Brian Jennings

⏱ “Just in time accessibility docs” I think I’ve been doing it all wrong. As we build out our design system, we’ve been continuing to add lengthy accessibility documentation to each of our components, check. But is it actually helpful? → W3C Guidelines are verbose and many of the guidelines become redundant once the component has been built. → Text based documentation can be hard to visualize without examples or access to assistive technology. → While components may test accessible in isolation, new issues come up when components are used in context. 👏 Some folks who are doing it right that we're trying to learn from at Exygy → Carbon design system from IBM provides context specific tips for both designers and developers. The guidelines they provide act as quick implementation checklists. https://lnkd.in/gbmeJe5F → GOLD Design System by Design System AU is really unique in the way that it provides accessibility previews of components. I really dig how they simulate keyboard navigation and color blindness! https://lnkd.in/gDBgUiyN → USWDS from GSA goes above and beyond any system that I have seen by providing accessibility testing documentation that can be used when doing QA of components in the wild. ...whoa https://lnkd.in/gYP2ptrR 💎 A couple of things our team has taken away from these amazing resources that might be helpful to others: → Focus component documentation on the most "actionable" implementation details for both designers and engineers. → Reserve verbose technical setup requirements for the initial component acceptance criteria. → Experiment with ways to easily preview accessibility options and outputs. → If possible, document how someone could test issues that could come up during ongoing product feature development and QA. 🧙‍♂️ This post was in part inspired by a talk from Dan Mall at the last Figma Config when he referenced "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" to describe the "notes in the margins that help Harry improve his potion skills" as a way to describe better "just in time" design system documentation. If you do actually need the verbose stuff for component acceptance criteria you can always get it here: → W3C Authoring practices guide https://lnkd.in/g_MUENbn #accessibility #designsystems #documentation #ui #uidesign

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Poorly designed experiments are rampant in A/B testing and CRO. 😭 If you share one publicly, you might get thrown under the bus. 🚌 Though I can't stop public pile-ons, I can step-up to improve our collective experimentation efforts. To learn how to design GOOD EXPERIMENTS in a SAFE and FUN environment, sign up for my workshop at Experimentation Elite on June 11, 2024. I don't have a degree in math or statistics. But I have learned from some of the best such as Lukas Vermeer and Lucas Bernardi over the last 10+ years. They have been kind and patient with me. And I, in turn, promise to be kind and patient with you. Not only that—we can have fun, too! To explain brain-melting experimentation concepts I... ✏ Draw pictures, 🖼 Use memes, and 📖 Tell silly stories. Because there's SO MUCH JOY in experimentation as we discover new things together. If you join, here's what we'll cover: 👉 The difference between designing a test to learn vs. reducing risk 👉 How to structure your approach and write good hypotheses 👉 Terms like significance (α), power (β), p-values, and confidence intervals 👉 How to calculate sample size to get trustworthy results 👉 All kinds of stuff about sample ratio mismatches (SRMs) 👉 How to analyze your data and the caveats to consider 👉 The history about how all of this stuff to solidify your learning To sign up, go to Experimentation Elite's website and check out the workshops! And don't for get to sign up for Test & Learn Community (TLC)'s Mentorship Summit. TLC is a supportive, non-profit community led by the amazing Kelly Wortham. It's filled with positive vibes. 💕 Kelly's community is a great way to level-up your skills and learn from some of the best practitioners in the world. As a final thought, I'll leave you with my personal motto as a reminder to us all: BE KIND & MAKE THINGS BETTER. Have a great day! 🎉

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If you're looking to move into design systems leadership, the number one skill I'd recommend focusing on is facilitative leadership. In my experience, leading design systems is much different than building them. When you build design systems, you focus on things like component architecture, design + dev alignment, and producing scalable, repeatable choices. When you make the move to leading design systems, you need to participate in a very different game. You move from software systems to people systems. Here's what facilitative leadership looks like: - Creating a non-judgmental space for conversation, input, and feedback. - Connecting the dots between various organizations and priorities. - Providing teams with a framework to debate difficult decisions and then crafting diplomatic solutions. - Building bridges between cross-functional leaders. - Decreasing your own presence, so others can increase theirs. - Giving others the chance to do things they want to do, even if they haven't done it before. - Managing up. Setting realistic expectations with your leaders about what the Design System can feasibly achieve. These lessons could perhaps be applied to any move into leadership, but I've found them to be particularly important for Design Systems.

