Design Details

464: AI Grab Bag

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 01:41:30 +0000

This week, we talk about Open AI's GPTs-as-apps strategy, FigJam's AI tools, and our dreams for a future Jarvis-like experience.

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Wenhui Yao

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about Open AI's GPTs-as-apps strategy, FigJam's AI tools, and our dreams for a future Jarvis-like experience.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Lost Explained on YouTube.
Marshall shared Spider-Man 2 and Dungeon Crawler Carl.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
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- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
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Byeee!

463: Design Medley, Vol. 1

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 00:24:57 +0000

This week, we talk about the delicate art of using animation in interface design, how to use button sizes, and managing margins in type styles.

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Main Topic:

This week, we talk about the delicate art of using animation in interface design, how to use button sizes, and managing margins in type styles.

Brian rants about overusing animation.
- Not Boring apps
Joey Pearlman asks about the purpose of button sizes.
Joey also asks about managing margins in Figma type styles.
- Typography is impossible
- Crafting link underlines

Cool Things:

Brian shared Foundation on Apple TV+ — deep sci-fi that takes a little while to ramp up, but worth sticking out.
Marshall shared the Monos Kiyo UVC water bottle — purified drinking water, wherever you go.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
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Byeee!

462: Refactoring a Design System

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 21:36:20 +0000

This week, Marshall breaks down his process, tips, and tricks to redesign a design system in Figma.

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Main Topic:

This week, Marshall breaks down his process, tips, and tricks to redesign a design system in Figma.

Cool Things:

Brian shared How We Made MuseScore 4 — certainly one of the best videos about software design on the web. Watch it!
Marshall shared Sequel, a beautiful save-for-later app for movies, shows, games, and books.
Marshall also shared Callsheet, the perfect way to find actors in shows and movies.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
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Byeee!

461: Config and WWDC 2023

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 01:04:57 +0000

This week, we supply some cold (but thoughtful!) takes on everything released during last month's WWDC and Config 2023.

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Main Topic:

This week, we supply some cold (but thoughtful!) takes on everything released during last month's WWDC and Config 2023.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Hijack, the latest thriller from Apple TV+. Should it have been a movie? Probably. Is it still a good slow burn? Yes.
Marshall shared his discovery about how to make movie theater grade popcorn from the comfort of your own home.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
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- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
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Byeee!

460: Arc Boosts ft. Gabriel Valdivia

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 8 Jun 2023 17:13:00 +0000

This week, we dissect the recently-launched Arc Boosts to try and understand what they're for and where they're going.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

This week, we dissect the recently-launched Arc Boosts to try and understand what they're for and where they're going.

Cool Things:

Brian shared True Lies: A fearless, globe-trotting, terrorist-battling secret agent has his life turned upside down when he discovers his wife might be having an affair with a used-car salesman while terrorists smuggle nuclear war heads into the United States.
Marshall shared House of Leaves, a wild and inventive experience packaged into a book.
Gabe shared Naked Attraction (IMDB), his favorite television show.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
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Byeee!

459: What Is Humane?

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 18 May 2023 17:10:14 +0000

This week, we talk about Humane's latest product demo and what we think it means for the future of AI-powered personal devices.

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Main Topic:

This week, we talk about Humane's latest product demo and what we think it means for the future of AI-powered personal devices.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Silo on Apple TV+ — In a ruined and toxic future, thousands live in a giant silo deep underground. After its sheriff breaks a cardinal rule and residents die mysteriously, engineer Juliette starts to uncover shocking secrets and the truth about the silo.
- Be sure to join the Campsite Community to share work-in-progress and get feedback from other like-minded designers around the world.
Marshall shared the Unbiased feedback feature that shipped on Campsite last week.
- Also: our friends Bryn and Sarah are crushing it at CultFlav — follow them on TikTok!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
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Byeee!

458: How Do You Simplify a UI?

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we share non-obvious tips and tricks for simplifying a UI.

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Main Topic:

This week, we share non-obvious tips and tricks for simplifying a UI.

Cool Things:

Brian shared the Campsite Community — come hang out, share work-in-progress, and get feedback on your design!
Marshall shared Play for macOS — watch the overview of how it works on YouTube.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
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457: How to Find Focus

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about finding focus when there are infinite things to learn to become a better designer.

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Main Topic:

This week, Blucose asks on GitHub: how do you decide what to focus on? How do you make sure you become a master, rather than a jack of all trades?

Dowsing

Cool Things:

Brian shared Posts by read.cv — a new app for designers to hang out and talk shop; it's like Twitter, but for designers, and it looks fantastic.
Marshall shared bockwild.com — a wonderful site built by listener Dakshi that highlights some of the buck-wild things Marshall has said on the show.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
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Byeee!

456: Should Designers Name Their Layers?

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we fight about whether designers should name their layers (without saying "it depends").

The Sidebar:

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Main Topic:

This week, we fight whether designers should name their layers (without saying "it depends").

Cool Things:

Brian shared Deadwood: A show set in the late 1800s, revolving around the characters of Deadwood, South Dakota; a town of deep corruption and crime.
Marshall shared Hit the Island and Hit the Island Pinball.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
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- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
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Byeee!

455: Shift Happens ft. Marcin Wichary

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 14:00:00 +0000

This week, we talked with Marcin Wichary about Shift Happens, a book about keyboards. We dive into the details of the book, its publication, website, and more.

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Main Topic:

This week, we talked with Marcin Wichary about Shift Happens, a book about keyboards. We dive into the details of the book, its publication, website, and more.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Minimal Twitter, a browser extension to refine the Twitter experience on the web.
Marshall shared Ezona Sleep Headphones, so you can get a comfy audio experience as you drift into sweet sleep.
Marcin shared Kevin Can F**K Himself: A look at the secret life of a sitcom wife.

Design Details on the Web:

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- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
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Byeee!

454: Is UI Design Actually That Important?

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 03:18:48 +0000

This week, we answer a crucial question: is UI design actually that important? Our answer may shock you 🫢

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Main Topic:

This week, we answer a crucial question: is UI design actually that important? Our answer may shock you 🫢

Viktor Atanasov asks on GitHub: Is UI design actually that important?

Cool Things:

Brian shared The Last of Us on HBO, a remarkably faithful adaptation of the game by the same name.
Marshall shared The Last of Us Companion Podcast — in case you just can't get enough of the show.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
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Byeee!

453: Building a Type Stack

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 16:54:33 +0000

This week, we discuss strategies for building an excellent type stack in your designs.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

In this week's Sidebar, we discuss the tradeoffs of adding view counts to tweets and the implications of paid community resources coming to Figma.

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Main Topic:

This week, we discuss strategies for building an excellent type stack in your designs.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Janum Trivedi, one of the most fun interaction designers to follow on Twitter.
Marshall shared Kaleidoscope. Recommended order: yellow, violet, orange, green, blue, red, pink, white.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
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Byeee!

The Sidebar:

In the Sidebar, we discuss the tradeoffs of adding view counts to tweets and the implications of paid community resources coming to Figma.

452: Design Trends for 2023

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 20:59:26 +0000

This week, we discuss current visual design trends and how the web will look in 2023.

The Sidebar:

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Main Topic:

This week, we discuss current visual design trends and how the web will look in 2023.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Avatar: The Way of Water — haters gonna hate, this movie kicks ass.
Marshall shared Caricature Party on TikTok.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
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Byeee!

The Sidebar:

In the Sidebar, we catch up on Marshall's AI adventures before digging into design lessons from the gaming and automotive industries.

451: The Whole Twitter Thing

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Sat, 3 Dec 2022 20:27:32 +0000

This week, we talk about the whole Twitter thing, and how we'd handle the verified badge design debacle.

The Sidebar:

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Make sure you're covered for 2023 and go to catch.co to renew your coverage or find a better plan.

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Main Topic:

This week, we talk about the whole Twitter thing, and how we'd handle the verified badge design debacle.

Unsolicited redesign of YouTube

Cool Things:

Brian shared:
Marshall shared Quadeca's I Didn't Mean to Haunt You.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
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Byeee!

450: Designing Hefty Interfaces

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 23:08:00 +0000

This week, we talk about what gives software the feeling of heft and the effect of that feeling on how customers perceive the value of a tool.

The Sidebar:

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With Catch, you can shop for health insurance the same way you shop for a flight. Compare across carriers. Find the best price. Catch makes it easy to renew your current plan, find a better one, or enroll for the first time. Even better, all plans are ACA compliant and Catch works on your behalf to get you tax credits that can save hundreds of dollars on your monthly premium.

Open enrollment started on November 1, 2022. To get covered for 2023, go to catch.co/health to renew your coverage or find a better plan.

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Main Topic:

This week, we talk about what gives software the feeling of heft and the effect of that feeling on how customers perceive the value of a tool.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Mexico City. It's great, go.
Marshall shared music!
- Joji - SMITHEREENS
  - Glimpse of Us
- Polyphia - Remember You Will Die

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
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Byeee!

449: Google Pixel 7 Event

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 02:39:23 +0000

This week, we recap Google's Pixel 7 Event and dig into our favorite design details of the new Pixel phone, tablet, and watch.

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Follow up

Ryan Jones tweeted about dynamic island gestures.

Main Topic:

This week, we recap Google's Pixel 7 Event and dig into our favorite design details on the new phone, tablet, and watch.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Overwatch 2, the newest...iteration...of the original Overwatch. It's good? We'll see.
Marshall shared Background Sounds on iOS — helpful for anyone like us with tinnitus!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe on Spotify

Byeee!

448: News Desk, Vol. 5

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Mon, 3 Oct 2022 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we break down new Figma features, dissect the Live Activities HIG, and share our cool-takes on the Adobe + Figma acquisition.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Catherine McConalogue
Will
Martin Chudoba
Shela
Tim Johnsen
Nick Angiolillo
Chariton Shumway
Oleg Frolov
Mark Stephenson
Bryn Jackson
Nancy Tran

Main Topic:

This week, we break down new Figma features, dissect the Live Activities HIG, and share our cool-takes on the Adobe + Figma acquisition.

Job Board:

We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most design-forward companies.

👉 Design Details Job Board

Glow is building the most elegant, powerful, and reliable crypto wallet. To do this, they need great designs — ones that are simple, familiar, and smart. Their small team is growing, and you’ll work closely with the team to craft new user experience patterns for interacting with crypto that will become the new normal for millions of people in the future.

Mercury — Mercury is hiring product designers! Mercury powers the banking stack for companies like Linear, Maven & Mighty. Join them to build beautiful software for founders. Learn about the remote-friendly team & roles at https://mercury.design — disclaimer: Mercury is a financial technology company that works with banks.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Barbarian: A woman staying at an Airbnb discovers that the house she has rented is not what it seems.
Marshall shared Everything Everywhere All at Once: An aging Chinese immigrant is swept up in an insane adventure, in which she alone can save the world by exploring other universes connecting with the lives she could have led.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
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Byeee!

447: Stranded on Dynamic Island

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 19:27:04 +0000

This week, we share our hot takes and first impressions of the new Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Brian Hendricks
Ezio Damonte
Kaitlyn Ho
Remi Chu
Thalal Cassim
Sam Shi
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Harrison Craig
Jimmy Goedhart
Andee Bower
Sean Alderdice

Main Topic:

This week, we share our hot takes and first impressions of the new Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro.

iPhone 14 Pro + Dynamic Island

Job Board:

We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most design-forward companies.

👉 Design Details Job Board

‌Figma — Figma is looking for designers to help shape the future of FigJam. They have a few open roles right now focused on everything from core product and meeting experiences to onboarding, user education, and templates.

Patreon is building the future of the creative economy, and they’re looking for Product Designers at all levels to solve the needs of creators and members on our platform. Their roles are based in SF and NY.

Raycast makes it simple, fast and delightful to control your tools. They’re looking for an experienced individual to join their small team to redesign and improve core app functionality, tools to enable Developers to create new Extensions, and rethink components across the platform.

Notion — Imagine in the 1970s thinking through how computing should be like. That's what Notion is trying to build — beautiful software that fits everyone's needs. They have infinite challenges that can only be solved by someone with innate product sense, technical aptitude, great taste, and impeccable craft.

Cool Things:

Brian shared tldraw, a tiny little drawing app that lives in your browser. Follow Steve Ruiz on Twitter.
Marshall shared NOPE, the latest film from Jordan Peele.
- Actorle

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
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Byeee!

446: Grab Bag, Vol. 3

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 16:57:06 +0000

This week, we share our preferred naming convention for design files and react to the new Gmail redesign.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

tj gloetzner
Jeffrey Ayigsi
Romi Brayer
Kevin Turner
Adam Brace
George
pengzheng
Audrey Hope Dayawen
Koen van Niekerk
Simone Rahm
Pip Nguyen

Main Topic:

This week, we share our preferred naming convention for design files and react to the new Gmail redesign.

SingYu Lam asks on Twitter: do you guys prefer a certain naming convention when naming Figma layers and components? Like lowerCamelCase, UpperCamelCase, etc?
Will Hsu asks on GitHub: So, earlier this year, Google revealed a new Gmail design, and lately they begin rolling out the new Gmail design to users as their default option. And there are discussions around the Internet... many feel the new design is not really better, and I did notice there are many design details missed 👀, like spacing, use of color, choice of the font...etc (not sure if it's mediocre development or just design ). I found it a little entertaining reading those reactions (trolling the new design mostly...) but as a designer also feel bad for the team behind this.😅 Wonder what are you folks' take and reaction on this update, and what changes you would like to see or make?

Job Board:

We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most design-forward companies.

👉 Design Details Job Board

Cool Things:

Brian shared The Rehearsal — a true masterpiece.
Marshall shared Strong Will as the most effective way to start biting your fingernails.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
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Byeee!

445: Designing the Perfect Desk

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 14:33:24 +0000

This week, we talk about a surprising new "smart desk" being shared online, and we talk about what our dream desk would look like. In the Sidebar, Marshall shares his tips and tricks for keeping his Figma files squeaky clean.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Hayden Christensen
Akshay Dharap
Brian Leleux
Parag Jayaram
Alex Nelsen
Joon Park
Steve Raskin
Rob Gill
Nick Mayernik
Klaudia Milczarek
Malavika Koppula
Adithya Jayan

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about a surprising new "smart desk" being shared online, and we talk about what our dream desk would look like.

Job Board:

We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most design-forward companies.

👉 Design Details Job Board

Current — Current is on a mission to help people create better financial outcomes for their lives, and they’re hiring a talented senior mobile product designer with great visual design and UX skills. You’ll be involved in the full product development cycle: from early research and product strategy, to design and developer hand-off.

Webflow — Webflow is hiring designers across their various product pillars focused on growth, collaboration, the designer, and site capabilities. This role is remote-first with the option to work in our SF office.

Materialize — Materialize is building a reactive database to disrupt batch data warehouses like Snowflake and BigQuery, and they’re looking for their first full-time, in-house designer to come in and own the product design for Materialize Web UI. Technical and developer tools experience is a huge plus!

Cool Things:

Brian shared Bullet Train: Five assassins aboard a fast moving bullet train find out their missions have something in common.
Marshall shared Prey: The origin story of the Predator in the world of the Comanche Nation 300 years ago. Naru, a skilled warrior, fights to protect her tribe against one of the first highly-evolved Predators to land on Earth.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
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Byeee!

444: Writing Effective Self-Reviews

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 17:47:40 +0000

This week, we share our tips for writing better self-reviews during performance review season.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Samuel Ong Mun Keong
Nicole OMalley
Lauren Melenudo
Per Karlsson
Trang Minh Nguyen
Gabe de la Mora
Lena Lam
Radek Berka
Dan V Peterson
Yurong Zheng

Main Topic:

This week, we share our tips for writing better self-reviews during performance review season.

Guarang Alat asks on GitHub:

It's performance review season again! Would love to hear from you two about strategies, frameworks and tips you typically use while writing self-reviews, especially when you are aiming to level up to the next level as a product designer. Beyond using metrics, how can I effectively present the overall impact of my work as an IC?

Writing better self reviews

Job Board:

We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most design-forward companies.

👉 Design Details Job Board

Universe — Universe is hiring a Product Designer who is obsessed with the delightful possibilities of software and sees UI design as an artistic medium, not just a method of problem solving. Join a new kind of design studio and shape a product that represents a radically better internet.

Cool Things:

Brian shared The Bear, a story about a young fine-dining chef who returns to Chicago to run his family sandwich shop. It's good, and keep an eye out for episode 7!
Marshall shared all the "-dles"

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
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Byeee!

443: Design Systems Interviews

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Fri, 8 Jul 2022 00:53:15 +0000

This week, we talk about interviewing for roles in design systems, what to prepare, and how many different kinds of skills are relevant in the field.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Matchai
Lois Yang
Shankar
Vuokko Aro
Kirill Slavetski
Ashwin K S
Tiffany C Yu
Izabela Bulska
Adithya Jayan
Sylvester Lau
Dario Camacho

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about interviewing for roles in design systems, what to prepare, and how many different kinds of skills are relevant in the field.

Atomic Design

Eric asks on GitHub: How do you explain what you do?

Job Board:

We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most design-forward companies.

👉 Design Details Job Board

Cool Things:

Brian shared Iron Chef: Question for an Iron Legend — even if you're not into cooking shows, this is worth a watch.
Marshall shared Stranger Things S4. It's good, especially if you didn't make it through S3.
- Everything you need to know before watching Stranger Things Season 4

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
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Byeee!

442: It Doesn't Have to Be Right

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 15:25:48 +0000

This week, we share stories and lessons from some of our most memorable mentors.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Nick Crawford
Jonas Schütz
Jason
Henri Raadi
Eva Dufey
Sarai Villalobos
Joyce Xiao
Ilias Manolis
Hai Piao
Matt
louie solomon
Alex
Ben Tilden
Jordan Boudreau
Jessica Hu
Quinn Hoang

Follow up:

We're switching the show to a bi-weekly cadence. As always, our supporters on Patreon will get bonus episodes.

Main Topic:

This week, we share stories and lessons from some of our most memorable mentors.

Job Board:

We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most design-forward companies.

👉 Design Details Job Board

Cool Things:

Brian shared Nashville, where he has spent his past two weeks. If you haven't been: strong recommend! Tons of fun, clean, easy to get around, and great food.
Marshall shared Cash In Cash Out, the music video, by Pharrell Williams, 21 Savage, and Tyler, The Creator. NSFW, but it's very, very good.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
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Byeee!

441: WWDC 2022

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 9 Jun 2022 19:31:28 +0000

This week, we recap all of our favorite...design details...announced at this week's WWDC.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Cody Ramsey
Barac John
Grant
Sam Croswell
Katie Zeng
Allen Shi
AJ
Zuki Modunkwu
Joel Miller
yue yang
Kyle Lambert
Chao Li
TL
Loren Tracy
Yue Gao
Mike Riley
Strahinja Todorovic

Follow up:

Two plugins to change your canvas color for Figma's dark mode:

Main Topic:

This week, we recap all of our favorite...design details...announced at this week's WWDC.

Job Board:

We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most design-forward companies.

👉 Design Details Job Board

Cool Things:

Brian shared two things!
- Campsite — the home for your team's work in progress. It's my new project, and something I'm really excited to share with design teams out there. Make a reservation!
- Top Gun: Maverick — go see it in a Dolby theater. You'll thank me later.
Marshall shared Bo Burnham's The Inside Outtakes — tons of extra content, great and memorable songs, and a peek inside Bo's creative process.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
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Byeee!

440: Don’t Call It a Design Critique

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 25 May 2022 22:40:09 +0000

This week, we talk about how to make design critiques more fun, and how to encourage teams to share their work-in-progress more often.

Supported by:

Play — Play is the first native iOS design tool built for creating mobile prototypes. They recently launched Play for iPad, giving designers more room to create pixel-perfect and native-first prototypes directly on their device. The app is intuitive, powerful, and damn fun to use. Level up your prototype game today with Play!

Get your full access invitation now.

Zeplin recently shipped Flows!

Flows are a fast/effortless way to create and outline user flows and journeys. Designers can use flows to connect screens in seconds and map complete user journeys, showing not just the happy path but all possible paths and behaviors.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Tzu-Ling Tseng
Antonia Sullivan
James Carthew
Sharada Krishnamurthy
Ari Curtis
Marius libman
Jaclyn Saik
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Martin Wiesemborski
Noah Levin
Owen Andrews
Josh K
Parth Kapadia
Yang Cheng
Jessica Rae Vergara
Jordi Enric
Andy Staple
Andreas Förster
Deborah Johnson
Justine Win
Clarence
Yifan Peng
Mike Porterfield
Ioana Kardos
Hello Hill
Tomás L

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about how to make design critiques more fun, and how to encourage teams to share their work-in-progress more often.

Amie Chen asks on GitHub: I have a question: I'm part of a design team that has lots of talented designers and everyone is supportive, humble, and doing great work. But no one seems to want to sign up for weekly design critiques (but rather like sharing WIP in slack) and every time my manager encourages she would hear all kinds of excuses. Curious how does your team establish a recurring design critique sessions? Is it mandatory? Or does everyone just love to share? What's the process of signing up one?

Job Board:

We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most design-forward companies.

👉 Design Details Job Board

CALA — CALA is building a next-generation platform and supply chain to allow anyone, anywhere to build and scale their fashion brand. They’re hiring a product designer to help customers — from streetwear legends, to sports teams, to the biggest fashion players — bring their ideas to life.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Headless UI — unstyled, fully accessible UI components, designed to integrate beautifully with Tailwind CSS. They are magical and make developing websites so much easier.
- Also shoutout to an alternative: Radix UI.
Marshall shared the Balmuda Toaster, a luxurious but oh-so-good toaster that gets you that perfect toast, every time. And it’s beautiful!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
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439: Config 2022

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 12 May 2022 18:14:14 +0000

This week, we cover all of the exciting new releases from Config 2022, and do a deep dive into the new version of Auto Layout.

Supported by:

Clay — Clay is the beautiful and private home for all your relationships. Populated from the ground up using your calendar and social history, Clay is the most stunning, powerful way to remember who you’ve met—and what matters to them.

Zeplin recently shipped Flows!

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Karlo
Gilad
Oscar Nilsson
Mike Riley
Isaac Tan
Yeon Kim
Nick Trombley
Sean Leach
Kyle Taylor

Main Topic:

This week, we cover all of the exciting new releases from Config 2022, and do a deeper dive into the new Auto Layout.

What's new at Figma Config 2022

Job Board:

We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most design-forward companies.

👉 Design Details Job Board

GitKraken — GitKraken is building tools to visualize complex systems and improve productivity for millions of developers. They’re looking for designers with Git experience who are excited by the challenge of designing delightful, efficient, and themeable interfaces that make Git easier and safer to use.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Eagle, a wonderful application for bookmarking and organizing visual inspiration. The app is fantastic, and its integration with their browser extensions is top-notch.
Marshall shared Bullsh*t The Gameshow, a new Netflix gameshow that feels like Who Wants to be a Millionaire, but with a twist.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe on Spotify

Byeee!

438: Dissecting Substack’s Podcast Player

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Fri, 6 May 2022 00:13:10 +0000

This week, we dissect Substack’s new podcast player design, talking about both the pixels and the strategic advantage of sharing craft-specific content on Twitter. In the Sidebar, we talk about the nature and risks of critiquing software as podcasters and design practitioners.

Supported by:

Zeplin recently shipped Flows!

All you need to do is add screens you want in a flow, then add a connector which will snap into place to connect screens or design elements. You even add a label to clarify edge cases or error paths.

As you publish new versions of designs, your flows and connectors will get updated automatically as screens change.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Vincent van der Meulen
MisterMicronaut
Dominic Holmes
David Pierce
Tyler Nishida
Erzhao Song
Robert Bye
James
Paula Pecyna
Anthony Schmiedeler
Adrian Spiegelt
James Cipriano
Space Lemon
Hugo
Mark Guill
Dylan Lucas
Guerin Holtermann

Main Topic:

This week, we dissect Substack’s new podcast player design, talking about both the pixels and the strategic advantage of sharing craft-specific content on Twitter.

Job Board:

We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most design-forward companies.

👉 Design Details Job Board

Mercury is hiring product designers! Mercury powers the banking stack for companies like Linear, Maven & Mighty. Join them to build beautiful software for founders. Learn about the remote-friendly team & roles at https://mercury.design — disclaimer: Mercury is a financial technology company that works with banks.

Current is on a mission to help people create better financial outcomes for their lives, and they’re hiring a talented senior mobile product designer with great visual design and UX skills. You’ll be involved in the full product development cycle: from early research and product strategy, to design and developer hand-off.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Tweetbot, a fantastic third-party Twitter app that takes some time to get used to, but is well worth it for a more peaceful user experience.
Marshall shared NFC sticker tags, a handy way to trigger events around your smart home, track the things you’re doing, or...anything else you can dream up!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe on Spotify

Byeee!

437: Scaling Design Critique

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 15:42:58 +0000

This week, we talk about methods to scale design critiques with a growing team. In the Sidebar, we dig into the...details...of Figma's latest UI changes which added file type icons to file tabs.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

Zeplin recently shipped Flows!

All you need to do is add screens you want in a flow, then add a connector which will snap into place to connect screens or design elements. You even add a label to clarify edge cases or error paths.

As you publish new versions of designs, your flows and connectors will get updated automatically as screens change.

Job Board:

We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most design-forward companies.

👉 Design Details Job Board

Universe is looking to hire a mid-level or higher product designer for remote work anywhere in the US. Universe opens up the possibilities of the internet, allowing anyone on earth to build a custom website or online store in seconds — without code, all from a phone. They’re looking for a Product Designer who is obsessed with the delightful possibilities of software and sees UI design as an artistic medium, not just a method of problem solving.

Dynaboard is the fastest way for developer teams to go 0 -> 1 on new web apps such as dashboards, admin panels, and approval flows. It combines multiple aspects of design and development tools into a single, collaborative experience. They are looking for their first Product Designer to join their high-velocity, early team to own the process of creating a new category of creative tool.

Vagaro is hiring designers to build the booking, payments, and marketing solutions for growing businesses in the beauty, wellness and fitness industries around the world. if you want to have an immediate, direct and high impact through design, join Vagaro.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Tolu Alder
Daniel Graungaard
Ryan Stone
Dorian Grey
Rishi Mody
Laura Schweiger
Dennis Harris
Nick Myers

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about methods to scale design critiques with a growing team.

Ryan Stone asks on GitHub:

Hey friends! My UX team has grown immensely in past year, to 30+ members. We have weekly 1-hour design crits where anyone can share work & receive feedback. This has been helpful in leveling up presentation and feedback-giving skills, as well as unblocking team members and maintaining alignment.
This has become challenging at scale though. Any tips to make crits more useful for larger teams, or are we destined to break apart?

Around can transcribe and collect meeting notes automatically.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Nightmare Alley, the latest screenplay from Guillermo del Toro. No spoilers here!
Marshall shared Play for iPad — native mobile prototyping, now on the big screen. It's good!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe on Spotify

Byeee!

436: Reclaiming Your Focus

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 16:30:52 +0000

This week, we share our tips and strategies for reclaiming our focus to do deep design work. In the Sidebar, we revisit last week's conversation about the value of ideas and finding the right time to share an idea with the world.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

Vagaro is hiring designers to build the booking, payments, and marketing solutions for growing businesses in the beauty, wellness and fitness industries around the world. If you want to have an immediate, direct and high impact through design, learn more about designing at Vagaro.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

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Main Topic:

This week, we share our tips and strategies for reclaiming our focus to do deep design work.

Cool Things:

Brian shared The Always Sunny Podcast, a happy-place podcast that shares the backstory and inside jokes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Marshall shared Balance Lock, a macOS utility app that locks the balance on your sound output.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
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Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
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Byeee!

435: New Feature Launch Checklist

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 13 Apr 2022 21:10:18 +0000

This week, we share the checklist that we use when launching new features to make sure we’re not missing certain states, flows, or edge cases. In the Sidebar, we talk about working in public and the risk of people stealing your ideas.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

Vagaro is hiring designers to build the booking, payments, and marketing solutions for growing businesses in the beauty, wellness and fitness industries around the world. if you want to have an immediate, direct and high impact through design, learn more about designing at Vagaro.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Predragus
Josh Allen
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Tøirdheålbhåch Våinåmøinen

Main Topic:

This week, we share the checklist that we use when launching new features to make sure we’re not missing certain states, flows, or edge cases.

Kriss Patel asks on GitHub:

When there is new feature in app, how do you guys make sure that you considered all the scenarios and designed all the screens which will be affected by this change?

A gut-check checklist:

Talk to eng!
Design systems!
Retrospectives and learning from mistakes
No data, some data, lots of data
Long strings, short strings, emoji, other user generated content
New user (to product and to feature)
Network status — offline state / network change
Loading states
Error states
Screen sizes / orientation
Accessibility settings (text size, contrast modes, voiceover)
Entry points (deep link, email)
Signed in, signed out, other authentication states
Permissions status
Color themes
Performance
Metrics / analytics
Product-specific settings
Product-specific plans (free, pro, etc.)
Product-specific content (moderation, pending requests, etc.)

Cool Things:

Brian shared Midsommar and Severance — lots of wholesome, lighthearted material for your week.
Marshall shared the Spelling Bee daily puzzle from the New York Times.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
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Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
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Byeee!

434: News Desk, Vol. 4

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 7 Apr 2022 20:44:53 +0000

This week, we talk about enhancing the performance of design teams, a more efficient developer handoff process, and how to develop strong opinions. In the Sidebar, we talk about the tradeoffs of career progression and overall life happiness. At what point are you willing to pause or downgrade your career ambitions for a better life outside of work?

Sponsor:

BestPracticer helps you find the right design coach to support you to grow faster. You’ll be matched with an experienced coach from a leading tech company, who is a few levels ahead and familiar with your challenges. All of BestPracticer’s design coaches are design veterans who blend their years of expertise with coaching and leadership methodologies to help you grow faster and achieve your goals. You’ll meet on a regular cadence with your design coach as a thought partner on your work and career goals. If you’re interested in finding a design coach or learning more, you can visit designdetails.fm/bestpracticer.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Dakshi Khatri
HeyStefan DotCom
hugohil
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Tom Fejér
Kalv Sandhu
Ori E.
Niclas van Eyk
Pepijn
Julie Hoxie
Brett Benner
Mark Markov
Destiny Joelle
Meghan Martin
Hamza Labrinssi
Alexa Jarvis
Clarke
Omotayo Paul AJ

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about enhancing the performance of design teams, a more efficient developer handoff process, and how to develop strong opinions.

Alan Mills asks about ways to enhance the performance of a design team through tools and processes on GitHub.
Mark Markov asks on Twitter: what's the handoff/delivery process? Is it similar to this or are engeneers educated on how to get what they need from the files?
- Automator
- Jordan Singer
Carlos asks on GitHub:

Hey there, Im new to the design field, three months into my UX role and I have a fear that I dont have strong enough opinions or knowledge to come up with a solution and push it forward all the way through.
I think, my problem is that I am overly empathetic and always end up seeing the best in other peoples idea and going along with it but Im concerned I wont be getting far ahead if I cant stick by guts every now and then, or may get advantage of because Im a “yes man”.
How do you build your “no” muscle without damaging relationships?

Cool Things:

Brian shared Hereditary: A grieving family is haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences.
- Midsommar
Marshall shared Atrioc, one of his favorite YouTubers. Start with this video.
- Ludwig

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

433: Making a Case for Icons

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 19:41:29 +0000

This week, we make the case for designing product icons and discuss what to do if your team doesn’t want to invest in great iconography. In the Sidebar, we talk about how to incorporate default typefaces into your design system.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Christian Rotzoll
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JS
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mike kenny
Wilson
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Mattias Kronberg

Follow up:

Uhl Albert pointed out that “ruinous empathy” comes from the Radical Candor Framework.

Main Topic:

This week, we make the case for designing product icons and discuss what to do if your team doesn’t want to invest in great iconography.

Priscilla Then asks on GitHub:

The Lead Developer at my work requested to remove some of the icons, because they slow down development time when having to wait for one to be created, grappling with SVGs, etc. Unfortunately, he is right as they are time-consuming to make (especially good ones) and since I'm the only UX/UI designer in the company, it slows me down and I become the bottleneck.
That said, I feel that icons give character, polish and professionalism to an otherwise extremely utilitarian UI. Icons can also be functional in that they help make certain elements stand out from an otherwise huge sea of text, but they are still seen as "fluff". I've asked for another designer to be hired, or request our graphic designer to create icons when he has time, but these suggestions didn't get any support. How would you make a case for icons when they are seen as mere decoration?

Cool Things:

Brian shared the Opal C1, a professional webcam that claims DSLR-quality images in a $300 chassis. So far: it’s definitely a beta product, but depending on your needs it might be a worthwhile upgrade!
Marshall shared the ohsnap! Snapmount 2.0, an accessory that helps you mount your phone to a wall (with MagSafe!), making it ideal for turning your phone into a mounted shower speaker.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

432: Traits of a Good Manager

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 16 Mar 2022 19:57:00 +0000

This week, we spent more time exploring the traits of a good designer manager. In the Sidebar, we talk about the design details of Apple’s Studio Display and Mac Studio.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Steve
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Hoyin
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Zachary Johnson
Damien Shan
Prerna Pradeep
June
Amie Chen
Holden Tuffield
Casey
Emily Chen

Follow up:

Bulk-detach follow-up — the Seek and Destroy plugin detaches all nested styles, too!
Thanks Damon Ahola for the follow-up on transitioning from industrial to digital product design.

Main Topic:

This week, we spent more time exploring the traits of a good designer manager.

What makes a good manager?
We tweeted: ‌What's the most memorable thing a manager has done for/to you? It could be positive or negative, but just generally something that left an impression or changed your trajectory.
- Read the responses.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Any Distance, a beautiful app designed to help you share your workout stories.
Marshall shared Brandon Sanderson’s Kickstarter, now the largest fundraise in Kickstarter history! $29m and counting...

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

431: Transitioning from Industrial to Digital Design

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 2 Mar 2022 19:46:31 +0000

This week, we talk about transitioning industries and how to bridge the quality gap in a new field. In the Sidebar, we talk about storytelling and the surprising insights that can be found in engagement data.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Chris Calletta
Anna Barta
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Michael Le
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kyle baldinger
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Sara Sanguino

Follow up:

@smallmedium pointed out that bulk-detach exists in Figma — thanks for the tip!

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about transitioning industries and how to bridge the quality gap in a new field.

The Gap by Ira Glass

Cool Things:

Brian shared Alfread, a small utility app that actually helps you stay on top of your read-it-later backlog.
Marshall shared Horizon Forbidden West, the sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn, a beautiful open world game with robot dinosaurs. Need we say more?

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

430: Design File Sanity and Breaking Navigation Patterns

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 23:41:17 +0000

This week, we talk about design file sources of truth, Snapchat's evolution, and the qualities of great managers. In the Sidebar, we talk about building a YouTube channel from scratch, the opportunity for designers on YouTube, and ways to de-risk a new creative exploration.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

Zeplin lets designers spend more time on design, and less time prepping design files for the team. Effortlessly build user journeys with native connectors, flow groups, and text labels — no more maintaining extra layers in your design tool. Zeplin is so much more than just specs — get started for free to see why.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Andrew Ambrosino
Chris Roy
Conor Mack
Peter Carleton
shanberg
Patrick Marx
Gabriel Valdivia
Alessa
Dorian Zlatan
Aslam Marzook

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about design file sources of truth, Snapchat's evolution, and the qualities of great managers.

Emily asks on GitHub: Hi! I'm curious how other teams maintain their "latest design" mockups for designs that have been shipped.
Zach asks on GitHub: I've always wondered how Snapchat was able to get away with a design that broke so many conventions, particularly in the way you navigate the app. Overtime, they seem to have been returning to a normal nav pattern, especially now with the new tab bar design. What do you think of the app's design and evolution, and do you know of any other apps that break the rules and still find success?
Mannnny asks on GitHub: Speaking of being a team lead or manager, what do you think are the core skills a manager should have? Also when do you know you’re ready to be a team lead or manager? Do you have to be a great IC to be a manager? I personally don’t think so, they’re very different roles and requires different skills.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Must, a prettier Letterboxd. If you are willing to trade visuals for social features, Must is nice!
Marshall shared Clear Spaces, an iOS app to create transparent widgets to clean up your Home Screen.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

429: Better Remote Onboarding

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 02:53:09 +0000

This week, we talk about the messy nature of remote onboarding and share our tips to make it suck just a little less. In the Sidebar, we talk about the visual design for the heads up display used in televised sports.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Kevin Bennett
Chris Carbo
Eric
Paula Ojansuu
Tom Phillips
ThatSid
Max
Anthony DiSpezio
XJ Lu

Follow up:

Regarding micromanaging, Stevie Roger tweeted: We have a weekly team show-and-tell/idea sharing and collectively doesn’t feel like I’m being micromanaged. I’ve learnt more from others guidance and it never feels like micromanaging. This has been endlessly useful as I move into more senior roles.
Regarding senior designer expectations, Brandon Schmittling tweeted: Senior designers talk to other designers and creatives in their field. They have dialogues with their peers at other organizations and across industries. A stretch signal might be: Senior designers share their conversations and “bring the outside in” to their team or organization. Just something I’ve been thinking lately. Great episode and thanks!

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about the messy nature of remote onboarding and share our tips to make it suck just a little less.

Read the community's replies on Brian's tweet

Cool Things:

Brian shared The French Dispatch, Wes Anderson's latest film. It's fun! If you're into this style, you won't be disappointed.
Marshall shared Murderville, a murder mystery show with a new celebrity guest every week. And it's new!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

428: Teaching vs Micromanaging

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 18:50:18 +0000

This week, we talk about teaching versus micromanaging, or how to give feedback as a manager in a productive and growth-oriented way. In the Sidebar, Marshall shares his tips and tricks for organizing icon systems in Figma.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

John Casey
Francis Wu
mayra pulido
usrnk1
Michael Olson
D
Stacey Peterson
Justin Haldane
Dian Chen
Declan Reilly-Gordon
Alex Blanco
Phoebe Hogeland
TL
Justin Buckamunth
Sudhanshu Gautam
Martin Banuelos
Adam Stanford
Tara Kirkland

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about teaching versus micromanaging, or how to give feedback as a manager in a productive and growth-oriented way.

Anonymous asks:

I’ve been promoted to a lead, and I’m managing a few entry-level designers working on small features. When discussing UX flows and sketches, they seem fine. But I randomly popped into their Figma files and noticed that their files are not as organized, and their UI work has some issues with padding, margins, decimal values, etc.
I feel like this is something easily trainable, since it’s UI related. I could jump on a call with them to educate them and show some examples of how to do things. But I have a tiny doubt about if I’m micromanaging, since this role is new to me.
Am I micromanaging if I jump into their files and do padding checks? If yes, how do I do this right? If not, what’s the difference between managing and micro managing?

Cool Things:

Brian shared Slopes, a fantastic app for skiers and snowboarders to track their runs and compete with friends. It’s a lot of fun, and has some really interesting design patterns to learn from.
- Follow @parrots and @elanovac
Marshall shared the Ember mug, a game-changing quality of life improvement that keeps your hot drink at the perfect temperature. A bit expensive, but worth it.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

427: Tools for Thought ft. Mark McGranaghan and Adam Wiggins

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 3 Feb 2022 03:51:53 +0000

This week, we sat down with Mark McGranaghan and Adam Wiggins to talk about building creative tools, designing across devices and platforms, creating career capital, starting design podcasts, and more.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Meredith Grubbs
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Pedro
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Shrinkray
Jeffrey Danese

Main Topic:

Cool Things:

Brian shared Vampire Survivors, a fun little indie roguelike that is easily worth the price for many hours of chilled-out vampire evasion.
Marshall shared Agent to the Stars, a fun and different approach to the alien visitor genre.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

426: Senior++ Designer Expectations

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 00:45:19 +0000

This week, we share some (hopefully) non-obvious paths to level up at work and exceed the expectations for a senior++ product designer. In the Sidebar, we talk about the importance of giving blunt feedback, and share ways to do it tactfully and with kindness.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

Play — Play is the first native iOS design tool made for teams creating mobile products. Design, prototype, and collaborate, directly from your phone. With Play you can experience your design as you create it while taking full advantage of native iOS features not found in other design and prototyping tools. Full access invites available for the first 25 people here!

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Derick Anies
Natalie Helmer
Toren Jens
Morgan Quinn
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Dylan Rose
Varun Thota
Fernando Pegorini
Akshitha Victor
Marina Broido

Main Topic:

This week, we share some (hopefully) non-obvious paths to level up at work and exceed the expectations for a senior++ product designer.

Cool Things:

Brian shared The Courage to be Disliked
Marshall shared Wordle, a fun and simple daily word game. Pro tip: start with snail and outer.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

425: Overengineering Variants

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 16:18:58 +0000

This week, we share tips for crafting component variants to avoid the dreaded variant-explosion problem. In the Sidebar, we talk about Tesla’s latest UI refresh, where we see auto interfaces going in the future, and share some of our favorite car dashboard design details.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Aneliya Kyurkchiyska
Lucia
Matthew Achariam
Alan Mills
Jordan
Mejji Le
Taylor Vogel
Filip Szafirowski

Main Topic:

This week, we share tips for crafting component variants to avoid the dreaded variant-explosion problem.

Bryan Maniotakis asks about Figma variants on GitHub: Based on your experience, is this method sustainable? Is forcing the user to hide/show layers a better option to reduce complexity? Should I break out the component into more subcomponents to create fewer variants, but which causes more clicking around?

Cool Things:

Brian shared the August Wi-Fi Smart Lock as a nice upgrade to your home’s deadbolts. Auto-locking and unlocking are great features, and the ability to share access with a partner or friends is awesome, too.
Marshall shared Lian-Li UNI Fans, a modular, daisy-chainable fan module for your custom PC build.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

424: The Art of Unsolicited Redesigns

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 15:52:09 +0000

This week, we talk about the art of creating unsolicited redesigns at work — how to approach them, how to wrangle complexity and rabbit holes, and what to do when you have something worth sharing. In the Sidebar, we share our strategies to become a better storyteller and presentation builder.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Justin Neely
Michael DeGothseir
Chris Barrett
Anita Miskovic
Kyrylo Kholopkin
Richard Laxa
Kevin Turner
Imran Ashraf
Shuhua Quan
Mike Scott
Steve Salgado
Liva Kacara
Jin Ernest
Luke Wenzel
Leandro
Richard Quay
Josh Nelson
Ben Wong
Raymond Zhou
Hau Huynh

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about the art of unsolicited redesigns at work — how to approach them, how to wrangle complexity and rabbit holes, and what to do when you have something worth sharing.

Cool Things:

Brian shared The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon. If you want to try something new, non-tech, but deeply interesting, give this a read!
Marshall shared the entire Jeremy Robinson collection of books.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

423: What We Learned in 2021

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 20:10:44 +0000

This week, we recap how we grew, and the things we learned, in 2021. In The Sidebar, we look forward to 2022 and talk about some of our personal and professional goals for the new year.

Sponsor:

Patreon is hiring product designers in San Francisco and New York City. Today, Patreon is at the heart of the creator economy. In the last 8 years, the product has grown to support more than 250k creators, who are collectively supported by more than 8 million patrons. So far, Patreon has paid out more than $2.5 billion to creators, and are now on pace to pay out over $100 million every month.

Patreon's design team is small, but growing. The opportunity for impact on the product, and on millions of creators and patrons around the world, can't be overstated. The team is dedicated to leveling up the craft of Patreon's products, shipping beautiful experiences, and building the best tools to help anyone make a living on the internet.

If you're a designer looking for your next level up, get in touch with Patreon's design team and tell them we sent you!

Golden Ratio Supporters:

Patreon — Patreon is hiring product designers in San Francisco and New York City to build the future of the creator economy. Join their small team and level up today.

Sympli — Sympli Pulse is a version tracking application for Figma that lets you and your team clearly understand what's going on — even with hundreds of frames, components and design files — and answer the most painful questions about who changed what and why, adding context to your design decisions. Find Pulse in Figma Community. Learn more at Sympli.io.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Sean McGuigan
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Petteri Tiilikka
Eric
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Gabe de la Mora
Jonathan
Sander Kalmus
Y. Chen
Miranda Lemmer

Follow up:

Complainisode follow up:
- Graham Connell tweeted: To pile on to the complainisode, animations that take way too long drives me nuts! Like a hover animation that takes a full second to complete. AHHHH
- Antonija Pek tweeted: complain episode...Apps not having dark mode (ahem @figmadesign), electron apps that suck all the RAM, services that are US only, everything is now subscription based...To name a few
- Brian wrote about iMessage spam workflows.

Main Topic:

This week, we recap where we grew, and the things we learned, in 2021.

What I’ve learned so far about design advising and angel investing

Cool Things:

Brian shared Primavera tortilla chips — if you know, you know.
Marshall shared the Gerber Truss multi-tool — always a good idea to have one of these around the house.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

422: The Complainisode

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 9 Dec 2021 00:00:28 +0000

This week, we were invited to have a rant session about the little things in modern software that drive us nuts. A complainisode! In the Sidebar, we share our strategies for having a successful design challenge interview loop.

Sponsor:

If you're a designer looking for your next level up, get in touch with Patreon's design team and tell them we sent you!

Golden Ratio Supporters:

Patreon — Patreon is hiring product designers in San Francisco and New York City to build the future of the creator economy. Join their small team and level up today.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Sidharath Chhatani
Norma

Follow up:

We’ve been recording this gosh dang podcast for 7 years!
Thank you all for the Spotify Wrapped shoutouts ❤️

Main Topic:

This week, we were invited to have a rant session about the little things in modern software that drive us nuts. A complainisode!

James Bartlett asks on GitHub: Frustrations with existing products got me into design. As you guys have new Macs, perhaps now's a good time to share your frustrations with Mac OS, and ideate on ways to mitigate. For example, I'd like to see an inbox for Airdrop. Currently everything airdropped, gets dropped into the downloads folder, and with no way to sort by sender etc.

Winamp’s new website is...not good.
Apollo has great in-app release notes.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Cron, a lovely new calendar application for macOS. Get on the waitlist!
Marshall shared Twelve South Action Bands for Apple Watch. Funky, but useful!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

421: The Future of Remote Design Teams

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 2 Dec 2021 18:29:09 +0000

This week, we talk about the pros and cons of working on a remote design team, and what we think the future of design organizations will look like in a post-pandemic world. In The Sidebar, we talk about how to weigh compensation against your career trajectory.

Sponsor:

If you're a designer looking for your next level up, get in touch with Patreon's design team and tell them we sent you!

Golden Ratio Supporters:

Patreon — Patreon is hiring product designers in San Francisco and New York City to build the future of the creator economy. Join their small team and level up today.

Sympli — Designers and developers working together need control over their assets. Sympli tracks every version of every design: no guessing what changed, no lost files or overwritten work, development-ready specs. Learn more at Sympli.io.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Tao Zhang
Caitriona Murphy
Allen Tan
Greg Siegal
Neel
Michelly Sugui
David Bielenberg
Alexander Fandén
Filip Ruisl
Bill
Aislinn Kelly
William Martinsson

Follow up:

Nerd sniping
Check out Marshall's Advanced Tips and Tricks for Figma Users community file.

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about the pros and cons of working on a remote design team, and what we think the future of design organizations will look like in a post-pandemic world.

Klexo asks on GitHub:

Hiya, this question resurfaced following the Patreon shout-out in the cursor episode. All their design roles (and there were loads) were limited to NY and SF whereas engineering for the same company has multiple remote openings. Have seen this across other companies like Stripe, Pinterest etc. Why is that? Shouldn't these companies be able to offer remote roles especially with the onset of remote payroll startups solving the logistics of it? Have you found working with remote design teams subpar?

Cool Things:

Brian shared Arcane on Netflix — it's absolutely beautiful, and everyone should at least watch the first episode.
Marshall shared Unpacking, a zen puzzle game about...yes, unpacking!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

420: The Pointer Cursor Debate

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 16:27:24 +0000

This week, we discuss the humble cursor and its role in affording interactivity in software design. In The Sidebar, we talk about the long term impact of the features we build, the importance of smart defaults, and the value of time well spent in our products.

Sponsor:

If you're a designer looking for your next level up, get in touch with Patreon's design team and tell them we sent you!

Golden Ratio Supporters:

Patreon — Patreon is hiring product designers in San Francisco and New York City to build the future of the creator economy. Join their small team and level up today.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Natasha Skov
Parker Gibson
Dennis Espino Maravilla
Yanal Tayyem
Udochi
Benjamin Arteaga

Main Topic:

This week, we discuss the humble cursor and its role in affording interactivity in software design.

Anonymous asks: Hey Brian and Marshall, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the use of the hand pointer cursor icon for clickable elements. Windows, macOS, and HTML seem pretty clear that it is intended only for links which lack the visual affordance that buttons have while Material design and seemingly most web apps embrace the hand for all clickable elements. I haven't found what the official rationale is for using the hand everywhere and I'm also curious what users most expect at this point.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Mimestream, a native macOS email client for Gmail. It's fast, looks and feels great, and is a worthy replacement for the stock Mail app on macOS.
Marshall shared An Evening With Silk Sonic by Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, and Silk Sonic. Listen on Apple Music or Spotify.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

The Sidebar:

In this week’s Sidebar, we talk about the long term impact of the features we build, the importance of smart defaults, and the value of time well spent in our products.

