Trusting UX, outdated leadership, empathy as a roadblock, UI micro-tips

Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.

“This is why earning trust is better than building trust. Earning trust prioritizes user needs over arbitrary design choices. And when those trust credits are needed, they become a competitive advantage in uncertain situations.”

UX, how can I trust you? →
By Darren Yeo

Editor picks

• Your leadership playbook is outdated →
  Bias, blind spots, and broken systems.
  By Meghan Logan
• Does AI dream of synthetic experiences? →
  When AI falls short of real conversation.
  By gerry duffy
• When empathy becomes the enemy of productivity →
  How UX inflexibility stalls progress and frustrates teams.
  By Michael F. Buckley

The UX Collective is an independent design publication that elevates unheard design voices and helps designers think more critically about their work.

The hardest working font in Manhattan →

Make me think

• Arresting reality →
  “When we consider the sublime, proportion and scale are what principally come to mind, but this experience of being dwarfed by scale isn’t limited to the visual. In music, live performances similarly impress upon the audience a sensation that there is something greater than themselves.”
• Natural information architecture →
  “As the neocortex is divided by region (vision, hearing, touch, language, etc.), so too are our mental models, which are stored in cortical columns. This is tacit knowledge. We don’t know what we know. Perception is “the consensus the columns reach by voting,” and the basis for our actions and explicit knowledge.”
• Everything in its place →
  “Mise en place is something I try to practice in my life where I can. It’s a concept that is very important to me, not only when I cook, but for lots of things that I do. I like to be organised, I love to be organised well ahead of time, otherwise I seem to fixate on what could go wrong, right up until the thing happens.”

Little gems this week

UX Research isn’t optional: arguing like Socrates will help you prove it →
By Joe Smiley

A study of gatcha games: the UX of the Pokemon TCG Pocket app →
By Daley Wilhelm

How culture shapes UX: Western vs. Asian product design →
By Kristina Volchek

Tools and resources

• UI & UX micro-tips: 8-bit anniversary edition →
  A collection of 36 powerful tips to improve your designs.
  By Marc Andrew
• Thinking past the cliche of LLM’s AI design patterns →
  Can we start acting like Product Designers again?
  By Matt Jedraszczyk
• Hyper-personalization: a practical UX guide →
  Leveraging real-time data, AI, and behavioral analytics.
  By Taras Bakusevych

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