Anthony Hand

This is a great post for designers moving into management/leadership roles. The nature of your job changes dramatically and it's important to figure out the most effective ways to help your team and the company. As noted in the article, it's very easy to have your time consumed by managerial tasks (operational work). Being deliberate about how you want to spend your time, focusing on the change you want to bring about and working consistently towards that end are critical skills to learn. #UX #Design #DesignLeadership https://lnkd.in/e_g4TRJx

7

2 Comments

This d.MBA episode shares a ton of great nuggets on advocating for design functions and how to have more impact as a designer? #UX #ProductDesign https://buff.ly/47VixoZ

2

Have you ever wondered what makes independent UX design studios stand out in the competitive digital landscape? Having worked with both Fortune 100 giants and small startups, I've seen firsthand how independent UX design studios can provide efficient, creative solutions tailored to client needs—solutions that truly enhance user experience and foster innovation. In my latest article, I dive deep into why independent studios often outperform larger agencies and in-house teams when it comes to UX design. Here are some of the key highlights: ✅ Flexibility and Agility: Without the layers of bureaucracy, independent studios make swift decisions and adapt quickly to client feedback. Imagine getting changes implemented within 24-48 hours instead of the lengthy wait typical in bigger agencies. ✅ Specialized Expertise: We bring deep, diverse knowledge to every project. Our team members have worked across different industries, which gives us the ability to tackle UX challenges from fresh perspectives—something that in-house teams can sometimes struggle with. ✅ Personalized UX Solutions: We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all. Each client has unique needs, and our personalized approach ensures the end product not only meets functional requirements but also resonates deeply with users. ✅ Freedom to Innovate: Independent UX studios operate without the constraints of corporate hierarchies. This independence allows for a creativity-driven environment where we challenge norms and propose innovative solutions, benefiting our clients with impactful, user-centred experiences. If you’re considering enhancing your digital product or need an agile partner to bring your UX vision to life, this article is for you. Dive in and discover how partnering with an independent UX studio could be your best strategic move. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eWTvXdea #UXDesign #UserExperience #IndependentStudios #Innovation #Agility #DesignThinking #AIinDesign #LeanUX

5

AI is the buzzword of the day, but it's simply the next step in our technology evolution. Evolving generative AI interactions are repeating human-computer interaction history. Remember those green screens and books filled with computer prompts, or learning how to use a search engine? Perhaps you do, maybe you don't, but either way AI has modified the way we do this by using natural language! #AI #technologyevolution #naturalanguageprocessing

6

What are you excited for at Figma's Config? Here's my agenda for the 2 day conference. Highlights I'm excited about are Building for Developers, Advocating and Designing for Human Needs, Bringing the Craft Back to Product, and of course the Figma keynotes! What peaks your interest the most? Imprint Digital wants to know what matters for design in your business, industry, or department. #figma #design #development #websites #softwaredevelopment #config2024 #digitalmarketing #marketing #development #reactjs #nextjs #wordpress #webdesign #webdev #userexperience #ecommerce #accessibility #humandesign

5

As a design leader, I'm always looking for 'leadership' portfolio inspiration. There's plenty of awesome inspiration for mid-career IC designers, but it's much harder to find out how design leaders are telling their story in a portfolio format. Needless to say I was excited when I came across Loe Lee's portfolio the other day she's a director of product design (growth) at Zillow. Her portfolio is an elegant guide to her leadership style. She includes product work (behind a password), but also a list of values in addition to longer articles she's written about leading design teams. It's a tough ask to make someone read a longer piece at the stage where they're looking at a portfolio. On the other hand, even after interviews, longer writings can give the hiring manger a window into how a candidate for an important leadership role frames and approaches their work. And, how else can you tell the story of what leadership looks like? Not rhetorical, if you have suggestions I'd love to hear them. Anyways, I thought I'd share. #designleader #portfolio #uxleader #directorofdesign https://lnkd.in/gKTkypUn

4

3 Comments

As a design leader, you work for your team—not the other way around. Learn how to keep your #UXteam happy, creative, and always on schedule. https://lnkd.in/eksZbUXM #DesignLeadership #TeamManagement #UXDesign #Productivity

