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“While the idea of brands taking a responsible approach to political stances is commendable, there are certain complexities and challenges associated with the notion that warrant critical reflection. One negative aspect to consider is the potential risk of oversimplifying the relationship between brands and politics.

Firstly, the expectation for a brand to "honor" a political stance in the best way possible may not fully account for the nuanced nature of political issues. Political landscapes are multifaceted, and what might seem like the best way to honor a stance to one group of consumers could be perceived differently by another. This creates a challenging environment for brands to navigate, especially when trying to cater to diverse and often polarized audiences.

Moreover, the call for brands to utilize controversy for educational purposes assumes a level of expertise and neutrality that may be unrealistic. Brands are not inherently equipped to serve as educators on complex political matters, and attempting to do so may lead to oversimplification or misrepresentation of the issues at hand..

Additionally, the expectation that brands should promote unity and connection through their political stances overlooks the inherent divisive nature of certain issues. What one group sees as a unifying message, another may perceive as divisive.”

While the notion of brands responsibly engaging with political issues is important, it's crucial to acknowledge the complexity of these dynamics. The expectations placed on brands to serve as educators, promote unity, and navigate controversial issues are fraught with challenges that may not have straightforward solutions. Brands must carefully consider the potential unintended consequences and ethical implications of aligning themselves with political stances in a socially responsible manner.

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Prompt (Chat gpt) - make a critical reflection on the negative point of the following text:

“The author briefly mentions that creating a design system can take a lot of time and resources, especially when starting from the ground up.

However, there's a lack of exploration into the specific challenges and potential drawbacks of implementing a design system.

The text seems to suggest that design systems are the only solution to creating cohesive and efficient web interfaces. It would be helpful to explore alternative approaches or methodologies that can also contribute to streamlined design and development processes.

The text implies that clients who think creating a design system is a waste of time and resources may not fully understand its benefits. It oversimplifies client perspectives and doesn't consider that there might be valid reasons for skepticism, such as tight budgets or short project timelines.

The text doesn't address the dynamic nature of web development standards. As technology evolves, design systems may need to adapt to new trends and practices. Acknowledging this could provide a more realistic picture of the ongoing commitment required for maintaining an effective design system.”

Design systems present specific challenges and potential implementation drawbacks, such as maintenance, updates, and the possibility of design systems becoming outdated. There are cases where the design system may not be the best solution or where the investment may not provide the expected returns. Nowadays design systems can be made by artificial intelligence, how to deal with these issues? In which cases is it worth investing in design systems.

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Data for all: Why Information Design is Relevant

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Data for all: Why Information Design is Relevant

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In today's world, data and information play a significant role in our lives. Much of technological innovation is based on vast amounts of data, also known as big data. The increasing production of data and its consumption by companies, institutions, and the general population raises a pertinent question: How can we democratize and make this data accessible to everyone?

Keeping this question in mind, it becomes important to discuss Information Design. Information Design is a branch of graphic design focused on facilitating the readability of information through interface design.

Given the wide variety and typologies of data, Information Design adopts various approaches instead of a single universal approach applicable in all contexts. This is noteworthy because the only variable is not just the nature of the data, but also the audience that will consume this information, which can be quite diverse.

Having said that, the field of information design follows a set of established practices and standards that have proven to work in multiple contexts. Examples of these practices include typical bar charts, line charts, infographics, network graphs, among others.

It is relevant to consider how technological advancement and the popularization of interactive digital devices bring the field of Information Design to a new dimension. We often conceptualize static graphics in which there is no possibility of interaction. However, we may not realize the potential benefits this could bring to those who will use this data.

Recognizing the opportunity in this form of data visualization, various tools such as Flourish or Visually have become market leaders by partnering with multiple companies with the aim of taking Information Design to a higher and distinctive level of quality.

In another fashion, artists like Mona Chalabi give a unique touch to data visualization. It is easy to present data in an understandable way. But what about presenting it in an interesting way? Both are equally important.

With all that said my conclusion is: Data visualization and information design are important and they don’t need to be boring.

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Norman's 6 Principles Of Interaction Design

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Norman's 6 Principles Of Interaction Design

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Donald Norman, in his book "The Design of Everyday Things," introduces his six principles of interaction design. These principles aim to assist designers of technological solutions in a practical way to help create more efficient and human-centered products. Norman, in his books, intelligently starts from the design of everyday objects and demonstrates the existence of universal principles that also apply to the technological sector.