419: Teaching Design at Work

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 18:56:33 +0000

This week, we share our strategies and motivations for teaching design at work. In The Sidebar, we talk about the shape of software, how we visualize the tools we build, and what it means for software to feel like something physical.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

Sympli brings its modern design handoff and design version control tools to your secure environment. Upgrade your collaboration workflow with Sympli's self-Hosted option. Learn more at Sympli.io.

Play is the first native iOS design tool made for teams creating mobile products. Design, prototype, and collaborate, directly from your phone. With Play you can experience your design as you create it while taking full advantage of native iOS features not found in other design and prototyping tools. Full access invites available for the first 25 people here.

Plume empowers a billion smart devices in homes and small businesses through a suite of adaptive WiFi, AI security, and parental control. They're hiring product designers to build the future of smart home services. They're hiring product designers with 2-5 years of experience shipping products — learn more at designdetails.fm/plume. Oh, and they just raised a $270m series E, so now's the time!

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Adir SL
Matt
Torye Cooke
T

Follow up:

Ben Pickering recommended Sci-Fi Interfaces.
Steffen Kotschi recommended Make It So, Interaction Design Lessons from Science Fiction.
Connelly Rader reminded us of the original Xbox UI 🔥

Main Topic:

This week, we share our strategies and motivations for teaching design at work.

Cool Things:

Brian shared the At Ease Hoodie from Lululemon. It’s so comfortable, strong recommend.
Marshall shared the Hue Sync Box and Smart Lightstrips to create a really immersive movie-watching experience.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

418: Fictional User Interfaces

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 3 Nov 2021 13:10:10 +0000

This week, we talk about the weird and beautiful world of fictional user interfaces: why do futuristic UIs look so cool? And why aren't they usable? Is the future really going to look like this? In The Sidebar, we share our must-have macOS apps that are always installed first on a new machine.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

Sympli brings its modern design handoff and design version control tools to your secure environment. Upgrade your collaboration workflow with Sympli's self-Hosted option. Learn more at Sympli.io.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Jayanta Banik
Wayne Dahlberg
Kintu Bhandari
Lisa Gorn Rivkin
Binhao Yang

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about the weird and beautiful world of fictional user interfaces: why do futuristic UIs look so cool? And why aren't they usable? Is the future really going to look like this?

Sellty asks on GitHub: I was a huge fan of Iron Man Jarvis style FUI's but after studying UI/UX at university, I can't help but notice how useless and not user-friendly some of the FUI's look. It's basically ruined me for any Marvel movies. However, I have been told that FUI should be seen inspiration to what our future user interfaces (or no-interface) will look and feel like. I'm curious to know what FUI you thought was really cool that you could see being used in a real world application in the future
GMUNK
Oblivion GFX
HUDS & GUIS
Movie UI
Minority Report UI
Why Her Will Dominate UI Design Even More Than Minority Report
Behind the scenes of Westworld UI
Star Trek LCARS wallpapers

Cool Things:

Brian shared Dune, the 2021 adaptation of Frank Herbert's seminal science fiction novel — yes, it's a beautiful movie. Read Dune.
Marshall shared To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, a new epic science fiction story from Christopher Paolini. During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she's delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

417: The Side Project Prophecy

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we reflect on why it is that talking about building a side project can often reduce your motivation to actually finish the project. We dig into our latest side project progress and share tips for maintaining momentum. In The Sidebar, we recap Google’s Pixel 6 event and share our hot takes on the latest phones and software announcements.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

Sympli builds design version control and developer handoff tools to help teams collaborate on screen designs. Check out their design-to-development plugins for all major design tools, including a version control app for Sketch, Sympli.io.

Latest VIP Patrons:

FoxFire720
Lukáš Ther
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Cho
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Antonio
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Mason Hahn
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Trevor Harris
Annika Ganson
Yuan Zhuang
Brett Benson
Solveig Engevold Gaustad

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Follow up:

We’ve declared issue bankruptcy on our GitHub repository. If you have a question or topic you’d like to hear us talk about on the show, please open an issue!

Main Topic:

Brian’s personal website WIP thread.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Next.js, a React framework for building websites. This week they released version 12 and things are getting so so good. If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about React and build a new website in the process, take a look at their step-by-step guide.
Marshall shared Far Cry 6, the latest release in the Far Cry series where there is something new and interesting to discover every 30 seconds or less — guaranteed!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

416: UI Reviews and QA

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 16:02:51 +0000

This week, we talk about our processes for reviewing UI and making sure that things are shipping as close to spec as possible. In The Sidebar, we recap Apple’s Unleashed event, sharing our favorite moments and spicy takes.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

Play is the first native iOS design tool made for teams creating mobile products. Design, prototype, and collaborate, directly from your phone. With Play you can experience your design as you create it while taking full advantage of native iOS features not found in other design and prototyping tools. Play is currently looking for talented iOS Engineers to join their team — apply here!

Latest VIP Patrons:

Daniel Di Giandomenico
Klaus Cho
Abhisek Mishra
Karina Kassimanova
Mackenzie Nason
Raphael Essoo-Snowdon
Nikol Chen

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about our processes for reviewing UI and making sure that things are shipping as close to spec as possible.

Priscilla Then asks on GitHub:

For the last year, my work has gotten the QA people to do UI reviews, which has been difficult, because they don't have the visual and technical training. They also don't know CSS to be able to make specifications, nor are they able to update the design system.
They very often miss things that I have to create a ticket to be fixed later, and spend so much time in communication when asking me to check their work, that I might as well have reviewed it myself, and the time they spent trying to figure out an issue, could've been better used at doing what they're good at.
Unfortunately, I'm the only designer (out of a team of 20+ devs and several QA people), so they want me to focus on designing at a higher level (wireframes, mocks, etc.), not checking for minor details. I also haven't worked at a bigger company that has more than 1 designer, so am wondering how does it work at other companies? Any shared processes / experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Succession, a well-made show about terrible people.
Marshall shared Twelve Minutes, an interactive thriller-puzzle game about a man trapped in a time loop.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

415: News Desk, Vol. 3

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 13:15:38 +0000

This week, we talk about the new Stripe Press website, pasting behavior in Figma, the latest tvOS UI, and the importance of using fake data in placeholder copy. In The Sidebar, we share our tools and strategies for remembering the important things that come up in our day-to-day work.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Richard Keenan
Chris Mack
Liz Goodwin
Dakota Sumner
Zachary Sanderson-Harris
Amandine
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Oleg Panichev
Roxana Corral

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Follow Up:

More memorable software moments:

Ramiro Ruiz tweeted: I think the last one was while using FigJam, so many great features like adding components.
- And cursor chat!
Connelly Rader tweeted: Dispo onboarding was delightful - unboxing your camera by knocking over the bag. Same with opening my first Dispo Dump!
- Dispo on the App Store
Ugo Cireddu mentioned a few on Patreon:
- AirPods pairing process and how it syncs across devices
- The wifi sharing feature between friends when a friend tries to enter a password that is saved to your iCloud Keychain.
- The Apple Watch pairing process and the cool animations and super easy steps.
- The setting up of a new iPhone when transferring data from an old iPhone.
- PushFit is a simple workout tracker for iOS that uses the front camera to track pushups.
Ruby Chen tweeted: I got an iPad and started learning Procreate recently. When figuring how to have reference image side by side, I stumbled upon a feature where it shows your front camera feed and you can PAINT ON YOU FACE LIVE!!! Definitely a big delightful wow moment for me!
Raffaele Vitale tweeted: _The "Card format" when writing in @craftdocsapp is just great. I loved this lateral onHoverStart table of contents from the public launch of @height_app yesterday._
- Craft
- Height

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about the new Stripe Press website, pasting behavior in Figma, the latest tvOS UI, and the importance of using fake data in placeholder copy.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Apple Maps on iOS 15: it’s actually good. It’s really fun to explore major cities and landmarks in 3D mode.
Marshall shared a PopSocket + MagSafe combo:
- Base plate
- Pop socket

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

414: Memorable Software Moments

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 17:44:37 +0000

This week, we recall our most recent “wow” moments with the products in our lives. What are yours? In The Sidebar, we talk about different loading state strategies and their impact on the user experience.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Max Georgopoulos
Christina Jacobs
Merrisa Tang
Liam Sheppard
Michael Goliver
Sam Ryan

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

This week, we recall our most recent “wow” moments with the products in our lives. What are yours?

Raffaele Vitale asks on Twitter: what was your last and truly memorable “wow" moment you had with a digital or physical product?
Play uses a wild drawer system to let you actually design apps on your phone. It’s very smooth.
Hands on with iOS Live Text.
Unlock your phone with Apple Watch when wearing a mask.
Tonal’s dynamic weight mode is very cool.
NFTs are weird. If you’re interested, start with this post: How to set up a crypto wallet to buy NFTs by Pablo Stanley. OpenSea is where most NFTs are being sold.

Cool Things:

Brian shared replicate.ai/explore, a playground of machine learning programs that you can run in the browser. Check out toonify and age simulator.
Marshall shared Survivor Season 41, but drop the 4. A whole new era!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

413: Design Mentorship

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 22 Sep 2021 11:32:16 +0000

This week, we talk about design mentorship: what does an effective mentor do, how to find a mentor, how to avoid giving bad career advice, and more. In The Sidebar, we talk about obsessing over the pixels, wasting time on unimportant details, and how to tell the difference between polish and procrastination.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Bilal
AJ Patshkowski
Ben C
First Name, pause, Last Name
Sam Hermes
Sid Kshetrapal
Nachiket Nanoty
Hoyin

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Follow Up:

Manny asks on Twitter: Curious, how much time do you guys usually spend on side projects a day/week? Whenever I work on side projects, I always feel guilty of not spending time with my other half, friends and pets because we haven’t seen each other for a whole day usually
- Probably...10-20 hours per week, on a good week? Huge caveat: we don’t have kids.
Siddharth agreed with Marshall about when to ship: sure you can ship fast and often (i try) and you’ll quickly learn what you didnt know w/ feedback 10/10. but there are some things that only click ✨ when you’re chasing that last 5%, someone else can’t do that click for you

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about design mentorship: what does an effective mentor do, how to find a mentor, how to avoid giving bad career advice, and more.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Amplosion and Achoo from Christian Selig (the creator of the Apollo Reddit app, which we love). These are using the new Safari extension APIs that are new in iOS 15! Amplosion automatically redirects away from AMP pages on Google, and Achoo lets you inspect the HTML of a page on your phone.
Marshall shared 14 by Peter Clines, the next entry in Marshall’s Book Club. More recommendations from Peter Clines: The Fold and Paradox Bound.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

412: Side Project Perfectionism

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 12:40:04 +0000

This week, we talk about how we combat perfectionism in our side projects, the value of shipping, and why sharing a project too early can backfire. In the Sidebar, we recap Apple’s September event with our hot takes and spicy opinions.

Golden Ratio Supporters:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Kyle
Skyler Schain
Elena Newbrough
Dominique Horner
Colin Chapin
Keiron Boswell
Eva Ratcliffe
Mike Waclo
Aleksey Nikitin
Cliff Warren
Edward Gyngell
Stevie Rodger
Sarah Catherine Smith

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about how we combat perfectionism in our side projects, the value of shipping, and why sharing a project too early can backfire.

Would love to know your thoughts on tackling progress over perfection especially in the product design world.
I know Marshall doesn't want to publish anything which isn't perfect to his eyes but the issue is that I'm not as nearly as good as Marshall 😭, so it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on overcoming this.
Whenever I work on my portfolio or a case study, I can't help but get stuck or held up on details to make it perfect. Although I try to focus on the progress and ignore the perfection part, the OCD makes me so frustrated to the point I eventually go back and fix those issues and end up delaying what I wanted to finish further.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Cometeer, the best dang coffee you’ll ever have. Click the link to save $25.
Marshall shared Infinite by Jeremy Robinson, which has a new sequel out for any sci-fi fans among you!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

411: Follow-upisode

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 8 Sep 2021 14:26:46 +0000

This week, we follow up on last week’s conversation about designing at agencies, hiring contractors, Yelp’s app icons, and Bock’s Constant. In the Sidebar, we talk about designing with your mind’s eye and how learning to brain-prototype will help fast-track your growth as a designer.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Darion
Xinran Wang
Ólafur Sverrir Kjartansson
Adam Collier
Genghis Mendoza
Moj
Andrei Slobtsov
Chase Simmons
Justin Baughn
Derek Shirk
Misael Abreu

If you’re in New York, come meet up at Makeshift.

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

This week, we follow up on last week’s conversation about designing at agencies, hiring contractors, Yelp’s app icons, and Bock’s Constant.

Brian Leach followed up and talked about how in-house designers might experience creative atrophy.
Raffaele asked when a product company should hire an external agency.
Genghis Mendoza sent over some advantages to working at an agency:
1. Build your strategic business skill set, working with strategists, engagement managers and clients, you develop new views of what your designs do to impact the client's business.
2. Build your soft skills (consultant muscle): being able to articulate your designs, learning to work with a variety of different stakeholders. broaden your audience, from c-level to non-product people.
3. Exercise your design rigor, strengthen your process, or become nimble and adjust your process depending on the engagement.
4. Improve research skills as you develop patterns to learn quickly and delve into new verticals, markets and problems.
5. Facilitation skills improve: practice techniques and you build up your playbook of strategies, to diverge, bring people to consensus, and all the things you need to make clients a part of the design thinking process.
6. Breadth of verticals, developing a wider lens to learn more patterns from different industries, learning new problems and solving for them.
7. Since you are in a strategic mindset most of the time, you're always searching for possibilities, trends, and begin to develop a futurist mindset, as you are designing for the art of the possible. I think this is a skill set you can also learn in-house, but as a consultant the path is more attuned to lend to this behavior. Using the RPG metaphor, this is the specialization in the skills tree.
Uhl Albert noticed that Yelp’s app icons on Android are better, dropping the Yelp label from the icon itself.
Derek Shirk asked about “Bach’s contant” — easy typo to hear. We call it “Bock’s Constant” aka Marshall’s Law of UX: “People don’t fucking read.”
- See: Laws of UX

Cool Things:

Brian shared Hearthstone Battlegrounds, a fun variant of Hearthstone’s card game mechanics that levels the playing field and has infinite variability. It’s really fun!
Marshall shared The Fold by Peter Cline, a fun sci-fi read with a buck-wild ending.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

410: Agency vs In-House Design

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 12:00:53 +0000

This week, we compare agency vs. in-house design work, dissect the tradeoffs, and share interview tips for anyone moving from an agency to a product company. In The Sidebar, we share our favorite Keynote tips and tricks and our top strategy for telling a more clear story in a deck.

Sponsor:

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Latest VIP Patrons:

Raiseaplant
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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

This week, we compare agency vs. in-house design work, dissect the tradeoffs, and share interview tips for anyone moving from an agency to a product company.

Brian Leach asks on Twitter: have you dudes done an episode on in-house design vs agency work? Would love some perspective on different ways to think about that dilemma

Cool Things:

Brian shared Dave on FX/Hulu. Push through S2E3 if it’s not your thing, the rest of the season ends on a high note.
Marshall shared Y the Last Man, upcoming on Hulu. Based on the trailer, the show looks true to the comics but we’ll have to see when it comes out!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

409: Twitter’s Follow Button

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about Twitter’s new follow buttons. Are they a mistake? Or a fix for something broken that we’d all become used to? Our opinions on buttons emerge! In The Sidebar, we talk about what to do with time off.

Sponsor:

Baronfig makes tools for thinkers: guided journals, simple notebooks, writing instruments, bags, desk organizers, travel accessories, and more. Their products are beautiful, functional, and simple — we use them and love them. Use the promo code DESIGNDETAILS21 to get 20% off your purchase of $50 or more.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Macarena
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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about Twitter’s new follow buttons. Are they a mistake? Or a fix for something broken that we’d all become used to? Our opinions on buttons emerge!

Cool Things:

Brian shared The White Lotus, a social satire set over the course of a week-long vacation in Hawaii. The tension is real, and it’s good!
Marshall shared 100 Foot Wave, a six-part miniseries on HBO about the decade-long odyssey of surfing pioneer Garrett McNamara who dreams of conquering a 100 foot wave.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

408: News Desk, Vol. 2

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about Yelp’s new logo and app icons, Apple’s new child safety initiatives, and the miniature masterpieces of the Olympic pictograms. In the Sidebar, we curate practical negotiation tips, strategies, and concepts to help you through a job change.

Sponsor:

Baronfig makes tools for thinkers: guided journals, simple notebooks, writing instruments, bags, desk organizers, travel accessories, and more. Their products are beautiful, functional, and simple — we use them and love them. Use the promo code DESIGNDETAILS21 to get 20% off your purchase of $50 or more.

Latest VIP Patrons:

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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about Yelp’s new logo and app icons, Apple’s new child safety initiatives, and the miniature masterpieces of the Olympic pictograms.

Cool Things:

Brian shared The Suicide Squad, the new James Gunn remake of the 2016 flop. It was fun! If you’re into R-rated superhero movies, this will be right up your alley.
Marshall shared Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever (album link). Don’t stop reminding Marshall that he’s a Billie Eilish hipster!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

407: Pixel 6

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 4 Aug 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about the new Pixel 6 announcement, how it stacks up against the competition, and what we’re most excited about. In The Sidebar, we share our design regrets: things we shipped that ended up being mistakes in hindsight.

Sponsor:

Baronfig makes tools for thinkers: guided journals, simple notebooks, writing instruments, bags, desk organizers, travel accessories, and more. Their products are beautiful, functional, and simple – we use them and love them. Use the promo code DESIGNDETAILS21 to get 20% off your purchase of $50 or more.

Latest VIP Patrons:

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Golden Ratio Supporters:

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about the new Pixel 6 announcement, how it stacks up against the competition, and what we’re most excited about.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Just JavaScript, a new course to help you build a strong foundation of JavaScript mental models.
Marshall shared Brian David Gilbert, one of the best Youtube creators in the game. Some hits:

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

406: Who Leads UI Design?

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we dig into questions like: who should design a team’s visual style guide? And: who should break a tie in subjective aesthetic arguments? In The Sidebar, we share our tips and strategies for succeeding as a new designer in a large organization.

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Ted Chang

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about who actually leads UI design within an organization, teasing apart questions like: who should design a team’s visual style guide? Who should break a tie in subjective aesthetic arguments? And more!

itaydre asks on GitHub:

It's been challenging to develop a new design system without an existing visual style guide, so I'm trying to explore more about the work behind designing UI when you're not a sole designer.

I've got a feeling that designing UI is quite hard to do collaboratively, as taste is very much subjective to each and every individual.

What's your experience when it comes to developing a new style guide?
Does a single designer lead the process (in terms of the visual direction)?

Listen to our episode about visual design and craft with Justin Stahl.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Mare of Easttown and Ted Lasso Season 2, two good shows on the opposite end of the “this will make me feel a certain way” gradient.
Marshall shared Crime Scene Kitchen, a cooking elimination show perfectly designed to scratch every itch in Marshall’s television brain.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

405: News Desk, Vol. 1

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about the new Microsoft emoji, a cool Android 12 feature, the joy of watching Apple iterate in public, and the new “King of Buttons” aka the Steam Deck. In The Sidebar, we talk about the challenge of having work that is NDA-locked, or never shipped at all.

Latest VIP Patrons:

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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about the new Microsoft emoji, a cool Android 12 feature, the joy of watching Apple iterate in public, and the new “King of Buttons” aka the Steam Deck.

Windows redesigned their emoji and they’re gorgeous.
Android 12 will have a great way to handle auto-rotation and now iOS feels broken by comparison.
The new Safari is taking a few steps back on macOS. The changes have been controversial, and we’re happy to see some of these iterations happening in real time. Betas!
The Steam Deck is here and holy buttons, Batman, that’s a lot of inputs!

Cool Things:

Brian shared the Hot Ones Season 15 sauces, perfect for you spice-heads that want to embark on the Hot Ones Challenge at home.
Marshall shared Duolingo, a lovely and delight app that will help you learn a new language. Marshall is learning Japanese, and it’s sticking! Also: this is basically just a showcase of great game design.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

404: Visual Design and Craft ft. Justin Stahl

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk with Justin Stahl about visual design and craft, the impact of design systems and tools on the visual landscape, tactical tips for a stronger design interview, and much more. In The Sidebar, we ask Justin about the best advice he’s ever received, becoming a manager, and knowing when it’s time to switch teams.

Latest VIP Patrons:

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Kasper
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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Followup:

Sam Bernhardt tweeted a more technical name for the confidence gradient concept from two weeks ago: confidence code switching.
- Cope Ahead Skill

Main Topic:

This week, we talk with Justin Stahl about visual design and craft, the impact of design systems and our tools on the visual landscape, tactical tips for a stronger design interview, and much more.

Justin is currently a Director of Product Design at Cruise. Before this, he was a Chief of Staff at Facebook Reality Labs, the Head of Product Design for Portal, and spent years as a product designer working an a wide range of Facebook products.

The tweet: It's been tough to recruit product designers with great visual design and an eye for detail. Did we atomic-design-system and product-manager-skills a generation out of having them?
Justin’s website
@justahl
Typewar and The Font Game for iPhone
Scenarios in which Tesla FSD Beta 9.0 will fail
Not Boring Apps
The Gap by Ira Glass
Jasper Hauser
The Chef’s table episode Brian references
Jon Lax
Facebook Reality Labs

Cool Things:

Brian shared Tiger on HBO, a two-part documentary about the rise and fall of Tiger Woods. Even if you’re not super into sports, it’s worth a watch.
Marshall shared The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. It’s grim-dark fantasy, a good pick for anyone who enjoyed Game of Thrones.
Justin shared The Ideal City: Exploring Urban Futures, a book which chronicles the design of urban futures.
- The Last Dance on Netflix.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

403: The Confidence Gradient

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about the confidence gradient, how we’ve built confidence over time, and the funny circumstances that can take us out of our element. In The Sidebar, we share our first impressions of Windows 11 and talk about the growing convergence of operation system designs.

Golden Ratio Supporter:

Around

Around is a better way to video call. It’s designed specifically to make it easier to gather small groups together to collaborate in real time, without all the distracting and frustrating interfaces that comes with most video chat software. We love the small floating heads and emphasis on making it easy to work alongside the video call, rather than constantly having to app switch.

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Latest VIP Patrons:

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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Followup:

Shankar tweeted: Re: Brian’s question about creative Shortcuts. If you find yourself opening a particular tab or searching inside an app often, create a shortcut for that. Example: searching or viewing your podcast library.
Sam Bernhardt approves of Marshall’s parenting hot takes. Also: Let’s bring back the spacer gif!

Tweets:

Ritesh outlined some reasons why he enjoys the show. Thank you for the kind words!
Moody asked: is there a way to support the podcast aside from Patreon? – just keep listening! Sharing with friends, tweeting at us, or rating the show on Apple Podcasts are also helpful.

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about our experiences of being in high and low confidence situations, how we’ve dealt with confidence over time, and the funny circumstances that can take us out of our element.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Dreamland by Glass Animals. Very catchy, be warned.
Marshall shared LEGO Masters Season 2, now from Australia and the UK! SO much LEGO, so little time.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

402: Margin Considered Harmful

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we dig into the best way to think about margin and padding in your component system. In The Sidebar, we break down the basics of design advising and angel investing.

Golden Ratio Supporter:

Around

You can get started for free by signing up at Around.co!

Latest VIP Patrons:

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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Followup:

Manny tweeted: What is the official name for the “three dots”…? I’ve heard “three dots”, “more icon”, “ellipsis” and “overflow” from different people
- We replied: Yeah, it’s a bit confusing, but to my understanding, Android is “Overflow” and iOS is “Ellipsis,” but the label is typically “More,” so we just went with “Three Dots” to keep it generic 😊
Raffaele tweeted: Episodes like 401 would be great with video or images content! I got lost several times in the words explanation of visuals/patterns. Does this make sense? 😁
- We agree, but since that’s not quite possible (easily) with our current setup, it’s become useful practice for us to have to describe visual concepts with crisp language.

Main Topic:

This week, dluft asks on GitHub: Brian mentioned the article "Margin Considered Harmful" by Max Stoiber. I can't wrap my head around the takeaway. Could you explain how to use margins in Figma as instructed by Max, please?

Max Stoiber’s original article, Margin Considered Harmful

Cool Things:

Brian shared OldOS by Zane, a faithful recreation of iOS 4 in pure SwiftUI.
Marshall shared TikTok, a brand new app that is sweeping the nation. You probably haven’t heard of it yet, but you should check it out. Marshall is always on the cutting edge, y’all 😅
- Byte, what could have been the spiritual successor to Vine.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

401: Three Dots

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 14:46:14 +0000

This week, we talk about a ubiquitous design crutch: the three dot menu. We examine the spread of this pattern and discuss potential solutions to avoid it. In The Sidebar, we recap WWDC 2021 and dive deep into our favorite announcements.

Golden Ratio Supporter:

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You can get started for free by signing up at Around.co!

Latest VIP Patrons:

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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Followup:

Sean Sullivan tweeted: IMO Software can be finished. Think about software that ships on non Internet connected devices. We used to always ‘finish’ software products pre-SaaS. Big examples today would be secure embedded software systems.
Charmie Kapoor mentioned us as one of her top 3 podcasts for design and product – thank you!

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about three dot menus, the now-ubiquitous interface element that can be conveniently used to hide secondary and tertiary functions. We rant about the spread of the three dot virus and discuss potential alternatives to avoid it.

Cool Things:

Brian shared the Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop, a gorgeous, albeit expensive, band for your Apple Watch.
Marshall shared Inside, a New Tragedy from Bo Burnham. It’s beautifully written and performed, but very sad and poignant. A masterpiece.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

400: Is Software Ever Finished?

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 2 Jun 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we try to answer a simple question: is software ever finished? In The Sidebar, we talk money: compounding, investing, negotiating, planning, and more.

Golden Ratio Supporter:

Around

You can get started for free by signing up at Around.co!

Latest VIP Patrons:

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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

This week, Graham Connell tweets: can software ever be finished? Most products these days get new features and keep evolving, but I can think of several examples where continual change isn’t always good/necessary. Curious to know your thoughts on this.

iA Writer

Cool Things:

Brian shared Project Hail Mary, the latest sci-fi novel from Andy Weir, author of The Martian. We both read and finished this at the same time, and absolutely loved the story. The audio version is a strong recommendation!
Marshall shared Homebridge on Raspberry Pi, powered by CanaKit Raspberry Pi and homebridge-raspbian-image.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

399: Strong Opinions, Weakly Held

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 26 May 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about how the framework Strong Opinions, Weakly Held can be used to effectively critique visual design. In The Sidebar, we recap Google I/O 2021, discussing our favorite announcements, Material You, and the wild future of computers.

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“Easily pronounceable”
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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Follow up:

Sam Chang tweeted: Curious how y’all feel about design folks who are curious and interested in non-design side projects. Would that also stand out to you?
- It depends! But it’s also your life, your website – certain things will just be more relevant than others in a job context.
Apple previews AssistiveTouch, an awesome new set of accessibility tools for the Apple Watch.

Main Topic:

This week, Yu Zhao asks on GitHub: How to develop "strong opinion weakly held" for visual design critique?

Here’s a good starting point on the this: Strong Opinions, Weakly Held — a framework for thinking
Discord recently evolved their brand colors

Cool Things:

Brian shared The West Wing (available on HBO Max), a political drama created by Aaron Sorkin. It holds up!
Marshall shared the Belkin 3-in-1 Wireless Charger with MagSafe – it works great as an all-in-one stand for iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods Pro. Looks great, too!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.

Byeee!

398: Proof of Curiosity

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 19 May 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we dig into two frameworks for leveling up at work: Proof of Curiosity and The Helpful Hierarchy. Whether you’re looking for more accountability, want to stand out in a job interview, or just want to be more intentional with your professional growth, we think these frameworks will help.

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Latest VIP Patrons:

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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Follow up:

Online workout trainer alternatives:
- growingannanas
- 8fit
Uhl Albert tweeted: TIL: "Elephant paths" is another term for desire paths or desire lines.
- See more on 99% Invisibe
Maximillian Piras tweeted: Although the mature product distinction does bring to my mind the Innovator’s Dilemma of being held hostage by your users’ feedback & what have you.

Main Topic:

This week we talk about how to stand out as a designer, centering on a WIP idea we’re calling proof of curiosity.

Neil Sardesai is a great example of demonstrating a proof of curiosity on Twitter.
Learn more about learning in public from Shawn Wang.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Paddington, just a wholesome, lovely movie that we finally watched together this past week. Part 2 to follow, we hear great things.
Marshall shared Fist to Five, a technique for quickly getting feedback or gauging consensus during a meeting.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
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Byeee!

397: Customer Feedback vs. Team Intuition

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 12 May 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about the tension between building what customers explicitly ask for versus building towards a team’s internal vision. In The Sidebar, we talk about the lack of public software critique: Why isn’t there an MKBHD equivalent for software design?

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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Follow up:

Bran Hills tweeted: the bit about not being a thought leader, but being more open about what I'm learning personally really hit home. This will help whittle away at imposter syndrome if I frame what I share in this way. Thanks fellas!
- Read more from Shawn @swyx Wang about learning in public.
Michael Knepprath tweeted: Favorite newsletters rn:
- rendezvous with @cassidoo https://cassidoo.co/newsletter/
- @jbouie’s NYT newsletter (currently taking a break for paternity leave) https://nytimes.com/newsletters/jamellebouie
JB Design joined Twitter for the show! Welcome to Design Twitter 😊

Main Topic:

Victor Kernes asks on GitHub:

Curious to hear both of your thoughts on the decision making process of building features that you’re users explicitly ask for (i.e. edit button on Twitter) versus features that your team, whether it’s Design, Product, Engineering, feels are the right things to build based on the company’s priorities.
User research plays a large part, however, it’s something I’ve been struggling with lately. Especially as I’m working on new features that the company’s prioritizing, which is another process I’ve been removed from so far.

Learn more about elephant paths: Elephant path is a name for a path that is formed in space by people making their own paths and shortcuts; it is an unofficial route.
This talk by Adam Mosseri, Data Informed, Not Data Driven, is a good one.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Invincible on Amazon Prime Video. Quick synopsis: Mark Grayson is a normal teenager, except for the fact that his father, Nolan, is the most powerful superhero on the planet. Shortly after his seventeenth birthday, Mark begins to develop powers of his own and enters into his father's tutelage.
Marshall shared Returnal, a PS5 exclusive: After crash-landing on this shape-shifting world, Selene must search through the barren landscape of an ancient civilization for her escape. Isolated and alone, she finds herself fighting tooth and nail for survival. Again and again, she’s defeated – forced to restart her journey every time she dies.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
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Byeee!

396: Career Cheat Codes

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 5 May 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss the things we’ve done in our design careers that have had an outsized impact on our professional growth. In The Sidebar, we talk about the anatomy of icons and how that anatomy affects user interfaces.

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The Sidebar:

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Follow up:

Walter Kimaro tweeted a mini music video on top our theme music. This is the kind of content we’re here for! Thank you, Walter 😊

Main Topic:

This week, we talk about “career cheat codes” — or: things we’ve done in our time as designers that have had outsized impact on our growth.

Become “the person” for “a thing”
Become a central “connector node” in your organization’s graph
Learn in public by writing, tweeting, podcast, or anything else that puts your ideas out into the world in real time.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Money Stuff, the best weekday newsletter in finance by Matt Levine. It’s fantastic, funny, and will help you learn about the world of money.
Marshall shared the HomePod mini. Turns out, it’s pretty great – when it works!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
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Byeee!

395: Config 2021

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 12:00:00 +0000

It’s event recap week! In this week’s episode we share our reactions to everything announced at Figma’s Config 2021. In The Sidebar, we dig into our favorite updates and the confusing head-scratchers announced at Apple’s Spring Loaded event.

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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

This week, we dig into everything announced at Figma’s Config 2021. We share our thoughts on FigJam, file branching, audio spaces, and the updated Figma mobile app.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Nike Run Club, a lovely little app from Nike to help you run. I was surprised at how much I liked the guided runs – they’re worth a try!
Marshall shared TOPK magnetic charging cables, a nice quality of life improvement for all you designers out there overrun with low-battery test devices.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
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Byeee!

394: Open Source Design ft. Joey Banks

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we caught up with Joey Banks to talk about contributing to open source design. In the Sidebar, we ask Joey bonus questions about ramping up in a new job, the design advocate role, and being Twitter famous.

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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

This week, we grabbed Joey Banks to help us answer a listener question. Joey is a product designer working on design systems at Twitter. Before this, he was a design advocate at Figma.

flyingjuggernaut asks on GitHub:

Why would a designer contribute to open-source design communities? What are the benefits for a designer to spend valuable time contributing to these? Do you contribute and if so, why? I can see entry-level designers contributing to gain some experience or projects for their portfolio but for designers that have been working for some time, apart from exposure or reputation, I can't make sense of it.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Screen Rant Pitch Meetings, a lovely playlist of sarcastic movie pitches that pokes fun in all the right ways.
Marshall shared Olivia Rodrigo – start with drivers license.
Joey shared HazeOver, a helpful macOS utility to dim distracting windows on the Mac.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Byeee!

393: The Not-So-Humble Button

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about the hidden complexities of a designer’s favorite element: the button. In the Sidebar, we examine interfaces that defer moderation responsibilities onto the end user.

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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

This week we talk about the intricacies, details, and complexities of the designer’s favorite element: the button.

Starting points for the psychology for rounding corners:
Lickable buttons

Cool Things:

Brian shared Godzilla vs. Kong. Monke punch lizerd.
Marshall shared Brandon Sanderson, the author of the Mistborn Trilogy, Warbreaker, Stormlight Archive, and more.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
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Byeee!

392: Becoming a Strategic Designer

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 7 Apr 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about how to become a more strategic designer: what should you be doing day to day, or thinking about more often? In The Sidebar, we talk about the downsides of using metaphors to describe the role of designers in building software.

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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Tweets:

Nejat Seçkin Oral tweeted: I’m pretty sure I said this multiple times before but @designdetailsfm manages to answer questions that I’m seeking at that particular time. Almost every episode. I don’t know what magic it is but I’m here for it.

Main Topic:

Jessica Tong asks on GitHub:

I work at a small startup with less than 15 people and I'm the only designer. Recently, I've had a performance review and my manager, who is the Head of Product has recognised that I am lacking in "strategy skills". I seem to mostly come up with short term ideas. eg. we have a problem regarding X, so i am able to come up with multiple solutions, etc. I've also been to a job interview where they said I was lacking high level, strategy skills. I am unsure as to how to develop this skill and think of my work more in the long term and plan for the long term. My manager has suggested a book called "Good Strategy/Bad Strategy" by Richard Rumelt but other than that, he does not know how to help - probably because he is from a product management background, and I should be developing a UX strategy skills. Do you have any advice, or resources you can point me to where I can grow in this area as a product designer?

OKRs: Objectives and Key Results
Spotify acquires Locker Room
Stratechery

Cool Things:

Brian shared Readng, a beautiful app for tracking what you read, and following other people’s book recommendations. It’s like Letterboxd, but for books! And it’s beautifully designed, and a joy to use.
- Design by Aziz Firat – follow!
Marshall shared Quadeca – From Me To You, a music video. Quadeca also comes from the YouTube world, alongside his own music productions, so dive into the backlog of videos.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
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Byeee!

391: Portfolio Review Tips for Senior Designers

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we share tips and best practices for senior designers who are presenting their work in a portfolio review. In The Sidebar, we break down the qualities of great typographic hierarchy in interface design.

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Get started with a free trial, no credit card required, at https://mailbrew.com/dd. If you subscribe after the trial, you’ll save 30% on your first year’s subscription.

Around

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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

Aloni Sanbira asks: I feel like there’s a lot of discussion around entry level design portfolios. What’s your take on senior level portfolios? What do you think a seasoned designer should pay extra attention to when presenting themselves?

We also tweeted the question out, and received some great replies

Cool Things:

Brian shared Enes Yilmazer, a YouTuber who tours very fancy and very expensive homes. We enjoy watching to find the little tiny details that we’d appreciate in our own lives someday.
Marshall shared weighted blankets, in general. Check out this article diving into the science of weighted blankets. Having trouble falling asleep? Try one!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
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Byeee!

390: Building Design Infrastructure ft. Kathryn Gonzalez

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we catch up with Kathryn Gonzalez, the Head of Design Infrastructure at DoorDash. We talk about building DoorDash’s first design system, how to scale a design systems team, balancing technical and design skills, how to become a better systems designer by learning outside of work, and much more.

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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to the bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

This week, we have an interview! We caught up with Kathryn Gonzalez, the Head of Design Infrastructure at DoorDash. We talk about her experience building DoorDash’s design system from scratch, working as a technical designer, hiring for design systems roles, and much more.

Cool Things:

Kathryn shared March Madness, which is actually happening this year!
Brian shared The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, the newest Disney+ series for the MCU. We’re only one episode in, but it’s off to a good start.
Marshall shared Formula 1: Drive to Survive on Netflix. Even if you’re not into cars or racing, it’s a show that ramps you up and gets you invested in the players and teams.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Byeee!

389: Better Design Reviews

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about how to have better design reviews. Who, what, where, and when? We share our experiences, and frustrations, with certain formats and processes. In The Sidebar, we try to answer the question: WTF is up with NFTs?

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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to the bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.

Main Topic:

This week, Clooks asks on GitHub:

What does your design review process look like?
What should a design review be and what shouldn't it be (what should be broken out into a different forum)?
What are some helpful tips for remote facilitation to make design reviews fun, collaborative, and productive?

Cool Things:

Brian shared MusicalBasics, a YouTube channel with a ton of fun and interesting content around music composition and experimentation. In particular, the playlist about time boxed compositions is very fun to watch.
Marshall shared two “reacting to movies” YouTube channels: Natalie Gold and Shanelle Riccio. Watching friends watch the movies we love is just so delightful.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
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Byeee!

388: Design Tips and Tricks, Part 2

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we cover part two of our design tips and tricks series. We talk about naming conventions, thinking in divs, structuring frames, and share a few Figma pro-tips. In The Sidebar, we talk about design content overload.

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The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to full episodes going forward! Sign up at https://patreon.com/designdetails.

In this week's Sidebar, we talk about how to deal with design content overload. If you live and breath design, this might be for you.

Follow up:

David Luft tweeted: It would be so helpful if you made a video companion to episode 386 that shows how you set up and use your grid systems in Figma.
- Keep an eye out, we’ll try to do something here!
Camden Gaba tweeted: Should the vertical spacing between text elements be set by their line height or multiples of your grid interval? And thanks for another episode!
- Generally by line height, unless you just have a text-heavy site with many columns, in which case just let the text flow and then pick up the grid in between your content blocks.
- leading-trim: the future of digital typesetting
- NYT on how they implemented a baseline grid using CSS
Richard Picot tweeted: Follow up question, do you conform to a grid for padding inside a button for example or is the overall size of the component more important?
- Vertical padding just ends up being whatever is required to make your button height a certain size (e.g. minimum tap target size). Leading and trailing padding can be some step on your grid (like 16pt or 12pt).

Main Topic:

This week Marshall continues with part 2 of design tips and tricks! We dig into naming conventions, thinking in divs, how to structure your frames, and some Figma-only pro-tips.

Margin considered harmful

Cool Things:

Brian shared Mouseless, an indie app to help you build muscle memory for keyboard shortcuts in your most-used apps.
Marshall shared The World’s a Little Blurry, the new Apple TV+ documentary about Billie Eilish.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Byeee!

387: Design Craft Tips & Tricks

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 3 Mar 2021 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we dig into specific tips and tricks to level up your craft game: how to leverage tools to make faster iterations, stay organized, and allow your mocks to easily scale over time. In The Sidebar, we dig into how to give design critique without having full problem or product context.

Golden Ratio Supporter:

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The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we talk about how to give design critique without having the full context on a problem or product area.

Follow up:

Stevanus Satria tweeted: The next MMORPG I play my character shall be a wizard hailing from the Northland wielding a powerful electric guitar 🤣 Please do!

Main Topic:

This week Marshall runs us through all his craft tips and tricks: little ways to use tools to make designing interfaces faster, more efficiently, with more organization, and in a way that will scale as you explore.

Cool Things:

Brian shared the Lift desk stand from Artifox. It’s expensive, but very pretty, and has some smart integration with magnets.
Marshall shared Mistborn: The Final Empire, a story by Brandon Sanderson. The book is a fantasy heist kind of tale, where the magic is based on metallurgy and its interesting combinations. The audio book is 24 hours, so not too bad!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Byeee!

386: Designing with Grid Systems

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about designing with grid systems. In particular: when grid systems break, and what to do when they don’t align with our hardware screens perfectly. In The Sidebar, we talk all about design debt: how to work with it, pay it down, and eventually learn to accept it.

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Denis Zastanceanu
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Sam xia
Ravi Aujla
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The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we answer a listener question that can be ultimately paraphrased as: How do you deal with design debt?

Main Topic:

Joey Jungle asks on GitHub: Designing with grid systems? – and continues with many words asking why grid systems are often unintuitive, and don’t align neatly with our hardware screens. Great question!

Cool Things:

Brian shared the iA Quattro typeface, one of three beautiful (and free, open source!) typefaces from the iA team. It seems to be striking a happy middle ground between a sans and a mono, making it useful for adding a computer-y tone to an interface while staying readable.
- My thread with some work in progress screenshots.
Marshall shared Little Nightmares II, a beautiful (and scary) indie side-scroller. It looks gorgeous, and the sound design is incredible.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Byeee!

385: Raising Your Team’s UI Bar

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about strategies and tactical tips for elevating a team’s bar to design high quality interfaces. In The Sidebar, we talk about how to transition from web to mobile design.

Golden Ratio Supporter:

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Latest VIP Patrons:

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Jon Lee
Rafał Ziółek
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The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we talk about things to learn and new mental models to adopt in order to transition from web to mobile design.

Follow up:

Vincent van der Meulen tweeted a very nice note: Best thing I did early on was spend hours listening to @designdetailsfm interviews. It taught me how to talk about my work and reflect on it long before I had any skills. I got my first internship by answering the interview Qs like I thought a designer on Design Details would 😆
- Thanks so much for your note! This makes it all worth it 😊

Main Topic:

sallythat asks us on GitHub: What to do when the design team’s bar for UI is low?

We discuss some tips and strategies for communication and finding leverage in systems to raise the bar for a product’s UI.

Cool Things:

Brian shared CleanShot X, a fantastic alternative to the default macOS screenshot tool. Highlights: auto-copy to clipboard and place window screenshots perfectly centered on your wallpaper.
Marshall shared r/thatsabooklight, a subreddit about props in movies or shows that were repurposed from everyday household items.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Byeee!

384: Finding Time for North Star Design

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about the real struggle of finding the time to do North Star design. It’s complicated! In The Sidebar, we try to find the digital equivalent of a Norman Door.

Golden Ratio Supporter:

Get the app at copilot.money.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Ana Mak
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Tim von Bischopinck
Joshua McDonald

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we try to decide what is the “Norman Door” of digital design.

nosam7 asks: What, if anything, would you consider the "norman door" of the digital space?
What are Norman doors? A Norman door is a poorly designed door that confuses or fails to give you an idea whether to push or pull. It was named after Don Norman, the author of The Design of Everyday Things which explored the phenomenon.
Don Norman wrote The Design of Everyday Things.

Follow up:

Domenico Flauto tweeted at us: To me, invisible design is all about removing friction and making the interaction (or trigger) blending in with your subconscious. This creates a "wow moment" the first time, but then gets taken for granted
Fabio Giolito followed up to our notes about motion sensors as invisible design: About lights with motion sensors. Our apartment had them when we moved in, but I had to ask the landlord to remove it after one night because we have cats.
Gus Johnson, Every Cat At 3AM
Nancy Zuo tweeted: another invisible experience I thought of is going back to eating seeded grapes after eating seedless grapes

Main Topic:

John Cafazza asks: With a typical day being filled with heads down work, review sessions, and all the things necessary for shipping new features, how do you and your larger design team find the time and headspace to design for the future of your product? A proverbial North Star vision for the entire Product.

Cool Things:

Brian shared The Sinner, an anthology series that examines how and why ordinary people commit brutal crimes. Not a whodunnit, but a “why-“dunnit.
Marshall shared Ready Player Two, the follow up to Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. If you want some 80’s nostalgia candy, this is for you.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Byeee!

383: Invisible Design

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 3 Feb 2021 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about “invisible design” – those products and experiences that go unnoticed when present, but would be immediately noticed if absent. In The Sidebar, we react to the new Tesla Model S refresh.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Ben Patton
Grzegorz
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John Cafazza

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we react to the latest Tesla Model S refresh.

Follow up:

Following up on last week’s conversation about phygital experiences:

Harish Shivaraman DM’d us: Ledger's hardware crypto wallet has just 2 buttons that you can interact with and they've got Mac and iOS apps for buying, selling cryptocurrencies.
- NYT piece on lost passwords locking people out of Bitcoin fortunes
Divya Tak tweeted: One other company which has a good phygital experience is Airbnb. Not sure if it fits the discussion but their experience does move out of just the app. – we can’t believe we forgot this example!

Main Topic:

Kevin Fernandez hit us up in the DMs: Hey guys! I loved today’s episode ( maybe because my name got mentioned 😎 ) but also because you’ll touched on some great topics. One which really peaked my interest was services/products that are invisible but make a difference in everyday life. I would love to know more of these services/apps/products that are out there. I think it would be a great topic for a future podcast!

Our definition of invisible experiences: experience that go unnoticed when present, but would be immediately noticed if absent.

Doug DeMuro reviews cool cars and shares interesting features at the high end.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Tempo, a hyper minimal email client with great UI details and helps you beat your email habit with batches.
Marshall shared Jujutsu Kaisen, an anime with a compelling story about supernatural curses.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Byeee!

382: Designing Phygital Experiences

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about designing experiences that weave between meatspace and screens. In The Sidebar, Marshall gives a deep dive into using modifier keys to level up your Figma productivity.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Sherri
Kevin Fernandez
Veronica Jefferson
Brian Mireles
John Brady
Jade Tuckey
Cathy Guarino
Will

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we dig into the power of modifier keys in Figma, sharing our tips and tricks for making the most use of ⌘, ⌥, and ⇧.

PixelSnap 2
xScope by The Iconfactory.

Follow up:

We declared bankruptcy on our GitHub issues. If you have a question or topic you’d like us to discuss on the show, open a new issue!
Divya Tak tweeted: isn't the philosophy of just shipping but not focusing on details is what leads into lazy products which are feature clustered but soul less? In my experience we can't expect to focus on just utility and make products that people love.
- Really good point: we don’t view these as mutually exclusive ideas!

Main Topic:

Flyingjuggernaut asks: Your thoughts on designing for phygital and omni-channel experiences?

Some good examples that came to mind:

Maps
- Watch or CarPlay
Exercise
- Peloton
- Apple Fitness+
Shopping
- Amazon
- Starbucks
Audio
- Sonos
- AirPods
Medical
- OneMedical

Cool Things:

Brian shared Hades, an absolutely gorgeous rogue-like dungeon crawler from Supergiant Games. Truly addicting, incredible learning curve design, and super satisfying gameplay - it’s only $25!
Marshall shared Hush for Safari, a simple add-on that blocks those pesky cookie tracking nags on the web. This is also available for iPhone and iPad for free.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Byeee!

381: Scope Creep

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we dive into scope creep: how to deal with it, how to avoid it, and how to build its inevitability into our workflow. In The Sidebar, Marshall shares some Smart Office tips for working at home.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Kyle Conrad
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Eli Horne
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First Name Last Name
Tri Nguyen
Avni Levy
Keli
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peng zheng
May Chen

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, Marshall outlines a smart home setup for people who are working at home with a significant other.

Main Topic:

Jessica Perelman asks: How do you deal with random and out of scope ideas from stakeholders?

Cool Things:

Brian shared:
- And Then There Were None, a wonderfully delightful mystery from Agatha Christie. If you read this, follow it immediately with the 2015 miniseries by the same name.
- WandVision is kicking off Phase 4 of the MCU. The first few episodes are...weird, but good. Give ‘em a watch if you like Marvel.
Marshall shared:
- If you were into Marshall’s past recommendation, Robert Parker, you might also enjoy Kavinsky
- Night Candy by Mattie Maguire – 80’s elevator music?

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Ten little soldier boys...

380: Designing WhatsApp ft. Priyanka Kodikal

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we catch up with Priyanka Kodikal, a design manager leading consumer design at WhatsApp. We talk all about her journey as a designer, and what it's like building WhatsApp. In The Sidebar, we answer a simple question: should designers learn Figma in 2020?

