Blog

I write about design, tech and their implications in our lives. Follow my posts via RSS. Looking for something specific? Visit the archive.

Find my writing under: accessibility, books, design, design digested, drawing, notes, personal, photography, ux.

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PERSONAL

Back to knitting

The short story of how and why I started knitting.


DESIGN

On ’deceptive patterns’ and wording

I deleted all occurrences of the adjective ’dark’ when used to describe deceptive patterns on my website, in a bid to be more inclusive and not discriminatory.



NOTES

About stereotypes (or clichés)

If my site were a tea table, this book would have a place of honour on it. Today it would be open on the page about the life of William Wells Brown.


NOTES

About history

If my site were a tea table, this book would have a place of honour on it. Today it would be open on the page with a quote about history.




ACCESSIBILITY

Accessibility diaries – Part 3

To wrap up the third month working as accessibility consultant for Italy’s top bank, I’m sharing a few things I learned.




ACCESSIBILITY

Accessibility diaries – Part 2

To wrap up the third month working as accessibility consultant for Italy’s top bank, I’m sharing a few things I learned.



ACCESSIBILITY

Accessibility diaries – Part 1

To wrap up the third month working as accessibility consultant for Italy’s top bank, I’m sharing a few things I learned.



NOTES

About exhibitions

Today we saw ‘100 Fotografie’, the photography exhibition dedicated to a selection of work by Elliot Erwitt.




NOTES

About diagrams

Having already enjoyed Abby Covert’s How to Make Sense of Any Mess, I’m currently reading Stuck? Diagrams Help.


PHOTOGRAPHY

A perfect day

Notes and pictures at the end of a long and hot summer. A holiday in Italy.


ACCESSIBILITY

Making my website accessible - Part 1

As I took a closer look to the WCAG 2.1 success criteria, I decided to take a step-by-step approach to make my website entirely compliant. First post of a series.


NOTES

About Sitemaps

The other day, I listened to a very interesting episode of UX Podcast.



DESIGN DIGESTED

Design, Digested 31

Deadly distractions, designing for modes, the problem with the Metaverse, new deceptive patterns on Instagram and more.


DESIGN DIGESTED

Design, Digested 30

Design is evolving, correcting designs of the past, why we ignore the obvious, building a more honest internet and why Greta Thunberg doesn’t want you to talk about her.


DESIGN DIGESTED

Design, Digested 29

The last design you’ll ever make, designing for the autistic community, cautionary tales from cryptoland, the problem with Nielsen Norman Group videos and more.



DESIGN DIGESTED

Design, Digested 28

Discover the designers misguided concerns about disabled bodies; the future of accessibility standards; the infinite scroll effect; the influence of 80s cult phemon Max Headroom and more.


NOTES

About Drawabox

The most difficult part of the Drawabox program is the 50% rule.


NOTES

About mammography

This morning I went for a mammography. In Italy, the examination is offered for prevention from the age of 40.



NOTES

About productivity

I’ve never heard of plaintext productivity before and it seems like I missed on something crucial.


NOTES

About trackers

Laura Kalbag answers CSS-Tricks’ question What is one thing people can do to make their website better?



NOTES

About ’Extra Bold’

I started reading ‘Extra Bold – A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-racist, Nonbinary Field Guide for Graphic Designers’.



NOTES

About Fujufilm

Fujifilm cameras have an internal battery built to retain the settings. If left too long without the main battery inserted, it will empty, resetting the camera.


NOTES

About news consumption

A day before Russia invaded Ukraine, I was suggested an article with an interesting perspective on the TV and internet newscasts.


DESIGN DIGESTED

Tabula rasa

Stop solving problems in design, drop ’The Lean Startup’, what to do instead of counting clicks, and oral history of Beastie Boys’ artwork, and more.




DESIGN DIGESTED

User errors, the curb-cut effect, creepy devices

This week: how to prevent user errors, the curb-cut effect, how creepy is that device, and users adapting to technology that wasn’t designed with them in mind.



DESIGN DIGESTED

Imposter syndrome and pockets

This week, I gathered articles that made me see this phenomenon from a different perspective. Time to reframe. And pockets. Women need pockets.



PERSONAL

Week 6: Breathe

Overwhelming and underwhelming experiences. Decisions and promises.


PERSONAL

Week 5: Changed

On habits and changes. Absolutely not sponsored.



PERSONAL

Week 4: Kalles

Pesky migraines, caviar, and photos.


PERSONAL

Week 3: Looking around

The one where I started doing things that feel more habitual.


DESIGN DIGESTED

Exploring design cultures

This week, tired of seeing social media-related articles, I’m sharing older ones as an inspiration to follow your own path.


PERSONAL

Week 2: You are here

Ten years ago, I left Milan — where I lived for eight years — for London, UK. It’s been a week since I moved back.


