We are all currently very upset by the news of Figma being acquired by Adobe. But at the end of the day, our work will remain the same. — For years I have been a proud user of Figma. Proud because it made me a better designer. Proud because I helped others become a better designer with Figma. But also proud because Figma made me independent. If you have been in design for a while, you might remember the…

As a lead designer at Metrixlab, I learned how to create hi-fi prototypes faster by setting up a design system from scratch. This article will explain how you can do this too. — There are two kinds of prototypes in this world: Low-fidelity prototypes like sketches, paper prototypes, and wireframes. These are great for quickly communicating and validating ideas. But outside of the design studio, out in the real world, where concepts need to prove their worth, they often fall short.

Your design system is not a project. — When new designers and developers join forces to evolve your design system it is tempting to start working in projects. You might even create some epics and sprints to move user stories from your backlog in a Scrum environment. …

After shutting down our first design system late 2018 we built a new and improved design system from the ground up. — Back in 2018, when I started my job at WebNL, I was asked to look into ways to improve the bridge between design and development within our company. I came up with a system that automatically extracted design tokens from Sketch designs and translated them into SCSS variables. …

Persuasion and influence are all around at Christmas. In fact, we can use Cialdinis principles of influence to find out why the user experience of Christmas is almost always a success. — In the Netherlands, we have a holiday called Saint Nicholas (or Sinterklaas). It’s very much like Christmas nowadays. We like to say that the idea of Santa Claus was stolen from Saint Nicholas, but there has probably been some interchange of different concepts and ideas over the years.

As product designers we are always fixing problems, creating stuff that other people need. Let’s take a step back and see how we can bring a little art into our daily work. — A few years back I did an interview with a creator outside of the design field as part of an assignment. I also had to write an essay about how their workflow differed from my workflow as a product designer. When I got the assignment I just knew I had…

Use competitive usability tests to improve your own product. — You don’t have to copy your competitors, or ignore them instead. By using two user testing methods explained in this article, you can see what your competitors are doing right and wrong instantly to start learning from them. When I started my career in UX, people were always telling me…

A new model for creating human centered UX design. — This article is the second part in a series about design guidelines. Also read part one about design guidelines and part three about organizing a workshop. To create design guidelines for human centered design, we will need to take a look at the context of our design problems. Without understanding…

Create consensus together in a quick workshop. — This article is the third part in a series about design guidelines. Also read part one about design guidelines and part two about the golden filter of UX design. A while ago I created a workshop for a project in order to align stakeholders on design guidelines. The workshop was…