Latest VIP Patrons:

Belinda Hui
Nuzi Barkatally
Eugene Fedorenko
Mike Griffin
UX Vietnam
Sam Carden

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we answer a listener question from our Twitter DMs: Would it be a good idea to begin transitioning to Figma as my primary design tool, or do you think it matters as long as I'm producing quality work and shipping features at my current job? Would learning Figma help future-proof me? I just need to be sold on the idea and I figure you two would have good insights as Figma users.

Follow up:

Divya Tak tweeted: one of the things that I feel like why it's easier to praise someone who just does the work is because creative professionals have a myth that "doing the work" is enough. So we find it easier to praise those people. And I also think (this is a bit darker) but it's easier to be not threatened by someone who has 100 instagram followers but makes art everyday, vs someone who makes art once a week but each piece gets over a thousand likes.
Michael Knepprath tweeted: the bit about your writing voice changing - I try to fight this every time and mostly fail every time, I think. I want my posts to feel like longform tweets!

Interview:

This week we caught up with Priyanka Kodikal, a design manager leading consumer design at WhatsApp. Before WhatsApp, she was a designer at Facebook Groups and Ads, a product designer at Evernote, and spent the years before working in the non-profit sector.

In this interview we talk about Priyanka's path through companies and teams to eventually land at WhatsApp. We discuss the design culture of WhatsApp, how they build products for so many different kinds of people around the world, why WhatsApp looks the way it does, and so much more.

Follow Priyanka on Twitter and share a tweet if you enjoyed this episode!

Jan Koum talks about the WhatsApp journey

Cool Things:

Brian shared Shape Up, a product development book by the team at Basecamp. If you are interested in learning more about product strategy, this will probably be useful for you.
Marshall shared The Pedestrian, a creative 2.5D side scrolling puzzle platform. You enter a wild 3D world playing as a character on a public sign. It's short, but only $20!
Priyanka shared two things:
- bon appétit's website, which is just lovely and has a really neat search flow that returns possible recipes given a set of ingredients you have on hand.
- Steve Jobs' lost 1995 interview, a 70 minute bootleg of an old interview with lots of product and design wisdom.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Keep it simple!

379: Shipping Personal Projects

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 6 Jan 2021 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk through our playbook for shipping personal projects. In The Sidebar, we weigh the tradeoffs of building an online persona. Should designers thought lead?

Latest VIP Patrons:

Adrian Corscadden
Martin Maričák
Polina Sogolov
Tereza Kavinska
Eric Eng
Kuldar
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Jameson Bryant
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Matt Kubota
Adam Haas
Zachary Schwartz
yang shuo
Gavin Nelson
Hoodnun
Shaun Smylski
Jai Mitchell
Alex Long
Alona Sanbira
Herculano Campos
Pip Nguyen
Natalie Tongprasearth
Ray Canapini
Be Le
Ben Ewing
Damian Bilski

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, Karl asks: Where do you both land on the idea of having a web presence that is focused on showcasing your opinion versus showcasing your work?

Follow up:

We reflect on our 2020 goals, and think about the year ahead. Listen to our 2020 goals episode from a year ago.

2020 goals:
- Marshall: ship a SwiftUI app, update personal website
- Brian: Write more, revenue generating side project
2021 Goals:
- Marshall: Be more like Ted Lasso whenever possible
- Brian: Shifting creation:consumption ratio

Tweets:

Keaton Taylor asked for an example of the variant grid in Figma that Marshall uses. Here's Marshall's sample file.
Gabriel Valdivia made concept show art, among many other podcasts. We dig!

Main topic:

Michael Knepprath asks: Do you have a checklist you run through when launching new products or features? Also, is Product Hunt as important as it used to be for this?

Check out lily dex on the App Store!

Cool Things:

Brian shared Darkroom, a fantastic iOS, iPadOS, and now macOS application for editing your photos.
Marshall shared the iFixIt Pro Tech Toolkit, a wonderful set of tools for getting into the meat of your electronics.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Bonsoir!

378: 2020 Clipstravaganza!

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we compiled all of our cold opens, stingers, and outtakes into a single 2020 Clipstravaganza! This is our final episode for 2020 – thank you everyone for listening and supporting us this year. We'll catch you in 2021!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Bonsoir 2020!

377: Future-Proof Designer

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about the skills and tools that designers can learn to become future-proof. In The Sidebar, we share our impressions, tips, and best practices for using Figma Variants.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Jesper Andrell
David
Nikita Khapankov
Keyla Rodriguez
Tanner Woodworth
Josh
Miles
Jason Zurita
John Thachil
Katherine R
Ross PW
Timothy
Grady Congdon
Jon Wood

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we do a deep dive into Figma's recent release of Variants. We talk about the interface itself, best practices, and tips for making the most of Variants.

Followup: Gabe Valdivia's tweeted a thread with more points about how to think about job tenure in tech.
Figma Variants
Cartesian product
Not yet live, but this preview of a Figma plugin to generate missing variants looks fantastic.

Follow up:

Katherine tweeted some solid praise for our Patreon - thank you for supporting the show!

Main topic:

This week's listener question comes from Loucas Papantoniou on GitHub: Design has matured as a discipline, there are a lot of good people in the industry, we've design systems, better processes, but it also becomes more commoditized. In what skills do you think an experienced designer should invest now to be 'Future-proof' in the next few years? For instance 3D and AR/VR are expected only to get more and more popular, AI and machine learning are already very much in demand, etc. What do you think? On what do you invest yourself in nowadays?

Cool Things:

Brian shared Talking to Strangers, the newest book from Malcolm Gladwell. Here's your teaser: Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don't know. And because we don't know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world.
- Spaghetti Sauces video
Marshall shared Dr. Garuda on YouTube, a fascinating channel of montage-style videos of clay masterwork. The creations are wildly good and the videos showing the process are inspiring.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Bonsoir!

376: Shipping Quality UI

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 9 Dec 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about tips and processes for shipping a high quality UI. In The Sidebar, we discuss the Silicon Valley trend of job hopping every few years.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Matt Crowley
Yannick
Megan Learn
C. Anderson
John Tyrrell
Matt Makaran
John-George Sample
James Bartlett
Kramer Canfield
James Smet
Katu Muadinohamba
Sophie Bond
Graham Bushell
Renata Venturini
Alex Binder
Johnny Terlaje
Jason Yoo

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we answer a listener question: how long should you stay at a company before moving on? We weigh the tradeoffs of specializing in an industry, the downsides of Silicon Valley job-hopping culture, and more.

Follow up:

Sam Mason asked if we will ever see Apple introducing custom icon packs. Probably not!
Priscilla Then asked if we would record the show on video. Probably not, but it's an interesting idea we could maybe do as a one-off someday!

Main topic:

This week we answered a listener question sent to us in the direct messages: Should designers perform UI reviews after dev implementation, or should QA be responsible for that?

Cool Things:

Brian shared Robbie Tilton, a creator making fascinating digital toy concepts. Go to that Media tab on Twitter and enjoy!
Marshall shared Miles Morales, a stunning Spiderman game that Marshall actually decided to play (and not just watch). Strong endorsement!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Bye bye!

375: Reconsidering Consistency

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 2 Dec 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about the tradeoffs and considerations of designing for consistency. In The Sidebar, we share tips and strategies for starting a podcast.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Ashish Negi
Alyssa Zhang
Tiffany C Yu
Aleksandra Strączek
Richard Picot
Sam Olendi
Kamil Lafere
Jackie Carr
Joaquin Kunkel
Fabian Valkenberg
Belén Lozano
Ruobing Chen
Ryhan Hassan
Jesse Box
Thomas Bishop
Oscar Newman
David Bill

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we share tips and strategies for starting your own design podcast. We need more!

Follow up:

Jay Sowell brought up a great point on Patreon about the current shortcomings and limitations of widgets in the Apple ecosystem. We speculate about their future.
Tobias Gärder tweeted: After an unexpectedly easy transition to android from forever iphones I actually tried to switch to PC a year ago, nooot as easy, but been on it since. First hard to find hardware that felt good enough (went for Surface Laptop 13") but Windows.. yikes.
We have more design tricks to save people from themselves:
- Divya Tak mentioned a pattern where users have to confirm the name of the thing they are deleting, like when you delete a repository on GitHub.
- Havana Nguyen mentioned three:
  - "Don't show me posts like this" tips on content sites.
  - "Did you mean today or tomorrow?" helpers for when you set an alarm near midnight.
  - The simplified "driving mode" players on apps like Audible and Spotify.
- Jordan Morgan showed an example of a confirmation toast after a drag and drop interaction. It reminded us of the new iOS 14 pasteboard toast.

Main topic:

This week we talk about the tradeoffs and considerations when designing for consistency. Specifically, we talk about Google's recent icons redesign and the new Big Sur rounded square shape for app icons.

Nick Keppol dissects the history of app icon shapes on Inspecting Yosemite's Icons.
Google's new logos are bad
Sketch uses transparency in their new Big Sur app icon.
Android supports adaptive icons that allow OEMs to choose between circles, squares, or squircles.
How to build a memory palace

Cool Things:

Brian shared Omniverse II, a buck-wild Line Rider track that David Lu created over 11 years.
Marshall shared Good Sudoku, a beautiful and simple sudoku app for iOS and iPadOS.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Bye bye!

374: End of the Mac Era?

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss the future of designing on Macs. Are we moving to a PC-dominated future in the field? In The Sidebar we nit pick through the latest changes in Figma's Auto Layout v3.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Maxime Daraize
Jamie Rhodes
Vitaly Odemchuk
Yuyang Luo
Yu Zhao
Jaynish Shah
Shanberg
Andy Santana
Erica Lester
Christopher
Mark Guill
Jørgen Eidem

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we dig into everything new with Figma's Auto Layout v3: what we love, what we're hoping for, and other minor complaints about Figma's interface design.

Main topic:

Tamara Didenko asks: Is the Apple era going to be over eventually?

MKBHD: Tiem to Recalibrate

Cool Things:

Brian shared Design Theory, a YouTube channel that focuses on teaching the principles of great industrial design.
Marshall shared the specs for his new gaming PC. Here's the key parts in case you're in the market to drop some stacks:
- Ryzen 9 Zen 3 5950X
- ROG Strix 3090 OC
- ROG Strix X570-E
- 32GB 3600 DDR4 (8GBx4)
- Lian Li O-11 Dynamic case
- 360mm Water-cooled CPU
- RGB Everything

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Byyyee!

373: Designer or Developer?

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss the career paths and tradeoffs for someone who wants to do both design and development. In The Sidebar, we recap the Mac event and share our first impressions of the new iPhones.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Jordan Isip
Matej Hrescak
Fabiano Souza
Darren Soulsby
Priscilla
Oscar Linger
Greg Corby
Tamara Didenko

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we recap the One More Thing Apple event, talking all about the new Macs and M1 chip. We also give an updated review on the iPhone 12s, now that ours have arrived.

Follow up:

Last week's episode has been turned into a blog post: Design to Save People from Themselves

Main topic:

dluft asks: I’m a Graphic Designer who wants to grow in his career. I want to change my job to either Product Design or Development (unsure if front or back end.) How should I decide which path to go down?

Cool Things:

Brian shared Raycast. It's like Alfred, but designed for developers.
Marshall shared Indie Game Devlog, a YouTube series following Robert Thomson's design process for a new computer game. The art styled is inspired by Mobile Frame Zero.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Byyyee!

372: Saving People from Themselves

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we brainstorm design patterns that help save people from themselves. From stopping the spread of misinformation, to saving eardrums, to screening spoilers, these design ideas are often clever and non-obvious. In the Sidebar, we discuss why radio and checkbox inputs are the way they are, and how to use them well in your designs.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Jake
Richard Saseun
Henning
Melissa Oh
Richie Planek
Jay Sowell
Erin Mayer

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we discuss why radio and checkbox inputs are different, and how to think about designing patterns to make form fields obvious to your users.

Follow up:

Jesse Box tweeted about a process that works for building a culture of excellence at their company:
- Include design quality tickets in each sprint
- QA lots of small tasks rather than one huge task
Michel van Heest tweeted: Also, @brian_lovin should write a book or something, or they should just transcript @designdetailsfm
- Surprise! We recently started transcribing episodes. They're rough, and pull requests are appreciated. Browse the transcripts here

Main topic:

Divya Tak asked on Twitter: Not sure if this has already been tackled, but what are things that you do to "save the users from themselves" along the lines of @gamemakerstk's video for same thing for game design.

Cool Things:

Brian shared a person, Patrick McKenzie aka patio11 on Twitter and HN
- Key blog posts to start with: Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More Valued and Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names.
- Otherwise dig into Patrick's greatest hits.
Marshall shared Control, a third person action-adventure mystery-paranatural type game, and it is stunning. Be sure to watch the trailer or head to YouTube for some gameplay; this game is compelling.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

And that's the way it is!

371: A Culture of Excellence

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 4 Nov 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we dig into practical steps for creating a culture of design excellence. In The Sidebar, we share strategies for designing adaptive interfaces that work well on any screen size.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Float
Float has been a lifeline for teams working remotely in 2020. With float you can send your team their work schedule (daily or weekly) via Slack or email, and keep them in the loop of any changes to their tasks and projects with live notifications. You can also let your team know where you're working from with Float's scheduled status. Working from the lake house next week? Add it in Float to let your team know, ahead of time! Learn more at float.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Ivaylo Hadzhiev
Esteban García
Ali Dashti
Maddy Pasco
Danny Thunder
Mordechai Hammer

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we share strategies and workflows for designing consistent interfaces across all screen sizes.

Follow up:

Last week we talked about designing for one hand
- Action sheets spec
- Popovers spec
Fitt's law
Why are left-handers called southpaws?
Shoutout to Geetha Kardahally for another week of transcript edits!

Tweets:

Connelly Rader says: One of my favorite thumb-able interfaces is Pocketcast’s customizable action bar at the bottom of the player. Allows the user to prioritize features and keeps them reachable 👏🏻
Tweetbot has customizable tabs.

Main topic:

Andrew C. Asks: ...What steps can we take to make sure that not only is the work done properly after handoff, but try to establish a more widespread culture about caring about the work everyone is doing?

Cool Things:

Brian shared Halide Mark II, a fantastic camera app that unlocks the power of your iPhone's camera. Major design inspiration here.
Marshall shared a posture corrector for men and women that has helped him to stay structurally sound in the age of COVID.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Sayonara marinara!

370: Designing for One Hand

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss the tradeoffs and challenges of designing interfaces for one-handed use. In The Sidebar, we talk about strategies for collaborating effectively with brand and product design.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

CuriosityStream
Learn about any topic with CuriosityStream; the first on-demand documentary streaming service. There is always something new to learn about with thousands of award-winning documentaries on Technology, History, Nature, Food, Science, Travel, and more! Can’t decide what to watch? Try CuriosityStream’s new feature, ON NOW, to watch a continuous stream of the best documentaries. Get an entire year of streaming for just $14.99 when you sign up at curiositystream.com/design.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Andrea Molnar
Aaron Burkhart
Dominic Holmes
Altay Aydemir
Austin Schafer
Pfutz
Mable Wong

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we talk about how to effectively collaborate between brand and product design.

MKBHD discusses MagSafe
Read more about Apple's breathing light
Stacy Holmstead asked about how to get The Sidebar and full Patron episodes in one feed - you can! Grab the RSS feed from our Patreon home page and paste it into any podcast app (we recommend Pocket Casts).
Stewart Scott-Curran wrote a Twitter thread outlining how they redesigned Loom as a unified brand and product design team.

Follow up:

Nectar by Joji continues to be on repeat.
A reminder about our work journaling episode.
Ya'll have pushed the first PRs to edit our transcripts! Check out the tweet and the code.

Main topic:

vinnie329 asks on our GitHub:

I would love to get both your takes on the one-hand myth that a lot of designers seem to buy-in to when designing for mobile. The myth suggests that all people use one hand to interact with their phones and so interfaces should be designed accordingly. This may have been true on the early smartphones which were smaller and where apps tended to be simpler. However, with devices getting bigger and heavier it seems like people use both hands for more complex, high-stakes tasks (buying something) and one hand for simple, low-stakes tasks (scrolling through a feed). Is this what you guys have found to be true? And is there any recent research around how people use their hands to interact with their phones?

Luke W. writes about designing for large screen smartphones.
Read the Material spec for bottom app bars.
Things and Halide have great bottom oriented UIs.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Loom, a fantastic little tool for quickly recording and sharing presentations to the cloud.
- Kap is still great.
- mmhmm looks neat, too.
- And we <3 Descript
Marshall shared Cracking the Cryptic, a YouTube channel that gets real nerdy about sudoku. But trust us, these videos are amazing. Start with this one.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Arrivederci!

P.S. Gorlami

369: Shallow Design Culture

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about the shallow parts of design culture, where superficial work tends to generate far more attention and praise. We dig into potential solutions for this, too. In The Sidebar, we recap and share our spicy takes on the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, and HomePod mini.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Jorne
J
Braden Sweeten
Alterrique Ingram

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we recap and share our spicy takes on the Apple Event, iPhone 12, and HomePod mini.

Follow up:

Gavin Nelson asked: "How does everyone organize their product design Figma files?"
- Brian's current approach is a file per release, a page per feature.
Transcripts are going to live on our Design Details repository - we appreciate any and all contributions! We'll be pulling these onto the site in the future.
- The first transcript is here, let us know how this works for now!

Tweets:

Marvin Messenzehl has been work journaling, glad to hear it's working!

Main topic:

Daniel Burka tweeted:

The current culture of design is weird:

"I designed an icon with a gradient fill" ... everyone loses their shit 🎉

"I wrote a book explaining a design process" ... polite clapping 👏

"We spent three years designing a voting system used by millions" ... crickets 🦗

We discuss what designers can do to generate more excitement about larger, more systemic projects on social media.

Cool Things:

Brian shared TheLazyPeon, a YouTube channel dedicated to everything MMORPG. If you're a fan of the genre, you might find something new here.
Marshall shared Nectar, a new album from Joji. It's currently on repeat for both of us.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Hasta la vista!

368: Teaching Design Fundamentals

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss strategies for teaching design fundamentals and how to make the process engaging and fun for new designers. In The Sidebar, we discuss the pain of noticing problems right before you ship.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Flora
Kamil Wanzek
Frank Myles
Devin Rajaram
Kathy Hatch

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we discuss the pain of noticing things you want to fix right before a ship – and how to avoid this situation!

Follow up:

Several of you volunteered to help transcribe (or proofread our transcriptions) for future episodes. We're going to figure out a process here - it will most likely live on GitHub!

Listener question:

This week, Carrie Rong asks:

I'm a student in Canada, where I just started my university's first design community to introduce product, UX, and web design to people who have otherwise never heard of it before. I want to make sure that I teach others to have the mindset of correct design thinking and fundamentals, but I'm self taught myself and not sure how to approach this when everyone seems to just want to jump on the software and make pretty things (especially when my personal style is try to make stuff first, and basics later). I know that being a designer is more than knowing how to use Figma, and I don't want to breed mediocrity in design.

Do you have any suggestions on getting people excited about design fundamentals and how to teach them? Or are the basics more something that you learn with time and practice?

Cool Things:

Brian shared Schitt's Creek, on recommendation from listener Manny Xu
Marshall shared Sideways, a YouTube channel that dissects the use of music in pop culture. For film essay nerds, this one is for you.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Au revoir!

367: Effective Brainstorming

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 7 Oct 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about how to have effective brainstorms: what does good prep look like, and what should be done alone or with a group? In The Sidebar, we share our spicy takes about brutalism in interface design.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Christopher Cos

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we share our spicy takes on brutalism in interface design.

This comes from a GitHub issue:

hey guys, have you covered the movement of brutalism in design, and how its resurgence can be used to break out of the "design dogmas" in web design which have created a kind of banal /sameness to what we see online. i.e. sites are clearly functional but have lost brand personality. I've recently been thinking about how these new dogmas of web have perhaps led to a democratization of design and less opportunity for more senior designers to flex their creativity. Thoughts?

This is what a brutalist world would look like on your phone
Brutalist websites gallery
Learn more about Jakob's law: Users spend most of their time on other sites. This means that users prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know.

Follow up:

It's totally acceptable to like the Lobster typeface.
macOS Big Sur Beta 9 has an updated QuickTime icon and it's much better.

Listener question:

mlamond asks: Do you prefer to brainstorm solutions with peers or coming up with solutions on your own? Does your work environment encourage one over the other?

Mural is a nice tool for having remote brainstorms.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Ted Lasso, a new show on Apple TV+. It's a ray of sunshine in an otherwise dark timeline.
Marshall shared Better Touch Tool, an indie macOS application that allows you to customize the behavior of your Mac's trackpad.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Blue eyes, white dragon, can't lose.

366: Closing the Gap to Senior

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 12:00:23 +0000

This week, we discuss options for designers to close the gap to becoming a senior. In The Sidebar we try to identify what is the duct tape of design.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Hover
You don’t have a website yet? Are you even a designer? Today is the day - go get your domain name right this second. Hover has over 300 domain name extensions to choose from when building your brand online. No matter what area of the creative space you are in, there’s a domain name waiting for it - from .DESIGN, .ART to .INK, .PHOTO and so much more. Get 10% off your first purchase when you sign up at hover.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Rachel Truong
Diogo Sergio
Koen
Jay
Domenico

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we try to figure out what is the "duct tape of design."

This week's Sidebar question comes from Matt on GitHub
If you haven't seen the Papyrus SNL skit, now is the time.
Swipies are awesome for sketching - it's reusable dry erase paper. We also have a discount code for you: DESIGNDETAILS will save you 10%.

Industry Talk:

This week we discuss what it takes to close the gap between being a junior and senior designer. Of course, our notes are not exhaustive, but hopefully offer some ideas for people in that situation who are looking to grow!

Learn more about the Principal Agent Problem and learn to think like a principal.

Cool Things:

Brian shared eye masks, in general. Having trouble sleeping? Traveling and not going to be in a consistently-lit room for a while? An eye mask is not just for cartoonish rich people in the movies - you too can enjoy their benefits!
Marshall shared Raised by Wolves, a new series on HBO that will certainly, for sure, without a doubt, take you away from all the troubles of the modern world. No sarcasm here, nope.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Bonsoir Elliot!

365: UX Research ft. Danae Holmes

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 13:14:35 +0000

This week, we sat down with Danae Holmes, a UX researcher at YouTube Gaming to talk about everything UX research. We dig into research methodologies, effective collaboration with design, tips to get better at user research, the future of the field, and so much more.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Float
Float has been a lifeline for teams working remotely in 2020. It lets you keep track of who's working on what and plan your team's time, from anywhere! Float gives you an accurate view of your team's availability and capacity., allowing you to set custom work days and hours and schedule a status to let your team know where you're working from. Learn more at float.com/designdetails.

Hover
Hover has over 300 domain name extensions to choose from when building your brand online. No matter what area of the creative space you are in, there’s a domain name waiting for it - from .DESIGN, .ART to .INK, .PHOTO and so much more. Get 10% off your first purchase when you sign up at hover.com/designdetails.

Sponsors:

This week we're supported by Webflow! Webflow gives designers the power of code in a visual interface, allowing them to directly build whatever they have in mind without engineers.

Webflow helps you take that next step in your design process by bringing the power of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript into a visual interface so designers can build completely custom designs without worrying about writing code. If you already know your HTML and CSS, you can drag in unstyled HTML elements for full control of your designs. If you’re not familiar with those languages yet, you can use pre-built pieces of interface for complex elements like sliders, tabs, background videos, and more.

If you’ve used Figma or Sketch in the past, you’re going to be instantly familiar with Webflow’s symbols feature, allowing you to define your own shared components so that changes propagate across all of your pages, all at once. And of course, your creation won’t be real until you have real content populating the page - Webflow has you covered here, too, allowing you to work directly with a CMS or e-commerce data to build a rich, high fidelity website.

Learn more at http://wfl.io/designdetails for 10% off annual plans on any new account.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Andrew Hong
Sara Kinell
Mariana Bricio
Mark McCullough
Andrew Pomeroy
Hugh Leoidsson
Andre Rodrigues
TheStevenOlmos
Zhuohui Li
Joseph Pearlman
Andreas Kaparos

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, as with all interview episodes, we ask bonus questions! This week we ask Danae:

What skill do you think researchers overvalue?
What skill do they undervalued?
Is your success mostly the result of luck or hard work?

Follow up:

@muffmasterflash aka Monica says: I am filled with nitpicky rage when I see things under Settings that aren't things you can actually set, like FAQ, Contact, About, or T&Cs. But what to call that stuff collectively? "Help"?
From now on, all new Sidebars will be posted separately on Patreon to make it easier for people to catch up on the backlog.

Interview:

This week we sat down with Danae Holmes, a UX researcher at YouTube, to talk all about user research in software design. We discuss the function of UX research in organizations, research methods (and how to choose one), the difference between qualitative and quantitative data, the pros and cons of using scripts, collaborating with product designers, and tips for anyone interested in learning more about research.

System Usability Scale (SUS) provides a “quick and dirty” but reliable tool for measuring usability
Set Phasers on Stun: And Other True Tales of Design, Technology, and Human Error
UX Ya'll is a conference happening later this week. Learn more about Danae's presentation.

Cool Things:

Brian shared GitHub CLI, a simple but powerful new way to interact with GitHub from the command line. It's beginner-friendly, too, so if you're interested in learning more about git and GitHub, check it out!
Danae shared Glyph, a molecular spirit with a beautiful design, good taste, and environmentally-conscious creation.
Marshall shared all the neat new features in the latest AirPods Pro firmware update, including the magical spatial audio feature.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Bye bye bye!

364: How to Design Better Settings

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 12:00:02 +0000

This week, we deep dive into tips and strategies for building a better settings experience in your product. In The Sidebar, we discuss the efficacy of paginating onboarding screens.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Sponsors:

This week we're supported by Webflow! Webflow gives designers the power of code in a visual interface, allowing them to directly build whatever they have in mind without engineers.

Webflow is perfect for prototyping and user testing. It allows you to embed interactive details like hover animations, responsive layout changes, and anything else that the real product might have.

Webflow lets you create standards-compliant HTML, CSS, and JS with familiar, visual tools. Because of this, you can give your developers something more than static mocks: start building fully responsive, interactive websites. You can even use real data and structured content, providing for more accurate user research sessions and more realistic flows.

When you’re done prototyping, Webflow writes clean, production-ready code for you. Hand it off to a developer for implementation — or just publish straight to your custom domain.

Learn more at http://wfl.io/designdetails for 10% off annual plans on any new account.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Walter Kimaro
RayBizarre

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we talk about the efficacy of paginated onboarding screens, and suggest alternative onboarding patterns that we've learned about through experience.

Follow up:

Brian is testing Marshall's work journaling strategy. One week in, so far so good! Marshall also put together a sample outline for anyone curious about seeing how this might work in practice.

Main Topic:

This week's listener question comes from Priscilla Then, who asks:

What's the difference between "Settings", "Configuration", and "System" (would it be appropriate to have all 3)?
How should "Settings" be used?
Should Settings be displayed visually "apart" from the rest of the first-level navigation options, like how Shopify does it (putting all things in the left sidebar from the top, but the settings at the bottom)?
What do you think of companies that have multiple, tiered settings (like Zoom)? Do you think that they executed it well?

Cool Things:

Brian shared Poolside.fm, a magical website that now has an accompanying iOS app. You should download it right now and experience it in all its beauty.
Marshall re-shared Copilot, a fantastic app that will change the way you use money. The team has been making a ton of improvements in the past few months, including better recurring transactions support, rules-based transaction categorization, budget rollover, and new account types.
- Use Marshall's code B7NG7A when you're signing up for some bonuses all around!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Goodbye!

363: How to Talk to Users

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 9 Sep 2020 12:00:07 +0000

This week, we dive into the details of having effective user research sessions, sharing tips and strategies to get more value out of customer conversations. In The Sidebar, Marshall explains his work journaling process to capture better day-to-day notes.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Float
Float gives you the most accurate view of your team's availability and work schedule. You can set custom work hours, add public holidays and time off, and schedule a status to let your team know where you’re working fromーthe home office (dining table), or the lake house! Learn more at float.com/designdetails.

Hover
You’re a designer. That means you need a portfolio. That means you need a website. And if you don’t have a website, today’s the day: Hover is the best way to register a domain for your portfolio site. Get 10% off your first purchase when you sign up at hover.com/designdetails.

Sponsors:

This week we're supported by Webflow! Webflow gives designers the power of code in a visual interface, allowing them to directly build whatever they have in mind without engineers.

Webflow’s rich interactions and animations toolset allows you to bring your designs to life with advanced features like parallax scrolling, mouse/cursor-based motion triggers, custom keyframe and After Effects-based animations. You can transform element sizes, styling, and position based on scroll progress over a specific element or the entire page. This allows you to bring expressive animations to your sites that build as users move down the page.

You can even create multi-step, timeline based animations that’s as easy to set up as PowerPoint or Keynote, but of course with clean, generated working code. Webflow even integrates with After Effects and Lottie, so that you don’t need to write super complex javascript to accomplish beautiful animations.

Learn more at http://wfl.io/designdetails for 10% off annual plans on any new account.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Hannah Cunningham
Patrick Morgan
Monica Howe
Ramil Azucena
Chloe Xie
Ugo Cireddu

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we we talk about work journaling, a process that Marshall follows to keep track of everything happening day to day. We share tips for creating your own work journal and what tools are useful for this process.

Follow up:

Kelli Novotny on Twitter: “Wanted to pass on something we do as a product team that helps us prioritize our days. We set 3-5 priorities each day, usually, we plan them the night before - send out in our slack channel and at days end we report in on how we did (ie: 2/3 for today. Tomorrow will be x, y, and z.) I cannot tell you how much this has helped focus our time and also has taught us to break down tasks into digestible, achievable bits! Highly recommend it.”
- Brian uses Geekbot at GitHub to hold asynchronous team standups on Slack.

Main Topic:

Joseph Cooper asks:

Forgive me if you have already done an episode like this (all though from memory I can't remember one). I thought of this question in response to Episode 362 "What do designers do all day?" and noticed neither of you really touched on the research side of product design!

Anyway... I've moved into a new company recently and have luckily had the opportunity to have a lot more customer interaction than in previous companies and I'm loving it. After chatting to several other designers though it made me realise that a lot of other designers and teams tend to really under look the value this can add to building a product. I would love to hear more about in your day jobs you incorporate user feedback, testing and research into building your products. Is this something you do? When do you do it? How often do you do it? etc. I'd also love to know more about how you structure these sessions and ask the right questions to make sure you're extracting the most value possible out of them!

Cool Things:

Brian shared Public, a new investing app that makes the stock market more social.
Marshall shared Recursive Sans and Mono, a variable typeface from Google. The landing page with interactive examples is fantastic, you should check it out.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

I'm meeeellltttinnnggg!

362: What Do Designers Even Do All Day?

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 2 Sep 2020 12:00:13 +0000

This week, we try to answer one very simple question: what do designers even do all day? In The Sidebar, we discuss when and where to use system defaults versus creating a custom UI.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Keep track of who's working on what and plan your team's time, from anywhere! Get an accurate view of your team's availability and capacity, set custom work days and hours, schedule a status to let your team know where you're working from, and so much more. Learn more at float.com/designdetails.

Sponsors:

This week we're supported by Webflow! Webflow gives designers the power of code in a visual interface, allowing them to directly build whatever they have in mind without engineers. Webflow’s whole thesis is that designers are used to learning complex visual software like Photoshop, Sketch, Figma, etc., but none of those tools actually output production code.

From creative agencies like IDEO and Ramotion to design-led startups like Lattice and Petal — Webflow gives designers the power to build whatever they have in mind. Learn more at http://wfl.io/designdetails for 10% off annual plans on any new account.

Latest VIP Patrons:

🦗🦗🦗

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we talk the tradeoffs of using system defaults in your designs. Are defaults boring? Practical? It depends?

Follow up:

Learn more about Addison's disease
The poll results speak loud and clear: Marshall was wrong!

Main Topic:

Luke Seeley asks: What do full time designers actually do all day?

Cool Things:

Brian shared Cocoon, an app for small group messaging that is just wonderful.
Marshall shared Rage Against the Machine, some music to accompany those of you who are raging...against the machine.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Gwodbye!

361: Building Things You Use

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 12:00:17 +0000

This week, we weigh the pros and cons of working on a product that you love to use every day. Is it really so bad to be your own power user? In The Sidebar, we discuss steps to take when exploring vague problem areas.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Float is a resource management software for planning your team’s time across multiple projects. Companies like Buzzfeed and MetaLab both use Float to plan and track hundreds of projects more effectively. You can learn more about how they use Float at https://www.float.com/who-uses-float or learn more at float.com/designdetails

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Jayden Tran
Jordan Jennings
Brandon Hite
Drew Rosier
Tal Cohen

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we talk about how to begin exploring broad-space problem areas. How do you A/B test when the problem is too vague? What is the value of intuition and past experience? This, plus more!

Tweets:

Sanketh shared a work in progress website collecting all of our Cool Things from past episodes - check it out!

Main Topic:

What are the pros and cons of working on a product you love?

Pros
- It's fun and easy to get excited about the work.
- You can feel like a user and encounter user problems.
- It's easier to find bugs and inconsistencies.
- Becoming a power user happens naturally over time.
- It's often easier to stay at a company due to higher quality “work time” - there is potential for a higher quality of life overall. Work doesn’t feel like work, it’s play!
- It becomes highly motivating to solve your own problems, or the problems of people you work with each day.
Cons
- It can be easier to lose sight of problem areas, confusing flows, new user experience issues, and positioning/branding problems.
- Power users can memorize and get used to awkward flows that would otherwise suck - it’s hard to identify and fix these.
- It can make you stop liking the thing itself - it blends work and pleasure so that there’s less of a clear boundary.
- Navel gazing: it's harder to see opportunities for order-of-magnitude improvements or innovations. It can be hard to kill the things you love using.
- Potentially: slower skill development.
- Potentially: easier to feel "trapped" - the golden handcuffs keep you at the place for longer than you would have otherwise stayed.

Cool Things:

Brian shared The Last Dance on Netflix, a 10 episode documentary about the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan's epic career. Even for non-sports people, like us, this is inspiring.
Marshall shared Robert Parker, a musician creating really wonderful 80's-synth, perfect for putting on in the background while working.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Bahhh byye!

360: Measuring Success in Interface Design

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 12:00:11 +0000

This week, we answer two listener questions – bonus question in The Sidebar! In the first, we discuss text contrast, accessibility, and winning arguments. In the second, we work out what it means to measure success in interface design.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

We’re supported by Float.com, a resource scheduling tool that is visual, flexible, fast, and reliable. In the last two months, they’ve launched integrations with the top four project management tools: Jira, Asana, Teamwork, and Trello. The integration features a sidebar that imports your tasks or issues into Float, so you can drag and drop them onto your team member's schedules. Learn more at float.com/designdetails

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Ashley Hopkins
Andy Weir
Crystal Ellis
Hana Feriancova
Chelsea Bishop
Nick Humphreys

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we answer a bonus listener question about how to argue with the CEO about design decisions. We talk about text hierarchy, contrast, accessibility, and how to win arguments.

Tweets:

Vinsg says it's painful to listen to other podcasts after having our show notes and chapters - we're so happy you notice and appreciate these!
Ying Yao says, regarding last week's episode, "To me, creating a single source of truth library of components and patterns frees designers to exercise their creativity in tackling interesting product challenges."

Listener Question:

Elliott Roche asks: "How to get quantitative measurements for user interfaces" - the body of the question provides more details.
Quantitative vs. Qualitative
Learn more about perceived latency.
Learn more about React Suspense.
Learn more about Lighthouse and measuring best practices.
- Web Vitals are the new measurements for building great user experiences on the web.

Cool Things:

Brian shared that Tesla is offering touch-free test drives. If you are bored at home, and want to experience the fun of an electric call, go in for a test drive! It was a blast and the people were not pushy at all to see if we were even interested in buying.
Marshall shared Survive the Hunt, a YouTube series by FailRace, in which teams play virtual tag inside of Grand Theft Auto V. Rules and regulations apply, tensions run high, and you'll have a blast watching.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Goodbye!

359: Design Systems and Creativity

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 12:00:24 +0000

This week, we discuss a listener question about the tension between design systems and creativity. Do design systems destroy creativity, or simply get the boring parts of our work out of the way? In The Sidebar, we discuss the challenges in sharing North Star design visions across teams.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Did you know that teams in more than 150 countries around the world use Float for the resource planning? Float is the #1 rated resource management software on G2. Learn more at float.com/designdetails

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Thomas Eckert
Sören Gröbke
Sveta Goldstein
Juliana S
Farfama Hargaaya
Christopher Woodside
Danni Hu
Jatin
Sanket Pathak
Tin Kadoic
Christopher Drakeford
Agnese
David Luft
Jeremie Michaels Lim
Matt Harney

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we discuss the process of creating and distributing North Star vision work across teams and organizations.

Follow up:

It's now possible to disable wallpaper tinting in macOS dark mode (in the latest Big Sur beta). To do this go to System Preferences → General → Allow Wallpaper Tinting in Windows
Last week's episode was edited using Descript, a pretty awesome audio editing tool.
Pawel Sysiak pointed out that the method for getting the Patreon audio stream into your podcast player isn't super obvious. But it's possible! If you are currently listening to episodes on Patreon, ya goofed - go to patreon.com/designdetails and follow the instructions to get the special audio link imported into your favorite podcast player.

Listener Question:

Katarina Blind asks: I know that especially for bigger companies with several people working on a project, it can really help to create one unified UI. But I’m curious about whether they can impact creativity. If the design elements are already established, it seems like that takes away quite a bit of the design process. There’s a lot of talk about pixel-pushing and getting the typography, color, alignment, etc. just right. So if that’s taken care of by a design system it appears as if what’s left to design is the combination of elements..._

Cool Things:

Brian shared Palm Springs, a new movie on Hulu that's kind of a like a new modern day Groundhog's Day.
Marshall shared I'll Be Gone in the Dark, a six-part documentary series based on a book investigating the Golden State Killer.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Bye!

358: Design and Venture Capital

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 5 Aug 2020 12:00:29 +0000

This week, we caught up with Bobby Goodlatte and Josh Williams, two designers-turned-investors who recently announced Form Capital, an early-stage venture fund. In this episode we talk about the path to starting a fund, whether founders should live in the Bay Area, and share advice to designers who are interested in starting their own company someday.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Float is a resource management tool for planning your team’s time across multiple projects. Built by creatives, for creatives, Float makes resource planning simple — like it should be! Learn more at float.com/designdetails

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

AxeRaider
Swapnil Kosarabe
Vuokko Aro
Conor O'Hollaren
Adam Dipper
Adam Miles
Jack Brind
Raymond Bessemer
Emily Kane
Elliott Roche
Matt
Robert Orf

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we ask bonus questions at the end of the interview:

What is the most under-rated skill for founders?
What is the most over-rated skill for founders?

Follow up:

Marshall has recently crossed 100 episodes and two years of co-hosting this podcast! Boy, oh boy, how time flies - thank you Marshall, it's been a fun two years!

Interview:

Bobby Goodlatte on Twitter, and his email is bobby at formcapital.com.
Josh Williams on Twitter, and his email is jw at formcapital.com.
- Josh appeared on episode 200 of Design Details.
Form Capital is Bobby and JW's new early stage venture fund.
Pauh Graham's essays have a wealth of startup advice.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Timecrimes, a low-budget, internally-consistent time travel movie.
Marshall shared the Scott Pilgrim Table Read on YouTube.
Josh snuck in two recommendations this week:
- The AWB OneSky Telescope.
- The Segway Ninebot Electric GoKart.
Bobby shared the 2021 Ford Bronco.
- The UI is buck-wild.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Bye!

357: GPT-3 and the Future of Design

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 12:00:14 +0000

This week, we talk about the recently-unveiled GPT-3 AI tool and the implications of AI for design. In The Sidebar, we discuss HUD design in video games, nerding out on diegesis, skeuomorphism, and more.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Float is an easy to use resource management tool for planning your projects and scheduling your team's time. Access your schedule from anywhere with a mobile app for on the go. Float makes resource management fast, visual and simple. Learn more at float.com/designdetails

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Brian Christ
Rafael Pereira
Amy Zhen
Pawel Szymankiewicz
Mia Suresh

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we discuss the evolution and impact of the HUD UI in video games. We dive into diegesis, skeuomorphism, and more.

Follow up:

Vicki Tan is working on the podcasts surface at Spotify and is looking for feedback.
- Vicki was previously on Design Details, too!

Listener Question:

Fabio Giolito states: How not to talk about GPT-3? Hot takes only.

What is GPT-3?
Learn more about OpenAI
Jordan Singer is making some wild tools with GPT-3.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Roam Research, a note-taking tool for networked thought. It's a bit more complex than your average note-taking tool, but it's wildly powerful.
- For more resources about note-taking and building a digital garden/second brain, check out this digital-gardeners repo by Maggie Appleton.
Marshall shared his new role at YouTube, working on the Design Systems team defining the future evolution of YouTube's design language.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Good bye.

356: Becoming a Product Manager ft. Cemre Güngör

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 12:00:06 +0000

This week, we caught up with Cemre Güngör to talk about transitioning from design to product management, the tension between the roles of PD and PM, why products fail, and so much more. In The Sidebar, we discuss the most over- and under-rated skills for PMs.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

More than 3,000 of the world's top design teams, including BuzzFeed, Ogilvy, MetaLab and Hulu use Float to plan their projects and schedule their team’s time. Float is the most accurate tool for planning your project resources and scheduling your team's time. Learn more at float.com/designdetails

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Zack Aronson
Ezra Everhart
Bob Wassermann
Ruben Alexander Dreymann
Harley Thomas
Sebastian Winther
Jan Haaland
Qin Bian
YUJING CUI
Nicholas Dauchot
Emily

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we ask Cemre some bonus questions at the end of the interview:

What is the most under-rated skill for product managers?
What is the most over-rated skill for product managers?
Do you find that your success thus far is mostly the result of luck or hard work?

Interview:

This week we caught up with Cemre Güngör, a product designer turned product manager, currently working on AR and Camera at Instagram.

Last week we answered a listener question: Should I be a Product Manager?
Cemre co-founded Branch, which was acquired by Facebook in 2014.
Designers at FB that were mentioned:
Cracking the PM Interview
Adam Mosseri is the Head of Instagram.
Henri Liriani is a designer-turned PM working on Messenger.
Facebook Lite is amazingly successful in emerging markets.
Facebook Paper lives on with a handful of screen recordings that Brian took in 2016.
GK3 is a designer at Instagram, and has previously appeared on Design Details:
- 15: Her Left Me ft. Jeremy Goldberg and George Kedenburg
- 23: Brains are Stupid ft. Christophe Tauziet, Jeremy Goldberg, and George Kedenburg
Mills Baker has also appeared on Design Details, 206: Aspirational Open Mindedness ft. Mills Baker
- Designer Duds
Shreyas Doshi is a fantastic product thinker with great tweets.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Hamilton (again), now streaming on Disney+. If you've been sitting on the sidelines, sit no more - this is a masterpiece.
Marshall shared the Mac Candle No. 2 by Twelve South, in case you need an Apple-inspired candle.
Cemre shared Waking Up, a guide to understanding the mind – in app form – by Sam Harris.
- Related reading: Waking Up, the book, Making Sense, and Lying.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Byeee!

355: Should I Be a Product Manager?

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 15 Jul 2020 12:00:08 +0000

This week, we attempt to answer the age-old question every designer will someday face: should I be a product manager? In this week's Sidebar, we share our first impressions of macOS Big Sur, covering our favorite changes and what we hope to see updated before public release.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Are you still using spreadsheets to plan your projects? Float is a resource management software built for creative teams. Add your team’s roles, departments and work hours, schedule time-off, public holidays and remote work days, so you always have the truest view of your team's availability. Learn more at float.com/designdetails

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Hannah
Tristan Scaglia
Kelli Novotny
Niko Lazaris
Eric Stahl
Adam Ho
Chip

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we dig into our first impressions of macOS Big Sur. We dissect our favorite parts, and the things we hope will change by the time things go public.

Follow up:

Hugo Tunius did a deep dive into how the new iOS 14 pasteboard alert works behind the scenes.
Keep tweeting at Yitong if you enjoyed last week's episode!

Listener Question:

Rachee Jacobs asks:

I am a product designer and I work with very talented designers on my team. I constantly find myself trying very hard to push myself up into higher level product discussions and decisions with the product managers since I feel it is part of my job to not just get product requirements handed down and design then, but to be part of the definition. But it seems like no one else on the design team really cares as much and are happy to get very specific requirements and flows.
So I wonder, is it just my company who doesn’t value product designers role or is it the state of the industry? Would I be happier as a product manager?

Cool Things:

Brian shared Folklore.org, shoutout to Gabriel Valdivia for the recommendation! Folklore "is a web site devoted to collective historical storytelling. It captures and presents sets of related stories that describe interesting events from multiple perspectives, allowing groups of people to recount their shared history in the form of interlinked anecdotes."
- This story about round rects is a good one.
Marshall shared Cult Favorite, a high-quality source of pantry essentials, created by our friends Bryn Jackson and Sarah Marie. Buy the first batch, we promise it's good!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Bye bye!

354: Designing on a Visa ft. Yitong Zhang

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 8 Jul 2020 12:00:23 +0000

This week, we caught up with Yitong Zhang to talk about what it's like to navigate the visa process in the US. We dig into the details of different work visas, the constraints they impose on designers, and what is changing in the current processes. This, plus bonus questions and cool things as always!

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Float is a resource management software for planning your team’s time across multiple projects. Float saves your team time, so you can get back to doing what you love! Learn more about how teams in more than 150 countries around the world use Float for the resource planning at float.com/designdetails

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Hugo
Simon Eriksson
Sungpil Seo
Max Rudberg
Jose
Ada Z

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we ask Yitong some bonus questions at the end of the interview:

What is the most under-rated skill for designers?
What is the most over-rated skill for designers?
Do you find that your success thus far is mostly the result of luck or hard work?

Interview with Yitong Zhang:

Yitong on Twitter
- Creator of the Autoflow Figma plugin and goodweb.design, a beautiful landing page gallery.
Trump Suspends Visas Allowing Hundreds of Thousands of Foreigners to Work in the U.S.
Trump Freezes Green Cards, Many Work Visas Until End Of Year
H-1B Visa
Information about employment visas
Information about Green Cards and Permanent Residence in the US
The lump of labour fallay "is the misconception that there is a fixed amount of work—a lump of labour—to be done within an economy which can be distributed to create more or fewer jobs."

Notes from Yitong
21:18 It's only easy to change jobs as an H-1B holder if you are transferring to a company that already does H-1Bs and you're doing the same job. For example, if you're an engineer transitioning into design, that would be difficult.

21:46 You can only change jobs in the while in the green card queue if your job is not changing by more than a certain amount. This is especially difficult for people in the 10 year queue because it's not really possible to have same job for that long. So what you have to do is to re-prove to the government that your new job is not gonna take an American's opportunity (which is a year long process).

23:10 To be more specific, in most scenarios you get 60 days to find a new job.

33:05 & 20:20 Employment-based green cards require extensive proof that an immigrant's presence will not compete with American jobs, while visas require some proof, but less of it.

36:10 I think this points system only exists in Canada for permanent residencies aka Canadian green cards. Work visas Canada are even more straight forward.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Joey Banks' iOS 14 UI Kit for Figma.
Marshall shared Hamilton (original cast performance) is now streaming on Disney+ - learn more. Not a bad way to spend $7.
Yitong shared two essays about emotions that are both worth a read:
- How not to be sad
- Being Alone

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Bye!

353: WWDC 2020

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 1 Jul 2020 12:00:14 +0000

This week, we go deep down the WWDC rabbit hole to dissect the latest design details coming from Apple HQ. We also share our spicy takes on the new macOS icons in this week's sidebar.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

The world’s top creative teams use Float to plan their projects and schedule their team’s time, all in one place. Schedule tasks with an easy drag-and-drop interface, make changes on the fly with a variety of editing tools, and stay up to date on the go using the mobile app. Learn more at float.com/designdetails

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Nika Zhang
Robin Rundkvist

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we share our hot takes on the latest macOS Big Sur icons, digging into the visual style, what this means for the platform, and what parts we expect to change before the final release.

Follow-up:

Steffen Kotschi shared ibm.com/able, a great accessibility toolkit from IBM.

