Doug Powell

Tomorrow with Kimberly Elam, "All Systems Go!", focusing on how systemic and geometric patterns informs design decisions, and what that can mean for your Design System. https://lnkd.in/e8DDM3r7

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🚀 Exciting Opportunity for Design Leaders! 🚀 The Ecosystem Leadership Report: Design 2024 is launching on October 10, 2024, and we’re inviting YOU to join us as a panelist in our exclusive panel series! 🌟 Starting October 16, we’ll be hosting weekly 60-minute panels at 12 PM US ET with top design leaders, discussing key topics like: • 🤖 AI Integration in Design • 🤝 Cross-Functional Collaboration • 🌍 Sustainable and Ethical Design • …and more! 🎤 We’re looking for 4 panelists per session to share their insights and expertise on these important topics. If you’re passionate about design leadership and want to be part of shaping the conversation, here’s how you can participate: 1️⃣ Choose from the panel topics below: • AI Integration in Design • Cross-Functional Collaboration • From Design to Business Leadership • Measuring and Communicating Design Impact • Sustainable and Ethical Design • Balancing Specialization and Generalization in Design Roles 2️⃣ Send me a DM with: • Your preferred topic(s) • Your HD headshot • Job title and company • A short bio ⏳ Seats are limited to 4 panelists per session, and spots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Be sure to sign up before October 9, 2024, to secure your spot! Let’s dive into the future of design leadership together! 💡 #DesignLeadership #EcosystemLeadership #AI #Sustainability #DesignImpact #Leadership

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The global DMI Design Management Institute community always offers a great way to connect with design leaders all around the world. Thanks to the DMI team for hosting a conference that was both enlightening and comprehensive. It was intriguing to learn about the various approaches design leaders from diverse industries and backgrounds are taking in response to our rapidly changing world. Thanks to @Mark Guarraia for joining us all the way from Denmark to join our talk about Human Centered Ecosystems. It was great to see so many old and new friends! Key takeaways: Design continues to play an essential role in connecting disciplines and adding a human touch to technology. The landscape of design leadership is expanding and evolving, with many great discussions on how our discipline is positively transforming, humanizing technology, and addressing critical challenges for both large companies and startups. You can read the summary of our DMI talk here: https://lnkd.in/evftRyn6

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Designers care about different things than business leaders. Arguing for design’s own sake won’t cut it: to have an impact, designers must be aligned with business goals. While true in all businesses, it’s especially salient in venture-backed startups, which are under pressure to deliver quick growth. Design can help, but both designers and founders must think differently about design. 👨🏻‍💻 Andy Budd has written a wonderful book on how designers can help early-stage startups succeed. It’s called “The Growth Equation,” and I recommend it to all founders — and to all designers. To learn why, listen to the latest episode of my podcast, where Andy explains how design can help drive startup growth. 👇 https://lnkd.in/g9Nsy-hA #UxDesign #Startup #UxUi #ProductDesign

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Join me as I sit down with the visionary James Martin in this electrifying episode focused on revolutionizing the design education industry. As a design educator myself, I wanted to chat with James about his bold plans to transform how young designers are trained and equipped for the job market. We dive into what’s broken in the current system and explore his innovative solutions to address these critical gaps. https://lnkd.in/g56EyyyW

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Nine contributions designers are making to health system transformation.

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Don't fall prey to the urge to replace #authentic #stories with #wishful data: Rather than describe what we hope is true about the people we want to serve, instead strive to understand what is true about the people who want us to serve them. https://lttr.ai/AYr5g #UXDesign #UXResearch #MagicalThinking #GreatExperience #Freelance #Uxdesign #HardWork

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The other day I shared my accessibility fail about a brand using bright yellow and white. I mentioned it causes incredibly low contrast and the bright yellow can cause me great eye pain with my photophobia and optical nerve damage. The designers response was "Another example of a designer choosing to pair yellow and white implies designers should never do it. I mean, I really hate that... I never want to limit someone's creative options". Well I'm sorry, when someone says please stop, it hurts, I don’t believe anyone should say, I don’t like you limiting my creative options regardless of the pain so I won't stop. They questioned my comment about yellow being an irritant and I’m not going to flood this post with the many articles I’ve read but heres just a small selection of snippets. 1. Pure, bright lemon yellow generally is considered the most fatiguing color. The reason is that since more light is reflected by bright colors, the result is excessive stimulation of the eyes, hence, eye irritation Source deseret.com 2. Pure bright lemon yellow is the most fatiguing color. Why? The answer comes from the physics of light and optics. More light is reflected by bright colors, resulting in excessive stimulation of the eyes. Therefore, yellow is an eye irritant.  In practical application, bright yellow - when used in large areas, will irritate the eyes. Source https://lnkd.in/eVGHYG7e 3. Bright light in any color, especially white light or intense yellow and green light, can also cause discomfort and potential damage to the eyes. It's important to protect your eyes from excessive exposure to bright lights, regardless of color, to prevent strain and long-term damage Source: color matters.com 4. Yellow is harshest on the eyes and therefore stimulates our emotional side. As a result, if you are going to use yellow as a primary color for your website, make sure you choose the proper shade of yellow so it lifts the viewer’s spirits rather than irritate the emotions!  Source intechnic.com 5. The color yellow can be bright and intense. Yellow can quickly grab attention, but it can also be abrasive when overused. It can appear warm and bright, yet it can also lead to visual fatigue. Source Verywellmind.com I was purely talking about the incredible pain it causes me, but the quotes above talk about why bright yellow can be a culprit and the importance of protecting our eyes. So when someone says, I hate when someone says don’t use a colour combination as it limits our creativity, it really gets to me. Your creativity shouldn’t inflict pain on someone and that’s one combination in the hundreds of combinations available, so perhaps you’re better off questioning why your ‘creativity’ is so limited that you can’t find a better solution. They also said and I quote ‘low contrast is a bold move’, the irony in this one sentence is beautiful! #AccessibleDesign #GraphicDesign #DigitalAccessibility #UI #PhotoSensitivity #Photophobia #LowContrast

