What Brutalism, Wabi Sabi, and Virtual Reality have in common.
If I had a quarter for every time a designer was asked to make a product fun, I’d have a fortune by now. Fun is one of those words like good, love, and art: so simple and all-encompassing that it eludes definition. So, what do we mean when we strive to make a product more “fun”?
Most interfaces are bound by rigid systems that immaculately align elements to a grid, creating a sense of rhythm and unity. However, in interface design, ‘fun’ is often derived from the lack of order. Like iMessage letting users drop stickers anywhere on a chat thread or our old pal MySpace, who let its users edit their page’s CSS ad nauseam. Those product decisions are widely considered fun because they’re chaotic. …
How privacy is the next wave in product design.
I’m writing this during a global pandemic where the world has come to a stop. For the time being, we’re relying on technology to go about our daily lives. Now more than ever it’s worth taking a look at our relationship with technology and how its makers can shape it to serve the needs of its users.
The way we relate to technology is constantly evolving — in less than a decade we’ve seen content move from newstands, to our laps, hands, and soon directly into our eyeballs. This is why I’m a big believer in future-proofing design. …
Why escaping from strong opinions will make us weaker
Behind every product, there are usually hundreds of tiny little battles fought by a disciplined group of individuals who have somehow squeezed the remains of a vision between uncountable constraints. This process involves folks from multiple disciplines with different goals finding a compromise, coming up with a myriad of hypotheses, and validating them with a diverse number of users with their own set of expectations. This is a process I love. It makes the journey of building products exciting and infinitely engaging. However, this process creates imperfect products. Therefore, it can be improved.
There are many ways we could improve the products we ship. Encouraging a healthy public discourse where we can learn from the opinion of our peers could be one of them. …
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