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I’m at Polywork
A screenshot of my profile page in Polywork. 3 January 2022 -
A 2022 New Year’s Message for the Design Team
Happy new year 2022! Hope you had a great and well-spent holiday with friends and families and with yourself, of course, and an overall awesome 2021. There are many things to be thankful about. 🙏
For the start of this year, it’s a good reminder to always take time to slow down, take a step back, and generally maintain a well-balanced work-lifestyle. It’s ok to take things slowly, one step at a time.
Look back and look forward to gain clarity on your professional goals, and how it would align with our organization’s. In the coming weeks, we’re hoping to make our individual roadmaps clearer, as well as what we would like to achieve for the whole design team.
In the meantime, this is what I could suggest: write down what you want to achieve or accomplish this 2022. Who do you want to be? Where do you want to go? Or even just the answer to where are you right now? Then let’s discuss those in our bilas.
Thanks to each of you for all your solid contributions to our projects and especially to each other in our team. 👏👏👏
Looking forward to more fruitful collaborations with you. 🙂
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One Album Wonders
I’m not sure if it’s only a phenomenon in my brain that the first album of a new artist that I listen to, I immediately like almost all songs in it. Then when I encounter or seek the other albums, it didn’t have the same effect. It feels like a certain standard or image have been imprinted in me about that artist. All other songs were being compared to that first impeccable album that I’ve loved.
Case in point: Oasis’ (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? was the first album (albeit their second album) of a musical artist that I bought with my saved allowance. All songs in that album was monumental in contributing to my identity and confidence as a teenager. Liam Gallagher was my role model both in poetry and photography, fashion sense and the shag hairstyle. The next album that I discovered of them was Definitely Maybe, which was their debut studio album. On the contrary, it was ok, I liked Supersonic and Married With Children.
A picture of Oasis’ cassette tape album, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? Not all artists that I’ve encountered for the first time was through a full album. Bon Jovi, for example, was an influence from my cousin and uncle almost ten years my senior. They introduced me to this guilty pleasure rock band through their Cross Road greatest hits album. Then after a little while, These Days album was released. From a different end of the spectrum from Oasis, that album influenced me in romantic and sappy ways. After a decade or so and three studio albums in between, another album came my way, Lost Highway.
I’ll be growing this list as I comb through my personal collection. Enjoy!
[ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/be-here-now”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/be-my-thrill”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/blackbird”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/careless-love”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/come-away-with-me”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/corinne-bailey-rae”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/deja-nu”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/details”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/friends”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/life”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/lost-highway”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/love-is-here”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/eye-to-the-telescope”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/glow”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/god-bless-the-child”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/happenstance”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/in-between-dreams”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/jagged-little-pill”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/keep-it-together”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/koop-islands”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/let-it-die”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/love-in-the-land-of-rubber-shoes-dirty-ice-cream”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/melody-a-m”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/music-from-the-buffet-table”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/mondays-are-like-tuesdays-and-tuesdays-are-like-wednesdays”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/moon-safari”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/philosophy-of-the-world”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/playing-in-the-fields”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/riot-on-an-empty-street”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/silence-is-easy”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/so-much-for-the-city”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/start-from-here”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/static-and-silence”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/tanto-tempo”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/the-look-of-love”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/these-days”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/tourist”] [ntt_percept page=”musical-albums/whats-the-story-morning-glory”] -
Questions from a Graphic Designer
I’ve received a message in ADPList from a graphic designer who’s interested in UX design, asking curious questions about the field. It’s a good start for anyone exploring to ask many questions!
Hi I’m a graphic designer who is exploring UX/UI design field. Here are my questions:
Do UX/UI designers have to learn HTML/CSS to create an app/website?
Short answer
No, because you can manage your expertise in the world of UX itself and find partners that will focus on frontend development (HTML/CSS/JS) to create an app/website.
