And while some are aesthetically beautiful, do they really solve problems we face as mere mortals or are we simply designing ourselves into oblivion—creating more problems than we are trying to address?

Before we dive in, we have a special announcement!

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AI Pin by Humane

Humane has been sharing bits and pieces of their device at various events such as Ted and now this fashion runway. And while I think we all admire in a sense their move for delivering this message to the mass markets, it was not a resounding success.

First impressions:

• People are more upset that they announced the device first at a TedTalk rather than a keynote (why people get upset at things like this blows my mind)

• The runway event feels like this is, and appears so, to be a high-end device that won’t be cheap, leading to an “elitism” status.

It’s fascinating to see how their approach worked. Some called their TedTalk an antiquated presence on stage (I’d agree). But beyond their general communication about the AI Pin—what a dumb name—it has yet to prove its value other than being a projecting, listening, speaker that sounds like you (which is now AI text-to-speech available anywhere).

I’ll have to admit—I almost worked on this device, but cut my interview short due to having to relocate to San Fransicko.

Rewind pendant by Rewind

Rewind was supposedly rushed to announce their necklace butt plug after the device below was pushed into the scene. Cool idea—to rewind conversations and keep a memory of it for later use.

First impressions:

• The device looks just like a listening device without much else. Creepy still?

• Simple and seems like the Amazon of wearable devices—no screen, affordable, just a single use-case.

I’d be surprised that people want a device like this if it doesn’t do anything more than “listen”. Why not just add that feature to an existing device already on you like your phone or watch?

Tab by Avi

The best part about this device is that it spooked a16z backed startup into launching their incomplete project. Announced at a simple hackathon being recorded by a phone, Avi shows off a device that seems to just listen and then answer questions via a chat app using the memory built up by all the recordings.

First impressions:

• It looks affordable.

• Message and delivery from a scrappy underdog wins big.

• The device has low expectations so it doesn’t feel like it needs a lot.

Aside from opposing arguments made between this and the previous device by Rewind, the Tab is setting a different tone.

Is the end nye?

Idk about you, but I wouldn’t wear MORE tech unless it’s invisible. If it’s embedded into my clothing, that would be something. But if it’s another dangling gadget that protrudes more, I’m out of limbs. I already wear an Apple Watch and I’m at a loss for why I really even need it. I’m already caught in an Oura ring and I already have my phone.

More importantly, we’re slowly designing our way to hell—giving anybody a way to hack our memory and any entity power to know what we think.

These devices have benefits, don’t get me wrong, but now we have to worry not only about losing another device but:

• Can others hack the data for their own nefarious use?

• Could governments use AI to make fake convos sound like you for punishment?

• Are we going to have to be more careful about what we say even in private?

• Do we understand how these things shape our social skills and interactions?

These things change the social fabric of how we interact. Although iPhones do so many wonderful things, they also paved the way for a dating world where the majority of young men never kissed a girl and most meet their first date not through having social skills in-person but by cleverly typing away a pre-written message to their virtual fling.

There are already numerous reports about how Amazon and Google can listen through their gadgets like doorbells and speakers… sometimes even locking you out of your own home for fake reports.

What can we learn from wearable tech?

Aside from a doomsday scenario, here’s what I pulled from all these tech gadgets you might find useful.

1. Messaging about socially unusual technology requires a reason to exist, not an end state to reach. People aren’t currently complaining they want to hear about something that happened earlier. Most people just aren’t concerned with that. Maybe I’m wrong.

2. You better move fast. This space is filling up quickly and those who are early are still late it seems. Ship ship ship.

3. Don’t be afraid to try new things. This is where I praise all the tech above and beyond. It takes courage to deliver something unique and helpful. Even if people like me don’t believe in it, it doesn’t mean you’re wrong.

— Mitchell & Logan

In this episode, we sit down with Estonian designer, Ilya Miskov, and dive into being low-key Twitter/X famous, his love for iconography, and getting started in design.

Correction: I mistakenly said 40th episode, when this is only the 39th.

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Shaping Design

Become a better designer each week by reading and listening to strategies, tactics, and stories from some of the best.

By Mitchell Bernstein

• Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3rFrVMm

• Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/sdgooglepod

In the coming weeks, we’ll be changing up more of this newsletter and hyper-focusing on making it the 8th wonder of the world—building a better community for designers. Stay tuned!

Anyways, here’s the scoop this week from Mr.:

In design & tech this week

Rebrands at the speed of sound

Mr sh*tpost himself bragged about a 1-day turnaround for a rebrand project and it begs the question: wait, can rebrands be done in a just 1 day??

https://twitter.com/BrettFromDJ/status/1700219326073287073

And if you thought a 1 day turnaround was short, Linus shows us all that it can —but definitely shouldn’t, be done in an hour! We get it, we’ve all been there.

https://twitter.com/LinusEkenstam/status/1700950967540142407

But there’s more… Nick claims he can handle this task with a One-Minute Rebrand™. We have faith🤝

https://twitter.com/nickstamas/status/1701266009003315480

We’ve got some feedback for you…

The Wall Street Journal shares what we hope to be bait exclaiming the term “feedback” is too harsh. Yikes, let’s hope none of these folks ever have to work for an agency.

https://twitter.com/RGA/status/1701653263190303053

RIP lightning chargers

It’s about time. Apple announces the iPhone 15 suite will in-fact feature a charging port that’s been industry standard for the past 5 years.

https://twitter.com/BasicAppleGuy/status/1701594125181878383

The job surge

Frank Bach details why many are having a hard time getting their foot in the door right now.

https://twitter.com/zendadddy/status/1701664453530382424

That’s all for now. Stay classy, designers!