3

“Be who and where you are.” I’m still processing all of the amazing insights that came out of Clarity: A design systems community conference last week but several themes have been bouncing around in my head since then. → Get smaller and connect - Dan Mall and others talked about a trend towards smaller core design systems with surrounding layers of shared patterns like recipes, all being consumed by teams managing their own local libraries. This results in teams being able to move faster and eliminates the need for design systems folks to feel that have to be a bottleneck. → Be who and where you are - John Voss and others talked about building the system that your users and team need rather than conforming to what larger companies are putting out there or the oversimplified “stereotype” you yourself have unintentionally created for your product. → Listen - Ben Callahan and others talked about the need to reset our current mental models for how design systems teams see our roles and responsibilities. How do we move away from our perceived tactical responsibilities towards more listening and validating of the needs of our consumers and users? 💎 My personal takeaways from all of this have me reframing my own journey with my team from "a series of mistakes" towards "the necessary growth to become the team we are today." → When we implemented that now outdated framework, tried to centralize everything into a single bloated design system, or wrote all of that verbose documentation, we were doing what we needed to do to mature and are a better team as a result. → What my team is going through, we're all going through. The role of design in general is changing across the industry, not just in my organization. How lucky are we, that we have the opportunity to learn from each other as designers? → As team roles change, I’m curious to pivot my default stance away from “defend the designer's role”, and would be curious to see how I can facilitate “design” activities regardless of whether they are done by a designer, product manager, or engineer. I feel so very fortunate to be a part of such an amazing community and love the reminder that when you get a bunch of systems thinkers together in the same room, you're going to see patterns. Thanks again 🖤 Jina A. and all the speakers last week. #clarity2024 #designsystems #design

61

8 Comments

Strat USA conference (in-person only) is coming up September 9th in Boulder, and I wanted to share a quick intro to the workshop I'm leading that morning on Probabilistic Design. More information and tickets available here: https://lnkd.in/gub6Sv8U #designstratey #aidesign #uxdesign #uxstrategy

56

4 Comments

Had to share this thoughtful article about the conflicting feelings we have as designers with new AI tools.... made me consider the threat of too much standardization over innovation, or letting your own creative instincts atrophy. Check it out and lmk your thoughts

6

When Dropbox shifted to #VirtualFirst, my Design team helped lead the efforts to create the new model in a way that actually reimagined modern work. By applying a human centered design approach to build Virtual First—understand what users need, develop hypotheses, design and pilot solutions, observe results and iterate— what we saw as a result was true cultural transformation. This way of working is intentionally designed to make space for creativity, tinkering and deep work, while also reserving time for synchronous collaboration and IRL time when we need it. Through this process, we quickly realized there was a need for more conversation around the unique challenges of working in distributed ways. That’s how we came up with the idea for Remotely Curious—a podcast where we dive deep into the world of remote work and the struggles that come with it. One of my favorite episodes is on the topic of setting boundaries, an art that can take practice while working remotely. It’s something we’re laser focused on here at Dropbox—83% of employees feel successful in designing their own work schedules, but we know our employees want continued support around boundary setting between their work and personal lives as we continue in our Virtual First journey. Psychologist, professor, and best-selling author Andrea Bonior joined Remotely Curious to guide us through the specifics of setting boundaries in the workplace. One lesson that really stuck with me from the conversation was the idea that "clarity is kindness." It’s easy to fall into the trap of people-pleasing, where we start equating saying “yes” as being nice and saying “no” as being “difficult” or creating an uncomfortable environment. But clarity—being clear about your limits and expectations—is actually one of the kindest things you can do for yourself and your team. As leaders in a distributed environment, this is incredibly important to maintaining balance and remaining in control of our work. Creating healthy boundaries in my life enables me to be both a better leader for my team, and a better father and equal contributor at home. By being intentional in supporting myself as well as having a support system, or a “Team Alastair” around me, I can maintain better balance so that I can be the best version of myself, maintain peak-level performance and continue to scale both professionally and personally. I highly recommend giving this one a listen, and would love to hear your thoughts. https://lnkd.in/dn8As9zG #productivity #innovation #futureofwork