Long answer
Creation, design-wise: No, because at this point you’re at the conceptual / mock-up fidelity phase (i.e., design)
Creation, design-wise: Yes, because knowledge in how to implement your designs will make you a better designer; you will know the limitations and possibilities of the actual website you’re designing; also when prototyping, you can use HTML/CSS/JS
Creation, technical implementation-wise: No, because there are tools that export directly from design to code; there are also drag and drop website builders like Google Sites (optimization for a performant website, is another topic, though).
Creation, technical implementation-wise: Yes, because frontend development is close to UX design in terms of process (design then implementation)
A different answer
It depends — you can simply wait to discover where the road of exploring UX design will take you. Me, for example, I started with my interest in HTML & CSS that’s why I got into web design, and eventually UX design.
Does a UX designer design the app/website alone or is it by a team?
Alone: as mentioned above, you could be a UX designer and a frontend developer rolled into one.
Team: also, there are projects that can be launched more efficiently and effectively when done by a team (two heads are better than one).
Is it necessary to make case studies for portfolio or can it just be designs of screens?
Context is always the key to any portfolio item that you will showcase: what are you trying to say to your audience? Which knowledge and skills are you highlighting in that portfolio item? That can definitely be contained in a case study, regardless of its depth and detail. Context tells a little bit more about you and the project you worked on, to your audience.
It also doesn’t have to be a case study. However you will manage to put context into your work. How will you get the message across? If screens can accomplish these things, then it’s all good.
What are some useful tips to get started on UX design?
It’s ok to take one step at a time to understand the fundamentals of UX. This book, The Elements of User Experience by Jesse James Garrett greatly helped me. Might be a good read for you too, as a start.
Got the autograph of UX Rockstar Jesse James Garrett #uxweek15
Good luck on your UX design journey. Remember to have fun! 😎
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Reading List: Week 3, December 2021
[ntt_rl_unsplash href=”FTfjMijq-Ws” photographer=”Rock’n Roll Monkey”]What is striking is not the machine’s humanness, but the lengths we are forced to go to become compatible with the machine.
Same Old
[ntt_rl_unsplash href=”xv7-GlvBLFw” photographer=”Prateek Katyal”]If you talk to mental health experts on college campuses, they’ll tell you that along with the rise of ubiquitous smartphone use and social media use among the students on the campus, came an explosion of anxiety-related disorders on those campuses. That’s the canary in the coal mine.
Why you should quit social media
[ntt_rl_unsplash href=”nvKQ1kxheRc” photographer=”Markus Spiske”]Infants learn how to interact with their surroundings and discover ways to change their environments from their caregivers, and children learn to regulate their behaviors from observing their parents and caregivers.
High agency: how to feel more in control in your life and work
[ntt_rl_unsplash href=”ZzWsHbu2y80″ photographer=”Hannah Wright”]The lack of language affects even functions that do not seem to be intrinsically “linguistic,” such as math. Developmental research shows that keeping track of exact numbers above four requires knowing the words for these numbers.
Language Is the Scaffold of the Mind[ntt_percept page=”reading-list-email-newsletter”]
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Reading List: Week 1, December 2021
[ntt_rl_unsplash href=”G-JJy-Yv_dA” photographer=”Aleksandr Ledogorov”]The way Goldstein describes it, non-attachment is about not holding on to anything that happens in life, whether those are experiences, events, or thoughts. That’s the difference with detachment, which means you pull away from something. Applying this concept in your life will have a huge difference in the way you live.
Detachment vs Non-attachment: Eastern Wisdom for Inner Peace
[ntt_rl_unsplash href=”8pwPnveOEiE” photographer=”Charl Folscher”]Never view falling as failure. See the truth of it as I did. Falling down is a necessary part of trial and error in motion. Observe the newborn attempting to walk or the young gymnast attempting to tumble. They succeed or learn. Win-Win!
Make A Habit of Falling Down
[ntt_rl_unsplash href=”i-ePv9Dxg7U” photographer=”Anthony Tran”]And you surround yourself with a bubble of love, other teachers who can support you and tell you, “Yes, you deserve care. You are a valuable, educated, wonderful human being. You are not just, you know, Darth Vader dealing with these kids. You are a valuable person who deserves resources, who deserves care, who deserves love, who deserves freedom to oscillate.”
