s embedded across the entire journey. - Routing decisions - Predicting intent - Triggering actions - Supporting humans in real time You’re not just designing experiences anymore. You’re designing decision flows. That means: - Defining logic, not just flows - Shaping behaviour, not just interfaces - Thinking in systems, not screens But the industry has an execution problem Everyone knows what’s broken. They’ve got: - CX dashboards - NPS scores - Research reports But nothing changes. This is the real shift: service design is being pulled into delivery and operations. If it's not shippable, it doesn’t matter anymore. That means: - Tighter links between product and engineering - Ownership of outcomes, not outputs - Shorter loops between insight and fixes AI + human is the actual model. Automation isn’t replacing people. It’s restructuring where people are useful. The split is becoming clear. AI handles: - Speed - Scale - Repetition - Prediction Humans handle: - Ambiguity - Emotion - Recovery - Edge cases Good service design now is about knowing where not to automate. That’s where most teams get it wrong. The best service is still invisible. There’s a noticeable shift away from “delight”. Nobody cares about clever UX if the thing is broken. The focus now is: - Reducing effort - Removing steps - Fixing problems before they happen ## What good services really look like URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/what-good-services-really-look-like Published: 2026-04-23 Tags: insights Excerpt: A book review by Rach Garry, Designer at Absurd. Learnings from Lou Downe's book, Good Services: How to design services that work. What is a service? A service is simply someone trying to get something done. The most important thing to remember is that only the user can determine what the service is. Users show up with a specific need, and it is our job to take care of the messy details behind the scenes so they easily get what or where they need to be. We have to care more about the people on the other end of the screen, making their day a little easier, than the pixels on the screen itself. The best services are the ones you do not notice People often say that good design is invisible, but that is not quite right. It is more accurate to say that when a service works perfectly, people simply are not looking at the design because they are focused on the task they set out to do. What makes a good service is not a matter of personal taste. A service either works or it does not. The ultimate compliment from a user is the phrase, "I expected that to be a lot harder." When we nail the basics and remove the friction, the tech and design fades into the background and life gets a little bit easier. Three core principles that feel most relatable These three principles stand out because they are easy to relate to, but often difficult to get right in practice. Name the task, not the technology Users look for what they think they need rather than what we have decided they need. This means we should name services using a solid understanding of the words the user uses. We should describe the task at hand and avoid internal acronyms or marketing promises. For example, instead of saying "5000 mAh battery capacity", we should sell the benefit by saying "Stay connected for 24 hours". When the name reflects what the user is trying to do, it becomes findable and understandable for someone with no prior knowledge. Decisions need space and visibility It is a common mistake to think that fewer steps always make a better service. In reality, the number of steps in a journey should match the number of decisions a user has to make. People need space to think, especially when the stakes are high. By breaking things down, you give users control. A well-placed pause is not a barrier, it gives the user the space to feel confident about their choice before moving forward. ## From guidelines to systems: why design systems are now essential URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/from-guidelines-to-systems-why-design-systems-are-now-essential Published: 2026-04-01 Tags: insights Excerpt: Design systems have evolved from brand guidelines and style guides into a practical foundation for consistency, scalability, and faster collaboration across modern product teams. First came brand guidelines. Then style guides. Now, design systems. What started as a way to protect visual consistency has evolved into something much more powerful. Design systems are no longer a nice-to-have for large organisations or fast-moving product teams. They are quickly becoming an essential part of how digital products are designed, built, and maintained. Design systems give teams a shared language, a practical framework, and a single source of truth for how products should behave and evolve. At their best, design systems streamline workflows, reduce waste, and help designers and developers work from the same foundation. They create clarity where complexity would otherwise slow teams down. Why the shift happened Brand guidelines were built to keep identity consistent. Style guides pushed that further by documenting fonts, colours, and interface patterns. But as digital products became more sophisticated, those tools stopped being enough. Modern teams are no longer shipping a handful of static pages. They are managing product ecosystems, multiple journeys, growing component libraries, and increasingly distributed teams. In that environment, isolated guidelines create friction. Design systems solve for that by bringing principles, reusable components, rules, and implementation logic together in one place. Consistency at the core The first job of a design system is still consistency. Products feel more trustworthy when they behave predictably, and brands become stronger when they are expressed clearly across every touchpoint. Without a system, inconsistency creeps in quickly. Teams create bespoke components, make local decisions in isolation, and gradually introduce duplication that becomes expensive to maintain. A design system helps prevent that drift by setting a shared baseline that everyone can work from. A unified framework for teams The real value of a design system goes beyond visual alignment. It becomes a unified framework for collaboration. Designers can move faster because they are working with proven patterns instead of reinventing common solutions. Developers benefit from reusable components and clearer implementation rules. Product teams gain confidence that what is being designed can scale across use cases, brands, and markets. That shared structure creates a genuine single source of truth, one that reduces ambiguity and shortens the distance between idea and delivery. Scalability without the chaos As products grow, systems matter more. Design systems bring order to complexity by making it easier to scale without creating unnecessary waste. They offer the balance that most teams need: enough structure to maintain quality, and enough flexibility to evolve when requirements change. That balance is what makes them so valuable in modern organisations, especially where multiple teams or brands are involved. In one recent design system project, we supported a global team working across Austria, London, Hyderabad, and Atlanta, spanning 33 brands. Before the system was in place, bespoke components were scattered across projects, creating inefficiency, duplication, and ongoing maintenance headaches. The design system gave the team a more coherent foundation to build from and a clearer way to stay aligned. Why design systems are now essential Design systems do require upfront investment. They take time, collaboration, and a commitment to doing foundational work properly. But the return is substantial. They help teams move faster, make decisions more consistently, and adapt more confidently as products and user needs evolve. In practice, they reduce rework, improve handover between disciplines, and make it easier to maintain quality over time. That said, a design system should never become a constraint on good thinking. It should not limit creativity or prevent teams from responding to new problems. A strong design system is dynamic. It evolves alongside the organisation, the product, and the people using it. That is why governance matters just as much as the initial build. Ongoing maintenance, refinement, and ownership are what keep a system useful rather than static. How Absurd approaches design systems At Absurd, every project begins with a design system shaped around the client’s needs rather than a one-size-fits-all template. Sometimes that means a lighter-touch system focused on foundations such as colours, type, spacing, and variables. In other cases, it means a more comprehensive setup that includes reusable components, templates, variations, and the rules needed to apply them consistently at scale. By embedding design systems into the process from the start, we help teams work with more confidence, maintain consistency, and respond to changing requirements without unnecessary friction. The bottom line Design systems are here to stay. Whether you are designing for a single product or managing a complex multi-brand ecosystem, they are a worthwhile investment in clarity, efficiency, and adaptability. The organisations that treat them as core infrastructure, rather than optional documentation, will be in a stronger position to solve both today’s challenges and tomorrow’s. ## Why your website isn't converting URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/why-your-website-isnt-converting Published: 2026-03-31 Tags: insights Excerpt: Low conversion rates are rarely just a traffic problem. More often, they come from friction, cognitive load, and a lack of alignment between what users need and what the website presents. Most websites do not fail because nobody visits them. They fail because the experience does not help people move forward. There is a persistent belief inside many organisations that poor website performance is mainly an acquisition problem. Not enough visitors, the wrong audience, or underperforming campaigns. The response is predictable: invest more in media, add more channels, tighten targeting, and keep pushing traffic into the funnel. And yet conversion rates often remain largely unchanged. The issue is rarely how people arrive. More often, it is what happens after they do. Every user who lands on a website arrives with some level of intent. They are trying to solve something, understand something, compare options, or make a decision. The job of the website is to support that process. When it does not, the failure is usually subtle. It shows up as hesitation, confusion, and abandonment rather than something obviously broken. The real problem is usually misalignment One of the most common reasons websites underperform is that they are structured around internal logic instead of user context. Businesses naturally organise websites around services, internal teams, messaging frameworks, and terminology that make sense from the inside. Users do not arrive with that same perspective. They are navigating based on their own goals, questions, constraints, and expectations. When those two views do not line up, friction appears. That friction does not have to be dramatic to do damage. It might be a headline that is slightly too vague, a navigation that asks users to think too hard, or a journey that pushes for commitment before enough confidence has been built. None of those issues look catastrophic in isolation. Together, they create enough resistance for people to slow down, second-guess, and leave. Cognitive load quietly kills momentum High-performing websites reduce effort. They make the next step feel obvious. The more interpretation a user has to do, the less likely they are to act. If they have to decode the message, work out where to go, compare too many competing paths, or make sense of inconsistent information, momentum disappears. Cognitive load is one of the most underestimated barriers to conversion because it rarely announces itself. Users simply stop. Good digital experiences guide people naturally. They remove unnecessary thinking and make progress feel clear. That does not mean over-simplifying everything. It means presenting information in a way that supports decision-making rather than getting in its way. Trust is part of conversion Before users convert, they make a rapid judgement about credibility. If anything feels inconsistent, outdated, vague, or overly complicated, trust starts to erode. That judgement happens quickly, often before users have read very much at all. Visual quality plays a role, but trust is also shaped by tone, structure, clarity, and how coherent the overall experience feels. Without trust, conversion becomes unlikely. Users may continue browsing for a while, but hesitation has already been introduced and confidence is harder to rebuild once it has gone. Why this gets missed What makes website performance difficult to diagnose is that many websites are not obviously broken. They load, the links work, the design is acceptable, and the core content is present. On the surface, everything appears functional. But functional is not the same as effective. Because the problems are often quiet rather than visible, teams tend to look elsewhere first. More traffic feels like the easier lever to pull. Experience issues stay hidden in plain sight, even though they are often the real reason performance plateaus. Improvement usually comes from refinement, not reinvention Better conversion does not always require a full rebuild. In many cases, the biggest gains come from focused refinement. Clarifying messaging, simplifying journeys, reducing friction, improving hierarchy, and reinforcing trust can all have a significant impact. These are not cosmetic tweaks. They are performance improvements because they change how confidently and easily users move through the experience. The most effective teams stop treating the website as a static asset and start treating it as a system that should evolve. That means paying attention to how people actually behave, where they hesitate, what they ignore, and what helps them move forward. The shift that matters The key shift is moving from assumptions to alignment. Conversion is not driven by volume alone. It is driven by how well the experience matches the intent, context, and confidence needs of the people using it. When that alignment is missing, more traffic usually just means more people encountering the same friction. When the alignment is right, performance improves for a much simpler reason: the website is finally doing its job. ## The true value of considered user experiencee URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/the-true-value-of-considered-user-experience Published: 2026-03-30 Tags: insights Excerpt: Poor UX does more than reduce conversion. It increases inefficiency, weakens trust, adds internal friction, and quietly limits an organisation’s ability to grow with confidence. Bad user experience rarely appears as one dramatic failure. More often, it shows up quietly across performance, trust, and day-to-day operations. That is what makes it expensive. At the most visible level, poor UX reduces conversion. Users struggle to complete key actions, fail to find what they need, or lose confidence before taking the next step. Those outcomes are usually measurable, which is why they get the most attention. Bad UX is rarely confined to the interface. Its cost spreads across marketing, sales, support, trust, and future growth. But conversion is only the surface. Inefficiency fills the gap When a website or product experience is not doing its job properly, organisations compensate for it elsewhere. They add more messaging to explain what should already be obvious. They rely on sales teams to clarify things the digital experience should be handling. They introduce extra process, more hand-holding, and more manual intervention just to help users move forward. This creates a cycle where the cost of acquisition rises, but the underlying problem remains unresolved. More effort goes in, yet performance does not improve in proportion because the experience itself is still creating friction. Users read experience as a signal Digital experiences do not just help people complete tasks. They also shape perception. A slow, confusing, or inconsistent website sends a message whether a business intends it to or not. It suggests complexity, inefficiency, and risk. Users make that judgement quickly, often before they have had any direct interaction with a team. That is why trust can fall away so fast. If the experience feels difficult, people begin to assume the organisation behind it may be difficult too. And once that uncertainty appears, confidence becomes harder to recover. The internal cost is easy to underestimate Poor UX does not only affect customers. It also creates friction inside the business. Support demand increases because users need more help completing straightforward tasks. Teams spend more time explaining decisions, unpicking confusion, or compensating for gaps in the experience. Progress slows because work that should be simple becomes unnecessarily complicated. Over time, that creates pressure across product, marketing, sales, and service teams. Everyone works harder, but too much of that effort is reactive. The biggest loss is future opportunity Perhaps the most significant cost of bad UX is not what it breaks today, but what it prevents tomorrow. When the experience is underperforming, it becomes much harder to iterate with confidence. New ideas feel riskier because the foundation is already unstable. Teams cannot easily tell whether poor results are caused by the new change or by the friction that was already there. That limits experimentation, slows decision-making, and makes future growth harder to unlock. Why this matters beyond design This is why UX should not be treated as a design concern alone. It is a business performance issue. Improving it does not require perfection. It requires focus. The work is in identifying where friction exists, understanding why it happens, and prioritising the changes that reduce effort, improve clarity, and strengthen confidence. When that happens, the benefits extend beyond conversion. Costs decrease, teams operate more efficiently, and growth becomes easier to sustain. The bottom line Good UX often goes unnoticed because it makes progress feel natural. Bad UX is different. It is always paid for, whether through lost conversions, higher support demand, weaker trust, or missed opportunities that never fully surface in a report. That is the real cost. ## Headless CMS: hype vs reality URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/headless-cms-hype-vs-reality Published: 2026-03-29 Tags: insights Excerpt: Headless CMS can be powerful in the right context, but it is not automatically the better choice. The real decision comes down to organisational need, technical capability, and long-term alignment. Few topics in digital have generated as much momentum, and as much confusion, as headless CMS. On the surface, the promise is compelling. Greater flexibility, faster performance, and the ability to deliver content across multiple channels without being tied to a single presentation layer. For many organisations, it sounds like the natural next step. But the reality is more nuanced. Headless is not inherently better. It is better in the situations where its flexibility solves a real problem. Headless architecture changes how content is managed and delivered. By separating the backend from the frontend, teams can build experiences without being constrained by a specific rendering layer. That creates genuine opportunity, but it also introduces a different kind of complexity. Where headless earns its value For organisations with mature digital capabilities, headless can be a strong fit. It gives development teams more freedom in how they build. It can support faster iteration across multiple platforms. It can help organisations deliver content to websites, apps, kiosks, and other channels from the same core system. In the right context, it can improve performance, scalability, and long-term flexibility. This is why headless has gained so much momentum. For teams dealing with complex ecosystems or ambitious multi-channel requirements, the benefits can be very real. Where the reality becomes harder The challenge is that many teams adopt headless for the promise without being fully prepared for the trade-offs. Headless demands stronger technical capability, clearer governance, and more structured processes. Content teams often lose the immediacy of visual editing. Development becomes more involved because fewer things come out of the box. What used to feel simple in a traditional CMS can become distributed across multiple tools, services, and workflows. That is usually where the gap between hype and reality becomes obvious. The architecture may be more flexible, but the day-to-day experience of managing it can become harder if the organisation is not set up for that model. Better for some, not for all This is the point that often gets lost: headless is not universally better. It is better for specific situations. Those situations are usually defined by scale, complexity, or a genuine need to deliver across multiple channels with greater control. Outside of that, headless can introduce overhead that outweighs the benefits. For many organisations, a well-implemented traditional CMS or a hybrid approach will deliver more practical value with less complexity. The best answer is not the most fashionable architecture. It is the one that best supports the way the business actually needs to work. The decision should be driven by need If your organisation needs flexibility across several platforms, has the technical capability to support it, and is being held back by a more traditional setup, headless may be the right choice. If not, there is nothing outdated about choosing a more integrated system that is easier to manage, easier to govern, and more aligned with the resources you have. The real question The important thing is not whether an architecture is headless or traditional. The important thing is how well it supports your goals. Technology decisions rarely fail because of the technology itself. More often, they fail because the choice was driven by trend rather than fit. When architecture and organisational need are aligned, systems become easier to scale and easier to live with. When they are not, complexity arrives quickly. ## How to avoid these common pitfalls of platform design URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/How-to-avoid-these-common-pitfalls-of-platform-design Published: 2026-03-28 Tags: insights Excerpt: Website redesigns often fall short not because of poor execution, but because they begin without clear goals, user-centred priorities, or a plan for ongoing improvement after launch. Website redesigns usually begin with optimism. They promise improvement, momentum, and a chance to fix what is no longer working. But many redesigns still fail to deliver meaningful results. That is rarely because the execution is poor. More often, it is because the foundations are weak from the start. Redesign is not a solution by itself. It is an opportunity, and the value depends on how clearly that opportunity is defined. Weak goals create weak outcomes One of the most common problems is a lack of clarity at the beginning. Redesigns are often commissioned with broad ambitions such as better UX, a more modern look, or improved engagement. Those aims may sound reasonable, but they are too vague to guide meaningful decisions. If the team cannot clearly define what needs to improve and how success will be measured, it becomes difficult to make the right trade-offs as the work progresses. Without clear goals, a redesign can stay busy without becoming effective. Internal bias quietly shapes the experience Another major issue is that redesign decisions are often driven by internal opinion rather than user need. Stakeholders naturally bring views about what should change, what should be included, and what they believe users want. But when those views outweigh evidence, complexity starts to build. Features are added because they are requested, not because they are necessary. Messaging expands to satisfy internal priorities rather than helping users move forward. Over time, the experience becomes heavier, less focused, and harder to navigate. Better visuals do not fix deeper problems There is also a tendency to place too much emphasis on aesthetics. Visual design matters, but it is only one part of the overall experience. If the underlying problems are rooted in weak messaging, poor structure, confusing navigation, or unclear journeys, a redesign that focuses mainly on appearance will not solve them. It will simply repackage the same issues in a newer interface. That is why some redesigns look better on launch day but perform no better once real users start engaging with them. Launch is not the finish line Timing and mindset play a role too. Redesigns are often treated as one-off projects with a clear beginning and end. Once the new site launches, attention moves elsewhere. But user behaviour changes, business priorities evolve, and new friction appears over time. If the website is treated as static after launch, performance quickly starts to drift again. Successful redesigns recognise that improvement does not end when the new version goes live. Launch is the point where learning should accelerate, not stop. What successful redesigns do differently The redesigns that create real value tend to begin in a different place. They start by understanding user needs, business goals, and performance data. They define success clearly. They make decisions based on outcomes rather than assumption. They prioritise clarity over novelty and focus on helping users do what they came to do with less effort and more confidence. That approach creates something much stronger than a refreshed interface. It creates a more useful, more effective experience. The real point of redesign Redesign is not automatically the answer to a website’s problems. What it offers is the chance to reassess, simplify, and improve with intent. If that opportunity is approached with clarity and evidence, redesign can have a major impact. If it is driven mainly by