How to make emojis and icons screen reader accessible?
Emojis are picture characters, with a name that gets read by screen readers. This can lead to issues when the name doesn't convey your intended meaning.
Terrific thread, had to boost this part specifically.
The designer's job (especially content designer's job) is often the translation of those "perfect nouns" into terms people will understand with the minimum effort required.
AI is powerful, but to make it useful and safe for productivity you need infrastructure. That means governance, models, rules - so you can understand how AI changes trust, workflows and decision-making, and build a framework that manages risks.
Find out more: www.linkedin.com/posts/padma-...
AI toolmen will tell you that shipping features faster is how good software gets made. But users *already* hated being drowned under an endless stream of useless, buggy features even *before* LLMs.
Because users don't visit a website for features. They're there for the content. Design that first.
That would be a subeditor, the invisible behind the lines production journalist who, I would warrant with nary a pause, is delighted to be punning to their cheesy heart's content.
If you're looking to hire people with accessibility knowledge and experience, the Accessibility Skills Hiring Toolkit created by Teach Access can help you. The toolkit provides language to use when writing job ads, and questions to ask when interviewing.
teachaccess.github.io/accessibilit...
Creativity isn’t a straight line; it folds and loops unpredictably. Sometimes we sprint, other times we tread carefully or stand still. How can acknowledging these rhythms relieve the pressure to produce constantly?
buff.ly/MqOvxzf
#amWriting #writingAboutWriting #poetry
![Comic. [Person and person with white hat facing two boxes stacked with $80 price tag and sale tag on each box.] PERSON 1: They want $80 for this? I could make one myself for $10 in parts, an hour of work, a trip to the hardware store, another $30 in parts, another few hours of work, two more trips to the store for $20 more in parts, another hour of work to redo the first hour of work because I messed up, and $80 to buy this when the one I made breaks.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreifdsd32pjwefxji33c5eferlek4o6kkadoosqisb5uatqjmrq4q4q)
Comic. [Person and person with white hat facing two boxes stacked with $80 price tag and sale tag on each box.] PERSON 1: They want $80 for this? I could make one myself for $10 in parts, an hour of work, a trip to the hardware store, another $30 in parts, another few hours of work, two more trips to the store for $20 more in parts, another hour of work to redo the first hour of work because I messed up, and $80 to buy this when the one I made breaks.
Make It Myself
xkcd.com/3233/
Hunter S Thompson used to say "when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro". Vibe growth hacking is not that.
Want more awareness of or engagement with your products or services? Your problem isn't content, it's your infrastructure - weak rules, governance, structures.
Find out why AI makes that problem bigger and what you can do about it from Llibertat CEO Padma Gillen: www.linkedin.com/posts/padma-...
AI tools are assistants, replacements and even all-seeing oracles - sometimes all at the same time.
Confused? That's understandable.
Starting with user needs helps. Not just what AI is for, but what thinking we need AI to support.
AI doesn't change UX. It makes it a cognitive problem to solve.
Overlays are widgets or technologies that promise to improve a site's accessibility with third-party source code. More than 1,000 accessibility advocates and web developers have signed an open letter to explain the limitations and dangers of these products.
overlayfactsheet.com
We are not in the "AI era." We are in the "source: trust me, bro" era.
A reminder that no one has worked out how to spot emotions, nor even is there a full consensus on what emotions there are.
Anyone remotely claiming to is lying.
Any organisation that wants to use AI has to ask questions first. Make sure those include:
- what do you really need AI for?
- is there clean, structured data in one place?
- can AI integrate with existing systems?
- how will privacy, security and bias be, not just managed, but designed for?
Most companies are not AI-ready. They can spin up projects quickly, but have no idea if AI will break their existing systems, data workflows, cybersecurity. Governance makes a difference. It doesn't have to take months, but it is the smart move so you can move fast with AI innovation.
A long piece this week on the various kinds of AI foolishness I have seen lately. Tl;dr: in your professional life, do not use technologies in which you have no expertise and with which you have not engaged critically?! It’s not that complicated?!
open.substack.com/pub/naomiald...
1. Read “Empire of AI” by @karenhao.bsky.social
2. Watch this talk between Karen and @timnitgebru.blacksky.app
3. Follow @dairinstitute.bsky.social, Karen and Timnit for a sober, critical analysis of the “AI” field.
The return of "user research, without the users"
This will never not be a terrible idea
When ads came to ChatGPT, users were mad — those who had been using it as an editor or therapist suddenly saw ChatGPT as vulnerable to manipulation by brands and marketers.
The reality is that it was happening the whole time. I wrote about the new SEO gold rush:
www.theverge.com/tech/900302/...
literally every text app other than bluesky does this and it's remarkably weird to me it hasn't translated into more orgs at least auto-crossposting their work here. it's not like there isn't CRM integration
Being AI-ready isn't about the latest tools, or prompt engineering, or managing your agentic AI. You need infrastructure. Scale up your AI adoption you can manage data, security, governance. Develop a content AI infrastructure. Here's how: www.linkedin.com/posts/padma-...
Want more online content? Think AI is the answer?
Why? And also - why?
Before you create yet more content, especially with AI, ask this: what do you already have.
Audit first.
Look for value you can repurpose.
Look for gaps.
Look for content that's out of date, irrelevant, ditchable.
Audit always.
Indeed - "human in the loop" design shouldn't be like some new concept, weirdly :)
Technology, including AI, might do amazing things, but it can't decide what matters. You need to start with humans designing for humans if you want to:
- solve the right problems
- support teams
- improve real lives
UX that works uses digital strategies based on human insights and governance.
Before writing new content, ask:
can we improve what we have?
That's even more true with agentic AI.
Fix what's outdated, irrelevant, or just bad.
Discover the questions people ask online and provide answers quickly, clearly and authentically.
More does not equal better.
Better is better.
Where do content design and content strategy fit into an AI-driven digital service lifecycle?
- data curation and preparation
- training models and iterating
- creating checkpoints and validation steps
- optimising for ethical, trustworthy, inclusive interactions
Everywhere, in other words.
Nice write-up of our women and the future of AI panel at the Royal Society last week www.newscientist.com/article/2519...
Adoption (often haphazard) of AI by organisations means content management needs to step up. And fast.
Content isn't web pages, posts or stories anymore.
That's why Llibertat CEO Padma Gillen has been working on strategic content infrastructure.
Find out more: www.linkedin.com/posts/padma-...