Alexander Lambert

I’m noticing a peculiar design related anti-pattern of sorts in the post ZIRP economic environment. It’s where companies have the budget to staff design talent, albeit in lower numbers, but the development budget is so limited that teams are unable to implement the work designers produce. This is the third economic downturn I’ve experienced and we always get pendulum swings. In this one, there seems to be a bias toward austerity and implementing the least expensive solution.

1

Luis Ouriach your 'Simple Design System' is awesome. Chucked it into FigMayo and it's really fun to browse how you've constructed your components there. Seems like a good balance between simplicity and complexity. I like the more semantic naming of props as well, like "is dismissable" Looking forward to digging into code-connect some more. Great work! 🤘 Figma's Simple Design System - https://lnkd.in/eU7JWseX Browse it on FigMayo - https://lnkd.in/ePQERyM5

149

8 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

As I refine my hiring process I have question. What would you guys prefer? 1) In person/remote 30min white board session 2) Challenging design assignment done over a week 3) Mock podcast recording where we have a conversation about design.

14

28 Comments

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

My thoughts on Figma Slides: Each of the major tech companies have their own slideshow software and they all excel at different things: Google Slides is good for quick and dirty decks with lots of collaboration, Apple Keynote is brilliant for animation and rich presentation, and Microsoft PowerPoint is included with Office and the industry standard. Figma Slides (which I will call “Flides” so as not to confuse with Google’s Slides and to honor Mihika Kapoor's original artistic intent) is the first *design-focused* presentation tool. Adobe has no serious players in the game (although some companies use InDesign?) and Canva is about on par with Google Slides, leaving a vacuum in the design-heavy slideshow tool space. Auto Layout, Embeds, and Interactive Polls are so obvious in retrospect it’s a miracle the other tools haven’t implemented them already. It seems the killer app for Flides is the same as Figma: great design tools, interactivity, collaboration, and the promise of fast-paced feature shipping if they stay as dedicated to it as their other sub-tool, #FigJam. The main issue I see is that it’s too easy to fall back on normal Figma if you don’t want to pay for Flides. Most of the people who wanted to use Figma for their decks already were — just less efficiently. I could take or leave the generative stuff, I guess you have to have an AI story for every launch if you want to be taken seriously now. Also, no export to PPT makes this DOA for most business use cases as any non-designer just wants a PowerPoint. Maybe that will change over time, but there are decades of momentum behind PowerPoint A few other thoughts: - The text tone adjuster reminds me of Apple’s GarageBand Drummer interface and I think it’s going to define tone adjustment going forward. It’s a very nice piece of interface. - Slides started as a hackathon project — showing how a group of creative people will always find a way to get a good ROI on play!

12

🗞Get the latest #crypto news and insights from our network of clients, investors, and partners with the weekly Hex Trust Ecosystem Updates. This week’s edition features updates from Flare Networks, Polkadot, Polygon Labs, Burnt, Celo Foundation, Animoca Brands

7

DEV SESSIONS ARE NOT FOR YOU IF YOU: 🤔 prefer to charge by the hour and guess at the price of your dev phase. 😳 would rather development drag on for weeks or months (who knooows!?) 🤬 want a dev who rides the clock in order to increase their pay. 🙄 fight for a dev’s attention as they stack projects on top of each other for max $$$. DEV SESSIONS ARE DEFINITELY FOR YOU IF YOU: 🤗 want to know exactly how long dev will take and how much it will cost. 🔥 want the option to increase scope, without your hand being forced. 💥 need a dev who will pull their weight, show up for your clients, and deliver on time (every time). 🍷 have plans for how to spend those hours when your dev is taking care of client’s training and post-project support. Find out more about DEV SESSIONS: the only Squarespace development intensive that takes care of your clients as much as you do -