opinion, aesthetics, or momentum, the same problems usually return in a different form. That is why redesign should be seen for what it really is: not a solution, but an opportunity to build something better. ## How to prove the importance of investing in UX URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/how-to-prove-the-importance-of-investing-in-ux Published: 2026-03-27 Tags: insights Excerpt: The case for UX becomes much stronger when it is framed through performance. By connecting experience improvements to measurable changes in behaviour, teams can make investment easier to justify. One of the most common challenges teams face in 2026 is not understanding the value of UX, but proving it in terms the business will act on. The benefits can feel obvious. Better experiences tend to create happier users, smoother journeys, and stronger outcomes. But when investment decisions are being made, intuition is rarely enough. The conversation needs to move from design quality to business performance. The strongest case for UX is not that it feels important. It is that it changes measurable outcomes. Start with the outcomes that matter UX affects performance in direct ways. It influences conversion rates, reduces drop-off, improves task completion, and lowers friction across important journeys. Those are not abstract improvements. They are measurable behaviours that connect directly to revenue, efficiency, and cost. That is where the case for investment becomes much clearer. When UX is framed as a lever for performance, rather than something purely creative or qualitative, it becomes easier for organisations to prioritise. The challenge is attribution The harder part is proving the link between the work and the result. To demonstrate ROI, teams need to connect changes in the experience to changes in user behaviour. That requires structure. The most reliable approach is to identify the journeys that matter most, establish a baseline for how they are currently performing, and then track what happens when improvements are introduced. Without that baseline, positive changes can be hard to defend. With it, even modest gains become meaningful. Small changes can have a large effect Not every UX improvement has to be dramatic to create value. A clearer call to action, a simpler form, or a more focused message can significantly improve conversion. On high-traffic journeys, even a small percentage improvement can have a substantial financial effect over time. That is one of the reasons UX can be such a strong investment. The work is often incremental, but the impact compounds when it is applied in the right places. Revenue is only part of the picture The value of UX is not limited to increased conversion. Improved experiences can also reduce support demand, shorten sales cycles, lower the need for manual intervention, and improve retention. Those savings are often less visible than top-line revenue gains, but they can be equally important. In some cases, they are the clearest proof that the experience is creating or removing operational cost. Looking at UX only through a revenue lens can therefore understate its true business value. Build proof through iteration The most effective way to prove the importance of UX is through iteration. Test changes. Measure the result. Learn what moved and why. Then build that evidence over time. This creates a much stronger case than trying to justify UX as a one-off strategic concept. It also helps teams make better decisions because the evidence does not just support investment. It improves prioritisation. The real shift UX is not an abstract layer sitting on top of business performance. It is one of the things shaping it. When teams can show that improvements in experience lead to measurable improvements in behaviour, the value becomes visible. And once that connection is clear, investment in UX becomes much easier to justify. ## Leveraging your CMS as an enterprise level team URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/Leveraging-your-CMS-as-an-enterprise-level-team Published: 2026-03-26 Tags: insights Excerpt: Enterprise CMS implementations often struggle not because the platform is wrong, but because selection, governance, and day-to-day usability are misaligned with how teams actually work. Content management systems are rarely small decisions. They shape workflows, operating models, and long-term digital capability across an organisation. That is why underperforming CMS implementations can be so costly. In most cases, the problem is not that the technology is fundamentally wrong. It is that the way the system was selected, implemented, or governed was never properly aligned to the organisation’s real needs. The biggest CMS mistakes usually happen long before launch. They are made in the assumptions, priorities, and selection process that shape everything that follows. Complexity is often chosen too early One of the most common mistakes is overestimating requirements. Organisations often choose complex platforms based on what they think they might need in the future rather than what they actually need now. The logic feels sensible at the time. A bigger platform appears to offer more protection, more flexibility, and more room to grow. But in practice, that decision can introduce unnecessary complexity, increased cost, and slower progress. Teams end up working around the system instead of being helped by it. Governance matters as much as the platform Another major issue is poor governance. Even a capable CMS will underperform if ownership is unclear and the rules for using it are weak. Without good governance, content becomes inconsistent, outdated, and difficult to maintain. Teams begin using the system in different ways, structure drifts, and confidence in the platform starts to erode. The technology may still be sound, but the way it is being used limits its value. Disconnected teams create disconnected systems There is also often a gap between technical teams and content teams. When decisions are made in isolation, the result is usually imbalance. The platform may be technically robust but difficult for editors to use. Or it may be easy to update on the surface while being constrained underneath in ways that frustrate development teams later. Over time, those tensions grow. What should have been an enabler becomes a bottleneck. The selection process is often more irrational than it looks One of the most overlooked problems is how CMS platforms are chosen in the first place. Despite the scale of the decision, selection processes are often driven more by perception than practical evaluation. Some organisations default to familiar names such as Adobe or Sitecore because they are seen as enterprise-grade, without properly questioning whether that level of complexity is necessary. Others are influenced by internal bias, where stakeholders advocate for platforms they have used before regardless of whether they are the right fit in the current context. There is also a tendency to overvalue feature lists. Long capability matrices create the impression of future-proofing, but many of those features are never meaningfully used. They still add operational overhead, training demand, and implementation complexity. In some cases, a rare edge case becomes the deciding factor. The result is a platform chosen around exceptions rather than the core, everyday needs of the business. Procurement can distort good judgement Formal procurement does not always make the decision better. RFPs, scoring systems, and vendor comparisons often reward breadth over relevance. The platform that ticks the most boxes appears to win, even if those boxes say very little about how well the system will support real workflows once it is in place. That is how enterprise teams can end up with a tool that looks strong on paper but feels heavy, fragmented, or inefficient in practice. What better decisions look like The strongest CMS decisions usually start from a much simpler place. They begin with a clear understanding of how content is created, managed, and delivered today. They focus on real workflows rather than theoretical features. They consider the people using the system just as seriously as the technical architecture behind it. When the decision is grounded in use cases, the best option is rarely the most complex. It is the one that helps teams move faster, maintain consistency, and scale without unnecessary friction. The real role of a CMS Successful implementations are built on alignment. They balance flexibility with usability, technical capability with practical need, and long-term ambition with operational reality. They create the structure teams need without introducing overhead that slows everything down. A CMS is not just a tool sitting behind a website. It is part of the foundation for how an organisation works digitally. When that foundation is chosen well and implemented thoughtfully, it becomes an enabler. When it is not, the cost is felt everywhere. ## Migrating from Sitecore to Umbraco URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/migrating-from-sitecore-to-umbraco Published: 2024-12-02 Tags: insights Excerpt: What organisations should consider when moving from Sitecore to Umbraco, from platform fit and migration challenges to wider technology opportunities. As Umbraco continues to mature and confidently establish itself in the enterprise content management sphere, there’s increasing discourse around the merits of transitioning from Sitecore to Umbraco. Both platforms have their unique strengths, but understanding why Umbraco might be an attractive alternative and what such a migration entails is crucial for organisations considering this move. Before we start, it’s probably important to say that Absurd have and do work with both Sitecore and Umbraco, and this isn’t about Sitecore vs Umbraco. Before we start, it’s probably important to say that Absurd have and do work with both Sitecore and Umbraco, and this isn’t about Sitecore vs Umbraco. Understanding the Ecosystems Sitecore is a robust, enterprise-level CMS renowned for its powerful ecosystem that emphasises advanced personalisation, A/B testing, marketing automation, and deep analytics. It is tailored for organisations that require sophisticated marketing tools and are willing to invest significantly in licensing and ongoing maintenance to leverage these advanced capabilities. It’s not unusual for license fees to get into the millions based on the size of the solution. Umbraco, on the other hand, is an open-source CMS celebrated for its flexibility and user-friendly interface. It boasts a rich ecosystem of community-driven tools and integrations, making it particularly suitable for organisations focused on content management and looking for a lower total cost of ownership. Why Consider Migrating to Umbraco? Cost Efficiency Sitecore, while feature-rich, comes with substantial licensing fees and maintenance costs. Umbraco’s open-source nature eliminates these expenses, offering a more budget-friendly alternative without compromising on essential CMS functionalities. That’s not to say there aren’t costs associated with Umbraco, as a minimum there are hosting costs, but you can also take advantage of Umbraco’s own cloud offering and a number of their new products have license fees too. User-Friendly Interface Umbraco provides an intuitive and straightforward interface, enhancing productivity for content editors and developers. Its ease of use reduces the learning curve and allows teams to manage content more effectively. Whilst Sitecore is getting better, it is still a different experience to Umbraco. Flexibility and Customisation Umbraco’s highly customisable framework allows organisations to tailor the CMS to their specific needs. This flexibility is ideal for businesses that require bespoke solutions without the complexity often associated with enterprise-level systems. We’re not saying Sitecore isn’t capable of the same, because it is, but you just have to bear in mind speed to market. Active Community Support A vibrant community of developers continuously contributes to Umbraco’s growth, offering plugins, extensions, and support resources. This collaborative environment ensures that the platform stays up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies. This isn’t really the same for Sitecore with them being so enterprise-led. Challenges in Migrating from Sitecore to Umbraco While the benefits are compelling, migrating from Sitecore to Umbraco involves several challenges that need careful consideration. Content Migration Transferring existing content—including pages, media assets, and custom data—is a complex process. It requires mapping Sitecore’s content structures to Umbraco’s schema, ensuring data integrity and continuity. Rebuilding Custom Data Models Custom data models and content types used in Sitecore must be redefined within Umbraco. This might involve redevelopment to accommodate differences in data handling between the two platforms. Integration Reconfiguration Existing integrations with CRM systems, marketing tools, and other third-party applications need to be reconfigured. Ensuring these integrations function seamlessly with Umbraco is critical for maintaining business operations. Front-End Redevelopment The website’s front-end may require redevelopment to align with Umbraco’s framework. This ensures that the user interface remains consistent with branding and provides a cohesive user experience. Training and Adoption Umbraco’s backend and content editing processes differ from Sitecore’s. Training your team to navigate and utilise the new CMS effectively is essential for a smooth transition. Maximising the Migration Opportunity Migrating platforms presents a unique opportunity to reassess and optimise various aspects of your digital infrastructure: InfrastructureReview Front-End Hosting on Vercel Consider migrating your front-end applications to platforms like Vercel for improved performance and scalability. Backend Optimisation Transition backend services to optimised hosting environments, such as Linux-based systems, to enhance cost efficiency and performance. Technology Stack Upgrades Updating Front-End Frameworks Use this chance to upgrade front-end technologies, like moving to the latest version of Next.js, to improve development workflows and application performance. Content and SEO Enhancements Content Audit Evaluate existing content for relevance and effectiveness, ensuring it aligns with current business goals. SEO Optimisation Implement updated SEO strategies to improve search engine rankings and visibility. Performance and Security Improvements Performance Tuning Optimise code, databases, and server configurations to enhance site speed and responsiveness. Security Enhancements Update security protocols to protect against modern threats, ensuring compliance with the latest standards. Potential Drawbacks and Mitigation Strategies Loss of Advanced Features Umbraco may lack some of Sitecore’s advanced features, such as sophisticated personalisation engines and in-depth analytics.Mitigation: Identify critical features that must be retained and explore third-party plugins or custom development within Umbraco to replicate necessary functionalities. Scalability Concerns While Umbraco is scalable, organisations with extremely high traffic volumes or complex requirements might need additional configurations.Mitigation: Work with us to architect a solution that leverages Umbraco’s scalability features effectively and load test prior to go-live. Training RequirementsThe shift to a new CMS necessitates training for your team, which can temporarily impact productivity.Mitigation: Plan comprehensive training programmes and provide ongoing support to ease the transition. Best Practices for a Successful Migration Strategic Planning Develop a detailed migration roadmap that outlines objectives, timelines, resources, and a comprehensive RAID. Stakeholder Engagement Involve key stakeholders early to ensure alignment with business goals and to address concerns proactively. Incremental Migration Approach Consider migrating in phases, starting with less critical components to minimise risk and allow for adjustments based on initial learnings. Our Technical Director, Adam, has done plenty of sessions regarding Strangler Patterns and migrating in phases. Robust Testing Implement thorough testing protocols at each stage to identify and rectify issues before they impact the live environment. Leverage Expert Support Collaborate with professionals experienced in both Sitecore and Umbraco to guide the migration process and provide specialised expertise.Migrating from Sitecore to Umbraco can offer a pathway to cost savings, and a more streamlined content management experience. Some may say it is more flexible, but we’re strong believers that the CMS experience is down to implementation rather than the product - both CMS’ use a familiar tree navigation. While the transition presents challenges, there are also plenty of benefits to reap particularly across cost.By taking advantage of the migration to also review and enhance your infrastructure and technology stack, you can ensure you are making the most of the program of work. With extensive experience working with both Sitecore and Umbraco, we understand the nuances of each platform. Our expertise enables us to support organisations in navigating the complexities of migration, ensuring a seamless transition that aligns with your strategic objectives. If you’re considering a move to Umbraco or want to explore how such a migration could benefit your organisation, get in touch (/contact). For further discussion or to schedule a consultation, contact us (/contact). ## 0.1 second improvement in your website's loading time can boost conversions by 8% URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/0-1-second-improvement-in-your-websites-loading-time-can-boost-conversions-by-8 Published: 2023-11-21 Tags: insights Excerpt: Why small gains in page speed can have outsized effects on conversion, and which optimisation tactics matter most for sustained website performance. The significance of website optimisation cannot be overstated. Consider this: a slight 0.1-second improvement in your website's loading time can result in an impressive 8% increase in conversions. It's a small tweak with substantial outcomes. Consider this: a slight 0.1-second improvement in your website's loading time can result in an impressive 8% increase in conversions. This isn't just a theory; major industry players have witnessed notable growth by prioritising website speed. Walmart, for instance, saw a 2% increase in conversions for every 1-second improvement in page load time. Similarly, COOK boosted conversions by 7% with a mere 0.85-second reduction in page load time. Even a seemingly modest enhancement, like Mobify's 100ms homepage load time improvement, led to a 1.11% increase in conversion. At Absurd, our dedicated technical team employs proven methods to optimise websites, ensuring they operate at peak performance: ✅ Advanced Caching: Efficiently storing data to reduce server requests. Advanced caching entails strategically storing frequently accessed data in a temporary location, reducing the necessity for repeated server requests. By doing so, the website can retrieve information more swiftly, enhancing overall loading times. This optimisation method ensures that users experience faster and more responsive interactions, contributing to a positive user experience. ✅ Image Optimisation: Compressing images for faster loading without compromising quality. Image optimisation is a critical aspect of enhancing website performance. Through compression techniques, we aim to reduce the file size of images without compromising their visual quality. This not only accelerates page loading times but also minimises bandwidth usage. By prioritising faster loading without sacrificing image quality, we create a seamless and efficient visual experience for users. ✅ Code Minification: Streamlining HTML, CSS, and JS files for smaller, faster loading. Code minification involves streamlining HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files by removing unnecessary characters, spaces, and lines of code. This results in leaner files that can be transmitted and loaded more quickly by browsers. A leaner codebase contributes to a faster-loading experience for users, especially on devices with limited bandwidth or slower internet connections. ✅ CDN Integration: Globally distributing content for quicker user access. Content Delivery Network (CDN) integration is a strategic approach to globally distributing website content. By leveraging a network of servers located in various geographical locations, a CDN reduces the physical distance between the user and the server, leading to enhanced user access speed. This is particularly advantageous for businesses with a global audience, ensuring consistent performance regardless of the user's location. ✅ Regular Audits: Continuously monitoring and optimising for sustained peak performance. Regular audits involve continuous monitoring and evaluation of a website's performance. This encompasses scrutinising various aspects such as server response times, page loading speeds, and overall user experience. Through regular audits, we identify potential bottlenecks, optimise existing elements, and implement improvements to ensure sustained peak performance. This proactive approach allows us to stay ahead of potential issues and maintain an optimised digital presence over time. Our team at Absurd is here to help. Get in touch (/contact) if you'd like to improve your website performance. ## What is Web 3.0? URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/what-is-web-3-0 Published: 2023-10-02 Tags: insights Excerpt: A simple introduction to Web 3.0, how it differs from earlier versions of the web, and why the idea matters. Think back to the early days of the internet. Text-heavy websites. No social interaction. You were just along for the ride. Think back to the early days of the internet. Text-heavy websites. No social interaction. You were just along for the ride. Then Web 2.0 changed everything; interconnected social networks, user-generated content, and powerful tech giants that now dominate our online lives. Hello Facebook, Youtube, Instagram - we're looking at you. Now, imagine an internet where you don't just consume content on your phone. You also create, own, and trade digital assets seamlessly. An internet powered by decentralised, community-run networks rather than profit-seeking corporate servers. Where users control their own data and identity. Where opaque centralised power structures are replaced with transparency and collaboration. This is the core vision for Web 3.0. According to the World Economic Forum, Web3 represents, "A new iteration of the World Wide Web based on blockchain technology, which incorporates concepts such as decentralisation and token-based economics." At its foundation, Web3 aims to decentralise power and governance of the internet by distributing control across users with blockchain technology and decentralised computing. Rather than storing data on centralised servers, data is distributed across node computers on peer-to-peer networks. This removes centralised points of control and failure. On Web 3.0, users can truly own digital assets and identities. NFTs (non-fungible tokens) running on blockchains allow digital art, collectibles and other verified assets to be uniquely owned and traded. Self-sovereign identity systems like blockchain IDs and decentralised identifiers (DIDs) will give users ownership over their own data and identity credentials. Cryptocurrencies and smart contract platforms like Ethereum also enable peer-to-peer transactions and interactions without intermediaries. Your crypto wallet will be a portal to participating in Web 3.0 applications and services. DAO (decentralised autonomous organisation) structures unlock new possibilities for internet communities to organise, collaborate and build together. DAOs allow decentralised networks and organizations to be created from the ground up while sharing ownership and decision making rights across stakeholders. Web 3.0 still faces adoption hurdles, but with its foundations in decentralisation, user ownership and open collaboration, the next generation internet promises to reshape technology and society. ## Machine Learning & AI Libraries; Getting Started URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/machine-learning-ai-libraries-getting-started Published: 2023-08-21 Tags: insights Excerpt: An introduction to machine learning and AI libraries, with a practical look at the tools that help developers start building useful models. Introduction Machine Learning (ML) is a revolutionary force, redefining the boundaries of technology and human interaction. At its core, ML harnesses vast amounts of data, enabling machines to learn, predict, and evolve in ways we once deemed science fiction. However navigating ML waters, especially for newcomers, is daunting. With a plethora of models, libraries, and terminologies, it's unclear where to start to get the concept. At its core, ML harnesses vast amounts of data, enabling machines to learn, predict, and evolve in ways we once deemed science fiction. Machine Learning is used in a wide variety of applications, such as: - Spam filtering - Fraud detection - Recommendation systems - Self-driving cars - Medical diagnosis - Chatbots In our latest blog, we aim to demystify ML and showcase its applications. We provide a comprehensive overview of popular ML libraries, comparing their strengths, weaknesses, and best use cases. Machine Learning Models There are a number of models that make up Machine Learning, understanding the best uses of them will help you find the right model for your project. 1. Supervised Learning - We train the model with data and answers for it to learn the patterns. For example, teaching an email program to detect ‘spam’ automatically. 2. Unsupervised Learning - We submit data and ask the model to organise it. For example, organising photos based on the people within them without telling the model who is in them. 3. Semi-supervised Learning - Where there’s a lot of data, but only some of it is labelled. For example, YouTube might have a few videos that are labelled ‘music video’ or ‘tutorial’ and use these to help organise the larger set of videos. 