Matthew Stephens – Medium

Matthew Stephens

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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

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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

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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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