1

How is your organisation setup? Is it customer-centered? I would say most organizations talk the talk, but when it comes down to adding value to the customer they fall short. Until there is a change in mindset, and a real understanding of customer-centered design, UX Teams will continue to be challenged and require more people to get the job done than required in a more mature organisation. Peter Merholz beautifully unpacks the challenges orgs face. #uxdesign

2

I flag brand integration as a critical skill for product designers to develop–it’s a versatile ability to add to your skill set. I’m not talking about learning how to create a brand (logo, color palette, typography, etc.). The skill I advocate designers to cultivate involves the ability to assess and understand all attributes of an existing brand–visual identity, voice/personality–and skillfully integrate those elements into the product experience. Do this, and you add tremendous marketability to yourself because you will know how to ensure that marketing's brand-led first impression will make a seamless handoff to the product experience. We’re in a state where, like Moore’s Law, there is exponential growth in the importance of branding for all businesses, not just corporations. If you know how to wield it in the design of the product experience, you will distinguish yourself.

3

Determine high-priority features in less than an hour. Get everyone in a room. Pass out stickies. Document every task users perform on your app. One task per sticky. Write furiously for 15 minutes. Group similar stickies into feature sets. (Below you’ll see a photo of a workshop I led where we condensed ~70 tasks to 17 features.) Vote for the 3 features you believe are most important to the user. Initial beside your desired feature to cast a vote. The two features with the highest vote count are your high-priority features. Congratulations. 1. Document 2. Group 3. Vote sinpl rlly 🥂

20

1 Comment

I don't know when or how it happened, but Config has become one of the major yearly conferences in our industry. Given how much Figma plays a role in the practice, it's common for design system teams to watch with anticipation/excitement/dread for what's coming. In our latest episode, Davy Fung and I discuss the reveals from Config and what that may mean for folks in the design systems practice moving forward. Listen here: https://lnkd.in/gRMBzfbJ #designsystems #figma #congfig #podcast

58

1 Comment

O-M-G. Learn how to craft some seriously refined 3D letters using Affinity in the next Creative Session. Especially for those Designers that have recently downloaded Affinity and still running it through it's paces. You'll pick up essential Affinity illustration skills and tricks in seconds. https://lnkd.in/gYvsrdme #affinity #illustrators #canva

39

Newsletters - CoinDesk: Exploring the tech behind crypto one block at a time. Preview ... Defining crypto, digital assets and the future of finance for financial advisors.

1

Buy stablecoins like $USDC with Kado 💸 We’ve got you covered with support for ACH, wire and SEPA transfers. Fast, easy and inexpensive 🚀

2

This episode of the Finding Our Way podcast articulates, with such clarity, what’s been on my mind about the value proposition of design as a function. A business could leverage creating a stellar user experience as a strategic lever to succeed in the market, or NOT. The latter is totally acceptable where designers primarily focus on production tasks (like UI designs) in an org that prioritizes churning out features. Yet, it’s a bitter pill to swallow for many designers. They feel disgruntled and get exhausted speaking to the deaf ears about how great an outcome design can bring to the table and how influential they could be outside of Figma. This podcast talks about how many designer leaders are struggling to deal with this reality. As someone who is not in a leadership position, I feel the struggle too. But if I were to stay positive and constructive while prioritizing my mental sanity, these would be some options to consider. - Get hired by a company that REALLY values design (think Airbnb, Linear) - Be extremely good at your craft and find fulfillment in it, regardless of its direct impact on the bottom line—as long as you remain employed 🤷🏻‍♀️ - Elbow your way into cross-functional discussions as much as possible, at least within your team, to find opportunities to demonstrate what you can do outside of Figma. You can help expand the perspective on design that your cross-functional partners have, one person at a time. https://lnkd.in/gjheYY_f

3

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

If you're a designer and new to AI, I highly recommend watching this video (only 20 mins long if you watch at 1.5x speed), which provides a great primer for the topic of AI in UX. I find the content very well organized and easy to follow. It touches on the concept of AI at a super high level, various use cases, important considerations when designing with AI, and how Booking.com leverages AI to enhance their user experience.

4