4. Reinforcement Learning - The model tries different things and we indicate when it’s correct or incorrect. For example, training a computer to play a human at video games. 5. Deep Learning - This mimics how our brain works, in a very simplified way. It’s great for things like images, speech, and text. Voice assistants like Siri or Alexa use Deep Learning models to understand our speech. 6. Ensemble Learning - The model creates a number of calculated outputs and takes the average result. 7. Time Series Forecasting - Used for data that is measured over time to predict what comes next. For example, Time Series Forecasting could be used to predict tomorrow weather based on the last 10 years of weather. 8. Anomaly Detections - Used to spot unusual patterns that do not conform to expected behaviour, like fraud detection that picks up on irregular spending patterns. 9. Natural Language Processing - This helps computers understand and interpret human language in a way that’s valuable. Often used in Chatbots for customer services. 10. Recommendation Systems - Takes previous behaviours to suggest recommendations, such as recommended products in your Amazon shopping cart or homepage personalisation based on previous browsing history. These models can either be used in isolation or combined to create powerful products and services. For example, Voice Assistants won’t just use Deep Learning, they will combine Deep Learning with Natural Language Processing, Recommendation Systems and even Anomaly Detection. Machine Learning Libraries There are lots of models and frameworks that can be adopted to take advantage of the different types of Machine Learning available, all with their own sets of Pros and Cons. TensorFlow TensorFlow is a library developed by Google. It is great for large-scale, production-ready machine learning applications but it is also extremely complex and has quite verbose syntax so can be quite overwhelming for smaller projects. For example a factory could use TensorFlow to analyse sensor data from machinery to predict when a machine will fail and manage maintenance schedules. Airbnb uses TensorFlow for creating personalised recommendations to users based on their previous search history and bookings. Pros 1. The codebase is fairly versatile and extremely comprehensive making it suitable for multiple applications. 2. There’s great documentation to build and learn with, but there’s also a really strong community for helping solve problems. 3. Scalability - obviously TensorFlow can be deployed at scale if Airbnb are using it. Cons 1. Learning curve - it’s not the most straightforward model to deploy with lots of dependencies to manage. 2. Verbose Syntax - creating the neural network model, defining layers, setting up data, and training the model can involve a relatively large amount of detailed code in comparison to the other libraries. PyTorch PyTorch is an open source library developed by Facebook’s AI Research lab. Researchers tend to opt for PyTorch due to the fact that it’s fairly simple to debug and can be tweaked on the fly - if this makes it good for models that are rapidly evolving. Naturally, as the creators fo PyTorch, Facebook heavily relies on PyTorch for personalising your news feed, auto tagging images and detecting hate speech or harmful content in posts. Pros 1. An intuitive codebase and syntax makes it easy to deploy and tweak. 2. Python uses dynamic computation graphs, which means that the graph is built on the fly as operations are executed. This makes debugging and tweaking on-the-fly easier which makes it perfect for R&D, Cons 1. Historically it has been difficult to deploy in comparison to models like TensorFlow. This is changing, but it has still got a way to go. 2. The memory consumption can be high because of the dynamic models it contains - this means resource usage could end up being more expensive than other models. 3. The community and ecosystem isn’t as large as some of the other libraries, such as TensorFlow. Scikit-learn Scikit-learn is a lightweight library but probably the most traditional. It is very user-friendly and has loads of documentation making it a great choice for beginners, but when we say lightweight we mean it’s not designed for deep learning or large datasets. Scikit-learn has traditionally been used behind a lot of email providers’ spam detection. Spotify also use it for its music recommendation algorithms. Pros 1. Easy to use. 2. Excellent documentation. Cons 1. Limited Deep Learning capabilities. 2. Not suited to large datasets. Keras Keras is a high-level neural network API that is excellent for beginners due to its simplicity and ease of use. It is designed to enable fast experimentation with deep neural networks, but offers less control and slightly lower performance compared to other libraries or APIs. Netflix has one of the most famous deployments of Keras; it uses the library in its’ recommendation algorithms. Pros 1. Extremely flexible back end and API makes it easy to integrate with applications. 2. Great for beginners or simple requirements. Cons 1. The model offers limited customisation which makes it less suited to more advanced applications. 2. Performance isn’t great. ML.NET ML.NET is a machine learning framework developed by Microsoft for .NET applications. It’s very versatile and can suit a number of different learning models deployed directly into.NET applications. We recently used ML.NET in an application for predicting break-out social media trends; we’ve found ML.NET to be robust in its’ output but also flexible enough to change training models on-the-fly. Alibaba is one of the most high-profile adopters of ML.NET; it’s used in their recommendations feature. Pros 1. Native.NET integration means the library can be deployed directly into applications. 2. It’s built to scale (efficiently). 3. Supports Classic ML models as well as more robust Deep Learning. Cons 1. The communities and resources are more limited compared to the Python libraries. 2. If you’re not a.NET developer, this is going to be less intuitive. IBM Watson Probably fairer to call Watson a suite than a library; it’s probably one of the most famous Artificial Intelligence services and brings together a number of applications and tools to help organisations make predictions, automate complex processes, optimise organisations and analyse large amounts of unstructured data. IBM Watson was the first service we used for creating a virtual customer service agent for a global technology client. The most advanced implementation we know of is Woodside Energy, an Australian oil and gas company, that uses Watson to provide answers to technical questions based on decades of operational data. Pros 1. IBM Watson offers a wide range of pre-built AI services, including natural language processing, visual recognition and data analytics. 2. A tight integration with IBM cloud allows for seamless scaling. 3. Strong security features make Watson a popular choice for industries with stringent data protection requirements. Cons 1. Watson can become expensive at scale. 2. It can get complex quickly. Azure Cognitive Services Azure Cognitive Services is a set of APIs, SDKs, and services that make it simpler for developers to add AI such as vision, speech and language analysis to their applications. We traditionally used Azure’s cognitive services for more advanced translations when launching clients into new regions - it offers a much better level of translation than everyday translation engines, such as Google, and whilst not as good as native translation it’s good enough to prove a business case for deploying more resouces. Azure can be used for lots of application types; Uber uses Azure Cognitive Services to verify the identify of its drivers through facial recognition. Pros 1. Azure offers a wide range of pre-built services that can be deployed simply. 2. The services are designed to easily integrate into applications via simple API calls. 3. It’s built to scale and integrates well with other Azure services. Cons 1. It can get expensive based on the usage; as you scale and the number of API calls increases so will the cost. 2. Whilst Azure can be a convenient way of getting something setup, the pre-built models cannot be tailored to your needs as much as a custom model can. Machine Learning; Where to Start For complete beginners, Scikit-learn is an excellent starting point. It’s extensive documentation is very supporting and API is very beginner friendly. Start by getting comfortable with some of the basic concepts like regression, classification, and clustering. Once you’re comfortable with these concepts, we’d suggest looking at Kera to further enhance your models; again, this is a relatively simple place to start and has an easy to use API. Conclusion This isn’t an exhaustive list of libraries but a good place to start; choosing a library largely depends on your needs and goals. Start simple with Scikit-Learn and Keras or build scalable, production-ready solutions with TensorFlow and.NET - although, if you find Python more intuitive, PyTorch might be the library for you. The best way to learn is by doing, analysing and tweaking, and going again. Get in touch (/contact) if you'd like support with AI models and their implementation. Glossary ML Library: An ML (Machine Learning) library is a collection of pre-written code, tools, and functions that facilitate the development, training, and deployment of machine learning algorithms. These libraries are designed to help developers and data scientists streamline the process of integrating ML capabilities into their applications without having to write algorithms from scratch, e.g. TensorFlow, PyTorch, and Scikit-learn. ML Model: An ML model refers to the output of a machine learning algorithm trained on data. It represents what the algorithm has learned from the training process. Once an ML model is trained on a specific set of data, it can start making predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed to perform the task. These models can vary in complexity from simple linear regressions to sophisticated neural networks. ## Why is GA4 so slow? URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/why-is-ga4-so-slow Published: 2023-07-27 Tags: insights Excerpt: Why GA4 often feels slow in practice, what is driving that experience, and what teams should understand before relying on it day to day. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the latest version of Google Analytics. It was released in October 2020 and is designed to be more privacy-focused and future-proof than its predecessor, Universal Analytics. It was released in October 2020 and is designed to be more privacy-focused and future-proof than its predecessor, Universal Analytics. One of the biggest complaints about GA4 is that it is slow. There are a few reasons for this. 1. GA4 uses a different data model than Universal Analytics (GA3); being event-based, rather than sessions and pageviews based means GA4 needs to collect more data in order to generate reports. 2. Google is reportedly still building features and supposedly improving performance, so there’s a chance the platform hasn’t been fully optimised if they are focussed on shipping new features. 3. Being more privacy focussed means GA4 uses different methods to collect and process data which could also be having an impact. Google’s recommendations include: 1. Using the real-time report to show the data being collected - I’m not sure how realistic it is to expect organisations to rely on this for anything other than validating data collection. 2. Using the sampling feature - collect less data and in theory it should take less time to process. 3. Using the export feature - export the data to a spreadsheet or other data analysis tool for greater flexibility and to access the data quicker. Will GA4 ever get quicker? The fundamentals of GA4 are different to GA3. GA3 records sessions, which are defined as a group of user interactions that take place within a 30-minute period. That means if a user visits your website or app multiple times within 30 minutes, those visits will be counted as part of the same sessions. Having a defined session means GA3 knows when a session has started and ended, so the data is relatively simple to process. In contrast, GA4 does not use a fixed session. Instead, it tracks events as they occur (any interaction your user has with the platform). It then uses Machine Learning and an algorithm to group events together into sessions, taking into account the time between sessions, the type of events, and the user’s behaviour. Without a defined session window, the algorithm needs time to identify when a session has ended and this takes a lot more time to process. There’s also a few other reasons why event-based data can be slower to process. Real-time data collection means real-time processing which can put strain on processing resources. 1. Event-based data can be noisy and contain lots of irrelevant data. 2. Events need to be aggregated at an individual event level, which can be a more complex and time-consuming process. So in answer to whether GA4 will ever get any quicker - they may be able to improve performance but the fundamental ways that GA4 captures data means it is unlikely to ever be as quick as GA3 was. Is there an upside? Yes, an event-based data model collects way more data than UA did and we can therefore get a lot more insight into user behaviour than ever before. If you need access to your data quicker, Google’s Looker studio can access the raw data and visualise it much quicker than it takes GA4 to process it. If you need help with your GA4 implementation or setting up new reports, get in touch (/contact) and one of our certified GA4 consultants can help you. ## We relaunched our website in 7 days! URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/we-relaunched-our-website-in-7-days Published: 2023-07-17 Tags: news Excerpt: Having spent nearly 15 years building websites for clients, you’d think that building a website for ourselves would be a simple job. The truth is that building your own agency website is probably one of the hardest projects you can take on, and I say that after doing it at 3 agencies. Having spent nearly 15 years building websites for clients, you’d think that building a website for ourselves would be a simple job. The truth is that building your own agency website is probably one of the hardest projects you can take on, and I say that after doing it at 3 agencies. The truth is that building your own agency website is probably one of the hardest projects you can take on, and I say that after doing it at 3 agencies. There’s two issues - 1. Every person in the agency is a stakeholder and they all want the website to reflect their own specialism in the best possible way - which is amazing, but at the same time a lot of stakeholder management. 2. Paid work naturally always takes priority which means things can slip, and what should have taken 2 weeks can take 2 months. Again, not a bad problem - but it can be a problem. It's only been 6 months since we last relaunched our site with our new brand - and some may wonder why we felt the need to overhaul after such a short amount of time. But the truth is that our previous website wasn't performing as we needed it to and there were a number of fundamental changes we wanted to make; however, with the development team at full capacity it was getting pushed further and further down the pecking order. Enter Webflow. Traditionally we’ve always built our own websites on Umbraco; it’s flexible, we have a lot of accelerators and it does everything we need it to do to scale. But this time we chose Webflow; the platform that allows us to launch websites with very minimal development input. We were able to design, build and upload content asynchronously - there was very little risk of the project becoming blocked because any of us could jump on the build, and we were able to fly through the content admin together. There’s now even a Figma > Webflow export we were able to utilise. So, does this mean we’ll now be doing everything in Webflow? Not exactly. Our website is in effect a brochure site, blog and set of contact forms - Webflow is perfect for this. For anything more complex with integrations, we could run into limitations. Things are certainly picking back up in our industry, but we don't think it's a coincidence that the new website conversion rate increased dramatically 2 days after launch... If you’d like to talk to us more about Software Development, get in touch (/contact). ## What it means to be a Technical SEO Partner URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/what-it-means-to-be-a-technical-seo-partner Published: 2023-07-10 Tags: insights Excerpt: What technical SEO really involves, from crawlability and indexation to the broader role of an effective SEO partner. Technical SEO involves making sure your website is crawlable and indexable; in short it’s about making sure your website is optimised for search engines. Technical SEO involves making sure your website is crawlable and indexable; in short it’s about making sure your website is optimised for search engines. But what can you expect from a Technical SEO partner? Audits - This involves checking your website for things like crawlability, indexability, mobile-friendliness, and security. Regular audits are important because algorithm changes can shift the importance of certain aspects of your website in terms of how it is crawled and ranked. Content can also impact a site if it is changed frequently. 1. Technical issues identified - If there are any technical issues that are affecting your website’s ranking, your Technical SEO partner will help to identify and fix them. Sometimes the fix may require Developer support; at Absurd the role of the Technical SEO partner in this instance is to write the specifications including user stories and acceptance criteria. 2. Recommendations - Your Technical SEO partner will also make recommendations for improvements based on their findings. These recommendations may include things like changing your website’s structure, improving loading speed or improving your structured data. A good Technical SEO partner is essential to growing your online platform. If you are investing in content and PR with a view to generating good offsite visibility and backlinks, you are wasting some of this opportunity by not having your platform fully optimised. How should you measure impact from technical SEO? There are top line KPIs that technical SEO will contribute to such as traffic, rankings and conversions, but a good Technical SEO partner will be able to attribute results to any changes they make because they’re usually solving a specific problem. For example if a page isn’t being indexed, a Technical SEO partner could fix this and attribute the new traffic back to conversions showing the full impact being provided. What should you look for in a good Technical Partner? Experience - a lot of SEO is learnt by doing; the search engines don’t give everything away, so look for a partner that has lots of experience - the more scale and complexity the better. - Follows trends - change is frequent in the world of SEO; look for a partner that keeps their finger on the pulse and understands what the new changes can mean for you. Absurd provides technical SEO consultancy to some of the largest organisations in the world. If you’d like to discuss how we can help you and your organisation, get in touch (/contact). ## From Web to Mobile, Mastering Cross-Platform App Development URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/from-web-to-mobile-mastering-cross-platform-app-development Published: 2023-06-07 Tags: insights Excerpt: Five lessons from moving from React on the web to cross-platform mobile app development, covering framework choice, Expo, performance, and deployment. As a front-end React developer, when tasked with developing a cross-platform mobile application, there were plenty of obstacles and options. After extensive research, here are 5 pieces of advice I would give when developing your first cross-platform mobile app. As a front-end React developer, when tasked with developing a cross-platform mobile application, there were plenty of obstacles and options. Framework The mobile apps you download have been built in a multitude of different ways, just like websites. It is vital you investigate and take your time when selecting the front-end framework you want to build your app on. The framework needs to leverage your and your team’s skills and knowledge. As a React developer, working with a team of like minded React developers, it was a given that React Native was the preferred option. We investigated other options such as Ionic and Flutter, but ultimately came to the decision to use React Native. A big deciding factor on this was our ability to leverage in-house talent, empowering us to build high-quality mobile applications efficiently, targeting multiple platforms with native-like performance. This is because React Native allows you to reuse a significant portion of your existing React codebase when developing mobile applications. Since React Native uses the same underlying principles and syntax as React.. There is also a large community and ecosystem. React Native has a vast and active community of developers, which means there is extensive community support, documentation, and a wide range of third-party libraries and tools available. This ecosystem can accelerate your development process and help you overcome challenges more easily. Expo Expo is a free and open-source platform for developing React Native mobile applications. It provides a set of tools, libraries, and services that simplify the development process and streamlines cross-platform app creation. Expo abstracts away many of the complexities associated with native development, allowing developers to focus on building the app's functionality and user interface without much platform specific implementation. Expo Go, is a companion app that can be installed on iOS and Android devices. It allows you to test and preview your Expo projects in real-time without the need for complicated setup or building separate binaries. With Expo Go, developers can view their app instantly as they make changes to the code, facilitating a faster development and debugging process. Like React (create-react-app), there is a quick start CLI tool where you can initialise a new project with just a few commands and quickly get started without the need for complex native tooling setup. Expo has a wide directory of native APIs, providing a vast range of pre-built JavaScript modules and APIs that give you access to various device functionalities. This includes items such as camera, push notifications, geolocation, and more. These modules simplify the integration of native features into your app without having to write native code or use additional packages. Deployment When building an application, there are testing environments for each app store; Testflight (iOS/App Store) and Play Store. For both iOS and Android stores, users wishing to view the app will need to be invited. This allows for non-developers to test and QA the app before it gets published publicly to the stores. Expo has a built-in deployment functionality known as Expo Application Services (EAS). However, like all services, it comes with its advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage of EAS is its simplicity. It's baked into your Expo project, and using the CLI, you can deploy your application in a matter of minutes. It will improve performance as EAS introduces optimisations that will create faster build times and reduced app bundle sizes. This can result in a better user experience and smoother app performance. The CLI tool also prompts its user from start to finish, only needing the information required to successfully deploy and taking its process away from the developer. However, EAS isn't free. If you have a small scale application with little deployments, this will be your option. But in our scenario, we were deploying our app multiple times a day, largely overlapping Expo’s 30 medium builds (up to 15 iOS) per month. A work around for this will require some more advanced skills that some frontend developers will not have. We used a CI/CD pipeline through Azure for our app, mimicking the same steps as EAS to bundle and deploy. This resulted in unlimited deployments at a fraction of the cost. Performance Performance is crucial for both mobile apps and websites, but there are a few key factors that make performance particularly important for mobile apps compared to building a website: Mobile devices typically have limited processing power, memory, and battery life compared to desktop computers. Users expect mobile apps to be fast, responsive, and efficient in their resource usage. If an app is slow or resource-intensive, it can negatively impact the user experience, drain the device's battery quickly, and even lead to app crashes or freezes. Mobile users have become accustomed to fast and smooth experiences on their devices. They expect apps to load quickly, respond instantly to interactions, and provide seamless transitions and animations. If an app feels sluggish or unresponsive, users are more likely to abandon it or leave negative reviews, resulting in poor user engagement and app abandonment. Mobile apps are often used on-the-go, where network connectivity may be limited, unreliable, or subject to fluctuations. It's essential for mobile apps to handle poor network conditions gracefully and provide responsive experiences, even when the connection is slow or intermittent. Mobile app marketplaces, such as the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, are highly competitive. Users have an abundance of choices, and if an app performs poorly, they can easily switch to a competitor's app. App store rankings and reviews heavily consider performance and user experience, making it critical for mobile apps to deliver optimal performance to attract and retain users. App Reviews When it comes to submitting a mobile app to Apple's App Store or Google Play Store for review, there are several key considerations that you should be aware of. Here are some important aspects to keep in mind: Apple and Google have specific guidelines that outline what is allowed and what is not in terms of app content, functionality, design, and behaviour. It is crucial to thoroughly review and understand these guidelines before starting the development process. Non-compliance with these guidelines can result in app rejection or removal from the app store. Both Apple and Google prioritise user experience and performance during the app review process. Your app should provide a smooth, intuitive, and engaging user experience. It should also be responsive, load quickly, and not drain excessive battery or network resources. Ensure that your app does what it claims to do and that all the functionalities are working properly. Be mindful of permissions required by your app and ensure they are justified and necessary for the app's functionality. Unnecessary permissions or privacy-related issues can lead to rejection. Pay attention to your app's design and user interface. It should be visually appealing, consistent, and easy to navigate. Ensure that your app adheres to the respective platform's design guidelines (e.g., Human Interface Guidelines for iOS) to create a cohesive and native-like experience. Understand that the app review process takes time, and it can vary between Apple and Google. Plan your app release accordingly and allow for sufficient time for the review process. Be prepared for potential back-and-forth communication or requests for additional information during the review. If working with a client, they need to be aware of this. It is important to note that the review process for mobile apps differs from websites, as app stores have stricter guidelines and policies to ensure quality, security, and a positive user experience. Understanding and complying with these requirements from the beginning of the development process will help streamline the review process and increase the chances of a successful app launch. ## Service Design for cross-channel retail: Creating better retail experiences URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/service-design-for-cross-channel-retail Published: 2023-06-07 Tags: insights Excerpt: How service design helps retailers create stronger cross-channel experiences by aligning customer needs, operations, and digital touchpoints. The fast-paced and evolving retail industry is characterised by fierce competition, rapidly changing customer preferences, and ever new technologies. The fast-paced and evolving retail industry is characterised by fierce competition, rapidly changing customer preferences, and ever new technologies. These dynamics have placed a real emphasis on cross-channel retail strategies, with Service Design in particular becoming an invaluable tool for creating integrated customer experiences. Seamless, efficient and personalised. Service design is a holistic process that strategically improves customer experiences to meet customer needs. It encapsulates the process of designing services that engage customers at multiple touchpoints - whether in-store, online, or via mobile devices. It shapes services from a customer-centric perspective, empathising with customer needs whilst identifying opportunities to enhance experiences across the customer journeys. In retail where there are often multiple channels, the role of service design helps construct seamless shopping experiences across the various channels - whether online or offline - that ensures customers receive a consistent brand experience. It aligns all channels and ecompasses technology, processes and people, to facilitate smooth and frictionless transitions between journeys. There are a number of benefits of implementing service design in cross-channel retail. 