— Logan & Mitch

In this episode, Blake Everingham returns to the pod with some more design drip. Topics include his fitness app side project, his gorilla strategy for user research, what he learned using his instincts at a startup vs. enterprise, and of course how to begin chiseling away at the design leadership mindset.

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• His LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/everomp/

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What to expect:

1. In design & tech this week

2. A designer’s strongest ally

And with that, let’s dive in!

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In design & tech this week

It’s been a wild week in the arena filled with weirdly nostalgic ai “Hot or Not” clones, Design-Twitter’s usual suspects spewing garbage, and designers learning new skills like sharing

💪 Get in the arena, Shinji

New Framer-Chrome Extension

😱 Framer released a chrome extension that lets you take HTML from the browser right into Framer, designers lose their cool at the thought of sharing

AI Hot or Not Again?!

🌳 Rating AI girls is a thing now? Time to go touch some grass

Brand update

🥱 Miro rips Robinhood’s illustration style with a tired rebrand

Autolayout

🙄 Brett the Designboi hates autolayout

Best skill to learn as a designer?

There are too many boring “inspiration” newsletters that simply share Twitter Design Drama ™ or only images of other people’s work. I don’t want to only keep you up-to-date with current cycles of design but to offer insight that improves your skills.So, I’ve been trying to think of what to share that’s informative and helpful to other designers.

And then it dawned on me.

What skills am I trying to improve for myself?

As a designer at a startup, I face a LOT of obstacles to succeeding. And on this journey, I’m learning to overcome every single one of those obstacles. A recent realization I had was that overall, my design skills are decent—but there is something holding back my work from being delivered adequately.

It’s not because my solutions are poorly thought out.

It’s not because I’m not communicating enough with my colleagues.

It’s not because I’m designing things I shouldn’t be.

But the answer lies deeper in how I work.

It’s that I lack the necessary speed.

Being fast is the key we all seek and that many fail to realize. If you’re fast you have advantages such as:

1. Getting work done earlier → shipping to market faster

2. Finding out ideas don’t work well → failing earlier to succeed earlier

Alternatively, if startups continue recent praise of slowing down, they won’t stand a chance at lasting.

• Slowing down lets competitors catch up. This is why enterprises are facing so many YC competitors.

• Slowing down shows users you care less about making changes that are necessary to keep them happy.

• Slowing down makes you look incompetent as an organization to achieve anything at all.

If you can master speed, you can deliver better results to your colleagues at startups.

That’s all for this week,

— Mitchell & Logan

If you want to kickstart your web design career, I highly recommend trying out the best no-code tool for creating your piece of the web: Framer

Get my first Framer template, 15% off using the code DOKS15 and use this link to get a major discount off your next Framer Pro site.

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Imagine waking up one day and not being able to use your dominant arm to manipulate Figma. I thought I never would be able to work again.

As designers, we rely not only on our brains but on our hands to control the most powerful tool known to mankind: our computers. For those fortunate, our hands provide us a way to move rectangles for a living—and that’s pretty damn neat.

But what if all this was taken from you? What would you do? What job would you contemplate doing next without hands? What happens when your purpose in life evaporates?

Before we continue, check out our interviews on YouTube where you can see me interview top-tier designers and hear their stories, strategies, and tactics to learn how to mimic their success.

What I’m about to tell you actually happened to me.

About 2 years ago, during the COVID-19 banaza, my employer forced us to work from home. And during this time, we were all worried about catching a cold or any sickness that could lead us to be severely ill. So, our employer recommended we get a Flu vaccine—free of charge, at the company office—and so I complied.

Who doesn’t want free things that improve their health, right?

This was my fatal error.

As soon as the physician injected my arm, I felt something odd. I realized he wasn’t even looking at me, but instead a pamphlet of how to inject somebody’s arm…

I would quickly learn that my arm was paralyzed and would remain so for 4 months.

No doctor could see what was wrong and any CAT scan that involved using contrast (a gross liquid to help the imaging process my organs clearly) would result in me throwing up everywhere.

I felt hopeless.

To end this on a happy note, I successfully recovered by rehabilitating my arm over the course of 11 months through the knowledge of the internet. Hooray!

But what did I take away from this experience? Well, it made me ask 2 questions:

1. Do I have a backup plan in case anything ever happens again?

2. If I wasn’t working on a computer moving pixels, what could my skills enable me to do?

These are questions I think everyone should be asking as life is too short to get to the end of our journey and shrug.

Here’s how I addressed them and how you can too:

Build your passions to make money

In all honesty, these newsletters and YouTube videos and podcasts and templates are not just about making money—they help guide me to know I can have alternative income streams to help me out in a pinch at the same time as aiding others in their design careers.

That’s something more people should consider—running a passion project that makes money.

