With products or services created by design-led companies such as iPhone and AirBnB gaining recognition, product teams nowadays are more aware of the existence of design, and yet many still think of it as something that is of lower priority than engineering or product management.
Continue readingAuthor: Simon Li
Designer
Build a Highlight Reel of Yourself
It’ll be good for your self-esteem.
It took me almost 30 years and a lot of reading to learn this: keeping a highlight reel of ourselves is so important for fostering healthy self-esteem.
People with healthy self-esteem are collected and nonreactive in the face of doubts, judgements or insults. Life is tough. When the outside world doesn’t give us love or respect, healthy self-esteem is that thing that lifts us up, allows us to love ourselves, fends off whatever nonsense thrown at us and moves us forward.
Continue readingHow Inspiration from Nature Makes for Better Designs
Many of us love Apple’s products because they are delightful to use. If we observe a bit carefully, it’s not hard to see how their designers think: They are constantly inspired by nature, which informs not just the visuals (i.e. skeuomorphism), but also interactions.
Continue readingMicrocontrast
In art and design, the levels of details is closely related to the amount of visual interest in a piece. Rich details can help us transform something bland and banal into something amazing, and one way to add details is through what I call microcontrast, which is the contrast within existing elements of your design.
Continue readingWanna Transition into UX? Here Are 3 Actionable Tips
Changing careers can be scary, especially when you haven’t had a complete picture of the field you’re thinking about getting into. To help you cope with the overwhelm and avoid analysis paralysis, below are three quick tips. They should be helpful even if you’re not yet 100% committed to switching to UX.
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