94

1 Comment

Federated design systems are great. In theory. But reality is a little more complicated. There are challenges associated with quality, consistency and follow through. In our latest episode, Davy Fung and I discuss the highs and lows of federated design systems. What's worked, what hasn't and how to come out the other side in one piece. Listen here: https://lnkd.in/g4W3SYqR #designsystems #podcast

63

5 Comments

If you're a designer and new to AI, I highly recommend watching this video (only 20 mins long if you watch at 1.5x speed), which provides a great primer for the topic of AI in UX. I find the content very well organized and easy to follow. It touches on the concept of AI at a super high level, various use cases, important considerations when designing with AI, and how Booking.com leverages AI to enhance their user experience.

4

📣 Calling for beneficiary candidates 📣 Kumquat has partnered with Open Technology Fund to fund and design solutions 💵 for companies and organizations that counter censorship and combat repressive surveillance. 🌍 Here are examples of design projects we can support: - enhanced UI/UX designs for an existing application or website - secure communication tools to protect against surveillance - censorship circumvention technologies - privacy enhancing technologies - digital security training platforms 📅 If you are part of an organization that can benefit from any of these solutions, please schedule an introductory call with me here before July 26th: https://lnkd.in/dJ5zHGzb Being bold, courageous, and leveraging design and technology for good has always been a core ethos of Kumquat. In light of ongoing conflict and genocide in places like 🇵🇸 Palestine, 🇸🇩 Sudan, 🇨🇩 Congo, 🇺🇦 Ukraine; and democratic movements sweeping across 🇰🇪🔥 Kenya, we need your help sharing this with any and all organizations who can benefit from the fund. Please share widely with your network, and reach out to myself or Laurisha R. with any questions. #opentechfund #internetfreedom #designforimpact #designthinking #opensourcetechnology

44

So, the dscout Research team has questions. 🤓 If conducting research is in any way a part of your job, Nathan would like to conduct research on you! Consider taking this brief survey of his -- you could get yourself a coveted pair of People Nerds socks, just sayin. #peoplenerds #researchersresearchingresearchers #uxresearch #designresearch #researchtools #justinitforthesocks

14

Why not all voices should be equal in the design process. If we are serious about social change and equity, we need to start centring the knowledge and decisions of those deeply impacted. #UX #productDesign #designProcess

4

Over the years I've tried many approaches to design critiques with the teams I've managed. Without fail these 4 simple principles impact the effectiveness of design critiques greater than anything else when established as ground rules. For presenters: ✦ Describe the problem you're solving ✦ State the target audience* ✦ Specify the feedback you're seeking All of the above can be done in less than a minute, either verbally or in written format. For participants: ✦ Ask questions before comments "I think you should go with blue instead of red" is less effective than first asking "Why did you choose red for this?" The additional context that comes from asking questions will lead to more effective feedback. Design critiques are the easiest and most important thing design teams can do to improve design quality. Alone they are not a silver bullet. But they are the foundation for all other improvements to design quality. If you're not holding regular design critiques (usually weekly), this is step 1 for improving design quality. If you're already holding regular design critiques but not doing the 4 principles above well, this is step 1 for improving your design critiques. Better critiques. Better quality. * "Everyone" is rarely acceptable as the target audience. Even if the feature being presented is intended for everyone, 99% of the time there's a specific segment or archetype you're aiming for. #design #critiques #quality

356

14 Comments

Designers take note- it's not good enough to simply design great UX, we also need to deeply understand the technology its built on. Good design is: 1. In support of the business model — of course. 2. Leverages strategic technology bets the company is placing — wait, what? Mercedes rejected Apple's next-gen CarPlay because it didn’t fit the company's strategic software and compute architecture shifts. This example underscores a crucial point: what does a new technology architecture enable for the user experience that wasn't possible before?  Takeaway: Understanding the technology is essential for creating differentiated experiences. Mastery of the underlying technology can transform commodified design into great, innovative user experiences that leverage the investment your company is making. Agree or disagree?  https://lnkd.in/gQyvTY2Z #AutomotiveUX #UserExperienceDesign #HumanMachineInterface #SoftwareDefinedVehicles #TechInDesign

412

49 Comments