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I'm thrilled to share that my latest product and design discovery article is live on Mind the Product! As a consultant, I've observed that the term 'Discovery' can have varying interpretations across different teams. It's not uncommon to encounter a team deeply immersed in a solution yet lacking a shared understanding of the customer opportunity they're addressing. At Lab Zero, we meet clients where they are and advocate for discovery while maintaining flexibility. We often employ lightweight methodologies to foster a shared understanding, even when work is already underway. Teresa Torres' book “Continuous Discovery Habits” is a guide to developing the mindset and practices that enable teams to discover and deliver value to their customers throughout the product development process. Her explanation of the 'Opportunity Solution Tree' helped me articulate a process for asking questions and bridging gaps when joining a new team. The first part of this two-part series looks at reversing the 'Opportunity Solution Tree' to establish a connection between the ongoing solution, customer opportunities, and business outcomes. The second part (coming soon!) will explore strategies for identifying gaps in your team's understanding of customer needs and the necessary measures to mitigate risks before launch. This series will help consultants, new team members, or a struggling team connect with that all-important why and launch valuable experiences for their customers and their orgs. Have you tried something like this with your team? Feedback is appreciated! If you haven't explored Mind The Product's extensive content library, I highly recommend it! In addition to articles about discovery and understanding customer needs, the community has shared insightful perspectives on product leadership, business, and teams. It's a great place to see perspectives on processes and theories informed by real-world use.  #ProductDiscovery #Design #Discovery #ContinuousDiscovery #Onboarding #Risk #CustomerOpportunity #Value #BusinessOutcomes

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Top tips when starting a #designsystem! 📚 Document Early: Start documenting your design system from the beginning. Early documentation ensures everyone understands and uses the system effectively, fostering consistency. https://hubs.li/Q02yBVH50

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10 basic lessons of a design system. Being someone who has worked within and created many design systems, brand guidelines, and UI libraries, I've encountered many bumps along the way. What would you add or remove from this list? #designsystem #UX #lessonslearned #basics https://lnkd.in/evFxwP79

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In addition to my talk at Write the Docs, I created the sketchnotes, which are posted here: https://lnkd.in/g5Jmej-v

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DVA is not associated with this job posting Senior Product Designer https://lnkd.in/ghdTwqy4 About the Role As a Senior Product Designer at Circle, your role extends beyond crafting beautiful interfaces; you are a strategic partner influencing our community engagement SaaS platform's future. You'll have a high degree of autonomy and will be entrusted with significant responsibilities, shaping user experiences and design outcomes. Your work will contribute to Circle's growing impact in a sector that is not only culturally significant, but also a major economic driver, generating billions globally. As Circle strives to be the go-to platform for creators looking to scale their communities and monetize their content, your role will be instrumental in turning that vision into a reality. #innovation #management #digitalmarketing #technology #creativity #futurism #startups #marketing #socialmedia #socialnetworking #motivation #personaldevelopment #jobinterviews #sustainability #personalbranding #education #productivity #travel #sales #socialentrepreneurship #fundraising #law #strategy #culture #fashion #business #networking #hiring #health #inspiration

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I had an interesting conversation with a non-design colleague whose design sensibility I greatly respect yesterday as we discussed some product vision work we have been collaborating on. They referenced a flow in a widely used enterprise software platform as a well-designed example of one of our target features. This was immediately followed by the obligatory “I can’t believe I like something [software company] did” comment. We’ve all said similar things, I am sure, about a range of products we regularly use that we find less than optimally usable either in part or in whole. It’s easy (and cathartic) to blame our tools.   But then I felt a little bad.   I felt bad because I know what the designers of that product are up against. And I know—for a fact!—I have been on the receiving end of similar comments about products that I’ve worked on. And that kind of sucks.   No one sets out to design and build a flawed, frustrating product. It is easy to forget that making good, usable software is hard. We need to remind ourselves that all product teams face many of the same challenges around overstuffed backlogs, legacy technical constraints, frighteningly aggressive timelines, etc., that we do. Poorly designed products are often a function of an environment structured around other priorities. The primary goal of design leadership is not to enforce a process and structure that causes design to get better; that’s bottom-up stuff. We need to focus on changing culture to enable better design practices to take root and flourish. This won’t prevent those snarky little usability digs at your expense overnight, but it is the only way to help them fade away over time. #software #design #ux

