Amber Westlund

Designing for Accessibility According to the CDC, 4.8 percent of U.S. adults have a vision disability. As designers, we need to keep these specific users in mind. What can you do to design for people with a disability? → Design for Color Contrast → Provide Visual Cues in addition to Color → Identify Focus State → Use Robust Alternative Text for Images Inclusive design ensures that products are usable by people of all abilities. From color contrast to screen readers, there are many ways to enhance accessibility. What steps do you take to make your designs more accessible? #Accessibility #InclusiveDesign #UX #UXDesign #UIDesign Resources Accessibility for user experience designers https://lnkd.in/dUrqKN_R Accessibility and Inclusivity: Study Guide https://lnkd.in/dVkU-f7T Figma Contrast Plugin https://lnkd.in/ddJhfTkv For more UX-related content, Follow me 👉🏻 Shane Jeffers Looking to hire a designer? Contact me! https://lnkd.in/dmEGNJrW

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I noticed a gradual but definite shift to a can do mentality when notetaking and journaling became an everyday act. It improved my mental health and also how I approached work. This week on the Mindful Designer blog, I share 5 helpful tips for how anyone can benefit from notetaking to get better. #mindfulness #mindfuldesign #mindfulliving

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Sustainability encompasses a design and development ethos centered on environmental, social, and financial considerations frequently overlooked in traditional approaches. #uxdesign https://lnkd.in/gaE54FU6

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In honor of #AccessibilityWeek, I'd like to share the project I'm working on at AccessNow NextGen program. As designers, we know that including diverse users in the design process is vital to creating inclusive design. Many benefits come from inclusive design. Inclusive design increases company revenue, increases customer outreach, and most importantly includes diverse groups of people. An integral part of inclusive design is including people with disabilities in the design process. This can be done by creating inclusive prototypes allowing designers to include people with different abilities at the forefront of design solutions. However, prototypes are often not compatible with screen readers. Figma now has the option to create prototypes that are compatible with screen readers. This is a great step but the function has limitations, it's not the easiest to use and it's not very well known. Designers need a way to easily make prototypes screen reader compatible so, they can involve visually impaired and blind users in their design processes. That's why for my project I'm going to explore how to optimize Figma's Accessibility Mode so designers can make screen reader-compatible prototypes with ease. Thanks to the NextGen program I am learning so much from different speakers and my mentor. I am excited to continue this project and share it with you all when the program is done.

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Great reminder on looking out for more valuable folks when it comes to UX. There are so many great UX folks that are not just talking but also walking the walk and created more meaningful methods and frameworks. Which UX pros are you following or get inspiration from? https://lnkd.in/ggwcSgrJ

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The second part of my article on the value of explicit design rules is here. In it I dive head first into example in layout, position, ordering padding and margins with examples from various design tools. In the end of this part there's also a treasure trove of links to other insightful people writing on adjacent subjects. Hope you find it interesting and be swayed to try tools that allow for more expressive explicit design rules. https://lnkd.in/dmGpUHU6

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Is it just me World Usability Congress or should your website adhere to at least WCAG 1.0 standards? Text as an image over video, days with no month or dates, white text on teal, no ability to tab through content, hover drop-down menus... woud be great to see this brought up to a level its intended to represent. https://lnkd.in/gwU5mGim #usabilitystandards #accessibility #customerexperience #designstandards #ux #cx #uxaudit

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Design Technologists, such a good topic, PJ Onori and I wanted to bring on friend Donnie D'Amato BFA., MA. for the convo. Back when we all started, it was a skill set I had dabbled with, but only with HTML/CSS. Donnie and PJ go head-to-head to talk about their roles as different types of design technologist/ux engineer and how this role is essential for product design and XFN growth, specifically if they can sit with design systems teams. #designsystems #podcast #designengineer #designtechnologist #productdesign #react #html #css

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This article came up in discussion today with our UX Team and I feel like there's a bit of "blaming the victim" going on here... 🤔 Most of the cases the author points out are misuses of placeholder text (e.g. using instead of labels or help text) or poor design choices, like the styling looking too similar to typed values. I would argue that designers abusing the component does not make the component itself harmful for usability. We've used placeholder text to inform users when e.g. a field offers typeahead functionality or will perform a search, and I think that's helpful for the UX rather than harmful. What are your thoughts? https://lnkd.in/dGKM5iMn

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Portfolio tip for design leaders: Unless your values/leadership style/‘how I lead’ slides are unique or clearly showing why they make you a good fit for this specific role, skip all that in your portfolio presentation. It’s a waste of time and if it sounds like what all the other candidates are also doing(which is true 90% of the time), it will make you blend in. Not good: Generic words like empathy, team building, servant leadership etc Good: Super specific values that apply to this role Better: Super specific values that are actually then evidenced in the work you will shortly present