The cure for burnout (hint: it isn’t self-care)
[ntt_rl_unsplash href=”7j8Ls1EVImA” photographer=”Noah Buscher”]We can help remote workers get on top of their workloads and mitigate work-life balance conflicts by moving away from hyper-responsiveness and real-time communication towards greater asynchronous communication — the type that truly gives people the freedom to decide when and where to work.
Remote Work Should Be (Mostly) Asynchronous[ntt_percept page=”reading-list-email-newsletter”]
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Reading List: Week 4, November 2021
[ntt_rl_unsplash href=”qhhp1LwvPSI” photographer=”Sascha Bosshard”]Reputation is the aggregation of ideas that have swarmed your body. Reputation is a list of your chronic afflictions.
The tyranny of ideas
[ntt_rl_unsplash href=”83JZupwXfhU” photographer=”Marcos Paulo Prado”]As Raihani points out, we are constantly trying to second-guess the reasons for others’ actions – and we punish people harshly when we suspect that their motives are impure. Those instinctive suspicions may or may not be true, of course. We often base our judgements on intuition rather than hard facts.
Why overly kind and moral people can rub you up the wrong way
[ntt_rl_unsplash href=”OTSW6hpMKQM” photographer=”David Clode”]Generative art/design is any work created with an element of chance. We define some rules and allow a source of randomness to guide us to an outcome.
Creating Generative Patterns with The CSS Paint API
[ntt_rl_unsplash href=”Yh-OYzUQdB8″ photographer=”Adalia Botha”]Once a view becomes part of your identity it’s almost impossible to see its flaws, when it needs to adapt, or has expired.
It Sounds Crazy[ntt_percept page=”reading-list-email-newsletter”]
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Essemy (Jaycelle’s Birthday Song)
[ntt_percept page=”music/essemy-jaycelles-birthday-song-chords-lyrics”]
Brian and Bryce’s Composition
Essemy on YouTube
Essemy on Spotify Podcast
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Applying to On Deck Design Fellowship
A screenshot of my application submission confirmation on On Deck website. What experience has most impacted your career or identity as a designer?
Many years ago, a fresh grad joined my team and asked a lot of basic questions about design such as information architecture, research, etc. And I didn’t know how to help that person because I was too focused on visual design at that time, and oblivious to UX. Long story short, that member quit out of frustration that they can’t grow in my team. I stepped up my game since then.
What is the biggest professional challenge facing you in the next 6-12 months?
The biggest challenge that I face within the next 6-12 months would be the on-going maturity of the team. I must be able to go with the flow of improvement in order to support their growth.
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Reading List: Week 3, October 2021
[ntt_rl_unsplash href=”HH4WBGNyltc” photographer=”Jaredd Craig”]To start with, the very abundance of digital data exacerbates the most fundamental constraint on information commerce—the limits of human comprehension.
The Information Economy
[ntt_rl_unsplash href=”Ps4SxKM15g4″ photographer=”Simon Hurry”]Software costs nothing to copy, but someone still has to create it. The costs of development may approach zero as copies approach infinity, but there is still a very-non-zero amount of time and capital needed for activation energy.
Software scarcity
[ntt_rl_unsplash href=”Njq3Nz6-5rQ” photographer=”Daniel Abadia”]When you communicate on mass media, whether it’s a 30 second spot on prime-time TV, a press ad in a National newspaper, or a 6 sheet in a city centre, you will reach a large number of those who are in your target market. But you will also reach a large number of those who are not.
The errors of efficiency
[ntt_rl_unsplash href=”iPum7Ket2jo” photographer=”Matt Palmer”]Very often, this new behavior involves breaking the rules. Then, a winning strategy for founders is to build products that make these new models more accessible to a wider audience.
The Ownership Economy: Crypto & The Next Frontier of Consumer Software[ntt_percept page=”reading-list-email-newsletter”]