WELCOME
FEATURE
Being Designerly: Work Transparently
Continuing the series about designerly skills, habits and behaviors, we focus on Working Transparently. Working transparently is a designerly behavior that ensures understanding and alignment with team members, users, and stakeholders. Transparent design practices lead to better collaboration, increased trust, and improved project outcomes.
linkedin.com
Why you should ‘embrace transparency’ at work, says Glassdoor CEO: ‘People are scared to be direct’
Another benefit of transparency: A culture of transparency in the workplace promotes raw feedback.
Glassdoor CEO Christian Sutherland-Wong views raw workplace feedback as “an important gift,” even though receiving negative feedback can feel “uncomfortable” at times.
cnbc.com
CREATIVITY
We need to redefine creativity. Here’s a less intimidating roadmap to find your own at work and in life
The founder of Birk Creative says anyone in any field whether it’s science, technology, engineering, or math should never lose sight of the fact that their decisions and their thoughts, and the way they make things, represent art.
fastcompany.com
Automating creativity
The core irony of generative AIs is that AIs were supposed to be all logic and no imagination. Instead we get AIs that make up information, engage in (seemingly) emotional discussions, and which are intensely creative. And that last fact is one that makes many people deeply uncomfortable.
Three new experimental papers show that AI really can be creative in settings with real-world implications. The author discusses these papers, and gives some practical tips on how to use AI for idea generation based on their results.
oneusefulthing.org
CURIOSITY
How to train your brain to become more curious
Curiosity is a superpower, but too often we’re discouraged from pursing it. Fortunately, you can regain your inner curiosity.
Scott Shigeoka, author of Seek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World, says it’s like a muscle that needs to be exercised. He offers four phases, which form the acronym “DIVE,” that can help build it: Detatch, Intend, Value, Embrace.
fastcompany.com
EMPATHY
Empathy and Innovation: Keeping the Customer at the Center
Emily Roberts, SVP, Head of Enterprise Consumer Product, Capital One, explains how to harness the power of technology and customer-feedback loops to innovate products and experiences.
fastcompany.com
UX
AI for UX: Getting Started
NNG asked LinkedIn followers what they would recommend for UXers who have not used AI in their work until now. This article is based on this crowdsourced wisdom combined with their experience. To summarize: Use generative-AI tools to support and enhance your UX skills — not to replace them. Start with small UX tasks and watch out for hallucinations and bad advice.
nngroup.com
INCLUSIVE
Touchscreen card devices may prevent blind customers paying
Some shops have buttonless touchscreen card readers, meaning you need sight to tap in your PIN. Many blind people told the BBC's Access All podcast they have had to tell their PIN to strangers so they can have it typed in for them, or be forced to leave their unpurchased items behind because they're unable to pay.
bbc.co.uk
TOOLS
Figma’s new FigJam AI can spare designers from boring planning prep
Figma, best known for its product design applications, has announced FigJam AI — a new suite of generative AI tools for its collaborative whiteboard service FigJam that creates ready-to-use templates for common design and planning projects. The idea is that FigJam AI can reduce the preparation time needed to manually create these collaborative whiteboard projects from scratch, leaving designers with time to concentrate on more pressing tasks.
FigJam AI is available in open beta starting November 7th and is “currently free” for all customer.Give it a shot!
theverge.com