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Nick Hahn and I are going to be cohosting a webinar on May 22, at 1PM ET / 10AM PT called How to Craft a Business Case for Design System Investment. The title is a bit of a mouthful but we promise to be succinct in our discussion. We all know that design systems have tremendous potential to drive innovation, competitive advantage, deliver ROI in terms of time and costs, and generate revenue for organizations, but how do you get executive buy-in to build a design system that can live up to its potential? We'll cover topics like... - Measuring value with metrics that actually matter - All the ways design systems add value and drive ROI - and, of course, how to build a business case for investment in your design system. Registration link in the comments (because, you know LinkedIn)...

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We've reached Week 10 of our #HumanCenteredDesign bootcamp! Join us as we delve deep into the design system process, covering everything from initial approval to ongoing maintenance. Explore implementation strategies, conduct usability testing, ensure accessibility, and dive into the world of DesignOps. 1- From Approval to Maintenance: Explore every stage of the design system journey, ensuring a comprehensive understanding from start to finish. 2- Fundamentals and Foundations: Learn the core principles and foundational concepts of design systems, providing a solid framework for your understanding. 3- Complete Journey: Follow along the complete journey of a design system, from conceptualization and ideation to implementation and ongoing maintenance. 4- Implementation Strategies: Discover effective techniques for implementing design systems seamlessly into your projects, ensuring consistency and efficiency. 5- Usability Testing: Dive into the importance of testing for usability to ensure optimal user experiences and satisfaction. 6- Accessibility: Explore methods for ensuring your designs are accessible to all users, promoting inclusivity and diversity. 7- DesignOps Exploration: Gain insights into the intersection of design and operations, optimizing efficiency and collaboration across teams. Join us and enhance your design skills with practical knowledge and hands-on experience! Gratitude to ExpertDesk for their invaluable contributions to #HumanCenteredDesign bootcamp. Your insights and expertise have significantly enriched this learning journey. And Zulqarnain Ansari for serving as a dedicated mentor throughout this rewarding experience. #DesignMagic #LearnTogether #BootcampExcitement #DesignBootcamp #HumanCenteredDesign #DesignSystem #Implementation #CustomDesignSystem #UsabilityTesting #Accessibility #DesignOps #DevOps #DesignStudio #ExpertsDesk #Lahore #ZulqarnainAnsari #SundasZahra

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If you're a designer trying to get up to speed on a new team or project, check out this quick talk based on a recent blog post I wrote for Lab Zero Innovations Inc. (https://lnkd.in/gDw4bR8Y)! Have you picked up any tips of your own? Let me know, or—if you're looking for a designer who's prepared for situations like these—reach out to us at info@labzero.com! #designteam #designteamwork #designthinking #productdesign #uxdesign

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Accessible Online Meetings: “If you’re not sure what to do, just ask.” #accessibility #accessibledesign #accessibilitymatters #userexperiencedesign #uxdesign #cxdesign #customerexperience #uxdesigners #process #userresearch #designresearch #research # #productdesign #userexperience #Usability #principles #psychology #curiosity #biases #datacollection #culture #creativity #innovation #discovery #designthinking #metrics #ux_dizajn_slovensko

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https://lnkd.in/g7NPEdey Material Design is becoming more flexible, but with that comes increased complexity for beginners.

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Thanks Matej Latin, for this article. It's a valuable insight into today's highly competitive job market. You've done a great job summarizing common mistakes and issues to avoid and provided helpful tips for improving portfolios. #UXjobs, #portfolio #userexperience #jobhunt #portfoliomistakes #productdesign #uxdesign #presentation #interview #jobapplications

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If we're not talking about design maturity, agile process, or craft, then us designers are probably talking about ✨quality.✨ I certainly see my interviewer's eyes light up when I mention this magical word. "Design is the one that has to hold the quality bar," I tell them. But what if that didn't have to be true? For a truly high-quality product, I don't think it should be design holding the line. It has to be something baked into the organization - everyone holds the quality bar. Even though "quality" is a slippery thing to define, if we can define it and hold ourselves to it, we can reduce the tension in the org and start to think less about the mere baseline quality for the product and more about raising that bar - delighting the user. I very much enjoyed Luke Anthony Firth's take on how they folded quality into their product building process. Have a read! https://lnkd.in/g4SenmYZ #designleadership #productprocess #productdesign #productquality #designquality #opentowork

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