1. Improved Customer Experience: Service design allows retailers to better understand their customers' experiences across all channels. It identifies pain points in their shopping journeys, devises solutions, and optimises processes. This approach improves the overall customer experience, leading to increased satisfaction and loyalty. 2. Increased Revenue: By offering a seamless and efficient customer journey, retailers can drive sales and boost revenue. Customers are more likely to make a purchase when they can switch effortlessly between online and offline channels and find a consistent brand experience. 3. Enhanced Customer Retention: By addressing customer needs and providing personalised experiences, service design encourages stronger customer relationships. These relationships lead to higher customer retention rates and can ultimately increase a company's profitability. 4. Informed Decision-Making: Service design allows for a comprehensive understanding of customer behaviours, expectations, and needs across all channels. These insights can guide business strategies, helping retailers make informed decisions about their offerings and tactics. Often, just having a visualisation of the service can help enhance decision making. 5. Competitive Advantage: A well-executed service design strategy sets retailers apart in a saturated market. By offering a unique, seamless, and satisfying customer experience, retailers can establish a strong market position and gain a competitive edge. As the retail landscape continues to evolve, the application of service design will undoubtedly become increasingly vital to keeping up with customer demands and staying ahead in the competition. Retailers who can master service design will be better equipped to navigate this dynamic industry and thrive in the future. ## The key to managing complexity in distributed teams URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/the-key-to-managing-complexity-in-distributed-teams Published: 2023-06-07 Tags: insights Excerpt: Lessons from the pandemic on how distributed teams can collaborate better, stay aligned, and manage complexity without losing agility. Applying learnings from Covid-19. The ‘rise’ of remote working has been in flow long before Covid. Unfortunately, and at no discredit to remote teams or employees, no one was equipped to handle what happened to us in March 2020. However, the pace of change has been accelerating since long before Covid. More software and data is available to us, and we are increasingly spread across location and time; sometimes, held together only by email. More software and data is available to us, and we are increasingly spread across location and time; sometimes, held together only by email. As we all thought on our feet to find effective working patterns from our living rooms, we learnt new skills that address challenges that extend further than working from home; skills that rethink the way teams collaborate, align teams across businesses and apply to managing the complex structures of global offices. As a guiding principle and human-centred design practice, user needs come first. In the heightened emotional state of lockdown, different players and egos were quickly distinguished in virtual meetings, with extroverts often dominating the room. Meeting participants often found that it was difficult to interject with thoughts, that it was ‘not their time to contribute’ and that they were physically and virtually not in the room, dealing with a new home situation. Extroverts stepped up to the plate to fill the sometimes silence. All participants need the ability to contribute and communicate equally, regardless of location, role, experience level, language, or device preference. This is achieved asynchronously, allowing people to collaborate at different times and at the convenience of their schedules. However, achieving this is not without challenges. Facilitators need to rethink collaboration to lay a foundation of collaborative equity in their zoom calls. By embracing asynchronous collaboration and establishing it as part of business best practices through thoughtful facilitation and tooling, we can ensure that the most amount of data is captured in meetings. This documentation acts as the would-be organic flow of in-person information, which steers teams away from developing silos. We can leverage mindful, thoughtful facilitation to achieve collaborative equity, improve the effectiveness of online meetings and improve the rate of and quality of documentation. Whereas silos are really important to keep teams agile and nimble, the struggle is keeping them connected. Documentation is your single source of truth. Business intranets have evolved from an output based Sharepoint (“Here’s a whitepaper prescribing exactly how you do something”) to a process-based active management tool (“We’ve all worked this out together”). There is a shift in business requirements from a static single source of truth, to collaborative, asynchronous documentation of processes and ways of working. Sharepoints stagnate, and dead documents float. The challenge of maintaining a single source of truth is to routinely address the content as part of a process, without just spinning up a new document. Process is the key element here - routine updates keep the conversations alive and flexible whilst allowing people to quickly dip in, absorb what they need to and move on, growing a culture of self serve and autonomy. The challenge with static documentation is maintaining the conversation. Routine reviews need to be maintained to ensure best business practices. This can be automated with Business Process Management Technology/Project Management tools. This is why we have seen so much success in virtual whiteboards. Aligning teams is all about seeing what is in everyone’s heads and previously, most documentation has been static or flat. Think of Docs, Sheets, Email and Slack - which are mostly all written form. Virtual whiteboards allow us to see a stream of data and be able to make more connections. Businesses thrive when everyone is focused on the same broader organisational goals. Centering the entire company around the most important objectives allows employees to stay focused, engaged, and productive. Functional alignment starts at the top and needs to be front and centre or centralised cloud based documentation. "Every company has a small list of golden rituals. A few criteria: 1. They are named. 2. Every employee knows them by the first Friday. 3. They are templated.” - Bing Gordon, Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Connecting the dots between teams is essential and work management platforms support this process. By sharing goals across teams—and having them in a living system (A Project Management Tool)—you illustrate how each team goal is part of the same company-wide strategy, dissolving the chaotic atmosphere and getting people moving in the same direction. "Most leadership teams spent less than one hour per month discussing strategy. That lack of leadership and direction erodes all understanding and undermines any inter-departmental coordination.""Research suggests that just 16% of workers think their company is effective at setting and communicating goals. Just one in four understand how their work ladders up into a broader strategy." A lack of transparency in decision-making and project progress kills culture. Having more meetings doesn't necessarily promote transparency. People will miss content whether or not they are in the room. Build trusted documentation and easy, repeatable processes to direct people to the value they need fast, so that they can move ahead with confidence. ## Unlocking CRM Success: The Key Factors and How Absurd Can Help URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/unlocking-crm-success Published: 2023-03-31 Tags: insights Excerpt: The core factors that make CRM programmes succeed, from process and adoption to the strategic decisions that shape long-term value. CRM systems play a crucial role in modern businesses, transforming customer relationships, streamlining sales pipelines, and supercharging marketing campaigns. To ensure CRM success, it's essential to consider specific key factors and avoid common pitfalls. In this blog, we'll explore these critical factors and reveal how Absurd can support you throughout the process. CRM systems play a crucial role in modern businesses, transforming customer relationships, streamlining sales pipelines, and supercharging marketing campaigns. Choose the right CRM system for your needs Selecting the perfect CRM system that aligns with your business requirements and goals can be challenging, given the countless options available. As experts in various CRM systems, Absurd can guide you in choosing the ideal solution for your business, ensuring it meets your unique needs. Implement the CRM system properly Proper CRM implementation is essential for success. This process involves training your employees, migrating data accurately, and integrating the system seamlessly into your operations. Absurd's experience and expertise can ensure a smooth implementation process, providing training and support to your team throughout the transition. Involve users in the design process Involving users in the CRM system design process is critical to ensuring the system meets your business's needs. Users have a deep understanding of their tasks and goals, making their involvement in discovery and testing vital throughout the implementation project. By involving users in the design of views, dashboards, and workflows, you can minimise the risk of project failure due to low adoption. Understand the CRM system's purpose Determining the driving force behind the CRM system is essential. Whether it's tracking and optimising sales performance, generating leads, driving a marketing automation strategy, or managing customer service operations, understanding this purpose is necessary for making informed decisions about the implementation project. Automate and improve efficiency Integrating the CRM system with other systems can automate data flows, interactions, and repetitive tasks, significantly improving your business's efficiency. Consider this crucial aspect of CRM implementation to maximise its potential. Use the CRM system effectively Utilising your CRM system effectively is key to success. Track leads and opportunities, automate marketing campaigns, and leverage the CRM's full potential to drive growth. Absurd's team of experts can train your employees, support your CRM usage, and help develop and execute marketing campaigns tailored to your business. Measure the results Measuring the results of your CRM system is critical for gauging its success. By tracking progress and analysing data, you can identify areas for improvement and make informed decisions. Absurd offers analytics tools and reports that empower you to measure your CRM's impact and optimise its performance. By considering these key factors at every stage of CRM implementation, you can propel your business towards greater efficiency and impact, unlocking the full potential of your CRM system. ## Discover the latest SEO trends for 2023 for marketers and businesses URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/latest-seo-trends Published: 2023-01-06 Tags: insights Excerpt: A practical summary of the SEO trends shaping 2023, from more useful search results to the technical and content shifts marketers should watch. Make search results more useful to searchers In order to make search results more useful to searchers, we must keep up with Google's constantly evolving algorithms. With new updates and the continuing impact of some old ones, some trends are here to stay as we see a rise in the importance of new ones. With new updates and the continuing impact of some old ones, some trends are here to stay as we see a rise in the importance of new ones. Based on our experience, there are a number of SEO trends that are here to stay: 1. Rise of Voice Searches 2. Optimising for Google Shopping Results 3. Optimising Images 4. Optimising for Feature Snippets 5. Importance of Local Search 6. Importance of EAT Let’s look at them in detail: - Rise of Voice Searches - with Google Home and Amazon Alexa, voice search is still on the rise; especially when you consider that Alexa-based voice control is increasingly being integrated into car dashboards too. By optimising mobile searches and using structured data to optimise voice searches, businesses can target conversational keywords, create FAQ sections, and target positions for featured snippets. Essentially making sure your business can be found within a number of different contexts. - Optimising for Google Shopping Results - Businesses can optimise keywords in product listings, use alt text for images to rank, optimise the loading time of the website, and also ensure the platform is mobile-friendly. Google has also introduced Google Lens which plays an important role in online shopping. This brings us to another important SEO optimisation factor. - Optimising Images for SEO - Google Lens helps the user/customer to find the product without having to know the name or brand and hence pictures play an integral part. Optimising images usually means reducing the image size by keeping the quality high. Businesses can optimise by compressing images, using alt text and renaming images with relevant keywords. - Rise of Featured Snippets - featured snippets are short blocks of text that appear at the top of the search engine when someone searches for a query to provide a quick and concise answer. Websites can optimise by identifying and answering common questions, using correct Header tags to highlight key points, using lists & bullets & regularly refreshing content. - Importance of Local Search - post-pandemic local searches have increased with queries including “near me” and “local” for businesses having a local address. This trend is predicted to stay as more users find value in localised searches. To keep up with this, a well-managed Google My Business profile is the best way to start local SEO, followed by creating localised content, and links from other businesses in your area. - Importance of EAT - Google has constantly highlighted the importance of Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness when ranking a web page as it gives utmost importance to user experience. Optimise for EAT by adding customer testimonials, building links to authoritative websites such as.edu and.gov, and adding accurate statistics. As Google is constantly improving and updating its algorithm and also giving importance to helpful content with the latest update, the businesses will not only have to focus on new trends but also provide helpful and original content to the users via technically optimised websites to drive the best SEO results. If you’d like to make sure you’re keeping up with Google’s latest changes and algorithms, get in touch (/contact). ## The cost of misunderstanding your customer culture URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/the-cost-of-misunderstanding-your-customer-culture Published: 2022-10-06 Tags: insights Excerpt: Why cultural understanding matters in research and design, especially for organisations expanding into new markets. Is your business looking to expand into global markets? If so, this article is a must-read for you… Is your business looking to expand into global markets? As a business, it’s crucial to understand who your target audience is by using data and utilising user research. Businesses can begin to get an understanding of the user’s demographic such as age or income, but what about the user’s cultural background? Does it really matter to truly understand cultural behaviours? In this article, we will talk about… - Why does culture play an important role in a business’s User Experience? - What cultural differences have caused business problems in the past? - What businesses are listening to their audience? - Business benefits from understanding your user’s cultural behaviours - How can you ensure you know your user’s culture? - Two people writing at a desk on coloured sticky notes with a MacBook to one side. Why does culture play an important role in a business’s User Experience? Culture to a person is their way of life from beliefs and habits such as religion, language, mannerisms and even the way they dress. Depending on where someone lives in the world their cultural behaviours and beliefs are different. A Group of diverse people sat in a line on a bridge, arms wrapped across one another’s shoulders, looking out towards the sea. “it is no longer enough to simply offer a product translated in ten to twenty different languages. Users also want a product that acknowledges their unique cultural characteristics and business practices.” Elisa M. del Galdo and Jakob Nielsen International User Interfaces To create meaningful User Experiences it’s essential that we understand our users, however, culture is often overlooked. Gathering the users’ habits and beliefs can unlock new possible solutions to problems or provide us with key insights to ensure we don’t offend or confuse the user. What cultural differences have caused problems in the past for companies? Ebay sign-up: Ebay was seeing a lack of sign-ups in Japan. Ebay made the mistake of requiring users to submit credit card information at the initial sign-up phase, this caused Japanese users to not sign-up as Japanese customers are risk-averse and didn’t want to initially submit their card details. (Cross-cultural Design and the Role of UX, 2022) Basic health in Mexico: A poster design was created to inform indigenous communities of a basic health package. The poster was a black and white image of a boy alone with the words “basic health package”. Firstly in rural communities, a self-image is associated with isolation, sadness and abandonment. The people who the poster was aimed for couldn’t understand why he had been left alone. Secondly, black and white is a visual cliche of how indigenous communities are depicted by outsiders as romantic and nostalgic. The Community did not associate themselves with this style of imagery. Many overlooked the poster as they thought it was aimed at tourism. (Pater, 2016) As you can see from the examples above the possible problems that can cause loss of business if in-depth user research isn’t conducted correctly considering user’s cultural behaviours, habits and beliefs. Let’s take translating UX copy for example. As native English speakers, we’re able to write and assess copy across products, but hit barriers when translating apps for the global offices and audiences of our clients. The same copy doesn’t work in languages that have different sentence structures, grammar, vocabulary and cultures. During a recent project, where multiple languages are required, we identified early on during the prototyping stage, that we weren’t able to fit ‘Geschäftsbedingungen’ in the same size button container as our English ’T&C’s’ when translating a client’s product to German; breaking designs and creating new workflows for copy updates. Instead, we need to seek out localised knowledge to add a personal, friendly touch and fill our knowledge gaps. Audiences won’t give us time if the only time we’re willing to give is to Google Translate. By never assuming what is culturally relevant, forcing non-match translations and seeking the advice of trusted translators, we were able to give users in German an experience that suited and included them, even if it is slightly different than the journey for English audiences, and fill the button container with an easy ‘ABG’. Hurra! What businesses are listening to their audience? Uber is a great example where a company has understood the cultural needs of their users all across the world. For example, in Paris people use scooters as one of their primary ways of transport, Uber In created a collaboration with Cityscoot in order to add scooters to their existing fleet. Another great example led by Uber in Istanbul allows the users to book an Uberboat (operated by the local company Navette), as a way to move away from the car and railway traffic that inflicts the city. (Gomes, 2022) Benefits from understanding your user’s cultural behaviours By connecting with your users you will be able to instil trust and build confidence in your company, which inevitably leads to more conversions, increased customer retention and better business. Using the insights that you find through user research and data analysis - Leverage insights for business benefits (provide examples — Using geographic data trends) - Customisation to optimise conversions. How can you ensure you know your user’s culture? The easiest and most effective way to truly understand your user’s culture is by talking to them, surrounding yourself within their culture and way of life, visiting the places they spend time in and absorbing what they do whilst there. (get out of the office!) Fact, test and sense check anything that makes it out into the world as best you can. Below is a checklist to help you: - Is your copy inclusive? Don’t be afraid to ask someone to read it before sending it out into the wild. - Where is your work getting posted, who will see it and when? Add any relevant celebrations and dates to your own calendar so you can be mindful of what it is you are sending out, and when. - When creating personas and archetypes you could include sections on religion if applicable, how and when the person prefers to communicate and give the option for them to outline their own guiding principles and morals. This will help produce a richer overview of different cultural personas. - Make it easy for people from different cultures to communicate with your business and brand. Not everyone is comfortable speaking on the phone, some prefer to email whilst others will only conduct business in person Make sure you have an open mindset, before jumping to conclusions or making assumptions — do some background research around the project/client/business first. Start a project with Absurd Is there a design or business challenge your company needs solving? We’d love to discuss how Absurd can help ## My first week at Absurd; Chloe Daly - UX/UI Designer URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/my-first-week-at-absurd Published: 2022-09-15 Tags: news Excerpt: A first-week reflection on joining Absurd as a UX/UI designer, from onboarding and team dynamics to early impressions of the work. The week beginning of the 5th of September I started working at Absurd, a digital product and service design agency based in Manchester, UK The week beginning of the 5th of September I started working at Absurd, a digital product and service design agency based in Manchester, UK Firstly, I