And designers are uniquely positioned in that we can apply our skills to so much! We know how to build into users’ needs and that crosses every medium (digital and physical) even if we haven’t explored those yet.

Think of ways you can apply your design skills and make that into a passion project. If ya need help, reply to this email.

Think 5 steps ahead

To be honest, I do plan on making lots of money one day. But that day started yesterday. My plan was simple—find a way to make a lot of money. But making a lot of money to be financially secure can take quite a while… or does it?

I knew the pain in my arm could return with a vengeance, so preparation for that led me to decide I needed to take greater risks.

The bigger the risk the greater the reward.

And that’s why I landed myself a job as a designer at a startup. This isn’t a sure-fire way to make it, but often if it works it, it really works out.

I highly recommend this as a designer—and if not, consider becoming a design founder!

Working at a 9-5 job for some big company isn’t going to get you to your retirement faster. In fact, they may be keeping you stuck in the loop of hoping for one day to be released.

Try your best to consider your plan of action for the next 5, 10, and 20 years. You’ll be surprised to see what you actually come to terms with.

Although the pain comes back in waves, I retain my healing knowledge and continue to rehabilitate 2 years later.

I hope this newsletter inspires you (or scares you) to deeply consider your backup plan and alternative means to pursue your passion as it did for me.

— Mitchell Bernstein

If you want to kickstart your no-code web design career, I highly recommend trying out the best no-code tool for creating your piece of the web: Framer

Get my first Framer template, 15% off using the code DOKSLAUNCH

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1. Give us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts + a review

2. Screenshot the review with the rating after it’s been submitted.

3. @ me on Twitter/X with the screenshot.

You have 2 weeks for this contest to end. Good luck!

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Mentioned

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• Matthieu’s Twitter

• Matthieu’s book: How to Design Fonts Like a Pro

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• Shaping Design newsletter

Shaping Design Podcast

• YouTube

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Show notes

(00:00) - Intro

(04:47) - Who is Matthieu

(07:52) - How to run a type foundry

(09:01) - Why create a type foundry

(10:31) - What it takes

(14:03) - Where the name came from

(15:32) - Deciding which typeface to design

(16:21) - Area typeface inspiration

(18:51) - Hi most popular typefaces

(20:42) - Brands and typefaces

(22:35) - Drawing from inspiration

(27:24) - Maintaining typefaces

(30:55) - Variable typefaces

(34:08) - Selling typeface variants

(34:43) - Inspiration for Apoc

(38:48) - How to design a typeface

(46:19) - When are typefaces done?

(50:47) - Least and most favorite typefaces

(51:54) - German type

(55:23) - Why recreate Helvetica

(01:01:00) - How has design shaped you?

He brought up the standards for color accessibility that WCAG supports, which in all fairness is better than no standards at all.

However, there’s a potentially ground-breaking change to the standard that helps designers and users in so many ways…

But it’s not being adopted.

Psst, if you haven’t watched or listened to it yet, check out some of the reviews:

Again, I highly recommend you watch or listen to the full episode 👇

Anyways, the standard that’s in progress of being adopted with tons of pushback is called APCA, which stands for Advanced Perceptual Contrast Algorithm.

Dan wrote a detailed thread about it here.

It basically makes color accessibility easier to understand for designers and improves contrast ratios for users to be more accurate. It takes into account human perception as opposed to strictly “mathematical” ratios (Hollick, 2021). According to Dan, since it accepts how humans perceive dark and light colors differently, changing the standards a bit, but for the better.

The committee that decides if this new standard is adopted…. seems to not jump to its feet in celebration.

And that’s the problem.

It turns out, that although a much better standard has been produced, those whose duty it is to ensure a global standard exists actually stagnate positive change in our communities.

My realization after hearing this is: always find the source of where “standards” derive from.

You should always want to do what’s best for users and letting an unelected committee decide how you do your job makes that so much harder.

Our design community usually takes a virtue-signaling approach to shout down others and uplift false universal truths.

“It’s illegal to use that color!” they shout. “You aren’t considering people with two left feet and a permanent red nose! Shame!“ they proclaim.

This approach begins to erode our integrity, forcing a singular (inadequate) viewpoint, and has quite the opposite effect of what many preach of being inclusive.

If we’re battling with each other about designer lists’ skin colors and not focusing on our users’ needs—celebrating the amazing ideas we bring to reality together—we will overlook the most important issues. Nobody will be improving the standards that many blindly follow.

I am not here to blindly follow orders.

I’m here to design exquisite experiences that help people achieve their goals.

And you are too.

Until next time,

— Mitchell

P.S Go the extra mile, learn the APCA guidelines, and use it at your whim!

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Mentioned

• Dan’s advanced Framer course

• Dan’s Twitter

• Raycast

• Wes Bos’s coding courses

• Zebra Figma plugin

Socials

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• Shaping Design newsletter

Shaping Design Podcast

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• Substack

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• Apple Podcasts

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Let’s rip the band-aid off: most designers think their job is to move rectangles on a screen until it feels just right.

These designers are incorrect, IMO.

Because there’s something soul-crushing about enabling work to be limited by a singular type of shape that does not feel like the imagination of an artist. Of course not everything needs to become a Picasso painting, but can’t these “rectangular-bound-wireframes” be something better?

Something inspiring?

