Blog
Tech Round-up: Remote-control shelf-stackers, Tour de France in AR ...
September 4, 2020
We keep an eye on the latest technology developments so you don’t have to. Here are some of the things we’ve spotted recently that are changing our world - or at least, helping us raise a smile in challenging times.
General Motors prioritises ele...
Tech Round-up: Walking the (robot) dog, painting in VR and electric...
August 12, 2020
We keep an eye on the latest technology developments so you don’t have to. Here are some of the things we’ve spotted recently that are changing our world - or at least, helping us raise a smile in challenging times.
Walking the (robot) dog
Their...
Tech Round-up: A new Russian robot, Google's hieroglyphics translat...
July 24, 2020
We keep an eye on the latest technology developments so you don’t have to. Here are some of the things we’ve spotted recently that are changing our world for the better - or at least, helping us raise a smile in challenging times.
A new Russian r...
Challenges and opportunities: Using the GOV.UK Prototype Kit for ba...
July 21, 2020
Background
The GOV.UK prototype kit is a great tool for creating accessible, interactive prototypes for public services. It ensures a quality of standard when creating coded prototypes that would be harder to achieve if building from scratch eve...
Some ideas for what a user centred planning register could look lik...
July 9, 2020
Yesterday, I published a blog post that questioned whether now is the time to pull local planning register data together onto a national platform. I also shared some of the feedback we’d heard, from planning officers, about the problems with some ...
Tech Round-up: Instant avatars, drones that blow bubbles and Apple’...
July 8, 2020
Modelling 3-D humans from a single photo
The rise of VR - whether in gaming or digital workplaces or learning environments - means that more and more of us will want to transport ourselves into virtual worlds, body and all, in the shape of a real...
Is now the time to build a national platform of planning data?
July 8, 2020
Quick answer: we think it might be!
We’re currently building a new back office system (BoPS) for council planners to more easily assess planning applications from householders.
However, when an application comes into the council it doesn’t ju...
Tech roundup: Digital doppelgangers, diagnostic clothes and process...
June 16, 2020
We keep an eye on the latest technology developments so you don’t have to. Here are some of the digital and high-tech product developments that have been making the headlines over the last week or two.
Lifelike robots take one step closer
Today’...
Promenade: Looking for help to test the MVP
June 15, 2020
A couple of months ago, we kicked off an internal project within Unboxed to create an application that would allow patients to capture Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and share them with their clinical team. You can read a little more ...
Promenade: Weeknotes #6
June 8, 2020
We’re working on an internal project named ‘Promenade’ — a digital application for non-urgent patients to remotely track their conditions, such as arthritis, away from hospital. Find out more about the project here.
This week, we’ve started addin...
Promenade - Weeknotes #5
May 29, 2020
We’re working on an internal project named ‘Promenade’ — a digital application for non-urgent patients to remotely track their conditions, such as arthritis, away from hospital. Find out more about the project here.
Now that most of the basic fun...
Tech roundup: AR art installations, electric vehicles advance and c...
May 29, 2020
We keep an eye on the latest technology developments so you don’t have to. Here are some of the digital product developments that have been making the headlines over the last week or two.
Augmented reality art installations
Fancy a temporary art...
Put away your fancy tools: running remote workshops for humans
May 28, 2020
During the last few months we’ve all had to make adjustments and working remotely has certainly brought with it a number of challenges.
At Unboxed, we place a lot of value on participatory design, and we try to involve our clients and users of th...
Remote communication fatigue and wellbeing
May 22, 2020
We’ve been working remotely from our homes for over eight weeks now since the COVID-19 pandemic hit and we’ve quickly had to adapt our ways of working and communicating.
Technology enables us to continue working with each other and our customers...
Promenade - Weeknotes #4
May 22, 2020
We’re working on an internal project named ‘Promenade’ — a digital application for non-urgent patients to remotely track their conditions, such as arthritis, away from hospital. Find out more about the project here.
Through a series of holidays a...