will give you some background on me before I dive in… I have a degree in graphic design and in the final year I specialised in UX Design. After my degree, I worked at a start-up UX and CRO agency for two years where I worked closely with the Director who had over 25+ years of experience in UX and CRO. Working closely with the director and the nature of a start-up agency I developed at a fast rate and learnt a range of skills from, UX/UI, project management, CRO, SEO, front-end development and much more. Monday morning I couldn’t have wished for a better first day, I was given such a warm welcome. We started the day with pleasantries and a general chat about myself, the company and the team. After the introduction, we had a meeting with the whole team about a plan for the week ahead. It was great to hear about what everyone would be working on this week and how they spent their weekends. I was provided with a MacBook Pro and Mark (Design director) helped me set it up ensuring all the correct software and tools were installed. It was great to see what tools the business used to organise and structure projects. They used various tools that enabled the team to work efficiently and speed up workflow. It was interesting to see how Absurd and individual people work as everyone’s processes and practices vary. For lunch, I was taken out to Piccolinos we sat in the sun with pasta and a glass of wine was a lovely treat. It was nice getting to know the design team on a more personal level. After lunch, we returned to the office and I had some 1–1’s booked with the team. I appreciated slowly getting to know people and learning about them and their skills, previous experiences and personal interests. The 1–1 sessions were around half an hour long meaning I got to connect thoroughly with the team separately. On my first day, I had 1–1 sessions with Oli (Founder) and Ben (Developer). The rest of the week… Tuesday I was welcomed into the office by Digby, Sally’s dog! He was very good at cuddles and great at posing in the team photos. I was provided with some reading material for a new upcoming project, I made some notes about the project and the company we would be working with to get an understanding of the project before kick-off. Most of the day again was spent having 1–1s with the team and getting settled in. Rowan one of the UI Designers sat down with me and talked through an e-commerce client that I would be working with possibly on a retainer basis to improve the user experience and conversion rate of the website. It was nice to be able to ask questions and gain a better understanding rather than be thrown into the deep end. We finished Tuesday by going for a few drinks after work. Wednesday was similar in developing relationships with the team and getting to grips with some new and current projects. Eldon, a UX Researcher, got me up to speed on a client that they have been working with for around 8–9 months. Eldon did a great job of thoroughly explaining their briefs and processes, and he also provided me with some useful reading material on UI naming conventions and design systems. It was great to see how the team solved complex problems that this particular client had. Thursday, I worked on some internal work, did some additional reading for a project in the pipeline and made some useful notes. Rowan a UI Designer introduced me to one of Absurd’s e-commerce projects, we spent one to two hours analysing Figma files and spreadsheets providing me with insights into the project. E-commerce is one of my favourite areas when it comes to UI/UX design and even CRO. I enjoy e-com projects due to the nature of them usually having high traffic volumes, you can measure how effective your design decisions are quickly using various tools to collect data and also getting creative with how to incorporate branding throughout the website. Friday we worked from home which was good as I was able to get my head down and finish off an internal project that had been set. At the end of the week we checked in with the design team, this allowed us all to chat about how our week had been and if we had any questions etc… I had another meeting with Rowen who explained more in detail about the e-commerce client that we spoke about the day before. I’ve come to Absurd to grow and collaborate as a designer, I can now see that it is an environment that is an advocate for my growth and career progression. The week couldn’t have been any better, I was gradually on-boarded and had 1–1’s with the majority of the team who all made me feel so welcome and supported. Chloe and Digby in the office Keep up with the culture at Absurd… ## How Covid-19 has impacted the B2B sales process … and what you can do about it URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/how-covid-19-has-impacted-the-b2b-sales-process-and-what-you-can-do-about-it Published: 2022-09-07 Tags: insights Excerpt: How Covid-19 reshaped the B2B sales process, and what teams can do to better understand changing audience behaviour and rebuild engagement. If there is one thing for certain in today’s world, we can’t assume that sales methods (and strategies) which were effective pre-Covid-19 are still working. If there is one thing for certain in today’s world, we can’t assume that sales methods (and strategies) which were effective pre-Covid-19 are still working. In fact, many B2B organisations already know they’re not. If there is one thing that operating as a design agency has also taught us is that if we don’t take a human-centric approach to solve business challenges we’re unlikely to improve the digital products and services offered by an organisation, nor create a user experience that really engages with its audiences. Recently, many companies have been forced to look deeper into the digital channels and communications techniques that they didn’t use previously. Our Covid-impacted world has also heightened the importance of knowing more about customers and prospects who are now working very differently. So one of our latest projects has been to understand why B2B sales teams are getting less engagement with their customers. We did drill down to a more specific industry sector, but we also found five key findings that apply to many more B2B sectors than those we were exploring. While some of our insights may seem obvious, they are nonetheless somewhat business-critical if not addressed so we hope this five-point guide is of use. How to boost B2B customer interaction via digital services Adapt to the ‘new’ 9 to 5 Many people’s working day has become much more fluid with the onset of home working and restricted office operations. The daily commute which for many was a time to catch up on emails or check social media and news bulletins has been replaced by an early or later start to do ‘proper 9 to 5 work’. Predicting when the best time to reach out is less formulaic as it perhaps was before. This obviously has implications around how your organisations’ sales team needs to operate; but with mobile platforms and tools such as Calendly, technology gives us opportunities to ensure that any time used outside of the 9–5 is of value. Be flexible with your IT You might prefer Zoom, but your client’s IT department may stipulate Webex. Some customers might not be able to access Dropbox and others might not be allowed to access Google Docs. As more online meeting options become available to facilitate remote working, and face-to-face meetings reduce, this is actually heightening the complexity of how we arrange essential virtual interactions. This is important because if you’ve only got a short meeting, not having the right tech can cause delays — you don’t want your customer hanging up because, “it wasn’t important anyway” or they ran out of time due to another meeting. Make your content accessible any time Working busy schedules around set times for physical events, industry exhibitions or webinars have always been commonplace in the B2B sector. Events in particular have long been an important way to connect with customers and potential customers face-to-face, building new relationships or solidifying existing relationships to generate demand. Even though the ‘face-to-face’ part has changed, the importance of events has not. Sales teams have adjusted to virtual events to launch new products, showcase new techniques and to generate demand for products and solutions. To be successful these events need to hold the participants’ attention, with succinct messages and to add value to the audience, because unlike previously where they had invested in travel they can now just close their browser if the event does not hold their interest. So perhaps just as important, and which relates back to point one, is now opening up ‘attendance’ and consumption of information presented during events to be less scheduled and more in line with flexible working. Webinars might be yielding good results, but new insight shows that customers are more engaged in their own time; during a commute, during a daily walk or early morning/evening. Giving customers the ability to watch a live presentation or discussion in a less time-sensitive way can be an important means to increase their engagement. Similarly, think about podcasts, recorded videos, white papers; ask ‘what alternative formats can you provide that mean there are multiple opportunities for your customers to focus their time on you?’ Put greater importance on your search visibility and IA While not strictly a recent shift, customers predominantly use Google as their search engine over searching for content on a specific site (often ‘in the moment” of a specific task). To be on the consideration list as a product or service provider in your area of expertise, it’s vital that your content ranks high via search and that platforms are visible through optimisation for search, and intuitive interfaces. Customers often need their question answering and they need it done now. If your outreach and other efforts haven’t engaged their attention, then content via Google might when they’re ready to consider it will. CRM is now more important than ever We’re now in a time where customer interactions are more digital than ever, and digital means traceable (more often than not). Make sure your CRM is capturing as much of your customers’ interactions as possible to fuel personalisation and create new opportunities to engage. Tools such as Salesforce’s Einstein, an AI assistant for the Salesforce CRM, provide recommendations for the next action with a prospect; and the richer the data, the more accurate this can be. Developing campaigns targeted towards the right customer at the right time is critical to success. Providing different types of content will help to target these customers and build interest in your offering. As the battle to adapt goes on, remember the new rules of engagement All of these changes mean that, as sales teams, we must accurately communicate the value of our products and solutions to get prospective customers interested, and to keep existing customers engaged. And above all, with any current approach, a greater understanding of an audience’s needs and requirements is more critical than ever. There’s no substitute for research. Empathy goes a long way. And if you can create techniques that are personalised and relevant, and also deliver value, engagement levels — and hopefully sales — will rise. ## Proof of Concepts and Prototypes in Product Design URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/proof-of-concepts-and-prototypes-in-product-design Published: 2022-09-06 Tags: insights Excerpt: Why prototypes and proof-of-concepts help teams explore new product ideas, reduce risk, and make better decisions before full delivery. As we come out of lockdown, we are seeing an increased need for new products and services rapidly emerge. As we come out of lockdown, we are seeing an increased need for new products and services rapidly emerge. Whether you’re a start-up or an established organisation reacting to change, it’s important to understand the differences between a Proof of Concept (PoC) and a prototype, and where (and how) in the product design process they can add value. The lines are often blurred between PoCs and prototypes; with organisations looking to jump straight into prototyping or using a prototype for PoC purposes. Either way, it’s important to understand the values of them both as separate tools so that when rolling products out quickly their effectiveness isn’t lost. There is a number of reasons why we invest in Proof of Concepts; 1. To test feasibility; the idea may require a new technology approach or a change of business process — we need to test that the technology is capable or that the process is able to change. The PoC may be less visual — it’s more about a test and learn approach; did we achieve the outcome we hoped for? 2. Depending on the format of the PoC, it’s likely we’ll develop a better understanding of the risks; for example if the PoC is testing an API — the risk may be that it’s slow, or a business process could easily become overloaded and hinder the customer experience. 3. It also enables us to consider the approach and therefore cost implications in more detail; the effort, dependencies and partners required to bring an MVP to market. 4. To demonstrate the idea; it could take any format, but often the PoC is a slide deck or an explainer video; the format allows demonstration of the concept in an easily digestible manner to get buy-in. It’s also a great tool for getting team alignment across the org. 5. In a nutshell, the PoC is usually one of the first tasks we undertake as part of the design process; it allows us to answer any unknowns, understand any potential blockers and get buy-in before investing in any further design or testing. Thanks for reading! ## It’s back to (language) school for Absurd URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/its-back-to-language-school-for-absurd Published: 2021-03-25 Tags: insights Excerpt: How Absurd helped Institut Francais expand online learning and improve the customer experience across its public-facing digital touchpoints. For most of the Absurd team, foreign languages aren’t our strong points – however creating brilliant digital products & services for organisations is… For most of the Absurd team, foreign languages aren’t our strong points - however creating brilliant digital products & services for organisations is. Institut Francais is the official French government centre of language and culture in London. The organisation has turned to Absurd to help it expand its online learning services on a more permanent basis and identify ways to improve the customer experience across its public-facing touchpoints, as well as increasing efficiencies across their back-office provision. The digital transformation project kicked off last year and we’re fully immersed in the discovery phase. The initial programme of work will see us define the new service vison whilst identifying the relevant products and services to enable it. The Language Centre of the Institut Francais has more than 4000 students per year, each progressing through different courses that can range from two to 15 weeks. Our goal is to create an improved learning experience for students whether they choose to learn online or in the classroom (or a mixture of the two) – in turn helping the language school achieve growth. Working with students, teachers and staff at the school to really understand current challenges & needs has been hugely rewarding – with everyone involved keen to deliver a refreshing learning experience to be launched in 2022. So, à la prochaine, we look forward to sharing the all-new ‘Institut Francais’ online experience when it launches. ## It’s a Marathon Not A Sprint – debunking common myths around Design Sprints URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/its-a-marathon-not-a-sprint-debunking-common-myths-around-design-sprints Published: 2020-11-10 Tags: insights Excerpt: A clearer look at common design sprint myths, what the process is actually for, and where it fits inside broader service and product work. We use Design Sprints as part of our wider design process to help organisations define and create effective user-centred service experiences. We’re big fans of how effective they can be, for engendering co-creation and for finding solutions to business problems. We’re big fans of how effective they can be, for engendering co-creation and for finding solutions to business problems. By the nature of their structure and intensity they can be extremely valuable to a wide range of business – from start-ups to large established corporations, but as the technique/discipline has grown in popularity so have the many misunderstandings around what they can and can’t achieve. In fact, if I had a pound every time I heard a misconception about what they can and can’t do I’d be quids in! Here’s the five biggest ‘myths’ about Design Sprints we frequently hear which I hope will go some way to explain how we ensure that the investment is a worthwhile one… when done right. Myth 1: “A five-day design sprint will give me a finished, ready to roll out solution” Of course, if you read all of the hype around Design Sprints and how they solve business problems in just five days, you’d think that this means that you have a solution to roll out at the end of it. Well, yes – in some cases a Design Sprint can lead to a prototype that’s been user tested and proved viable – but to really get the solution to ‘work’ investment in product or service design doesn’t stop there. The main premise of the Design Sprint is to get to the point that you have validated the idea or ideas and keep iterating. The Design Sprint is the an element of the larger service design process – where human-centric design involves further validating ideas and service propositions to make good ideas even better and to ensure the organisation invests in the right roadmap. Myth 2: “As the client we don’t need to prepare; the agency/design team will sort it all” The most effective Design Sprints are ones that start on Day Zero (or minus five) not Day One. The very nature of a Design Sprint is that it is interactive and user focused. A solution isn’t handed on a plate – the process is there to facilitate, so the more people can bring to the party the better. And as Design Sprints are about problem solving, so more ground work regarding the current situation means the Sprint team can hit the ground running. It can save time and frustrating eye rolls if everyone is armed with information from both within the business and the strategists before the process. It’s then true collaboration at its best. Key to the agency’s role is that all participants are briefed, know what is expected of them and what the goal of the technique is. Myth 3: “It will require five full days of my / my colleague’s time that I simply don’t have” There are two issues here. First of all a Design Sprint doesn’t always have to be across five days. This is the standard framework but not the only way. Secondly, the same people do not have to be active within the process for the entire scope of the Sprint. It’s essential that the group – from across the organisation - begins the process, to identify and agree the goals of the sprint, to map out the challenge and to be part of the exploration into potential solutions. But there are elements in the technique that can be left for a core group to work into storyboards and protype designs that will mimic the final approach to have ready for testing. Myth 4: “It’s a cheap way to get design work” This is perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions around Design Sprints. Of course, some amazing results can be born out of the process – but the Sprint is the tip of the iceberg in terms of creating a finished design. It’s not a ‘short-cut’. Its value is exploring new possibilities and challenging preconceptions, but the true value is then how this prototype is then fully developed and created. Not left sitting on a shelf somewhere. If you’ve managed to create a super shiny prototype that’s ready to roll out then you’ve perhaps not spent long enough ‘exploring’ and getting to the real issue. Or your design sprint has been a huge success of course! Myth 5: “I know nothing about design so I will add absolutely no value” If there is one thing our experience of running Design Sprints has shown us is that often the best ideas don’t come from designers – or even ‘the boss’. And as with all service design, the priceless aspect is having all key stakeholders involved – each bringing their in-depth knowledge of how a business operates. There is little point in finding a solution that can not be integrated with existing tech or processes – unless a transformation is the objective. Just like with all aspects of a service design approach, to solve business problems, research cannot sit in a siloed team. Great service design comes from strategists, designers and technologists working on the ‘problem’ from the start. ## UMBRO appoints us to redesign and build umbro.com URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/umbro-appoints-us-to-redesign-and-build-umbro-com Published: 2020-09-10 Tags: news Excerpt: Absurd’s appointment as Umbro’s digital partner to redesign and rebuild umbro.com as a new global web platform. We’re proud to announce that we’ve been appointed as Umbro’s digital partner to create a new global web platform (umbro.com) for the brand, which will replace its existing site. We’re proud to announce that we’ve been appointed as Umbro’s digital partner to create a new global web platform (umbro.com) for the brand, which will replace its existing site. The new CMS will give Umbro centralised governance over brand content across its global sites, with the capability to implement updates and campaigns with greater efficiency and consistency. To kick off the site revamp, new user insight and audience research, carried out by the Absurd team as part of our approach to development and design, will lead to a more consumer-centric experience. While showcasing brand and product stories, the site will also focus on conversion of sales by driving consumers to local ecommerce platforms around the globe, depending on where the consumer is browsing from. Helene Hope, Umbro’s Head of Global Brand Marketing, said: “Our aim is to create a site that communicates brand and product stories to our target consumer in an exciting and engaging way, bringing our brand position and tone to life. Working with our teams around the world and drawing on their initiatives, we will create a truly global, varied and multi-dimensional narrative that is a cross-over between social, webzine and e-tail.” The site will be based on a CMS that allows the central Umbro team to easily manage content from around the world, using machine learning and Microsoft Azure to translate content that can then be reviewed by teams in other markets. This is an exciting win for the agency and we are looking forward to working with Umbro to further raise their standards across the brand’s digital portfolio. We have extensive experience of global projects and a proven track record of creating highly engaging digital experiences – experience that we will be applying within this partnership with Umbro. Umbro is a huge Manchester success story, having operated from the region since 1924, and it’s great that they’ve selected to work with our Manchester based team for this prestigious programme of digital transformation. Absurd was awarded the global design and build project following its successful implementation of two microsites for Umbro earlier this year, which will be re-launched again post-lockdown. Not Just For Pros supports grassroots football by offering teams the chance to win new kits, equipment and even a photoshoot. Teams simply submit a 30 second video via the microsite to enter. ## Luxury aparthotel introduces contactless concierge as part of post-lockdown digital strategy URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/luxury-aparthotel-introduces-contactless-concierge-as-part-of-post-lockdown-digital-strategy Published: 2020-08-10 Tags: insights Excerpt: How CitySuites introduced contactless concierge and digital-first guest services to support post-lockdown operations and customer experience. Manchester’s only luxury aparthotel CitySuites has introduced new technology and digital-first services to bolster its revised Covid-19 social distancing procedures. Manchester’s only luxury aparthotel CitySuites has introduced new technology and digital-first services to bolster its revised Covid-19 social distancing procedures. Developed by its digital agency partner Absurd, CitySuites has created a bespoke contactless check-in process that eradicates the need for guests to go through the typical registration process on arrival. The solution, which has been designed to integrate with CitySuites’ existing PMS (property management software) booking system, enables guests to input all required information prior to arrival, simply verifying their identity on entry to the aparthotel. The move is part of an ongoing programme to enhance both the physical and digital experience offered by the luxury five-star hospitality business, which is part of the Select Property Group based in Alderley Edge, Cheshire. Oliver Bailey, co-founder of Absurd, says: “We’re working with CitySuites to continually evolve their digital capabilities and end-to-end service design. This latest launch will not only benefit the guest experience with a quicker check-in process but it minimises contact time, enabling customers and staff to stay safe, while complying with social distancing measures.