Visibility

The visibility principle indicates that the more visible an element is, the more likely users are to use it and know how to use it. Conversely, when an element is less visible, the user will know less about that element. This is a balance that can be challenging to achieve. While designers do not want to create information overload for users of an application, it is also not desirable for important elements to be hidden from the user. The key to applying this principle appropriately, according to Norman, is to determine which elements are most relevant to the user and which elements are more secondary.

Feedback

The feedback principle stems from the user's need, during the use of a technological product, to know the impact of their actions and the system's response to those actions. This principle becomes relevant when a user is unaware of various aspects that constitute the user experience of an application.

Consistency

Like the feedback principle, the consistency principle seeks to reduce the user's uncertainty and concerns during their experience with a product. By applying a design based on consistency, the environment and context of using an application also become more familiar, even in new situations for the user. Design Systems are a great help in ensuring that this principle is properly applied.

Mapping

If a user's action has an impact on the space that characterizes a particular product, that action should be correctly mapped to inform the user of the expected path of that action. Once again, this principle, like the previous ones, aims to create familiarity for a user with an interface and reduce their discomfort with the unknown.

Constraints

Sometimes, in technological products with many options and features, users can feel overwhelmed by the variety of choices. It is in this context that this principle applies. The constraints principle emphasizes the need to restrict the user from performing actions that, at a given moment, do not apply or are not executable. Thus, the user is informed of the existence of these actions, but the burden of deciding whether to use them or not is removed.

Affordances

And finally, the principle of affordances. This principle advocates the need to provide users with cues on how to perform a particular action. By providing cues, the way to execute an action also becomes more obvious.

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Design Systems: A Web Developer Perspective

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Design Systems: A Web Developer Perspective

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When designing complex interfaces, with multiple elements, pages, and scenarios, there is a necessity for some kind of orienting system that serves as a guideline. By following that system, designers can have a solid foundation to build what comes next without the risk of the design looking disjointed and disconnected. Design systems are the result of that practice.

Although creating a design system is very useful for designers, it can also take a lot of time and resources. Particularly when starting from the ground up. The good news is that design systems are not only helpful for designers but for developers too.

A key concept of web development is web components. At their core, web components are encapsulated, independent, and reusable pieces of code. When building a UI e. g. they are very useful building elements that appear multiple times or across multiple pages.

When designers create a design system, they create essentially the visual aspect of those components.

Therefore, design systems can speed up the coding process significantly by telling developers what components they should be building. Without a design system, developers would need to spend time figuring that out by themselves (which is not very motivating).

In this light design systems can be seen as an investment. While they may require time for creation, they simultaneously accelerate both the design and development processes. And they have the amazing capacity to create a better relationship between designers and developers that sometimes, may not go so well.

Several design tools, like Figma (the current leading tool for collaborative design), have also seen the benefits of approximating designers and developers.

So, the next time you have a client that thinks creating a design system is just a waste of time and resources, I hope you know what to say.

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Prompt (Chat gpt) - make a critical reflection on the negative point of the following text:

“While the text emphasises the positive aspect of humour in presentations, particularly in handling embarrassing mishaps, a critical reflection could consider the potential drawbacks or limitations associated with relying on humour in such situations.

Not everyone shares the same sense of humour, and what one person finds amusing, another may find inappropriate or offensive. Humour can be subjective and culturally dependent, so the speaker runs the risk of alienating or even offending a segment of the audience.

Additionally, overreliance on humour to navigate awkward situations may be seen as a superficial strategy to divert attention from the substance of the presentation.

Moreover, the text suggests that humour serves as an invitation for empathy, assuming that everyone appreciates and responds positively to humour in moments of embarrassment. However, some individuals may not interpret or receive humour in the intended manner. “

Humor is quite relative and depends a lot from person to person, we must know what audience we are dealing with and whether this audience receives humor well and if so what type of humor they receive, as we have several types of humor among them. : Absurd humor, Dry humor, Satire, White humor, Grotesque humor, Sarcastic humor, Hacker humor, Raw humor, Green humor and Dark humor, which one would fit your audience?

Sometimes, depending on the audience, it can cause offense, distractions, there may be a cultural difference in the audience that does not receive humor, the risk of not being understood and sometimes a lack of professionalism. Before using humor, even if it is to hide some flaw, you have to know how to do it and how to do it.

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When it comes to software development, time and resources are very important. Because of that, there will always be that type of client who wants to see results fast while spending the least money possible. They want the project for yesterday.

The problem is that, in the head of that type of client, although the general idea may be very clear (and sometimes not even that), the details and underlying characteristics of the project are not. And you know what they say: The devil is in the details.

