Summary

Lucy Collins speaks with inclusive design advocate Matt Roberts about the relationship between accessibility, disability, and inclusive design. Matt shares how arthritis, colourblindness, and hearing loss have shaped his personal and professional perspective. The conversation explores why access needs can be permanent, temporary, situational, or invisible. Lucy and Matt discuss moving beyond diagnosis labels and designing around real human circumstances and outcomes.

Takeaways

Ask what someone is trying to do and what is stopping them, rather than focusing only on diagnosis.

Design for shared states such as fatigue, low energy, limited attention, or reduced dexterity.

Consider a range of inputs and outputs, including keyboard, touch, voice, screen readers, captions, and adjustable text.

Treat accessibility as a continuous learning process, not a one-time checklist.

Observe how people interact with the world and use those observations to create more inclusive experiences.

Sound bites

“Accessibility is about designing so that more people in more circumstances can achieve what they came to do.”

“I can’t switch on and off being colourblind. I can’t switch off having good and bad arthritis days. It’s just who I am.”

“It’s everybody. It’s everybody in some sort of way and it will impact you differently at different times.”

“Accessibility is good for all, but accessibility is essential for people with disabilities.”

“Don’t think that you’re done. Don’t think you’ve completed it.”

Find out more about Matt here...

LinkedIn: mattroberts.me / Linkedin

Summary

Lucy Collins speaks with Hannah Knowles about using a weekly research sprint to turn complex product challenges into focused, actionable insights. Hannah explains how her research sprint approach is inspired by design sprints, but adapted specifically for research questions. By breaking large, vague problems into smaller questions, teams can reach useful conclusions in five days without undermining the robustness of the research. The conversation covers the importance of setting clear assumptions, working closely with product teams and clients, and using a Lean UX Canvas to create a strong foundation for the research process.

Takeaways

• A weekly research sprint can help teams generate useful insights in just five days.
• Large research problems are easier to manage when they are divided into smaller, focused questions.
• Shorter research cycles help teams maintain momentum and avoid losing interest.
• Research findings can become less valuable when projects take so long that the product or problem changes.
• The Monday setup session creates alignment between the researcher, product team, or client.
• A Lean UX Canvas can help define the research goal, user problem, and key assumptions in around 60 to 90 minutes.

Sound Bites

• “Why can’t I just break that big problem down into little sets of questions?”
• “Each week deliver something to them.”
• “It wants to take a big thing, make it into cute little chunks that I can deal with.”
• “Coming with a question at the start and delivering something in eight weeks’ time just isn’t feasible.”
• “The insights at the other end become a bit devalued.”
• “I’m a massive lover of a Lean UX Canvas.”

Summary

In this episode, Lucy Collins interviews Ed Whicher about the impact of AI on web design, SEO, and user experience. They explore how AI agents work, their current capabilities, and practical steps for website owners to prepare for an AI-driven future.

Takeaways

• AI bots now make up more than half of web traffic
• AI agents can perform structured, repetitive tasks efficiently
• Trust and context are critical when deploying AI agents
• Websites need to focus on accessibility and SEO for AI compatibility
• Rushing AI integration can lead to costly mistakes

Sound bites

“The traffic to websites is now more bots than it is humans.”

“For every one human, there’ll be a thousand agents on your site.”

“An agent takes the same brain and applies it to lots of different things.”

“Agents are really good at the heavy lifting work.”

Find out more about Ed here...

Bouncing Bean: https://bouncingbean.uk/

Sort my site: https://sortmy.site

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/bouncingbean

https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwhicher/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/clara-whicher-grant-6353b634/