Blog

On this issue: tools for better thinking, digital ethics and moral theory, annotating designs for accessibility and more.

The short story of how and why I started knitting.

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.

On this issue: the UX of banking, the state of web accessibility, the encyclopedia of microaggressions and more.

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.

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.

I’m taking the English course from Italian on Duolingo too, and I can confirm it’s not good.

The intersection between sustainability and accessibility, World Braille Day, the state of mobile UX and more.

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

As the end the year approaches, it’s time to slow down.

Classic HCI demos, going beyond Nielsen’s Usability Heuristics, Apple’s The Greatest and more.

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

Why everything looks the same, the limits of contrast checkers, changing perspectives over accessibility and more.

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

How technology is shaping the physical world, spying appliances, dyslexia-friendly typefaces and more.

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

The difficulty of travelling for disabled people, the history of user interfaces, carbon footprinting and more.

The accessibility of Netflix’s subtitles, racist tech, small businesses in Tokyo and more.

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

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

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.

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

What I’ve recently been doing to better my mental and physical health, is trying to keep my focus where it counts.

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

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.

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.

I tell you why and how I stopped using Mailchimp and what I did instead.

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.

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

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

Stop bastardizing design with false empathy, fast fashion and sustainability, gender pay gap, and more.

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

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

This quote from Rachel Andrew’s book The New CSS Layout keeps echoing in my head.

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

There is no perfect design tool.

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.

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

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.

This week: celebrating the web standards with Blue Beanie Day, accessibility, the current state of checkout UX, the meaning of Ikea names, and more.

Melting pots and mulled vine TV shows.

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.

Time goes by so slowly for those who wait, sings Madonna.

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

Newsletter changes, pages and falling leaves.

Overwhelming and underwhelming experiences. Decisions and promises.

On habits and changes. Absolutely not sponsored.

This week: how to protect ourselves against the Hook model, UX Theatre, deceptive patterns, and circular economy.

Pesky migraines, caviar, and photos.

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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.

I tell you what happened when I quit social media six months ago, and why I don’t want to come back.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This week we look into the toxic dogmatism of digital design, how to design less, how to be more effective and more.

With the introduction of significant layout changes — the tabs Reel and Shop — the Instagram navigation became convoluted. Let’s briefly explore how.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 inspiration series. Black women in UX, how to foster creativity, and the time David Bowie scolded MTV.

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

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

The current pandemic crisis reveales the shortcomings of our society. We have the opportunity to change and shape a better and sustainable society for everyone.

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

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.

It’s a pleasure to announce that I partecipated as a contributor at the Shutter Hub Open Exhibition 2018, which took place in London and Amsterdam.

It is with great excitement that I can say three of my pictures are part of the Because We Can! Exhibition by Shutter Hub, part of Festival Pil’Ours.

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.

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

How switching from an entry-level Canon DSLR to a mirrorless camera changed my photography mindset.

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.

Half-way through a photography project, I found myself in a photography rut. I tried a few tricks to get out of it.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.