Issue 26

WELCOME

Issue #26 of Being Designerly means that it'll soon be a year since the first issue!

This issue has curated articles about a designer's identity, problem solving mindsets, and the most important issues facing design today.

Designerly behaviors like collaboration and empathy show up in an analysis of UX Researcher job postings, LEGO Duck goes virtual, and a light hearted look at cookie packaging if tech brands sold cookies!

FEATURE

A Designer's Identity

In this 7-minute video, Sarah Gibbons, NNG Chief Designer, offers a framework to think about what it means to be a "designer" based on purpose, not the discipline. And it starts with "Why?".

Six problem-solving mindsets for very uncertain times

(1) being ever-curious about every element of a problem; (2) being imperfectionists, with a high tolerance for ambiguity; (3) having a “dragonfly eye” view of the world, to see through multiple lenses; (4) pursuing occurrent behavior and experimenting relentlessly; (5) tapping into the collective intelligence, acknowledging that the smartest people are not in the room; and (6) practicing “show and tell” because storytelling begets action.

Read the article for additional details...

32 experts: The most urgent matters facing design today

This thought-provoking article highlights designers talking about issues ranging from inclusion to climate change and sustainability.

EMPATHY

UX research characteristics: An analysis of 100 open jobs

An analysis of a sampling of publicly available job posting to understand the role of a UX Researcher. The intent was to take a snapshot in time of different characteristics across a mix of companies to develop an aggregate profile of a successful job candidate.

Designerly habits & behaviors show up: empathy, collaboration and more...

VISUAL

What sea level rise will do to famous American sites, visualized

“A picture is worth 1,000 words, or 1,000 years in this case,” the lead author of the paper, Benjamin Strauss, said.

This article has some striking images of what famous landmarks will look like with a couple of degrees change in temperature.

UX

Google says it’s dropping Material Design components on iOS in favor of Apple’s UIKit

The change could mean that Google’s iOS apps feel more like iOS apps.

Platform conventions FTW!

TOOLS

LSP Duck

The duck is a very simple exercise in LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) highlighting the core elements of LSP. Participants are asked to build a duck using six LEGO® bricks. I've yet to be in a session where two people had the exact same duck...

Now you can do it without the physical bricks!

Digital Experimentation Tools

David J Bland (@davidjbland) shared some tools for digital experimentation

NEWS

2 years after leaving Apple, Jony Ive's new design company finally has a website

LoveFrom finally has its own website - minimalist and welcoming visitors with a blank white page and a typing bar. The bar gradually spells out LoveFrom before collapsing into a comma and prompting visitors to scroll down for the rest.

The website describes LoveFrom as "a creative collective."

UNTIL NEXT TIME

I hope you enjoyed this issue of Being Designerly with curated articles about a designer's identity, problem solving mindsets, and the most important issues facing design today.

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!