While I don’t know the exact reason why everything is boring, I do know a few ways we can change that,

Before we continue, check out our interviews on YouTube where you can see me interview top-tier designers and hear their stories, strategies, and tactics to learn how to mimic their success.

Visit YouTube

Can we design things that are fun again?

I remember getting my first iMac. Our neighbors had the white plastic desktop iMacs, and my dad (being the smartass he was) tried to one-up their purchase as a joke by getting the brand new metal iMac desktops.

With it, came an OS intro video (see below) that swept me off my feet.

Hot damn!

Nobody knew that this—this very video—would change my perspective of personal computers.

The care that went into every detail was like a dream. It made you feel special for joining the “in” group of a select few who could ever experience such a magical experience.

And, boy, was it magical.

Every bit of this OS was incredible. From full-on apps like Time Machine to details such as the expanding file cabinet of downloads.

Interfaces today ALL look the same right? You have people profile avatars on the top right, a share button next to that, with a sidebar menu on the left, all using the same plain of existence without much depth. Usually, these interfaces are surrounded by nothing but white white white, and do little to serve the users’ emotions vs. acting only on utility.

We have lost our way as designers and must find it back.

But how do we do it?

How to design fun interfaces again

There is a way out of this uninspiring world. It’s remedied in 4 parts:

1. Replace sources of inspiration

2. Draw from the real world

3. Reinvent the wheel

First, we must set aside much of what we usually deem as inspiration archives that were traditionally seen as safe—Dribbble, Behance, Creative Market, etc. Many of these sources do not include well-designed interfaces, they simply include a lot of work (they used to but whatev).

This can be great but sadly these sources are overwhelmingly stuffed to the point it’s impossible to feel inspired by the sheer ocean of copies, poor interface practices, and frankly lackluster self-promotional bodies of work.

Personally, I use private Pinterest boards since it has the largest volume of visually curatable content (but it’s still geared toward stay-at-home moms so…).

Then, we must draw out inspiration from the real world. Look at how materials interact with you as you use them. Metal can be reflective, ice can change when met with a warm touch, and paper bends and folds as you lift and force it in directions. All of these things react to us in different, meaningful ways that help us understand what we should expect from them.

Real-world experiences—these are to be cherished in an ever-growing digital replacement. We should capitalize on making these experiences more human, not less. Not only does it make a transition to the use of technology easier by mimicking expectations of the real world (or imaginative), but it also gives us a sense of joy that something so… boring and rectangular can embody a shining personality. Utility and fun? Sign me up.

Lastly, we must do the dirty deed of reinventing the wheel. Of course, utilitarians will reject this and say “if it ain’t broke…”. I’m calling on all designers up for the challenge to reinvent things that may seem minuscule but impactful.

Imagine if we could design things like Time Machine again. An imagination to do so would require somebody to think outside of the patterns of today to bring us back. Today’s interfaces are so stale and boring, with a sprinkle of focus on raising capital, and a drop of rushed and untested design systems… no wonder we feel are replacing ourselves with AI—to rid ourselves from enduring the pain of experiences these soulless rectangles!

If you wanted to kickstart your web design career, I highly recommend use try out the best no-code tool for creating your piece of the web: Framer

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A few that strayed

Some apps, regardless of what you think, have done a great job at trying to poke the bear to design things with a whimsical nature to them.

MacPaw’s CleanMyMac X is a great example of an app that feels like it’s breathing. Interactions are fluid, yet still intuitive. Animations, especially per holiday and on running the app, make it feel fun to use.

DaisyDisk is another app that uses beautiful visualizations to show you your computer’s storage broken down into parts.

It’s an excellent example of interactions that feel like they are natural.

Paper by 53 was an extraordinary app that used a notepad experience to draw you into using it (see what I did there?). You can see the app expects you to be creative by acting like the space of an existing creative, using colored notepads and natural gestures.

Paper by Facebook took interactions to the next level. Although this project died, its efforts were not in vain—Facebook took many interactions and lessons learned to add to their other core experiences.

We all learned a lot about fluidity and how it educates users so much more than a boring ol’ back button linear transition. It was like jello (some claimed to dislike) but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t have been tweaked to be just right. It was probably my favorite mobile experience that took physics to a new level.

That’s all for this week! Hope you enjoyed it! If ya did (or didn’t), send me an email or comment on this on Substack.

— Mitchell Bernstein

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Many of us, including previous versions of myself, are stuck at jobs that we were told by our parents and others were “safe places to work”; unfortunately sucking our souls day-by-day, attempting to squeeze out every bit of creative juice we possess to generate millions or billions. And in return we were given… fictitious titles, a yearly 5% salary increase, and a pat on the back.

There’s a few ways to escape this nightmare. You could get a new job—the most obvious and unfortunately the hardest option. Alternatively, you could form a side-project.

Let me share with you some thoughts that can jumpstart your next side project.

Before we continue, check out our interviews on YouTube where you can see me interview top tier designers and hear their stories, strategies, and tactics that make them successful.

Deciding the side project

What do I actually pick to make my side project?

It’s not easy to set out on an endless journey to find your passion. But it’s worth it.

I decided a few things I wanted to do in my spare time: talking to other creatives and hearing their stories, strategies, and frameworks, writing my thoughts on design for the world to hear, and of course making Framer templates.

