Matthew Stephens – Medium

Matthew Stephens

he/him

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The Black Mirror Exercise: Building Better by Imagining Worse

Why my design team writes Black Mirror episodes to sharpen our sense of ethics

Sep 15

A dark cinematic poster styled like Black Mirror. A man stares into a glowing mirror where his reflection appears younger and smiling, while he looks older and worn in reality. The Netflix and Black Mirror logos are overlaid across the center.

Sep 15

Pinned

Designing for Death: A UX Guide for End-of-Life Products

Lessons from building a planning app for North America’s largest funeral provider.

Jun 19

A softly lit, painterly scene of a younger woman and an older man sitting close together, gently focused on a tablet. A lit candle rests on the table beside them, and white lilies and soft blue tones suggest a quiet, reflective atmosphere — possibly planning or remembering a loved one.

Jun 19

Pinned

Designing for Joy: How Play Sparks Creativity and Gets Better Results

Practical ways to make design more fun for yourself, your team, and your clients

Mar 6

Team of UX designers laughing having the most fun possible while brainstorming as a group , modern collage

Mar 6

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Designing for Older Audiences: Checklist + Best Practices

Simple steps to improve usability for all generations.

Mar 6

Prompt: A contemporary collage featuring diverse older adults interacting with oversized UI elements, bold typography, and playful shapes that represent easy-to-use tech, modern, abstract, colorful, editorial style

Mar 6

Designing for Kids: Creating an Ethical Framework for Digital Play

Designing digital experiences for kids means balancing creativity with responsibility. Here’s my proposal for a new standard in…

Sep 8

Prompt: Four young children interact with a colorful, kid-friendly digital interface filled with rounded shapes, bright buttons, and playful icons. The background features bold, geometric patterns in primary and pastel colors, evoking a fun, educational app environment.

Sep 8

What Competitive Sports Taught Me About Leading Design Teams

Real lessons from the field that make creative teams faster, smarter, and stronger.

May 6

What Competitive Sports Taught Me About Leading Design Teams

May 6

Move Fast and Break Nothing: How AI Can Support Ethical Product Development

A playbook and custom GPT for designing with speed, empathy, and trust in the era of AI.

Apr 16

a dynamic swirl of bright lines racing around silhouettes of designers co-creating around a glowing orb in the middle, digital swirling lines showing rapid iteration, suggestive of collaboration and trust, high-energy brushstrokes, modern illustration style, vibrant color contrast

Apr 16

Designing for Trust: The 8 Principles of Privacy-First Design

Practical strategies for designers to build trust and safeguard data in an increasingly invasive digital world.

Feb 3

Designing for Trust: The 8 Principles of Privacy-First Design

Feb 3

Harness AI to Make Smarter, Safer Decisions Using a Futures Wheel

A simple prompt to reveal unintended consequences

Dec 31, 2024

My adaptation of Jerome C Glenn’s futures wheel

Dec 31, 2024

How I Use Radar Charts and AI to Build Balanced Teams (w/ Free Templates)

I’ve played competitive sports for most of my life, and one principle I hold firm: companies shouldn’t be treated as a ‘family’ — they…

Oct 25, 2024

How I Use Radar Charts and AI to Build Balanced Teams (w/ Free Templates)

Oct 25, 2024

Matthew Stephens

Matthew Stephens

he/him

Fractional Design Leader. Co-Founder @ DeviantArt. Assume everything I write has been at least partially written by AI.

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