PERSONAL

Week 1: Dizziness

In a bid to write more frequently, and to track events that might go overlooked, I’m starting to write weeknotes. I’m enjoining other people’s weekly reports because they feel personal. They could also be a good way to remind ourselves how many things we accomplish as opposed to what we perceive. Let’s start!


DESIGN DIGESTED

Gender-neutral language

This week: inclusive language, the work of women designers, and the healing power of photography.


PHOTOGRAPHY

Back to the lake

After almost two years, I’m back to Lake Maggiore, visiting my family.


DESIGN

Brand new website

I built my new website from scratch using Jekyll, a static site generator. Welcome to my new virtual house. Let me show you around.


DESIGN DIGESTED

What’s wrong with UX (Part 1)

In the first instalment of the Design, Digested series since March, I share with you three reasons why the UX industry is currently broken.


PERSONAL

Leaving WordPress

An announcement to my WordPress followers. Soon, I’ll be starting a process to move away from the platform: my website will have a new house, look, and ways to be managed.



UX

Information overload

On the latest letter I sent out on 20 June, I set out my plans for the next few months. Ever felt overwhelmed by the quantity of information found on the internet? Then you’ll know what I’m talking about.


PHOTOGRAPHY

Entrance with art

Stepping into our new house for the summer, I wonder: how is it to live close to so much beauty? Art, architecture, poetry, food. This entrance is just the start.


DRAWING

Learning to draw. A journey

As much as wanted to, I couldn’t sketch every day. I’d stare at the blank page, not knowing what to draw, and then give up. So I started a new journey.


DESIGN

My latest letter

Every couple of weeks, I write a letter to the nice people subscribed to Design, Digested. Today, I want to share the latest with you. As there weren’t any new blog posts or projects to announce, I didn’t know what to write. Yet, I ended up writing a lot.


PHOTOGRAPHY

Wisteria in bloom

Before the weather turned chilly again, we’ve enjoyed very mild temperatures. It’s easy to think the winter has gone, when the temperature is 22ºC and the flowers are blooming.


DESIGN DIGESTED

The importance of sketching in UX

I’m sure you’ve encountered many posts about which tool is best for wireframing. Yet, one of UX designers’ most important and basic tool is sketching. If you know how to convey your ideas and concepts through sketches, the rest follows.


DESIGN DIGESTED

Start designing for inclusion

The following articles and resources are a good start to understand how biases influence our work and what to pay attention to when starting a new project.


DESIGN

The purpose of placebo buttons

If you ever needed to cross a busy road in any city, chances are you wondered whether pedestrian buttons actually make your waiting time shorter.


PHOTOGRAPHY

At the beach

In a couple of days, the Emilia-Romagna region is going to see stricter Covid-19 restrictions. So I seized the moment and took a few pictures at the beach.


BOOKS

Brilliant culture and design books I’m reading

As a child, I always had books with me. I loved losing myself into good stories, to the point it hurt when they finished. In later years, my attention span became ridiculously short.


DESIGN DIGESTED

Deceptive patterns in user interfaces

Recently, I read a couple of compelling blog post about deceptive patterns in user interfaces copy. An essential read to understand what they are, how they’re used to deceive people and how to recognise them.


PHOTOGRAPHY

A healthy walk in the pine forest

A pine forest looks and smells so good it’s impossible to resist it. It’s a great feature to have close to home, as an alternative to walking on the beach or staring at a screen.


PERSONAL

I deactivated my Instagram account. What now?

If it sounds like a big deal, it’s because it is. For someone passionate about photography, deciding to break with one of the most popular social networks might seem counter-productive.




DESIGN DIGESTED

Elimination of violence against women

The new instalment of the digest is dedicated to the elimination of violence against women. Join the conversation and spread the word.


DESIGN DIGESTED

Fear, AI bias and Enzo Mari legacy

On the design inspiration new instalment: the role of fear in our lives and how it affects decision-making, how bias in AI happens and the legacy of “giant” of Italian design Enzo Mari.


DESIGN DIGESTED

Social media content moderation issues

After a two-month hiatus, the design inspiration series is back with a focus on social media content moderation issues, how products get complicated and how a few companies are redesigning capitalism.


PERSONAL

I deleted my Twitter account and an update

Today I deleted my Twitter account, and it felt good. I had been visiting to keep up to date with other UX professional, but it was impossible to avoid retweets about politics and other topics.


PHOTOGRAPHY

After the rain

Today, I used the tripod to take a few short videos in the garden. I took time to appreciate my surroundings after a rain shower.


PERSONAL

New journey and new blog

New journey and new blog for my husband and I to record thoughts, experiences and memories. After nine years, we’re going back to our home country, Italy, where we’ll stay until the pandemic is under control.


DESIGN DIGESTED

All-women edition

Design inspiration series, all-women edition. Facial recognition technology imbalances, your data is you, benevolent sexism and more.


PHOTOGRAPHY

Pictures that make me happy

During the past sweltering weekend, I looked for a few pictures to make my website more personal: not many other things in photography make me happy as nature and a shallow depth of field.


