What is a Design System? A simple guide to get started

A design system is a library of guidelines and reusable components that should establish the consistency of the product experience. The goal of a design system is to create a single source of truth, that is visible and maintainable by the team. Perhaps not all teams need a design system. However, from my personal experience,… Continue reading What is a Design System? A simple guide to get started

Let me be stupid — Creating experiences that are effortless

Let me be stupid — Creating experiences that are effortless While browsing Reddit the other day I stumbled upon this thread.The question asked was simple: ‘Do you ever wish you were a little more intelligent?’ I clicked on the thread expecting answers to range from ‘Duh’ to ‘HELL YES’, but I was extremely surprised when I saw… Continue reading Let me be stupid — Creating experiences that are effortless

Evolving animal personas as design tools with interspecies design

How learnings from interspecies design make non-human personas more effective in protecting and engaging animals Photo by redcharlie on Unsplash Just like user personas, non-human personas represent key stakeholders in design—the animals and environments impacted by human creations. With only a few years in design conversation, however, non-human personas are still very much developing. How… Continue reading Evolving animal personas as design tools with interspecies design

20+ Best Dashboard UI Kits for Figma 2022

Whether you’re a professional designer or simply like to dabble, Figma is a fantastic platform for creating websites and apps for a wide variety of purposes. Where this tool really shines is in creating dashboards and user-interfaces for said websites and apps. With that in mind, we’ve taken the time to put together a collection… Continue reading 20+ Best Dashboard UI Kits for Figma 2022

3 Essential Design Trends, July 2022

There are a lot of dark, retro vibes trending in website design right now. Although there are still some light projects popping up – including a pastel trend below – a lot of what we are seeing has a quite moody feel. Here’s what’s trending in design this month.   Pastel Color Palettes Let’s start… Continue reading 3 Essential Design Trends, July 2022

Stealing like an artist — design heuristics in creative ideation

Stealing like an artist — design heuristics in creative ideation Mental shortcuts and cognitive frameworks aren’t only useful in everyday judgments and problem-solving. When faced with creative challenges, we can also tap into our “design brain” to channel previously encountered ideas into our own work. At their core, design heuristics are the combination, exploration, or transformation of often already… Continue reading Stealing like an artist — design heuristics in creative ideation

The vanishing designer, Prototyper for Figma, understanding service models

Look around us. Every business is an app and every app feels the same, because every designer has the same resume, follows the same process, graduates from the same program, uses the same tool, scrolls the same Dribbble feed, reads the same Medium articles, expects the same career outcome, lives in the same ideology bubble.… Continue reading The vanishing designer, Prototyper for Figma, understanding service models

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10 Best Real Estate Listing Plugins for WordPress

Are you having trouble finding a high quality real estate listing plugin for WordPress? Do you need a full-featured real estate plugin that helps make your real estate transactions more efficient? WPL Pro Real Estate is one of the many high quality MLS WordPress plugins on CodeCanyon Create a robust database of properties for your… Continue reading 10 Best Real Estate Listing Plugins for WordPress

I’m not a robot (but, are you?)

The case for authenticating humans, reclaiming our identities, and defending against the coming swarm of bots. It’s 2022 and we are living in the opening scene of a dystopian Black Mirror episode. The line between what is real and what is fake has already blurred. The line between who is real and who is fake is now… Continue reading I’m not a robot (but, are you?)

Designing against complexity

The first line of defense to solve a complex problem is to avoid complexity all together Designers struggle to deal with complexity. Designers have a bias; they look at every problem as one that could be solved by studying the user. Tools like personas, empathy mapping, or journey mapping do little to uncover the systemic… Continue reading Designing against complexity

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Projectopia WordPress Project Management Plugin Review

Want to streamline how you manage client projects? Successfully delivering projects on time is all about being organized and cutting out obstacles to efficiency. For this to happen, everyone involved must be on the same page.  Here is where Projectopia comes in handy!  Projectopia is one of the best project management plugin for small businesses and freelancers who… Continue reading Projectopia WordPress Project Management Plugin Review

