What a Restaurant Menu Taught Me About Information Hierarchy
Waiting forty minutes for a table, I studied a menu instead of my phone. It turned into the best design lesson I had all year.
Sophie Martin
@sophie.uxUX researcher in Lyon. Listening to users for a living and designing what they actually need.
12 articles725 clapsJoined May 7
Articles
Why I Kerned One Headline for Forty Minutes (and Don't Regret It)
A small confession about letter spacing, optical illusions and the difference between correct and right.
A Field Guide to Button Hierarchy for Teams Who Argue About Blue
Most button debates are not about colour. They are about which action matters most, and that is a decision, not a style.
How I Synthesise a Week of User Interviews in One Afternoon
A practical, timeboxed process for turning raw interview notes into findings your team will actually read and act on.
A Weekly Review That Takes 20 Minutes, Not Two Hours
I abandoned every elaborate weekly review I tried. This stripped-down version is the first one I have kept for a full year.
Empty States Are the Most Honest Onboarding You Have
The screen a new user sees before adding any data tells them what your product is for. Most teams design it last, if at all.
Stop Asking Users What They Want. Ask What They Did Last Tuesday.
Questions about the future produce wishes. Questions about recent, specific moments produce evidence. Here is how to make the switch.
I Tried a Three-Item To-Do List for 60 Days. Here's What Broke.
Limiting my day to three tasks made me calmer and more productive, right up until it didn't. A candid two-month report.
Our Research Repository Had 400 Reports and Almost No Readers
We stopped treating research as an archive and started treating it like a product, with users, formats and a maintenance plan.
Closing 41 Browser Tabs Taught Me More Than Any Focus App
Every open tab was a small promise to my future self. Breaking those promises on purpose turned out to be a relief.