Tweets:

Jasmine Jones enjoyed the latest episode with Maurice Cherry. We are always open to guest recommendations.
Ahmed noticed the off-by-one podcast episode counts in Apple Podcasts. It kills us, too.
- PS: Use Pocket Casts

WWDC 2020:

If you missed it, the WWDC 2020 website has everything you need to catch up.
iOS 14
iPadOS 14
watchOS 7
macOS 11 Big Sur
MKBHD's interview with Craig Federighi is great - and they kind of answer the minimal-Siri UI question. We're not totally satisfied.
This Apple Newton demo from 1993 was 27 years ahead of its time.
iOS 14 revealed that TikTok was reading the pasteboard every 3 seconds
Now is the time to learn SwiftUI

Cool Things:

Brian shared Uicard, a pocket-friendly wireframing ruler. It's a kickstarter for now, but just passed their goal - if you want one, get in on that early-bird deal!
Marshall shared all the WWDC session talks he recommends ya'll to watch:
- Design
- Development

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

/GOODBYE

352: Building a Better Design Industry ft. Maurice Cherry

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 12:00:26 +0000

This week, we caught up with Maurice Cherry to talk about design podcasting, building an agency from scratch, and the current state of diversity in design. Maurice is a designer, podcaster, creative strategist, agency founder, writer, speaker, and much more.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Float is an easy to use resource management tool for planning your projects and scheduling your team's time. Get a high-level view of who’s working on what, so you can plan your team’s time based on their real availability. Learn more at float.com/designdetails

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

jo⁺
Harish Shivaraman
Nayeli Perez
Ping

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we ask Maurice some bonus questions at the end of the interview:

What is the most under-rated skill for designers?
What is the most over-rated skill for designers?
Do you find that your success thus far is mostly the result of luck or hard work?

Follow-up:

Manny asked if we've seen the accessibility settings for The Last of Us Part 2. Marshall has, and these settings are truly incredible.
- Watch this video of Steve Saylor's accessibility impressions.

Interview:

Maurice Cherry is a designer, podcaster, creative strategist, agency founder, writer, speaker, and so much more. He most recently worked as a Senior Creative Strategist at Glitch. Follow Maurice on Twitter, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.

Links from the interview:

Revision Path is a podcast interviewing black designers and technologists. It is in the freaking Smithsonian!
Maurice's projects include:
Watch Where Are the Black Designers
An Antiracist Reading List
Umbra Magazine
Creative Reaction Lab
Project Osmosis
The Inneract Project helps underrepresented youth to explore and learn about design, created by Muarice Woods.
Maurice was on Design Details: 13: Eating Horse (feat. Maurice Woods) and 123: Live @ Github (feat. Carolyn Zhang, Heather Phillips, Mo Woods & Diana Mounter)
On the Grid is now retired, but was good.
Black art and design podcasts:

Cool Things:

Brian shared the Hidden Brain Podcast.
- Listen to The Air We Breathe and Playing Favorites as a good jumping-off point.
- Shoutout to Gabriel Valdivia for the rec!
Marshall shared The Last of us Part 2, played by Christopher Odd. Watch the playlist to immerse yourself, Marshall-style.
Maurice shared two things for you this week:
- Bayside High and Drunk, a podcast that reviews Saved by the Bell while high and drunk.
- butter.atl is a savvy and creative Instagram that is using the platform to creatively showcase what Atlanta is all about. The creator, Brandon Butler was also on Revision Path Episode 7

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEE!

351: Accessibility Gut Checks

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 17 Jun 2020 12:00:11 +0000

This week, we share some accessibility gut checks that designers should think through before moving into high fidelity mocks. We also talk about industrial design and video game hardware in this week's Sidebar, plus we share our cool things as always!

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Shefali Netke
Darwin Witt
laoTzu
Jason Wu
Christian Lunde

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we talk about video game console design, how controllers have changed, the evolution of gameplay sensors, and our hot takes on which console we are likely to buy.

Follow-up:

Ola Drachal shared some shameful early work! There's a full Medium post with all the pixels - thank you for sharing.
Jacob Collier can make some pop music, too.
Rowan Adams shared Complicit by Default that provides useful context about what's happening in the world. It's not enough to be "not racist" any more.
- Learn more about Juneteenth
- More resources on what to read and where to donate to support Black causes.

Listener Question:

Matt B. Cool asks: "What are some not as obvious accessibility wins we can look for early on as we move into high fi prototyping? Going beyond checking for good color contrast, font-size, touchable space etc."
- Know the platform
- Space and motion
- Media types
- UI shape
- Words are hard
  - Learn more about Bidirectionality

Cool Things:

Brian shared Children of Time, a fun (but long) world-building sci-fi story. Marshall also read this, and we both love it. The sequel, Children of Ruin is on deck.
Marshall shared an interview with the Dwarf Fortress creator with a very fun bug hunting story.
- Kruggsmash is a video creator who creates adventures within Dwarf Fortress' infinite worlds.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEE!

350: Designing Misused Features

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 12:00:10 +0000

This week, we talk about weaponizing hashtags, co-opting social media movements, and solving hard problems in product design. Spoiler: hard problems are hard. This, plus The Sidebar, some follow up, and cool things as always.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Visualize who’s working on what and when, and drag and drop to assign tasks in a click. With Float you can plan your projects and schedule your team’s time with confidence. Learn more at float.com/designdetails

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Douglas Hill
Gabe de la Mora
James Jackson
Cassidy Cheang
Cameron Deardorff
Jessica Tong
Bailey Jennings
Kris
Ola Drachal
Nate Kehdactra-Chong
Mathias Kluge
Ben
Maggie Manville
Andy Ngo
Matt Cool

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, we talk about weaponizing hashtags, co-opting social media movements, and solving hard problems in product design.

Follow-up:

Keep donating:

Keep reading:

Industry Talk:

Trump was fact checked
- FYI: mail-in ballots are not particularly prone to fraud.
Twitter Finally Fact-Checked Trump. It’s a Bit of a Mess
This reminded us of the Streisand Effect
The Illusory Truth Effect is "the tendency to believe false information to be correct after repeated exposure."
- Richard Gere and the Gerbil
- "A Lie Can Travel Halfway Around the World While the Truth Is Putting On Its Shoes" - get the facts on this quote. Spoiler: "At this time, there is no substantive support for assigning the saying to Mark Twain or Winston Churchill.'
Hindsight Bias "refers to the common tendency for people to perceive events that have already occurred as having been more predictable than they actually were before the events took place."
- Is Facebook Spying on You?

Cool Things:

Brian shared Revision Path, a weekly podcast interviewing black creators. If you need more podcasts for your ears, check it out!
Marshall shared Jacob Collier, a musical genius with some truly unbelievable talents. Dig in, friends.
- Video: Modulating from E to G Half Sharp

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Stay safe, see you next week, goodbye!

349: Black Lives Matter

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Design Details) — Wed, 3 Jun 2020 12:00:11 +0000

This week, we can't record a podcast talking about pixels and software design. The world is hurting, and the best thing we can do right now is direct people to the resources and organizations that are able to have the most impact in black communities. Please consider reading, learning, introspecting, and donating this week.

Support:

Read:

Stay safe, everyone 🖤

348: Getting Unstuck

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 May 2020 03:51:00 +0000

This week, we share some tips for getting unstuck when working on complicated design problems. We also share our home screen organization philosophies in The Sidebar, catch up on Tweets, and share our cool things as always.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Float saves your team time, so you can get back to doing what you love! The world’s top creative teams use Float to plan their projects and schedule their team’s time, all in one place. Learn more at float.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Stacy H
Tim Dyson
Ludens Tam Tran
John Meguerian
Jasmine Jones
Paul Truong
Caro Lukins
Gareth Field
Arick Conley

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar, Marshall and Brian explain their philosophy for home screen app organization. We nerd out on structuring columns, rows, and home screen peace-of-mind.

Follow-up:

Ali Angco wants a Designer Bingo card. We've started an outline, this could be fun.
Joe Willmott shared some early work, the very beautiful and glorious omglaswerpewpew.com.
Bailey Jennings asked if we could get full show notes in Spotify's podcast player. Sadly: no. Spotify, step it up!
Kate Niendorf started to pick up some of Marshall's audio panning 👂

Tweets:

Rowan Adams shared a story of asking a Design Details question in a design interview, and the candidate was the original question asker. This is buck wild, ya'll.
Andy Ingram gave us a shout out for speaking normally – we try!

Listener Question:

Jessica Perelman asks: "What are some strategies that less experienced designers can use to get unstuck when working on complex problems?"
- Things to watch out for:
  - Are the right stakeholders in the meeting?
  - Is the meeting focused too much on generation and not enough on constraints?
- Tips to try:
  - Change fidelity
  - Embrace constraints
  - Revisit with the team right after the meeting
  - Find the best parts of discarded brainstorm outcomes
  - Do your homework, start the brainstorm with a strong opinion (weekly held)

Cool Things:

Brian shared his latest weekend tinker project, a personal Hacker News client that is more readable, supports dark mode, and is blazing fast.
Marshall shared a video from Ten Hundred with a very cool illustration technique: the doodle grid. The whole video is worth a watch, for the art, music, and technique!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEE!

347: Overcoming Skill Gaps

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 May 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about how to overcome skill gaps. What should you do if you are bad at visual design? What if you can't make icons? Should you play into strengths or develop upon your weaknesses? We explore these topics, and more!

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Sabine
Yi He
Mo Cups
Nicole Tallon
Shelley Huang
Omid
Liz Chen

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar we discuss digital gardening, personal knowledge management, and learning in public.

Follow-up:

Divya Tak added another point of wastage in low quality software: wastage through over-processing.
Yuyang Luo shared their first app design that shows how safe your local area is.
Jordan Koschei shared his college startup / side project, Shadoodle. See the pixels.
We turned last week's episode into a blog post: Quality Software.
Marshall has been tinkering with our audio balance – so far, nobody has noticed...until now?

Tweets:

Vincent van der Meulen built a very neat recommendation engine on top of the Design Details website – this is so cool!

Listener Question:

Fabio Giolito wanted us to talk about something we said on a recent episode, "I'm not a great graphic designer."
- Design is a visual medium but there's a misconception that all designers should be good at making pretty things (marketing pages, illustrations, icons, logos…)
- I love systems and flows, solving problems and designing interfaces. When I try to make a marketing page or logo I feel frustrated and impostor syndrome kicks in.
- I guess I'm not comfortable with the subjectiveness of visual stuff. You know when something is bad, but the gray area of taste and trends is way too big. While in UX there are more rules and logic involved.

Cool Things:

Brian shared We Are the Weather, a book by Jonathan Safran Foer about climate change, the food industry, and our role in the world.
- Jonathan did a great interview on Armchair Expert where they also discuss this book.
Marshall shared Notion, a wildly-flexible and powerful tool for writing and organizing information. This week they expanded the limits of their free plan, so it's a good time to give it a try!
- Joey Banks wrote about his personal Notion setup.
- David Hoang also outlined his method to use Notion as a workspace.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEE!

346: Quality Software

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 May 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss the characteristics of high quality software. We do our best to organize and outline things to pay attention to that will help you ship better software. This, plus a Sidebar discussing how to handle negative feedback from customers, and cool things as always!

Golden Ratio Patrons:

More than 3,000 of the world's top design teams, including BuzzFeed, MetaLab and Hulu use Float to plan their projects and schedule their team’s time. Learn more about how to help your team plan better at float.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels – we crossed 200 this week!

Anne Chang
Kelsy Michael Gagnebin
Fabio Giolito
Ker Ning
David Pehrson
James Lyons
Will Hsu
Davida Pitts
Justyna Papiernik
YO Chiyun
Jörn Zander
Nathan Gross

The Sidebar:

In this week's Sidebar we discuss four strategies for handling negative feedback from your customers.

Follow-up:

Ying Yao dug through the archives to share an early project from 2014: a crowdsourced app to help students rate the best classroom seat based on WiFi connectivity, outlet access, and visibility. Nice!
Connelly Rader recommended Tom Vanderbilt's book, You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice after hearing our discussion on taste.
Jon Yablonski has written a book! It's called Laws of UX, named after his fantastic website by the same name. Marshall and I both have our copies, and you should pick one up, too!

Tweets:

Hilary agrees: Brain prototypes > wireframes, 99% of the time.
Will Hsu isn't a podcast person, but for some reason Design Details stuck. Welcome to the clan!

Listener Question:

Kevin Gutowski dropped a question bomb on us this week, digging into the deep and subjective subject: what are the qualities of great design?
- The Qualities of Great Design is a good video from the 2018 WWDC on this topic that we watched before recording.
- Corridor Crew made a great vide reacting to bad and great CGi where they point out the details that us mere mortals won't notice, but have an impact on the final product.
- /r/notmyjob is one of those anti-design details subreddits, and worthy of a skim.
- Computers are like a bicycle for our minds.
- The Aesthetic-Usability Effect tells us that "users are more tolerant of minor usability issues when they find an interface visually appealing."
- Postel's Law tells us to "Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send."
- We tweeted a poll asking what comes to mind when you hear the phrase "quality software." Your answers were great, and thematically centered around: Fast, predictable, reliable, consistent, performant, well-crafted, delightful, hospitable, familiar, and thoughtful.
- Defining what exactly makes software high quality is hard, but we know it when we see it.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Listening Together, a side project from the folks at Spotify the illuminates when two people in the world start playing the same song at the same time. Serendipity!
Marshall shared Songland Season 2, his Tuesday evening good-feels after recording the podcast. It's available on NBC/Hulu, if you want to watch along.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

SO LONG!

345: Developing Taste

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 May 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss what it means to have and develop taste. From software to fashion, styles change, trends come and go, so what does it mean to be tasteful? In The Sidebar, we discuss the hacker mindset and building for an audience of one. This, plus cool things like a handy iPhone app and a killer new VR game!

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Float is an easy to use resource management tool for planning your projects and scheduling your team's time. Built by creatives, for creatives, Float makes resource planning simple. Learn more at float.com/designdetails.

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels – we crossed 200 this week!

Divya Tak
Ugochukwu Ifezue
Sara Zhang
Joey Banks
Nejat Seçkin Oral
Kyler Phillips
Jaimin Desai
Sophia Pang
Q
ESC
Steve Clark
Suzy Cui
Simon Taranto

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe for just $1 per month for access to full episodes going forward! Sign up at https://patreon.com/designdetails.

In this week's Sidebar we discuss the hacker mentality, and building things for an audience of one.

Follow-up:

Sam Bazalo wrote a case study about removing usability frustrations in Tradify: "A mini case study detailing my mission to make Tradify a better product by identifying and fixing high touch moments of frustration."
Divya Tak agrees that putting opinions on a scale of how much you care can help to quickly resolve disagreements.
Followup-pup from Karl, last week's question asker: "Thanks for answering my question boys! @brian_lovin’s final point was super helpful because it perfectly represents the situation I think I’m in. Startup land with minimal resource. I have a habit of fighting every fight so I better run down some of those hills fast..."
Jacob Lindström shared his early blog, very late-2000's – thanks for sharing!

Tweets:

Jared Lodwick shared a nice photo of his Design Details tee shirt, getting retired after four years of weekly wear.

Listener Question:

Tiffany Yu says: "Hey there! Wanted to thank you for this podcast. It's been super helpful. I also wanted to share that doing a talk on developing taste would be great."
With that in mind, let's talk about developing taste!
- Soft-close drawers are a wonderful upgrade.
- Things is good software.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Beat Saber and Half-Life Alyx, two incredible VR games that are redefining his impressions of what is possible in VR. If you have a headset, these are must-plays.
- Marshall is waiting until his Valve Index to arrive before diving in.
- Rafa, of Layout fame, is fearless in VR, apparently.
Marshall shared RoboKiller, a handy iOS app to block spam calls and filter your spammy text messages. It's a few bucks a month, but worth the peace of mind.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

344: Knowing When to Give Up a Fight

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we try to figure out the right time to give up on a fight when collaborating with stakeholders who have different opinions and priorities. We also cover a lot of feedback this week, discuss new design resources in The Sidebar, and share our cool things of the week.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

We're looking for partners to work with. If your team is hiring, launching a new product, or wants us to get the word out about a new initiative, please get in touch!

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Udoka Chima
Achal Srinivasan
Priyanka Kodikal
Sean Kennedy
Lucas Morales
Sam Bazalo
Luciano Infanti
Pavel Fomchenkov

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe for just $1 per month for access to full episodes going forward! https://patreon.com/designdetails.

In this week's Sidebar we share a neat CSS library and a pro tip for customizing your personal websites.

Follow-up:

Some of ya'll finally shared your shameful early work - thank you! We love it.
- Patrick Marx shared some relatively new work from 2014.
- Katarina Blind shared an early stage mock for a "pirate Uber" to request a ride from her brother. Smart.
- Zain Khoja shared his first Medium case study.
- Keaton Taylor shared a live URL for some early work and, boy oh boy, is it fun.
- Lucas Morales also shared a live URL for some earlier work, complete with a splash page!
Kevin Bennett agreed with our thoughts on paper prototypes - there's a time and a place, and for this type of work, it's exceedingly rare.
Keaton Taylor also agreed with our thoughts on the overvalue placed on pixel perfection and originality - glad to hear it resonated!

Listener Question:

Karl asks:
- Sometimes, and we’ve all been there, you know what you’re doing is right. Let’s say, fighting for a darker blue to pass accessibility requirements or visualising data in a simplified graphic rather than a complex multi-dimensional graph, to appeal to a wider audience. You’ve presented this with justification and examples or clear guideline recommendations (say a design system) but it’s ignored. How do you guys generally know when to back down and stop fighting for what you know to be right based your design experience, and bow to the Product Manager/Owner’s opinion even if it’s not steeped in fact?
- Cap Watkins' Sliding Scale of Giving a Fuck is a wonderful framework for picking battles.

Cool Things:

Brian shared a very fun 12-minute "single cut" action sequence from the latest Netflix movie, Extraction.
- You can read more about how this scene was created here.
- This reminded Marshall of the [crazy mirror sequence](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD0_5HFMPIg from Contact.
Marshall shared his ongoing journey to beat the Juul addiction. Quarantine as a forcing function for positive habit development - win!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

343: Over and Undervalued Design Skills

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we introduce a new supporter-only show segment, The Sidebar. Each week we'll be sharing a story, pro-tip, shortcut, or design-related cool thing. Supporters on Patreon will hear the first story today!

We also discuss the most over and undervalued design skills, including feedback from folks on Twitter.

And, of course, we share our cool finds of the week!

Golden Ratio Patrons:

We're looking for partners to work with. If your team is hiring, launching a new product, or wants us to get the word out about a new initiative, please get in touch!

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Ritu Maghera
Jacob Lindström
Dave Epstein
Dan
Omar Hassan
Marco
Lars Anttila

The Sidebar:

We've been behind on Bonusland, and it's been a challenge for us to catch up. Additionally, we felt like bonus episodes were too infrequent and not compelling enough as a Patreon reward.

This week we're starting a new experiment to make the patron rewards much better. It's a new segment of every episode called The Sidebar. In The Sidebar we will be sharing a story, pro-tip, shortcut, or design-related tidbit.

In today's Sidebar, we talk about Marshall's 8-year anniversary at Google, and what it means to play the long game.

Read more about how we ended up here + the inspiration by way of Michael Knepprath.

Follow-up:

Elvin was the only listener who shared screenshots of early work with us - and it was good work!
Second call to action: send us your early portfolio work that you're ashamed of!

Listener Question:

Paweł Sysiak asks a hat-trick listener question:
"What are the most valuable (and overlooked) skills for the entry-level designer and senior designer? The flip side of this question is also interesting. What skills are overvalued for junior and senior designers?"
- The Mom Test is a great primer on how to ask better research questions.
- We asked Twitter for ideas, too:
- T says: "Most valuable for entry: Taste, attention to details, ready to listen, motivation. Senior: ready to learn, adapt, question past experience and delegate"
- Nathan Lindhal says: "Learning to communicate with stakeholders, peers, etc is an extremely valuable skill. But it would be unfair to expect this from entry level position. But knowing the fundamentals (can this person do the work) and a commitment to improvement are underrated."
- Ollie hit us with a thread:
  - "I think foundational design skills like typography hierarchy are underrated, whilst beautiful portfolios are overrated."
  - "I think it would be unfair to expect such strong communication skills from all entry-level designers, I think it is perhaps the most valuable skill."
  - "Communication as a skill can be a 'buzz word-y' so i'll specify. I think an entry-level designer that can join a team and comfortably question the status quo and speak out when they are unsure is a highly valuable trait."
  - "In my (limited) experience it takes the weight off of their supporting mid/senior designers. It's also an important component to entry-level designers learning on the job."
- Emma Gilbert says: "Most valuable: resourcefulness. There are unknowns at some point of every project. If a person can find momentum on their own by seeking out and not waiting for answers, that’s someone I want to work with."
- Jordan Koschei says: "The ability to communicate clearly verbally, through writing, and through visuals. And the ability to understand and translate between design, engineering, and business concerns. The best designers have some product management DNA too!"

Cool Things:

Brian shared The Matrix, one of those rare films that holds the fuck up. If you have somehow not seen this, now is the time. What a ride!
- Can't Get Enough of Keanu is a wonderful and fun podcast to accompany your watching experience.
Marshall shared the return of Apple's Build Your Collection promo, featuring awesome films at steep discounts. If you're a movie-buyer, now's the time to strike!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

342: Critiquing Our Early Work

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we dig into the dregs of our portfolios to critique some of earliest design work. We try to look for indicators of taste and fundamentals, but ultimately have a good laugh about our early mocks. We'd love to see your early work too, so share it with us on Twitter this week!

Golden Ratio Patrons:

We're looking for partners to work with. If your team is hiring, launching a new product, or wants us to get the word out about a new initiative, please get in touch!

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Gediminas Saulis
Joshua Overbye
Catherine Gui
Andrew Cianci
Hao Le
Nathan Dorney
Luigi Chelli
Azmy Hanifa

Follow-up:

ipadmenu.study is a neat case study about how to add a universal menu to iPad applications. Icons abound!
Jacob Lindström recommends Cross-Cultural Design from A Book Apart.
Pawel Sysiak said thanks for answering two questions, and to that we say: thank you for asking good questions!

Tweets:

Michael Knepprath wants to see our files. Unfortunately we can't share our real-world files, but we'll try to think of something we could do...
Eric Chen is back in the past listening to episode 264. Luckily a designer is never late, they arrive exactly when they intend to.

Sharing our shame:

Last week Brian tweeted his earliest web design work, found in the dregs of pixel hell. We learn that Brian had no taste, eyes, or sense of spacing in his early years. Ouch.
Marshall digs into his portfolio on Dribbble, almost 10 years old now! And we don't hate everything here, it's clear that there was taste and an eye for the fundamentals.
- Look at these switches!
- We still think there's something promising about this attachments idea.
- /r/ATBGE should provide you with some good laughs.
Brian's Dribbble started 5 years after the screenshots in the tweet, so they are marginally better.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Dave, a show created by Lil Dicky. Think: Curb Your Enthusiasm meets a 20-something rapper.
Marshall shared Hue Lighststrips, which when combined with motion detectors, can provide a great night-time user experience. And in general, they look awesome.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Otherwise, bye!

341: Counterintuitive User Experiences

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 Apr 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about counterintuitive user experiences that designers regularly design for in our day to day work. Let us know what we missed! As always, we catch up on feedback, tweets, and share our cool things of the week: a blog post explaining how to polish an interface, and a YouTube series about first-time reactions.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

We're looking for partners to work with. If your team is hiring, launching a new product, or wants us to get the word out about a new initiative, please get in touch!

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Rodrigo Antonio DeLima
Arkadiusz Bartnik
Hello Hill
Steffie
Elvin Hu
Daniel
Mark McEwan

Follow-up:

Samuel Bernhardt shared some more Figma file organization tips – thank you!

Tweets:

Thijs Bremeesch thinks our podcast is GOLD. We like gooooold.
Elvin says we're contributing to ongoing sanity – glad we can help a tiny bit!
Ben Dunn is a new fan from New Zealand - welcome to the pod!
Katarina Blind says last week's episode made her day. Katarina also bumped us up to $1.28 on the Patreon – you're the best!

News:

Apple accidentally leaked AirTags, hopefully coming soon!

Listener Question:

Paweł Sysiak asks: "Could you list some examples of common mistakes when creating experiences? What are some UX mistakes that are counter-intuitive and prevalent?"
- Stateful icons
- Two choices on leaf pages
- Primary actions placed in a navigation bar, which are harder to reach
  - Samsung's One UI is doing an interesting job of moving actions closer to the bottom of the screen.
  - The HIG recommends placing destructive actions far away from a person's fingers.
- People don't read full screen interstitials
- The introduction of change is as important as the change itself
- Typographic hierarchy overrides structural hierarchy
  - You will read this first
- Buttons are better than gestures
  - Gabriel Valdivia's tweet shows a great example.
- Iconography and colors aren't universal
  - Watch Wired's video: Airport Expert Creates the Ideal Layout for LaGuardia Airport
- Data visualization colors should vary by brightness, not hue

Cool Things:

Brian shared Cleaning up form UI, a blog post by @nikitonsky which describes step by step how to polish an interface using grids, spacing, typographic hierarchy, and color.
Marshall shared Holden Hardman's YouTube series, My Friend Watches. In this series of video, Holden introduces a friend to new movies and captures the reactions for the internet to enjoy.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

WASH YA HANDS!

340: Versioning and Handoff in Figma

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 1 Apr 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we share our tips and tricks for staying organized in Figma, simplifying the engineering handoff, and not getting bogged down in pages hell. This, plus some follow up, cool things, and a little social distancing check-in.

Sponsor:

Fathom Analytics – we love it, we use it, we can't recommend it enough. Fathom is a privacy-first analytics tool that provides all the right information about traffic to your websites. Some of our favorite features:

Fathom doesn't use cookies, which means you can skip the GDPR notice
The data it collects is simple and straightforward, meaning that it can load your analytics dashboard incredibly quickly and gets you straight to the most important information
Fathom is a small two-person team that charges money for the service. Your data is not sold or leveraged in another way. Simple, straightforward pricing makes the world go 'round.
And so much more.

Learn more at designdetails.fm/fathom and if you sign up using that URL you will save $20 off your first invoice!

Golden Ratio Patrons:

We're looking for partners to work with. If your team is hiring, launching a new product, or wants us to get the word out about a new initiative, please get in touch!

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Roberto Beitia
Gavrilo
Le Franck
Paul Hanaoka
Adam Brace
Terry Bernadino
Piero
Katarina Blind

Follow-up:

Marshall is still enjoying The Good Place and the slight twist near the end of Season 1. Intrigued?

Tweets:

Nathan Lindahl wonders if there are broader applications to the iPadOS cursor, thinking about Fitt's law. Marshall agrees!
Lena Sesardic built HippoKite to help automate the process of logging your accomplishments and challenges each week.

Listener Question:

Dennis Cortés asks: "Without Abstract, how can I pass off a file to a developer and be able to work on the next iteration of something in that same file? I've run into issues where I'll give a developer a link to a file but by the time it gets on their plate we may have worked on an iteration that is out of scope for that sprint...Any ideas or experience here on how you manage your files in terms of versioning and iteration you can share that works for PMs, developers, designers, etc?"
- Figma has versioning built in
  - You can name specific versions
- For manual versioning, create a new page
  - Consider having a line between final, working, and exploratory
- When dealing with a design system, you may want to duplicate to a different file to preserve component states
- Tom Lowry from Figma made a handy plugin to add status annotations to frames.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Westworld Season 3, along with a companion YouTube channel, Alt Shift X. So far, we're digging S3!
Marshall shared Hand Mirror, a small utility app made by our pal Rafael Conde. It's a macOS app that lives in your menu bar which gives you a quick view from your computer's webcam.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BUUHHHYYYY!

339: The New iPadOS Cursor

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we dissect the newest iPad Pro and its new adaptive cursor, speculating on the future of cursor-touch hybrid interactions. Marshall also shares early feedback on a new prototyping tool and we find escapism in our cool things.

Sponsor:

Fathom doesn't use cookies, which means you can skip the GDPR notice
The data it collects is simple and straightforward, meaning that it can load your analytics dashboard incredibly quickly and gets you straight to the most important information
Fathom is a small two-person team that charges money for the service. Your data is not sold or leveraged in another way. Simple, straightforward pricing makes the world go 'round.
And so much more.

Learn more at designdetails.fm/fathom and if you sign up using that URL you will save $20 off your first invoice!

Golden Ratio Patrons:

We're looking for partners to work with. If your team is hiring, launching a new product, or wants us to get the word out about a new initiative, please get in touch!

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Chris Royer

Follow-up:

Marshall got into the Play beta. It's promising, so far!

Tweets:

James Brookes has been tweeting little micro-summaries of the last few episodes - thank you!

New Products:

A new iPad Pro is out, and it has cursor support!
- The adaptive cursor is beautiful, here's a video showcasing some of the neat details.
- Craig recorded a lovely video showing off the cursor, too.
- Ryan Morrison made a web prototype to demo the cursor interaction with a mouse.
- The new Magic Keyboard looks fantastic, but very expensive.
- We've previously asked ourselves if AR is a gimmick.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Devs, a new thriller series on Hulu.
- "A young software engineer, Lily Chan, investigates the secret development division of her employer, a cutting-edge tech company based in Silicon Valley, which she believes is behind the murder of her boyfriend."
- Shoutout to @gabrielvaldivia for the recommendation.
Marshall shared The Good Place, a "comedy about what makes a good person."

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BYEE!

338: Passive Income and How To Give Advice (feat. Meg Lewis)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we catch up with Meg Lewis, a designer, coach, writer, speaker, business-owner, podcaster, and all-around fun human being. We talk about building passive income streams, how to give advice, having strong opinions, and facing public criticism – among many other things. And as always, we share our cool things of the week included a very timely hygiene product, new mobile apps, and a YouTube playlist.

Sponsor:

Fathom doesn't use cookies, which means you can skip the GDPR notice
The data it collects is simple and straightforward, meaning that it can load your analytics dashboard incredibly quickly and gets you straight to the most important information
Fathom is a small two-person team that charges money for the service. Your data is not sold or leveraged in another way. Simple, straightforward pricing makes the world go 'round.
And so much more.

Learn more at designdetails.fm/fathom and if you sign up using that URL you will save $20 off your first invoice!

Golden Ratio Patrons:

We're looking for partners to work with. If your team is hiring, launching a new product, or wants us to get the word out about a new initiative, please get in touch!

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Kristian Hjelle
He Hexi
Rachel Murawski
Rafly Nurfallah
Tanveer Singh Mahendra

Follow-up:

We have a Gmail account – designdetailsfm@gmail.com. We won't check this email that much, but we're now going to start exploring cross-posting our episodes to YouTube. Check out our channel and subscribe, if that's your thing.
We're also reviving our Instagram profile – give us a follow and we'll start sharing more!

Interview:

Today we caught up with Meg Lewis, a writer, designer, podcaster, business-owner, comedian, and so much more. Seriously, Meg is prolific.
- We catch up on how we're faring working from home during the corona virus pandemic and share tips for newly-remote workers.
  - Loom is a useful app to share your screen with a little extra personality.
- We talk about managing many projects, building a stream of passive income, the tradeoffs of building an audience, the merits of giving advice, and much more.
- Meg now hosts Overtime by Dribbble, where she's been able to explore the idea of having strong opinions.
Follow Meg on Twitter, Instagram, and Dribbble.
Meg's other projects are Ghostly Ferns, Full Time You, Sit There & Do Nothing, The Overtime Podcast by Dribbble, Fool Proof. She also speaks and writes.

Cool Things:

Meg shared her bidet attachment from Tushy and their delightful t-shirts about buttholes.
Brian shared the new GitHub mobile apps for Android and iOS. Download 'em!
Marshall shared War Stories, a YouTube playlist where developers tell stories of creating some of the most popular video games of all time.
- Specifically, How Slay the Spire's Original Interface Almost Killed the Game.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
- 📬 Don't have Twitter? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

SO LONG!

337: The Metagame of Design

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss the metagame of product design, thinking out loud about the skills we do in between the craft work that help us to be more effective, have more impact, and grow faster in our careers. As always, we dig into followup, talk about some fleeting news, and share our cool things of the week!

Sponsor:

Fathom doesn't use cookies, which means you can skip the GDPR notice
The data it collects is simple and straightforward, meaning that it can load your analytics dashboard incredibly quickly and gets you straight to the most important information
Fathom is a small two-person team that charges money for the service. Your data is not sold or leveraged in another way. Simple, straightforward pricing makes the world go 'round.
And so much more.

Learn more at designdetails.fm/fathom and if you sign up using that URL you will save $20 off your first invoice!

Golden Ratio Patrons:

We're looking for partners to work with. If your team is hiring, launching a new product, or wants us to get the word out about a new initiative, please get in touch!

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Vinnie
Matthew Atkinson
Adam Fuhrer
Mathias Arlund
Keaton Taylor
Ethan

Follow-up:

Dennis Cortés rightly pointed out that design school is a great conduit for "learning the basic fundamentals" of design.
- Brian ended up tweeting about the fact that he hasn't read many "core" books about design. Lots of great replies in there, if you're interested.

Tweets:

Sahil Chaturvedi can't tell our voices apart. We have some tips.
Joshua Taylor's new project, Parrot is using Design Details for all their promo artwork. Thank you Josh! Check out parrot.fm.
Adam Fuhrer - a new VIP - just discovered the show. Welcome to the fam!
Gabriel Valdivia and Marshall shared their passion for Flight of the Conchords.
- Think About It
Renato Dubbs says the show is fantastic and thought provoking - thank you for the kind words!

News:

Fleets have arrived: short ephemeral tweets that can't be retweeted, liked or replied to. It's Twitter's interpretation of Stories, and we are intrigued.

Listener Question:

Paweł Sysiak asks: "What are in your opinion “meta skills” and “boring fundamentals” of the product design currently?"
- In reference to To Get Good, Go After the Metagame.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Jojo Rabbit, a satire by Taika Waititi. It's about a young boy in Hitler's army who finds out his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home.
Marshall shared Locke and Key, a new drama on Netflix, based on a comic book series of the same name by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez.
- Related watching: What We Do in the Shadows.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Auf wiedersehen!

336: Learning by Doing

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Mar 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss practical tips to level up your visual interface design skills, including tracing and focusing on a "learning by doing" mindset. And as always, we share our cool finds of the week including a new notes application and a creative TV show.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

We're looking for partners to work with. If your team is hiring, launching a new product, or wants us to get the word out about a new initiative, please get in touch!

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

zeneosjun
Neesha
Chris Northcutt

Follow-up:

Last week Marshall shared a macOS tip to hide your menu bar. Brian tried it for 2 days but failed to keep it hidden.
New Layer just wrapped up a great two-part episode about giving feedback on a design team.
Manny says about giving upwards feedback: "Agree with talking to them after the meeting in a more private environment setting, it worked for me multiple times, also they are the people who will assign you work and decide your performance level."

Listener Question:

An anonymous listener asked: "I have been trying hard to learn UI but every time I sit in front of the screens - there are so many unknowns like what’s the best grey colour to use for disabled elements, how to even use the colours in the right way, what’s the best margin to take, why some interfaces looks so amazing while others don’t...how to do I go about learning these design details in detail?"
- PSDTuts (now tuts+) was early inspiration for web design, and Brian traced it to learn about visual design.
- Learning by doing can be helpful for absorbing more information. Tracing is a great way to figure out how someone created an interface that you find visually pleasing.
- Ira Glass has a great video about taste.
- Malcolm Gladwell gave a TED talk about choice, happiness, and spaghetti sauce.
- Don Norman popularized the idea of Norman doors, which when noticed, will make you frustrated for the rest of your life.
- The more you learn, the more sad you will become. Welcome to our misery.

Cool Things:

Brian shared Noto, a modern note-taking app with some great design details. It's particularly interesting because it's oriented for bottom navigation and one-handed use.
- Marshall primarily uses Bear for taking notes. Brian uses iA Writer.
Marshall shared LEGO Masters, a new series that puts teams of LEGO builders in a battle to build wild creations.
- Will Arnett is a riot.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BUHYYEEE

335: Giving Better Upward Feedback

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss strategies for giving better upward feedback to senior designers. We also share our thoughts on how to name your spacing components, list our favorite design podcasts, and as always, share this week's cool things for your eyes and computer.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Sisu is looking for a thoughtful and data-savvy designer to help build the next generation of analytics software. You can find out more at sisu.ai. (You might recognize Sisu from our interview with Michie Cao)

Pathrise is an online mentorship program that you land a great UX job. Previous fellows have been placed at Google, IBM, Atlassian and other exciting companies. You can learn more at pathrise.com/details

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Guarang Alat
Dennis Cortes
Grovkillen & TD-er
Connelly Rader

Follow-up:

Elias Julian floated a very compelling idea for new merch...
Erik Bro brought up a great question about how to name spacing constants in a design system.

Tweets:

We were able to read Peter Reaper-Reynolds's new surname out loud for the first time on the web!
Manny asked if we'd seen Birds of Prey. No, no we haven't, but maybe will later!
Connelly Rader confirms that the best decision of his life is supporting the podcast. Think about that, everyone 🤔
Greg Danford took our advice to see Parasite blind, and still has anxiety. You're very welcome.
Phoebe Hogeland asked about that one YouTube channel that fixes movies with one small change. It's Nando v. Movies, and everyone should subscribe.
Bhawin J asked what design podcasts we listen to. Here you go:
- Layout
- Design Life
  - They recently had a great episode about developer handoff
- New Layer
- 99% Invisible

News:

Brian published a new Figma plugin to populate layers with data from GitHub. Check out the code!

Listener Question:

kelle-yess asks about giving upward feedback to senior designers, and how to deal with resulting pushback. Good questions abound. A tl;dl of our advice:
- Consider a matrix of the following
  - The person giving the feedback and receiving the feedback
  - The type of feedback, stage of product, fidelity of feedback, location of feedback
- The Socratic method is a useful way to approach a conversation with good intent and having the intention to learn along the way.
- Compromise and pick your battles. Losing in public gives you social capital. Figure out where you rank on the sliding scale of giving a fuck.
- It's possible that you don't know everything about the situation, or the person you're giving feedback to is shielding you from unnecessary context.
- Sometimes egos get in the way. But they're worth considering. Giving feedback in private, or in a way that lets your senior save-face, might be a better strategy and strengthen your relationship.
- Also, sometimes people suck. Peer feedback and manager escalation are valid paths in particularly sticky situations.

Cool Things:

Brian shared EnChroma, after seeing a tweet from Kurt Varner. EnChroma are glasses that can help people with certain types of color blindness to see colors – pretty incredible!
Marshall shared a macOS tip about how to hide your menu bar – and enumerates all of the tradeoffs for doing so. Proceed at your own risk, but let us know if it sticks!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEE?

334: Keylines and Scannable Designs

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss key lines, design tokens, and how to make your designs look consistent across all devices. We also discuss a compelling new design tool, add some listener follow-up to last week's discussion on self reviews, and discuss the pros and cons of using Sign in with Apple. As always, we share our cool things of the week, this time featuring a retroactive cooking show and a delightful way to enjoy movies a second time through.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Elias
Peter Reaper-Reynolds
Will Vaughan
Sean Kushi
Robert Weisbecker
Dan Wu
Chen Li

Follow-up:

Michael Knepprath left us a new edit on his iTunes review. We love it.
Cody Iddings mentioned the importance of being transparent in self reviews.
Emma Gilbert reminded us that listing your accomplishments is not the same as bragging!
- Emma also disagrees about whether or not you can call yourself funny – what's your take?

Tweets:

Ankur Parihar discovered a usability no-no in Apple's podcasts app for iOS.
Lily confirmed our theory that creating a meetup in your area is a great way to meet designers! If you're in SF, check out this meetup for product designers.
Long Long, (a VIP), has been listening for a long time. Thank you!

News:

Play is a new kind of design tool, in beta, that helps you to design iOS apps on your phone. Nuts.
- Read the Medium post that describes more of the features and principles behind the tool.

Listener Question:

Sanketh asks "In the recent Design Details episode, you had answered a question about how to make sure a design looks the same on all screen sizes. You mentioned about having a uniform padding from the screen ends. Can you elaborate on this a bit?"
- What are design tokens?
  - "Design tokens are an agnostic way to store variables such as typography, color, and spacing so that your design system can be shared across platforms like iOS, Android, and regular ol’ websites."
Alec Sukoski asks "What are your thoughts on #SigninwithApple? Specifically the fact that users can mask their email address."
- Developer page for Sign in with Apple
- How to use Sign in with Apple

Cool Things:

After watching Knives Out with Marshall, Brian shared the concept of director commentaries. Yes.
- Rian Johnson creates Theater Commentaries so that you can re-watch a movie in theaters and get his insider notes.
Marshall shared Good Eats: Reloaded, a show in which its original creator, Alton Brown, revises and updates old episodes in the series.
- Alton was also on Hot Ones and holds his own.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEEE! (The Classic)

333: Writing an Effective Self Review

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss the ins-and-outs of writing an effective self review: What should you talk about? How important is it? What does a bad self review look like? As always, we share our cool things of the week, this time including a new provider for Marshall's favorite esport, and a movie that is "cool" or...something.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Loukas Papantoniou
Wan Jung Hung
Ryan Koble
Billy Purdy
Michael Fitzgerald

Follow-up:

We don't hate XD, we just don't know how to use it!
Cal Rowston shared a very bad side effect of using the internet: every tiny thing you do has the potential to turn up in a background check.

Tweets:

Mukul Agarwal asked about how to specify responsiveness during developer handoff.
Big Al(ison) uses Design Details to keep company - that makes our day!
Samuel Bernhardt expects some juicy followup about the latest Figma Auto Layout updates. Tl;dr: things are better, but not perfect.
Sahil Chaturvedi can't stop thinking about how good Parasite is. Us too!
Krishan has a theory about why we're seeing more tweets to @designdetailsfm, and it makes a lot of sense 🤔 It might have something to do with what we said in our 2020 resolutions episode.

News:

Figma Auto Layout added certain constraint support. It's a big win, but still not perfect. Either way, we're happy!
- Marshall also has a challenge for you!
Figma's first conference, Config (aka figCon Copyright© 2020 Marshall Bock) was a lot of fun. If you have a chance to go in the future, we recommend it.

Listener Question:

Kevin Gutowski asks: "What do you think of self assessments? Do you do them at your current job? How often do you do them? What do they look like? What are some of the questions that you answer? Are they a part of how you can get a raise? What makes a good assessment experience or a bad one? I wanna know the deets so I can compare notes."
- We talked about performance reviews in episode 279 over one year ago.
- Brian has also tweeted about self reviews with his framework for writing them.

Cool Things:

Brian shared 6 Underground, a not-that-great movie that he lasted 20 minutes watching. How far will you make it?
- Joel Califa + replies felt similar.
Marshall shared that Overwatch League is headed to YouTube Gaming! The new season has started, and YouTube's live features allow for DVR-like rewind and pause, making it much easier to keep up with the games.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BYE BYE, BRIAN

332: Creating layouts: Design vs Implementation

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 5 Feb 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we get deep into the weeds on creating layouts with Sketch's Smart Layout and Figma's Auto Layout, and compare the experience with implementing layouts in CSS and SwiftUI. This is a detailed exploration at the pros and cons of each toolset, and we try to find takeaways that can help us reconcile the wildly different mental models for each. As always, we share our cool things of this week including a content-blocking Safari extension and a novel about a cyberpunk future in which a trailer park girl and her cat decide the fate of humankind.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Kati Presley
Jan Früchtl
Ying Yao
Ruby Chen
Kevin Haag
Austin Robinson
Scott Foltz
Elise Alix
Danielle Shepherd
Mike Jongbloet
Joseph Flynn
Priscilla Then

Follow-up:

We reached our Patreon milestone of 128 supporters! This means we're kicking off the process of making Design Details merchandise. We need to figure out what we should make first, but we're leaning towards a torso-covering device of some kind, or perhaps a mug.
Ya'll helped us discover a great solitaire app, Solitaere. It's about 95% of what Marshall needs, but still might not be enough to stop Marshall from building his own.
Something seems to have happened recently where we suddenly feel inundated with tweets and DMs from everyone – it's so fun! We are reading everything, and will do our best to reply to as much as possible.

Tweets:

Kayla Brianne mentioned that our intros and followup sections can drag on a bit. We're going to be splitting up our chapters so that Tweets and Followup are discrete chapters.
Austin Robinson is baffled at how natural the show sounds, despite how much editing we do.
Andrew Mason recommend that we use Descript for future editing – we've both given it a brief try, but will continue exploring if it can make our editing process better.
Michael MacLeod also knows what an "um" looks like.
Udie Chima agreed about the anxiety that can often come up when last minute changes come in while building a problem. It's not just you!
Kevin Haag came in hot as our 128th Patreon supporter. Ruby Chen was 127! Jason Jun was number 100 – a round number for normal people, but not for us!

Industry Talk:

Sketch and Figma

Sketch Smart Layout is powerful and flexible, but comes with tradeoffs of high setup time, and requires the use of symbols to add smart layout.
Figma Auto Layout feels underpowered, but is a step in the right direction. The biggest miss is the lack of constraints support, but the flexibility of being able to add auto layout to any frame, not just components, makes it very fast to create lockups.
Both tools are relatively new, and have come a long way. We're ultimately happy with the few sets of use cases where Smart Layout and Auto Layout can save a designer a lot of time creating mocks. But we're concerned that both tools are built with entirely different mental models than code, making it challenging to move between design and development.

CSS and SwiftUI

CSS is ridiculously flexible. This flexibility, unfortunately, means that developers get very few things for free. It takes a lot of built-up knowledge to understand the many ways to wrangle CSS into making something that is visually pleasing, accessible, and fast.
SwiftUI is brand new and unfinished, leaving a lot of gaps in the toolset and documentation. That said, the primitives and opinionated defaults are incredibly simple, but allow for the creation of wildly complex application layouts.
Ultimately, both SwiftUI and CSS are designed to provide designers and developers with a structured set of primitives that will allow for the creation of complex and dynamic user interfaces. These primitives come with a mental model is is dramatically different from what is given to designers in Figma and Sketch.

Cool Things:

Marshall shared Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong (who also wrote John Dies at the End), is a book about a girl who lives in a trailer park gets caught up in a whirlwind of trouble when her billionaire relative dies and leaves her with all of the money.
Brian shared Better, a content blocker for Safari that works on both Mac and iOS. It's a browser extension that prevents ads and malicious tracking from being active on the websites you visit.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BYE BYE.

331: The Designer-Developer Handoff

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we answer two listener questions about designer-developer handoff. We dig into questions like: What does a good developer handoff look like? What information should it contain? What are systems to make the handoff more efficient for everyone involved? As always, we share our cool finds of the week, this time including a return of the 6-second video format and a useful language learning app.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Flywheel is a delightfully designed managed WordPress hosting platform, thoughtfully built for busy creatives. Streamline your workflow with their slick platform and sweet set of workflow tools perfectly made for designers! Get started at getflywheel.com/designdetails

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Rex Shi
Joe Thomas
Seth Richardson, with a tweet, too!
James Morgan
Alisa B
Sergio Rovira
Geetha Kardahally

Follow-up:

We are very close to 128 patrons on our Patreon, the milestone needed for us to start making march!
Evangeline Ng shared that our last episode on Twitter Tips was useful, and has been surprised at how welcoming the community is. We agree!
Craig Van Wiechen tweeted about the Twitter Tips episode, noting the importance of positivity as well.
Michael Woodruff is holding our chapter marker naming standards to the highest level.
We heard back from Carly Batson, the question asker from episode 330: "I'm still trying to get comfortable with contributing, as I'm more of an observer... but your tips about positivity and consistency were great. Thanks again!"
Marshall shared some behind the scenes of just how much work goes into editing this podcast. Spoiler: it's a lot!

Listener Questions:

Michelle Lamond asks: Could you go over the details of design documentation and developer hand-off?
Eric Gendreau asks, similarly: "What are some best practices for handing off interaction design specs to developers?"
Our notes on developer handoff:
- We're both over manual redlining. Instead, we give our teams access to source files (usually Figma), and teach engineers the right ways to measure distances, get variable names, and navigate the file.
- Educating engineers about the underlying design systems and its core rules (measurement system, color naming patterns, etc.) is a high-leverage use of your time as a designer.
- Have thorough specs for individual components, covering all of their variants and states. With the individual building blocks implemented properly, composed UIs will be much faster to communicate and build.
- Don't be afraid to say "I don't know, but I'll find out" when posed with a question from your cross functional peers.
- Do your best to meet your engineering team halfway: learn the tools, vocabulary, and constraints.

Cool Things:

Marshall is very excited about Vine 2.0, aka byte. This is the reincarnation of the 6-second looping video mechanic, with a wonderful design and clear interface.
Brian has been ramping up on learning Chinese with Hello Chinese, as part of his 2020 goals. The app has been super intuitive, and provides several useful exercise types to make learning easier.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

330: Twitter Tips for Designers

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about how to be meaningfully involved with the design community on Twitter. We share tips for finding people to follow, what to tweet about, and we dig into the value of building online connections with other designers. As always, we share our cool things for the week, including some futuristic-yet-spooky technology emerging in China, and a top-notch film production company.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest Very Important Pixels!