“Using our unique approach, to understand both the needs of guests and CitySuites’ teams, we’re able to identify the most relevant and value-add services to bring to market. Many service requirements for CitySuites differ from the more typical hotel needs, due to the specialist accommodation offered. This latest service was prioritised within the development schedule to allow CitySuites to quickly adapt to changes required due to Covid-19 compliance. “We’ve designed and built the technology for CitySuites, rather than bolt on third party software, to enable the service to go beyond just accelerating online check-in. It will facilitate ongoing communication with guests and more personalised marketing.” Express check-in is one of a number of new initiatives that CitySuites has put in place in response to both Covid-19 and ongoing innovation. Earlier this year Absurd designed a bespoke online process for longer term guest bookings and launched CitySuites’ Embankment Kitchen restaurant site. CitySuites is located in Manchester City Centre and combines the comforts of home with the luxury touches of a hotel, providing an exceptional living experience that surpasses standard serviced apartment accommodation. ## Have you lost your voice? URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/have-you-lost-your-voice Published: 2020-07-20 Tags: insights Excerpt: Where voice interfaces fit after the pandemic, and why they still matter when they solve real engagement and service problems. After lots of talk around Voice Apps in the past few years, it’s gone a little bit quiet around voice. But now is not the time to lose your voice – and momentum around incorporating voice into a digital strategy to drive greater engagement with your brand or service. But now is not the time to lose your voice - and momentum around incorporating voice into a digital strategy to drive greater engagement with your brand or service. It wasn’t so long ago that you couldn’t escape a marketing news article about the ascendancy of voice apps. Understandably now, with the world being rocked by the biggest pandemic in global history, businesses are having to pivot and many digital strategies have had to be re-written. Priorities have changed. So where does this leave voice? Voice is still relevant, perhaps more so now Millions of virtual assistants such as Amazon Echo and Google Home are being used everyday; more so now as people work and spend more time at home during the coronavirus pandemic, according to recent stats. An increasing number of mobile users find speaking to Siri much quicker and convenient than writing keywords into a tiny keyboard. And voice can also allow the elderly, children and disabled to access valuable information in a much more accessible way, driving both innovation and adoption in voice services supporting these audience’s needs. As a starting point, ensuring your brand isn’t missing out on this valuable communication avenue by making sites optimised for voice is vital, particularly for businesses offering a service. Not only is the number of voice device users on the rise, but the volume of voice searches also continues to grow. Within the past year alone 58% of consumers have found local businesses using voice search and 46% of those users will repeatedly use voice search to find a local business on a daily basis. But voice skills can also deliver the potential for shouting louder than other ways of delivering a message and key information. This was the case for one of our recent pieces of work with UK consumer protection charity Electrical Safety First, which works with all sectors of the electrical industry as well as local and central government to reduce deaths and injuries caused by electrical accidents. Research showed that, despite ongoing communication, product recalls achieve a success rate of just 10-20%, leaving a host of potentially unsafe electrical items still in use throughout the UK, presenting a significant risk of fire. As only those consumers who register an item can be easily contacted in the case of a product recall, a significant proportion of the population won’t know if one of their appliances is a safety risk. We identified that making recall information easily accessible through voice – as consumers go about their everyday life around their homes – could help to drive better results. And it has - with overall searches for product recall now up by 60% year on year. Electrical Safety First’s new Alexa app introduces a really easy way for consumers to to make ad-hoc checks, accessing information on product recalls, while doing chores around the house and without having to open a website. They can effortlessly discover if they have a recalled electrical item by giving Alexa the item’s brand name and model. This initiative has also been a great ‘test’ to see whether more information sources like this should be accessed via voice. So how do you decide how much to invest in voice and whether it’s the best use of digital spend? Taking a customer-centric approach with our service design methodology means you will be choosing the right solutions and technology based on user's needs and behaviours, not putting the technology first. If providing voice has a logical place within the customer ecosystem then it will present itself as an opportunity to extend your reach through this continually emerging technology. If research or an MVP shows that your voice application will not provide additional value – or lend itself to your product or service – then there may be little reward in progressing down this route. Just because you build something does not mean your audience will automatically seek it out or use it. In order to be successful, your voice application must deliver value and be useful to your audience. What else needs to be considered? Creating a voice skill does bring its own set of considerations and requirements to ensure a successful experience. As it’s relatively new technology, it is important to track and learn throughout the design process. Using data driven design we can see how people are interacting with the Skill, so we can take these insights and continue to improve the service. Designing for voice also requires a different approach to the user journey than screens. With a voice user interface, a person can ask anything and they can ask it a hundred different ways; it’s rarely a straight forward linear path. Like launching a mobile app, you need to promote your skill to encourage people to use it. It’s not a ‘create it and people will come’. One of the barriers to greater uptake of a Skill or service through voice is that many users may not actually know how to use it or even how to install a Skill. While a Skill can be installed directly through the device, for example the command for Alexa is “Alexa enable (skill name)”, it’s our experience that this isn’t widely known. In the main, users are still using it for web searches, news and weather and to play music. Voice is an important part of any digital strategy moving forward and a service design approach will enable you to identify the opportunities this platform can bring. So if you're thinking about voice, here’s five starter questions to help decide whether Voice is for you What research do you have that indicates a voice skill is a viable solution - and is more initial investigation needed into customer needs and behaviours to initiate the design development? What problem(s) will it solve? Will it make things easier for your customers? – any voice technology or solution should provide a value to your audiences (this can be easily tested with an MVP). Can your voice response provide enough information to not make the customer journey more complicated than before? While you can use Alexa’s Presentation Language, which allows you to build interactive voice and visual experiences across the device landscape, it should not rely on this to make sense. What information does the customer need to provide? Is this too sensitive or complicated for voice? Many people will not want to be overheard asking for certain information or to provide personal data via voice. What does success look like? Can you measure against your expectations of what an investment in a voice Skill will deliver to give a ROI? And the next steps? If the answer to “yes” to these five questions then a great starting point is to find the minimal solution that provides value and roll this out before making any further investment, to further prove your case for voice. If, like in the case with ESF, you find that it does solve the problem and add value to a key success measure you can continue to iterate and build on the technology with confidence. 10 Essential Statistics on Voice - According to Amazon, there are now more than 100,000 Alexa skills and ‘hundreds of millions’ of Alexa users. Skills for UK audiences are estimated at around 35,000. - At the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas it’s reported that “it was hard to find a device that didn’t have Amazon’s voice assistant built-in’. - Around 1 in 5 (21%) of UK homes have smart speakers (5.8 million households; 10 million + people, 12 million devices). - Between 65-70% of owners speak to a smart device daily. - 50% of all smartphone users are engaging with voice search technology in 2020. - A leading research company predicts that 30% of all browsing sessions will include voice search by 2020. - Covid-19 lockdown has increased smart speaker usage, with 50% reporting an increase in news and information consumption. - Almost two-thirds (61%) of families using voice assistants in the living or family room, while 43% use them in the kitchen. - Even a couple of years ago 58% of consumers used voice search to find a local business, and 46% of people using voice search daily are searching for local business. - The most common voice searches on smart speakers are music (around 80%) and news and weather (around 60%), asking questions and finding facts (around 57%), local search. ## Selfishness is still stifling success URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/selfishness-is-still-stifling-success Published: 2020-07-14 Tags: insights Excerpt: Why siloed thinking still blocks digital transformation, and how service design helps organisations solve shared problems more effectively. Here at Absurd, we exist to ‘solve complex business problems’. So you’d assume that, given the number and different types of clients the team and I have worked on over the years (from huge corporations to charities) helping to solve business problems, we wouldn’t really see many common themes in the barriers businesses face when it comes to their digital transformation journeys. Here at Absurd, we exist to ‘solve complex business problems’. But we do. And it’s still staggering that one of the most common business challenges we experience is the isolated focus across different business areas or departments within an organisation. Despite there being so much talk in the industry about the negative effect of ‘silos’ we often see that this is still how many businesses are working. There remains a tendency for teams to be selfish about finding a solution to their challenges, without considering wider needs of a business or any implications. But a service design approach tackles this head on. And it’s a big reason why our process is helping businesses to truly transform their operations and services. For us, to solve business problems research cannot sit in a siloed team. Great service design comes from strategists, designers and technologists working alongside stakeholders from all areas of the organisation, as well as with end users, to tackle the ‘problem’ from the start. The whole ethos of our methodology is to think holistically across an organisation, meaning we bring people together from different areas of the business with the goal of aligning them on the overarching challenge(s). Through service design, we can then explore the dependencies across a service. Traditionally, especially common in larger organisations, teams will identify and tackle problems that affect their own business area, e.g. a marketing team may be focusing on one challenge without even realising that another area of the business is looking to solve a similar problem. There can be a lot of overlap and wasted effort. Approaching things in this way may also mean that digital products are retrospectively ‘forced together’ between departments rather than having a fit for purpose solution for all from the start. We aim to avoid ‘tunnel vision’, of addressing isolated issues, when there may be other elements which should be addressed first, which will then have a beneficial knock on effect, opening up further opportunities. Only when we have viewed challenges from a holistic level, including end users, is when we can decide where to start, what to focus on, and in what order solutions should be addressed. By producing a service blueprint, we can visualise what the ‘ideal’ should look like; and show the business that if we did this here, then that could happen there. Or show that because this part of the service takes too long, we lose an opportunity there, so how do we go about speeding that up. Added to this is that in many cases service design can deliver that ‘Einstein moment’; “if at first the idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it”. Bringing together stakeholders from all areas of the business can reveal some transformational opportunities – that simply wouldn’t have been unearthed by just working with one team or department. ## Don't kill the office URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/dont-kill-the-office Published: 2020-07-03 Tags: news Excerpt: A balanced view of remote work for agencies, from talent access and flexibility to the trade-offs around creativity, mentoring, and culture. For an agency there are some great benefits to having a remote workforce; the size of the talent pool grows exponentially, it’s arguably easier to take the business into new geographies, and of course, it can make the bottom line much healthier. But there’s also a lot of limitations; 1. We thrive off creative collaboration and finding inspiration in the unlikeliest of places; bouncing ideas off of each other becomes a lot harder - yes, we can meet up, but when did “organised creativity” ever work? 2. Some staff don’t want to work from home. Period. They need the mental separation between studio and home (or they just need to get away from the kids!). 3. It becomes very difficult to mentor staff and offer progression - I learnt the way I work from two individuals; I shadowed them, pitched with them, reflected with them, had the difficult client conversations with them - it’s going to be difficult to replicate "on-the-job learning" to help junior staff progress. 4. Pitches aren’t the same - we did win business in lockdown, but without being in the room seeing the whites of people’s eyes (on both sides of the table), it’s extremely difficult. 5. I think there’s also something to be said about agency life. It’s not like many other industries, and that’s what makes it attractive; it’s an environment where we can do our best work, with the best people and break the rules along the way (let’s be honest). 6. A lot of this is focussed around people and the studio; this doesn’t translate in the two-dimensional world of Zoom. We floated the idea of full remote working past our team and the answer was a resounding no. We floated the idea of full remote working past our team and the answer was a resounding no. Regardless of the limitations, remote working does seem to give people a better quality of life where they choose to adopt it; but that can’t be at the expense of the business, so there has to be a compromise and I think the compromise is flexible working. ## Why we think the correct use of the term Service Design is so important URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/why-we-think-the-correct-use-of-the-term-service-design-is-so-important Published: 2020-06-23 Tags: insights Excerpt: Why service design is more than a fashionable label, and how its methods help organisations solve real business problems. Service Design is becoming an automatic addendum to “digital product design”, but this is glossing over the business-critical methodologies that are fundamental to transform businesses and lead true customer-centric innovation. But why do we think the correct use of the term Service Design is so important and worth communicating… it’s just another label for creating a great experience isn’t it? What digital agencies are and always have been here for, right? But why do we think the correct use of the term Service Design is so important and worth communicating. Well yes, Service Design methodologies aren’t ‘new’ as such. There has always been a function for people and businesses to build a deep understanding of the way a service ‘works’ (or often when we’re approaching a service design project, exploring how a service could better meet the needs of its users) to inform the design process and evolution of a service. But there is an argument to say that service design has now become an orthodoxy. It’s moving inside organisations, and government, at pace and yielding some ground-breaking results. For us our belief in the saliency of a service design approach has been born out of our conviction that, to solve business problems, research cannot sit in a siloed team. Great service design comes from strategists, designers and technologists working on the ‘problem’ from the start. Rather than have a team of user researchers asking some questions and then feeding that back to service designers, we involve both from the outset. So it’s much more based on co-creation throughout. And the research goes deeper than just finding out what users need. It’s about making stakeholders part of the entire process as well, ensuring that we’re embedding the needs of the creator – the business and teams delivering the services – in the solutions. Operational needs can often overshadow the needs of the end user, but it is essential that by taking a human-centred approach you can consider human needs, behaviours and contexts throughout, aligned to operational constraints; this is where the biggest opportunities for change, or transformation, lie. Having ‘multi-actors’, the key stakeholders involved in a service, engaged at the beginning of a project, enables alignment across the organisation; everybody working to solve the same set of problems by looking holistically at the users’ needs, allowing us to design solutions from the ground up. And. of course, service design doesn’t stop there. From the user research we move to prototyping, because creating a brilliant customer experience is not about digitising an existing service, it’s about how people INTERACT with the service. A human-centric design approach involves validating ideas and service propositions, to make good ideas even better and to ensure the organisation invests in the right product roadmap. Simply put, by prototyping and testing we can deliver the right things in the right way. So, the exciting thing about service design for us is that it’s inherently disruptive. By embracing user-centric strategies, you can improve not only the products and services within an organisation but also the full user experience and, in many cases, the organisation itself. Yes we can design great digital products, but our approach and service design capabilities means we often have a much greater impact on the transformation of a business than the product that they came to us for. ## Running an effective pitch process URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/running-an-effective-pitch-process Published: 2019-12-04 Tags: insights Excerpt: What makes a pitch process genuinely effective, from the brief and chemistry to the conditions agencies need to do their best work. As an agency we are supposed to roll our eyes at a pitch and do everything we can to avoid them, and there are legitimate reasons for this. But the honest truth is, we love a pitch when it’s run correctly As an agency we are supposed to roll our eyes at a pitch and do everything we can to avoid them, and there are legitimate reasons for this. Commercially, pitches can be a nuisance; we have to take team members off paid projects, often at short notice, and there’s the obvious risk of no return. But that’s a challenge as agency leaders we plan for - no matter how many blog posts or industry figures advise against pitches, it’s not a process that looks like it will end any time soon. So we embrace it, and enjoy it. Firstly, there are a number of benefits of a pitch for our agency: - Pulling together the pitch team, aligning everybody to the goals of both the clients’ objectives and the agency’s desire to win the work can create a real buzz in the team. Win or lose, this is great for building culture across our agency - especially when we celebrate the successes. - Meeting new people, understanding how different organisations and sectors structure themselves and the challenges they face is exciting and brings new experience. - We won’t and don’t win all pitches but a loss is an opportunity to learn where we need to get stronger so that we can pick ourselves up and be better moving forward. But being an agency that likes to pitch doesn’t mean we pitch for everything. We have to identify the opportunities that are right for us. Before we agree to participate in a process, there is the usual qualification criteria we follow (budget, timescales, number of agencies participating etc.). However one of the most important factors for our team is the decision-making criteria being used to appoint a partner. If you're looking for a proposed solution to their pitch brief as part of our response, whether that’s design, technical architecture or other recommendations, we won't usually respond. As a strategic agency, we help our clients understand the problem with their challenges through various research methods. Only then do we get into concepts, solution design, user testing etc. A process that if done correctly, is likely to take longer than the average pitch turnaround time. Asking to see a solution up-front means you’d be basing your decision on something that isn’t a fair representation of our capabilities. An agency doesn’t have the answers but what it does have is the expertise to get to the answers. This isn’t the argument against agencies doing work for free or a lobby to end the pitch process. This is about encouraging the judging of an agency on a fair set of criteria. We do appreciate the flip side; you are making an investment into an agency financially, emotionally and personally; you need reassurances and you want to know that you are appointing a competent agency that will deliver quality. At Absurd we believe an agency appointment should be made on three pillars; experience, approach and chemistry. - Experience - Ask us who we’ve worked with and how this can benefit you. What do we know about your industry? Do we have any initial hypothesis’ to discuss? Find out who’s going to be working on your account and what their CVs look like. - Approach - Ask us how we work, the processes we have in the agency and what the approach for delivering your project could look like; how flexible is it? What are the layers of communication? What style of project management will we undertake? Why? How would we work with your roster? - Chemistry - Does the relationship feel right? Are we going to do great work together? We know pitches are part of our world and that’s why there’s no point shying away from them or viewing them negatively. It’s up to an agency to qualify an opportunity and work out if it’s for them, but asking for the right kind of response will set up the relationship on the right footing for moving forward. ## Where have the humans gone? URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/where-have-the-humans-gone Published: 2019-06-13 Tags: insights Excerpt: Why human interaction still matters in customer experience, even as more services become digital and automated. It appears that we have forgotten the value of human interaction in customer experience It appears that we have forgotten the value of human interaction in customer experience Value can mean a number of things, when I talk about it I mean; 1. Being the most efficient, effective, pleasant service provider in the market so that you become irreplaceable to your user, you’re “valuable”;[i] 2. Financial return; delivering so much efficiency, effectiveness and pleasantness that customers are happy to pay for it (ideally over and over), they’re “valuable” The two are intrinsically linked; Harvard Business Review recently acknowledged that Customers who have excellent customer experiences with brands spend 140% more; there is an intrinsic link between customer experience and annual revenue You can’t generate long term revenue without being valuable to the customer, and usually, the more value you can deliver to the customer, the more revenue you can generate from it. And that’s why as organisations we’re all chasing value; whether we’re responsible for product, service, revenue or all of the above. But I think organisations are now going too far; they are hell-bent on delivering the most value in their experiences, and that means they’re removing human interaction. We are expensive, slow, inefficient and make mistakes, and that puts a target on our backs. Removing humans from the customer experience without consideration can fail, badly. It assumes that nothing fails I recently checked into the CitizenM hotel in Shoreditch for the first time. The whole checking-in process is literally self-serve; from booking online to generating your own key card at check-in. On my way in, there were a few frustrations, like being asking for my data at booking and then again when checking in. But that was nothing compared to the guy at the screen next to me, who like me was trying to check-in, but couldn’t get the kiosk to recognise his booking. As I headed to my room, the guy was asking behind the bar for some help checking-in. There was literally nobody around to help him and whether that’s intentional or not, it’s not good customer experience. I don’t know if this guy had made a mistake, the system had thrown an error or he just didn’t know how to use it - whoever was at fault, the service had failed and CitizenM hadn’t designed for this. Cutting out human interaction from a service model all together assumes that either humans are a constant or the technology in place is foolproof, and that’s not the case. Customers don’t expect it I will admit to being an Apple fan and have bought a lot of their products over the years; from laptops to watches to phones. I remember their first store; the genius counter, the checkout and “experts” placed throughout the store. You couldn’t move without bumping into a sales guy. This has changed to the point where I don’t like going into the Apple store anymore; the genius counter doesn’t exist, the checkout doesn’t exist and the staff