[Q] What would you say to skeptics that think that JTBD is just plain old user needs (or goals, tasks, activities etc) dressed up to fit a business and marketing audience?

Why is it that so many UXers seem skeptical to the JTBD framework?

JTBD comes from the business community. It’s not a design technique. It also has a 3 decade old history (or more). But it resembles techniques from HCD and DT. If you find it familiar, that’s a good thing, I think.

I don’t really understand why UXers are skeptical. It’s a common language that lets us speak…

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What is your purpose? Imagine this question in a job interview! It would pose a big WHAT(?) moment and make people think for some time before answering. However, every human being has a purpose. The thing that is a higher goal. To save the world? To do good? …

What is the value of design? This question is overwhelmingly bounced around, not only on social media like design twitter, but also in meetings, in product teams, and in companies’ strategic steering groups. Rightly so, we all need to understand — even designers — the real value that design creates.

There are a couple of interesting scenarios that I observe dominating design in business, that happen over and over again, that make the answer for “what is the value of design?” almost impossible to justify. Design being either a function, or a partner in companies.

To understand design holistically we…

For the AMA, the abstract team is listed in the answers by the first names, and follow-up questions and comments by the Designer Hangout community are listed by the abbreviation DH

[Q] Should we start with brief intros from the team before taking questions from the community?

Hi! Payam here. Product Designer working on Abstract. Previously I was working on DSM and Studio at InVision. Before that I was working on Design Systems at Shopify.

Hey there! Josh Brewer, CEO at Abstract. Previously, started the incubator Habitat that Abstract came out of. And before that was the Principal Designer at Twitter.

I’m, Sara, Product Designer as well! Have been in the B2B space for a bit…

Design systems are a hot topic right now. Everyone talks about them and wants to build them. It is evident that software has eaten the world, and design has a major role in this. Undoubtedly, design systems are a much needed help to scaling design and development teams.

A design system unites product teams around a common visual language. It reduces design debt, accelerates the design process, and builds bridges between teams working in concert to bring products to life. Learn how you can create your design system and help your team improve product quality while reducing design debt.

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Question: I would make all meetings standing, forces people to be as brief as possible and makes them take discussions elsewhere as a creator I find meetings very disruptive and mostly counterproductive.

One way you can encourage people to be brief is by asking them to write before they speak. E.g. “everyone grab three post it notes, write your thoughts on the topic, then share what you wrote.” Creates a conversational constraint.

Question: I wish the quality of audio and video was better during remote meetings, especially when a large team is at a conference table in NYC. Between the…

Invision Studio is just around the corner. I got the early access, but I am supposed to keep it hush-hush for now. I have seen what it can do, and what it could potentially also be in the future.

Last week I read an article on Fast Company yesterday, about Figma and their vision of being the platform at the intersection of design and engineering. I admit I have only tried that tool on a surface level. A lot of designers seem to dig it, therefore I presume it is a valid tool to get stuff done.

Being a user…

Everyone is talking about it. At the same time whenever everyone is talking about it, there is a lot of buzz and hype around it. That is great. But it should not take us away from the prime reason of Design Systems. They are here to serve as the single source of truth for delightful and functional products and services.

At DSCONF, we felt that we ought to open up the conversation. In the local scene, of course, but on a global scale as well. We have keynotes, talks, case studies, workshops and networking. All of these formats of communication…