Arjun Mahesh
Ankur Priyadarshi Chauhan
Martin M.
Thiago Valadares Noleto Damasceno
Julius
Guilherme Nogales
Carly Batson
Grace Lee
Dániel Góré
George Thayamkery
Shogo Tsuruda
Claire Jardin

Follow-up:

We are getting close to 128 Patreon supporters, at which point we'll start getting back into the Design Details merch game!
Ladies That UX ATL gave us a shoutout as one of their favorite things from 2019 ❤️
Michael Woodruff gave us some feedback about chapter markers on the show, inspired by the great organization on the Layout podcast.
Manny has a pro-tip for staying on top of your goals: spend that $$$.
Adam Carroll is also a huge fan of Mr. Robot. This is the correct opinion.
Sam Mason is excited for Design Details crewnecks! So are we 🙃

Listener Questions:

Carly Batson asks:

Hi Marshall & Brian! I love the podcast and finally today after listening to one of the episodes I caved and set up a Twitter. Two questions I’d love for you to answer:

How is the best way to get involved with the UX community on Twitter and
I’m a remote designer and have a hard time leveraging connections because I don’t have any designers nearby. How can I use social media to connect with other designers?

Some of our notes:

Reply earnestly and engage in conversations consistently
Don't automate your tweets – stay authentic
Stay positive – the negative conversations and hot takes are so fun, but are ultimately counter-productive
Use a consistent and friendly profile photo
Learn in public, share openly, ask questions
Organize a community in your city
- Juan Arreguin helped do this with Marshall in Chicago

Cool Things:

Brian shared a travel update (following up on episode 265, Travel Edition, with tech notes from China:
Marshall shared the filmography of A24, including: Springbreakers, Under the Skin, Amy, A Most Violent Year, Green Room, Ex Machina, The Lobster, Room, Swiss Army Man, The Vvitch, The Disaster Artist, The Florida Project, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Moonlight, A Ghost Story, Killing of a Sacred Deer, It Comes at Night, Mid90s, Eighth Grade, Midsommar, The Lighthouse
- Brian also mentioned Letterboxd, a helpful app to track movies you've seen or maintain a watchlist.
- Patrick H. Willems is a nice person to start following for good reviews and recommendations.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

329: Web vs Product Design

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we dig into a three-part listener question about the difference between web and product design, collaborating with print designers, and what it takes to become a unicorn in 2020. As always, we share our cool things of the week, like a subreddit that will make you cry and a website that lets you edit its design.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest members!

Kevin Gutowski
Michael Powers
Ollie Taylor
Jason Jun
Gunnar Gray
Damien Menard-Oxman
Jonathan Prozzi
Patrick Marx

Follow-up:

We are moving all show production in-house, meaning Marshall and Brian will be mastering, editing, and publishing all episodes going forward. Thank you so much to Drew Luper and Sarah Marie for making us sound smarter than we are for so many years of collaboration!
Last week we neglected to mention any 2020 goals for Design Details. Here are a few key goals:
- Cross 128 patrons on Patreon and make custom merch.
- Experiment with written posts as a companion to the podcast.
- Release a monthly Bonusland episode.
- Continue to move more content and show infrastructure to https://designdetails.fm.
Brian announced his plans to learn Chinese in 2020, and some of you recommend the following resources:
- The Pimsleur Method
- Hello Chinese
Michelle Lu shouted out Inter and Copilot!
- Brian and Marshall each have an early access code for Copilot! DM us on Twitter, and the first person will get the code.
Just a reminder, if you have any questions or feedback for us to discuss in future episodes, open an issue on our Design Details repository!

Listener Question:

Drew Clements asks:

I’ve been working as a designer for a few years. I’ve done some web design projects but never any true product design. Is there a separation between a web and product designer and if so, what are those separations and what would I need to study up on to transition to product design?
I work with a team of traditionally print designers and, while they’re good at what they’re trained in, their ideas don’t always transfer to the web very well. What’s the best way to have them drop some of their print antics for web projects?
I’m a designer first whose learning to code. How competent do I have to be at each before I become the coveted unicorn? 🦄 Or, should I just pick one and stick to it?

Cool Things:

Marshall shared /r/happycryingdads, a subreddit sharing wholesome videos of dads happy-crying. Seeing dads cry makes Marshall cry, so this is a goldmine of tear-jerkers.
Brian shared cloudflare.design, a neat website that allows you to customize the layout and design, and then publish those changes back to the live website for the rest of the world to see.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

GOODBYEEEEE!

328: Thinking About 2020

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 Jan 2020 13:00:00 +0000

In this first episode of the new decade, we look ahead to 2020 and enumerate some personal and professional goals for the year to come. And as always, we share some cool things (this week, with the help of a listener!), including an IRL magazine, a couple grumpy websites, and the final season of a show.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest members!

Simon Madsen
Daniel Maniés
Sam Chang
Julia Purcell
Kyle Kochanek
Isa Simó
Richard Sison
Jack Reis

Follow-up:

Marshall chilled this break, and watched a bunch of shows and read some books:
- [Watchmen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen_(TV_series)
- [The Boys](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boys_(2019_TV_series)
- Mr. Robot
- [Unbelievable](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unbelievable_(miniseries)
- [Alone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alone_(TV_series)
- Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
- [Mission Impossible series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission:Impossible(film_series)
- Expeditionary Force
PocketCasts shipped some great new features, highlighting the deletion of Design Details – oop!
The Mishalorian is a vacuum cleaner for design files. Us, too!
Paweł Ludwiczak asked about keeping design systems separated by platform.

Listener Question:

Zack Aronson asks: "Thinking about my 2020:Q1 career goals and not sure where to start. I have 9 years of professional experience as a product designer and currently an IC at Venmo. Any thoughts? Inspiration? Words of wisdom? I thought you gents could help!"
Marshall set some goals for this year:
- Ship an app with SwiftUI
- Update my personal site
- Make good progress on my screenplay
- Get a promotion at work
- Return to Tokyo
- Overhaul my wardrobe and shoes
- Stop biting my nails
- Work out more
Brian also set some goals (and also wrote more details about them, here):
- Visit new country
- Learn conversational Chinese
- Software side project that generates revenue
- Learn a new programming language - Brian already started with a small personal utility app for bookmarking favorite links! See the thread of the app getting built.
- Write monthly on the new https://brianlovin.com/overthought
- Gain 14lbs

Cool Things:

Cameron Campbell shared Offscreen Magazine, an independent print magazine that examines how we shape technology and how technology shapes us.
Brian shared MacOS Design Review and grumpy.website, two mini-series websites cataloging the annoying and buggy parts of modern software design. It's like Little Big Details, but for bad things. grumpy.website is maintained by Nikita, who also blogs about the current state of software design
Marshall shared Mr. Robot Season 4: "the ending is fucking perfect." What more could you ask for? Don't do too much research, go in blind, and enjoy.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
- 🎚@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

327: Organizing Component Systems

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 13:00:00 +0000

In this week's episode, we follow up on a bunch of your tweets, and then we get super semantic about naming conventions and component organization. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a vehicle upgrade and a feed reader.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest members!

Aaron Heine
Chris Martin
Greg Wilkinson
Lauren Chilcote
Lauren Mosenthal
Tt_55

Follow-up:

Mukul Agarwal sent in a fantastic recommendation for a podcast episode: Rock the Voter from Your Undivided Attention.
Danny Haagen asked about the difference between a design system and a design language, we took a stab at answering.
Stuart Favretto solved last week's challenge about building a table cell with a dynamic inset bottom separator using Figma's Auto Layout!
Greg Wilkinson joins team #FuckShelledPistachios
Will Vaughan was surprised that we didn't mention Axure in last week's episode about design tools. We had no idea! But: that typo on the homepage 😬. We also discuss whether design tools should have aspirational marketing pages.
We wooed Morgan VanDerLeest back into the fold - welcome back!
Friend of the pod Gabriel Valdivia pointed out additional benefits of skeumorphism: it connects your app's UI elements to each other creating a "universe" of rules, logic, and patterns. Agreed!
Matteo Gratton pinged us about two tools neither of us have used yet: MINTDATA and Amino. We also note how crazy it is that we're using AI to design ultra-aerodynamic bikes.
Michael Knepprath was shocked - SHOCKED! - that the boys are getting Cybertrucks. Or are we...? Find out in Bonusland!
Denny brings up the idea of conveyance, and how it's used in video games. Related: Mega Man Classic vs. Mega Man X.

Industry Talk:

We get deep in the weeds talking about naming conventions and component organization for your design files.

Using slashes in names, or nested frames, is a common way to organize hierarchies of components. See Figma's best practices and a video on how to do this in Sketch.
Sketch Runner is an indispensable plugin for all you Sketch users out there!

Cool Things:

Marshall shared an after-market CarPlay setup that has made his commuting experience all the better. Check out the top-rated CarPlay stereos on Wirecutter.
Brian shared NetNewsWire, a free and open-source RSS reader for the Mac. Brian also gathered a bunch of self-hosted blogs that you can check out on the Twitters.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
- 🎚@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BUH-BYEEEEE!

326: Design Tools Today

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 13:00:00 +0000

In this week's episode, we discuss the state of our industry's current design tools—especially in comparison to the tools available to other disciplines—and we speculate about what those tools could look like in the years to come. In News, we compare notes on Figma's newly released Auto Layout feature. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a flashcard app and a peek behind the park.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest members!

Filipa Amado
George Tsolpakis
Luke Seeley
Paweł Sysiak
Cal Rowston
Callum Cussen
David Afolayan

News:

Sketch previewed some of their plans for features in 2020, including many already present in Figma
- When Sketch announced Smart Layout, Figma assured users that their own Auto Layout would be coming soon

Industry Talk:

Mike Rundle lamented the state of our UI tools compared to the tools of other design professions
- Kelly Sutton replied that our tools aren't part of the critical path to finished software
Framer X touts itself as "the best tool for interactive design"
Webflow allows you to "build better business websites, faster. Without coding."
React Podcast - "75: Sunil Pai on The Future of UI Frameworks"

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared Mouseless, is a flashcard-style app for keyboard shortcuts that helps you "unleash your keyboard’s superpower"
Marshall shared The Imagineering Story on Disney+, a "journey behind the curtains... to discover what it takes to create and build Disney theme parks around the world"
- General Magic is a documentary about "the untold tale of how a great vision and epic failure changed the world"

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
- 🎚@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BUH-BYEEEEE!

325: Changing Roles in a Growing Company

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Dec 2019 13:00:00 +0000

In this week's episode, we go to our patrons for a couple listener questions: one about adapting to shifting roles as a company rapidly grows, and one about the balance between creativity and meeting business needs. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a Star Wars series and privacy-based analytics.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest members!

Amy Geddes
Amy G (?)
Tt_55
Breno Baldrati

Follow-up:

Last episode, we talked about skeuomorphism
- Haptics have been a thing in video games for decades
- In iOS 13, page sheets are the new default modal presentation

And we got some tweets:

Joshua Taylor saved a bunch of highlights from our episode on Social Proof using his podcast-clipping product Parrot
Sahil Chaturvedi is stealing Marshall's "Slow flow vs Pro flow" idea, and that's totally okay :)

Listener Questions:

We asked our patrons if they had any questions for us, and we got a few:

Will Newton asks, "Can you talk about the ways in which the role of a product designer can change at a rapidly growing company, and some strategies for navigating those changes?"

Michael Knepprath asks, "At large companies, are designers and subject matter experts typically different people? Does it depend on the project? How does one effectively work with a subject matter expert and glean the info needed to create a good design for a domain that one wasn’t previously familiar with?"

And Kevin Bennett adds, "How do designers and design leads have to be more aware and sympathetic to the business needs when in a larger organisation? And do people stop that from effecting their creativity?"

Facebook Paper was "a standalone mobile app created by Facebook, only for iOS, that intended to serve as a phone-based equivalent of a newspaper or magazine"
- Mike Matas is "a user interface designer and icon artist," currently working on Lobe.ai
- Brian documented the design details of Paper on the original Design Details blog

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared The Mandalorian, a new series on Disney+ that follows "the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy, far from the authority of the New Republic"
- Nando v Movies is one of our favorite YouTubers and a frequent reference on the show
Brian shared Fathom (affiliate link that saves you $10), a "simple and private website analytics platform that lets you focus on what's important: your business"
- Security Checklist is "an open-source checklist of resources designed to improve your online privacy and security"

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
- 🎚@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BUH-BYEEEEE!

324: Interface Design and the Physical World

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 13:00:00 +0000

In this week's episode, we riff on a listener question about the influence of the physical world on digital interfaces, and we end up covering everything from video game controllers to sliders and shiny buttons. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a fun dramedy and another sci-fi novel.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Latest VIP Patrons:

Huge shoutouts to our latest members!

William Goi
Tobias Treppmann
Richard
Ed Johnson-Williams
Jacqueline Nguyen
Charlie Van Meter
Shaun Whitworth
Ali Salem

Follow-up:

Matt wondered about user-controlled counts on social sites
- Hide Likes Everywhere lets you "hide likes and other vanity metrics for a more authentic online experience"
Michael Knepprath agrees that games have more battle-tested onboarding
Tiffany Tseng took notes on our social proof discussion (!)
- Bradley L. Hurlburt replied with a Stanford paper on “How Community Feedback Shapes User Behavior”
A warm welcome to new listener Grant Howarth!
Patrick Marx enjoyed the episode on Onboarding Design
Kevin Bennett got "stuck" in that episode, too (in a good way)
Aaron Miller liked hearing from Meg and Ryan on illustration

News:

The stuff we were excited about this week was decidedly design-tangential, so we'll talk about the following topics in the next episode of Bonusland:

Join us on Patreon to get access to all episodes of Bonusland!

Listener Question:

nosam7 asks, "What, if any, design choices have you been able to incorporate into a digital platform, that you learned from interacting with something IRL?"

Hollow Knight is an "adventure through a forgotten kingdom of insects and heroes"
Video: "The Director AI of Left 4 Dead | AI and Games"
Episode 322: Designing App Onboarding Experiences
Video: "What Games Are Like For Someone Who Doesn't Play Games"
Article: "History of the Video Game Controller"
Video: "What Breath Of The Wild Is Like For Someone Who Doesn't Play Games"
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild presents the player with button prompts that show the relative position to other buttons
Image: "Press X" is a sad but true thing
Material's Floating Action Button "represents the primary action of a screen"
A skeuomorph is "an ornament or design on an object copied from a form of the object when made from another material or by other techniques"
According to Wikipedia, radio buttons "were named after the physical buttons used on older radios to select preset stations"
Video: "Photoshop Tutorial: Create a Glossy Button"
Material's Motion Principles "help orient users by showing how elements are related to one another"
Image: Maps in early versions of iOS employed a page flip and grey linen background for the in-app settings
Video: "Expanding the Sensory Experience with Core Haptics"
Instagram Threads is "a new camera-first messaging app that helps you stay connected to your close friends"
Cue is "your social calendar"

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared Peanut Butter Falcon, a dramedy starring Shia Leboeuf about an unlikely duo on an adventure
- Image: I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE
- Video: "Shia LaBeouf Sheds a Tear While Eating Spicy Wings | Hot Ones"
- Even Stevens
- Holes
Marshall shared Expeditionary Force: Columbus Day, an irreverent sci-fi novel about humans getting caught up in an interstellar war between alien hamsters and alien lizards
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the quintessential irreverent sci-fi novel
- The Bobiverse Trilogy is a great series and a recurring reference on the show

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
- 🎚@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

GOBBLE GOBBLEEEEE!

323: Designing Social Proof

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 13:00:00 +0000

In this week's episode we dive into the murky waters of designing social proof in social networks. From upvotes to view counts, reputation to badges, there are a wide array of tools and patterns at a designer's disposal to communicate quality and popularity. But these patterns each have their own drawbacks, tradeoffs, and vectors for abuse. We dig into these, and more. Plus, as always, we share our cool finds for the week, this time featuring a Figma plugin and a beautiful indie video game.

Golden Ratio Patrons:

Follow-up:

New supporters! Thank you to everyone who has joined our Patreon this week:

Timothy Pui-Fai Li
明勳李
Meena Balasubramaniam
Darren Soulsby
Sahil Chaturvedi
Will
Ronald Huynh
Kryston Schwarze
Coard Miller
Michael Goliver
Kevin Bennett

Ya'll also tweeted sweet nothings at us:

Paweł Szymankiewicz says "This type of @designdetailsfm episode is my favorite one" about episode 322.
Nathan Lindahl says "Definitely recommend @designdetailsfm. More focused on product/career than brand/creativity… but for sure insightful conversations."
Manny says "Thank you guys for answering my question again. And Jesus Christ, there are so much I need to take note for!!! It's like dark mode episode all over again. In a very good way 😍" after we dug into onboarding design in episode 322.
Adam Carroll says "Really enjoyed this episode" - thanks Adam!
Sahil Chaturvedi says "@designdetailsfm FINALLY I'm a Patreon supporter! Thanks for all the great content and genuinely useful information! Always just feels like I'm chatting with a couple buddies about design" - and we say: Thank you so much for your support!
Friend of the pod, Michael Knepprath says "@designdetailsfm
the tier change feels very good imo - simple and welcoming" - super glad to hear!
And last but not least, Mingshun Li says "Just become a patron of @designdetailsfm! The show was my mentor when I was the only designer at my first two jobs. Great to contribute a little bit to the show!" - thank you for supporting the show, it means a lot!

Additionally, last week Brian was able to share what he's been working on for the past few months: GitHub for mobile! Rafa and Kevin over at Layout also discussed the app on their most recent episode.

Industry talk:

This week we dive into the murky waters of designing for social proof: the inputs, signifiers, and patterns that help people determine what is "popular" online.

Instagram is experimenting with hiding like counts which may have implications for influencer marketing.
Facebook tried to capture more emotional nuance when they added reactions to the like button.
In 2015, Twitter killed favorites in favor of likes.
On our episode with Pablo Stanley, we discussed the potentially harmful impact of having a handful of things you create go viral.
Stack Overflow has a robust reputation system that aims to provide an accurate representation of any given's persons contributions to the community.
Quora uses Credentials to communicate the experiences and achievements of any given writer on the platform.
Basecamp uses a feature called Boosts to help people provide higher fidelity feedback than a like button can offer. Brian misspoke and called this feature "kudos."

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared the Vectary Figma Plugin which helps you apply your designs to 3-dimensional product mockups. Its very cool.
Marshall shared Hollow Knight, a beautiful and outstanding indie game that everyone should play. It's very challenging, but offers a simple onboarding experience which helps people ramp up as they go.
- Brian and Marshall got a kick out of watching a reaction to a Hollow Knight speed run world record.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
- 🎚@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Aloha!

322: Designing App Onboarding Experiences

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we dive deep into the perils and triumphs of designing an onboarding experience for mobile. Strap in for a big brain dump as we discuss everything from App Store screenshots to sign-in methods to device permissions to user education. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a privacy-minded daily read and a post-post-apocalyptic streaming series.

Sponsor:

Flatiron School: Learn UX/UI design in 24 weeks and discover our global community on campus or online and go back to school with Flatiron School!

Change careers with confidence with 1:1 support from our dedicated Career Coaches and a money back guarantee. Complete details at flatironschool.com/terms.

See you in class!

Golden Microphone Patrons:

Follow-up:

Shoutouts and much appreciation to our newest patrons!
- Roy Stanfield
- Eden Wulf
- Joan Disho
- Damian Bilski
We released the first episode of Bonusland, our extra content just for subscribers!
- For the inaugural Bonusland, we review Airpods Pro, Apple's latest new-fangled ear speakers
- And we're simplifying our Patreon tiers; basically, you get access to all of our perks for just a buck (or more) a month!
We got some nice replies about our last two episodes on illustration with Pablo and with Meg and Ryan
- Alisa Bacon documented a rite of passage for all(?) designers
- Joshua Taylor appreciated gaining some perspective and empathy for illustrators
- Joan Disho enjoys the podcast, even though he's not a designer
- Justin Rands found our last episode to be a goldmine for those interested in illustration in product teams
Brian plans to go through all of our past episodes that have crazy titles and rename them to be a bit more obvious and searchable. For you :)

Listener Question:

Q: Mannnny asks, "What's the best onboarding experience?"
- A: "Before you even get to onboarding, you should think about your marketing site and your App/Play Store video and screenshots, because that's how a lot of users will first learn about your app. For the video, pack the first few seconds with a good hook, and make sure it works without sound, since these videos are muted by default. Once the user is in your app, consider the barrier to entry that any sign-in flow will present; using Oauth or a phone number is a great way to streamline sign-in, but you may want to allow users to play around in a signed-out state until they try to do something that actually requires signing in. Please don't ask for device permissions without priming the user for which permissions you'll need to access, why you need to access them, and what the user needs to do to enable them. Once you're ready to do some real user education, the easy (and probably wrong) thing to do is to have a paginated series of feature explanations, but you should never expect anyone to read those. No one reads. Instead, we prefer onboarding experiences that either 1) abstract the interface in a way that allows users to learn without the risk of experimenting on their own data, or 2) use their own interface to teach you how to use the interface. So meta. The most important thing to remember is that you only get one shot at a first impression, so make sure you're putting in the work to make that first run experience as grokkable as possible."
Here are some examples:
- Todoist utilizes app previews that that span multiple screenshots
- Reddit prompts you for permissions immediately, but you can still use the app signed out
- Clear Todos (despite having a paginated onboarding flow) starts users with a sample list full of tasks that describe all the gestures in the app
- Mailbox used abstraction and task-completion to educate users without the risk of experimenting on their own data
- Notion provides users with a pre-populated document that itself shows user how to start documenting
- Descript includes a sample podcast project that, using a podcast format and its own interface, walks users through how to navigate and edit the sample project
- Superhuman has a white glove service where a human on the phone personally walks you through how to use the app
User Onboard is an outstanding resource for thoroughly detailed analyses of onboarding flows in many different apps and services

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared Tonic, an article-reading app that provides "a selection of personalized reads every day" without grabbing all of your personal info
- Note: Apparently, "non-US and Android support is coming"
- Friend-of-the-pod Gabriel Valdivia is Head of Design at Canopy, the company that makes Tonic
Marshall shared See, a post-post-apocalyptic series on AppleTV+ starring Jason Momoa, who is "the father of sighted twins born centuries after a virus decimated mankind and the only survivors emerged blind"
- The Morning Show and The Elephant Queen also look pretty good
- Tactile Paving features heavily in 265: Travel Edition

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
- 🎚@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

CATCH YA ON THE FLIPPITY-FLOP!

321: Illustrations and the Side Effects of Free Resources (feat. Meg Robichaud & Ryan Putnam)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 Nov 2019 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we're joined by Meg Robichaud and Ryan Putnam—incredible illustrators working at Lyft and Messenger, respectively—to follow up on a topic from last week's episode. Meg and Ryan share some of their experiences working as illustrators on product teams, and they shed a little light on how free resources can sometimes have a negative impact on illustration as a valued discipline. And as always, we share some cool things like a collection of essays, some creepy VHS tapes, a couple radio plays, a new Netflix series, and another design podcast.

Sponsor:

Flatiron School: Learn UX/UI design in 24 weeks and discover our global community on campus or online and go back to school with Flatiron School!

Change careers with confidence with 1:1 support from our dedicated Career Coaches and a money back guarantee. Complete details at flatironschool.com/terms.

See you in class!

Golden Microphone Patron:

Sisu is looking for a thoughtful and data-savvy designer to help build the next generation of analytics software. You can find out more at sisu.ai.

(You might recognize Sisu from our interview with Michie Cao)

Follow-up:

Michael Knepprath pointed out that Don Norman has updated his views on the role of aesthetics in design

Interview:

Meg Robichaud is an illustrator at Lyft, and Ryan Putnam is Art Director on the Brand team at Messenger
- Incidentally, they are not in fact Meg Ryan
Pablo Stanley announced Open Doodles and got Design Twitter talking
Bootstrap is "an open source toolkit for developing with HTML, CSS, and JS"
Stripe is "the best software platform for running an internet business"

One Cool Thing:

Meg shared Trick Mirror: Reflections, an "enlightening, unforgettable trip through the river of self-delusion that surges just beneath the surface of our lives"
Ryan shared scary VHS covers like Ghoulies and House
Marshall shared two radio play podcasts:
- The Edge of Sleep is about "a night watchman [who] is terrified to discover that everyone in the world who went to sleep the previous night has died"
- Blackout is about "a small-town New Hampshire radio DJ who fights to protect his family and community after the power grid goes down nationwide, upending modern civilization" (and it reminds Marshall a bit of The Mist)
Brian shared two halvsies:
- Living with Yourself is about a guy "burned out on life who undergoes a strange procedure at a strip mall spa -- and wakes to find he's been replaced by a better version of himself"
- Design Life is "a podcast about design and side projects for motivated creators"
  - "170: Jumping from junior to senior designer"

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
- 🎚@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

AU REVOIR!

320: The Path of a Generalist (feat. Pablo Stanley)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, the prolific Pablo Stanley joins us to talk about his path following a wide range of interests (including but not limited to architecture, music, fashion, comics, illustration, and design), and he shares his thoughts about the controversy surrounding his Open Doodles project and Design Twitter's reaction to it. And as always, we share some cool things, like a new video game, a creative portfolio site, and a tearjerking doctor show.

Sponsor:

Flatiron School: Learn UX/UI design in 24 weeks and discover our global community on campus or online and go back to school with Flatiron School!

Change careers with confidence with 1:1 support from our dedicated Career Coaches and a money back guarantee. Complete details at flatironschool.com/terms.

See you in class!

Golden Microphone Patron:

Sisu is looking for a thoughtful and data-savvy designer to help build the next generation of analytics software. You can find out more at sisu.ai.

(You might recognize Sisu from our interview with Michie Cao)

Follow-up:

Shoutout to our newest patrons!
- Stephen Hathaway
- Oscar Lozano
- Struan Robertson
On Brian's recommendation, Marshall saw Parasite, a "pitch-black modern fairytale"
- Writer/director Joon-ho Bong also wrote and directed Snowpiercer,

Interview:

Pablo Stanley is a designer at Invision working on Studio, "the world’s most powerful screen design tool"
- Carbon Health is "a modern, tech-enabled healthcare company transforming the primary care and urgent care experience"
- Diseño Cha Cha Chá is a Spanish-language podcast of "conversations with Latinos who work in the technology industry"
- Stanley Colors is Pablo's collection of "comics and stuff"
- Buttsss is "a collection of beautiful, round butt illustrations"
Video: "How-To: Throw Clay"
Map: Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico
The Kaoss Pad KP3+ is "a real-time effects processor/sampler with instant control over cutting-edge effects"
The Design Team is "a comic series that follows the story of Petunia, a Junior Designer that just moved to SF to join a startup. The comic pokes fun at the tech world, and the quirky design culture in the middle of it."
- Tobias Von Schneider is "an award-winning designer born in Germany, raised in Austria and currently living in New York"
Imposter Syndrome is "a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a 'fraud.'"
"Life and Donuts" is a short comic about death and living
Article: "Teen suicide rates spiked after debut of Netflix show '13 Reasons Why,' study says"
Open Doodles is "a set of free illustrations that embraces the idea of Open Design. You can copy, edit, remix, share, or redraw these images for any purpose without restriction under copyright or database law."
9-slice scaling (aka 9-slicing) is "a 2D image resizing technique to proportionally scale an image by splitting it in a grid of nine parts"
Pablo announced Open Doodles and got Design Twitter talking

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, the latest installment from Infinity Ward in the first-person military shooter series
- Video: "No Russian" (WARNING: Violent and Disturbing and Definitely NSFW)
- Press F to Pay Respects is "an action prompt featured in a quick time event from Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Many players mocked the funeral cutscene for its forced element of interactivity that seemed out-of-place at a memorial service."
Pablo shared Bruno Simon's Portfolio, the result of "months of hard but fun work"
Marshall shared The Good Doctor, a TV show about "a young surgeon with autism and savant syndrome [who] uses his extraordinary gifts to save lives and challenge skepticism"
- Video: "Real Doctor Reacts to THE GOOD DOCTOR"

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
- 🎚@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

¡ADIOSSSSSS! (Marshall's two years of high school Spanish have paid off)

319: Content Strategy and Designing with Language (feat. Jonathon Colman)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 12:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we sat down with Jonathon Colman, a Senior Design Manager at Intercom, to talk about all things content. We dig into Jonathon's background and path into design, the role of content in user experience design, how content strategy and product design should work together, the future of AI and machine learning in content strategy, and so much more. That, plus our cool things of the week, as always!

Sponsor:

Flatiron School: Learn UX/UI design in 24 weeks and discover our global community on campus or online and go back to school with Flatiron School!

Change careers with confidence with 1:1 support from our dedicated Career Coaches and a money back guarantee. Complete details at flatironschool.com/terms.

See you in class!

Golden Microphone Patron:

Sisu is looking for a thoughtful and data-savvy designer to help build the next generation of analytics software. You can find out more at sisu.ai.

(You might recognize Sisu from our interview with Michie Cao)

Follow-up:

Shoutout to our newest patrons!
- Valentine Ubaldo
- Michael Knepprath
webOS is the mobile operating system developed by Palm.
Hobo Johnson is all about that authentically, low-budget production.

Interview:

Today we caught up with Jonathon Colman, a Senior Design Manager at Intercom.
- If you were designing in the 90's, you too may be familiar with Kai's Power Tools.
- Dances with Wolves, the summer blockbuster of 1990 featuring Kevin Costner.
- Jonathon gave a keynote presentation at Webstock 2017 titled "Wicked Ambiguity and User Experience" in which he dives deep into the topic of wicked problems.
- Jared Spool is a writer, researcher, speaker, and expert on usability.
- Samantha Starmer is an experience design and strategy executive leading teams at companies like Capital One, Ralph Lauren, and more.
- Double Diamond product development explains a process of divergent and convergent thinking.
- Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows offers insights for solving problems at scale.
- John Saito shares thoughts about the role of writing in experience design with the Intercom blog.
- Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think is a foundational user experience design book.

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared Cue, a social calendar app designed by Michael Boswell.
Brian shared Parasite, a new film directed by Bong Joon Ho. Recommendation: go see it before seeing the trailer or reading any details - it's worth it!
Jonathon shared Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez, who also appeared on an episode of 99% Invisible to discuss the same topic.

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
- 🎚@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

In the immortal words of Johnny Utah: ¡Vaya con dios!

318: Death of the Designer Unicorn

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 12:00:00 +0000

In this week's episode, we answer a listener question about why product teams aren't comprised of more "unicorns," and we discuss a Twitter thread that questions whether being a hands-off design leader makes you less of a designer. And as always, we share a couple cool things, including a strangely amazing band and an ultimate guide.

Golden Microphone Patron:

Sisu is looking for a thoughtful and data-savvy designer to help build the next generation of analytics software. You can find out more at sisu.ai.

(You might recognize Sisu from our interview with Michie Cao)

Follow-up:

Shoutout to our newest patrons!
- Bob Weisbecker
- Bradford Ulrich
- Danny Haagen
- James Lyons
- Jing Zhang
- Melinda Yang
- Paul Dippold
- Ryan Parag
- Mike Hickman
Listener Uhl Albert shared this video of PalmOS doing most of the gesture stuff iOS does now
- This reminded Marshall of the "General Magic" documentary
Instagram launched their Dark Mode just to embarrass us

Listener Questions:

Brandon Weiss asks, "Why are product teams comprised of people who have to work cross-functionally but aren't cross-functional themselves?"
- A: The quick answer is "unicorns" like that are pretty rare, hence the moniker. The structure and size of a company might determine what roles are needed when that company hires, so while cross-functional employees are super valuable in startups, they aren't necessarily preferable in larger organizations. Ultimately, you'll probably get the best return on your time investment by learning enough about each of your cross-functional partners' duties that you can speak their language, even if you can't do their job.
In a Twitter thread unrelated to this podcast, Lily Dart asks design leaders, "Do you get given a hard time for not being 'hands-on' anymore? Does it make you less of a designer?"
- A: First off, no one should give you a hard time for being hands-off. That's just mean and unprofessional. Secondly, Being a Head or Chief or Manager doesn't make you less of a designer, it just makes you something different than the traditional definition of "designer." But that's okay! Your background as a designer helps you do your new role better, and while you should keep your finger on the pulse of the wider design world, no one expects you to sweat about pixels, and actually, that probably wouldn't be the most valuable use of your time. So ultimately, designers whose careers evolve to a leadership position are better off for having been a designer, for sure, but once the role changes, so too should the label.

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared Hobo Johnson's new album, "The Fall of Hobo Johnson"
- We recommend you get acquainted via this video: "Hobo Johnson and The Lovemakers: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert", a gig they got after submitting a viral audition video to NPR
- If you're still in, Marshall likes these songs off the new album: Uglykid, Subaru CrossTrek XV, You & The Cockroach, Happiness
Brian shared "iOS Shortcuts: The Ultimate Guide for Resources, Examples, Libraries, Triggers, and More"

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
- 🎚@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

Peace out, nerdssssss! (brought to you by patron Karl Koch)

317: Designing for Dark Mode

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 9 Oct 2019 12:00:00 +0000

In this week's episode, we dive deep into the murky depths of Dark Mode, discussing everything from OLED smearing and halation to tinting and elevation. Plus we read the results of the Twitter poll in which we asked you about your preferred dark background color. And as always, we share a some cool things like a crazy creative talk, a painting app for iPad, and a ridiculous illustrator.

Golden Microphone Patron:

Sisu is looking for a thoughtful and data-savvy designer to help build the next generation of analytics software. You can find out more at sisu.ai.

Follow-up:

You might recognize Sisu from our interview with Michie Cao
Shoutout to our newest patrons!
- Alec Sukoski
- Derek Graham
- John Wood (Day One Patron!)
- Justin Allen
- Lisa Pesok
- Manuel Solera
- Sam Bernhardt
Brian updated designdetails.fm, and it's very nice. You should check it out :)
Thanks to listener and patron Derek Graham for the kind and helpful email :)
Keaton Taylor was also born too early for Pokemon and Spongebob
Sahil loves the move to being listener-supported

Listener Question:

Brandon Moore asks, "How do you feel guys feel about using a true black color (#000) for dark mode?"
- Article: "Designing a Dark Theme for OLED iPhones"
- Note: Since recording, Instagram has updated their app with a dark mode!
- We asked what you thought in a poll on Twitter, and you let us know :)

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared "Choosing Idea Vessels for Your Creations," a talk by Alex Cornell at the awwwards conference
- Alex was featured back on episode 181: 5,000 Tickets Gets The Gum
Marshall cheated and shared three things:
- Vexx, a ridiculous illustrator on YouTube who mostly uses markers and colored pencils but occasionally does large murals
- Inktober, a drawing challenge in which "artists all over the world do one ink drawing a day the entire month"
- Procreate for iPad, which "gives you the power to create beautiful sketches, inspiring paintings, and stunning illustrations wherever you are"
  - Paper, whose "perfectly-tuned tools make it easy to sketch, type, paint, draw — wherever your thoughts take you"

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
- 🎚@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

316: The Convergence of iOS and Android

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 2 Oct 2019 12:00:00 +0000

In this week's episode, we dive deep on Android 10's new gestural navigation and how it compares to iOS, finally get around to talking a bit about the September Apple Event, and answer a listener question about what it means to be more proactive. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a new reality TV and some ever-comfy t-shirts.

Follow-up:

FoR LeSs tHaN ThE pRiCe oF aN ArTiSaNaL pOuR-OvEr aT sAiNt fRaNk'S, you can support us on Patreon!
Shoutouts to our Day One Patrons:
- Abhishek Warokar
- Adam Carroll
- Andrew Crandall
- Aurora Pleguezuelo
- Brandon Weiss
- Claudio Vallejo
- Cameron Campbell
- Christian Ruiz
- Karl Koch
- Doris Saturday
- Effy Zhang
- Essa Saulat
- Jeff Parsons
- Joseph Brueggen
- Kris Puckett
- Kyle Mitchell
- MannnnnnyX
- Max Stoiber
- Sam Mason
We made our very first patron-only post
Brian finally got his Logitech MX Keys keyboard, and it's not perfect, but it's not bad
"Sixty percent of the time, it works every time" (clip)

Listener Questions:

Anonymous asks, "What does it mean to be more proactive?"

Apple Event Review:

The Apple Watch Series 5 has a variable display refresh rate, which raises interesting questions for designers
Apple is still listing features using the big word cloud, but they're also using a nicely illustrated feature grid now, too
Apple TV+ is coming (for just $4.99/mo!), and See looks kinda interesting
Apple's new iPhone naming scheme reminds Marshall of the logic of the old professional/consumer matrix

Android 10 Gestures:

Uhl Albert asked why we hadn't talked about Android 10 yet
Android's new gesture navigation is very similar to iOS (video)
"There are dozens of us. Dozens!" (clip)

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared Season 39 of Survivor, the latest edition of the long-running reality series
Brian shared Ugmonk, especially their super comfortable Essential Tees
- We're working to get you 10% OFF your orders at Ugmonk by becoming a patron at the 8-Point Grid level or higher!

Design Details on the Web:

📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin and brian@designdetails.fm
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock and marshall@designdetails.fm
- 🎚@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
💰 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

315: Building a Listener-Supported Podcast

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 25 Sep 2019 12:00:00 +0000

In this week's episode, we discuss the next evolution of Design Details towards becoming a fully listener-supported podcast. We share some background on the decision, our goals, and what's in it for you dear listener, if you are able to support this podcast. All this, plus follow up, a bit of news, and our weekly cool things as always.

Follow-up:

We'll be digging into the Apple event + Android 10 later - we extra promise.

News:

Brian found a buck-wild product launch video for a product called Descript.
- The video reminded Marshall of Adam Lisagor from Sandwich Video. Adam replied in the comments.
- The video appears to have been made by Claude Zeins and Benjamin Lebeau.
- Overdub reminded us of Ctrl Shift Face, a crazy YouTube channel that deep fakes videos.

Listener Question Followup:

From our conversation in episode 313 about effective ways of finding a job, we received a follow-up comment about the value of cold applications.
Nikita Voloboev followed up on their question from the same episode about design process automation with a repo for their macOS setup: it is very, very thorough.

Becoming a listener-supported podcast:

We've been lucky to be able to work with so many amazing sponsors on Design Details in the past five years.
Sarah Marie and Drew Luper produce and edit our show - they make us sound infinitely better every week.
Design Details is a part of the Spec Network, a podcast network for designers and developers.
We're moving to a lister-supported model, powered by Patreon. If you've enjoyed this show, found value, or entertainment, we would be eternally grateful for your support.
You can check out the available tiers and rewards of support on our Patreon.
I'm Bane, yes, that's my name.
After our costs are covered, 10% of everything you pledge will be passed through to charities which help underrepresented minorities to learn about design (like Girls Who Code).

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared Allegory, a beta note taking app recommended by Ryan Nystrom. The app has some neat interactions, visuals, and gestures that designers might enjoy poking at.
Marshall hyped the upcoming Overwatch League Grand Finals.
- Marshall mains Lucio, for anyone curious.

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

314: Beauty, Vulnerability, and Doing Things That Matter (feat. Haraldur Thorleifsson)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we catch up with Haraldur Thorleifsson, the founder, CEO, and social media intern at Ueno. In today's conversation, we cover everything from burnout to why designers should be thinking about solving more meaningful problems. We dig into the current and future plans for Ueno, the function of beauty in design, whether Halli wants to be famous, and finding catharsis on Twitter. And as always, we share some cool things like a TV show, a book, and yet-to-be-released physical products.

Follow-up:

Last week, Marshall incorrectly attributed the micro-LED displays to a 2020 iPhone rumor, when in fact, that rumor was meant for the 2020 Apple Watch
A few listener tweets:
- Hannah Cunningham is focused on pushing through the last 10%
- David Afolayan's interests are aligned with ours (MX Master 3 and finger drumming)
- Uhl Albert wants us to weigh in on Android 10 (stay tuned!)

Interview with Haraldur Thorleifsson:

Halli is a good Twitter person. You should follow him.
Halli has joined us twice before:
- "44: Everything is a beta"
- "69: Epicurrence Live"
For anyone who doesn't know, Ueno is a design agency making work you've likely seen or used before.
- Ueno Made the Inc 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in America.
Haus is a small direct-to-consumer brand that has built a strong emotional design language
Video: "Are we the baddies?"
Halli has recently changed the tone, transparency, and vulnerability of his personal tweets
Old man rant: People change jobs too frequently + Twitter thread resulting in lots of new points of view and learning
Bueno is a side project for Ueno that is about helping good people do good things
Ueno's new about page is very fun, and includes a great video about the awards photographer.

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared Songland, a competition show for songwriters to pitch their work to be recorded by established artists
- Whoops: It's on NBC, not CBS
- Here's a playlist on Spotify and Apple Music
Brian shared the Kollur, a stool that Ueno has begun making, but hasn't finished... yet
Halli shared Educated, a memoir by Tara Westover about her upbringing, coming-of-age, and a journey for knowledge

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

313: Design Process Automation

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we answer a couple listener questions—which design automation tools we use and how to efficiently look for a job—and rattle off a few things we'd like to see announced at the September Apple Event. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a 64-button mashup and a state-of-the-art mouse.

Follow-up:

Rafa and Kevin are back from summer vacation with a new episode of Layout!

Apple Event Preview:

Whoops! Marshall goofed; the Micro LED screen was rumored for the 2020 Apple Watch, not the 2020 iPhone Pro
We've known for a while the iPhone 11 Pro would have three cameras
It'd be cool to see Apple's Tile equivalent
- Article: "You've Been Sherlocked"
We know we won't see the 16" MacBook Pro at this event, but we're looking forward to it arriving eventually
Apple's supposed to be dropping 3D Touch for Haptic Touch on the new iPhones
Maybe we'll see Apple's over-the-ear headphones, but probably not
- You may remember the Apple iPod HiFi from many years ago

Listener Questions:

Q: Cameron Stark asks, "What is the best way or most efficient way to look for and find job opportunities?"
- A: Although it's not the most efficient method, we've found the following to be an effective way of finding work: develop your skills, insert yourself into whichever community you'd like to be a part of, make friends, do good work, learn from your peers, and hope you have the right skills in the right place at the right time when one of them knows about a job opening.
Q: Nikita Voloboev asks, "Do you use any tools to automate your design process?"
- Karabiner is "a powerful and stable keyboard customizer for macOS"
- Alfred "boosts your efficiency with hotkeys, keywords, text expansion and more"
- A: We like the following tools and plugins:
  - Keyboard Maestro helps you "automate virtually anything"
  - Figma plugins are great, and you can even write your own!
  - Yoink helps you "simplify and improve drag and drop on your Mac and speed up your daily workflow"
  - Artboard Manager "automatically arranges the position of all Artboards in your Sketch document, to snap them to rows & columns"
  - Layer Tools is "a box for random useful sketch commands meant to make work with layers easier"
  - Runner helps you "perform Sketch actions quicker with your keyboard"
  - Symbol Organizer helps you "organize your symbols page alphabetically (including layer list) and into groupings determined by your symbol names"
  - Renamer helps you "select multiple layer(s)/group(s)/artboard(s) and rename all of them with just a single click or a quick shortcut"
  - Rename It helps you "keep your design files organized, batch rename layers and more"
- Have your own suggestions you'd like to share? Add them to the issue!

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared "Burnt Rice" and "Marble Soda" by Shawn Wasabi
- Watch Acai sightread the Guitar Hero chart for the mashup song "Baby I'm Back", which reminded me that Shawn Wasabi makes good music
- Midi Fighter 64 is "the best controller for finger drumming"
- Here's the backstory (video) on Shawn's prototype Midi Fighter 64
- Brian mentioned "Madeon - Pop Culture (live mashup)" (video)
Brian shared the Logitech MX Master 3 Mouse, "the most advanced Master Series mouse yet – designed for creatives and engineered for coders"
- Logitech Flow gives you "cross-computer control and file sharing"
- Logitech MX Keys is "the first ever MX keyboard – designed for creatives and engineered for coders")

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

...

Video: "Replication Theory"

312: Managing a Design Systems Team (feat. Diana Mounter)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Sep 2019 12:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, Diana Mounter, who manages the design infrastructure at GitHub, helps us dive deep into a listener question about the role and expectations of a design systems manager. And we have a big round of cool things this week, including three books, an album, and a plugin.

Follow-up:

Keaton Taylor lolled pretty hard at our dumb 311 references. It was all worth it.
Thanks for leaving questions for us at the Design Details repo!

Interview:

Diana Mounter manages the design infrastructure known as Primer at GitHub.
- You can listen to Diana's previous appearances on Design Details in the following episodes:
agabrans asks, "What is the role of a Design Systems Manager, and what is expected of this individual?"
- Material Design
- Apple Human Interface Guidelines
- Article: The 8-Point Grid by Bryn Jackson

One Cool Thing:

Diana shared three things:
- Bitmoji for Slack lets you "bring office chat to life with your own personal emoji"
- "Reamde" by Neal Stephenson is "the breathtaking tale of a wealthy tech entrepreneur caught in the very real crossfire of his own online fantasy war game"
  - The sign in Jimmy John's reads: "Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."
  - Dan Brown is known for his fluffy but exciting thriller novels like "The DaVinci Code"
- "Wallop" (YouTube playlist) is the latest album from !!!
  - Alt-J (or, more accurately, option-j) typed on an Apple keyboard results in the ∆ character
  - "Off the Grid" and "In the Grid"
Marshall shared "Fall; or, Dodge in Hell: A Novel" by Neal Stephenson, "a wildly inventive and entertaining science fiction thriller that unfolds in the near future, in parallel worlds"
- The "Bobiverse" series by Dennis E. Taylor is the story of a programmer who dies suddenly and, after being cryogenically frozen, wakes up as an AI in a vastly changed world
- "Seveneves" by Neal Stephenson is "an exciting and thought-provoking science fiction epic—a grand story of annihilation and survival spanning five thousand years"
Brian shared "How to Stop Time" by Matt Haig, "a love story across the ages—and for the ages—about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live"
- "2312" by Kim Stanley Robinson is "the story of a future where humanity has populated miraculous new habitats engineered across the solar system--and the one death that triggers a precarious chain of events that could destroy it all"

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

311: Visuals in Product Design

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we answer a few listener questions, including what constitutes a good visual design experience, when to put case studies on your site, and when to battle bureaucracy at the office. And as always, we share some cool things, like a couple interesting YouTube channels, one that reviews visual effects and one that makes gaming documentaries.

Follow-up:

Video: "311 - Amber"
Frosted tips
The show Marshall recommended last episode is actually called "Mindhunter", singular, not "Mindhunters," plural
- It stars Anna Torv (from Fringe), who is definitely not Donna from That 70s Show
Check out our new Github Repo for asking and answering listener questions
- Manny asked us where the side projects segment went

Listener Questions:

Q: Sam Chang asks, "What are your thoughts on including project case studies on your website? Is it something you do only when you're actively looking for work?
- Article: "The Case Study Factory"
- Claudio Guglieri creates some amazing bespoke blog posts for his site
- A: "If you'd like to show your thought process and/or let potential employers know that you understand the design process, yeah, totally. Or if you'd like to share with others a peek behind the scenes of the production, that's great, too. It's all useful from a documentation and lesson preservation standpoint. But in general, more seasoned designers tend to post fewer cast studies."
Q: Lucas Morales asks, "What can we do when fighting bureaucracy ends up taking the majority of our time at work? Should we continue to battle or just leave?"
- A: "Maybe there's a third path. Given there isn't systemic mistrust throughout your org, you could try making an argument to overcome some of the red tape, framing it with the rationale of a better process, higher revenue, or whatever's most effective to move the stakeholder needle. This is a great chance to show your leadership by fixing a broken thing, and then you can take credit for it at your next performance review. Every obstacle is an opportunity! But ultimately, it depends. If the process is still salvageable, you might want to take the lead on salvaging it. If everything's hopeless, then yeah, maybe leaving is the best idea. If you do leave, though, make sure to mention your reasons for doing so in your exit interview, otherwise your concerns might never reach the right ears."
Q: Anonymous asks, "How would you describe a good product experience from a visual design perspective?"
- A: "Visual design is most valuable when it exists in service to experience design. Strive to create a consistent narrative in the system through visual treatments, the goal being that your users can accurately understand the interface and consistently predict the result of any given action."
- Check out Github's Issue page to see the green buttons and badges that Marshall's referring to here

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared "VFX Artists React to MARVEL Bad & Great CGi" by Corridor Crew, a behind-the-scenes channel for Corridor Digital, "a production studio based on the idea of passion projects, hard work, and creativity"
Marshall shared "Revealing the Tricks Behind Hitman's Level Design" from Noclip's documentary on Hitman, a peek behind the curtain of the recent game franchise reboot
- Video: "Designing Mortal Kombat Fatalities with Ed Boon"
  ...
Video: "311 - Down"

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

310: Work, Culture, and Experimentation at a Product Design Agency (feat. Skyler Balbus)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 12:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we catch up with Skyler Balbus, the Director of Product Design at Postlight. We dig into what it means to build products within the agency model, the decision to move from working in-house to working with clients, and how to build a culture where designers can experiment freely. Skyler also shares her ideas for how to build a strong design culture within an agency, tips for junior designers in the hiring process, and ways to build effective feedback loops within an organization. This, plus our weekly followup, news, and cool things!

Follow-up:

We're trying a new experiment: ask your questions for us on GitHub by opening a new issue. These issues will allow us to reply directly, keep a public backlog, and let the questions and answers be more readily searchable on Google!
- You can create a GitHub account for free, in just a few minutes, in case you want to make a fake account for an anonymous question.