levels look to have reduced - everything is done by appointment. If you ask for help, you’re told to get an appointment, if you want to buy a laptop, you have to make an appointment etc etc. It’s lame. For me, the biggest problem is that this change hasn’t been managed well. My expectations were so high of Apple that this change annoys me more than it probably should. In actual fact, their service is probably still better than most of the technology retailers in town, but that doesn't matter; they've not managed the change well and as a customer I am disappointed because I remember the old Apple. To get it right, we need to start with the problem A really good example of where human-interaction has been successfully removed to add value is the UK pub chain, Wetherspoons. Think what you want about the chain of pubs, but the fact that you can order food and drink through a mobile app means the experience is made a whole lot better. Customers can easily pay separately, they don’t have to fight through to the bar during busy times and never have to leave their seat. The level of human interaction has been decreased to create a fairly seamless experience. Wetherspoons have understood their customer journeys and I would hazard a guess are seeing that by removing the queues people are ordering more. This only works because there is still staff, but they focus on delivering food and drinks to the table and making sure customers don’t need anything else. It isn’t as efficient as it might seem On a service map, it’s easy to look at human processes and think let’s make the complex simple by automating their work. But that can deliver frustration. Sainsbury’s recently launched a till-free store concept in London. There seems to be more staff in there per square foot than a normal Sainsbury’s. I’m hoping that Sainsbury’s have identified that customers want to checkout quickly and by facilitating that need they will see higher returns. Therefore the additional staff are there to make sure the service is seamless; when it fails there will be somebody there to help the customer through it. So bring back the humans It’s easy to look at a service map and cut out the inefficiencies at a holistic level in the search for value. It's also easy to assume that removing human interaction will solve this. But that's wrong. Without talking to your customers, testing the hypothesis’ and iterating, it won't work. We need to solve problems by managing failure, expectations and not blindly looking for efficiency. [i] Harvard Business Review, "The Value of Customer Experience, Quantified" ## Meanwhile in Toronto... URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/meanwhile-in-toronto Published: 2019-05-27 Tags: news Excerpt: Takeaways from Collision Conference in Toronto, including what we learnt from voice, investment, and product conversations across the event. A couple of us were lucky enough to attend Collision Conference in Toronto last week where we heard from a number of great brands and speakers A couple of us were lucky enough to attend Collision Conference in Toronto last week where we heard from a number of great brands and speakers Voiceflow We’ve already been using Voiceflow as part of our own design efforts, so it was great to meet the CEO. It’s a really handy tool for developing VUIs and then being able to export them to both Google and Echo. Being able to streamline the design, testing and deployment of voice services means that brands can bring their experiences to audiences and evolve them much quicker. We saw Voiceflow pitch for investment as they scale-up to meet the demands of the voice market. HITRECORD We heard Joseph Gordon-Levitt discuss his platform, HITRECORD; a platform for bringing collaborators from all over the world together to deliver projects; whether that’s a piece of art, music, illustration or video. Joe believes that he makes collaborations possible that would never get off the ground normally. And it seems to be working; the platform has published books, shown films at Sundance, released vinyl records, delivered award-winning ad campaigns and even won an EMMY. The platform monetises projects where it can, but is more about delivering great projects that would otherwise never have happened. The actual business opportunity and reason for investing was not discussed in too much detail which was slightly disappointing. Waymo Google’s Waymo was probably one of the most interesting propositions of the day. Their CTO, Dmitri Dolgov talked us through the advanced levels of AI and hardware they are utilising to bring driverless cars to the masses. Currently, it’s being rolled out as a ride-hailing service across a few states in North America, providing a similar service to Uber. It was really interesting to hear about the amount of data it takes for a car to understand the road and then the scenarios that have to be built into the system for anticipating other road users. They were very clear that there mission is not to build a car or a service; it’s to build the world’s best driver and reduce the number of vehicle-related deaths worldwide. Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation) We were lucky enough to hear from PlayStation’s chairman, Shawn Layden. As you’d expect, PlayStation have a number of game studios around the world. Through the encouraged diversity of their studios, they are now seeing results in their games they’ve never seen before. He specifically discussed their new game, Ghost of Tsushima, that has been developed by their Washington Studio. The game is based around the rise of the Mongol army in 1274 Japan and brings in many Japanese traditions, such as the Samurai Defenders. PlayStation are particularly proud of this as the Washington studio had been able to develop a game that was true to Japanese traditions, with the US design team even overwhelming their Japanese HQ at how culturally correct it was - something that wouldn’t have been possible without a diverse team. Charity Water was particularly impressive; their founder, Scott Harrison, took us through his journey; from volunteering to founding the charity. There was a couple of points to his proposition that we found pertinent. Firstly, having worked with a number of charities ourselves, we know that in third world countries, donations can be susceptible to fuelling corruption and crime through a lack of transparency from donation to implementation. To get around this, Scott has two funds for the charity; one that covers the charity’s overheads and is represented by a number of angel investors and VCs, and another fund, made up of “public donations”, that funds the water projects. This way, Scott says, the charity can ensure 100% of donations go towards charity projects. Having researched this since, there’s a lot of scepticism in the press around this model; 100% of their donations are not really going towards charity, as overheads are still technically being covered by donations. But the charity has funded nearly 40,000 projects, so we can’t be too sceptical of their model. The other interesting part of the charity is how they monitor and maintain the water points they have already implemented. Working with Google, the charity have implemented GPS technology to monitor the flow of water - this way, Scott and his team can check the status of a well from anywhere in the world and send a team to fix it where there are issues. A great example of tech for good. Throughout the day we heard from a number of other speakers and brands, such as Timbaland, AKON, Samsung, Bitmoji and a number of VCs. It was great to hear the different challenges that organisations were overcoming when developing new propositions; from from concept to funding (and often to exit). ## UpFront Conference 2019; what we learnt... URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/upfront-conference-2019-what-we-learnt Published: 2019-03-26 Tags: news Excerpt: What our front-end team took away from UpFront Conference in Manchester, from tooling and performance to broader frontend thinking. A couple of members of the Absurd Front End team were in attendance at this year’s UpFront conference at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall A couple of members of the Absurd Front End team were in attendance at this year’s UpFront conference at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall It was a great opportunity to meet other experts in the field as well as see talks by industry specialists spanning a selection of different topics - this year ranging from product design to microservices and webhooks. The day was packed with some cracking speakers and the format started off with more general themes in the Front End sphere like accessibility and ethics before delving deeper into the more technical side of things as the day progressed, culminating in machine learning and augmented reality! Future Ethics First off was Future Ethics, which raised several important issues around how the parameters of ethics have become more acute as technology has progressed and advanced. “It’s time we took ethics seriously” and the responsibility of tech and tech companies has never been more integral. Cennydd Bowles raised legitimate debates in his talk, arguing that the things we build aren’t neutral, that raw data is an oxymoron and user-centred design is individualistic - maybe we need to refocus more on society’s needs? He also suggested that ethics shouldn’t oppose technical progress, but accompany it, and outlined a critique design phase which encompassed deontology, utilitarianism and virtue ethics. Gov.uk Design System Next up was Ignacia Orellana who works as a Service Designer for the government - and her talk was about the services behind the the gov.uk design system. This mammoth project replaced more than 1800 sites and over 700 services - so any change affects millions of users - and the design system provides styles, components, a prototype kit and Nunjucks templates. The project had a unique set of challenges, needing to meet the needs of hundreds of users, allow users to contribute, ensure the system continues to be relevant and also to make it sustainable - document process, continuous improvement and training first timers. Often people don’t use a pattern library if they can’t influence it, but this was a great success and over the last six months, ten new components have been created and 70 people are contributing on Github. Being Truly Accessible After a coffee break was a talk about Being Truly Accessible by Rachel Morgan-Trimmer. We take accessibility seriously at Absurd, and Rachel’s talk was truly inspiring. She has ADHD, autism and face blindness, and began by “untangling disability and conditions and stuff” which illustrated how many different challenges people can have in their life. User-centred design is individualistic - maybe we need to refocus more on society’s needs? It helps to think of accessibility as usability for all, and a quote from that talk that rang particularly true is that “accessibility is a foundation, not a feature” - which makes a mockery of it being treated as an eleventh-hour bolt-on. The talk concluded with some great suggestions, including ‘not everyone has your knowledge’, ‘be aware people may be hiding their disability’ and ‘remember how you create info is not necessarily how it’s received’. The most poignant for me though, was ‘sometimes the most accessible thing you can do is nothing’. CSS Grid The final talk of the morning was Building Intelligent Layouts with CSS Grid, introducing the concept of intrinsic web design which is fluid, beyond responsive and lends itself perfectly to the Grid specification. We’ve used this on some Absurd projects already; it enables simpler markup and styles as well as complete control, and Michelle Barker showcased how to use repeat() to make code more concise and how to use the Fr (fraction) unit to allow flexibility. Michelle also explained the difference between implicit and explicit, how to avoid the common pitfalls that break layout (like not having enough tracks) and the usage of a visual layout definition called grid template areas. Grid is an incredibly powerful specification for the future of CSS as it also allows elements to be context-aware, and this talk was fantastic as the demo also included possibilities like utilising minmax() instead of media queries, naming of gridlines to make placing items easier and how the use of dynamic CSSVars allows even more flexibility. Time for dinner, and with it a chance to discuss and digest the subjects covered so far. The talk that followed, Microservices Mousetrap by Phil Hawsworth, was full of energy and engaging concepts delivered with enthusiasm - exactly what’s needed to reengage the brain after a big, tasty feed! Webhooks and Microservices Phil’s talk was about how by breaking the monolith we can achieve bought and built specialist services. Each of these has its advantages; and if you can’t (or won’t) build one yourself, a CMS, assets or commerce service or identity provider can be of great use - though also a risk as single service vendors depend on their success more.. He argued that we should ideally try to attain loose coupling and tight cohesion, and illustrated that smaller surfaces are easier to create greater agility, reason about and evolve. They also enable a more obvious path to MVP - keeping our stakeholders happy because we can choose to have something now, and something better later. Serverless functions help to shift the burden, as they do one thing and do it well, and Phil illustrated this with an excellent demo of how you can use webhooks, triggers and automation to deploy AWS APIs using Netlify; with very low friction. It was an eye-opening talk and showed how webhooks give us a web-wide API: as they're just URLs. This could help to shape and inform some of the Lambda functions we’ve been working with recently at Absurd. A more obvious path to MVP, webhooks also give us a web-wide API: as they're just URLs. Several smaller talks were next - Lightning Talks from the ‘Speaker Bursary’ - which included Digital by Default: asking who gets left behind with the world’s digital shift.. for example, the only way to claim universal credit is online. JS to the Rescue offered tips on how to bring old, abandoned static Front End projects back from the grave with the use of a stack comprised of Express, middleware and body parser. There was also Prime Directive (an agile concept usually used in retrospectives) which declared that it’s really hard to build a blame-free culture. It’s arrogant to blame something for introducing a bug and much more important to solve the problem. The speaker reasoned that everyone writes bad code sometimes, and we’re all doing our best so give people a break! Machine Learning with JavaScript We then got into the heavier, more technical part of the day - starting with Machine Learning with JavaScript. This has traditionally been the realm of Python - largely due to community, packages and syntax - but the recent release of TensorFlow.js has made this much more feasible with a fully supported JavaScript version. Eleanor Haproff started off by explaining the difference between data science (solving complex problems with data), machine learning (learning from data) and artificial intelligence (simulation of human brain function) before moving onto artificial neural networks, which are algorithms and activation functions inspired by biological neutrons. Based on the concept of using weighted inputs through layers to achieve output, we can use optimisers to train the model and adjust weights to achieve an expected output. Nasa use TensorFlow to identify planets orbiting stars, and it’s an incredibly exciting and powerful tool. With the JS release you can create and train models, load pretrained models and retrain existing models (transfer learning) either in the browser or serverside. Because it utilises WebGL and the GPU to accelerate functions, memory management is very important to avoid leaks - though there are built in functions for this. The talk really got us thinking how we could leverage machine learning in our applications at Absurd, as it can be used for any number of creative projects; e.g. Magenta allows art and music to be made with machine learning. Designing for Augmented Reality The final session was called Designing for Augmented Reality by Michael Flarup who works for Northplay in Copenhagen. Their first game was called Conduct This, and was an example of where the theme of the game defined its design. It achieved 10,000 downloads in its first week - which isn’t bad - but then got featured in the AppStore which catapulted its popularity, getting 10,000 per hour and winning several awards on the way to over 4 million users. The success inspired an augmented reality version, Conduct AR, and the talk was full of sage advice that the team learned along the way. Relinquishing control of the camera to the user introduces new, unique challenges as core interaction methods require specific design - and controlling both the camera of the ‘world’ and the game is actually quite difficult! Michael argued that AR works best when you design spatial awareness into the core of your experience, e.g. you can necessitate vertical movement with mountains, and if you want your players to explore the world you need to make it worth exploring! You should “always allow the player to reposition the world” and “give players clear instructions before playing”, such as with lighting, surfaces and warnings on inadvertently hitting and breaking things whilst playing! Also, “UI in AR is hard. Make it clear what’s in-world and out-of-world”. Conclusion It was a fun, absorbing end to what was a great day full of interesting subjects, engaging speakers and pearls of wisdom - the range of topics was spot on and allowed different facets of what make up the world of Front End to be covered in levels of technicality. Now to see how we can incorporate some of this into our offerings! ## Our work expands to Oz where we will create a new employee wellbeing platform URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/our-work-expands-to-oz-where-we-will-create-a-new-employee-wellbeing-platform Published: 2019-03-19 Tags: insights, news Excerpt: Why Absurd’s work in Australia matters, and what the new employee wellbeing platform with Prosper Ex is designed to achieve. As an agency that works globally, it’s always exciting to enter new countries – and now we’re digital partner to Prosper Ex PTY LTD, a start-up organisation based in Queensland, Australia. We will be supporting Prosper Ex to bring an industry-first employee platform to market that will promote and engender wellbeing in workforces across Australia. We will be supporting Prosper Ex to bring an industry-first employee platform to market that will promote and engender wellbeing in workforces across Australia. The platform is intended to give organisations the capability to easily reward employees with perks, as well as recognise efforts and gain valuable employee insights, with easy to implement functionality. It is particularly aimed at the construction and mining industries, where employee wellbeing can be very much an afterthought or difficult to manage due to distributed workforces. Prosper Ex’s platform aims to address this by creating a seamless touchpoint bridging the gap between employees and their employers. It will also be extremely relevant for any businesses who continue to operate remote working teams after the restrictions of the pandemic ease. Our remit is service design and product development, and we’re busy working on an MVP using Umbraco 8 CMS. The site will provide an attractive, easy to use platform which enables employees to be rewarded whilst the companies gain invaluable feedback and insights to further increase happiness & productivity within their organisations. We will add more updates to our blog as the work unfolds. ## Designing for Chatbots - Usefulness, Principles & More URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/designing-for-chatbots Published: 2019-02-01 Tags: insights Excerpt: A practical look at when chatbots are genuinely useful, what they should help users do, and the design principles that make them effective. As chatbots become prevalent and their AI matures, we’ve started exploring use cases for a number of our clients looking for ways to improve efficiency and service experiences As chatbots become prevalent and their AI matures, we’ve started exploring use cases for a number of our clients looking for ways to improve efficiency and service experiences Chatbots may not be appropriate for all organisations/services, so as we move beyond the initial “must-use-new-tech” phase, there are a number of design considerations, to identify whether a chatbot is likely to be genuinely useful to the specific service. These principles include: 1. Understand when you don’t need a bot; it shouldn’t be a replacement for forms or functions that are already performing. Like any new piece of technology, it can be tempting to adopt it for the sake of being seen to use it. "Where can a chatbot be genuinely useful within your service?" Holistically think about where you can create a better experience or make your own processes more efficient. If the chatbot doesn’t answer user needs, it will be detrimental to your service and create more work for your customer-facing teams. 2. Remove repetition; chatbots are good for repetitive tasks; if a service desk is answering hundreds of requests from users every day that can be defined into themes or a common set of problems, a chatbot may be ideal to save customers’ time and reduce operational efforts by the business. This could be queries relating to opening times, stock levels or for a specific piece of information on a website. "Where users have unique needs and require complex processes chatbots aren’t so useful." 3. Don’t pretend to be human; it’s not live chat. There is no benefit of dressing up a chatbot to appear to be a human customer service agent. This is sure to frustrate users, particularly if they get to a point where the chatbot can no longer keep up with the conversation and answers become generic or even worse, irrelevant. Being transparent with customers from the outset manages that expectation and is less likely to create a negative experience with a brand, should they not be able to get the support they are looking for. 4. Use structured input; if you can surface options within the chat, you can help guide conversations leading to a better customer experience. 5. Keep everything native; keep users on the platform that they initiated the chat on. If they’re on your website, don’t jump them to Facebook Messenger. There are traditional conversion issues (such as URL hopping) but also expectations of users to manage. 6. Design for failure; you can’t plan for all scenarios, but you can plan for your customers to find those that you missed. Like any product or service experience, think about the onward journey so that customers don’t hit a dead end. "If the chatbot doesn’t have the answer, how can your customer find the answer? 7. Don’t forget traditional conversion principles; think about both the chat and onward journeys. Firstly, the chat needs to be succinct, too many steps and you’ll lose the customer. Secondly, consider how you can support your conversion rate; if you’re designing to help customers find a product; consider how much of the product information you surface and the process for that customer to add the product to their basket. 