Reading  DOC • Story of a buttonNavigating change and finding your click.Francesco PiniIn Search of Organic SoftwareSo over the last couple weeks, I’ve been talking to VCs and founders who have and haven’t taken VC to learn whether it makes sense for Kinopio. I don’t think it

Basement Files 78

https://www.russbrown.design/basement-files-78/

books that designers should actually be reading

conscious design technologist

Reading  Having a shit blog has made me feel abundantFrom Giacometti’s sketch bookEscaping FlatlandHenrik KarlssonWhy Generalists Own the FutureIn the age of AI, it’s better to know a little about a lot than a lot about a littleDan ShipperJony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products (English

Basement Files 79

https://www.russbrown.design/basement-files-79/

Navigating change and finding your click.

Story of a button

https://www.doc.cc/articles/button?_bhlid=4dd7803d6cdd9f2910c16ab7cdd76ad253d44d66

Reading  Walking as InactivityCommonplace Newsletter #115The CommonplaceThomas J BevanEnterprise Philosophy and The First Wave of AIThe first wave of successful AI implementations will probably look more like the first wave of computing, which was dominated by large-scale enterprise installations that eliminated jobs. Consumer …Stratechery by Ben ThompsonBen ThompsonInventor of the

Basement Files 80

https://www.russbrown.design/basement-files-80/

Reflecting on 2024, my top three highlights:

1. Rediscovered Building Stuff - Finishing ideas > collecting ideas

2. PKM systems (for me) are procrastination.

3. Chameleon Themes - Deep research and problems understanding, high value shipped.

What's yours?

Noticing some really strong sentiments around company usage of AI at the moment. 

When noticing a company has used AI to create a graphic do you think that's:

A - Cool
B - Lame
C - Criminal
D - Don't care

Thinking bugs 🐛

I made an assumption that made sense. But only because of how things worked 10 frame iterations ago.

Engineers have QA and automated testing, what's the equivalent for design?

I'm trying:
AI design critiques 
Documenting my reasoning
Regular peer reviews

Found under our floorboards. How old do you reckon this is?

New blog post -> https://www.russbrown.design/basement-files-78/

Designers, what are the podcasts (about design) you can’t live without?

My rules for social media posting:

- is it something I would read?
- is it something I would say in real life?
- is it written how I’d say it?
- am I trying o be popular?
- am I trying to appear something I’m not?
- is it uniquely my perspective?
- could it be shorter?

UX is in the doldrums.

The golden age of design isn't over - it's evolving:

- Design is becoming more important, not less
- Talent stacks are collapsing
- The craft is changing

Tools + tech will keep changing. 

The fundamentals of solving human problems won't.

I have a hunch that products that lean into intuitive decisions feel more human than those driven entirely by data.

In 2024 that's where I'd place my bet on standing out.

Beautiful: https://mindfuldesigntechnologist.xyz/

Figma's 33% pricing increase is what happens when a tool becomes so ubiquitous it starts to flex monopoly power.

They have increased the price because they can, and you will pay it, because what other choice do you have?

None... for now. 

But this is how competitors are born.

Scott Berkun - "Generalists have all the power"

All Managers, VP’s and CEO’s are generalists. 

Designers that see themselves as specialised craftsmen with  expertise in only one area will exert little influence.

Try to expand your skill, outlook and role to your limit.

Omg it works and its live. I built an idea for the first time in years. Hit me up if you want to beta test a web app to review your own music.

Ideas are only useful if you carry them kicking and screaming to the finish line.

It's very easy to just have ideas and live in a state of blissful imagination.

It's much more fulfilling to march those ideas up the hill to the finish line, even if they arrive imperfectly.

My round up of the week. Some of my design work, inspiration, good things I read, watched and listened to.

https://www.russbrown.design/basement-files-79/

😂 What did I just read? https://www.doc.cc/articles/button?_bhlid=4dd7803d6cdd9f2910c16ab7cdd76ad253d44d66

Two methods I use when working through a problem:

Go Wide - the scouting mission.

Go Deep - more like map making.

Going wide is useful for early exploration, going deep is much more useful later on when ideas are more solid.

I dunno I just woke up with the idea 😂. Always read the small print.

"AI-assisted researchers discover 44% more materials… these gains come at a cost as 82% of scientists report reduced satisfaction with their work due to decreased creativity and skill underutilization."

What if we lose the sense of satisfaction with work as it gets easier?

Great design springs from personal conviction, not just objective analysis. Instead of striving for objectivity—which can compromise your vision and potential—design something that inspires you

Pablo Sanchez

When someone feels safe enough to utter a silly idea - that's often when the magic happens.

I've seen this play out countless times:
- Someone cracks a joke
- Another person builds on it
- Suddenly we're looking at the problem differently
- The pressure drops
- More ideas flow

Can someone help. I'm an apple music user. I frequently share links but often the copy link doesn't work until I "view in Apple Music" and copy from there.

Where am I if I'm not in Apple Music? I'm literally in the apple music app.

Is this some legacy iTunes shit?

"Some of your best design work will go unshipped"

It doesn't matter how much work you did or what was left on the cutting room floor.

What's required to do really good work increases exponentially. Great work takes significantly more effort and volume to achieve.

Everybody does work that is good enough.

In design, good enough is subjective. The more you learn, the further away good enough becomes. As your taste develops you redraw the graph, pushing good enough further and further up and to the right.

Creativity isn’t a cup that is emptied,
It’s a muscle that gets trained.

The biggest misconception about creativity is that it’s finite.

I recently had a chance to be interviewed by an AI.

The experience was really good. It was easier to do the interview with a robot than with a person in lots of ways.

Thinking about it afterwards, I’m 100% convinced this is the future of 90% of user interviews.

A snippet of my work, and collected readings, sightings and watchings.... https://www.russbrown.design/basement-files-80/

Trying to figure out some new panels for our Builder

We do 5-10 user interviews p/m with a 2 person design team (no researchers). 

How?

Alongside usual research we target an embeddable at users with link to Calendly.

Interviews continue. Different convos as project evolves.

It's continuous discovery but targeted and low touch.

The prevailing mood amongst product designers right now is
- Annoyed
- Bored
- Considering leaving the profession

The current mood is putting off a lot of young designers from entering the industry and pushing existing designers out.

What do we do?

Every good designer is part artist, part scientist.

A sensitivity for the emotional feel of a product 

Combined with the curiosity to solve complex problems.

How do you stay motivated?

One of the ways I get motivation is to listen to users. 

Listening leads to understanding which leads to realising: I can solve this.

Signal that I am doing that well or missing something is equally motivating.

It’s amazing what a really nicely designed app can do. 

I was a bit flummoxed by Reeder. Didn’t think I could get down with something that didn’t allow me to ‘mark as read’ but it’s quickly become my go to.

Id love to be able to follow Threads, Ghost accounts etc

The biggest challenge facing product designers is uncertainty. 

Learning how to design interfaces with a new material (AI) 
Learning how to incorporate AI into the act of design itself.

It's all about being open to experimentation whilst staying objective & critical right now

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