I love these things because they give me a sense of experimentation and don’t interfere with my day job. But they aren’t always easy.

I’d recommend thinking first about what gets you excited and worry less about the difficulty.

• It needs to make you feel like you want to work on it more than anything else

• You can’t look at it like a chore

• You would be ok doing it for a long period of time

Retaining motivation

How do I motivate myself to invest in my side project for a long time?

There are no time limits or minimums to your side project. Do realize a side project can become another commitment. You probably don’t want to take on another full time job. But you do want to spend the time you can dedicate to this purposefully.

So how do you get off your butt to actually stay with it?

Some tricks you can use to get yourself to commit and keep at it for longer:

• Publicly announce it: this gets others to hold you accountable, and your not going to want to let them down.

• Track progress: if you get into the habit of noting down updates or progress, that habit will be less likely to break over time.

• Find a why: whatever drives you to pick that idea, think about why you’re pushing yourself to complete the side project each morning.

What to avoid

• Don’t buy a domain until the website is ready to be public.

• Don’t pick something overly ambitious (yet).

• Don’t pick something somebody else is doing because you want to be just like them.

• Don’t chase money.

Some starter ideas

But what should I pick as an idea to start?

Great question! But I can’t be the one to tell you what your passionate about. I can, however, help you find a reason to pick an idea:

Counter to your job

Hate your job? Try an idea that does right what your job gets wrong. If you aren’t able to make beautiful landing pages at work because of greater bureaucracies or bad clients, make something they would never accept.

This very newsletter/podcast is counter to my older jobs where I wasn’t able to express myself creatively, nor was I allocated time to talk to others and form relationships with. Therefore I worked to build https://shaping.design.

A missing piece

Maybe there’s a service your enjoy using but it could be a bit better if it had that one missing thing. Take that one missing function and carve out an idea for it. Take a project my good friend Aleks’ is working on.

It’s a library of Framer overrides. He and another found a need for exciting components that were not natively supported by Framer, thus launching into filling that void.

A random idea

Any fleeting thought could be turned into a fun side project. Take Benton’s Footer project: a collection of high quality web footers.

You don’t need to have a serious idea. Just pick any thought you have and make it into something, even if it only lasts a week. That will give you motivation to further explore and experiment.

— Mitchell Bernstein

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Good morning/afternoon/evening design titans! We have another banger of a newsletter for ya.

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Coming up

1. Cool www finds: fun links and useful things from around the web

2. Swiss Passports: a little critique of the now most famous passport on the internet

3. Don’t design what users want… thoughts on how to address user's’ needs even when they ask for something else

1) Cool www finds

For these I dig into my recently liked tweets... err… xeets(?) to share with you cool things from around the web!

Colorspectrum

A really interesting experiment to play with color palettes by generating things a color might be used in. I love these things as they are new ways to explore ideas in a generative way without having to manually make the colors and then apply them to another thing elsewhere floating in your Figma file.

Libre Caslon Condensed

A finally free, open source condensed serif typeface based on the lovely Libre. Go check it out! DID I SAY ITS FREE.

2) Swiss Passports

If you haven’t been on #designtwitter, you may have missed these epic passports designed by RETINAA for the Swiss government.

Check out the full project

Some initial thoughts on these.

I am moving to Switzerland just to have one.

Kidding aside, I find these to bring a sense of awe and wonder to that country, making others feel an urge to want one without even needing a passport.

Although, nobody will really ever see these glow-in-the-dark features of the passports except when being scanned, that is what helps to make these even more special.

More countries should take care of components to their whole citizen experience including attention to detail on passports like these. And with these passports setting the bar high, I’d now expect the rest of government services in Switzerland to play out the same—equally compelling and, dare I say, with attention to detail. (Side note: should I write a detailed article on citizen experiences?)

Countries—if you’re listening, push your leaders for higher branding standards. You may become the envy of the world (or maybe limited to #designtwitter?)

Before we continue, check out our podcast on YouTube where you can see me interview top tier designers and hear their stories, strategies, and tactics that make them successful so you can be too.

Also, I hear that the best designers subscribe to this newsletter and share it with their friends... Just sayin.

3) Don’t design what users want…

Design what users need, not what they ask for.

Huh? You’re probably thinking this is completely contradicting itself… Let’s dive in.

Users complain a LOT about missing features.

They often ask for specific-to-them features that do not make any sense for other users.

For example, a user of ours asked for a feedback form—they wanted the ability to let their users drop feedback into a form and submit that form for review.

What we ended up building is a feedback center that manages feedback coming from many sources including Slack, HubSpot, and other integrations.

Why didn’t we do just what the user asked for?

Because their complaint of lacking a specific feature was actually a symptom. It was not the root cause of the problem.

When talking to them, their problem was that they actually had no way of managing their user’s feedback—not just collecting it—and submission was actually a very simple thing our tool did not allow. Currently they did have ways of letting users submit the feedback, but by putting it on the users to go somewhere special to relay this feedback, it was an unnecessary burden and made more work for their internal staff to organize. AKA this meant users would have had to fill out a disgusting FORM, which everyone hates doing, and team members collecting the feedback would need a spreadsheet to add each feedback submission to in order to organize it and later assign it to a request to design and code.