DESIGN DIGESTED

Inclusive design

On week number 10 of my design inspiration series, I share resources about inclusive design, problematic social media facts, and a great music project.


PHOTOGRAPHY

Today I saw

It’s that itch again. Today I saw something I like but can’t take a picture. Or, I can and do, but it doesn’t work on Instagram.


DESIGN DIGESTED

Facebook can’t beat hate

Design inspiration series. Why Facebook can’t beat hate, a safe haven for press freedom, a game to recognise disinformation.


UX

Instagram’s camera-on bug

Instagram is reportedly fixing the camera-on bug, which was discovered by a user while testing Apple’s iOS 14 beta version.


DESIGN DIGESTED

How a website lost community trust

In this inspiration series: a well-known website lost community trust with a redesign that didn’t take into account its users with disabilities.


DESIGN

How rebranding cost Ravelry the trust of their community

Knitting website Ravelry lost the trust of their community after a rebranding effort caused several users adverse side effects from browsing the site. Well-known among knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, and dyers, Ravelry is a free platform where users can organise and keep track of their projects, network with other people and sell their designs.


DESIGN DIGESTED

Biased AI, social media manipulation

Design inspiration series. Biased AI, tricks to overcome smartphone addiction and ten arguments for deleting social media accounts.


DESIGN DIGESTED

Anti-Racism, misogyny of the workforce

Design inspiration series. This week: four anti-racism lessons, Don Norman doesn’t believe in empathic design and working in tech as a woman.


PHOTOGRAPHY

Isolation photo diary

Between the ups and downs of the global pandemic and lockdown, I kept taking pictures. I intended to have a photo diary to describe my take on isolation and the extraordinary circumstances we’re living.


DESIGN DIGESTED

Diversity bias

Design inspiration series. This week: diversity bias in the tech industry; the gender data gap; anti-racism reading list and bad doors.


UX

The UX of contact lenses containers

How is the UX of contact lenses containers? It’s easy to overlook what we use daily, and yet everyday things are usually the most frustrating ones.



DESIGN DIGESTED

Responsive design at 10

Design inspiration series. This week, language and storytelling, usability, mobile approach, responsive design at 10 and more.


DESIGN DIGESTED

Design community solidarity

Design inspiration series. This week: design community solidarity, designing for belonging, equality and diversity, cross-cultural design and more.


DESIGN DIGESTED

Killing Eve set design, and more

First instalment of my design inspiration series. This week: Killing Eve set design, accessibility on social media, bad design vs good design, and more.



DESIGN

The station of being bus stop experience

A deep understanding of users’ needs allows for great design and innovation. The station of being bus stop improves the waiting experience for travellers.


PHOTOGRAPHY

How Instagram drained my creativity

While I was focusing on things like the number of followers, engagement and reach, Instagram drained my creativity. Here’s how my love for photography helped.




PHOTOGRAPHY

Four days in Bordeaux

A few weeks ago, my husband and I travelled outside the UK for a different reason other than visiting family and friends: we spent four days in Bordeaux.


PHOTOGRAPHY

Girl Town moved to Tel Aviv

The exhibition celebrates the culture of the female in the 21th century. By Shutter Hub, hosted at Albert Gallery.



PHOTOGRAPHY

Shutter Hub Open 2017 at Retina Photography Festival

I am excited and honoured to announce that my photo The Day I Glimpsed Inside Your Soul will be part of the Shutter Hub Open Exhibition 2017, at the Retina Scottish International Photography Festival.



PHOTOGRAPHY

By night

It is still too dark when commuting back from work, so I started taking pictures by night.


PHOTOGRAPHY

I have a thing for trees

Going through last year’s photos, I found quite a few of them have trees as a subject. Trees are fascinating and elegant, no matter the season. They can easily set the mood of a photo.


PHOTOGRAPHY

The Berlin fascination

Berlin is well known for being a fresh ever-changing city. By walking around, you see it’s headed somewhere. Only, the destination is unknown and nobody is running.


PHOTOGRAPHY

Hot Numbers Open Exhibition

Starting 12 December 2016, until 22 January 2017, my photo, Boatspotting, is part of the Hot Numbers Open Exhibition in Cambridge.


PHOTOGRAPHY

GIRL TOWN Exhibition

On Thursday 6th October 2016, Shutter Hub and the Old Girl’s Club launched GIRL TOWN Exhibition at London Photomonth, and I’m very proudly part of it.


PHOTOGRAPHY

A glimpse of the sea

A short holiday in Cromer, and the excitement of getting to the sea, reminded me of my childhood summer holidays.


PHOTOGRAPHY

Shutter Hub Open Exhibition 2016

From 24 June 2016, for a month, one of my photos was part of the Shutter Hub OPEN Exhibition 2016 at Hot Numbers, in Cambridge.


Silvia Maggi

I'm a web designer and developer focused on accessibility, usability and information architecture.

Silvia Maggi Design

contact@silviamaggidesign.com

Milan

Italy

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