Kai Ding

I’ve had the privilege of working with designers and engineers so deeply committed to creating exceptional user experiences that they go beyond their defined roles, stretching the boundaries of design and engineering alike. Designers start coding to bring interactions to life exactly as they envision—something hard to achieve with design tools alone. Engineers move beyond just “making it work” to crafting every detail, caring about the nuances that make an experience delightful. In previous roles, to support and amplify these talents, I’ve set up "design prototyping" or "design technology" teams that bridge engineering, product, and design. These teams help close gaps, allowing designers and engineers to collaborate seamlessly and push their boundaries. At Slack, we’ve established the Design Engineering function—a role critical to our mission of elevating craft, accelerating prototyping, and strengthening design-engineering collaboration. This function came to life through an ongoing journey of learning and adapting how best to align design and engineering to unlock product innovation, led by Chris Delbuck. Big thanks to Ethan Eismann for the support. Transformations like this happen only with passionate leaders and doers like Chris, Gleb Denisov, and Naman Kedia, work together to unlock their skills and people superpowers. Their dedication and example drive change. Chris and Naman have documented this journey in a blog post, where they also lay out the career paths and foundational blueprint for Design Engineers. Their insights can serve as a guide for others setting up design engineering teams for success. 🔗 Check it out here:

34

Designers using all frameworks in hope it will magically make designs better.

41

1 Comment

💡 New Figma resource for your cross-functional partners! I have created this short document for folks who may not be familiar with Figma. "Figma 101 for non-designers" cover simple tasks such as exporting frames, retrieving a link to a specific screen, and more. https://lnkd.in/e8ub_Dvc Please share or distribute to other team members who may need help navigating their way around Figma!

59

UX/DR should be a job title. I spent a few days last week with dscout and loved the discussions around UX Design and UX Research and their roles. In the current job market, we have seen many talented UX/Researchers laid off or devalued. While they delivered valuable insights, in many cases, they were not actionable or did not structure a team around them to be actionable. This is where we continue to blur the lines on Research and Design and deliver for our customers.    A UX designer is inherently a UX researcher, as effective design hinges on a deep understanding of user needs and behaviors. In this role, the UX designer immerses themselves in research processes, gathering insights through user interviews, usability testing, and data analysis. This research informs design choices, allowing designers to validate ideas and iterate based on real user feedback. A UX researcher can go further as well to inform design, stretch to do some wireframing or other artifacts to support the work - delivering insights is not the end state. #ux #userexperience #userresearch #uxresearch #uxr #colab #amazondesign #designleadership

78

10 Comments

Human-centered design prioritizes human needs by focusing on users and applying ergonomics and usability principles. This ensures systems are effective, improve well-being, and promote accessibility, while mitigating negative impacts on health and safety. Hiring humans who bring empathy and creativity to the design process is essential for creating solutions that truly benefit people. Hire more people, people! It's not only about maximizing profits. ❤️ #HumanCenteredDesign #UserExperience #DesignForGood #EthicalTech

8

After interviewing many designers on ADPList, I consistently offer the same advice: Simplify and reduce the amount of text and process sketches. Focus your case studies more on the finalized designs rather than the journey to get there. This might seem counterintuitive, but your portfolio serves as a validation of your high-quality visual and interaction design skills, as well as your product thinking. Showcase these qualities by emphasizing the designs themselves rather than the process behind them. Once you reach the 1:1 interview stage, you’ll have the opportunity to dive deeper into your process and explain how you achieved these designs. For now, let the designs speak for themselves. #designportfolio #designadvice #portfolioreviewtips

263

56 Comments

For anyone wanting to learn more about how we're working on AI as a design team here at Klaviyo, have a listen to this interview with Alexandra Holness

14

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

Do you want consistency between designers and front-end developers? Use of design tokens. When everyone uses the same terms, it simplifies things for both teams. Here's Google's introduction to design tokens and how you can implement them: https://lnkd.in/gpWMwqVz

6

2 Comments

An update on our decision to roll back the Figma AI Make Designs feature: After we learned about an issue with the underlying design system we made for it that resulted in some designs resembling existing apps, we temporarily disabled it to not only fix the issue but to review and understand what we could have done differently. Here is our retro: https://lnkd.in/gsz7T_j6

628

35 Comments

It’s easy to get caught up in functional ratios and its often a losing battle stuck in idealisms. With that said there’s a real business risk when design and supporting teams aren’t invested in. This video does a great job explaining how efficacy and efficiency across product and development teams drop when this happens.