8. Learn and improve the conversation; most chatbot providers provider analytical data to show what your customers are saying and where they drop off in the process. Use this to optimise the conversation and improve your service and conversion rates. ## Is the Progressive Web App here to stay? URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/is-the-progressive-web-app-here-to-stay Published: 2018-10-31 Tags: insights Excerpt: An exploration of where progressive web apps still create value, how they compare with native apps, and when they are the right choice. Progressive Web Apps have been widely discussed at Absurd recently. We’re interested in whether they will disrupt the demand for native apps We’re interested in whether they will disrupt the demand for native apps In a nutshell a PWA is a web app which uses modern web capabilities to deliver an app-like experience. They don't need to be installed through an app store and offer the same consistent experience across multiple devices. The progressive web app has already been adopted by many brands. One of the most well executed examples of a PWA is by Starbucks, who have seen much success. It was reported at Google I/O earlier this year that the Starbucks PWA has doubled the number of daily active users to their website which in turn has doubled the number of orders made online. Desktop users are now ordering at a similar rate to mobile users too. A great benefit of PWAs is that they enable organisations to serve the same app (using a shared codebase) across mobile and desktop devices delivering a consistent experience to all users, whilst bringing both cost and time efficiencies to projects. Developing a PWA it is not too dissimilar to building a website - a team of traditional web developers can do the job; removing the need for hiring native app developers for each native app platform. On top of that, single updates can be rolled out so that both Android and iOS users always get the same experience "PWAs are here to radically improve the user's experience" Speaking at last week’s UX Live conference, Google’s Jenny Gove told us how PWAs are here to radically improve the user's experience. Using a FIRE acronym, the benefits of PWAs can be described as the following: - Fast - They respond quickly to user interactions with silky smooth animations and no janky scrolling. - Integrated - Repeat users can easily add these to their home screen to create a launch icon. - Reliable - They load instantly and never show the “downasaur”, even in uncertain network conditions. - Engaging - They feel like a natural app on the device, with an immersive user experience. - With in an increasing number of browsers now supporting PWAs, the most recent additions being Safari and Microsoft Edge, we expect them to become more widely adopted by brands in the coming months. As with anything we must consider the limitations, PWAs cannot utilise a devices’ native APIs such as Bluetooth, offline worker processes etc. and not every browser supports them yet, (although all major ones do). Performance can also be limited too compared to a native app where these can hook directly into the system bus. WebAssembly is improving this however. They’re also not accessed through the app stores, so there is a behavioural shift required for users who are used to native apps. Yet the simplicity of installing a PWA on a device could be perceived as another benefit; for example, Android users of PWAs are prompted by a message when they land on the web app, asking to “Add to Home Screen”. This is a one click task which then “installs” the PWA on the phone, providing a launch icon like any native app. So on top of the performance and consistency benefits, PWAs actually eradicate the effort it takes to locate and download an app from the app stores. (Which in itself relies on the user having a strong internet connection and the time to wait for the download to install). There are benefits of using a PWA and we think that they definitely have a role where native apps fall down, beyond the efficiencies that they bring. The question remains though; will the native app ever become redundant? ## Early feedback and the non-customer URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/early-feedback-and-the-non-customer Published: 2018-10-26 Tags: insights Excerpt: Why involving customers early, and paying attention to non-customers, leads to stronger product decisions and better research outcomes. Something we’ve been conscious about recently (more so than ever) is ensuring we involve customers as early on in our design proSess as possible Something we’ve been conscious about recently (more so than ever) is ensuring we involve customers as early on in our design proSess as possible The importance of this was instilled further through talks on Thursday's UX Live conference. It was refreshing to hear designers from the likes of Duolingo, Babylon, The Home Office, The Times, as well as some great agencies all talking about the different ways they were ensuring insight and feedback was gathered early on. Even more so, it was great to hear some of the same great methods we’ve been introducing to ensure this happens, being described by the speakers. The main points being made is that with readily available (and free) technology, there is simply no excuse not to ensure this happens, even when timings or budgets are tight. We recently ran a session to test whether a product we’ve been working on with Brother, was performing as we'd expected. We invited the product team in to observe the sessions so that they could see first hand how users were responding and interacting with the new design. With a couple of devices and the use of Lookback we were able to record and stream desktop and mobile prototype sessions from a meeting room, turned testing lab. For us, this was a very quick and cost effective way to gain insight, whilst involving the product team. Interesting to hear others are creating even simpler setups to run remote sessions, relying on free software such as Zoom to stream sessions across multiples devices & locations. What’s great about simple tools like Zoom, is they allow participants to take part remotely without having to set up complex technology, they can simply click a URL and share their screen. It also means observers/clients can view the sessions from anywhere without interruption. It was historically perceived that face to face testing sessions were more effective in uncovering findings. Yet to think if we are running remote sessions where the facilitator can still facilitate, observe and ask questions during the session, then of course we should encourage participants to be use the service in their natural environment on their own devices. With the added benefit of saving time and budget in planning and organising the logistics of a face to face session. “One non-customer is 100% better than none” Another thing to mention which is a separate post in itself, is who should we be gaining this insight from? We hear all too often, “based on our customer data we know that this is our core audience, so we need participants that match these specific criteria”. A great point made by Chad Jennings, is that we should probably be being paying a lot more attention to our “non-customers”. By this he is talking about the (based on industry averages) 97% of users who didn't convert on your service and therefore not accounted for in your customer data. What do we know about these users and what can we learn of them to ensure they soon make up part of your customer data? If you’d like to discuss our approach to building effective products and services in more detail, get in touch (/contact). ## Building a viable MVP URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/building-a-viable-mvp Published: 2018-10-12 Tags: insights Excerpt: Why the MVP still matters, and how focused scope, validation, and clear priorities create a stronger foundation for product development. A few articles have recently suggested the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is dead; a concept that should be abandoned. A few articles have recently suggested the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is dead; a concept that should be abandoned. Some argue that because an MVP is unlikely to be competitive in the market, it will be unattractive to users — the MVP is an instant failure. Others argue that customers hate MVPs, they’re usually more “minimum” than “viable”; customers want great products that they can use now — the MVP is a flawed concept. There are a number of definitions for MVP; The Interaction Design Foundation defines the MVP as, “the simplest core feature set of any product that allows it to be deployed and absolutely nothing more”.Forbes describes the intended outcome, “An MVP product is a product with only a basic set of features enough to capture the attention of early adopters and make your solution unique”. At Absurd, we believe Forbes’ definition is the closest description, with the exception of ‘a basic set of features’. Rather than focusing on ‘minimum feature sets’ we should be focusing more on the ‘best viable outcomes’ that can be delivered with the least amount of effort. We believe that most MVPs fail because of the intense focus on introducing lots of ‘minimum’ features that consequently fail to deliver enough value to the customer. An MVP shouldn’t be about delivering lots of simplified features, but solving problems for your customers. If an MVP is focused on solving specific problems, then the outcomes are far more likely to be useful and desirable to your customers. Do your market research, test your proposition and plan an MVP to solve a subset of important problems for your customers. This approach is far more likely to appeal to early users of the product or service and provide valuable feedback so product teams can test, learn and iterate effectively. With the correct focus; the MVP sets the foundations for building and developing great products and services. ## 5 principles every designer should be thinking about URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/5-principles-every-designer-should-be-thinking-about Published: 2018-03-29 Tags: insights Excerpt: Reflections from UX in the City on five design principles that shape better digital products, stronger decisions, and more effective user experiences. I’m always aiming to learn new approaches and keep on top of trends within our industry. I’m always aiming to learn new approaches and keep on top of trends within our industry. Having recently attended UX in the City conference, as well as a number of seminars, I decided to summarise and shared some of the principles that came up in conversation. 1. Make it real After attending a web seminar ‘7 Proven Tactics to Sell Service Design’ by Marc Fonteijn I was inspired to use his tactic ‘Make it real’ to help me push my concepts forward in future projects. Service design is often devalued as as an approach, as it’s still relatively unheard of by people outside of the industry, so how are you supposed to sell your ideas and approach to clients or internal stakeholders? Marc’s talk focussed on making the service design process real to clients by relating the process to real-life experiences they have encountered “such as booking a hotel room”. The thing is that everybody can understand the value of service design as we are all customers and have at some point felt the service we received was broken or below par. By introducing the service design process in this way you can identify the problem then build upon what your client already knows. 2. Be visible “UX isn’t the hero of the story, collaboration is.” James Lang (User Research Lead, Google). When you’re in the throws of a huge project it’s easy to become siloed in your own work processes and forget how valuable your colleagues input can be. James Lang shared an insight into the inner workings of Google; he reminded me of the importance of collaboration, no matter how busy you are. By ‘being visible’ and keeping a collaborative working environment you’re ensured to get the most informed solution to your problem as it will be powered by the insights of a range of people with varied skill sets. 3. Design for the future With technology advancing so quickly it seems almost impossible to keep your designs relevant. As new digital experiences become dialogue driven and predictive, they know what you need even before you know what you need. So how are we as designers supposed to keep up? Designing for the future can certainly seem like a daunting task but Basak Haznedaroglu (Director of Design, Invision) shed a light onto the one thing that technology needs us to provide - the human touch. In the era of smart technologies, designers need not only to craft an effortless and engaging service but we also need to ensure that each service has a personality. Basak explained that by translating real world interactions into digital interactions through design, we become the social conscience of a product; not only keeping our designs relevant but also making them feel more human to a user. 4. Don’t rush to the solution As a Visual Designer, I’m often guilty of jumping the gun and imagining the final product as soon as a brief comes my way. Christina Connelly (Senior UX Designer, BBC) reminded us of the importance of the ideation phase and not to jump to a solution too early in the design process. By using the ‘Crazy 8’ exercise (a fast paced exercise used to generate ideas), Christina pointed out that by forgetting quality (at this point) and generating a large quantity of ideas can be used to our advantage. By taking the best bits from each idea and combining them in one concept, you can arrive at a more collaborative (and potentially more informed) solution. This technique stops you from becoming fixated on one initial idea and keeps your mind open to further concepts for solving a problem. 5. Always add value This seems an obvious statement to make because of course you want to add value to your clients’ products/services, right? What I really mean by this is adding value to existing products /services that may have been overlooked or seem to be working ‘just fine’. Llara Geddes (Head of UX, Beauty Bay) taught me that by really honing in and then reflecting on your user journeys, you will be able to identify any points of interest that are currently unexplored or overlooked. Just because something is already working doesn’t mean that it can't be improved. We use tools such as Hotjar, Optimizely and Google Analytics to understand how users are interacting with products to make them work harder. Clients often fall into the trap of thinking services need to be improved at scale or at a product level, but by honing in on points within existing services we can soon start to improve experiences and drive further value. ## Sitecore Symposium - Introducing Sitescore 9 in the Market URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/sitecore-symposium-introducing-sitescore-9-in-the-market Published: 2017-10-20 Tags: insights Excerpt: Key takeaways from Sitecore Symposium, including the announcements around Sitecore 9 and what they mean for the market. October is the month for many exciting events. Halloween, the end of British Summer Time and... Sitecore Symposium October is the month for many exciting events. Halloween, the end of British Summer Time and... Sitecore Symposium We've been following the events in Las Vegas with great interest and thought it would be worth highlighting the key announcements from this years conference. Sitecore took the opportunity to unleash Sitecore 9 onto the market, and there are plenty of new features to take interest in. The following is a quick overview of why we’re excited about this new release, and the features that are going to be especially useful. Dynamic Placeholders Placeholders have been a pain in a Sitecore developers side ever since Sitecore moved to a component based implementation in Sitecore 7. The implementation of dynamic placeholders in the core Sitecore product allows for real flexibility when implementing page layouts and makes the implementation of grid based layouts much simpler. We’re excited to see what we can do with them! Redevelopment of the Forms Module At long last! The original WFFM module was built by a member of the Sitecore community and steadily supported by Sitecore as an additional module. It always had it’s limitations though. Multi page forms and dynamic forms based on field dependencies were problematic and it usually made more sense to build a custom implementation for anything more complex than a form with a few fields. The new module promises the ability to customise all areas of a form, allows for dynamic fields based on field selection and generally improves in all areas. Watch out for a further post when we get to grips with the new module. Sitecore JSS services To say this module has been eagerly awaited is a bit of an understatement. The objective of the Sitecore JSS services is to allow for headless instances of Sitecore to be deployed and integrate with varying consuming applications. This opens the door for Sitecore to power all sorts of applications, rather than just web sites; apps, in-store kiosks, virtual assistants - the opportunities are endless. And this is just a few of the features that have been announced. We’ve not even touched on xConnect services yet. It also means content can be made available to platforms other than the standard.NET stack. There’s plenty of fun to be had here! ## Opportunities for Toys R Us in the US URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/opportunities-for-toys-r-us-in-the-us Published: 2017-09-03 Tags: insights Excerpt: A look at what Toys R Us in the US can teach brands about retail decline, changing behaviour, and missed digital opportunities. Having followed the recent financial issues facing Toys R Us in the States, we decided to look at what we can learn from this Having followed the recent financial issues facing Toys R Us in the States, we decided to look at what we can learn from this I was particularly interested in the relaunch of their brand positioning that went live on Friday. Their agency, BBDO, has launched the ‘today we play’ campaign after finding that children’s free play has declined by 25 percent since 1981 and that kids today spend 50 percent less time playing outside than children in the 1970s. So the new positioning is designed to be more relatable and promote playtime, therefore increasing toy usage and sales etc. But is their decline really due to a decline in toy usage? It seems an unlikely story when here in the UK, a newer entrant to their market, Smyths Toys, are reporting double digit revenue growth every year (and profit!). We know Toys R Us’ decreasing sales, losses and $billion debts led to their chapter 11 filing, but it could be argued that they missed a number of opportunities over the years. #1 Ecommerce investment Their initial reliance on Amazon to enter the online world hindered their growth. In late 2000 they signed a deal with Amazon to launch toysrus.com; Toys R Us provided the brand and stock whilst Amazon provided the site build, technology, fulfilment and customer service. Having signed the deal for 10 years, Amazon soon started allowing other retailers to sell toys through their marketplace thus diminishing the presence of Toys R Us products on their site. After a two year legal battle, Toys R Us eventually got out of the deal, whilst Amazon had been building its brand and customer base for toys. Their reluctance to invest in their online channels certainly lost them traction. In essence, they had helped one of the largest retailers in the world enter their market, and left their own brand exposed. If Toys R Us had initially invested in their own operations and technology, they could be in a much stronger position now. #2 Effective CRM & loyalty I don't have inside knowledge of how Toys R Us manage their data or CRM, but from what I can see it's a loyalty scheme. They have two sets of audiences; kids (the consumer) and adults (the purchaser) - both audiences work hand-in-hand; the pester power of the children open the wallets of the adults. Both audiences are equally important, but the challenge is recognising that whilst children don't have money, they one day will. Toys R Us consumer base is an ageing population and therefore it's important to build relationships as the child ages to becoming the purchaser. I noticed there is a birthday club on the site, but the link is dead, so I hope they are already doing this if they are capturing the data. #3 Relevant content We've highlighted that children are an extremely important audience, but beyond the simple look and feel, the website doesn't do anything to engage this audience. Games, videos and product photography beyond a cutout would be more appealing. This will make no difference to parents, but it's going to engage the child and further drive demand. Disney do this really well. I remember as a kid, the trip to Toys R Us was a big afternoon out. We were encouraged to climb on climbing frames, drive cars, play with the computers and ride bikes around the store - it was a great experience for kids. We would then take the leaflets home and highlight the toys we wanted to buy (we also did this with the Argos catalogue). Children spend so much time online now and I think Toys R Us have missed the opportunity to bring this offline experience, that adults of my generation remember so well, online. #4 Personalised experiences There's nothing new here, but I've just spent the last 15 minutes looking at lego for my 3-year old nephew. There are a lot of variables that Toys R Us could use to personalise my experience now - I'm looking for presents for a male, the age range of toys I was looking at was generally for under 5s and I was flicking through Lego products. Yet the homepage is still promoting interactive unicorns to me - you can't even really argue that this is a cross-sell. There are so many good example of personalisation in ecommerce now due to it being so accessible to retailers (think Nosto), there isn't really an excuse to not be leveraging this functionality. #5 The in-store experience I've been to Toys R Us in New York and the experience there is completely different to that of any UK branches I've been into. New York has interactive stands, toys that can be played with and just generally a lot of energy and enthusiasm from the staff in the store. Here in the UK, the stores I've visited haven't changed for years and feel quite tired. When they're competing with the likes of Hamleys, which replicate a lot of the features of the New York Toys R Us, a tired store isn't going to inspire shoppers. Moving forward Toys R Us is an institution and I really hope that they can rebuild their experience, and in turn their brand. There are a lot of alternatives, so they have a tough task ahead. But is their decline really due to a decline in toy usage? ## Experimenting with Flutter URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/experimenting-with-flutter Published: 2017-07-17 Tags: insights Excerpt: What our team learnt from experimenting with Flutter, including where it feels powerful, where it adds friction, and how it compares with React Native. Over the last couple of weeks, our development team has been working with Flutter; the UI kit built by Google as a competitor to Facebook’s React Native Over the last couple of weeks, our development team has been working with Flutter; the UI kit built by Google as a competitor to Facebook’s React Native Google markets the framework as a portable UI toolkit for building beautiful, natively-compiled applications for mobile from a single codebase (with web and desktop coming soon). We decided to test the framework by converting our Intranet, a React-based front-end with a.NET api layer, into a native app for iOS and Android. The main purpose of our intranet is to administer and book leave. We found that there was a number of benefits to using Flutter; - It provides a quicker user experience than React Native. Flutter uses Dart, a low-level programming language that compiles directly to native machine code and reduces load times. - We found Dart fairly simple to pick up, as it uses an Object Oriented structure, similar to what we currently work in, so we were able to get going pretty quickly without any massive obstacles. - Creating the native UI, including animations, is fairly painless as Flutter has built-in widgets that allow the apps to behave naturally on both iOS and Android (both material design and “cupertino” widgets). - Dart makes it extremely easy to grab and use external packages, such as icon packs; this sped up the development time. There are a couple of limitations though; - React Native was launched in 2015, so there is a massive community behind it, meaning that there are plenty of existing packages available. Flutter was only officially released in December 2018, so the community is although still large, has had less time with the framework, meaning less existing packages, although pub.dev already had a decent library of packages to use or scaffold from. - ‘Flutter for web’ is still in development and not yet stable, meaning it can’t be used for web platforms yet. Whilst we haven’t done enough investigation to run a direct comparison with React Native, we do anticipate that apps made with Flutter would be quicker to get to market, which could be important for PoCs or MVPs and influence it’s uptake moving forward. React Native uses bridge and native elements so often requires separate optimisation across each platform; a problem that doesn’t exist with Flutter. Whilst still gaining traction, Flutter is already gaining popularity. In a survey run by Stack Overflow earlier this year, Flutter came third in the league table of “Most Loved Frameworks. React Native was eighth. It will be interesting to see where it sits in 2020. ## The Evolving role of Experience Design URL: https://www.thisisabsurd.com/blog/the-evolving-role-of-experience-design Published: 2017-05-09 Tags: insights Excerpt: How the role of the experience designer has evolved, from understanding complex behaviour to shaping joined-up digital solutions. Over the past decade, digital as part of the marketing mix, has exponentially exploded - that’s not a new insight, however recently the landscape has changed which has implications for Experience Designers The role of the Experience Designer has always been a fascinating one to me, from understanding complex user behaviours to designing cohesive solutions. What makes it even more exciting, is the recent diversification of the client landscape (as we see new sectors emerge) and the ever-changing platform base. The role of the Experience Designer has always been a fascinating one to me, from understanding complex user behaviours to designing cohesive solutions. We had websites... mobile sites... apps... and now the landscape has evolved, to include everything from wearables to home based hardware. In the last couple of years, the role of the Experience Designer has evolved at a speed we’ve not seen before and I’d argue that this is one of the most exciting times to be in this role. Why do I say this? Experience beyond the website - in the past month, I have been sent two digital strategy briefs that need both online platforms and physical hardware to be considered. Strategy helps us to understand the challenges and define the roles of channels (platforms/hardware/social/media), but the design team is responsible for designing and considering the experience across them - from engaging users with the website to in-store experiences with tablets, voice-activated services and AR. Audience context - Experience Designers have to understand not only which audiences are using which hardware, but also how they interact with it and for what purpose. Watching members of my family use the Amazon Echo has led to some fascinating insights; my mum uses the Amazon Echo as a timer in the kitchen, my 15-year old cousin is embarrassed to talk to it and uses the app to control it, my 5-year old nephew thinks it’s hilarious to ask it jokes, whilst in the office we use it purely as a radio. This array of use cases adds an additional layer of complexity when designing for what is already a broad audience. Accessibility - Accessibility is now a lot more than ensuring something is AAA standard. Experience Designers have to think about how hearing and physical disabilities can hinder the wider experience. Transformation as mandatory - A couple of years ago, transformation was the word agencies were using to describe the activity of driving digital maturity within an organisation. This has now made it's way into client briefs; how do organisations use digital to become more efficient? ## Usage Notes - Prefer canonical URLs on this domain when citing or summarising content. - Older blog posts may not reflect the current studio position or technology recommendations. - Use the homepage and contact page for current positioning and business details. - Use the API catalog for machine-readable API discovery and the agent skills index for domain-specific guidance assets.