What they really needed was a way to send user feedback from several internal tools they already used into our new tool so internal users can screen the feedback as it comes and put it in the right spot for a product manager to review and assign appropriately.

There’s that famous quote “if I asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse!” which allegedly came from Henry Ford, but is actually fake.

Still it holds up right?

People often complain about something but do not have your set of eyes that oversees an entire product and coincides with lots of feedback from many users. You have the power to make whatever is necessary to continue your goal and help them.

Just remember, what they say isn’t always what they mean.

— Mitchell 🔥

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• Passion drives learning

• Passion enhances creativity and expertise

• Passion and purpose go hand-in-hand

• and much more…

Let’s dive in…

Today, we challenge the conventional notions of learning and present to you a daring proposition: "Passion is the Key to Unlocking True Knowledge." In a world teeming with distractions and a relentless pursuit of success, it's easy to forget the profound impact that passion can have on our learning journeys.

In episode 31 of the Shaping Design podcast, Mitchell chatted with (@logan_liffick) about his current job as Head of Product & Design at Makelog. They discussed some learnings up-and-coming designers should listen to, how he benefits as a designer from understanding code, and even talking about a trip down memory lane, and using a passion.

Should you leverage your passion? How do you learn? What are the best ways to learn?

What if you could embrace your inner fire and unleash your true potential through the power of passion?

How many of you were told that you will never make good money with art? That you will starve as an artist? Or that being a designer or artist leads to a dead-end.

I was told this. I was told to follow a “normal” career…. but instead, I followed my passion.

I never dreamed of making such good money moving pixels around. When things got tough, I kept going. I never gave up. I was passionate.

Let’s dive in.

The fire within

Passion is the secret sauce that transforms learning from a chore into a thrilling adventure. Passion is fuel for career success because it drives key actions and behaviors. When we pursue knowledge with zeal and ardor, we unlock the door to unbounded curiosity. A passionate mind thirsts for understanding, relentlessly seeks answers and constantly yearns to push the boundaries of its craft. Learning becomes an organic process, where each discovery acts as fuel for the next, perpetuating a cycle of growth and fulfillment.

As designers, cultivating a passion for our work is an indispensable asset. It fuels our imagination, infuses our creations with emotion, and guides our intuition toward innovative solutions. By weaving passion into the fabric of our learning journey, we become unstoppable forces capable of breaking through any creative barriers that stand in our way.

The spark of passion for learning

Passion isn't just an emotional infatuation; it's the spark that ignites our creativity and propels us on a journey of profound discovery. When designers infuse their learning process with passion, the results are nothing short of extraordinary. Passionate designers don't just create; they breathe life into their designs, infusing them with authenticity and innovation.

Passion and purpose

Passion alone, however, is not enough to unlock its full potential. It is the synergy between passion and purpose that grants us the true power to drive forward. Passion provides motivation, while purpose lends direction and meaning to our pursuits.

As designers, we must introspect and discover our why—the purpose that drives us to create, the impact we wish to make, and the legacy we aspire to leave. When passion aligns with purpose, we find ourselves on a mission, transcending the mundane pursuit of skills and transforming into agents of change, driven by an unwavering vision.

Passion as the guiding light

Passion is the compass that guides us on the journey toward mastery. Mastery is not a destination but a never-ending pursuit—a path laden with challenges and triumphs. When we are passionate about our craft, setbacks are perceived as opportunities to learn and grow rather than roadblocks.

Designers who leverage their passion for learning embrace failure as stepping stones to success. They become lifelong learners, eager to refine their skills, absorb new knowledge, and stay at the forefront of innovation. Passionate designers are trailblazers, lighting the way for others to follow, and constantly evolving the landscape of design.

Passion's ripple effect

Passion is contagious. When we exude enthusiasm for our work, it sparks inspiration in those around us. Passionate designers create an atmosphere of collaboration and encouragement, fostering a community that supports each other's growth.

Moreover, passion elevates empathy—the ability to understand and connect with the end-users of our designs. By imbuing our creations with genuine emotion and understanding the needs of our audience, we craft experiences that resonate deeply, leaving a lasting impact.

How to know if you’ve found your passion

You can determine whether you’ve hit upon your passion by tuning into your thoughts and your feelings.

Your thoughts

Your interest and curiosity in something, coupled with a strong desire to explore, learn, and take action, are clear indicators that you have found a passion. Moreover, when you are genuinely passionate about a subject, you may observe a natural proficiency in it, and you willingly invest time and effort, leading to continuous improvement.

For instance, let's consider the scenario where you come across information about agile work methods. Intrigued by the concept, you enthusiastically share these ideas with your team, eventually becoming the go-to expert and a leader in implementing agile practices within your organization. This exemplifies how passion drives you to excel and take on influential roles.

Your feelings

Recognizing your passion becomes evident when a surge of energy engulfs you in a particular area. Immersed in learning and contributing within your chosen domain, you experience heightened emotions and a sense of vigor. Moreover, passion often connects you to a larger purpose, instilling the belief that your efforts hold significance and forging a strong link with your community.

Passion is a versatile force that manifests in various ways, but it is characterized by the profound thoughts and feelings it evokes. It instills dedication, immerses you completely, fuels your energy, and imbues your actions with purpose. Embracing your passion enriches your life, leading you on a fulfilling journey of personal and communal growth.