Prototyping is one of the tools that allow designers and developers to test and think about an idea before turning it into something real, that is, turning it into a highly detailed design or starting coding it. But let’s be honest.

Prototyping takes time.

If you are unlucky to have one of those hasty and frugal clients who want everything but are not ready to seriously invest in it, you will have to give some good explanation of why you think you need to prototype first. Fortunately, there are many reasons why:

1. It helps avoiding spending more money in the future.

This is probably the first thing you want to tell your client. Indeed, prototyping, and early designing have been shown to reduce potential unnecessary costs in the future. This is because prototyping allows designers and developers to identify potential problems with the project while it is in its early stages. Just like an architect draws the building first to prevent unexpected problems during construction, software should be designed first before being coded.

2. User testing and proof of concept.

One of the best ways to know if your product is going to be successful, it to test it with its potential users. Prototyping provides an opportunity to test the overall product and to adjust based on the results of those tests. A change that could take hours during the development, takes only a few minutes during prototyping.

3. It takes the abstract and makes it concrete.

How common it is for us to imagine a thing and communicating something entirely different? That can be very dangerous if not taken care early on. Prototyping is an opportunity to close that gap in a quick and efficient manner. That way both the client and the designers/developers become in tune with each other.

Hopefully, after giving that list of reasons, your client will now be more receptive to the idea of the prototyping. Still, don't forget to always consider the scope of the project before deciding the level of detail you want. It's possible that medium or high-fidelity prototyping is enough. Or maybe not. But most importantly, always consider prototyping.

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In a highly capitalist society, brands have great communication power. A lot of money is invested in advertisement to promote sales but also to establish a strong brand identity that is unique and memorable in people’s minds.

Realizing this potential, consumers are starting to have an expectation when it comes to companies taking a political stance. One question immediately comes to mind:

Should brands openly and actively express their position on political matters?

Although there are various perspectives on this issue, I hope to give some points to consider about this topic.

It is agreed that a brand that has stronger, better-defined values, can better control its image. Of course, it can control only part of it, the other being controlled by individuals and their perception. But brands heavily invest in that field for a reason.

Now, when a brand takes and overtly communicates a political position, it is doomed to create some kind of controversy. On one side, the decision will appeal to a part of the consumers who share that same vision. On the other, it will also displease consumers who have different political beliefs.

The truth is that, as consumers increasingly come to expect brands to take a stance on various issues, it has become more common for brands to share political messages on various topics, from environmental sustainability to identity politics.

In the end, whether companies decide to openly share and communicate their political position or not, they always take a political stance just by existing. It is impossible to escape from it. What are the company’s means of production? What is the brand vision for the future? What is the organizational structure in the workplace? Every decision is a political position. A brand does not operate outside of society.

Now I pose the question again: Should brands actively express their positions on various political matters?

In my opinion, yes, they should. The key word here is transparency. Consumers value when brands are authentic and transparent. That should be no less than a requirement and an obligation. With that said, how that communication is handled is fundamental.

Brands should not limit the communication of their values and political opinions to cheap attempts of virtue signaling. How many companies, during pride month, change their brand visual identity and say they are promoting diversity? What about greenwashing? Some of the biggest companies in the world have been accused of making false claims and promoting false advertisement.

If a brand is going to openly take a political stance, it should honor it the best way possible (otherwise it’s better to say nothing at all). I believe it has that responsibility and it owns that to its consumers. It should not limit itself to insignificant changes in their brand visual identity or making cheap advertising. Instead of using controversy to increase visibility and sales, it should use it for educational purposes that promote unity and connection. And if the statement provokes distaste in some people, that is only part of operating in a society with free speech.

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Humor has proven to be an incredible tool employed by humanity for coping with various awkward and even tragic situations. Nearly every dark tale contains a thread of humor, no matter how grim it may be. Even when we delve into our own human history and begin to ponder inwardly, "Is there any hope left for us?" it's better to find humor in the entire ordeal than to succumb to despair. We need humor because the alternative is depression of the worst kind. And there's already to much of that in the world.

What I want to tell you is that humor can also be an extraordinary asset in pitch presentations. However, like any tool, it must be wielded with care and intent.

One of the situations in which it can be particularly valuable is during embarrassing presentation mishaps. Everyone detests making errors in front of an audience, and the initial instinct is to attempt to conceal the blunder as discreetly as possible. If we could, I'm sure we would control the thoughts of the audience and erase that moment from their memories. But since that's not a possibility, it's better to employ a dose of humor.

