🏋️♀️ UXUI Club (beta), Typography for Breakfast, and Level Up Your UX Design Game with 12-Steps
🌟 Elevate Your Design Journey, Connect with Pros, and Savor a Buffet of Creative Delights! 🎨🚀
Hello people, in this issue, we’ll look at…
- 🚶🏾♂️ 12-steps for a better design,
- 🎮 Playing Games,
- 🔠 Typography for Breakfast,
- 🏋️♀️ The UXUI Club (beta),
- 🍟 and extra things to bite it…
✨ Design Methodology by Bruno Munari ✨
I stumbled upon this fantastic 12-step design methodology by the legendary Bruno Munari while checking out some cool stuff from Config. Let me break it down for you 👇
You know Bruno Munari, right? A super creative artist, designer, and inventor from the 20th-century. He once said, “Things that are good to look at, and bad to be used, should not exist.” 🎨🔧 He believed in design’s power to solve even the simplest problems in life. In fact, he came up with this 12-step method to tackle any challenging situation.
Let’s take a relatable example: deciding what to cook for dinner. We’ve all been there, right? 🍲 Following Munari’s method, you identify the dish you want to make (step 1️⃣), figure out how many people you’re cooking for (step 2️⃣), and list down all the ingredients you need (step 3️⃣). Easy so far, right?
Next, gather some info (step 4️⃣) — flip through recipe books, do some research. Then, analyze your approach (step 5️⃣) and think about adding your personal touch to the recipe. Get creative! 🌟 That’s step 6️⃣. Maybe you can improvise with what you already have in your kitchen or use some cool kitchen gadgets (step 7️⃣) to elevate the dish.
Now comes the fun part! Experiment with confidence (step 8️⃣). Throw in some extra spices, see how it goes. Prototyping time (step 9️⃣)! Cook the dish, taste it, make sure everything’s perfect. Sketch your modified recipe (step 1️⃣1️⃣), and maybe give yourself a chef’s kiss of approval 👨🍳💋.
Last but not least, unveil your fantastic solution (step 1️⃣2️⃣)! Ta-da! 🎉 Step back and admire your culinary masterpiece. That spinach rice dish for four is now a reality, thanks to Bruno Munari’s genius methodology. 🌟 If you want to explore more about his work, check out this link (not Wikipedia, I promise). Happy designing and cooking! 🍽️😄
“Art shall not be separated from life: things that are to look at, and bad to be used, should not exist”
— Bruno Munari (1966)
🎮 Game Design
Over the past few weeks, I took my family to check out the exhibition Level Up! Pixels, Play & Progress at MODA in Atlanta. It’s all about video games, and they’ve prepared a range of games for you to play with 🕹️.
🚫 At my house, we don’t have a TV, and we don’t allow our kids to have screens or play games (at least not yet). I believe that at some point, they will, but for now, we’re trying to delay it as much as possible.
So, everything was super new to my son. We started playing classic 🕹️ Atari games like Donkey Kong, and we ended up trying out the latest Playstation VR headset for an immersive experience. My son was completely blown away! 😆
In one of the past newsletters, I mentioned Oleta Patrice Sampson’s talk about AI and how she talked about drawing to spark creativity in humans. But you know what? With all these new games, you can ✍️ draw using the video game console! It’s not the same experience Oleta was promoting, but it’s a very innovative way to express creativity as well.
“Play is what enables us to conjure something out of nothing.”
— Graeme Kirkpatrick, University of Manchester.
I had a blast playing a simple game called Thomas Was Alone; it had a straightforward interface but an interesting game mechanic. Game mechanics are tough to implement in products, and as a designer, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to do so. If you’re interested, I highly recommend checking out the book “Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges and Leaderboards” by the brilliant Yu-kai Chou. I saw him speak at SXSW years ago, and it was fantastic! I really miss Austin ❤️.
This book completely changed my perspective and helped me not only implement game mechanics in games but also in other products. It’s a great way to build incentives for users to keep coming back to the app, website, or any platform.
In the past, I worked in Brazil with some famous pop artists like Sandy & Junior and the boy band KLB. Their music sticks in your ear like a piece of bubble gum! 👂
For KLB, I tried my best to recover the website to show you on the Internet Archive, but unfortunately, they don’t save Flash websites. 🕹️ It’s a shame because at that time, it was so cool! We put together a whole storytelling experience on the website, complete with illustrations, graphic design, animations, sound design, and, of course, a lot of game mechanics for the prizes. It was an unforgettable project! 😎
Nowadays, I’m contributing to building the Cryptoys platform with an amazing group of artists. To me, code, 3D, UI, animation, and even business are all forms of art. 🖼️👩🏿🎤
I’m not an avid gamer myself, but I always recommend people to study game design, especially because users have goals and limited time to accomplish or access information. To support me in my discovery and research, I like to browse these websites:
1️⃣ Game UI Database
🖼️ And if, by any chance, you happen to be in Atlanta, make sure to visit the Level Up! Pixels, Play & Progress exhibition before it ends on September 17, 2023. Always support your local museum. 😊🏛️
🔠 Typography for Breakfast 🍳
Hey there! 👋 I’ve got an awesome recommendation for you — check out this episode all about UI Typography. It’s a whole different animal when it comes to digital products. There are so many things to consider, like:
👉 Hierarchy 👉 Vertical and horizontal spacing 👉 Pairing Fonts 👉 Fonts Weights (keep it to a max of 3, please) 👉 Numbers and special characters …and many more!