Tapping into your passion

When we are truly passionate about something, whether it's a goal, a dream, a project, or a cause, we become infused with an unyielding spirit.

We rise above self-doubt, overcome fear, and confront the doubts of others, all in pursuit of what sets our souls ablaze.

Consider the artist who relentlessly hones their craft, the scientist who tirelessly seeks answers to the world's mysteries or the athlete who refuses to quit despite facing numerous setbacks. In each of these stories, passion is the common thread that stitches perseverance into the fabric of their journey.

In the face of naysayers and skeptics, passion becomes the shield that deflects negativity, allowing us to stay focused on our goals and continue forging ahead with unwavering determination. It is the inner voice that whispers, "You can do it," when the world tells us otherwise.

The secret sauce

Passion is not a fleeting infatuation but an enduring flame that ignites the fires of perseverance within us. Passion is fuel for career success because it drives key actions and behaviors.

• Passion fuels perseverance

• Passion breeds creativity

• Passion ignites curiosity

• Passion enhances memory

• Passion cultivates expertise

• Passion empowers meaningful impact

But how can designers truly leverage their passion to drive forward? Let's unveil the concrete steps:

• Step 1: Embrace Your Unique Design Passion - To set yourself on this exhilarating path, embrace your unique design passion. Is it user experience (UX), branding, typography, or perhaps digital illustration? Discover what makes your heart race and your imagination soar, for it is within this sphere that your greatest potential lies.

• Step 2: Dive Deep Into Your Passion - Once you've identified your passion, dive deep into the ocean of knowledge surrounding it. Immerse yourself in books, articles, tutorials, and online courses tailored to your area of interest. The more you delve, the more your passion will blossom, and the thirst for knowledge will become insatiable.

• Step 3: Practice, Experiment, and Play - Designers, unleash your creativity through hands-on practice! Set aside time to experiment, play with different styles, and push the boundaries of your passion. Create personal projects, take on design challenges, and allow your passion to shape your artistic expression.

• Step 4: Connect with Like-Minded Souls - Design is a collaborative art, and connecting with like-minded individuals can be invigorating. Join design communities, attend conferences, and engage in discussions that revolve around your passion. Exchange ideas, gain fresh perspectives, and draw inspiration from others on the same journey.

• Step 5: Seek Mentorship and Feedback - Guidance from experienced designers can be transformative. Seek mentorship from industry experts, or collaborate with seasoned designers who can provide constructive feedback on your work. Embrace criticism as a stepping stone to growth and refinement.

• Step 6: Set Purposeful Goals - Passion-driven learning requires direction. Set purposeful goals for your design journey. Whether it's mastering specific software, learning a new technique, or building a captivating portfolio, setting targets will keep your passion focused and your progress tangible.

• Step 7: Take Risks and Embrace Failure - Designers who embrace passion are unafraid to take risks and embrace failure. View mistakes as valuable learning experiences and stepping stones to success. It is in these moments that your passion will fortify your resilience and spur you to keep moving forward.

• Step 8: Embody Your Passion in Your Design Process - Designers, let your passion breathe life into your creative process. Allow it to shape your concepts, influence your choices of color and form, and infuse your designs with an authentic and distinctive touch.

• Step 9: Never Stop Learning - A passion-driven designer is always a lifelong learner. Keep your passion alive by continuously seeking out new challenges and opportunities for growth. The journey of learning is endless, and your passion will be the compass that keeps you exploring uncharted territories.

• Step 10: Pay It Forward - Lastly, don't hoard your passion; share it with the world. Inspire others, mentor aspiring designers, and contribute to the design community. Your passion has the power to ignite sparks in others and create a ripple effect of inspiration.

Final words

Passion is not a constant state; it requires nurturing and dedication. By integrating these action items into your daily routine, you can harness the power of passion and channel it into your design process, resulting in greater fulfillment and creative excellence.

Discovering your passion shouldn't be a daunting task. Simply pay attention to what captures your interest and ignites your energy. There's no need for an elaborate master plan or a roadmap for your entire life. Instead, focus on making day-to-day and month-to-month choices that align with your joys and strengths.

Remember, the way you spend your moments determines how you spend your life. So, invest time in activities you genuinely enjoy and excel at, as well as in endeavors that contribute to your community. These seemingly small choices will accumulate, leading to a life filled with fulfillment and making a positive impact on others' lives too.

Hey, Mitchell & Pascal here! Thanks for checking out this week’s free edition of the Shaping Design newsletter. We strive to send you the best tips and our very own unique perspective each week. Subscribe to get each article!

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Hello to our wonderful 600+ subscribers!

You’ve definitely heard from us saying “design is more than buttons”. But something unexpected happened this week. So I wanted to share some thoughts and show you how and why sharing work is essential for today’s digital era of design.

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A viral Tweet about buttons?!

We don’t normally share tweets here unless they’re special.

And man this one is S-P-E-C-I-A-L

I was noodling in Framer this weekend, trying to build out a new template, when I had an urge deep inside of me to design a curvaceous button. One with all sorts of flares and tricks that we used to love making.