There are numerous types of blunders that can occur, right? Your PowerPoint may fail, the microphone might slip from your grasp, or you might simply draw a blank and forget what you were going to say. In that instant, everyone observing you holds their breath, waiting for your next move. You start feeling an odd pressure in the air also known as embarrassment.

Embarrassment can be defined as that moment when, as the presenter, you can no longer maintain your social mask. Meanwhile, when you glance at the audience, they continue to wear their masks, conforming to societal norms, leaving you feeling isolated. Even if you put your mask back on, your true identity has been revealed. So what can you do? Well, with humor, you extend an invitation for everyone to shed their masks momentarily and breathe in a dose of reality and authenticity.

Humour is always an invitation (in this case an invitation for empathy) and if you are good at it, who can refuse it? In the end, we are all a bit tired of wearing the masks. Thus, you transform what was initially a mistake into something remarkable that may turn your presentation into something more memorable and meaningful.

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Making Insights in Order to Avoid Simplified Conclusions

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Making Insights in Order to Avoid Simplified Conclusions

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In the human perspective, the world is a giant puzzle. We constantly try to make sense of it even though we recognize there are so many pieces missing that might never be found. Our collective drive to understand it is an ode to the world’s daunting complexity. And that can become quite scary. Are our human brains ready to face this complexity as it is?

My argument is that we simplify the world so that it doesn’t become too much overwhelming, contradictory and confusing. We prioritize psychological comfort over confusion. No one wants to have contradictory world views even though we are surrounded by contradictions. Simplification, then, becomes a warm blanket to protect us from the unknown monsters under the bed.

The issue with simplification lies in the fact that when we aim to make things more straightforward, we end up giving preference to certain aspects over others. Although our world view becomes clearer, the world itself does not change according to our perception. The result? Ignorance. And in the field of design too, ignorance plays a big role. As the main killer of new ideas.

Since designers rarely design for themselves, the first step is to conduct extensive research on user’s behaviors and needs. Then comes the following phase, one of convergence of ideas, when we decide what to do with all the data collected before. The data is the puzzle. The designers are the puzzle makers. What is done with that data is crucial for the success and innovation capacity of the designers’ ideas.

When looking at all the data, one can start to despair a little bit. The designer proceeds frantically to search for patterns and reuniting key information. He feels like a true detective, a Sherlock Homes of design. And after all that, things become clearer and… simpler. The designer can finally sit down and relax. The job is done, the puzzle is solved.

But is it?

What the designer truly did is more the equivalent of reuniting all the puzzle pieces in an organized, neat way. The designer may know each piece individually but fails to see the underlying theme of the puzzle.

The Design Thinking process determines that to understand the hidden truths of how users think, to challenge existing assumptions and create fresh new perspectives, the designer needs to create Insights based on information that is created upon the gathered data.

While data extraction and summarization processes remain vital, relying solely on them to shape a product idea results in a narrow, simplified understanding of users' reality. Such an approach overlooks the intricate, hidden layers that make up every individual's life and, by extension, the end users' experiences.

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Design Thinking vs. Traditional Design: Fostering User-Centered Innovation 

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Design Thinking vs. Traditional Design: Fostering User-Centered Innovation 

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A traditional approach to design values the designer perspective, assuming they know best how to solve a problem. It follows the typical linear path from concept to execution. Flexibility during the process is seen as uncertainty or lack of vision. It’s an approach that values confidence and prioritizes the convergence of ideas. The producer-consumer relationship is unavoidably a passive one. When taken to an extreme it can resemble an authoritarian model: the hired professional designer knows what’s best for the consumers the same way a tyrant knows what’s best for the population. Can this methodology survive the paradigm of the modern world?

As a longtime fan of videogames, this approach to design is unfortunately prevalent in the industry and a common practice by some of biggest developers. This is best exemplified by the controversial, anti-consumer design practices done by Electronic Arts in games like Anthem, FIFA, and Madden NFL or 2K Games making millions of dollars with some outright abusive cash-grabbing features used as core systems of some of their game’s gameplay mechanics. Of those, many were advertised for children.

Examining these practices, a pattern emerges. The use of a traditional approach to design, when taken to extremes, is often associated with exploitative business practices promoted by greedy investors and CEO’s. One starts to realize that design is indeed a powerful tool. And like good old Uncle Ben as said before, with great power comes great responsibility. This begs the question: How can design be used to craft meaningful experiences that promote positive societal and individual values? Enter Design Thinking.

Design Thinking is a user centered methodology that focuses on creating an active and closer producer-consumer relationship. It integrates adaptability, diversity, and flexibility as part of the creational act. Instead of a convergent approach, it encourages a divergent approach. The designer relinquishes their role as the sole authority and collaborates in the field with the people to whom he is designing for.