Oliver dropped some great suggestions during the episode, like the book “Web Typography,” which can be a bit pricey in print but cheaper as an ebook.
And hey, he also shared his favorite foundries for fonts:
🔸 FontWerk
And don’t forget to make time to watch Oliver’s free webinar. It’s totally worth it! And if you’re curious, check out his blog “Pimp My Type.” 🖊️💻
Enjoy the episode and dive into the wonderful world of typography for digital products! 🌟
🏋️♀️ The UXUI Club (members-only) 🗝️
I’ve been working on this cool idea for a while now. I’ve had some great chats with my designer friends, and I asked them a couple of questions:
1️⃣ How do you save and manage design references?
The answers were all over the place — some use Notion, others prefer Apple Notes, and some just keep a bunch of favorites in their browsers.
Now, the second question was:
2️⃣ How do you keep up with all the new design trends?
Let me tell you… 😭 it’s overwhelming, right? With LinkedIn, TikTok and Instagram bombarding us with tons of content, carousels, and (supafast) videos, it’s hard to keep track of everything. Saving stuff to your account helps, but remembering everything is close to impossible.
🧂 Secret Sauces
Sure, newsletters like this one help to keep you updated on the design world, but on a day-to-day basis, it’s not enough. And don’t even get me started on all those design course offers we see everywhere!
I used Notion in the past and even built the 🧂 Secret Sauce website for all my references. But I took it down because I felt there had to be a better way to share all this valuable data and keep you all updated. So, my mission was clear — find a tool that puts all this content into context, making it super easy to find the best practices whenever you’re working on a project.
But wait, there’s more! We need a place where we can connect, motivate each other, and share real-world ideas and best practices. Think of it like a gym — to get fit, you need to eat well 🥗 and work out every day 🏋️♀️.
🗝️ Members-Only
That’s where you come in! I’m inviting the first 100 people here to become 🎖️ Founding Members and join this awesome community. And trust me, I’m constantly adding new content, so this might be a lifelong journey, but I’m committed to doing it for the community.
In this new platform, we’ll bring together all the readers of this newsletter, creating a strong community. I’ll be organizing exclusive events just for our members, both online and in-person. How cool is that?
Now, as for the cost, for you awesome 🎖️ Founding Members, it’s just $10 per month. But remember, after the first 100 members, the price will go up. It’s a fair deal to keep everything organized and rocking for you and the whole community. Plus, I’ll keep you all updated with a weekly post inside the community.
👨🏻🏫 Oh, and did I mention the Figma tutorials? Yep, I’ll be dishing those out every week! And if I find any awesome tutorials on YouTube, I’ll link them to you too.
So, if you’re pumped to contribute and help bootstrap this community, go ahead and sign up as a 🎖️ Founding Member. Share your references with me, and I’ll make sure to arrange them in the right order and context. I gotta say, some of you already shared awesome content with me! Thank you 🙏.
I’ll be spilling more details about the UXUI Club in the upcoming newsletters, and I can’t wait to have each and every one of you on board! 🎉 Let’s rock this community and share some epic ideas together! 🚀
🍟 BITes
🧠 AI Mind Mapping can be a bit confusing — you wonder if it’s really helping you organize your thoughts or if it’s just another research tool. But you know what? The ChatMind acquired by Xmind is a fantastic Mind Mapping tool that works wonders during your initial discovery process. Personally, I’m a fan of MindNode, but the only bummer is that they don’t have an AI tool yet. 😒 Fingers crossed for the future!
🧪 if you want to start testing the current version of your client’s website, I’ve got a great recommendation for you! Check out Useberry’s Usability Testing — it’s a game-changer! You can use it for any website you’re about to redesign, and it provides some fantastic initial insights that’ll give your project a strong start. 💡
🏁 Enjoy This Newsletter?
If you’re loving this newsletter, why not share the goodness with a friend? Forward it to them and let them know they can subscribe right here. 📩
🌟 You can contribute to the newsletter! If you’ve got an awesome section idea, shoot it our way, and we’ll include it in a future edition.
🏋️♀️ Ready for some exciting stuff? Join our super cool UXUI club and be one of the 🎖️ Founding Members. It’s gonna be a blast! 💥 Let’s build an awesome community together!
📣 Wanna chat with me? Head on over to ADPList for some mentorship sessions, or follow me on TikTok for more awesome UX tips and tricks. You don’t wanna miss it! 🎯
👨🏾🎓 Thinking about becoming a UX/UI Designer? Well, look no further! Enroll in the next Ironhack UX/UI Bootcamp and kickstart your journey to greatness. You’re gonna learn so much and have a blast doing it! 🚀
See you next week! 🤗
Juno
Designer, writer, educator, UX/UI advocate, and mentor for startups.