News:

Brian made a Figma plugin, Responsify, to quickly test your designs across multiple device sizes.
He also made Dominant Color Toolkit, a plugin to generate a palette from an image to automatically populate your designs.

Interview:

Today we caught up with Skyler Balbus, the Director of Product Design at Postlight in New York.
- Skyler shared the process of building the Audubon Society's mobile app, which included deep research that took the team into the field to birdwatch.
- Postlight's work with Village Voice demonstrated the way designers can build deep ownership in the work, despite not being in-house.
- Postlight has an interesting side channel, Labs, where the team experiments with small, quirky, and interesting technologies.
  - GIF Battle was the team's first Labs project.
  - Mercury is a tool to extract meaningful content from the chaos of web pages.
  - Fyre Ipsum is lipsum, but from the Fire Festival pitch deck.
  - Tinysheet is a mobile-first spreadsheet.
You can find Skyler on Twitter for all the Tweets.

One Cool Thing:

Skyler shared a video game by Crows Crows Crows, creators of Accounting+ and The Stanley Parable, called The Club. The website's design is 1995 incarnate and is worth checking out. Skyler also snuck in an extra cool thing with Bubsy 3D, a game to explore the art of James Turrell.
Marshall shared Mindhunter which recently entered its second season on Netflix. It's a show about the creation of the Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI, which led to the creation and understanding of the term "serial killer."
Brian shared a GitHub repository called awesome-mac in which the community has compiled a master list of apps for macOS.

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

309: Career Progression for Product Designers

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we look at how a product designer's career advances. We discuss the common themes and growth areas that companies use to measure progression, suggest questions you can ask yourself to assess your progress, read through some of your replies on the subject, and offer up several resources for diving deeper and learning more. And as always, we share a couple cool things, like a typeface designed for UI and an app to budget your money.

Follow-up:

🎉 It's Marshall's one-year podiversary 🎉
Brian built a Figma plugin to fetch data
- Sketch Data
- Google Sheets Sync
- Rasmus Andersson was of great help :)

Industry Talk:

Themes:
- Difficulty: Complexity, autonomy, scope, and constraints
- Impact: Project success, sentiment, brand, process
- Leadership: Mentorship, identifying opportunities and pitfalls, communication skills, maintaining quality, diversity and inclusion
- Community: Nonreciprocal contributions, elevating culture, hiring
Questions to ask yourself regarding these themes:
- Am I making change for myself, my team, my product, my organization, my company, or the industry as a whole?
- Am I being reactive or proactive?
- Am I seeking or being sought?
Brian asked what you thought on Twitter, and you responded!
- Gabe Valdivia heard an apt metaphor regarding career roles and the human body
- Jessica Harllee shares our thoughts on seniority and range of influence
- Eric Windmill expects seniority to be accompanied by humility
- Kristy Tillman shared an article and noted the use of "mature"
- Maxim pointed us to some of his past tweets on the subject
Resources:
What do you think? Let us know!

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared an article about the Inter typeface by Rasmus Andersson
Marshall shared Copilot, a delightful app that "shows you where your money is going and helps you stay on budget" by Andrés Ugarte

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

308: Learning Design as a Developer

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 7 Aug 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we answer a couple listener questions, including how to get started learning design as a developer and how to reconcile icons on different platforms. In News, we discuss the launch of Figma Plugins, and as always, we share a couple cool things, like gourmet junk food and vaporwave jams.

Follow-up:

Pro Tip: Listen to Design Details at ~1.25x speed. It's more tolerable, we promise :)
Divya Tak is Marshall's kindred internet spirit
- Jeff Cannata got his start on the Totally Rad Show on Revision 3
Turns out our questions about iOS 13 Beta 4 were premature because—wait for it—it's a damn beta
- Grouped TableViews on iOS6 vs iOS 12 vs iOS 13 Beta 4 and Beta 5
- Screenshots: Safari Modes: Public/Private and Light/Dark
Nick Dika told us about Nielsen Norman Group's line of It Depends merch
- Video: "Vanilla Ice denies ripping off Queen and David Bowie's Under 'Pressure'"

News:

Introducing Figma Plugins
- Featured Plugins, built by the Figma community
- Article: "Smart Distribute, Cloud documents and Sketch for Teams — What’s New in Sketch?"
- FigPlug by Rasmus Andersson is "a small program for building Figma plugins"
- Some notable plugins: Unsplash, Autoflow, Stark, Mapsicle, and Google Sheets Sync

Listener questions:

Q: "What advice do you have for a developer with no design experience getting started with design?" —Dolee Yang
- A: "Listen to our "Principles of Design" episode, check out Laws of UX and Refactoring UI, then read the Apple HIG and/or the Material Guidelines, paying attention to the thinking behind the systems. When in doubt, fall back to system defaults. But most importantly, get into the mindset of a designer and, as you use products in your daily life, start asking, 'Why did they do it like this?'"
Q: "How do you reconcile icon systems between platforms? Do you have different icons for web, iOS, and Android? Or do you try to make them all consistent with a brand icon set?" —Anonymous
- A: "Actually, both are valid strategies. If you use the default glyphs and styling for icons on each platform, you can have high confidence your users will understand them. If you have a strong brand identity, you can style those glyphs to fit in with your icon set. If you use unique glyphs, consider including labels to make their meaning clear to users who are only familiar with system glyphs."

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared "Gourmet Makes", a video series on Bon Appetit's YouTube channel in which a pastry chef attempts to create gourmet versions of junk food
Brian shared Poolside.fm, which (according to The Verge) is "a retro digital oasis for your summer"

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

307: iOS 13 Beta

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we take an early look at the fourth iOS 13 Developer Beta and discuss some of the new features, interactions, and patterns we've noticed. We also answer a few listener questions, including how big a prototype should be, when to expand your skillset, and how to intentionally grow as a designer. And as always, we a share a couple cool things, like a prolific Quora answerer and a novel series discovered through an online class.

Followup

"It Depends." merch might actually happen, so...
Marshall suggested a slight change to the keyboard shortcuts for Truncat
Michael Knepprath shared an alternative to Bartender called Vanilla, which lets you "hide menu bar icons on your Mac"

Listener questions

Q: "Do designers ever make prototypes of entire apps, or is the process more about chunking out the main areas and adding as the product develops?"
- A: "Once your app structure becomes sufficiently complex, building everything into one prototype becomes less and less tenable. We prefer to focus each of our prototypes on one user journey. Even the most on-rails prototype can be an incredibly useful tool in user research studies."
- For bigger stuff, we like Framer X, which "offers tools to design scroll, link and page interactions"
- For smaller stuff, we like Principle, which "makes it easy to design animated and interactive user interfaces"
Q: "Is it better to be focused on one thing or multiple skills to have a better chance of promotion?"
- A: "A T-shaped (or maybe π-shaped) generalist is usually a good choice, but in our experience, you can be successful regardless of which path you choose."
- Brian was referring to Miley Cyrus as Ashley O (video) in "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too", the third episode of Black Mirror Season 5
Q: "How do you guys get intentional about your growth as designers, and how are you able to measure that growth?"
- A: "Get uncomfortable and try new things! Our best and fastest growth has come from tackling challenges outside our wheelhouses. It's almost always scary, but in the end, the satisfaction of growth outweighs the fear of the unknown."

iOS 13 Beta Review:

Intel is credited with pioneering the Tick-Tock Model, which Apple later adopted for its hardware and recently software releases
iOS 13 Preview
iPadOS 13 Preview
watchOS 6 Preview
Video: "WWDC 2019 Keynote — Apple"

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared Janus Dongye-Qimeng, a prolific answerer of China-related questions on Quora
Marshall shared Masterclass, "online classes taught by the world's greatest minds," which led to David Baldacci's five-part Memory Man series
- Hyperthymesia is "a condition that leads people to be able to remember an abnormally large number of their life experiences in vivid detail"
- Synesthesia is "a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway"

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

306: Is Ego Getting in the Way of Accessibility?

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 24 Jul 2019 12:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we dig into two listener questions about when to use toggles versus checkboxes, and the current state of accessibility in product design. We also share a big milestone for the podcast, get caught up on some news, and as always, share our cool finds of the week.

Followup

We've crossed 5 million total downloads on Design Details! Thank you all for listening along with us for all these years 💜

News

Friend of the pod Kevin Gutowski created a Sketch plugin, Truncat. Truncat helps you automatically truncate strings! Brian wants this for Figma, too.
iOS 13 beta 4 is out, and we're jumping on board.

Listener questions

Soumya asks: what is the difference between a toggle and a checkbox?
- Soumya sent along a great Medium post about the key differences and a guidelines document that might help.
Hubert asks: "Have you ever felt like our designer’s egos are getting in the way of designing for everyone, and that no matter how hard we try, we as an industry, will never be able to fully adopt accessibility as a core value of product design."
- Hubert also wrote a piece for the Slack Design blog about accessibility as a design tool
- Sam Soffes and MDS created Contrast, a small menu bar utility app to quickly check accessibility scores of color pairs.
  - MDS wrote a blog post about designing Contrast.
- At this year's WWDC, Apple highlighted several major accessibility improvements.
- The HIG has great typography guidelines and color guidelines.
- The HIG and Material specs differ slightly on tab bar accessibility.
- Read more about ARIA, the spec for Accessible Rich Internet Applications.

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared a Mac menu bar application, Bartender, a tool to help you customize and manager your Mac's menu bar.
Brian shared a new Mac application, Dato, created by Sindre Sorhus. Dato is meant to replace the date and time item in your Mac's menu bar, providing a better interface to see a calendar and timezones. This reminded Marshall of iStat Menus by Marc Edwards.

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

305: From Team to Solo Designer (feat. Michie Cao)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we welcome to the show Michie Cao, formerly of Twitter and currently the sole designer at Sisu. Michie tells us all about her experience of working at both a large corporation and a small startup, and she shares some pros and cons of each situation along with some great advice for solo designers. And as always, we end the show with a few cool things, like a pair of music videos, the new coloring for adults, and a podcast about one breathtaking man.

Sponsor:

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

Interview

Michie Cao is an interaction designer who likes to "design, code, draw, and tinker with things"
Sisu is "the world’s most advanced analytics platform"
Article: "Twitter.com launches its big redesign with simpler navigation and more features"
Peter Bailis is the founder and CEO of Sisu
WeWork helps you "discover spaces that inspire your people’s most meaningful and impactful work, whether you’re an established enterprise or a growing startup"
Kubernetes is an "open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications"
Docker is an "enterprise container platform for high-velocity innovation"
The adults in the Charlie Browniverse are all entirely unintelligible (video)
Day One Design Club "exists to connect first or solo designers with others like them and to help them grow through sharing of practical wisdom and ideas in a creative, supportive space"
Charles Zhu is Sisu's Product and Go-to-Market guy
Know Your Meme: "How to Draw an Owl"

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared two versions of Lewis Capaldi's beautiful song "Someone You Loved"
- Laugh to the funny version
- Cry to the sad version
- Brian isn't crying, you're crying
Michie shared punch needle, the "new coloring for adults"
- Cross-stitch is kinda similar to punch needle
- Michie tweeted pictures of her handiwork
Brian shared "Can't Get Enough of Keanu," a podcast from Patrick (H) Willems dedicated to exploring the filmography of Keanu Reeves
- The podcast was formerly about Josh Hartnett and called "We Heart Hartnett" in earlier episodes
- Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure is the story of "two seemingly dumb teens [who] set off on a quest to prepare the ultimate historical presentation with the help of a time machine"
- Always Be My Maybe is the story of "famous chef Sasha and hometown musician Marcus who, when reunited after 15 years, feel the old sparks of attraction but struggle to adapt to each other's worlds"

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

304: Interviewing the Interviewer

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we keep it short and answer a few listener questions, including how to align text to a grid, how to handle an interview at a company that uses dark patterns, and how to account for suboptimal company processes when assembling portfolio work. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a pair of crazy tech gloves and some award-winning coffee paraphernalia.

Sponsor:

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

Listener Questions:

Q: How do you align text boxes? To the grid? Or to the baseline grid?
- A: A holistic baseline grid is an admirable aspiration, but it's rarely realistic. Just do your best, and pay attention through implementation for quality assurance. For the most part, we'd suggest you try using atomic-unit-sized leading (multiples of 4pt) and align to the grid or other objects' bounding boxes. That is, unless you have multiple single lines of text, like a list cell with a Label and Detail (such as in Settings), in which case, a baseline alignment is preferred.
- Check out the Text Elements section of Bryn Jackson's The 8-Point Grid article for some more solid advice
Q: How do you think about organizations that use dark patterns when you're interviewing to work for them?
- A: Maybe just ask? If you're uncomfortable asking directly, you could always abstract the question like, "How much agency does the design team have in influencing legacy patterns?"
- Back in 2010, Facebook interrupted their account deletion flow with pictures of your friends who "will miss you"
Q: Do you think about your portfolio while you have a job? What if your company isn't great at or doesn't have resources for a particular process, like research?
- A: Recognizing a shortcoming is the first step toward fixing it. Provide leadership where none exists! At the very least, you can use your performance reviews as a way to regularly collect your work.
- The Mom Test is a book that helps you learn "how to talk to customers and learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you"

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared "Imogen Heap: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert", a video in which Imogen performs using a pair of MI·MU Gloves as a gesture-based loop pedal and mixing board
- Video: "Saturday Night Live: The Shooting AKA Dear Sister" is a parody of a scene from the Season 2 Finale of The OC
- Article: "Imogen Heap’s musical gloves are finally available to everyone"
- Video: "Diva Plavalaguna song (The Fifth Element)"
Brian shared Fellow, a product company that makes beautiful coffee-related paraphernalia
- Last episode, Brian shared Trade, a subscription service that helps you "find only the flavors you love from 400+ amazing coffees roasted by the nation’s best"
- The Stagg EKG Kettle is the award-winning "electric pour-over kettle for coffee lovers"
- The Atmos Vacuum Canister will "keep your coffee fresher, longer"

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

303: Building Design Teams (feat. Stacy La)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 3 Jul 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we welcome to the show Stacy La, formerly of Clover Health and currently the product and design lead on the Prevent Epidemics Team at Resolve to Save Lives. Stacy shares with us some of the challenges and triumphs of building a large design team from scratch, and we get into the details of designing for such serious, high-stakes product areas. And as always, we end the show with a few cool things, like a guide to creativity, a channel that answers interesting questions, and a subscription coffee service.

Sponsor:

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

Follow-up:

Video: Here's proof Marshall isn't completely alone in thinking Apple will make a Tile killer
Thanks to macgeekjay for leaving us an iTunes review! You can leave one, too, if you'd like to help us find new listeners :D
Paweł Szymankiewicz enjoyed our previous episode about dark patterns
That same episode made Divya Tak think of the nice cancellation flow provided by Headspace

News:

Congratulations to Revision Path for also recently crossing 300 episodes!
- Also, Hannah Beachler seems pretty awesome, just saying

Interview

Stacy La is the product and design lead on the Prevent Epidemics team at Resolve to Save Lives, and formerly of Clover Health and Yammer
- She also tweets sometimes

One Cool Thing:

Stacy shared Creative Quest, a "unique new guide to creativity from Questlove—inspirations, stories, and lessons on how to live your best creative life"
Marshall shared Cheddar, a YouTube channel that "explains, examines, and explores"
Brian shared Trade Coffee, the "best coffee subscription in the nation"

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

302: Designing Dark Patterns

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 26 Jun 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, inspired by a tweet from Daniel Burka, we tackle the thorny but important question of who is ultimately accountable for the implementation of a product's dark patterns. Is Design responsible? Engineering? Leadership? All of the above? In Listener Questions, we answer how to design on an iPad and how to apply an even grid to an odd screen. And as always, we share a couple cool things like some SVG icons and a modded Apple TV remote.

Follow-up:

Our apologies for butchering the name of Alexis Collado, host of Roots, "a podcast about the stories of Filipino designers"
Vincent shared his strange dream of creating a recommendation database for Design Details episodes
Press F to pay respects for Herr Lindner, who had been saving Design Details until retirement, but just recently started listening at Episode 1

Listener Questions:

Anonymous asks how to design on an iPad
- Answer: Check out this (hilarious) video of Rafa, co-host of the Layout podcast, running Figma on an iPad using a keyboard and trackpad
Kevin Haag asks how to apply the 8pt grid when a device's screen width doesn't fit the grid exactly
- Answer: Just measure from the screen edges :)

Industry Talk:

Daniel Burka admonished designers for using dark patterns to obfuscate account deletion
- A dark pattern is "a user interface that has been carefully crafted to trick users into doing something"
- You can read the story behind the Dropbox downgrade illustration near the end of this article: "Illustrating a more human brand (part 1)"
- Back in 2010, Facebook interrupted the account deletion flow with pictures of your friends who "will miss you"
- In the Saturday Night Massacre, the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General resigned in protest rather than fire the independent special prosecutor at Nixon's request
- Article: "What to Know About Obeying an Unlawful Military Order"
- Video: "Wendy Releases the Chickens"
- The GDPR's Right to Erasure is also known as the "right to be forgotten"

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared Cole Bemis's Feather icons, which were used by Gaddafi Rusli to make ICONSVG, which provides "quick customizable SVG icons for your project"
Marshall shared his modded Apple TV remote, which features a Tile, two 3M strips, and two drawer bumpers to increase usability (and decrease beauty, but whatever)
- Video: Here's proof Marshall isn't crazy about Apple making a Tile killer
- Note: For the record, that video was released two days after we recorded this episode, so yeah

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

301: Android vs. iOS

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we answer a few listener questions, including the difference between the philosophies behind the Android and iOS design systems and why we prefer an 8pt grid. In News, Brian gives a quick rundown on Figma's new Plugins Beta. And as always, we share a couple cool things like some isometric dioramas and a modular key and wallet system.

Sponsor:

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

Follow-up:

Many heartfelt thanks to long-time listener Jeff Parsons for the kind words and feedback
Design Picnic is a Thai podcast that "combines fresh and diverse inspiration from experienced designers all over the world"
We talk about "the boring stuff, the frustrating things" in Episode 297: Day-to-Day Design Struggles
Alexis Collado makes Roots, "a podcast about the stories of Filipino designers"
Supratim Chakraborty marathoned 28 episodes in 2 weeks O_o
Image: The Toyota Supra's spoiler was the St. Louis Gateway Arch of spoilers
SUPRA Footwear is an America shoe brand founded in California
Pro Tip: Design Details is most tolerable when listened to at 1.2-1.3x speed
Race Swisher left us a very kind iTunes review
You too can leave a review for the show right here

News:

The Figma Plugins Beta lets you extend the app by using their API

Listener Questions

Sahil Chaturvedi asks what an "IC" is
An individual contributor is "someone who contributes individually and who does not manage a team"
"Closer to the metal"
Anonymous asks about the 8pt vs. 10pt grid
Former co-host Bryn Jackson wrote a great rundown called The 8-Point Grid
Kelly Smith asks about the difference between iOS and Android
Material Design Guidelines
Apple Human Interface Guidelines
iOS Materials
Scrim is another term for a transparent overlay, typically used to separate a foreground layer from a background layer
A Device-Independent Pixel (or dp) is "a physical unit of measurement based on a coordinate system held by a computer and represents an abstraction of a pixel for use by an application that an underlying system then converts to physical pixels"
The Dark Mode section of the HIG sadly doesn't provide any actual colors
Video: "What's New in iOS Design" dives deep on colors and materials
WWDC is Apple's annual Worldwide Developer Conference
We talked about Google I/O back in Episode 296

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared some amazing isometric dioramas from Roman Klčo, Guillaume Kurkdjian, and Jarlan Perez
Marshall shared Ferris, a Kickstarter campaign for "a modular key and wallet system"
Distil Union also makes the Wally Micro, MagLock Sunglasses, and many more quality products
Video Review: MODULAR Everyday Carry (EDC)?! - Distil Union Ferris System - First Look

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

300: Looking Back on 300 Episodes

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 12 Jun 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week we reflect on 300 episodes of Design Details. We recount the origin story, answering listener questions as we go about how we've managed to maintain the schedule for so long, the high and low points, and future plans for the podcast. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a new music discovery app and Marshall's favorite book of all time.

Sponsor:

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

Follow-up:

Brian watched Survivor - and liked it! Jeff Probst, vampire?
- Survivor, Edge of Extinction is the most recent game mechanic in the Survivor-verse.
Brian and Gabriel Valdivia went to see The Late Show - good times were had.

WWDC Hot Takes:

Brian is most excited for Project Catalyst, the real name for last year's Marzipan announcement.
The new Mac Pro is silly. The price of the Pro Display XDR is even sillier.
Marshall is excited for too many things:
- New semantic colors that handle dark mode automatically.
- iOS 13 will block spam calls automatically
- iOS 13 gets a native swipe keyboard, years after Gboard's implementation.
- SwiftUI is a new declarative way to build iOS applications. It is very exciting, indeed.

Reflecting on 300 episodes of Design Details

Design Details was originally a blog. The post for Facebook Paper became popular and led to many more posts in the following months.
Bryn Jackson and Brian co-hosted Design Details for 256 episodes.
The full Design Details archive is available for all to hear! We have recommended starting episodes and you can search for the "Best-of" compilation episodes.
Early episodes, like Episode 3 with Wilson Miner were critical for setting the tone of the show.
Sarah Marie, and recently Drew Luper, have been editing and producing every episode of Design Details. The show wouldn't be possible without them, and their work is the reason our audio sounds so good. Thank you Sarah and Drew!
Aaron Miller and Joshua Shao asked how we keep the show going every week, and what it takes to pull off the weekly release schedule.
Eileen Wong asked if there were ever times we wanted to give up, or what the low points were of recording Design Details.
Tom Moor asked if any life-changing connections were made through the show.
- Tea Chang's episode was great example of changing how Marshall thought about interviewing guests.
- Episode 23 with Christophe Tauziet helped Brian get his foot in the door at Facebook.
Leo asked if we are planning on bringing back old guests to follow up on their progress as designers.
- We like the idea of doing followup interviews similar to Vanity Fair's interview with Billie Eilish recorded one year apart.
Hari asked what episodes we would recommend a new listener start with. Here are our top ten episodes (by download count):
Design Picnic is a new design podcast specifically for Thai designers

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared Spotify Stations, a new standalone app from Spotify to help curate new radio playlists. We muse whether this is simply a faster surface to explore new UI and interaction patterns that might someday make their way back to the main app.
Marshall shared Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, a cyberpunk-genre book which takes place in a dystopian future was published in 1992.

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

299: Balancing Management and IC Work

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 5 Jun 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we answer a listener question about the balance of being both a manager and an individual contributor, which leads to some more existential conversation about sharing what we think we know and the fear of being wrong loudly in public. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a Marvel movie pitch and an addictive reality show (and Marshall shares the rough skeleton of his screenplay idea).

Sponsor:

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

Abstract is design workflow management for modern design teams. With Abstract, you can bring your design workflow into a single, unified place for designers, developers, and stakeholders to collaborate and keep work moving forward. Sign your team up for a free, 30-day trial today by heading over to abstract.com. And if you tweet at @goabstract and @designdetailsfm, with the phrase “improve my design workflow” you’ll be entered for a chance to win a $500 credit to their Business plan.

Follow-up:

Kevin Gutowski is building a plugin on top of Abstract's API that allows your coworkers to view and download all the assets in a master
Marc Edwards makes Skala Preview, which allows you to view your mocks with simulated colorblindness

Listener Question:

Q wants to know how to effectively balance being a manager and an individual contributor
Flow state is "the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity"
The Dunning-Kruger Effect is "a cognitive bias in which people mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is"
Audio: "Talk less, smile more" references a recurring line from the broadway musical Hamilton

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared "Nando Pitches Ant-Man and The Wasp 2," a video by YouTube creator Nando v Movies pitching the third installment in the Ant-Man series
Correction: Nando's first original content pitch was for Suicide Squad 2
Marshall shared his screenplay idea
Video: Time Travel in Fiction Rundown does a great job of explaining the different ways time travel can be portrayed
Video: Ex Machina Opening Scene is a reference for winning a ticket to the mystery alpha
Video: Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - Pure Imagination is a reference for the Omni campus tour
Video: Jurassic Park - Mr. DNA Sequence is a reference for the time travel mechanics exposition
Tom Holland is today's Michael J. Fox
Marshall also shared Survivor, an addicting, always-evolving competition that commands each player to outwit, outplay, and outlast

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

298: Designing a Design Curriculum

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 May 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we answer a listener question about designing a design curriculum and another about where the line is between a visual redesign and an experience redesign. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a playlist of experts and an action film series.

Sponsor:

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

This week's episode is brought to you by Dribbble Hang Time NYC
With more than 25 talks, workshops, and intimate conversations to choose from, Dribbble's Hang Time design conference is your chance to join hundreds of designers in NYC for a day of inspiration, learning, and career growth. Dribbble has lined up presentations by some of the best and brightest in the industry, and attendees can expect a wide variety of talks and workshops, each in an intimate, limited-seat setting for a meaningful conference experience.

Save $100 off your ticket by using the code DESIGNDETAILS through Friday, May 31, 2019. And follow us @designdetailsfm to find out more about getting a fully paid ticket.

Follow-up:

Jason Jun was comforted and depressed by our shared struggles
Jason Rutterford found our northstar conversation helpful
Sanketh wants a collated directory of our cool things (Stay tuned!)

Listener Questions:

What's the line between visual redesign and experience redesign?
We talked about the Figma UI Refresh on episode 291: Figma's UI Redesign and Public Critique
If you had only 12 weeks to teach design, what would you teach?
You tell us! What would you teach?

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared "Experts," a video playlist of experts reviewing portrayals of their expertise
Brian shared John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum from a series about guns, punches, and cars
Video: "Patrick Explains THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (and Why It's Great)"
Video: Keanu at the gun range

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

297: Day-to-Day Design Struggles

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 May 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we take a break from talking about high-level design problems and dive into the specific struggles we find ourselves running into lately, including pushing through the last ten percent, maintaining multiple realities, gaining stakeholder buy-in, and designing around moving targets. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a science-fiction page-turner and a thought-provoking video series.

Sponsor:

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

Save $100 off your ticket by using the code DESIGNDETAILS through Friday, May 31, 2019. And follow us @designdetailsfm to find out more about getting a fully paid ticket.

Follow-up:

The Book of Mormon is a hilariously irreverent Broadway musical from the creators of South Park
Here are the full lyrics for the Design Details rap:

Designers in tech, you can spot em from afar
They all wear the same clothes, and don't drive cars
They all go on hikes, most ride bikes
And if you hit the dating apps, they look alike
They talk about some big ideas, and use language
Like "design is a tool we'll all use to save the planet"
Then they go back to their desk (standing)
Tweak a couple pixels, cause their job is so demanding
Text a designer? The message is blue
Meet a designer? They probably got a beard, too
See a designer? They're usually white
I'm talking pale-ass motherfucker, blindingly bright
They often have the best intentions, but the truth is
They're just another cog in a machine that is ruthless
Cause if you give a guy a KPI
They're gonna push retention till society dies
We're all different, we think different
All of us uniquely happen to think different
Skeuomorphism is dead, I'm insisting
It's all about that flat design now, listen
On Design Details
Brian and Marshall yell

Industry Talk:

It's tedious to push through the last 10% of a project
The heat death of the universe is "an idea of an ultimate fate of the universe in which the universe has evolved to a state of no thermodynamic free energy and therefore can no longer sustain processes that increase entropy"
Video [GoT Spoilers!]: "Not today" is what we say to the God of Rough Edges
GIF: Shame
Maintaining multiple realities in one's head can be difficult
MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product, or "a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers and provide feedback for future product development"
Ten pounds of shit in a five-pound bag is an idiom meant to describe anything that is overfull or a situation that is undesirable
Playlist: "Framer Feature Announcements" do a great job of creating excitement around prototyping features
Gaining stakeholder buy-in and design for others' surfaces can be tricky with a lot of stakeholders and in-progress roadmaps
Design-by-committee is "a disparaging term for a project that has many designers involved but no unifying plan or vision"
Headcanon is "an interpretation of a fictional universe accepted by an individual fan, but not necessarily found within or supported by the official canon"
Forcing functions are "any task, activity or event that forces you to take action and produce a result"

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, "a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human"
Marshall shared the Spectrum series by Jubilee, a playlist of videos "revealing the spectrum of beliefs within a specific group"

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

296: Google I/O

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 15 May 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week we dig into the latest and greatest announcements from this year's Google I/O. We talk through our top highlights like new privacy controls, Android Q improvements, and a solid new budget Pixel phone. And as always, we share our cool finds of the week, like a behind-the-scenes feature film on the creation of God of War, and a news application to help you read and understand what's happening in the world.

Sponsor:

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

Music:

This week Gabriel Valdivia teamed up with Brian Schulman and Kasey Valdivia to produce their own take on our theme song. Stick around to the episode to hear the full Design Details Rap 😂Soundcloud.

Gabe also recently released his own album, Blankets, which you can listen to on Spotify.

If you have your own interpretation of our theme song, send it to us on Twitter by direct message, we'd love to hear it!

Follow-up:

We recently recorded an episode about if AR is a gimmick. You can listen to that here.
- Marshall did some deep digging into the internet to learn more about the history of AR and its complicated relationship with hockey. Read more about the glowing hockey puck's horrible failure.
We continue to explore new album art designs - thank you for the feedback!
- This week Josh Shao sent in a custom font he's been working on for us to try
- Michael Knepprath doesn't have the emotional bandwidth to watch us change the art - we'll figure out something that feels right!
Mind Apivessa and Marisa Chentakul have launched a podcast called Design Picnic, a show about user experience and product design focusing on Thai designers across industries. If you're a Thai listener, or interested in a Thai perspective on product design, be sure to check out Design Picnic!

Event recap:

Google I/O happened this week with lots of interesting products and themes for us to dig into.
- Check out all the event details or just catch the highlights.
- Maps and YouTube are getting incognito mode
- It's becoming more common to have physical switches on microphones and cameras to protect against hacking.
- Google Takeout helps you download and remove the data that Google stores about you.
- Android Q is getting dark mode, among other neat features like live captions. Live captions still have a ways to go, but are impressive nonetheless.
- The Material Design spec has been updated with full details about how to properly implement a dark theme.
- The Google Nest Hub Max has some cool new features, like holding your hand up to the screen to pause any playing audio.
- The Pixel 3a is a budget Pixel device, but with actually decent specs and a solid camera. Check out MKBHD's review for more details.

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared a full length feature about the creation of the God of War video game series, Raising Kratos.
- Additionally, you can now watch the entire storyline of God of War as told through in-game cinematics. Grab yourself six hours and jump on in.
Brian shared Sift, an app that makes it easier to consume the news, dig into source materials, and interact with memorable graphs and charts about relevant social issues.

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

295: Public Critique and The Facebook Redesign

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 May 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss the usefulness of public design critiques, given Brian's eventful week of tweeting stuff. Then we dive deep on the new Facebook redesign, especially the details of the desktop version. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a financial app and a sneaker channel.

Sponsor:

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

Follow-up:

Portal 2 infers your Y-axis preference by asking you to look at the ceiling and floor
We shared a first draft of new cover art for the podcast
Chrish Dunne offered some good feedback on the cover art, and we're taking it
Jonathan Fisher added some visuals to the "bye" from last episode
We thought Tea Chang was a great guest, and so did you :)
Another thing Jonathan sent in is a haunting piano rendition of our theme song
Scriptnotes is a podcast that ends each show with a listener-submitted rendition of their theme song
Each episode of If I Were You from Jake and Amir starts with listener-made content

Industry Talk:

Facebook announced a bunch of stuff at this year's F8 Developer Conference
Brian tweeted that he had a lot of questions
Turns out, he actually had a lot of questions
Brian tweeted about a Kickstarter bug that ultimately wasn't their fault
The Brave browser runs on Chromium
Three open questions:
Where do we draw the line between having an opinion and being a bad participant?
Is it useful to ask rhetorical questions in a public setting?
Is it unfair to publicly call out a design team over something that could be improved?
Refactoring UI put together a list of design tips with examples for before and after
Can't Unsee is a fun design comparison quiz
We say wrench, but maybe you say spanner
Brian tweeted about a usability issue in Figma, and they fixed it

App Redesign:

Video: "New Facebook Redesign"
Article: "Defining the Problem of Elevator Waiting Times"
"Lickable"
Video: "It's not a wheel, it's a carousel"
Video: "Building the New facebook.com with React, GraphQL and Relay" and skip to 28:00 for the bit about the redesign

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared Rollie, "a simpler way to check your spending and balances"
Rollie uses Plaid, "the easiest way for users to connect their bank accounts to an app"
Marshall shared Seth Fowler, a YouTuber with an industrial design background who makes videos about sneakers full-time
In his "If I Designed" series, Seth renders reimaginings of classic shoes

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

294: Designing UX for Games (feat. Tea Chang) (& Endgame Discussion)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 1 May 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we welcome Tea Chang, a UX Designer working on League of Legends at Riot Games, to talk about designing user experiences for gamers. At the end of the show, Tea sticks around for a long, spoiler-filled discussion of Avengers: Endgame. In Follow-up, we read and respond to your feedback regarding the cover art concept from last week. And as always, we share a few cool things, like a video series about movies, some state-specific branding, and a little indie film about superheroes. Spoilers spoilers spoilers. Spoilers.

Sponsor:

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

Follow-up:

Last week, we tweeted out a first draft of the new cover art
Video: "The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup"
Brett Yanoski likes the mask idea but thinks the execution needs work
Ryan Morrison and Luca Orio gave us their seals of approval
Alex Binder likes the graphic Ds
Chrish Dunne would prefer a better logotype and more abstract Ds
Follow us on Twitter and stay tuned for more versions of the cover art
Mskellybrooks left us a very nice iTunes review
You can leave one for us, too :)

Interview:

Check out Tea Chang on Twitter and at her personal site
League of Legends is a wildly popular multiplayer online battle arena game from Riot Games
Video: "Playtesting - How to Get Good Feedback on Your Game - Extra Credits"
Literally unplayable is "an expression—often sarcastic—indicating that a video game is so badly broken that it prevents a player from progressing or enjoying the experience"
Vivi Rosenstein's stance on assigning blame for suboptimal design has matured over the years
Banner blindness is "a phenomenon in web usability where visitors to a website consciously or unconsciously ignore banner-like information"
Article: "Get ready to see more ads on Google’s traffic app Waze"
Adobe XD is "the fastest way to design, prototype, and share any user experience"
Video: "The Magic of Making Sound" is a great peek into foley, an art which, when done well, goes unnoticed
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild forces you to use a wide range of weapons by making them both easy to find and quick to break
Video game design is "the process of designing the content and rules of a video game in the pre-production stage"
Article: "'Mortal Kombat 11' Requires More Than $6,000 to 100%, According to Early Estimates"
We talked about the interface and game design of Apex Legends on episode 283: Deadly American Idol
In the gorgeous game Gris, "light puzzles, platforming sequences, and optional skill-based challenges reveal themselves as more of Gris’s world becomes accessible"
Video: "Portal 2 Intro", in which a tutorial is hidden behind a funny, story-driven calibration test

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared Patrick H. Willems, a YouTuber who makes videos about movies
Check out the Patrick Explains series, especially the one about The Fast and the Furious
Gabriel Valdivia introduced Brian to the channel
Tea shared the team page for Mayor Pete Buttigieg, which has some really nice branding for each US state
Shepard Fairey is famous for his Obama Hope poster (and the Obey clothing brand)
Marshall shared Avengers: Endgame and discussed it with Tea and Brian in a segment called...

Endgame Discussion:

!!! SPOILERS !!!

Video: "Every Avengers: Endgame Easter Egg", in which 209 easter eggs are enumerated
Video: "Rocky Training" is the prototypical montage sequence showing a protagonist's improvement over time
The Dark Night of the Soul is "a moment, usually at the end of the second act of a three-act story, where all seems lost and the protagonist must confront 'a collapse of perceived meaning'"
r/inthesoulstone

!!! SPOILERS !!!

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin and hi@brianlovin.com
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

293: Is AR a Gimmick?

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we bring back the Fight Me segment with a debate on the usefulness of augmented reality in apps. Is it a gimmick or not? In Follow-up, we debut a proposal for our new cover art, and we shout out Linzi Berry's latest blog post. And as always, we share a couple cool things like an addictive game and a bizarre novel.

Cover photo by Niantic via The Verge

Follow-up:

If you missed last week's episode with Linzi Berry, give it a listen
- Erik Bro shared the episode with his fellow designers at Reddit
Here's the new cover art proposal, in case you don't see it in your podcast player of choice
- The current cover art is by Ryan Morrison
- Email us with your cover art ideas at hi@brianlovin.com
Article: "A system built on parity: How to treat all of your users equally" by Linzi Berry, Kathy Ma, and Sam Soffes
- Read it on the newly redesigned site for DesignSystems.com from Figma

Fight Me:

Article: "How Does the Magic Yellow First-Down Line Work?"
Site: Pokémon Go lets you "catch Pokémon in the real world"
Photo: Old Man Yells at Cloud is a Simpsons reference and Marshall sometimes
Photo: Old car radios have these big, spring-loaded buttons that move a physical needle
App: Wanna Kicks lets you "try on and shop footwear in AR"
Site: Apple - Augmented Reality for iOS is Apple's case for augmented reality
App: WordLens (now a feature within Google Translate) lets you "see the world in your language"
Video: "Hearthstone Animated Short: Hearth and Home" is pure joy

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared Factory Town, an early access simulation game that lets you "build, automate, and optimize your own village on procedurally-generated 3D terrain"
- It's a lot like Factorio, "a game in which you build and maintain factories"
- Article: "Engineering with Redstone in Minecraft"
Marshall shared John Dies at the End, a novel that deftly balances Lovecraftian horror with shameless potty humor
- The movie version is currently available to stream on Hulu
- Marshall also read Children of Time, which was kinda meh

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

292: Building Design Systems (feat. Linzi Berry)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we welcome to the show Linzi Berry, a manager on Lyft's design system. Linzi enlightens us on how to implement, maintain, enforce, evangelize, and roll out a design system, and we discuss her super informative design blog, Tap to Dismiss. In Follow-up, we debate some Episode 300 suggestions, revisit the Figma UI refresh, and shout out a quality-of-life improvement in Sketch 54. And as always, we (all three of us!) share some cool things, including a historic photo, a video to help understand that photo, and an update on the Bobiverse.

Sponsor:

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

Follow-up:

Jonathan Fisher sent us some great ideas for Episode 300, including having Bryn back on the show
Send your Ep 300 ideas to us @designdetailsfm
Jason Csizmadi wishes we had talked more about the Figma UI Refresh
Sketch 54 has some nice quality-of-life improvements
Chris Doner wants some details about tactical usage of a design system
- SMASH CUT TO:

Interview:

Linzi Berry (site) is a design manager on the Lyft Design System
She worked at Odopod on stuff for SpaceX, Tesla, Fitbit, and Audemars Piguet
Watch brands pop up in rap songs a lot thanks to Jay-Z and Beyoncé
WalkSF is "your advocate for safe streets for all"
Better Market Street is a collaboration "initiating a number of improvements to test ways to improve Market Street"
Michael Wang, formerly at Lyft, is a designer at Northstar
Peak2Peak is "the ultimate urban walking adventure"
Walk to Work Day is SF's "annual celebration of our walking city – and of everyone who walks"
Brown Bag Meetings are " informal meetings that occur in the workplace generally around lunchtime"
Colorbox is a tool created by Kevyn Arnott
Tap to Dismiss is Linzi's Medium blog that "sweats the details so you don't have to"
Divider Lines are deceptively hard
Sam Soffes coined the term "Choice Chip Bag"
Linda Dong is a design manager at Lyft, too

One Cool Thing:

Linzi shared the first photo ever taken of a black hole
Marshall shared "How to Understand the Image of a Black Hole", a video by Veratasium
Brian shared For We Are Many, Book 2 of the Bobiverse Trilogy by Dennis E. Taylor

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

291: Figma's UI Redesign and Public Critique

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss Figma's UI redesign, the public response to it, and how to effectively communicate negative feedback to both companies and colleagues. In Follow-up, Brian has an update on a previous Cool Thing, we read some listener feedback (all positive, phew!), and Marshall shares his choice of AirPower replacement. And as always, we share a couple cool things, like a fellow designer's website and a new music album.

Sponsor:

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

Follow-up:

Pssst! What should we do for Episode 300? Let us know!
Brian is reading We Are Legion (We Are Bob), the first book in the Bobiverse trilogy and Marshall's Cool Thing suggestion from last episode
Chris Doner likes how Artboard Manager reorders artboards in the Layer List to reflect their positions on the Canvas
Cameron Campbell thinks we should have a Patreon to support 3-hour episodes O_o
Brian tweeted a poll asking how much money one would need in order to stop working for the rest of one's life
Marshall purchased the SliceCharge 2 to fill the AirPower-shaped hole in his heart
Hard Cider Labs also makes the BassCanon attachment for Ear/AirPods

Tool Review:

Figma Blog: "We refreshed Figma's UI: An inside look at our process" by Rasmus Andersson
Microsoft Office's Ribbon UI is being redesigned
Spectrum v3's redesign received a lot of feedback
There was a Spectrum discussion of the Figma redesign
Shit sandwich (shĭt sănd′wĭch) n. - a method of softening negative feedback by prepending and appending positive feedback
Just ask EA about negative customer feedback
People mocked the "Wii" and "iPad" monikers for a little while until no one cared anymore

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared the personal website for his Ryan Morrison (not Marshall's Ryan Morrison)
Marshall shared Billie Eilish's new album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
- Reprise (rĭ-prēz′) n. - a repetition of a phrase or verse; a return to an original theme
- Lil Dicky - Molly feat. Brendon Urie

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

290: Transitioning to Product Design

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 3 Apr 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we answer listener questions, including how to transition from engineering to product design, how to wrap up before moving to a new company, and what we think of apps that allow you to change the launch icon. In Follow-up, we read some listener feedback about last episode, and Marshall fills in a couple details on his file organization tips. In News, we lament the untimely death of AirPower (rip rip). And as always, we share a couple cool things like a sci-fi movie and a sci-fi book trilogy.

Sponsor:

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

Follow-up:

We had some good feedback from our last episode about design file hygiene:
Cal Rowston noticed a few gems among all the babbling
Tim Bendt could listen to layer organization tips forever (which is a totally normal thing btw)
Katherine's heart was warmed by Marshall's obsessive compulsions
Ryan Hayen wants to start a layer organization OCD support group
Anthony Collurafici pointed us to a Medium article by Andy Detskas that explains how to organize your artboards with serialization
Marshall adds a couple details to his file organization tips:
Layer Tools has a couple especially useful renaming actions: "Find and Replace..." and "Prepend/Append to Selected Layer Names..."
In addition to "thinking in divs," try to order the layers and groups in your Layer List just as they appear in the mock, from top-left to bottom-right
Keyboard Maestro is a super-powered macro utility for Mac
ICYMI, here's the Sketch file for Marshall's unsolicited NYT Crossword app redesign that he shared last episode as an example of maniacal file organizational

News:

AirPower has been cancelled:
Video: Phil Schiller announces the AirPower charging mat
Article: Apple cancels AirPower wireless charger
Article: "Apple's Phil Schiller explains why the white iPhone 4 took so long"
AirPower is pictured on the new AirPods packaging
Video: "The Death of Airpower: Explained!"

Listener Questions:

>> If you'd like to ask us a question, we're @designdetailsfm on Twitter, or email us: hi@brianlovin.com or marshallbock@gmail.com

Sofia F asks what we think about apps like Streaks that offer different launch icons
We love it! Here are some other apps we use that do this:
- Bear is "a beautiful, flexible writing app for crafting notes and prose"
- Tweetbot is "a Twitter client with personality"
- Pocket Casts is "the world's most powerful podcast platform"
- Apollo is "a beautiful Reddit app built for power and speed"
  - David Lanham is an illustrator with an endearing style
Anonymous asks what we think about transitioning from Engineering to Product Design
Do some side projects or case studies to beef up your portfolio and gain some experience
Sit with your fellow product designers and offer to help wherever needed
Anonymous asks about transitioning to a new company
Leave your active projects in good shape, either finishing them yourself or handing them off to an informed successor
If you've already gotten an offer, they're probably gonna be cool with you wrapping up your active projects before transitioning

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared Prospect, a sci-fi movie about "a teenage girl and her father who travel to a remote alien moon, aiming to strike it rich"
Pedro Pascal
Sophie Thatcher
Andre Royo
The Wire is a show about the Baltimore drug scene, seen through the eyes of drug dealers and law enforcement
Marshall shared We Are Legion (We Are Bob), the first book in a sci-fi trilogy about a software engineer who unwittingly becomes an AI and humanity's last hope for survival
Ready Player One has a similar tone but tries a little too hard

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

289: Design File Hygiene

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, Marshall offers a few simple tips for tidying up your source files, and we answer a listener question about when to move on from a company. In News, we shout out a new resource from the maker of Laws of UX. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a browser for neoworkers and an article about the Omnibox.

Follow-up:

Last week, Marshall recommended the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9500 Electric Toothbrush
Brian doesn't think it's worth the money, unless you're into Mercedes-Benz, apparently

News:

Humane by Design is "a resource that provides guidance for designing ethically humane digital products through patterns focused on user well-being"
It's made by Jon Yablonski, who you might remember as the maker of Laws of UX referenced in 271: Principles of Design

Listener Question:

Anonymous has been at a startup for years and doesn't know where it's going. They ask, "Should I stay and fight the good fight? Or should I go to a bigger company and make more money?"
Loss Aversion and the Sunk Cost Fallacy on Wikipedia
Kristy Tillman is the Head of Global Experience Design at Slack
Do you have a question you'd like to hear us answer on the show? Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com

Industry Talk:

A few simple rules:

Rename and structure your layers as you create them
If you find yourself duplicating an element frequently, make it a symbol
Use "Bounds" layers to define a group's area, then snap groups together like Lego

Sketch Plugins:
Layer Tools
Automate
Artboard Manager
Symbol Organizer
Runner
Here the Sketch Cloud source file for Marshall's unsolicited redesign of the New York Times Crossword app on iOS
Importing the file into Figma resulted in some unexpected insanity, but hopefully you can see through the mistranslations and grok the structure. Sorry :(

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared NOVA, a web browser "designed for the way we interact with the web today, made for the neoworkers" (whatever those are)
Moom is a simple Mac utility that "makes window management as easy as clicking a mouse button"
Nova's app icon isn't nearly as bold as its marketing page
Marshall shared Unboxing Chrome, a Medium article by Hannah Lee about the monumental task of redesigning Chrome's Omnibox

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
- Email us at designdetailsfm@gmail.com
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

288: Articulating Design Rationale

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we answer a listener question about articulating design rationale during presentations. We also shared some exciting news from the Sketch team and recapped feedback from last week's episode where we pulled back the curtain on Design Details. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a fancy toothbrush and a web app to make your own generative art.

Sponsor:

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

Follow-up:

Last week we pulled back the curtain on Design Details and asked for your feedback. You replied! Some key takeaways:
- Our titles need to be more straightforward and clear.
- We need to bring back interviews, at a non-regular frequency, to balance our opinions and provide new insight .
- We should try new ways of engaging with designers outside of the podcast - thank you to Kevin Gutowksi for the notes!
Our Twitter poll about the proper pronunciation of "favicon" had a lot of votes, and some interesting results.

News:

Sketch announced a $20m fundraising round to help them build new collaboration tools and a web version coming in 2019.
- In the past we've interviewed Chris Downer and Pieter Omvlee from the Sketch team - listen to those to learn more about Sketch and how they thought about fundraising at the time.
- Our good friends on the Layout podcast also discussed the Sketch news on this week's episode.

Listener Questions:

Silvia asks: "I'd love to get advice on how to present my design rationale to others, and ways I can improve rationale overall. I find that I do have reasons for the design choices I made but when presenting I can't seem to put into words."
- Jobs to be done is a useful framework for understanding critical user journeys and validating rationale.

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9500, a toothbrush that can do everything except take out your trash.
Brian shared Tinkersynth, a web app created by Josh Comeau that lets you playfully create generative art.

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

287: A Peek Behind the Curtain

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we pull back the curtain on Design Details itself and share how we think about iterating toward a better podcast. In Follow-up, we hear back about our Spectre critique from last episode, and we discover listeners do listen until the end. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a fancy toilet seat and a design interview FAQ.

Sponsor:

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

Follow-up:

Sebastiaan de With replied to our Spectre review
- There's a favicon (and Apple icon) on spectre.cam now
Grace Lee enjoyed the stinger from last episode
Jak McCormack always listens to the end

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared the Toto s550e Washlet, a bidet seat that makes life worth living
Brian shared Design Interviewing: Ask Me Anything, some advice on design interviews from Kurt Varner based on his time as a hiring manager at Dropbox

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

286: Bask in the Awkwardness

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 Mar 2019 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we kindly critique the design details of Spectre, a new app from the folks behind Halide. In Follow-up, we discuss knowing when to shut up in a negotiation, and in Industry Talk, we debate when it's okay to break the rules of affordances. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a new home and some wild music videos.