One technological product that serves as a good example of Design Thinking is, in my perspective, the Amazon Kindle. The designers, trough extensive user research, had a deeply understanding of the preferences and needs of book readers. That allowed them to create a product that can deliver great, innovative solutions to the problems readers face. Besides that, they actively listen to customer feedback and make continuous improvements and updates with newer models.

Despite Amazon having many controversies of its own, through a design lens, the Amazon Kindle is a great case of success. In it, one can identify the main foundations of Design Thinking: desirability, viability, and reliability.

Like the Amazon Ecosystem, in the modern world, users are the main gear that moves the beast that is technology progress. Without those users, many of the systems and platforms we use in our daily lives would simply cease to exist. It is because of this important role consumers play in the world today that Design Thinking is more important than ever before.

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Empathy as a Design Imperative in a Multicultural Society

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Empathy as a Design Imperative in a Multicultural Society

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Empathy is central in our relationship with other human beings. I go as far to say that it is important for a society as water is for the survival of an individual. Without empathy, we make more judgments. With more judgments, there is less space for understanding. With less understanding, we create more conflicts and promote division, which is anathema to a healthy society. The logic behind this statement might be obvious to most people. And because it’s so obvious, we probably don’t actively think about it as we should.

One of the biggest challenges of today’s interconnected world is how to deal with cultural differences in a way that is respectful of other cultures but also doesn’t turn a blind eye to the problems inherent to those societies. It is not my objective to discuss if we are doing a good job at it, but I will argue that empathy performs a central role in creating solutions to those adversities. If we remove empathy from the equation, we are left to hate-speech and discrimination. And those are not desirable things, especially since we currently face many problems on a global scale where collectivism is more important than ever.

With that said: How does all of this relate to design thinking and technology?

Technology, trough things like the internet, has been one of the main contributors for uniting and connecting people around the world. Now, we even talk about living and sharing experiences in a totally virtual world like the Metaverse. We can’t escape from the fact that this changes the way we design digital products. It is foolish to think that the current challenges related to cultural differences that we face today do not extend to the virtual landscape, where cultural isolation is virtually non-existent, and multiculturalism is almost omnipresent. These challenges will become more relevant the more we collectively immerse ourselves in the digital reality of technology. And that seems to be the tendency.

In this scenario, Design Thinking is not only an important thing, but a necessity.

This design methodology promotes empathy as the main mechanism for designers to relate to the users to whom they are designing for. It incentivizes observation, involvement, and immersion. Only by consciously thinking about this, can a solution be effective and impactful in a way that no one feels left behind.

Despite having this noble goal, it is also important to be realistic about the complexity of this challenge. People and cultures are distinct and diverse. It is not an easy thing to see through the other person’s eyes when their reality is so different and, sometimes, contradictory to ours. As designers, we have a difficult mission to accomplish, but it should not be less pursued through mechanisms like empathy and compassion.

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Cover image:

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

References:

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/06/30/the-metaverse-in-2040/

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Cover image:

Coraline (2009)

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Cover image:

https://hejibits.com/post/173307003744/134

References:

https://capitalmonitor.ai/sector/consumer/explainer-household-brands-accused-of-greenwashing/

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/games-industry-donates-to-black-lives-matter-and-more-in-support-of-us-protests

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/developers-remove-games-from-steam-over-valves-black-lives-matter-silence

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Cover image:

The Office - Baby Shower

References:

https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/why-is-generating-insights-an-important-skill?utm_campaign=9.7-october-newsletter-1-2023-yellow-bg&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=277999936&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_gJDkssjMm0LviHVA1ysu6Fg67Mk2jbMSm8tu8oB5fRs8thFxF347nlPzAZ-9UiLvoZeeuFZwh6WqkadQutVkw1wiylA&utm_source=hubspot

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Cover image:

The Simpsons

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Cover image:

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

References:

https://www.figma.com/design-systems/

https://www.figma.com/blog/introducing-dev-mode/

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_components

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Cover image:

SpongeBob SquarePants

References:

The Design Of Everyday Things de Donald A. Norman

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Cover image:

Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game.

References:

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/design-thinking#what_is_design_thinking?

https://www.polygon.com/2019/6/21/18691760/ea-vp-loot-boxes-surprise-mechanics-ethical-enjoyable

https://www.pcgamer.com/take-two-is-facing-a-lawsuit-over-nba-2k-loot-boxes-and-microtransactions/

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Cover image:

Gunshow - On Fire