Letting go of perfection

I've recently discovered pottery and I'm thankful that I did.

The best thing, for me, by far is that I've found something that I can't totally control and I'm allowing myself to take chances and play without being fixated on the end result.

Hand made dish thrown on the wheel.

Every day I put pressure on myself to get everything right. At the beginning of my first term I tried hard to get perfect symmetry and shape, straight lines and smooth edges and this became a blocker. I soon realised that as a novice I couldn't do this as I wouldn't learn unless I made mistakes. So I let go.

Slab pot glazed and ready for a second firing. This didn't turn out anything like I expected it too!

I'm also learning to slow down. I may spend one week making something either by hand or on the wheel, allow it to dry out enough to work on it some more the following week, glaze it the week after and then wait another week for the second firing. The excitement of progressing through the various processes and the anticipation of seeing the final result is a buzz but you can't rush it. There is no immediate result and I find that incredibly relaxing.

My first finished piece of pottery - now used as a ring dish.

Working with your hands to manipulate natural materials and then taking chances with glazing before leaving those creations in the hands of the kiln gods proved a huge leap for me. Sure, over time I will hopefully develop skills that allow me to understand what the materials and tools are capable of but so far, everything I've made or that I am working on is an experiment. And I love it

I think this pot looks like a little wasp's nest.

Necklaces and square dish.

Go your own way

A few photos of desire lines from my wanderings.

I love finding these paths created by humans when the designed paths didn't meet their needs. A reminder to observe and to consider.

Life as a user experience designer

I've been told on more than one occasion that I point out a lot of things to my friends and family that they don't even think twice about. Here are some recent examples...

Example 1: Misleading affordances

Every time I go to a meeting on another floor at work (which is a lot) I need to open a door that leads to the staircase. The door has a handle on it so I pull the door towards me as indicated by the design but this is in fact a trick as you actually have to push it. The other side of the door has the same handle so when I need to come back in I push it because my mind remembers that the handle affordance is wrong but in this instance you do need to pull it. It gets me every time and I see other people do it too.

Example 2: The unattainable plug socket

There was a plug socket in my hostel room in Chiang Mai last year that was approximately half way up the wall. It was the only socket in the room that I could reach (the other one was about a foot down from the ceiling and used to power the fan) and it was just ridiculous. The length of my charging cable was shorter than the distance from the floor to the socket so every time I wanted to charge something I would have to make a little tower out of my luggage to balance it on. I was travelling light with only a small backpack so this task involved a careful stacking of objects on top of my bag only to realise afterwards that I needed something from my bag so I would have to disassemble it and start over again.

Example 3: Chaos in the deli

There's a deli near to where I used to work that had no obvious system that agitated me so much that I stopped going there as I couldn't enjoy my lunch. There were two counters that each took different types of orders (wraps from one, hot food from another), however you could only pay at one which meant that if you wanted a wrap you first had to queue and order from the wrap counter and then you had to queue up again at the other counter to pay but this wasn't obvious and you only discovered this when you got to the front of the wrap queue. After ordering your wrap you were given a piece of paper with a number on it but nobody seemed to know what to do next or where to wait. Everyone would just look at each other and shrug their shoulders. Eventually somebody would shout your number from across the room and you had to make your way through the crowd to collect your lunch.

So there you go.

I hope this post doesn't give the impression that I'm a negative person because quite the opposite is true. Every time I encounter things like this I think about what could be done to change the situation and improve usability. Replacing the door handle with a plate to indicate that you need to push it rather than pull, a small table or shelf placed underneath the socket, and a process that streamlines sandwich ordering, payment and collection – order here, collect there, lunch ready, happy customers. These things are all easy to resolve and I think that's what makes me notice them the most.

Small changes, big improvements.

A positive customer experience served with a dash of milk

Harris + Hoole coffee cup

If you've read my blog before you might have noticed that I'm a huge fan of Foursquare for discovering new places and Tuesday afternoon was no different. I had just met a friend near London Bridge and I really fancied a coffee so I opened up Foursquare on my phone and searched for nearby coffee shops. I was looking for something new and spotted Harris + Hoole located just around the corner on Tooley Street and then saw a tip that said "Download the iPhone app for a free coffee". Having just got back from three months travelling I am conscious of my spending so this sounded perfect!

I tapped on the website link in the tip and was greeted with a link to download either the iTunes or Google Play version of the H+H app (which was good because I'm an Android girl now!) and I installed the app. The first thing I saw was a welcome screen followed by a few more screens that gave me a quick intro to the app where I also discovered that I could choose pay with my mobile - things were just getting better and better!

Eager for my caffeine fix I happily went about setting up my profile and added a selfie from my photo library that would allow me to be recognised in store once I was checked in. I then selected and customised my favourite cup of coffee known within the app as "My Usual" which can then be used to automatically order your drink when you check in (flat white, medium sized, three shots, whole milk, standard temperature, no flavourings and certainly not decaf).

A selection of screens from the app

Upon my arrival at H+H I was greeted by the two lovely ladies who were working there. Now, I probably should have mentioned that I was sitting right next to H+H in More London eating my lunch whilst I was setting up the app and being a little bit over excited I had already tapped the check in tick to see what would happen. It said I was checked in to the coffee shop and I could go ahead and redeem my free coffee. It was probably another 10 minutes or so before I actually made it inside and when I showed them my phone they said "Oh, there you are!". Apparently I had flashed up on screen when I first checked in but at the time the shop had been full of men in suits none of whom matched my newly added profile pic! I explained that I worked in digital design and had a tendency to play around with things like this! My previous check in had expired so I checked in again and voilà "My Usual" was on its way.

We had a little chat about the app and the system and as the staff knew who I was they addressed by my first name. I was made to feel really welcome and, well, special as I was getting personalised service and a cup of coffee made just how like it.

The coffee itself was really great and it tasted so much better having just had a really good customer experience. This is the actual message that I sent to my friend as I was drinking my coffee which is basically a summary of this post:

"I just found a coffee shop on Tooley Street using foursquare, read a tip that said download their app for a free coffee, so I did and I created my profile and selected my fav coffee, customised exactly how you want, then I checked in when I got here and it ordered my coffee straightaway AND they all knew my name and welcomed me! How cool is that?!?!"

I went on to tell him that he should visit and sent him the link. I felt compelled to tell others about my good experience so they could experience it too.

The app also includes a map of H+H branches and a loyalty card which allows you to collect stamps and receive another free cup after six visits. Adding a payment card for future use was super easy and you can choose between manual or auto-top ups for convenience. The app is simple and not over loaded with unnecessary features. It knows what it is and it does it well.

So, if you want to do coffee sometime I know just the place!