Carmen Spitz

Is Dark UX still a thing? Absolutely—and it’s more prevalent than ever. As the economy slows, more companies are leaning into these tactics to drive conversions and upsells. But is it a sustainable strategy? Our UX/UI Designer, Mai Leduc, has created an insightful summary highlighting the long-term risks businesses face when they rely on dark UX practices: https://lnkd.in/ejFywMHB

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Final Reminder! Don’t Miss Out on Our Upcoming Workshop: Unlocking Product Market Fit! 🚨 We’re just a few days away from our interactive WIP Montreal workshop on Product Market Fit, and tickets are going fast! 🎟️ Join these really talented ladies Sabrina Damato, PPCC, Reforge alumni and Elitsa Asenova for an evening of hands-on learning, networking, and practical insights to take your PM skills to the next level. Wondering what you’ll work on? Here’s a sneak peek of the exercise: 🔹 Example Exercise: Let’s say your team selects a “Remote Work Productivity Tool.” Using a Lean Canvas, you’ll define customer problems, target segments, and outline potential solutions. This collaborative approach helps you gain real-world experience in validating and achieving product-market fit! 📅 Event Details: • Date: Thursday, November 7th • Time: 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM • Location: Nakisa Inc (2000 Rue Mansfield, Suite 301) 🗣️ Don’t miss this chance to learn, connect, and walk away with actionable strategies. Get your tickets here: https://lnkd.in/en_HTpcK See you there! #ProductManagement #WomenInProduct

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Just announced! This month's UX Salon Halifax meetup is all about... User Experience of course. That's it. Back to the basics. Ever wonder why some things just work so.... nice? Or why some other experiences are so frustrating? We can answer that. :) See you in two weeks! #uxsalonhalifax #halifaxux #userexperience #halifaxtech #uxdesign #uxresearch

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More bad, bad, bad #UXAroundMe, this time from Canada Post / Postes Canada. Here in Canada, you don't get your post delivered to your door, but to a Community Mailbox for the neighborhood. For reasons only known to bureaucrats, the boxes do not include the address number... so off the bat, #BadUX for your own workers who will have to check which box belongs to which address, and #BadUX for your customers because I need to remember which is my mailbox number, and which is my compartment number. To add insult to injury, the mailbox number has the worst #ContrastRatio ever (#accesibility anyone?) and the compartment number is obscured by the keyhole if you are even the slightest bit above the full "front view" of these things (which are not exactly that high to start with). C'mon #CanadaPost, this is not that hard! Fine, putting an address on them might be considered too much logistics given that these boxes serve multiple street names. But you have a wonderful contrast between your brand blue and red, or blue and white. Why not use that? and the placement of the number below the keyhole is just... I mean... you're doing this on purpose to screw with me, right? right? right!? 😤

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Better, faster, more creative design work while building tighter relationships between delivery and design? That’s the promise behind the practice of #DesignOps, a formal approach to building processes that integrate design teams into product development. (More here: https://lnkd.in/gPZju3qP) The 2024 #DesignOpsSummit program that Rosenfeld Media has put together promises to help design teams define optimal processes that remove fragility and build resilience, while measuring the value of investing in process. It centers on three themes:  1. Impact: Learn how to optimize DesignOps impact within your organization. 2. Resilience: Discover strategies to build resilient design teams. 3. Innovation: Explore cutting-edge methodologies and tools to drive innovation. I’m attending the online conference from Sept 23-25 to learn how UX teams can protect the environments that allow their creativity to thrive, while still delivering timely, high quality work needed to keep Agile teams running. You can see the program and register here: https://lnkd.in/gDtX7ppC

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Does your software team speak the same language? Aligning on what basic UI elements are called is a great starting point. It doesn’t even matter what name your team chooses as long as everyone agrees on it. Names should hint at purpose. #productdesign #designsystems

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Names are incredibly powerful. Learning the names of things is how we begin to communicate as humans. Names empower objects with purpose and meaning. It is no different in UI. Layouts will often require many divs and containers. When designing a layout, I’ve found it helpful to slow down and think about why I’m creating a new frame in the first place. Giving a UI element a name helps with my own understanding of what its purpose is. Not only that, but a well-named and organized layer list acts as its own documentation that both designers and developers will appreciate. #figma #uidesign #designtips

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Want to work less? Me too!! And you're invited. I'm hosting a gathering to share what we learned at Made Manifest Inc when we spent a year prototyping and testing a 4 day work week for our service design agency. This will be a candid reflection on how we implemented this, what we measured, the surprises, the good, the bad and the ugly! Even if a 4 day week feels out of reach for you, there will be some ideas and reflection time of boundaries you could experiment with in the coming end of year rush. #servicedesign #prototyping #futureofwork Sign up link in the comments.