Sponsor:

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

Abstract is design workflow management for modern design teams. With Abstract, you can bring your design workflow into a single, unified place for designers, developers, and stakeholders to collaborate and keep work moving forward. Sign your team up for a free, 30-day trial today by heading over to goabstract.com. And if you tweet at @goabstract and @designdetailsfm, with the phrase “improve my design workflow” you’ll be entered for a chance to win a $500 credit to their Business plan.

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

Follow-up:

Mahmoud Bachir says "Something I've heard in regards to salary negotiation is to state your number concisely, then stop talking."
Pssst! Sometimes, it pays to listen until after the outro music (43:39)

Industry Talk:

affordance - n. the quality or property of an object that defines its possible uses or makes clear how it can or should be used
The Design of Everyday Things uses Norman doors (video) as an example of a good affordance
Reddit: Faucet at a restaurant
Here's a link to the Twitter composer modal
"More wood, fewer arrows"
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - Chilled Monkey Brains

App Launch:

Sebastiaan de With and Ben Sandofsky, the duo behind Halide, have released Spectre, an AI-powered shutter for your iPhone, letting you create amazing long exposures
Spectre (2015)
Spectre's launch icon resembles both an "S" and a camera lens, and it echoes the app interface

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared that he found a place to call his own in NYC \o/
Marshall shared the work of Billie Eilish, a singer-songwriter and maker of amazingly bizarre music videos
- Recommended: you should see me in a crown, when the party's over, bury a friend, hostage

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

285: Deadly American Idol

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss spoken accents, answer a listener question about salary negotiations, and Marshall dives deep into the design of Apex Legends. And as always, we share a couple cool things, like a hip hop musical and a way to bring joy back to your Twitter timeline.

Intro:

Jak McCormack wants us to attempt English accents. No thank you, Jak 😜
- "That's bait"

Follow-up:

Anton Osipov shared a helpful visual for using a unit-based vertical baseline.
Zain Khoja shared studentswho.design, a podcast bridging the gap between students and the design industry - by students, for students.

Listener Questions:

An anonymous listener asks: "I’m about to change jobs and soon I’ll have initial call with someone from one of the companies I could potentially work for. I don’t want to invest too much of my time in multiple calls and meetings with them before being sure the offer meets my expectations, especially in terms of salary. But I also don’t want to be considered as one of those guys who care only about money. So my question is: what’s the right moment to talk about this? Should that be something to talk about during the very first call? Or maybe later? For context: it was the company who reached out to me whether I’d be interested in the role."
- HBR wrote about what people want from their jobs.

Explain Like I'm Five:

Marshall goes deep into the world of Apex Legends.
- Charlie Deets explains the magic of communication in Apex Legends
- Battle Royale, based on the novel by Koushun Takami, is a film from 2000 in which the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act
- PUBG, Fortnite, and Call of Duty: Blackout are popular games in the battle royale genre
- Respawn Entertainment is the company behind Apex Legends, who are well known for the Titanfall series
- Watch Apex Legends to get a better feel for how the game works

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording), an album from the musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Brian shared Tokimeki Unfollow by Julius Tarng, a tool to help you bring joy back to your Twitter timeline, based on Marie Kondo's KonMari method

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

284: Stone Soup

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we answer more listener questions, including what software the industry uses, how to get involved in open-source projects, and how to curate a large portfolio. In News, we compare our scores on a design-based spot-the-difference quiz. And as always, we share a couple cool things, like another Netflix Original and some awesome designer directories.

Intro:

Wampas are a species of powerful, furred bipeds that dwell in the snowy wastes of the ice world Hoth
Tauntauns are a species of snow lizard found roaming the windswept snow plains of Hoth
Wampum is a traditional shell bead of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of American Indians

Sponsor:

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

Abstract is design workflow management for modern design teams. With Abstract, you can bring your design workflow into a single, unified place for designers, developers, and stakeholders to collaborate and keep work moving forward. Sign your team up for a free, 30-day trial today by heading over to goabstract.com. And if you tweet at @goabstract and @designdetailsfm, with the phrase “improve my design workflow” you’ll be entered for a chance to win a $500 credit to their Business plan.

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

News:

Cant Unsee is a fun design quiz by Alex Kotliarskyi
- Brian got a 6980, and Marshall got a 7330. Tell us what you got!

Listener Questions:

untitl0d asks: "What software does the industry actually use for UI and web design? My BA course is teaching us Wordpress and XD in first year. They don’t even have Sketch on the Macs, and this is a dedicated Arts college. It just feels off."
- Some mainstays: Sketch, Figma, Framer X, Invision, Principle, ProtoPie, and Flinto
- Note: Adobe XD is free, actually
Chris Doner asks, "How can designers get involved in open-source projects?"
- The story of stone soup
Anonymous asks, "How do I curate a large project on my portfolio. There’s a lot of designs between our web app and native apps. Should I summarize the product and try to fit it into one case study? Or Should I select primary components and break them down into separate case studies?"
- Here's Brian's list of Product Design Portfolios

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared The Umbrella Academy, a show (and comic series) about the reuniting of seven super-powered siblings
Brian shared Blacks Who Design, Women Who Design, and Latinxs Who Design, three directories of accomplished designers in the industry

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

283: Timefoolery

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we answer a couple listener questions, including how to reliably align text to a baseline grid, and how to use data to learn from the features you ship. In News, Marshall extols the virtues of a little feature in the recently-released Sketch 53 update. And as always, we share a couple cool things, like a mind-bending Netflix show and an accessibility-focused pull request.

Sponsor:

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

Abstract is design workflow management for modern design teams. With Abstract, you can bring your design workflow into a single, unified place for designers, developers, and stakeholders to collaborate and keep work moving forward. Sign your team up for a free, 30-day trial today by heading over to goabstract.com. And if you tweet at @goabstract and @designdetailsfm, with the phrase “improve my design workflow” you’ll be entered for a chance to win a $500 credit to their Business plan.

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

Follow-up:

For last week's One Cool Thing, Marshall shared LG's 65-inch Rollable 4K OLED TV (video), and go figure, it actually DOES resize to 21:9 (video). Whoops!
- Mea culpa is a very fancy Latin phrase meaning "my fault"
Ramon Gilabert suggested a couple secure ways of time-tracking and network control
- Timing is "the best automatic Mac time tracker for productive professionals and freelancers"
- Little Snitch "makes your Internet connections visible and puts you back in control"

News:

Sketch 53 is available now
Sketch Blog: "Better overrides, a brand new Fill Popover and faster prototyping in Sketch 53"

Listener Questions:

Andreas v.d. Griendt asks "How do you work with developers to get your 8pt grid designs implemented? This is easy for placing a button. But if you actually would align text to a 4pt baseline, this is very challenging. Easy to do in Sketch, but super difficult for developers to implement/understand. For web this would be even more difficult than for native. But dynamic font sizing can be a challenge as well with this approach. What is helpful to do? How do you balance enforcing this?"
Kevin Gutowski asks "Data is, of course, very important. How do you actually learn from the features that you ship? What hard metrics / soft metrics are recorded? How are they being recorded and by whom?"

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared Russian Doll, a Netflix Original co-created by and starring Natasha Lyonne
Brian shared a pull request by Jaochim that makes Security Checklist more accessible

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

282: Flow State

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 Feb 2019 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we look to Twitter for answers to the eternal question: "How do I find time to design despite tons of meetings, context shifting, and an open office layout?" In News, we detail some exciting ideas in an iOS 13 design concept. And as always, we share a couple cool things, like a spiritual successor to MySpace and a rollable television.

Sponsor:

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

Abstract is design workflow management for modern design teams. With Abstract, you can bring your design workflow into a single, unified place for designers, developers, and stakeholders to collaborate and keep work moving forward. Sign your team up for a free, 30-day trial today by heading over to goabstract.com. And if you tweet at @goabstract and @designdetailsfm, with the phrase “improve my design workflow” you’ll be entered for a chance to win a $500 credit to their Business plan.

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

News:

iOS 13 Concept by Apple_iDesigner

Industry Talk:

Lil Chen tweeted a great question: "What's your secret to finding time to design amongst tons of meetings, context shifting, and open office layouts?"
- Marshall just goes home and works some more
- Brian uses RescueTime, a way to "find your ideal work-life balance"
- Barbara suggests scheduling a "meeting" with a colleague
- Sara recommends nixing all meetings scheduled over your blocked time
- Jackie says to send an email stating your intentions and when you'll be available
- Mattie reminds us that no one checks the ceilings
- Wesley likes to use his headphones as a Do Not Disturb sign

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared Jarred Sumner's post "Why Isn't the Internet More Fun and Weird"
- Codeblog is bringing glitter back to the web
- MDX is Markdown for the component era
Marshall shared LG's 65-inch Rollable 4K OLED TV (video), which has a display that coils up into a box
- Note: Sooooo, the screen actually DOES resize to 21:9. Whoops!

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEE!

281: Steady Habit

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we review a listener side project called Steady Habit, an iPhone app made by Sandor Gyuris. And as always, we share a couple cool things like painful mouth plastic and some future geographical plans.

Sponsor:

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract

Abstract is design workflow management for modern design teams. With Abstract, you can bring your design workflow into a single, unified place for designers, developers, and stakeholders to collaborate and keep work moving forward. Sign your team up for a free, 30-day trial today by heading over to goabstract.com. And if you tweet at @goabstract and @designdetailsfm, with the phrase “improve my design workflow” you’ll be entered for a chance to win a $500 credit to their Business plan.

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

Side Project Review:

Steady Habit is a simple way to create impactful routines, brought to you by Sandor Gyuris
Learn more at steady-habit.com and @SteadyHabitApp
For posterity, we've preserved the App Store screenshots and product website as they appeared at the time of recording
33:11 - Note: Marshall means "Apple Watch" when he says "iPhone" here. This is becoming a pattern.

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared Invisalign, an expensive way to make your teeth hurt
Brian shared his plans to move to NYC!
Video: "New York City?!?!"
Video: TLC - Waterfalls

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

TTFN!

280: Steve Jobs Shoulder Buddy

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 23 Jan 2019 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss your tweets on how to git gud (and stay gud) at visual design. And as always, we share a couple Cool Things, including a hilarious pop culture reviewer.

Sponsors:

This week's episode is brought to you by Abstract and Readymag

Abstract is design workflow management for modern design teams. With Abstract, you can bring your design workflow into a single, unified place for designers, developers, and stakeholders to collaborate and keep work moving forward. Sign your team up for a free, 30-day trial today by heading over to goabstract.com. And if you tweet at @goabstract and @designdetailsfm, with the phrase “improve my design workflow” you’ll be entered for a chance to win a $500 credit to their Business plan.

Readymag is a design tool in your browser that lets you draw up any web publication and publish it online without a single line of code. Use it for free as long as you want, with a library of 1500+ free fonts, advanced animation, and unlimited projects or upgrade to one of the paid plans to enjoy advanced features like custom domains and uploading custom fonts. The first 50 users to apply the promo code DESIGNDETAILS will get 40% off their first payment.

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

Industry Talk:

Video: "That's kind of a big question" from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Check out 271: Principles of Design for some specific examples of good foundational design rules
Guillermo Rauche, David Klein, and Mike Rundle all suggest copying to learn
May-Li Khoe suggests shadowing a stronger designer
PSDTuts is now Envato Tuts+
Material Design and the Apple HIG are wonderful learning resources and good languages to be fluent in
The Illusion of Life is the bible for Disney animation
Joel Kalifa shared some great advice from Ira Glass

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared Jenny Nicholson, a YouTuber who reviews pop culture things. She's very, very funny.
Brian shared drugs. Don't do drugs.

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

TTFN!

279: TWIGBY

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 16 Jan 2019 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss performance reviews and promotions, including how to prepare, what to spotlight, and when to self-nominate (along with a few tips and tricks). In News, we talk about Chloe Condon's recent ordeal and how technology affects truth—heavy, sorry—and we look at Twitter's latest threaded replies experiment. And as always, we share a couple cool things like a movie conspiracy theory and a legendary brainstorm transcript.

Sponsor

This week's episode is brought to you by Readymag
Readymag is a design tool in your browser that lets you draw up any web publication and publish it online without a single line of code. Use it for free as long as you want, with a library of 1500+ free fonts, advanced animation, and unlimited projects or upgrade to one of the paid plans to enjoy advanced features like custom domains and uploading custom fonts.

The first 50 users to apply the promo code DESIGNDETAILS will get 40% off their first payment. Get started over at readymag.com

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

Claudio Guglieri and Anton Repponen have dope sites on Readymag

Follow-up

Michael Knepprath suggested that Brian make a checklist site (securitycheckli.st) out of his security advice from last episode, so he did
Feel free to open a pull request on Brian's repo if you have resources to add

News

Here's the thread for Chloe Condon's bizarre accusation ordeal
Video: "You Won’t Believe What Obama Says In This Video!"
Article: "A first look at Twitter’s new beta app and its bid to remain ‘valuable and relevant’"
The obligatory RIGBY (video) caveat
Urban Dictionary: "subtweet"

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared "Why SNOWPIERCER is a sequel to WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY", a movie conspiracy theory video that's eerily convincing
Marshall shared "RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: Story Conference Transcript", an inside look into the conception of the first Indiana Jones film

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

TTFN!

278: Dice Gamble

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 9 Jan 2019 13:00:00 +0000

In this first episode of 2019, Brian explains online security to Marshall as though he is a five-year-old, covering everything from DNSs to VPNs. In Follow-up, we read a few listener tweets, and as always, we share a couple Cool Things, including a misused city simulator and a social network for movie buffs.

Sponsor

Get started over at readymag.com

>> Want to become a sponsor of Design Details yourself? Email brian@spec.fm or sarah@spec.fm to get started :)

Follow-up

Design Details - 1: "How Nerdy of an Answer Do You Want? (feat. Sam Soffes)" was released exactly four years before the day we recorded this episode (!)
Claudio Guglieri used Readymag for the blog posts we mentioned in 273: "Bespoke, Artisanal, Single-Batch Blog Post"
Listener Tweets:
- Ravi Aujla hopes we'll keep talking about UX in games
- Chrish Dunne alerted us to a hidden shortcut in Terminal
- Federico Zanetello showed off his Home app inspired by our smart home episode

Explain Like I'm Five

The tweet that started it all
1Password Watchtower helps you find passwords you need to change
Lastpass is a good password manager, too
Article: "Password Autofill in iOS 12 now works with 1Password, Dashlane, and LastPass"
Wikipedia: Multi-factor authentication
Article: "The SIM Hijackers"
Podcast: Reply All - 97: "What Kind of Idiot Gets Phished?"
Google 2-Step Verification
Article: "Gmail for iOS now receives 2-Step Verification Prompts, new default over Google app"
Article: "Data of 143 million Americans exposed in hack of credit reporting agency Equifax"
Encrypt your Mac backups by going to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > File Vault
1.1.1.1 is a faster, more private DNS by Cloudflare
iVPN is the VPN service Brian uses
Encrypt.me comes as part of the eero Plus package
Webcam covers on Amazon (not an affiliate link)
To see all the apps that have access to your camera, go to Settings > Privacy > Camera for switches
Adblock blocks ads
Brave is a privacy-focused browser built on Chromium
Duck Duck Go is a privacy-focused search engine
Firefox Multi-Account Containers is an extension that walls off sites
Article: The Wired Guide to Digital Security
Article: "Introducing CYBER: A Hacking Podcast by Motherboard"
Podcast: Reply All - 97: "What Kind of Idiot Gets Phished?" (again)

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared Pres, a YouTube creator who makes beautifully realistic cities in Cities: Skylines
- Video: "Crazy Ira and the Douche"
- Article: "How Cities: Skylines took a great big slice of SimCity"
- Article: "Steam users have already declared the winner in the great coaster sim war"
- Video Playlists: New Windsor and Calavera Beach
- A few more great detailer channels: Silvarett, Fluxtrance, Strictoaster, two dollars twenty, and the Bob Ross of city sims, ImperialJedi
Brian shared Letterboxd, a social network for film lovers
- Kevin Clark's tweet clued Brian in on the service
- Watchlist by Keegan Jones lets you save movies to watch later

Stinger:

Video: "Tigger TTFN"

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEEEE!

277: Dribbble Stories (feat. Zack Onisko)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 19 Dec 2018 13:00:00 +0000

In this final episode of 2018, we speak with Zack Onisko, CEO of Dribbble, about our speculation regarding signup walls and the future of the platform. In News, we dissect Dark Mode triggering methods. And as always, we share a couple cool things, including a personalized music recap and a YouTube channel that rewrites superhero movies.

Follow-up

Michael Knepprath asks: "What challenges have you faced due to there being multiple people and a dog that can all trigger your devices?"
- Video: "Seinfeld Transitions Compilation"
More shortcuts:
- On the iOS homescreen, 3D Touch a folder to see all apps with notification badges in that folder
- On the iOS homescreen, drag down to enter Spotlight and easily search apps (or anything else)
- Luca Orio mentioned: On macOS, press Cmd+Shift+4 then Space to screenshot specific windows, including their shadow on a transparent background
- Silas Sao mentioned: On the iOS homescreen, when dragging an app in "Wiggle Mode," tap other apps to rearrange more than one at a time

News

Things introduces "Dark Mode for iOS"

Interview

Zack Onisko is the CEO of Dribbble and was nice enough to join us to answer some of the questions we posed in episode "274: Well... It's Free ¯\(ツ)/¯"
Note: It's important to "RIGBY" properly when critiquing

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared Nando v Movies, a YouTube channel that analyses and rewrites superhero movies via subtle suggestions
- Video Playlist: "The Justice League Rewrite"
Brian shared Spotify Wrapped 2018, the service's annual recap of your music listening habits

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

GOODBYEEEEEEE!

276: Hidden Shortcuts, Formal Educations, and "Builders"

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we answer three listener questions: one about hidden shortcuts, one about the line between designer and developer, and one about the necessity of a design degree. And as always, we share a couple cool things, like a trailer a few people have seen and a channel that make videos about speedrun progressions.

Listener Questions

Race Swisher says: "You guys should talk about hidden shortcuts that can be super confusing for users."
- Article: "This iOS 12 Keyboard Trick for Non-3D Touch iPhone Users is Going Viral"
- iOS:
  - In the keyboard, 3D Touch anywhere on the keys to move your cursor freely
    - Gboard for iOS has a phenomenal swipe-typing feature, in addition to many other nice little time-savers
  - In the keyboard, drag from the 123 button to a key in the alternate keyboard, then release to return to the ABC keyboard
  - In the keyboard, long-press on keys for additional character options
  - In the iPad keyboard, drag the Dismiss Keyboard button to split and reposition the keys
  - In the keyboard, double-space for a period followed by a space
  - On the home screen, 3D Touch app icons for quick actions (in supported apps)
  - On iPhone X, swipe down on the Home Indicator to trigger Reachability (Settings > General > Accessibility > Reachability On)
  - In Tweetbot, two-finger swipe vertically to switch between Day/Night mode
  - In Google Maps, double-tap-and-drag vertically to zoom
  - In Spotify, swipe horizontally to go to the previous/next track
  - In Spotify, tap the Search tab a second time to bring up the keyboard and focus the Search field
  - In Spotify, long-press the Search tab to start a voice search
  - In Tweetbot, long-press-and-drag to reassign the last two tabs
  - In Safari, type in the address bar and scroll down the autocomplete suggestions to Find in Page
  - In Safari, long-press on the Refresh button to Request Desktop Site
  - In Safari, long-press on the Tabs icon to create a New Tab or Close All Tabs
  - In Control Center, 3D Touch-and-drag on certain platters for pre-defined options (Timer, Flashlight, Camera)
  - In Messages, 3D Touch on avatars in the list for quick actions (Call, FaceTime, Pay, Contact Details)
- macOS:
  - [Mojave] At any time, press Cmd+Shift+5 for more detailed screenshot options
  - At any time, press Cmd+Opt+Shift+3 or 4 to send the screenshot to your clipboard
  - At any time, press Cmd+Space for Spotlight
  - In a text field, press Cmd+Ctrl+Space for the Emoji picker, and type to search by emoji name
  - At any time, press Cmd+Tab to switch to your most recent app, or continue holding Cmd and press Tab again to move forward or ~ (or Shift+Tab) to move backward through the list
  - In applications with multiple windows, press Cmd+~ or Cmd+Shift+~ to navigate between windows
  - In Chrome, press Cmd+Opt+Left or Right (or Cmd+Shift+[ or ]) to navigate between open tabs (or Cmd+1 through 0 to jump straight to one of your first ten tabs)
  - In a text field, press Cmd+[ or ] to adjust the indentation
Colin Lees asks: "What kind of design-related education do you (or your peers) tend to have? Is there a case for designers with no formal education at all?"
- Our answer: Having a college degree, regardless of focus, can be a signal to employers that you're more likely to be a responsible, knowledgeable person, but it's not necessary to get a job, as long as you can show that you know your shit. And getting a degree in HCI or Interaction Design is a great way to gain knowledge and get a head-start on good processes, but again, it's unnecessary, as long as you've learned those same lessons on your own.
Sam Chang asks: "Something that's been on my mind lately is the overlap between a designer and a developer. I've noticed, for example, that Brian has taken on more of a developer role at Spectrum, and so I'm curious to hear if Brian sees himself as more of a designer or a developer, or maybe just a builder?"
- Our answer: Should designers code? Ultimately, having an understanding of what your developers do every day will help you to be a better designer, and vice versa. So learning how to write code, especially in the same language your colleagues use, can help build empathy and a better understanding of what happens after your mocks are finalized. As the line between "designer" and "developer" continues to blur, maybe the term "builder" is a nice middle ground.

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared Summoning Salt, a YouTube channel that makes videos about the progression of world record speedruns for some classic games
- Some good ones: Super Mario Bros. - World 4-2, Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda, and Portal
Brian shared "Marvel Studios' Avengers - Official Trailer, the trailer for the latest film in the Avengers series
- Jeff Cannata's "Unsullied" philosophy encourages one to avoid trailers (and spoilers in general) in order to more fully enjoy one's movie-going experience
- Video: "Marvel Studios' Avengers: Infinity War Official Trailer" did a good job of not giving too much away

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
- Brian is @brian_lovin
- Marshall is @marshallbock
- @Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEEEE!

275: Now, That's One Smart Home!

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 5 Dec 2018 13:00:00 +0000

This week, Marshall explains his smart home setup to Brian in great detail. In News, Brian reveals an exciting development with Spectrum. And as always, we share a couple cool things, including an Advent calendar for programming puzzles and a thing everybody already knows about.

Sponsor:

This week's episode was brought to you by DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo helps you take back your privacy with their private search engine, mobile apps, and browser extensions. And right now they're hiring remote positions for Senior Product Designers! Make the internet a safer place, designing new products at DuckDuckGo.

Follow-up:

Samsung One UI's floating keyboard is a feature in need of a use case
Tonal is a home gym that mounts on your wall

News:

Spectrum is joining Github!

Explain Like I'm Five

ELI5
Marshall wrote up a hefty Google doc that includes links and descriptions for all this smart home stuff, so check it out for details on pretty much everything mentioned in the episode
Note: That Homekit bug seems to only affect shades, but it dims lights just fine, fwiw

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared Advent of Code, an Advent calendar of small programming puzzles
HackerTyper makes it look like ur a 1337 h4XX0r. Just smash the keyboard indiscriminately.
Marshall shared Audible, which is a thing you definitely already know about
Neuromancer kinda started the whole cyberpunk thing
Snow Crash is Marshall's favorite work of fiction

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
Brian is @brian_lovin
Marshall is @marshallbock
@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEEEE!

274: Well... It's Free ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss sign-in walls and the design patterns behind offering free-ish content on the Internet. In News, we praise Samsung's new One UI for its strict adherence to Fitts' Law. And as always, we share a couple cool things, including a video game competition and a major update to a podcast app.

Sponsor:

Follow-up:

Green Bean Casserole makes Thanksgiving Thanksgiving, as far as Marshall's concerned
Our sincere apologies to Kevin Gutowski for the public shaming last episode. He replied with a link to the plugin pretty much immediately.
Get Kevin's Toggle Layers plugin if you want to set a different shortcut for Show/Hide ## Layers in Sketch

News:

Samsung One UI is designed to help you focus
Fitts' Law says that the closer and bigger a target is, the easier it is to hit
The top two-fifths of the screen is just the app name in system apps like Notes, Settings, and Messages
Video: "Samsung One UI walkthrough: Coming to Galaxy X"
Mojave puts a light stroke around windows in Dark mode
Video: "WWDC 2018: Introducing Dark Mode" — Seek to 7:34 for a rundown on the thought process behind the window strokes and shadows in Mojave

Point/Counterpoint:

Dribbble has a sign-in wall, and we're not sure how we feel about that

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared "The Classic Tetris World Championships Explained" by aGameScout, a breakdown of the professional Tetris competition
Video Playlist: "Classic Tetris World Championships 2018"
Brian shared Pocket Casts, a popular podcast app that's been nicely overhauled in v7.0

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
Brian is @brian_lovin
Marshall is @marshallbock
@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEEEE!

273: Bespoke, Artisanal, Single-Batch Blog Post

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 14 Nov 2018 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk about the uncanny sameness of the web and debate uniqueness in site design. In News, we discuss the pros and cons of sharing your early, in-progress work with non-designer colleagues. And as always, we share a couple cool things, including an immersive gaming experience and a new feature proposal for React.

Self-sponsor:

This week's episode was brought to you by the Spec Job Board
If you're a designer or a developer, or if you're looking to hire one, check out the Job Board on Spec.fm. With listings at $100/month, it's super affordable to find your next hire through Spec.

Follow-up:

The Dunning-Kruger Effect features "Mount Stupid and the Valley of Despair," not "Stupid Mountain and the Valley of Doubt." Pretty close, though.
Video: Apple October Event 2018 (1:10:00) - A very precarious grip method on the new iPad
- The new Smart Keyboard for iPad, when in tablet mode, doesn't feel so great with the keys on the back
Kevin Gutowski might have a workaround for the Cmd-H issue in the future. Stay tuned :)
- Video: "DOZENS!"
Article: "New Chrome Feature Prevents Those Didn’t-Mean-To-Quit Blues"
- Jakob's Law

News:

Josh Hemsley tweeted a screenshot of collaborating with non-designers in Figma
- Morgan Knutson had a thoughtful response
- 17:06 - Note: Marshall says "parallel." He meant "serial."
Article: "Why Do All Websites Look the Same?"
- Article: "Skeuomorphic Design — A controversial UX approach that is making a comeback"
- Claudio Guglieri has a very nice personal site
- We found Claudio's lost blog posts!
- Article: "Why Game Accessibility Matters"
- Graceful degradation versus progressive enhancement

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared Red Dead Redemption 2
- Video: "11 Of The Most Amazing Details In Red Dead Redemption 2"
- "Red Dead Redemption 2's 80 Second Rule"
- Morality in Mass Effect provides the extremes of Paragon and Renegade
Brian shared React Hooks

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
Brian is @brian_lovin
Marshall is @marshallbock
@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEEEE!

272: Stupid Mountain

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 7 Nov 2018 13:00:00 +0000

This week, we debate the use of the term "junior" and look back on Stupid Mountain from the Valley of Doubt. In News, we discuss the announcements from the latest Apple event, including the new iPad Pro product page. And in Cool Things, Brian shares a thorough article on Apple's Maps improvements, and Marshall rants about keyboard shortcuts.

Follow-up:

The Dunning-Kruger Effect is a cognitive bias in which people of low ability have illusory superiority and mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is.
Here's a graph of the effect, featuring Stupid Mountain (aka Mt. Stupid) and the Valley of Doubt (aka Valley of Despair)

Event Recap:

Watch the full Apple Event or a 9-minute edited version
Check out the new products: iPad Pro, MacBook Air, Mac mini, and Apple Pencil
You should play with the iPad Pro product page on your phone in landscape orientation to know what we're talking about for most of this segment
Sycophant, n. - a self-seeking, servile flatterer; fawning parasite
r/fellowkids
Article: "Apple's new MacBook Air and 2018 MacBook Pros disconnect the microphone when you close the lid to stop hackers from eavesdropping on your conversations"
Video for Marshall's reference to "diamond-cut chamfers"
Article: "Apple Launches Special Event Page for October Event With Dynamic Set of Apple Logos"

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared "Apple's New Maps" by Justin O'Beirne
Marshall shared Keyboard Maestro, a productivity booster for Mac
Article: "⌘ + Q: I didn’t mean to do that"

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
Brian is @brian_lovin
Marshall is @marshallbock
@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEEEE!

271: Principles of Design

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we dive deep on several design principles that will help you make better decisions when creating interfaces and interactions. In Follow-up, we discuss the etiquette of responding to recruiter emails, and in News, we cover Twitter's latest exploration into presence and status. And as always, we share a couple cool things, including an innovative basketball shoe and an updated personal site.

Self-sponsor:

Follow-up:

Here's Morgan Knutson’s tweetstorm again, for reference

News:

MG Seigler tweeted: "As redundant as it may sound at first, I love the Twitter “status” idea. A throwback to OG Twitter too! (Still don’t love the idea of presence though.)"
Article: "Twitter tests new profile features, including presence indicators and ‘ice breakers’"
Site: Spec.fm now has a "global player" that continues playing as you browse

Listener Question:

Dmitry Veremchuk (@d_ver on Twitter) asks: "Is there a limit to number of the side projects one takes on? Because personally, I am interested in animation, video editing, illustration, programming, photography, and many more things. Starting projects in all of these fields would be daunting and of a low quality."

Discussion:

Site: Jon Yablonski collected these Laws of UX
Fitts' Law: "The time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size of the target."
Article: Luke Wroblewski wrote "Designing for Large Screen Smartphones"
Material Design: Floating Action Button
FABs in Material Design 2.0 can be centered for better reachability
Action sheets in Apple's Human Interface Guidelines
Jakob's Law: "Users spend most of their time on other sites. This means that users prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know."
Loren Brichter introduced pull-to-refresh in Tweetie
Video: "Loren Brichter on Tweetie"
Apple uses scroll-jacking on their Mojave site
Bock's Law: "Most people don't have the newest shit."
Note: The "grandparent phone" Marshall was thinking of is called Jitterbug
Wenni's Principle: "Don't move tap targets."
The Doherty Threshold: "Productivity soars when a computer and its users interact at a pace (<400ms) that ensures that neither has to wait on the other."
Article: "Improved Perceived Performance with Skeleton Screens"
Hick's Law: "The time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices."
Video: "The paradox of choice | Barry Schwartz"
Book: "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman
"Faster Horses" is a quote by Henry Ford
Miller's Law: "The average person can only keep 7 (plus or minus 2) items in their working memory."
Gestalt Grouping
Law of Common Region: "Elements tend to be perceived into groups if they are sharing an area with a clearly defined boundary."
Law of Proximity: "Objects that are near, or proximate to each other, tend to be grouped together."
Law of Similarity: "The human eye tends to perceive similar elements in a design as a complete picture, shape, or group, even if those elements are separated."
Image: iOS Settings
GIF: Emergency Alert System
Image: Don't Dead Open Inside
r/dontdeadopeninside
Affordance: "the qualities or properties of an object that define its possible uses or make clear how it can or should be used"
Book: "The Design of Everyday Things" by Don Norman
Article: "Norman Doors: Don’t Know Whether to Push or Pull? Blame Design."
Video: "It's not you. Bad doors are everywhere."
Article: "Affordances and Signifiers in Mobile Interface Design"
GIF: Apple Music's Now Playing sheet
Image: Confusing segmented controller (Which one is selected?)
Did we miss your favorite law, rule, or principle? Do have one of your own principles? Let us know on Twitter :) or Spectrum

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared the new Air Jordan XXXIII
Note: Marshall mistakenly called it the "Flight System," but it's really called "Fast-Fit". Way off.
Brian shared his updated personal site
Design Details Blog
The Internet Archive Project

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
Brian is @brian_lovin
Marshall is @marshallbock
@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

Stinger:

Master P - Make 'em Say Ugh (Ft. Fiend, Silkk The Shocker, Mia X & Mystikal)

BYEEEEEEE!

270: Onward Into the Dark

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 24 Oct 2018 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss the tradeoffs of sensor-laden home devices and the future of personalized advertising. We also follow up on Morgan's tweetstorm with a chat about "dream jobs" and navigating workplace politics. In cool things, Brian shares a workout tracking app and Marshall is bullish on shoes.

Self-sponsor:

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared Fitbod, a personalized workout tracking app for iOS
Site: Tonal is a wall-mounted home gym
Article: "GymKit is the best thing to happen to treadmills in a long time"
Marshall shared StockX, a stock market for shoes and other gear
Site: OXO POP containers are great for organizing your pantry
You can even buy the Nike Air Mag from that scene in Back to the Future II (for like $10,000 USD)
Video: "Shoes the Full Version" (NSFW)

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
Brian is @brian_lovin
Marshall is @marshallbock
@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEEEE!

269: The Ignorance-Is-Bliss Thing

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss Morgan Knutson's tweetstorm regarding his time working on the sunsetting Google+, and we extract some nuggets of wisdom worth exploring, especially negotiating one's starting compensation at a new job. Then we share a couple cool things, including another little Mac productivity utility and a beautifully useful camera app for iOS.

Follow-up:

Check out the Spec.fm Job Board if you're looking to hire or get hired
VSCO is hiring a senior product designer
Game Maker’s Toolkit's latest entry in his Designing for Disability series is about "Making Games Better for Players with Motor Disabilities"
Time Travel (introduced in watchOS 2) was removed in watchOS 5
Thanks, UXOrigami! And you too can leave us an iTunes review :)

News:

"Google is shutting down Google+ for consumers following security lapse"
Morgan Knutson aired some "dirty laundry" in a tweetstorm about his experiences working on Google+

Discussion:

Buffer has a transparent salary system
Tyler Galpin was kind enough to point out that it's now illegal in California for employers to ask applicants about their prior salary
Patrick McKenzie wrote "Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More Valued"

One Cool Thing:

"RIGBY"
Note: For future reference, "It's Not New, But It Is Cool" will be shortened to "INNBIIC"
Marshall shared Yoink, a drag-and-drop utility for Mac
Fitt's Law says that the time required to rapidly move to a target area is a function of the ratio between the distance to the target and the width of the target
Brian shared Halide, an iOS camera app developed by Sebastiaan de With and Ben Sandofski
"What Does It Mean When Apple "Sherlocks" an App?"

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
Brian is @brian_lovin
Marshall is @marshallbock
@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEEEE!

268: I Want It That Way

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss user preferences and whether a lot is too much. In News, we talk about Sketch's new site, recap the Figma contest fallout, and conduct a requiem for Path. And as always, we share a couple cool things, including a wireless mesh network and tchotchkes in plastic bubbles.

Sponsors:

This week's episode was brought to you in part by ProtoPie:
ProtoPie is a tool that makes prototyping as easy as pie, and they have a special offer for Design Details listeners. Use the code DESIGNDETAILS by October 30, 2018 to get a 17-free day trial and a 30% discount.

This week's episode was also brought to you in part by Asana:
Asana is growing, and they’re looking to hire 6 new product designers and design managers via a few days of interviews in Chicago and Austin. Find out more by clicking on the links at the top of https://asana.design.

Follow-up:

Photo: Podcasting is serious bizznizz
We got some new iTunes Reviews from some wonderfully kind folks! Feel free to leave your own :)
We tweeted out a couple polls on last episode's vehicles

News:

"Dark Mode, Data, a brand new look and more in Sketch 52"
"The new website is really nice." —NiceboyTM
"Introducing: Figma’s first API Challenge"
"We made a mistake with our API Challenge, and we’re sorry"
Path Blog: "The Last Goodbye"
Path's (+) button animation on YouTube
Here's a video review from back then, which shows the timeline, scrollbar clock, and reactions

Point/Counterpoint:

Shadow of the Tomb Raider on YouTube Gaming (plug lol)
Doom difficulty spectrum
Tomb Raider difficulty spectrum
Spectrum (plug lol)
Apollo app has a lot of customization options
God of War difficulty spectrum
Spider-Man difficulty spectrum
"You're holding it wrong"
Vintage Burger King Commercial - Have it Your Way - 1974 on YouTube
Backstreet Boys - I Want It That Way on YouTube
"You've been sherlocked"
"Sketch sherlocked Midnight with 52." —Marshall
f.lux

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared eero
Brian shared gashapon
"Life's a journey, not a destination" —Steven Tyler
Steins;Gate
Fidget Cube

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
@Brian_Lovin and @MarshallBock are the talky boys
@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

Tell me BYEEEEEEE!

267: Don't Wanna Yuck Anyone's Yum

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 3 Oct 2018 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we look at a few different concepts of what a car could be if you didn't need to drive it. In News, we discuss the new Mailchimp redesign and shout out Design+Code for Framer X. And we share a couple Cool Things, including a few Google app features that are great for travelers and some fancy lights that go behind your television.

Sponsors:

Follow-up:

"Seven days"
We talked about Sketch 52 Beta on the previous episode
Kyle Mitchell tweeted that he appreciates our show notes
Note: If you're reading this, Marshall says hi :)
You can search Spec.fm for anything mentioned in the show notes of an episode, such as, say, I dunno, maybe "Tactile Paving"

News:

"Mailchimp Has a New Look"
"Evolving the Dropbox brand"
"RIGBY" [NSFW Language]
Mailchimp landing page
Postmark landing page
Mailchimp Yellow: #FFE01B
Postmark Yellow: #FFDE00
Three Thumbs Up illustration
Stair Leg illustration
Bruno Serdo's Online Gallery
Mushrooms illustration
Magnifying Glass Guy illustration
QWOP and Getting Over It are both made by Bennett Foddy
Meng To of Design+Code has a new course for Framer X

Device Review:

"Volvo's 360c Concept Has Softened My Cynicism About Autonomous Cars"
"Concept Vs Reality: 15 Concept Cars Way More Sick Than The Versions We Got"
Marshall's first car looked something like this. He was very popular.
"The 360c: 360º Safety" video
Stephanie Engle talked about the driver-pedestrian contract on Design Details Episode 251: Hip-Hop & Horses (feat. Steph Engle)
"Jaguar is adding artificial motor sounds to its all-electric I-Pace"
"Nio Eve: Our vision for an autonomous car of the future"
Lexus 2054 from Minority Report
"The Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion"
Three very serious white people doing business
Check out @designdetailsfm to weigh in on the poll

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared Google Translate and Google Maps' offline feature
Babel fish is a Hitchhiker's Guide reference
Marshall shared Dreamscreen

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
@Brian_Lovin and @MarshallBock are the talky boys
@Sarahberus and @Luperdev make us sound smarter than we are
Join the conversation on Spectrum or leave us a review on iTunes

BYEEEEEEE!

266: Stay Warm Out There, Tauntaun

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 26 Sep 2018 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we debate the line between constructive and malevolent criticism, discuss some sunsetting news, and briefly preview the new Sketch beta. And as always, we share a couple cool things, including a Reddit app alternative and a logistical nightmare.

Follow-up:

"Guidance on the Use of Tactile Paving Surfaces"
Here's a great rundown on the experience of eating at Ichiran Ramen (now with two locations in NYC!)
Respect to @chrisd008 for beating us at the Helvarial Quiz
"Stay warm out there, Tauntaun"
1-star 5-star
"Richard is a nice guy, but y'know" (NSFW Language)
The Infograph watch face
Infograph face with Digital Clock sub-dial
23:37 - Marshall says "phone" here, but he meant "watch." His apologies. He blames jetlag.

News:

Tool Review:

Download Sketch 52 Beta
Sketch 52 Beta release notes
Here's a screenshot of the Properties panel in dark mode
33:13 - Marshall says "page titles" here, but he meant "artboard titles." Again, jetlag.
Here's that example of snapping Marshall mentioned
Midnight is a pre-Mojave dark mode plugin

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared a Reddit app for iOS called Apollo
Daniel Hooper makes Principle
Leave feature requests and bug reports at r/apolloapp
Brian shared the Terracotta Army
"No one man should have all that power"

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
Brian is @brian_lovin
Marshall is @marshallbock
Sarah is @sarahberus
Drew is @luperdev
Join the conversation on Spectrum
Leave us a review on iTunes

This week's episode was also brought to you in part by ProtoPie:

ProtoPie is a tool that makes prototyping as easy as pie, and they have a special offer for Design Details listeners. Use the code DESIGNDETAILS by October 30, 2018 to get a 17-free day trial and a 30% discount.

This week's episode was brought to you in part by Asana:

Asana is growing, and they’re looking to hire 6 new product designers and design managers via a few days of interviews in Chicago and Austin. Find out more by clicking on the links at the top of https://asana.design.

265: Travel Edition

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we're both trotting the globe, so we discuss some interesting accessibility features we've encountered during our travels. And Apple had a event announcing new iPhones and a new Watch, so (of course) we talk about that stuff.

Follow-up:

Brian owes Marshall a Coca-Cola for losing a bet made at the very end of the previous episode

Event Recap:

Apple launched new iPhones and a new Apple Watch in their latest event
Apple's event invite had Marshall thinking it was a reference to the coil in the AirPower wireless charging mat
"Apple’s AirPower wireless charging mat reportedly plagued by overheating issues"
John Gruber's shares his "Thoughts and Observations on Apple’s iPhone XS/XR and Series 4 Apple Watch Introductory Event"
Steve Jobs on the Apple product matrix
LifeCall (not Life Alert) commercial: "I've fallen, and I can't get up!"
Apple's new GiveBack program

Travelogue:

Note: After doing a little research, it's clear the story Marshall told about the origin of "The Land of the Morning Calm" is actually apocryphal. Well, shit.
Percival Lowell, a businessman and scientist, is credited with coining the phrase
The Forbidden City
Tactile Paving
Here's a 108-page design document on the proper installation of tactile paving
The percentage of visually impaired people in Japan was 1.3% in 2007
Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto talks about solving multiple problems with a single solution
Here's a great video by Mark Brown of Game Maker's Toolkit on multipurpose design solutions in the game Downwell
Crossing signals
Here's a (warning: very shaky) video showing these pedestrian crossing signals
Seven-segment display
Here's a video of the crossing sounds, sometimes accompanied by bird chirps
"China's Obsession with QR Codes"
Alien Tommy Lee Jones Japanese Commercials
"Meiwaku and Gaijin: Politeness and Group-Mentality in Japan"
Note: It's actually pronounced may'-wah-koo

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
Brian is @brian_lovin
Marshall is @marshallbock
Sarah is @sarahberus
Drew is @luperdev
Join the conversation on Spectrum
Leave us a review on iTunes

This week's episode was brought to you in part by Asana:

This week's episode was also brought to you in part by InVision Studio:

InVision Studio is the world’s most powerful screen design tool that brings together design, prototyping, animation, and collaboration all in one place. Check it out and get started for free at https://www.invisionapp.com/studio.

264: Oven Mittens

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 12 Sep 2018 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we answer two listener questions about designing for the tech-unsavvy and providing value as an inexperienced designer. In news, we discuss the latest anniversary set from Ugmonk and a new audio-only feature from Periscope. Lastly, we wrap up with cool things, including a ridiculously thorough typeface and a utility that remembers your window layouts.

Follow-up:

Michael Knepprath’s last name is pronounced kuh-NEPP’-rath with a non-silent “K”
The same is true of Morgan Knutson

News:

Jeff Sheldon of Ugmonk just released the 10th Anniversary Set (but it sold out in less than 24 hours)
He also made a Kickstarter for Gather, which is a minimal, modular organizer that cuts clutter
He tweeted his design process for the 10th Anniversary Set
If you live in SF, the Mountains shirt is ubiquitous
@Jack tweeted about a new audio-only broadcasting feature for Periscope

Listener Questions:

Robert Spivack asks: “Why are products like Dropbox, YouTube, and Facebook with millions of users (and tons of on-staff designers) such a piece of crap to use from the point of view of real-world, non-Silicon Valley, Kool-aid-drinking, average users?”
The NES controller is simple
The PS4 controller is complicated
A redesign of the Save icon used to live here, but it seems to be gone now
Sam Chang asks: “What are your thoughts on how to provide value early on as an inexperienced designer?”
Bob Baxley spoke about providing value in Design Details 158: D.R.E.A.M. (feat. Bob Baxley)

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared InterUI by Rasmus Andersson
Just a reminder: he failed to best Marshall at the Helvarial Quiz last episode in Design Details 263: News, News, and More News
Marshall shared Stay, which is a great companion to Moom
Golden Krishna talks about how No Interface Is the Best Interface
Siri Shortcuts are coming in iOS 12

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
Brian is @brian_lovin
Marshall is @marshallbock
Sarah is @sarahberus
Drew is @luperdev
Join the conversation on Spectrum
Leave us a review on iTunes

This week's episode was brought to you in part by Asana:

This week's episode was also brought to you in part by InVision Studio:

263: News, News, and More News

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 5 Sep 2018 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we discuss a bunch of news, including a Twitter reply threading concept, a new Apple Watch face, Principle 4.0, and Chrome with a Material Design 2 overhaul. Then we share a couple cool things: Marshall is hype on an upcoming game, and Brian invites you to test your typography chops.

Follow-up:

Iheanyi Ekechukwu was our guest last week
Thanks to friend-of-the-pod Michael for leaving us a review on iTunes

News:

Twitter shared a new threaded reply concept
A new Apple Watch face
Daniel Hooper announces Principle 4.0
Chrome 69 rolling out a Material Design refresh

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared Cyberpunk 2077 Gameplay Reveal — 48-minute walkthrough
Brian shared Arial vs. Helvetica

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
Brian is @brian_lovin
Marshall is @marshallbock
Sara is @sarahberus
Drew is @luperdev
Join the conversation on Spectrum
Leave us a review on iTunes

This week's episode was brought to you in part by InVision Studio:

262: Taste Acquisition (feat. Iheanyi Ekechukwu)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we talk with Iheanyi Ekechukwu about his side project Seeker, starting from scratch at a new gig, and the best advice he's ever gotten. Then we share a few cool things, including a tracing library, a decentralized phone, and a Mac utility.

Follow-up:

The results of our Twitter poll were... unsurprising.

Interview:

Iheanyi is @kwuchu
Digital Ocean is an infrastructure experience
Github is a development platform
Go is an open-source programming language
React is a Javascript library for building user interfaces
Brian explains React in "260: Mutual Admiration Society"
Seeker is the easiest way to host your own job board
Steve Schoger made Heroicons and Refactoring UI
The Reilly Program (AL/ENG Dual-Degree) at Notre Dame
IBM Watson is a deep learning AI
"A Career Cold Start Algorithm" explains how to start strong at a new job
Two Black Nerds with I. Romeo Kwihangana

One Cool Thing:

Iheanyi shared Lightstep: A distributed tracing library
Brian shared Clarity: A decentralized communication device
Marshall shared Moom: Move and zoom windows

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
Brian is @brian_lovin
Marshall is @marshallbock
Sara is @sarahberus
Drew is @luperdev
Join the conversation on Spectrum
Leave us a review on iTunes

This week's episode was brought to you in part by InVision Studio:

261: Reverse Midas

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 12:00:00 +0000

This week, Brian and Marshall debate the length of time between whiteboard sketches and high-fidelity mocks. In news, Discord announces a store, Breaker announces a podcast marketplace, and Refactoring UI is going to be a book. Finally, a couple cool things like a wall-mounted home gym and a book about capturing attention.

Follow-up:

News:

"The Discord Store Beta"
Breaker Upstream
Steve Schoger and Adam Wathan recently tweeted about their new book Refactoring UI

Point/Counterpoint:

Slow Iteration vs Fast HiFi: How should we start new projects? Should we slowly build to high-fidelity, or is it okay to jump quickly into pixel-perfect mocks?

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared Tonal (hat tip to Michael Boswell)
Brian shared The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
Brian is @brian_lovin
Marshall is @marshallbock
Join the conversation on Spectrum
Leave us a review on iTunes

This week's episode was brought to you in part by InVision Studio

260: Mutual Admiration Society

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 12:00:00 +0000

This week, Brian explains React to Marshall like he's five, we recap some highlights from the Zeit React meetup, and then discuss the eternal quandary that is password management.

Note: Unfortunately, Brian had to record remotely in suboptimal conditions this week, so the quality of his audio ain't great. Our apologies. We'll do better. Probably.

Recap:

How's our driving? Let us know with one of them sweet, sweet iTunes reviews

News:

Zeit hosted a React meetup and posted the video
Next.js
Diana Mounter was kind enough to tweet a link to her slides, built with MDX Deck

Explain Like I'm Five

r/explainlikeimfive
React
5 Levels video playlist by WIRED (not Vox)
Jason Fried of Basecamp shares "The Writing Class I'd Like to Teach"
Expanding Brain aka Galaxy Brain meme

One Cool Thing:

Marshall shared 1Password
Brian shared Back Your Stack
Wassup

Design Details on the Web:

We are @designdetailsfm
Brian is @brian_lovin
Marshall is @marshallbock
Join the conversation on Spectrum
Leave us a review on iTunes

This week's episode was brought to you in part by InVision Studio

259: Everything Is a Spec

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 Aug 2018 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we recap last week's Fight Me poll results, cover some news on React and Firefox, answer a listener question about professional labels, review a listener's side project, and share a couple cool things.