This button, heavily inspired by my good friend Eli Schiff, includes things that the designers of today are taught to be in bad taste:

• a dropshadow

• sense distinct depth

• a strong indication of lighting

• a personality

But these properties are not bad taste. They’re part of a forgotten artform. And don’t believe anyone if they says otherwise. Design is not good or bad. Design is a utility to translate intent into application. Why do things have to be flat and boring? I digress…

After exercising my pre-iOS 7 skills, I grabbed a screenshot and sent it to some friends. Then decided, why not share it online? Seemed harmless enough. At worse, people would ignore this boring tweet.

I was oh so very wrong!

I tweeted this out on Tuesday and checking it today, I noticed… 31,000 views.

Let me repeat that…

THIRTY-ONE THOUSAND VIEWS (and counting)

How could this be? We’ve been preaching since day 1 of our podcast that designers should be thinking beyond buttons.

This tweet is almost antithetical to what Pascal and I have been talking about for the past 6 months. So how do we reconcile with it?

Easy.

This tweet is a representation of a thing I don’t do enough—sharing my work.

Recently, I got clearance from my startup’s CEO to share some of my work at the company online. I also realized I don’t share enough of what I’m making for fun.

These two sources have so much thinking put into them that some of which won’t ever be known unless I make a strong effort to share those thoughts. So prepare, Internet, for I have things to share and more buttons to tweet about.

Let me walk you through Why, How, and What work you should be sharing.

Before we continue, head on over to our podcast on YouTube channel where you can see us interview top tier designers and hear their stories, strategies, and tactics that made them successful so you can be too.

We’re also on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more!

Also, I hear that the best designers subscribe to this newsletter and share it with their friends... Just sayin.

Why should you share your work?

If you’re not doing this today, you’re missing out on growing your audience and potentially ruining your chances with prospective clients.

I am the biggest advocate of sharing work in progress.

Best part of all, the work doesn’t have to be that special. And if you don’t believe me, just remember this: become prolific, not perfect. A good body of work will win out over a single successful project.

Sharing your work creates not only the illusion of a body of work (even if stemming from the same project), but also a relentless effort on your part to MAKE. We all want to root for the creative underdog, and sharing your work pairs you to that ethos by building your future one pixel at a time.

In short: sharing work has many benefits including growing your footing in the design industry, attracting clients, and honestly having fun while not enslaving your soul to the media hamster wheel.

How to share?

Screenshots of your WIPs don’t have to be novel, completely polished, or final. You just need to share ideas—especially those in progress.

Ideas are what inspire others to create. If you can share something that others find interesting, why wouldn’t you?

However, there’s a few ways to share work and only one that has been successful for me.

1. Share a super polished piece of art

2. Share a not-so-perfect frame of the work

With option 1, you can hide your insecurities and only let others see your perfect creations!

I find this method to be bad if implemented 100% of the time.

People don’t want to have you advertise to them. They want to be invited to your desk to have a chat about ideas you have. Doesn’t the latter feel more personal?

A polished piece of art is more of a selling point than it is a fun, top of mind fleeting thought. And those fleeting thoughts are the most fun since 99% of them never become reality—so you can be as wild as you want!

That imaginative culture is what attracts more people to your work.

Which is why I suggest option 2) share what you got in the moment even if the work looks inadequate.

Work in progress is far more interesting and welcoming than a polished piece of art that you slaved over.

So what I suggest is: take a screenshot before bed, post it to Twitter, and then go to sleep.

That way you can’t touch your computer to undo it, you can’t respond to any feedback, and you have something to look forward to in the morning.

Ultimately: Don’t think hard about how to present the work, share something that feels like it’s a conversation more than a final-final-for-real-111-final.PSD.

What to share?

I can’t comment on EXACTLY what items you should screenshot and post to Twitter. But I can give you a recipe to try.

Share work from something you care about. It could be your full time job, a hobby, an extra labor of love for a friend—whatever. Then, find interesting details you think are unique to your designs like my button above.

• It could be a lockup of text with different sizes.

• Or fun content and witty sense of humor.

• Or even striking colors, shapes, and unusual objects!

The ideas are endless.

Regardless of the content, the intent behind it is more important—THIS IS WHAT EVERYONE NEGLECTS.

You can choose to be sharing a complex or simple item, but remember what’s driving it.

If you share a work of an enterprise’s new GUI AI software, it may be hard for others to digest. If you share a screenshot of a modal that let’s you choose from a few options to get started from that same UI, your tweet may become more substantial since the content is more generalized and therefore more relatable.

If you share mockup or pieces of work that is very general, it may be too boring to others to bother commenting whereas if it was a completely custom solution, some may feel inclined to be curious and respond further.

What in these examples could be worth picking out?

• Your unique take on it

• Your excitement about making it

• Your secretiveness for sharing it

• Your combination of elements that are just :chefs-kiss:

• Your thrown-away ideas that could have been

Any of these (and non-listed) strategies are key to bringing to light your posts worthiness. It doesn’t always matter what you post by why you’re posting it for others to enjoy that makes it interesting.

That’s all for this week. Hope you enjoyed!

Let us know how we’re doing or suggest something you want us to talk about by replying to this email / commenting on Substack. We’d LOVE to hear from you <3

— Mitchell & Pascal

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