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4 ways AI can help designers? • Generate ideas to inspire creativity • Create illustrations for personas and journey maps • Plan out workshop agendas • Create alt text and image captions for better accessibility It's all about the prompts and refining them to work best for your project!

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This is indeed a Guide for Starters.

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Love seeing the process and growth that people experience inside Career Strategy Lab 🎉 Advancing your career is so much more than just external stuff like redoing a resume or portfolio, reaching out to people on LinkedIn etc. Sidenote, SO much growth comes from within and that's when we see things really shift for people – they start getting more interviews, moving further along in the interview process, and finally get offers for roles they actually want! PS: Have questions about Career Strategy Lab (the UX career coaching program I run that's *not* a boot camp) ... then check out the post below or send me a DM here on LinkedIn.)

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Trust me on this one. You’re just a few tweaks away from a portfolio that reflects your strategic insight. — Add context around business goals and how your designs supported them. — Include a “Thought Process” section to walk through critical decisions. — Highlight problem-solving examples that impacted outcomes. — Show before-and-after visuals to emphasize improvements. If you want more insights like this, you will like my weekly newsletter; subscribe here —> https://johnise.kit.com/ #uxdesign #uxportfolio #strategic #designthinking

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In case you missed it, here's a summary of some of the takeaways from the Toronto Product Management Association event I participated in last week

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Considering transforming your product experience? Sign up for an audit to get quick insights. - Expert Review - Best Practices Insights - Actionable Recommendations

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Is WCAG already on your agenda? Last week we hosted a roundtable and a workshop to give product leaders a better understanding of the compliance process, where to start, who to involve and how to set up your audit system. 👇 The 5 key takeaways 👇 To help, we've create an audit template to give you a head start. Leave your name in the comments if you'd like to receive it and I'll send it to you!

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So my recent article for UX Collective was a BIG one - like a 17 minute read big! So here is the TDLR summary of "Why not all voices should be equal in the design process" This article advocates that we centre the deeply impacted in our work - making sure those with lived/ing experience are prioritized, listened to, and given decision making power. Some tips to integrate this in your work are: 💌 Be Trauma-Informed. Check out kon syrokostas on Medium on his 20 week journey exploring Trauma-Informed Design and Pause and Effect's workshops around Decolonizing Trauma-Informed Design 💭 Understand power-dynamics inside and outside of work Know the identities and positionality people bring to a project and how that could cause clashes and harm. There are tools within the article to help out! 🤝 Focus on relationship building Show up for the communities your working with, contribute to their on going projects - make it clear you share a fight, that you're not just an ally 🔍 Be transparent about tensions Know what you can and cannot do, do not over promise and give detailed information so communities can set realistic expectations. There is also a tool within the article to help out! I try to be thoughtful, direct, and honest in my work - calling out power imbalances when I see it. What are ways you centre the deeply impacted in your lives? Check out the full article here: https://lnkd.in/djmrTBGc #socialimpact #servicedesign #equity #DEI

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Why does a content-first approach to product development work so well? It helps avoid having to fill spaces in a wireframe with copy that there's "... no evidence users want or need, that clutters the page, and makes important content harder to find and digest." Content decisions for your digital presence should always be evidence -based. A skilled content designer knows how to use research to identify the content your target audiences need. This is a fantastic introduction to the value of content design from the team at SPARCK https://lnkd.in/gcuYdgd9

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Weekly Small Talk: How to run a great project kickoff feat. Meta Product designer A conversation I had with Meta Product Designer about the little things she appreciates from a PM. Tips from Kimi: - Don't run a kickoff when you're not ready - Synthesize and read into the collected materials - Anticipate the questions and prep in advance - Delegation - Work in sequence If you found this post helpful, please share it with a friend and consider subscribing if you haven’t already. Cheers!

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