10 Best Exit Intent Popup Plugins for WordPress

Are you having trouble keeping visitors on your website? Do you want to boost your conversions and sales? ConvertPlus is one of the many high quality exit-intent WordPress plugins on CodeCanyon. Keep website visitors on your website and grow your business with exit intent WordPress plugins. These plugins will quickly improve your retention, sales, or… Continue reading 10 Best Exit Intent Popup Plugins for WordPress

10 Lesser-Known (But Incredibly Useful) WordPress Plugins

There are several notable WordPress plugins that just about every web professional knows about. They have a large following and tend to be market leaders in their niche. But most of them, at one point, started as smaller projects. Their popularity grew over time. Today, we’ll look at 10 plugins that don’t have that same… Continue reading 10 Lesser-Known (But Incredibly Useful) WordPress Plugins

If your user research feels incomplete, try talking with your customer support team

They’re probably more than aware of where users are struggling Photo by Olha Ruskykh: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-wearing-headset-while-working-at-the-office-7504886/ Customer Support can be one of the most significant untapped resources for user feedback if you know what questions to ask them. I learned this when I couldn’t interview users for a product I was designing. I was designing an… Continue reading If your user research feels incomplete, try talking with your customer support team

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Design systems; the great connector

Like a backwards prism, design systems focus the energy of many teams into a single beam. They spread efficiency and consistency, but they also shape culture and hone brand expression. They’re about bringing it all together, across disciplines, to form alignment and a cohesive outcome. What’s the big deal about design systems, anyways? You might have heard… Continue reading Design systems; the great connector

Gestalt psicology for dataviz

Understanding why specific data visualization techniques work better than others may not be so simple. Visual Pattern — Credits: Omar Flores on Unsplash We easily perceive a design that catches our attention, or elements that are out of place, but then we hardly know how to identify and evaluate them accurately, almost as if their effect acts at the… Continue reading Gestalt psicology for dataviz

Thoughts on modernism, brutalism, and a number of other outdated “isms”

When hollowed-out ideologies produce failed outcomes. Collage detail from book — the Modernist conception of space A Spatial Triad For French sociologist and philosopher Henri Lefebvre, space is a social product that is collectively shaped through the triad of conception, perception, and experience. The idea central to his book The Production of Space posits that… Continue reading Thoughts on modernism, brutalism, and a number of other outdated “isms”

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3 Essential Design Trends, June 2022

Are you bored with some of your current design projects? This month’s collection of website design trends can help break you out of that rut with some fun and funky alternatives. And all of these options are anything but boring. From visual display to technique, these trends present a different set of challenges. Here’s what’s… Continue reading 3 Essential Design Trends, June 2022

Are we going to need food in the Metaverse?

A vision for how the world of food could evolve with web3. I was skeptical. I shouldn’t have been. Last week, I had the opportunity to attend YFood’s Insights & Innovation event, which took a deep dive into rising trends in the food tech space, specifically web3 and automation. As a UX designer, I’m interested in… Continue reading Are we going to need food in the Metaverse?

Hey, check out this egg-laying wool-milk-pig: said no one ever

How customization can lead to inclusion on Wikipedia. By Robin Schoenbaechler & Jazmin Tanner Over the past year, the Wikimedia Foundation Android team has focused on improving the communications experience in the Wikipedia Android app. Asynchronous collaboration is a core component of the Wikipedia editing experience, and the lower the entry barrier to editing, the… Continue reading Hey, check out this egg-laying wool-milk-pig: said no one ever

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Make Smooth Transitions with Easing in Figma and After Effects

I love creating smooth transitions in Figma, both for concepts and final designs. But for extra finesse and control over easing types, you should export from Figma into Adobe After Effects and finish the job there—let me show you! Smooth(er) Transitions in Figma and Adobe After Effects Smooth transitions in apps and websites are where… Continue reading Make Smooth Transitions with Easing in Figma and After Effects