UX Healthcare online conference 2020
May 21, 2020
On Thursday 14th March, Melanie Martin (Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner in Rheumatology at Guy’s and St. Thomas, Topol Digital Fellow and NHSX Clinical Advisor) and I gave a talk at the UX Healthcare 2020 online conference.
Our session for t...
Tech roundup: Cars with eyes, a Lego microscope and an AI with comm...
May 14, 2020
We keep an eye on the latest technology developments so you don’t have to. Here are some of the things we’ve spotted recently that are changing our world for the better — or at least, helping us raise a smile in challenging times.
Cars with eye...
Promenade: Weeknotes #3
May 11, 2020
We’ve just finished the third week of our dive into an internal project named ‘Promenade’ — a digital application for non-urgent patients to remotely track their conditions, such as arthritis, away from hospital.
The current COVID-19 ...
Promenade: Weeknotes #2
May 1, 2020
Here at Unboxed, we’ve been working on an internal project named ‘Promenade’ — a digital application to remotely monitor non-urgent patients with conditions, such as arthritis, away from hospital.
Our project vision:
For people with stable long...
Tech roundup: Living liquid sculptures, flat-pack genius and more
April 30, 2020
We keep an eye on the latest technology developments so you don’t have to. Here are some of the things we’ve spotted recently that are changing our world for the better — or at least, helping us raise a smile in challenging times.
Choose your d...
How we’re making it easier to assess planning applications and why ...
April 29, 2020
When it comes to the UK planning system there are many problems to solve.
It’s fair to say that very few people, possibly nobody, enjoys applying for planning permission. Navigating a myriad of guidance to determine whether or not you need to app...
Tech roundup: Virtual reality and self-generating tyres
April 16, 2020
We keep an eye on the latest technology developments so you don’t have to. Here are some of the things we’ve spotted recently that are changing our world for the better - or at least, helping us raise a smile in challenging times. Harvesting he...
The future planning system for local authorities
April 15, 2020
Planning teams and departments across UK local authorities are currently experiencing a sector-wide problem: the back-office systems being used to process planning applications aren’t meeting the needs of the planning officers that need them to do...
Promenade: Using Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) to keep ...
April 14, 2020
Early last year, Unboxed worked with the rheumatology team and patients at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust to launch a new digital service supporting patients with long-term conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Our hypothesis was t...
Welcome to the team: Claudia Hopkins
April 14, 2020
Hi, I’m Claudia Hopkins and I’m a designer. I am very excited to join Unboxed and work on a breadth of projects!
Before coming to Unboxed, I was an interaction designer at Public Health England Digital and have mainly focused on healthcare des...
The hyacinths are blooming and there’s no-one to smell them: Remote...
April 8, 2020
The Unboxed team has been remotely working for three weeks now, and at the end of the second week of lock down, as I write this.
The last time some of us were in the office, the hyacinths that were brought to cheer us all into spring were just a...
Welcome to the team: Rhian Lewis
March 31, 2020
Hi, I’m Rhian Lewis (Twitter: @rhian_is), and I’m really happy that I’ve joined Unboxed as a developer.
Although I’ve been working in technology for ten years now (I made a mid-career switch after many years in journalism), I’m still massively en...
Launched: An online presence for a new unitary authority, Buckingha...
January 30, 2020
Since October, Unboxed has been working with Buckinghamshire Council, Torchbox and Scroll to create an online presence for Buckinghamshire Council — a new unitary authority, replacing five existing authorities, due to launch on 1st April 2020.
As...
Welcome to the team: Michelle Isme
January 28, 2020
Hello, I’m Michelle Isme — the newest Unboxed joiner and latest member of the growing design team.
I’ve been working “in digital” for the last 14 years, branching out from digital comms and campaigning jobs to more product and UX-focused roles ...
The benefits of a co-design workshop
January 13, 2020
As a core method of primary user research, co-design is a collaborative and creative process of working with your users and stakeholders in the design process to begin taking the first steps to consolidating user insights within the team and valid...