17

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

🚀 Streamlining Complexity: From 408 Button Variants to 1 🚀 We faced a challenge with our legacy Design System—408 button variants, each covering various sizes, states, and purposes. Managing this complexity was no small feat. 🌟 The Solution: We are rebuilding our Design System from the ground up. By leveraging Figma variables, we created a new, streamlined system. 🔧 The Result: As an example, we have a single, highly customizable button component with auto layout, covering all states and types. This new system not only simplifies our design process but also replaces the 408 variants with just one component! Swipe through to see how we achieved this and the impact it has on our design consistency and efficiency. 💡 👉 What do you think? Did you find this useful? Drop a comment below—I’d love to hear your thoughts! #DesignSystem #Figma #ProductDesign #FigmaVariables

52

8 Comments

Great read about the current and future position of Product Design in tech. Could not agree more. "Design workflows at most tech companies follow an incredible number of structured tasks: for each project, designers must create user personas, user stories, journey maps, wireframes, user interviews, and much more. These concepts originated in the service design industry and initially helped facilitate a very human-focused design process – which, of course, is good. However, driven by a desire from businesses to turn design into a process-heavy, measurable function, we’re filling our time with checklists instead of focusing on the very thing that makes designers relevant: our ability to propose new points of view and delight users with meaningful experiences. These core competences that were inherited from graphic design have been replaced with a poor man’s version of an anthropology major where the act of design is mostly based on averaging user opinions." https://lnkd.in/dwJhER7e

30

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

WANTED: Senior-Level UI/UX Designer for iOS (Full-Time or Part-Time, Remote) 🦸‍♂️ Ready to join the A-list? We’re on the lookout for a phenomenal Senior-Level UI/UX Designer to join our league of extraordinary creatives. If your UI designs can make the Mona Lisa look like child’s play, this is for you! Why you should care: 🥇 2022 App Store Award Winner — yup, that's us 🏆 2022 Apple Design Award Finalist — we’re almost celebrities 🌎 Over 4 million users — the most genuine community ❤️ 4.9 App Store rating — because excellence is our baseline 📲 Check out our blockbuster apps: Waterllama - https://lnkd.in/eF94Kxg Mindllama - https://lnkd.in/gnuSkpbC Pinkllama - https://lnkd.in/gBtdFdWR 🧑‍🚀 Your Mission, should you choose to accept: • Create breathtaking UI/UX designs that captivate • Design compelling marketing assets that make it irresistible • Deliver master files to developers like a guru • Evaluate implementations with the eye of an eagle 👑 Must-Haves: • Fluent in English, Ukrainian, or Russian language (communication is key) • Extensive experience in iOS app design — sorry, no beginners • Located in Europe or US time zones for seamless collaboration 👾 Passionate about pixel perfection? You might just be our dream match. 📫 Prove you've got the magic touch by sending your portfolio to team@waterllama.com Make sure to: 1. Describe your epic journey in iOS app design 2. Flex the examples of iOS apps you’ve elevated 3. Link your Top 3 favorite iOS apps (we’re all fans here!) PS: If the thought of being ‘just another designer’ terrifies you, this might be the gig for you. We’re only looking for those who are ready to handle the spotlight with us and challenge their limits. Oh, and the last two cents: put “llamazing” into your email subject to let us know you’ve read through to the end. Talk soon!

84

3 Comments

I'm considering breathing life back into wireframes—or monochromatic, super low-fidelity prototypes—as a standard artifact to use in conversations with stakeholders. I keep walking into discussions that easily shift focus to UI inconsistencies with written or visual language—elements that are obviously in play due to a designer feeling the pressure to rush and be as comprehensive as possible in their Figma prototypes. We've already instilled framing that includes task flows to illustrate conditional scenarios within the context of workflow while illustrating data shifts, such as bounces. That has helped reach alignment on conditional scenarios prior to walking through the interface. This is the last step, I guess. I'm secretly hoping we get to the point where highly annotated state diagrams return—I'll be in full flex mode. 💪 💪 💪

117

49 Comments

I recently participated in the design hiring process, allowing me to observe how many designers set up resumes and portfolios. One thing that immediately stood out was the framework some designers used to stand out: setting up the Goal, Problem, and Solution of a portfolio piece. https://buff.ly/3VfdRFp #DesignCommunication #Jobs #ProductDesign #UX

1

Really annoyed at Figma's price gouging here. There is no reason other than greed: https://lnkd.in/gfdrEiWH Oh, and I emailed them about it and this line from their reply was particularly poignant: "Additionally the minimum for enterprise is a $5k invoice minimum. 6 enterprise seats or made up with other products." To put that in context... our monthly Adobe bill (for 8 CC, 7 PS, 6 Acrobat licenses) is ~NZ$2k... Amazing how quickly enshittification sets in... #Figma #Design #SoftwareLicensing

8

3 Comments