Designing together: the importance of shared principles for design teams

Maximilian Speicher · Follow Published in UX Collective · 6 min read · 4 hours ago — Share TL;DR: Design principles operationalize a team’s values into concrete guidelines that inform the design process. The specific steps we took for developing our own set of principles were: (1) Brainstorming already established principles, inspiration from other teams,… Continue reading Designing together: the importance of shared principles for design teams

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From toy to titan: the activations behind the Barbie effect

The marketing budget for Barbie was $150m, more than the $145m for the movie itself—and it shows. Barbie takes over the streets of Dubai. Credit Eye Studio. Operation Barbie Summer (the internal codename from Warner Bros) is in full swing. Since its release on July 21st, just two weeks ago, the Barbie movie has shattered 11 box… Continue reading From toy to titan: the activations behind the Barbie effect

Stress kills listening skills

Where we may normally struggle a little in getting our point across advocating for users and our true intentions for the success of the business heard, stress adds an extra layer of complication making it even harder to manage those complex stakeholder relationships and emotions. Suddenly, we are being misunderstood and perceived as negative and… Continue reading Stress kills listening skills

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How to ‘un-stuck’ your design work

Three lifelines to call on when you’re feeling stuck creatively I’ve been a professional designer for over twenty years, working across a wide range of media: UX/UI, motion, branding, web design, mobile apps, and creative coding. Most lately, I’ve been developing my font design practice. Design is a long journey of exploration and growth. You… Continue reading How to ‘un-stuck’ your design work

Speaking English so non-native colleagues understand

CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION International team collaboration. Josh LaMar (He/Him) · Follow Published in UX Collective · 14 min read · 12 hours ago — 1 Listen Share Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash Collaborating with colleagues around the world is a rich and rewarding experience. Exposure to new cultures and ideas stimulates new ways of thinking… Continue reading Speaking English so non-native colleagues understand

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Our dangerous tendency to hold on to losing bets

Tools to mitigate commitment bias and overconfidence Midjourney Last week, we wrote about how ‘conviction’ is a very human attribute responsible for our powerful, yet irrational ability to almost will positive outcomes into existence; presumably against all odds. Today we’ll cover the dark side of conviction and overconfidence — and unfortunately, the more common tendency to overcommit and… Continue reading Our dangerous tendency to hold on to losing bets

What goes in must come out

How to keep from getting overwhelmed or creating excuses not to be constantly learning more. Prioritize both your time and the content you want to consume. A lot of content exists out there and it can feel overwhelming to know where to start. Make a list of skills–hard or soft–you want to improve and learn… Continue reading What goes in must come out

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I sent an email, but nobody read it. So I sent out an invite.

When it comes to group dynamics, there are two key factors that play a crucial role: task-oriented and maintenance-oriented behaviors. As you plan your team’s agenda, consider how these factors influence the dynamics and productivity of the group. midjourney 2023 / prompt: Google calendar full of meetings “Not another meeting…” or “this could have been an email…”… Continue reading I sent an email, but nobody read it. So I sent out an invite.

The role of conviction and narrative in strategic decision making

Kyle Byrd · Follow Published in UX Collective · 9 min read · 1 day ago — 1 Listen Share Midjourney If you’ve been following these posts, you may have noticed the word conviction comes up quite a bit. In the particular case of navigating radical uncertainty, it’s the battleground between biases and heuristics (how… Continue reading The role of conviction and narrative in strategic decision making

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Why Ive's way of doing personal projects is good for designers

Why Ive’s way of doing personal projects is good for designers Personal projects should be an important part of life as designers, but is mixed with the work and the realities of an in-house design team, which can be a messy process. Often, the question of fulfilment comes into play. Surprisingly, the answers to fulfilment… Continue reading Why Ive's way of doing personal projects is good for designers

Why your design critique sucked

What went wrong, what makes a great critique and alternatives. Ben Maclaren · Follow Published in UX Collective · 6 min read · 2 days ago — Share Photo by Shalone Cason on Unsplash I ran a design critique the other week. Frankly, it sucked. Here’s what went wrong and how to make things right… Continue reading Why your design critique sucked

