Issue 21

WELCOME

This issue of Being Designerly features articles on creative brainstorming, a creativity test, tools for accessibility and ethical AI, Design roasts on TikTok, and a UX BS generator.

If you get past refreshing the UX BS, enjoy the visualization of most searched news sites by state (I didn't expect the top site), and look out for package design to hide cookies in plain sight!

FEATURE

ERY - creative brainstorming

The ERY Method is not the end solution to creative development and experience design, but it does help to guide creative thinking. It allows for all that creative energy during a brainstorming session to be focused on a single thought, rather than encouraging random ideas that sidetrack your efforts.

Makery? Designery? No, let's stick with Designerly!

4-minute creativity test measures divergent thinking skills

Quick - think of 10 words that are as wildly unrelated—in definition, category, or concept—as possible; enter them on the site; get score.

Note: The Divergent Association Task is a single measure of one aspect of verbal creativity and does not capture many types of real-world creative achievement.

To Keep Kids Away From Parents’ Cookies, Oreo Thins Put Other Brands’ Logos on Package

Speaking about creativity, Oreo just did something creative. They disguised their packaging with brand imagery from Green Giant, Ford, Hanes and Better Homes & Gardens to trick kids and keep them in plain sight.

Oreo is is calling the limited edition packaging a 'protection program' against thieving children.

Gotta get me some of these!

VISUAL

America - The Most Searched News Sites by State

The visualizations show the top news sources that each U.S. state searched for over the course of 2020, as well as a state-by-state breakdown of the popularity of different news sites.

INCLUSIVE

Access Guide

Access Guide is a digital accessibility resource that turns WCAG 2.1 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) information into scannable cards that expand with full details.

Ethical AI frameworks, tool kits, principles, and certifications - Oh my!

If you are thinking about incorporating ethics into your company's culture or product development cycle, check these out before you try recreating the wheel.

Book Sponsor

Habits of Success

Look for my chapter about the Habits of Success from the world of Design in this WSJ & USA Today Bestseller!

TOOLS

10 tools for UX design to make your life as a designer easier in 2021

A list of tools for different stages of the UX lifecycle - most should not come as a surprise.

I would have expected to see Miro / Mural on there. What else would you add?

absurd illustrations

Download and use digitally sketched illustrations that you can use free for both personal and commercial projects, with credit to the creator. Or join the creator's membership program and get early access.

INSPIRATION

Can design help us better understand the future?

Yosuke Ushigome, the self-styled ‘creative technologist’ and director at design studio Takram on the power of speculative design to make ideas tangible, humanize big data, and encourage healthier behaviors.

One concept to humanize big data was using a phone camera and augmented reality technology to allow people to see the virtual sea rise right in their living room or in the park if they make environmentally irresponsible decisions.

UX Bullshit Generator

Moving onto something more frivolous...Hit refresh for more...

NEWS

“Greedy” Is Good — When You’re Optimizing Giant Online Experiments

Stanford researchers have mapped a more efficient way to conduct the kinds of massive A/B tests tech companies rely upon. They studied the multi-armed bandit approach to algorithmic testing, named after casino slot machines, to find that "greedy" algorithms are more efficient.

UNTIL NEXT TIME

I hope you enjoyed this issue of Being Designerly with articles on creative brainstorming, a creativity test, tools for accessibility and ethical AI, Design roasts on TikTok, a UX BS generator, the news infographic and package design to hide cookies in plain sight!

If you think someone would benefit from Being Designerly, please forward it to them.

I'm looking for feedback, of the brutally honest kind, so this can improve over time. You can reach me at lycerejo (at) gmail.com - thank you!