From a grad student to a product designer
Posted on January 9, 2017 Leave a Comment
Some very valuable first year advice:
Over-prepare for interviews
Design interviews needs immense preparation as well. When we think about how we form opinions and ideas about a topic, it’s only with very constant immersion that we form a solid judgement. The same applies for any design related activity.
Explore design trends to form an opinion
2016 saw a lot of interesting design trends — designing conversational UIs, designing for VR, apps going completely contextual by learning about users etc. I did a mistake by being overly skeptical about most of these trends. I saw them as a fad that would pass over time. On reflecting, if I were to relive through these emerging trends, I would jump head-first and explore what the emerging hype is all about.
We need more companies like Medium
Posted on January 9, 2017 Leave a Comment
Today, Medium’s CEO Ev Williams made a quite intriguing announcement: Medium is taking a few steps back in the direction they were headed to, reducing their team in about one third and eliminating 50 jobs in sales, support, and other business functions.
Bringing Medium’s announcement to a smaller scale: this is a good example of design decisions UX Designers and Product Designers have to make every day. When we’re deciding which features to prioritize in our product, one of the most common challenges we have is to balance out the user’s interests with the brand’s interests, to ensure what we are building is both relevant and sustainable from a business perspective.
Now step back for a second and stop thinking in terms of “interests”.
Think about “mission”.
It’s not about choosing the features that are going to bring you the highest short-term value, but choosing the ones that will keep your brand’s values in check — the ones that will give your brand enough runway to achieve their long-term vision. A tough design decision that becomes more and more important in a world bloated of features, services and snowflakes.
Conversational UI design with Slack
Posted on March 15, 2016 Leave a Comment
“The ‘no UI’ buzz may sound worrying to designers, but ‘no UI’ is a misnomer. Conversational UIs are interfaces, just — well — conversational.”
Quality Wireframes Inspiration
Posted on March 15, 2016 Leave a Comment
For the designer, good wireframing makes the transition to hi-fi design smoother, saving valuable time and effort.
The Unbearable Homogeneity of Design
Posted on March 15, 2016 Leave a Comment
“So, this whole designing with empathy thing? It literally cannot happen if all designers have the same background, the same look, the same style.”
Facebook Rolls Out New “Reactions”
Posted on February 24, 2016 Leave a Comment
“Like” has some competition. Meet Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry.
The Internet couldn’t resist
Should Tech Companies Allow “Backdoor” Encryption?
Posted on February 18, 2016 Leave a Comment
“The FBI wants us to make a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation. In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession.
The government suggests this tool could only be used once, on one phone. But that’s simply not true. Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices. In the physical world, it would be the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks — from restaurants and banks to stores and homes. No reasonable person would find that acceptable.”
Thoughts?
What will 2020 look like?
Posted on November 16, 2015 Leave a Comment
Sharing Economy, Mind Power, Automation, GLocal, & Augmented Reality
lexinteractive 