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Here goes Scott Berkun on Jorge Arango's podcast. Scott's latest book, co-authored with Bryan Zug is a must-read for designers and for all those who think design is easy. ;-) Give it a listen. Gems from Why Design is Hard "On the first day of design school, and in the first page of every design book, there should be a clarifying lesson about human nature. Decision-making in the real world is a social process, not a solitary one. This means design is usually a social process too, even if it’s just between a visionary solo designer and their fancy client.” and another … “Designers often say “they just don’t get it” about organizational leaders, as if “getting it” is a realistic expectation for people who are currently rewarded not to get it. It’s like being angry at a rock for being so quiet and unmoving.” cc: Dave Gray Anthony Lopez Lloyd Mathias Ken Gordon https://lnkd.in/gSKV4XDt

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Two years out from CCA MBA in Design Strategy has got me thinking... how am I using design strategy now? 🤔 Learn more about my approach and hear from my fellow alumni this Friday at the Design Strategy Summit in SF. Event link's in the comments. And if you've got a favorite model or framework to share, @ me with a reply!

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🌐 Navigating the Tech Rollercoaster: A Designer’s Reflection 🌐 The tech industry’s rapid shifts have been felt by everyone, but designers—at the heart of innovation—have proven their resilience. 🎢 From layoffs and hiring freezes to adapting to AI-driven tools, it’s been a wild ride. Yet, we’re still here, still creating, still thriving. 👉 How are you navigating these changes? Is AI a threat, or is it enhancing your creativity? Let’s explore what it means to be a designer in this ever-evolving landscape. Find more reflections here: 👇 https://lnkd.in/eamAavEb #TechIndustry #DesignThinking #Resilience #AI #Innovation #CreativeProcess

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Throughout my career, I've been a huge advocate of a "pencils before pixels" approach to design. When a stakeholder asks me about my preferred design tool, I answer with "research, followed by concept evaluation." Lower-fidelity wireframes and sketches are often overlooked (or actively avoided) by Stakeholders, Product Managers, Developers, and even, sadly, many Designers. With so many visual design tools and design-to-code systems available, it's easy to get excited by the visual polish of a high-fidelity prototype. But I've found that clients who really understand the problems they're trying to solve - and who are willing to evaluate potential solutions before jumping into development - end up seeing the design role as being far more valuable to their business in the long-term. As Pavel Samsonov writes: "the biggest value of design is not delivering a thing faster. It’s delivering the right thing faster." Real design value comes from identifying and creatively solving problems, not just cranking out beautiful screens. https://lnkd.in/e5fq55qV

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Wow, it is nice to see some of the impact the course I authored with Designlab is having on teams both big and small. Emilyann Gachko thank you for sharing this case study and how it was received by the team at The Home Depot :) If you are interested in increasing your design skills through #usability and #accessibility check out the course. #ux #design #hcd https://lnkd.in/gEdC3NBV

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I'm not big into the AI hype, but one of the ways we have been experimenting with GenAI as part of our #servicedesign practice is for storyboarding. We thought it would be fun to get some folks together, share notes, and talk about how we've been using tools like Dall-e in our work. We'll cover: ​- How we've been using GenAI to create service storyboards ​- Our tips and tricks and issues we've run into ​- Examples (with clients anonymized) from real projects on how we've used these to do journey mapping, future state visioning and concept testing - ​A chance for you to experiment with a tool hands on - ​Pitfalls and ethical considerations ​- Q& A // Discussion 90 min workshop, Thursday Nov 21st, 11am - 12.30pm ET. See you there? https://lu.ma/bdcwibs7

