What makes people happy?
A dataviz, based on a 2017 experiment where they asked 10000 to track experiences that made them happy. The classification is quite interesting.
You can also explore people's happy moments on each island.
Current status: I went from "I feel like a potato" to "I feel like a witchy potato" because my summer hat just got delivered, yaah! Take the small wins people and protect your potatoes from the sun 💜
https://restyle.pl/product-eng-2585-WILDERWOOD-WIDE-BRIM-HAT.html
The potato feeling is due to a combo of heat and some endo flare-up, fun week people! All things considered, I haven't snapped at anyone (yet) despite a 9/10 pain, so, I'm managing fine I guess?
But I do need the chance to do some hard thinking, if only to quiet the voices screaming "this 70% pragmatic fix won't work, because of this, this, and that." Does that make sense?"
I miss thinking hard. (8min): https://www.jernesto.com/articles/thinking_hard
It's the curse of having strong pattern recognition. Because of that, I often find myself asking to slow down, to at least take time to think through the problem and the solution. I don't always get that time.
I don't think I need 100% to satisfy my thinker brain.
But in some of these domains, accepting the pragmatic 70% will bite people later.
Maybe it's a "me" problem, call me a perfectionist. But when I see people settle for the 70%, my brain already anticipates the chain of potential issues that follows.
I share his "my thinker brain is starving" feeling, and honestly, I'm quite frustrated by what I see around me. People want to go fast, to show velocity, to rush into solutions. This isn't just a tech problem, it shows up in many domains.
When was the last time you spent multiple days trying to solve a problem?
Pragmatism often wins on our projects: AI won’t come up with a 100% satisfying solution, but when a 70% solution is "good enough", your pragmatic brain goes with that one.
https://www.jernesto.com/articles/thinking_hard
For Ernesto Mtz, this creates a conflict: AI satisfies the Builder side (building fast things) but it starves the Thinker side of the brain (solving really hard problems).
In the end, he wonders if there is a way to make both sides happy. And so do I.
Designing for people who are blind.
A couple of things to consider, beyond aesthetics: organize the content with landmarks, headings, prioritize key information first, be consistent between screens and announcements and keep interactions predictable. Also be clear, concise, bring multiple navigation options (links, search, navigation, breadcrumbs) and offer choices. by Graeme Coleman
https://tetralogical.com/blog/2026/04/02/designing-for-people-who-are-blind/
Reminder: tomorrow I'm hosting a 1 hour free webinar with UXPA on Enterprise UX. I’ll share why I actually enjoy working in Enterprise UX, what surprised me when I started, and how to grow in such environments.
Date: July 8, 2026
Time: 9 AM PT / 11 AM CT / 12 PM ET
Also, yes you can also register to get the replay video if you can't attend live.
Register here: https://uxpa.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VBi7V55SQQyEnRsJTxV0tw#/registration
In the end, if we let AI "solve" accessibility as a side effect, we're basically saying that disabled people's needs were never enough on their own. Accessibility is a civil right, not a byproduct.
It's not just the web, accommodations disability advocates pushed for years are only showing up now to help delivery robots. Zong and Elavsky call this the "ramping automation effect". And worse: those robots are causing harm to disabled people. Ironic, isn’t it?
Sad truth: we are making the web accessible for AIs, not for people.
Some sites now offer a text version for LLMs, but still skip real accessibility needs like proper heading structure, landmarks that screen reader users need.
https://www.techpolicy.press/the-web-is-being-made-accessible-for-ai-not-people/
My curated weekly UX Research, Design, Accessibility & Tech Newsletter is out:
- 16 UI design tips for a big impact
- Organising documentation for humans and AI
- Less is more in the age of AI
- A CSS structure approach for better accessibility
- Paper sculptures and cute clay creatures inspiration
- A stroke-recording drawing tool
- An accessibility knowledge quiz
- View transitions for UI
- Context-aware headings in HTML
- Etc.
👉🏻 Newsletter article my blog: https://stephaniewalter.design/blog/pixels-of-the-week-july-5-2026/
Did you enjoy this content?
Don't miss any new edition, get this content directly in your mailbox every Monday (and a couple of perks ones in a while, like gifts, promo codes, etc.)
https://stephaniewalter.design/subscribe-to-the-blog-updates/
> I think the way we currently write CSS subtly shapes the way we think about components. By having the visual styles completely decoupled from the semantic meaning, accessibility is easy to forget, because we can’t physically see missing attributes. When the styling hook is anchored to semantics, you can’t get the visual styles without also getting the parts that make it accessible.
https://www.craigabbott.co.uk/blog/2026/our-css-isnt-opinionated-enough/
(via @stephaniewalter's “Pixels of the Week” newsletter)
Need help from my elder sisters here: I never watched all episodes of Xena. I only remember a few from when I was a kid and I kind of remember it was fun.
So, is it worth watching the whole thing (like Buffy) or will I be disappointed?
I’ll take you through a real case study: the full redesign of an 18-year-old enterprise tool. Research methods, design decisions, change management, the mistakes we made: what actually worked, and didn’t work. I’ll share why I actually enjoy working in Enterprise UX, what surprised me when I started, and how to grow in such environments.
Date: July 8, 2026
Time: 9 AM PT / 11 AM CT / 12 PM ET
Duration: 1 hour
Free to register.
Register here: https://uxpa.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VBi7V55SQQyEnRsJTxV0tw#/registration
Enterprise tools are ugly, hard to use, and nobody cares. That's sadly what a lot of people still think, including, some designers.
But, the employees using those tools do care. And they deserve better!
If you work in enterprise UX, my 1h free online webinar with UXPA is for you!
Register here: https://uxpa.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VBi7V55SQQyEnRsJTxV0tw#/registration
