WELCOME
Welcome to the first issue of 2024!
Being Designerly 83 contains carefully curated content to help you think, feel and act like a designer. Read about the designerly behavior of always learning, 5-hour rule, AI and creative thinking, curious joy of being wrong, types of product designers, the issue with Humane's AI Pin, visualization of the world as 1000 people, best and worst logos of 2023, and why the Adobe-Figma deal fell apart.
FEATURE
Being Designerly: Keep Learning
Our final designerly behavior is always learning - the ongoing process of acquiring new knowledge, skills, and experiences. I've got a few ways that you can always be learning
linkedin.com
The 5-hour rule
Some of today's most successful people owe part of their success to the "5-hour rule," in which they spend at least one hour a day, five days a week reading, reflecting, and experimenting with new information. A simple way to always be learning...
businessinsider.com
CREATIVITY
AI scores in the top percentile of creative thinking
The use of AI for creative endeavors is now growing. AI tools like DALL-E and Midjourney are increasingly part of creative production, and some have started to win awards for their creative output. The growing impact is both social and economic – as just one example, the potential of AI to generate new, creative content is a defining flashpoint behind the Hollywood writers strike.
theconversation.com
Why a “brave space” should be your new skunk works
We all crave permission to be brave enough to share what we feel — and know we are safe doing it. A “brave space” is a new kind of skunk works: the term for a group given the freedom to break from bureaucracy and work on special projects. The benefits of a “brave space” include better ideation, greater trust and fewer barriers. We can design this kind of space. It doesn’t need to be a physical space; it could be the psychological space we extend to each other that allows us to be brave together.
bigthink.com
CURIOSITY
The curious joy of being wrong
Intellectual humility is a particular kind of humility that has to do with beliefs, ideas or worldviews. It has both internal- and external-facing dimensions. It calls for presenting your beliefs in ways that are not defensive and admitting when you’re wrong. It involves showing that you care more about learning and preserving relationships than about being “right” or demonstrating intellectual superiority.
theconversation.com
VISUAL
Interactive Map: The World as 1,000 People
In 2022, the world's population reached 8 billion people. According to UN estimates, by July 2023, all the people in the world numbered 8,045,311,447.
In this interactive map, population estimates from the United Nations Population Division are used to illustrate the world’s population as if the Earth had only 1,000 people. Countries with a population of below 7.6 million did not make our cutoff to be visualized, but are included in overall calculations and listed below.
What did you find most interesting?
visualcapitalist.com
The best and worst new logo designs of 2023
This article highlights some of the most notable new logos in 2023 – some of which were triumphs, and others that, judging from the response online, didn't quite hit the mark.
creativebloq.com
UX
What is a “Product Designer,” Now?
While slices of design practice and expertise are getting thinner than ever, the one term that seems to be increasing in usage is the term “product designer.” This article breaks down the three main flavors of a product designer, what they’re intended to accomplish, and why having expertise in these areas will set you up for the most exciting and impactful career possible.
sva.edu
Humane Is Running a Commercial for Its AI Pin, and It Highlights Everything Wrong with the Idea
According to this article, the biggest problem with the marketing story behind the AI Pin: Its use case is basically to replace your smartphone by doing smartphone things but without a screen. Oh, and you have to wear it on your chest, which is far less convenient than something you carry in your pocket.
inc.com
NEWS
Adobe explains why it abandoned the Figma deal
The big news in December was Adobe abandoning its $20 billion deal to buy Figma. In an interview, Adobe general counsel Dana Rao said that the company couldn’t prove to European regulators that the acquisition wouldn’t harm competition in the future — that is, that Adobe or Figma wouldn’t eventually do more to compete with one another. This article has the details...
theverge.com