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Did we really need that free delivery in under 15 minutes? Did we fully explore all the potential side-effects of one-click purchasing? Sure, some millennial pet parents may have been able to afford to put their little fella in a luxury dog spa, but was that really the best use of that precious real estate? Over the past 15 years, it feels like user-centric thinking (in its most myopic form) has become increasingly co-opted as a way to ruthlessly target a subset of the population at the cost of others, prioritizing the needs of a brand’s ‘most valuable segment’ with little regard for the secondary and tertiary effects on wider society. Now, a new generation of organizations and business leaders are calling this into question. And, as a broad set of strategists and creatives, we have the opportunity to do the same. As part of the NYCxDESIGN festival, DesignStudio is opening its doors to discuss ways in which government, organizations, agencies, and brands are starting to ditch pure user-centric thinking in favor of more community-minded approaches and what it means for the design industry as a whole. On Wednesday May 22, we’ll be hosting an evening of conversations and ideas with experts from civic, commercial, non-profit and academic institutions, along with music, and light refreshments from local LIC businesses. If you’re interested in attending, snag yourself a ticket: https://lnkd.in/es4at7JS #enduser #communitycentricdesign #nycxdesign

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A Product Narrative is a powerful tool for Product Managers and UX Designers. It is a great way to take your User Research and build consensus in your team around key takeaways. It is also a tool to help your stakeholders understand and remember the issues. In this particular example, I have focused on some issues related to nurses. Here the focus is more on the issues and less on the solutions. But, your needs will shape your narrative structure. If you have tried this tool or if you have questions, I would love to hear your feedback.

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The future, by design: Bluem launches today. Design and creativity have always been my obsession, driven by their power to transform everyday experiences for the better. At Amazon, I led the unification of the global brand identity and reimagined customer experiences in health tech for Amazon Halo. But it was my 7-year journey leading design for the MARS conference that truly fired me up, placing me at the intersection of AI, robotics, and space exploration. Working with these presenters to bring their research and technology to the stage truly ignites my imagination on fire each year. Today, I'm thrilled to announce the launch of Bluem—a brand design and operations firm dedicated to amplifying the voices of visionaries building tomorrow. At Bluem, we combine deep tech experience with strategic brand thinking to help translate groundbreaking innovations into compelling narratives and experiences. Our services include: - Brand strategy for cutting-edge tech companies - Experience design that bridges complex ideas and user needs - Communication development to make the future tangible today To the inventors and researchers shaping our future—we're here to be your partners, turning your breakthroughs into brands that resonate and inspire. Our goal for this year? To help launch three transformative technologies that will redefine their industries. The future is emerging now, and Bluem is here to cultivate the way. If you're pushing boundaries in AI, robotics, or space technology and need a partner to tell your story, let's connect. Dan Forbes Founder & Brand Cultivator Bluem Design

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For an organization committed to the practice of user experience design, the Interaction Design Foundation doesn’t seem to value their own ideology. I’ve been a member for years and recently served as a local leader (of which I resigned a year ago and they have yet to remove me from the role). I’m finding their billing processes to be on the verge of questionable UX practices: ·     My membership increased 31% with no notification before billing. I was told that a single notification had been sent a year ago buried in an email with a subject line of “We have updated our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and Pricing Structure.” Do they not realize that subject lines such as this are white noise in people’s inboxes and begs to be deleted without reading? ·     To prevent the upcoming charge, the user must contact the main office and have them remove the store payment details. There is no ability for the user to do this themselves. ·     There is also no option to opt out of recurring charges. This is akin the dark practice of subscription services that lure users with trial period in hopes the user will forget to cancel before the period expires.   ·     The user can cancel their membership. However, the user loses access to all materials, content, and account details even though the user has prepaid for the upcoming year. This entices the user to delay cancelling only to encounter the same pain points the following year. ·     User is sent an invoice AFTER the charge has been applied. No notification of upcoming billings. ·     When asked to refund the membership charge, the admin basically responded with “The reason we’re unable to offer a refund guarantee on the renewal of memberships is that we already have a money-back guarantee after sign-up . . . we’d have to charge higher prices if we offered unlimited refunds and that’s why we make our policies crystal-clear, doing everything in our power to ensure members understand our fair terms.” This statement basically has the overtone of: It’s not that our communication and user experience is insufficient, it’s the user’s fault. IDF needs to reassess their membership and billing practices if they want to maintain any integrity in the field. As a hiring manager, I do not look at organizational memberships as having any influence in hiring decisions.  My advice for those wanting to increase their knowledge and break into design, rather than pay a yearly $264 membership fee, there are many free resources, podcasts, and articles that will help you achieve the same results. Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

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In healthcare, where complexity and regulation are important, a lean approach isn't always the answer. My experience building MediUX a health tech product taught me valuable lessons about designing for this unique industry. Designing in healthcare offers rich and rewarding experiences, but it requires a nuanced approach that goes beyond simplification.

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