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Think Inside the Box: How Accessibility Shapes Digital Product Design

Think inside the box: How accessibility shapes digital product design How constraints ignite creativity, spark innovation, and why accessibility is a uniquely effective constraint everyone should embrace. “Design depends largely on constraints.” — Charles Eames Access to digital technologies is a fundamental human right¹ and legal obligation². In an ideal world, there would be no need for more justification to… Continue reading Think Inside the Box: How Accessibility Shapes Digital Product Design

Are data dashboards vanity projects?

At the same time, what is often overlooked is that these charts, graphs, and other visuals can be merely decorations if users are not data literate. Based on the research on data literacy, this article offers a critique of the overabundance of data visualizations and dashboards, talks about when to use them appropriately, and sketches… Continue reading Are data dashboards vanity projects?

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How you can create non-obvious UX research insights

6 tips to sidestep “we already knew it” feedback on a research report Image on https://www.nirandfar.com/hindsight-bias/ Every UX researcher wonders how they can create amazing insights that go beyond expectations and elicit a ‘wow!’ reaction from their audience. Despite conducting numerous rounds of interviews, sometimes our research reports can seem too plain and bland if they… Continue reading How you can create non-obvious UX research insights

Zuck vs. Musk: please, no more fighting

In today’s world, many companies strive to emulate the tech giants, and “collaboration” has become one of the most overused buzzwords. Yet, this spirit of collaboration rarely seems to extend beyond the walls of the enterprise. The prevailing motivation still seems to be to “win” against the competition, with little room for true collaboration outside… Continue reading Zuck vs. Musk: please, no more fighting

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Reconstructions of the Indigenous

A letter to my fellow pragmatic dreamers and co-designers of new realities Continue reading on UX Collective »

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Why is Twitter paying creators? The momentum towards revenue sharing

This was a well-timed moved from Twitter, which has seen renewed competition lately from both newcomers (like Mastadon, Bluesky, Post.News), as well as Instagram Threads (which shot up to 100M signups in five days). Though Threads has its own problems (notably a lack of product-market fit from having been built as an “everything for everyone”… Continue reading Why is Twitter paying creators? The momentum towards revenue sharing

What’s the difference between design values and principles?

Collectively, design values and principles are the guiding beliefs and priorities that shape the design process for any design team, product or designer. But what should they be, and what’s the difference between them? Photo by Tyler Lastovich on Unsplash We’re all different, and whether we’re aware of it or not we’re all likely to have our… Continue reading What’s the difference between design values and principles?

Threads vs Twitter, design thinking decline, Tears of Kingdom, loading UX

Fabricio Teixeira · Follow Published in UX Collective · 3 min read · 9 hours ago — 1 Listen Share Adam Mosseri, who is running point on the app for Meta, wants Threads to be a platform for culture rather than politics: “politics and hard news aren’t ‘worth the scrutiny, negativity (let’s be honest), or… Continue reading Threads vs Twitter, design thinking decline, Tears of Kingdom, loading UX

How ‘collective illusions’ influence decision making

How our perceptions of the world around us and the groups we work in may be misleading This week builds on our previous post on cognitive illusions and perception errors. optical illusions help illustrate how blind we are to the cognitive heuristics we use to make sense of the world around us. What they show is… Continue reading How ‘collective illusions’ influence decision making

Threads vs. Twitter: the liminal border between culture and politics

Meta’s Threads is a runaway success. It is claimed that the platform reached 100 million users in only five days. News about it dominates the blogosphere. Threads, however, has its critics. In the design community, the new platform has been criticised for not allowing non-Instagram users to sign up; not possessing a “Following” feed (as… Continue reading Threads vs. Twitter: the liminal border between culture and politics

What does “rigorous” research really mean?

I’m writing this at home in my fourth-story apartment. When I do, I’m trusting that my building isn’t going to collapse on me. Continue reading on UX Collective »

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