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At Siteimprove we're involved in the latest changes in accessibility testing rules 💪 That’s why, when W3C published a draft of its Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (#WCAG) 3 recently, we weren’t worried. You shouldn’t be either, as WCAG 3 is still years away from implementation. For more on WCAG 3, check out the draft from W3C here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gJcvHezV Curious how we get involved in shaping industry standards? Read more here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gickwRzN

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I'm a big fan of Ben Callahan and the "The Question" sessions. I'm also a big fan of Dan Donald, who's co-hosting the "design systems failures" topic. On this topic of missing the mark with *building the thing your org actually needs* not "here's what the 'how to design system' article told me", I humbly submit this HFWNW (hopes, fears, working, not working) framework/model and activity as one of many ways to start that data gathering and synthesis journey. I was lucky enough to present it during Figma's Schema event last year. Give the talk a watch, if you're interested (its only 20m) and download the provided resources to try it at your org/with your team: https://lnkd.in/g-Jj6Ede

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While watching a talk on UI design systems at a conference last week, the presenter mentioned a ‘dropdown’ when referring to a standard form element, then immediately corrected himself and called it a ‘select’. It seemed unusual in that setting to be that precise, that nit-picky. I’ve been building, designing, and shipping UIs for decades. 'dropdown' and 'select' are synonymous. Then it hit me. ‘select’ is objective-focused, ‘dropdown’ is a descriptor. It defines the problem, not the solution. It states the why instead of what. It describes intent. It’s active. Focusing on objectives creates optionality and invites creativity.

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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

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Great advice for both sides of the equation.

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Diversity in design isn't just a buzzword—it's a business imperative. 🌈 As a hiring manager, I've seen firsthand how diverse teams boost creativity, product quality, and profitability. I believe in building teams that reflect our users and bring fresh perspectives to every project. How do you ensure fairness during the hiring process when you have to look at portfolios? Here is my perspective on the challenges of inclusive hiring. #DiversityInDesign #InclusiveHiring #TeamBuilding

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🔥Hot Take for PMs: Please don't hand me a solution to a problem. Instead, focus on detailing the problem and help me understand the why. We will ideate and find a solution together. Next week, in our first episode of ⚫️Bounce, Claire and I continue to unpack the PD + PM working relationship. Buckle up. Subscribe today - links in comments 👇

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There's more to web performance than just page speed. A performant, usable site needs to be: ⏱ Fast 🤚 Accessible So happy to see my Complete Guide to Performance Budgets included in the latest issue of A11y Weekly, alongside some fantastic other resources! https://lnkd.in/ghYHGdCq #a11y #webperf #ux #sitespeed #pagespeed #webperformance

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The 12 days of #GAAD. Global Accessibility Awareness Day is coming up on May 16th. So, for 12 surrounding days, I'll be making posts to raise AWARENESS. Day 6: Yesterday I introduced #shiftleft - the industry term for fixing accessibility issues at the source. This does not mean all accessibility issues stem from UX - the keyboard trap that I just found in our select box was not requested by the UX team!!! But, a lot of #a11y issues do need to be solved by a combination of UX and dev, working together. Communication, communication, and communication... So, how does the UX team know they are making accessible UX? Well, how do devs know that their code works? By testing it!! This can be a tough thing for UX to grasp - we are going to test your UX. Don't take it personally when we find bugs. All software has bugs, and so does all UX. When it comes to #accessibility - it probably has a lot of them. Check out more info from Stephanie Walter... someone who knows a lot more than me... https://lnkd.in/en9Rkyka

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I’ve been reading this book, The Loop by Jacob Ward, and highly recommend it to anyone in design or tech. There’s a lot about human nature that we understand, through pattern detection. Unfortunately, those patterns can easily be exploited and over-trusted by the common users and oft, even by professionals, limiting our illusion of choice, for what is seemingly convenience. From our choice in what stories get sold to movie studios, to the content and news that is served to you on the daily - machines are already making these choices. So if lately it’s felt like everything is becoming the same, lackluster and less original, with louder and louder echo chambers, you can thank the machines, and companies leveraging “predictive” models in the fastest way to make a buck, rather than taking care to study the potential negative effects on society. If you have/haven’t read the book, what are some ways you would consider avoiding being stuck in the loop in your life/career? #ai #requiredreading #productdesign #research

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