A design filing system for greater collaboration
Do any of these problems sound familiar?
Frankenstein files
Designers can’t find the correct master files, so instead of recreating files based off production, they hack together pages using a combination of screenshots and Sketch components. This problem is perpetuated by other designers who continue adding pieces to the frankenstein.
Knowledge dependency
File names are inconsistent or unintuitive, so designers largely depend on others’ knowledge to locate specific files.
Corrupt Sketch files
Multiple designers opening the same Sketch file create conflicts and corrupt the original. Designers gradually lose trust in the system and duplicate files locally as a precaution.
File organization is unfortunately one of the less exciting problems to tackle as designers, and it’s often neglected until problems arise as teams scale. In my experience, working without established conventions was incredibly frustrating due to teammates misplacing files or duplicating design efforts. …
A practical workflow to manage design projects
“What’s your team’s design process?” This is one of the most frequently asked questions by interviewees and one that I’m excited to share! Though it’s easy for me to answer this question now, previously I had a hard time conveying design culture because process was nonexistent. In fact, this lack of shared process presented several challenges within our team.
Problem 1: Unclear team culture/vision
Lack of process was a symptom of deeper problems around team culture. Even though we belonged to a team, it didn’t feel like we united in vision. Without clear purpose and structure, design get-togethers dwindled and the team felt further fragmented.
Problem 2: Designers worked in silos
Product experience suffered because siloed designers used patterns inconsistently and didn’t solicit feedback from others. …
Help users make fewer errors through design
One night while driving through a dark desert road, I missed a sharp right turn and ran straight into the ditch. The warning sign, placed shortly before the turn, was barely visible under the cover of darkness.
Think about the last time you intended to take some particular action (driving for instance), but it didn’t go quite as you had planned. …