Recap:

News:

"How are you getting prepared for Framer X?" from the Spectrum Framer Community
React for Designers by Zach Johnston
Meng To is considering a sequel to his own React for Designers (no relation)
"Evolving the Firefox Brand"
Instagram Icon Family from Brand New: "New Icon for Instagram Done In-house
Office 2011 for Mac Icon Suite from Brand New: "Office for Mac Icons Get Tangled"
Chevron Logo
Note: Marshall is dumb and said "The Fox Is Black" when he was probably thinking of Watch Dogs or something.

Listener Question:

@CrowCrane asks: "In the world of product design, I’ve found it’s often difficult to define your roll. Who am I?!"
Got your own questions? Ask us on Twitter or Spectrum!

Side Project Review:

Note: Because digital design is ephemeral, the project linked below may no longer match the version we reviewed on the podcast. Just a heads-up :)

PodLink by Nathan Gathright
Note: Marshall is dumb and said "bounce light" when the actual thing is called "ambient illumination".
Got your own side project you want reviewed? Tell us about it on Twitter or Spectrum!

One Cool Thing:

Brian shared "The Bullshit Web" and "The Cost of Javascript"
Marshall shared "Dissect Podcast" by Cole Cuchna

Design Details on the Web:

Join the conversation on Spectrum
Leave us a review on iTunes
We are @designdetailsfm
Brian is @brian_lovin
Marshall is @marshallbock

This week's episode was brought to you in part by InVision Studio

258: A Foot in the Door

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 1 Aug 2018 12:00:00 +0000

This week, we debut the new show format! First, Marshall formally introduces himself, and we answer a listener's question about how to get their foot in the UX door. Then we cover a few headlines, fight about stock vs. third-party apps, and share a couple cool things. If you have any feedback on the new format, hit us up on Twitter, because we'd love to hear it :)

Listener Question:

@RaceSwisher asks: "How do I get my foot in the door in the field of UX?"
Got your own questions? Ask us on Twitter or Spectrum!

References This Week:

Spec.fm
Framer X
Makers by Product Hunt
Evergreen by Segment
The Ecosystem Explained by Marques Brownlee
Things 3 by Cultured Code
Refresh Browser by Julius Sohn and Julius Gehreg

Design Details on the Web:

Join the conversation on Spectrum
Leave us a review on iTunes
We are @designdetailsfm
Brian is @brian_lovin
Marshall is @marshallbock

This week's episode was brought to you in part by InVision Studio

257: Here It Goes Again

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 12:00:00 +0000

In this quick episode, we welcome Marshall Bock as a new co-host and offer a sneak peek of the show's future format. Tune in next week for a full episode!

Design Details on the Web:

Leave us a review on iTunes
Follow @DesignDetailsFM
Brian is @brian_lovin
Marshall is @marshallbock

256: DD_final_final_FINAL.mp3 (feat. Sam Soffes)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is our final recording with Bryn, and to send him off we had none-other than our very first Design Details guest, Sam Soffes, back on the show. In this episode we talk about side projects, celebrity, knowing when to stop working on an idea, and what's next for the three of us.

Design Details will continue on! Follow us on Twitter for updates in the coming week about new ideas and changes coming to the show.

Sam on the Web:

Sponsors

Thanks to Abstract for sponsoring today's episode!

✨Abstract is a secure, version-controlled hub for your design files.

Salespeople have Salesforce, Developers have Github, Marketers have Marketo and now designers have Abstract.

You can try Abstract free for one month! Just visit www.goabstract.com for more information.

255: Design Caretaker (feat. Charlie Sutton)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Charlie Sutton, a Product Design Director at Facebook currently working on Games and Video, previously working on Social VR. In this episode we dig into the world of gaming and Facebook's involvement in the growing industry, taking on large unknown responsibilities at a young age, sticking around at companies to the bitter end, and so much more.

Charlie on the Web:

Sponsors

Thanks to Abstract for sponsoring today's episode!

✨Abstract is a secure, version-controlled hub for your design files.

Salespeople have Salesforce, Developers have Github, Marketers have Marketo and now designers have Abstract.

You can try Abstract free for one month! Just visit www.goabstract.com for more information.

254: The People's Champion (feat. Fabian Perez)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Jul 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Fabian Perez, the Director of Product Design at Splice, previously the Director of Product Design at GitHub. In today's episode we talk about the state of the music industry, the revolution of version control, becoming a manager at a young age, knowing when to switch jobs, and so much more.

Fabian on the Web:

Sponsors

Thanks to Abstract for sponsoring today's episode!

✨Abstract is a secure, version-controlled hub for your design files.

Salespeople have Salesforce, Developers have Github, Marketers have Marketo and now designers have Abstract.

You can try Abstract free for one month! Just visit www.goabstract.com for more information.

253: Follow The Troll Flow (feat. May-Li Khoe & Chikezie Ejiasi)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with May-Li Khoe and Chikezie Ejiasi to talk about building diverse teams. We dig deep into the problems of monocultures, how to think about team building as both an individual contributor and as a manager, actionable tactics to safely onboard and encourage a culture of diversity, and so much more.

May-Li on the web:

Chikezie on the Web:

Sponsors

Thanks to Swipies & Abstract for sponsoring today's episode!

✨Abstract is a secure, version-controlled hub for your design files.

Salespeople have Salesforce, Developers have Github, Marketers have Marketo and now designers have Abstract.

You can try Abstract free for one month! Just visit www.goabstract.com for more information.

📝Swipies are a reusable, durable, synthetic paper made for creative, productive people.

They're designed to be used with wet-erase pens, allowing your work to stay put until rinsed with water. They're the perfect companion in the home and in the office.

We use them here at Spec and now listeners will receive 10% off the entire store with promo code SPECFM

Check it out and make the switch at http://www.swipi.es/

252: Furniture Nomadic (feat. Mu-An Chiou)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Mu-An Chiou, a developer working on the web systems team at GitHub, previously a product designer at GitHub. In this episode we dig into what Mu-An is excited about in the world of web development and upcoming browser APIs, transitioning from product design to development, and the long journey to landing a gig at GitHub.

Mu-An on the web

Sponsors

Thanks to Swipies & Abstract for sponsoring today's episode!

✨Abstract is a secure version-controlled hub for your design files.

Salespeople have Salesforce, Developers have Github, Marketers have Marketo and now designers have Abstract.

You can try Abstract free for one month! Just visit www.goabstract.com for more information.

📝Swipies are a reusable, durable, synthetic paper made for creative, productive people.

They're designed to be used with wet-erase pens, allowing your work to stay put until rinsed with water. They're the perfect companion in the home and in the office.

We use them here at Spec and now listeners will receive 10% off the entire store with promo code SPECFM

Check it out and make the switch at http://www.swipi.es/

251: Hip-Hop & Horses (feat. Steph Engle)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Stephanie Engle, a product designer in SF currently working on self-driving cars at Cruise, previously designing social experiences in VR at Facebook. In this episode we dig into Stephanie's current work in the auto industry, and what it's like designing in-car experiences for self-driving cars. We also get into Stephanie's background as a designer, including how she found her way into the industry, how she ended up on the social VR team at Facebook, and so much more!

Stephanie on the web

Sponsors

Thanks to Swipies & Abstract for sponsoring today's episode!

✨Abstract, is a secure version-controlled hub for your design files.

Salespeople have Salesforce, Developers have Github, Marketers have Marketo and now designers have Abstract.

You can try Abstract free for one month! Just visit www.goabstract.com for more information.

📝Swipies are a reusable, durable, synthetic paper made for creative, productive people.

They're designed to be used with wet-erase pens, allowing your work to stay put until rinsed with water. They're the perfect companion in the home and in the office.

We use them here at Spec and now listeners will receive 10% off the entire store with promo code SPECFM

Check it out and make the switch at http://www.swipi.es/

250: LIVE at Combine (feat. May-Li Khoe, Katie Dill & Soleio Cuervo)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 Jun 2018 12:00:00 +0000

We made it! Another milestone in the Design Details archive: episode 250 🎉

For this special episode we hosted a live show with our friends May-Li Khoe, Katie Dill, and Soleio Cuervo. In the conversation we dig into hiring junior designers, how to identify talent, equity and salary negotiations, building a career rubric, and so much more. Also, a huge thank you to Combine for hosting us in their beautiful new space!

To everyone who's joined us on this 250 episode marathon: thank you! Whether this is your first or 250th episode listening in, we appreciate your support and feedback; thank you! We also want to announce - to avoid too big of a surprise - that after episode 256 Bryn will be stepping away from the show. We'll have more updates on Twitter in the coming weeks if you'd like to stay posted.

Now, on to the show!

May-Li on the web

Twitter

Katie on the web

Twitter

Soleio on the web

Twitter

Sponsors

Thanks to Abstract for sponsoring today's episode!

✨Abstract is a secure version-controlled hub for your design files.

Salespeople have Salesforce, Developers have Github, Marketers have Marketo and now designers have Abstract.

You can try Abstract free for one month! Just visit www.goabstract.com for more information.

249: Hi/Lo Technical (feat. Priyanka Kodikal)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 23 May 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Priyanka Kodikal, a product designer currently working at WhatsApp. In this episode we dig into Priyanka's work at WhatsApp and what it's like shipping to more than a billion people around the world. We also learn about Priyanka's journey from India to WhatsApp, and the winding path it took to land at her dream job.

Priyanka on the web

Sponsors

Thanks to Abstract for sponsoring today's episode!

✨Abstract is a secure version-controlled hub for your design files.

Salespeople have Salesforce, Developers have Github, Marketers have Marketo and now designers have Abstract.

You can try Abstract free for one month! Just visit www.goabstract.com for more information.

248: OshKoshFigJosh (feat. Josh Dunsterville)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 16 May 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Josh Dunsterville, a designer and community manager currently building the community at Figma. In this episode we dig into Josh's work at Figma, diving deep into what it really means to grow a healthy online community. We also caught up with Josh about his journey into design, coming from a small town in Nevada to working remote for a technology company.

Josh on the web

Sponsors

Thanks to Swipies & Abstract for sponsoring today's episode!

✨Abstract, is a secure version-controlled hub for your design files.

Salespeople have Salesforce, Developers have Github, Marketers have Marketo and now designers have Abstract.

You can try Abstract free for one month! Just visit www.goabstract.com for more information.

📝Swipies are a reusable, durable, synthetic paper made for creative, productive people.

They're designed to be used with wet-erase pens, allowing your work to stay put until rinsed with water. They're the perfect companion in the home and in the office.

We use them here at Spec and now listeners will receive 10% off the entire store with promo code SPECFM

Check it out and make the switch at http://www.swipi.es/

Get in Touch

If you'd like to talk about today's episode, ask us or today's guest a question or just say, "hello", We've got a place for that in our Spectrum.chat community channel

247: Give A Goat A Gobstopper (feat. Kyle Turman)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 9 May 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Kyle Turman, a product designer on the design systems team at Etsy. In this episode we dig into Kyle's work at Etsy on building seller-facing design systems, working remotely, the value of craft, and Bryn and Brian get a free therapy session.

Kyle on the web

Sponsors

Thanks to Swipies & Abstract for sponsoring today's episode!

✨Abstract, is a secure version-controlled hub for your design files.

Salespeople have Salesforce, Developers have Github, Marketers have Marketo and now designers have Abstract.

You can try Abstract free for one month! Just visit www.goabstract.com for more information.

📝Swipies are a reusable, durable, synthetic paper made for creative, productive people.

They're designed to be used with wet-erase pens, allowing your work to stay put until rinsed with water. They're the perfect companion in the home and in the office.

We use them here at Spec and now listeners will receive 10% off the entire store with promo code SPECFM

Check it out and make the switch at http://www.swipi.es/

246: Cats & Design Systems (feat. Diana Mounter & Brent Jackson)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 2 May 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today we dipped into a double-guest episode with our friends Diana Mounter and Brent Jackson! Diana and Brent are some of the best people working on design systems today, and in this episode we get to dig into the tools and workflows they've developed when working on systems, what they're excited about in design systems, and we even get technical to talk about the technologies that are change the way we build.

Diana on the web

Brent on the web

Sponsors

Thanks to Swipies & Abstract for sponsoring today's episode!

✨Abstract, is a secure version-controlled hub for your design files.

Salespeople have Salesforce, Developers have Github, Marketers have Marketo and now designers have Abstract.

You can try Abstract free for one month! Just visit www.goabstract.com for more information.

📝Swipies are a reusable, durable, synthetic paper made for creative, productive people.

They're designed to be used with wet-erase pens, allowing your work to stay put until rinsed with water. They're the perfect companion in the home and in the office.

We use them here at Spec and now listeners will receive 10% off the entire store with promo code SPECFM

Check it out and make the switch at http://www.swipi.es/

245: Sandwich Principal (feat. Tom Moor)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Tom Moor, a software engineer building Abstract. In this episode we dig into Tom's journey with startups, including his work at Buffer, Sqwiggle, Speak, Outline, and now Abstract. We also get to talk about Tom's current work at Abstract, evolving the design review, and so much more.

We've also got a big announcement: we're building a new thing for you! It's called Spectrum and it's a place for the community to hang out and share what's going on in design, development, and anything else you might be interested in.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Tom on the web

Thanks to 📝 Swipies for sponsoring Today's Episode!

Swipies are a reusable, durable, synthetic paper made for creative, productive people. They're designed to be used with wet-erase pens, allowing your work to stay put until rinsed with water. They're the perfect companion in the home and in the office.

We use them here at Spec and now listeners will receive 10% off the entire store with promo code SPECFM

Check it out and make the switch at http://www.swipi.es/

244: Peter Piper Pizza Party (feat. Claudio Vallejo)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Claudio Vallejo, a product designer currently working at Managed by Q in New York. In this episode we dig into Claudio's current work as a designer solving meat-space problems, his journey from Mexico to the United States, self discipline and burnout, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Claudio on the web

243: Maximum Potassium (feat. Vlad Magdalin)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Vlad Magdalin, co-founder and CEO of Webflow. In this episode we dig into Vlad's history, moving from Russia to the US, his journey to Webflow, the challenges of starting up, raising money, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Vlad on the web

242: Traitor Joe (feat. Victor Kernes)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Apr 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Victor Kernes, a designer working on reversing type 2 diabetes at Virta. In this episode we dig into transitioning from marketing to design, working in the healthcare industry, advice to young designers, the traitor named Joe, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Victor on the web

241: Toast, The Bread (feat. Meg Robichaud)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up once again with our good friend Meg Robichaud. Meg draws things for money, and is currently doing so at Lyft. In this episode we dig into what she's been up to over the last two years, the journey to Lyft, freelance vs. in-house, moving to San Francisco, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Meg on the web:

240: Proxima Nova Revolution (feat. Hardik Pandya)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Hardik Pandya, a product designer at Google in India, currently working on GSuite and Google Photos. In this episode we dig into Hardik's background and discovery of design, working from startups to Google, the design scene and tech landscape in India, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Hardik on the web:

239: Data Ultra (feat. Lin Wang)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Lin Wang, a product designer working on the Core Passenger team at Lyft. In this episode we dig into Lin's background, her journey from China to SF, moving from graphic to product design, and how she eventually landed a job at Lyft.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Lin on the web:

238: Grocery Social (feat. Julie Delanoy)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 7 Mar 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Julie Delanoy, a product designer currently building things at Product Hunt. In this episode we dig into Julie's journey to Product Hunt, working remotely, designing for communities, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Julie on the web:

237: Hoppy Borthdoy (feat. Hartley Miller)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Hartley Miller, a product designer at Pinterest. In this episode we dig into what Hartley's working on, the ups and downs of not having a plan, finding meaning in work, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Hartley on the Web:

236: TI-85 (feat. Charlie Cheever)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Charlie Cheever, the founder of Expo, an open source toolchain that helps people build native mobile apps (which we're using to build Spectrum!). In this episode we dig into the Charlie's path to working on Expo, including building calculator games, building Facebook Platform, co-founding Quora, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Charlie on the Web:

235: Incremental Correctness (feat. Guillermo Rauch)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Guillermo Rauch, the founder of Zeit. We're huge fans of Guillermo's work, his contributions to the open source community, and the work that his team is doing at Zeit to make cloud computing more accessible. In this episode we dig into Guillermo's philosophies for building products, dive into the nitty gritty technical details of JavaScript and React, learn Guillermo's favorite mental models, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Guillermo on the Web:

234: Maximum Effort (feat. PJ Buddhari)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 7 Feb 2018 13:00:00 +0000

To kick off 2018 we caught up with PJ Buddhari, a product designer currently working on the design systems team at Adobe. In this episode we dig into what it takes to put together a design system across such a huge lineup of products, moving to the US, PJ's path into design, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsors:

Reaktor - Reaktor is a product design studio in NYC, designing and building for forward-thinking businesses and organizations. And they're hiring someone like you!

PJ on the Web:

233: Recapisode #4 (Looking Back at 2017)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Every year at this time we take a break and reflect on all of the wonderful conversations we've had during the past year.

For people who are new to Design Details, we hope this is a nice sample of some of the topics and people we were able to meet in 2017. And for long-time listeners, we hope that like us, you'll enjoy this opportunity to recap everything we talked about last year.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsors:

Reaktor - Reaktor is a product design studio in NYC, designing and building for forward-thinking businesses and organizations. And they're hiring someone like you!

Design Details on the Web:

232: Recapisode #3 (Looking Back at 2017)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Every year at this time we take a break and reflect on all of the wonderful conversations we've had during the past year.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsors:

Reaktor - Reaktor is a product design studio in NYC, designing and building for forward-thinking businesses and organizations. And they're hiring someone like you!

Design Details on the Web:

231: Recapisode #2 (Looking Back at 2017)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Every year at this time we take a break and reflect on all of the wonderful conversations we've had during the past year.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsors:

Reaktor - Reaktor is a product design studio in NYC, designing and building for forward-thinking businesses and organizations. And they're hiring someone like you!

Design Details on the Web:

230: Recapisode #1 (Looking Back At 2017)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 10 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Every year at this time we take a break and reflect on all of the wonderful conversations we've had during the past year.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Design Details on the Web:

229: Graphic DeSpyner (feat. Christina Nguyen)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 3 Jan 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Christina Nguyen, a designer in San Francisco currently working on Guilded. In this episode we get nostalgic about video games, talk about balancing hobbies and work when they overlap, going from dream job to startup, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Fuse - Build native apps on iOS and Android. Use the promo code 'dd' to save 70% off the professional plan!

Christina on the Web:

228: Empathy & Impostors (feat. Coleen Baik)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 Dec 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Coleen Baik, an independent designer and advisor en route to NYC via SF. In this episode we talk about Coleen's path into design, her work at Twitter, the responsibilities of designing at scale, expanding perspectives by traveling to North Korea, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsors:

.design domains - porkbun is running a promotion on .design domain names - get your non-premium .design domain for $35 today, with promo code 'SPEC'
Figma - Figma is hiring designers, design advocates, and content writers to help them build the future of design tools.

Coleen on the Web:

Website
Twitter
Medium
Dribbble
We've also got a big announcement: we're building a new thing for you! It's called Spectrum and it's a place for the community to hang out and share what's going on in design, development, and anything else you might be interested in.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsors:

Fuse - Build native apps on iOS and Android. Use the promo code 'dd' to save 70% off the professional plan!

Coleen on the Web:

227: Hype Down (feat. Kathleen Warner)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Kathleen Warner, a product designer working at Facebook on the newsfeed team. In this episode we dig into Kathleen's path from music to product design, music production, getting to Facebook, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsors:

.design domains - porkbun is running a promotion on .design domain names - get your non-premium .design domain for $35 today, with promo code 'SPEC'
Figma - Figma is hiring designers, design advocates, and content writers to help them build the future of design tools.

Kathleen on the Web:

226: Mood Lightning (feat. Rafael Conde)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Rafael Conde, a designer at Netlify and co-host of the Layout podcast. In this episode we talk about our own existential crises, the paths of ICs and managers, Rafa's story and journey to design, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsors:

Reaktor - Reaktor is hiring designers and product-minded people to come build exceptional products.
Figma - Figma is hiring designers, design advocates, and content writers to help them build the future of design tools.

Rafa on the Web:

225: D.D.P.D. (feat. Zach Johnston)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 Dec 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Zach Johnston, a designer currently working on the design system at Dropbox. In this episode we talk about design systems, the role of a design system team, Zach's journey to and within Dropbox, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsors:

.design domains - porkbun is running a promotion on .design domain names - get your non-premium .design domain for $35 today, with promo code 'SPEC'
Fuse - Build native apps on iOS and Android. Use the promo code 'dd' to save 70% off the professional plan!

Zach on the Web:

224: Maybe It's The Carrots? (feat. Courtland Allen)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Courtland Allen, the creator of Indie Hackers. In this episode we dig into Courtland's background in engineering, design, and product building, how he ended up creating Indie Hackers, the journey to the Stripe acquisition, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

.design - Porkbun is running a promotion on .design domain names - get your non-premium .design domain for $35 today, with promo code 'SPEC'
Fuse - Build native apps on iOS and Android. Use the promo code 'dd' to save 70% off the professional plan!

Courtland on the Web:

223: Demystified Denim (feat. Jessica Karle)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Jess Karle, the head of digital design at Everlane. In this episode we dig into Jess's work at the intersection of retail and e-commerce, hiring a design team, navigating startups to big-co, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Figma - Figma is hiring product designers, a community manager, and a content writer. Join this team and build the future of design tools!
Fuse - Build native apps on iOS and Android. Use the promo code 'dd' to save 70% off the professional plan!

Jess on the Web:

222: Almost as Good as Cheese (feat. Fiona Rolander)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 Nov 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Fiona Rolander, a designer currently doing work at Spotify. In this episode we dig into Fiona's journey to becoming a designer, the ups and downs of freelancing, nomading, cheese, and so much more!

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Figma - Figma is hiring product designers, a community manager, and a content writer. Join this team and build the future of design tools!
Fuse - Build native apps on iOS and Android. Use the promo code 'dd' to save 70% off the professional plan!

Fiona on the Web:

221: Rate The Fire (feat. Chikezie Ejiasi)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 1 Nov 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Chikezie Ejiasi, a designer currently working on Daydream at Google. In this episode we dig into building for VR, moving from softwared to hardware to virtual reality, design tooling, career navigation, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Webflow - Webflow has launched Interactions 2.0! Now with features like parallax scrolling, sequenced and scroll-based animations, it's never been easier to build a responsive website without touching a line of code.
- Fuse - Build native apps on iOS and Android. Use the promo code 'dd' to save 70% off the professional plan!

Chikezie on the Web:

220: Turtle Tiles (feat. Melody Quintana)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 25 Oct 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Melody Quintana, a designer and writer currently working at Dropbox. In this episode we dive into Melody's work on Dropbox Home, moving from content strategy to design, finding the Goldilocks company size, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Webflow - Webflow has launched Interactions 2.0! Now with features like parallax scrolling, sequenced and scroll-based animations, it's never been easier to build a responsive website without touching a line of code.
Figma - Figma is hiring product designers, a community manager, and a content writer. Join this team and build the future of design tools!

Melody on the Web:

219: Artisanal Iceman (feat. Patrick Wong)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Patrick Wong, a design manager currently working at Lyft. In this episode we dig into Patricks journey into design, transitioning into management, preserving culture as a design team scales, working with design systems, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Webflow - Webflow is gearing up to launch Interactions 2.0 which adds features like parallax scrolling, sequenced and scroll-based animations, and much more.
Figma - Figma is hiring product designers, a community manager, and a content writer. Join this team and build the future of design tools!

Patrick on the Web:

218: How Dutch Can I Go? (feat. Owen Williams)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Oct 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Owen Williams, a writer, developer, marketer, and most recently, full-time freelancer. In this episode we dig into building side projects with profitability in mind, making the leap to freelancing, being a generalist, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Fuse - Build native apps on iOS and Android.
Simpler. Faster. Use the discount code 'dd' to save 70% on Fuse Professional.

Owen on the Web:

217: Mystery Lifestyle (feat. Tyler Thompson)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 Sep 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Tyler Thompson, a designer and artist currently working at Stripe in San Francisco. In this episode we dig into Tyler's background as an artist, creative direction, job titles, escaping tech, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Tyler on the Web:

216: Topo Geeko (feat. John Rodriguez)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with John Rodriguez, aka J-Ro, a brand and marketing strategist currently working at Stage Two. In this episode we dig into the world of building hardware, brand and product marketing, working with early stage startups, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

J-Ro on the Web:

215: Shared Coolness Mood Board (feat. Salih Abdul-Karim)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Salih Abdul-Karim, an experience and motion designer at AirBnb and a member of the team that created Lottie, an open source tool to easily add animations to native apps. In this episode we dig into Salih's journey into motion design, moving from NYC to SF, freelancing versus big co work, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Fuse - Build native apps on iOS and Android.
Simpler. Faster. Use the discount code 'designdetails' to save 50% on Fuse Professional.

Salih on the Web:

214: Hot Weather Hugs (feat. Greyson MacAlpine)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 Sep 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Greyson MacAlpine, a freelance designer currently working on Wild & Grey, a new creative studio. In this episode we dig into growing up, changing career paths, Greyson's road to design, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Fuse - Build native apps on iOS and Android.
Simpler. Faster. Use the discount code 'designdetails' to save 50% on Fuse Professional.

Greyson on the Web:

Thanks To Today's Sponsor: Fuse

Fuse is making app development faster, easier and more fun for both developers and designers, and it's completely FREE for individual users, but if you're a part of a company and want a plan they're giving Design Details listeners 50% off the retail price of Fuse Professional for 12 months after having been redeemed.

Check them out at Fusetools.com and if you want that discount just use "designdetails" at checkout.

213: 5,000 Horsepower (feat. Will Peng)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Will Peng, a designer, investor, and co-founder of a new startup, Northstar. In this episode we talk about building a company, transitioning from design to VC, making the leap out of VC, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Will on the Web:

212: Extreme Portfolio Makeover (feat. Conway Anderson)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Conway Anderson, a designer and developer currently working on connecting designers and opportunities with a new, unreleased product. In this episode we dig into Conway's beginnings, finding design, hiring and getting hired, faking it, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Abstract - Abstract is a platform for modern design teams to work together. Join now to try Abstract free for one month.

Conway on the Web:

211: Sunshine In A Bag (feat. Mercedes Bazan)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Mercedes Bazan, a designer at Stripe by way of Argentina. In this episode we dig into Mechi's background, her journey into design, moving to the US, designing for print inside a high tech company, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Abstract - Abstract is a platform for modern design teams to work together. Join now to try Abstract free for one month.

Mercedes on the Web:

210: Did I Write This? (feat. Jules Forrest)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 9 Aug 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Jules Forrest, a product designer making her way to Credit Karma by way of Sequoia, Medium, Optimizely, and more. In this episode we dig into Jules' background, building and launching side projects, discovering design systems, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Shopify - Shopify is hiring designers, content strategists, researchers, and UX leads!
Abstract - Abstract is a platform for modern design teams to work together. Join now to try Abstract free for one month.

Jules on the Web:

209: Charmander++ (feat. Brian Lovin & Bryn Jackson)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 2 Aug 2017 12:00:00 +0000

This week we caught up with...us. Over the last two and a half years people have asked us questions about our own backgrounds, our journeys into design, starting side projects, building companies, how we manage working with each other so much, and more. So today we spent a while talking it through - we hope you enjoy listening!

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsors:

Shopify - Shopify is hiring designers, content strategists, researchers, and UX leads!
Abstract - Abstract is a platform for modern design teams to work together. Join now to try Abstract free for one month.

208: Say More Things (feat. Josh Brewer)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Josh Brewer, the co-founder and CEO at Abstract, previously a principal designer at Twitter. In this episode we dig into the design tools ecosystem, how to launch a startup, social responsibility in product design, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Shopify - Shopify is hiring designers, content strategists, researchers, and UX leads!

Josh on the web:

207: Livin' The Target Life (feat. Alex Estrada)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Alex Estrada, a product designer living in Salt Lake City, currently working at Jane.com. In this episode we dig into Alex's background in design, navigating startup highs and lows, moving to new cities, building teams, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Shopify - Shopify is hiring designers, content strategists, researchers, and UX leads!
Readydesk - The standing desk for perfect posture. Use the coupon code 'DESIGN' to save $10!

Alex on the web:

206: Aspirational Open Mindedness (feat. Mills Baker)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Mills Baker, a Design Manager at Quora, and previously a Product Designer at Facebook. In this extra-long episode, we dug into Mills' background, life in New Orleans, social mechanics, epistemology, and much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Shopify - Shopify is hiring designers, content strategists, researchers, and UX leads!
Readydesk - The standing desk for perfect posture. Use the coupon code 'DESIGN' to save $10!

Mills on the web:

205: New York Calls (feat. Robyn Kanner)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 5 Jul 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Robyn Kanner, currently designing products at Etsy, co-founded MyTransHealth, and was previously an art director at Amazon (among other amazing roles). In this episode we dug into Robyn's background, her journey into the design field, escaping small towns, building MyTransHealth, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

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Robyn on the web:

204: Happy Online Darkness (feat. Morgane Santos)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 28 Jun 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Morgane Santos, a designer, developer and artist currently designing experiences at thoughtbot. In this episode we dig into Morgane's background, building games, learning VR and 3D, transitioning from programming to design, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

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Morgane on the web:

203: Pool Pod Improv (feat. Chantal Jandard)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Chantal Jandard, a designer currently building products at PlanGrid. In this episode we dig into Chantal's background, building a portfolio, learning how to interview, and...improv!

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

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Chantal on the web:

202: Botpito (feat. Diogenes Brito)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Diogenes Brito, a product designer at Slack who previously worked on LinkedIn and SquareSpace. In this episode we dig into Dio's background in design, navigating university, being a designer-y engineer, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Fuse - Build native apps on iOS and Android.
Simpler. Faster. Use the discount code 'designdetails' to save 50% on Fuse Professional.
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Vectors Conference - Join the community for the upcoming conference in San Francisco on July 15th.

Dio on the web:

201: Thrown Under the Self Driving Bus (feat. Max Schoening)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 7 Jun 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Max Schoening, a designer, developer and product manager currently working at Google. In this episode we dig into Max's background in the field, building and selling startups, going serverless, the challenges of PMing, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Fuse - Build native apps on iOS and Android.
Simpler. Faster. Use the discount code 'designdetails' to save 50% on Fuse Professional.
Figma - Turn Ideas into Products Faster. Figma is hiring a design advocate and design writer.
Vectors Conference - Join the community for the upcoming conference in San Francisco on July 15th.

Max on the web:

200: Karate Chop Feels (feat. Josh Williams)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 31 May 2017 12:00:00 +0000

We made it to episode 200! Today we caught up with Josh Williams, a designer currently doing independent work, who is best known for previously co-founding Gowalla and designing at Facebook. In this episode we dig into identity in the startup industry, building and selling a company, modern day inspiration, putting out fires, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

Fuse - Build native apps on iOS and Android.
Simpler. Faster. Use the discount code 'designdetails' to save 50% on Fuse Professional.
Figma - Turn Ideas into Products Faster. Figma is hiring a design advocate and design writer.
Vectors Conference - Get on the waitlist for the conference on June 15th in San Francisco.

Josh on the web:

Show notes:

199: The Ballad of Computer Boy (feat. Judson Collier)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 24 May 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Judson Collier, a designer working at the brand design studio at Intercom. In this episode we dig into Judson's background, finding a team, being a freelancer, the merits of kale pizza, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

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Judson on the web:

Show notes:

198: Berry Ink For Bears (feat. Janum Trivedi)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 17 May 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Janum Trivedi, a designer and developer currently interning at Apple. In this show we dig deep on internships, side projects, the state of the web, dependency trees, Dungeons and Dragons, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

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Janum on the web:

Show Notes:

197: Chillaphobia (feat. Rachel Been)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 10 May 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Rachel Been, a creative director at Google working on the Material Design team. In this episode we dig deep into building design systems, creative and art direction, international empathy, machine learning in design, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

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Rachel on the web:

Show Notes:

196: What is Button? (feat. Rafael Conde & Kevin Clark)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 3 May 2017 12:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we caught up with our fellow Spec podcasters and designers, Rafael Conde and Kevin Clark, to talk about podcasting, side projects, building design systems, design obsession, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

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Rafael on the Web:

Kevin on the Web:

Show Notes:

195: Weird Old Grandma (feat. Helen Tran)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Helen Tran, a design lead at Shopify, writer, and explorer. In this episode we dig into Helen's background, finding motivation, design management, bodybuilding, being interesting, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

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Helen on the Web:

Show Notes:

194: That's So Hot Topic (feat. Kevin Smith)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Kevin Smith, co-founder and CTO at Abstract. In this episode we dig into Kevin's origins, the state of design tools and design workflows, focus and productivity, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

Sponsor:

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Kevin on the Web:

Show Notes:

193: Puppy Bears (feat. Laura Helen Winn)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Laura Helen Winn, an independent designer and photographer in San Francisco. In this show we dig into Laura's background, planning life, self employment, overwork, happiness and listening, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

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Laura on the Web:

Show Notes:

192: One Stuff At A Time (feat. Joel Califa)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 5 Apr 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Joel Califa, a design manager at Digital Ocean. In this episode we discuss the state of design Twitter, design quality and process, managing up, hiring designers, rethinking empathy, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

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Joel on the Web:

Show Notes:

191: Triangle of Passions (feat. Will Newton)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Will Newton, a product designer at Gusto who previously worked on Crossfader. In this episode we dig into Will's upcoming April Fools hijinks, his journey to San Francisco, finding balance in self-improvement, the triangle of passions, and so much more.

We're still in beta, so expect bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks, but in the meantime we'd love to hang out with you and chat!

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Will on the Web:

Show Notes:

190: Brain Drain (feat. Christine Røde)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Christine Røde, a brand and interaction designer working in Amsterdam who previously worked at Facebook on Workplace and search. In this episode we dig into Christine's background, her journey to San Francisco, navigating startup and big company life, and her advice to folks outside the Bay Area.

We've also got a big announcement: we're building a new thing for you! It's called Spectrum and it's a place for our community to hang out and share what's going on in design, development, podcasts, news, music, and more.

We're still in beta, so expect a few bugs and lots of improvements over the next few weeks! But in the meantime, we'd love to hang out with you and chat...in real time.

Sign up at Spectrum.chat, join the Design Details frequency, discover communities in ~discover, and share feedback in ~hugs-n-bugs!

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Christine on the Web:

Show Notes:

189: Done Goofed (feat. Max Stoiber)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 15 Mar 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Max Stoiber, the creator of Styled Components and React Boilerplate (among many other projects), and a massive contributor overall to the world of open-source Javascript. We dig into Max's background, designing with code, building in the open, and so much more.

Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 7,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Max on the Web:

Show Notes:

188: Doodle Television (feat. Kathy Zheng)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 Mar 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Kathy Zheng, a designer at GitHub, previously at Patreon. In this episode we dig into failure and taking chances, hiring early designers, learning how to communicate, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Kathy on the Web:

Show notes:

187: Performance Enhancing Calculators (feat. Ryhan Hassan)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 1 Mar 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Ryhan Hassan, a designer at Dropbox who previously worked on Paper. We dig into Ryhan's background, his transition from development to design, building side projects, easter eggs, and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Ryhan on the Web:

Show notes:

186: Bucket Heads (feat. Sarah Pease)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Sarah Pease, a designer at Facebook, previously building Figma. In this episode we go deep on buckets and furniture design, designing for civic engagement, taking risks, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Sarah on the Web:

Show notes:

185: Orland & Portlando (feat. Matt Spiel)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Matt Spiel, the Director of Design at Treehouse, visiting us by way of Missouri. We learn about his destiny in Arizona, design activism, remote work, company hierarchy, taking bets on people, managing designers, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Matt on the Web:

Show notes:

184: Three Scarves (feat. Meredith Schomburg)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 Feb 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Meredith Schomburg, a designer and illustrator at Airbnb. We dig into the impact of illustration, finding the right team at Airbnb, finding role models and fulfillment, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Meredith on the Web:

Show notes:

183: Vicious Soda Can (feat. Cat Noone)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 1 Feb 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Cat Noone, a designer and founder currently working on a new startup, Iris. In this episode we learn how to do math on our fingers, discuss how to navigate a career and different types of companies, learn what it takes to bootstrap a startup, hear Cat's advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Cat on the Web:

Show notes:

182: Sugar Puppy (feat. Jenny Johannesson)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Jenny Johannesson, a designer at Ueno, previously at Fantasy and DDB, who currently lives in San Francisco by way of Sweden. We dig into Jenny's background, design confidence, green cards and visas, that sweet agency life, advice for young designers, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Jenny on the Web:

Show notes:

181: 5,000 Tickets Gets The Gum (feat. Alex Cornell)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Alex Cornell, a product designer at Facebook, filmmaker, book writer, musician, photographer, and so much more. We dig deep into his thoughts on finding fulfillment, growing as a communicator, fame, the good ol' days of design communities, and more.

Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 6,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Alex on the Web:

Show notes:

180: Best of 2016 (Part 3)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 13:00:00 +0000

For the next week we're taking some time off with our friends and family – to tide everyone over, we've compiled three episodes with some of our favorite clips of 2016. We hope you enjoy listening back and rediscovering some of our episodes from this year, and we'll be back with new interviews in 2017!

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Design Details on the Web:

Show Notes:

179: Best of 2016 (Part 2)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Jan 2017 13:00:00 +0000

For the next two weeks we're taking some time off with our friends and family – to tide everyone over, we've compiled three episodes with some of our favorite clips of 2016. We hope you enjoy listening back and rediscovering some of our episodes from this year, and we'll be back with new interviews in 2017!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Design Details on the Web:

Show Notes:

178: Best of 2016 (Part 1)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 28 Dec 2016 13:00:00 +0000

For the next three weeks we're taking some time off with our friends and family – to tide everyone over, we've compiled three episodes with some of our favorite clips of 2016. We hope you enjoy listening back and rediscovering some of our episodes from this year, and we'll be back with new interviews in 2017!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Design Details on the Web:

Show Notes:

177: Chocolate Soul Cup (feat. Jon Schlossberg)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Jon Schlossberg, the cofounder and CEO at Even. We had a wonderful chat with Jon, digging into his path to becoming a designer, developing the skills of critical thinking, the cognitive energy cup, designing against inequality, telling the truth, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Jon on the Web:

Show notes:

176: Location Irrelevance (feat. Juan Arreguin)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with longtime-friend and freelance designer Juan Arreguin. We dig into Juan's origins as a designer in the midwest, the body as design, building a community in San Francisco, designing as a nomad, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Juan on the web:

Show notes:

175: Honeymoon & Humble Ping-Pong (feat. Claire Tauziet)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 7 Dec 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Claire Tauziet, a designer at Google, previously at BigCommerce, by way of France. We dig into Claire's background, sharing past work, building a career in a new country, advice for young designers, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Claire on the web:

Show notes:

174: Lava Lamp Nail Salon (feat. Noah Levin)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Noah Levin, a design manager at ClassPass, previously building the Google app for iOS, and before that a designer at NASA. We dig into Noah's origins, wireframing and visual design, navigating design at a big company, stigmas in therapy, imposter syndrome, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Noah on the web:

Show notes:

173: Grammar Different (feat. Leigh Taylor)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Leigh Taylor, a freelancing designer previously building AI design systems at The Grid. In this conversation, we dig into chasing people versus jobs, predictability and consistency, design patterns, living like you're retired, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Leigh on the web:

Show notes:

172: That Sweater Life (feat. Tegan Mierle)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Tegan Mierle, a designer at Sense, living in SF by way of Toronto. We dig into Tegan's origins, how she built her own business, the fears around sharing work, maintaining balance, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Tegan on the web:

Show notes:

171: Never Not Crunched (feat. Sarah Marie & Marshall Bock)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 9 Nov 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Today was a different kind of episode, featuring return friends of the show Marshall Bock and Sarah Marie. We had a more casual conversation, digging into topics like shutting down side projects, giving up, accountability and motivation, time management, and so much more.

Come chat with us in our Slack team! Over 5,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Sarah on the web:

Marshall on the web:

Show notes:

170: #BringBackThePipes (feat. Majd Taby)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 2 Nov 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Majd Taby, the founder of Darkroom who previously built products at Instagram, Facebook and Apple. We dig into his story as a software engineer and designer, hiring at tech companies, being scrappy, emotion in building products, finding work that matters, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Majd on the web:

Show notes:

169: Invisible Unicorns (feat. Maykel Loomans)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up once again with Maykel Loomans, a designer on Facebook's Search team and previously at Instagram. We dig into what Maykel has been up to this past year, building a career as a designer, mentorship, photography, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Maykel on the web:

Show notes:

168: Auto Goats (feat. Koen Bok and Jorn van Dijk)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Koen Bok and Jorn van Dijk, the co-founders of Framer, previously building products at Facebook and Sofa. This was a fun episode where we went deep into topics like building a startup in Amsterdam, the future of design tools, how to help designers level up, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Koen on the web:

Jorn on the web:

Show Notes:

167: Daisy Chained Brains (feat. Payam Rajabi)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Payam Rajabi, a designer at Shopify working on design systems and product development. We dig into Payam's background, building design systems, designing with content and form, learning how to work remotely, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Payam on the web:

Show Notes:

166: Ambient Struggles (feat. May-Li Khoe & Andy Matuschak)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 5 Oct 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today's show is a rare two-person episode featuring previous-guest May-Li Khoe and newcomer Andy Matuschak. In this episode we do things a bit different, digging into tough topics like fear, learning how to learn, designing with convictions, working on the right problems, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Hired

May-Li on the web:

Andy on the web:

Show Notes:

165: Whitespace Friends (feat. Lori Kaplan)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Lori Kaplan, a designer with 30 years of experience at companies like Apple, Netscape, Netflix, Motorola, and Groupon (among many others). We chat about Lori's journey into design, what it takes to design organizations, navigating job changes throughout a career, writing the Macintosh human interface guidelines, beating imposter syndrome, and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Managed by Q

Lori on the web:

Show Notes:

164: Maximum Vignelli (feat. Lucas Smith)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 12:00:00 +0000

In this episode, we hung out the one and only Lucas Smith. We covered everything from design systems to fighting your CFO, and the hot new front-end framework, Haskell.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Lucas on the web:

Show Notes:

163: Guardrails (feat. Ben Wilkins)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Ben Wilkins, a design technologist building systems at Airbnb. We dig into what it takes to build design systems, coding as prototyping, the current world of design tools, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Ben on the web:

Show Notes:

162: Gnarwhale (feat. Andy Chung)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 7 Sep 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we met with Andy Chung, a designer building Pattern, and previously working at Facebook. We dig into Andy's beginnings, designing at Facebook, understanding changes at scale, bringing Reactions to market, intuition-driven design, and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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UENO and on Twitter and on Instagram
Managed by Q

Andy on the web:

Show Notes:

161: Coming Soon (feat. Julia Khusainova)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Julia Khusainova, a designer at Shyp, previously at Twitter. We dig into Julia's background, leaving Russia, transitioning from engineering to design, designing onboarding experiences, facing burnout, balancing side projects, and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Managed by Q

Julia on the web:

Show Notes:

160: Unicorn Farts (feat. Dr. Charles Pearson)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Dr. Charles Pearson, a cultural anthropologist working at InVision. We dig into Charles' thoughts on anthropology, research in design and startups, exploratory design, personas, legacy, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Charles on the web:

Show Notes:

159: Twe-mail (feat. Lisa Sy)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Lisa Sy, a designer working at Facebook, and previously building products at thoughtbot. We dig into Lisa's background, designing for privacy and control, internships vs. apprenticeships, design and code, multidisciplinary design, and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Lisa on the web:

Show Notes:

158: D.R.E.A.M. (feat. Bob Baxley)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Bob Baxley, a designer in Silicon Valley. Bob formerly led design at Pinterest, and before that built products at Apple and Yahoo!. We dig into topics like med-tech, managing millennials, Pokémon GO and Gen-Z, design in big tech, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Bob on the web:

Show Notes:

157: Walking Empathy Sponge (feat. Kory Westerhold)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 10:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Kory Westerhold, a designer at Facebook working on Newsfeed, who previously designed at Twitter, Apple, and more. We dig deep on video games, opinions in design, theater and story telling, portfolios, designing for newsfeed, carrying an Android phone, and balancing side projects.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Kory on the web:

Show Notes:

156: Segue... (Feat. Alexandra Bond)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Alexandra Bond, a design fellow at Sequoia Creative Labs and previously a designer at Pinterest. We pick her brain about her origins, friction in design, transitioning into a product role, navigating the job search, answering the why, and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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UENO and on Twitter

Alex on the web:

Show Notes:

155: Duckicopters (feat. Athyuttam Reddy)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 10 Aug 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Athyuttam Reddy, a designer-engineer intern at Figma. We cover so much in this episode, including engineer design hybrid roles, getting a design job as a new grad, landing meaningful internships, becoming jaded, diversity and inclusivity, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Athyuttam on the web:

Show Notes:

154: Dancing Baby Dior (feat. Irina Blok)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 8 Aug 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Irina Blok, a designer at Zendesk who has previously designed at Google, Yahoo, and Adobe (among so many other companies). We talk about brand and product, moving from Russia to California, designing in the real world, putting in the work, and much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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UENO and on Twitter

Irina on the web:

Show Notes:

153: Khaleesi of the Couch (feat. Jeany Ngo)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 3 Aug 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Jeany Ngo, a designer by day at Airbnb, artist and creator and cosplayer by night. We dig into her journey into design, internships and hustle, art and cosplay, aphantasia and logic, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Jeany on the web:

Show Notes:

152: Maniacal Easy-Bake (feat. Beth Dean)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 1 Aug 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Beth Dean, a designer at Facebook, avid hiker, creator of toys and comics, illustrator, and artist. We dig into Beth's journey into design, adventures in SF, designing at Facebook, transitional states in design, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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UENO and on Twitter

Beth on the web:

Show Notes:

151: 100-Armed Octopus (feat. Mackey Saturday)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we got to catch up for a second time with Mackey Saturday, a brand and logo designer at CGH in New York. We dig deep into logo and brand design, working for free, making mistakes, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Mackey on the web:

Show Notes:

150: Fantastic Digital Goo (feat. May-Li Khoe)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we were able to catch up with May-Li Khoe, a designer at Khan Academy who previously spent seven years on the design team at Apple. In this episode we dig deep into long-term thinking, passion and work, priorities and flow, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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UENO and on Twitter

May-Li on the web:

Show Notes:

149: Melayoncé (feat. Melanie Araujo)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we had the opportunity to talk with Melanie Araujo, an independent designer and the creator of Front and Center. She shares her story with us, and we dig into complex topics like self-awareness, identity, personal growth, inclusion and diversity, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Melanie on the web:

Show Notes:

148: Verbal Punctuation (feat. Tim Quirino)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 18 Jul 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Tim Quirino, a product designer at Facebook working on Live. We dig into his background, mentorship, a designer's responsibility, vulnerability, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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UENO
Skurt

Tim on the web:

Show Notes:

147: Editorial Spackle (feat. Jessica Collier)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 10:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Jessica Collier, who most recently led content and design at Stellar.org. We go deep into designing economies, the importance of words and titles, Silicon Valley, the role of content in design, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Jessica on the web:

Show Notes:

146: Smell-o-vision (feat. Amber Cartwright)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Amber Cartwright, a design manager at Airbnb. We dig into her past and journey into design, management and leadership, invisible design, machine learning and AI, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Amber on the web:

Show Notes:

145: Sinister Candybar (feat. Chris Downer)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 Jul 2016 10:00:00 +0000

We recently sat down with Chris Downer, a designer at Sketch, previously at Realmac Software. We dig into his background, what it takes to design Sketch, how to build great software, and more.

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 4,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Chris on the web:

Show Notes:

144: Coca-Coolaid (feat. Stewart Scott-Curran)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 4 Jul 2016 10:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Stewart Scott-Curran, a designer working to build the brand team at Intercom. We dig into his background and journey as a designer, building a team with opinions, the ethics of design, and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Dropbox

Stewart on the web:

Show Notes:

143: Design Systems: So Hot Right Now (feat. Karri Saarinen)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 10:00:00 +0000

Today we met with Karri Saarinen, a designer at Airbnb working on their Design Language System. In this episode we dig deep into design tools and systems, collaboration at scale, building trust with design, and much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

UENO
Dropbox

Karri on the web:

Show Notes:

142: Relax To Get Past (feat. Daniel Hooper)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Daniel Hooper, a designer and engineer working on Principle. We dig into his process of building a prototyping tool, building side projects, San Francisco, Apple, and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Dropbox

Daniel on the web:

Show Notes:

141: Stardust Towers (feat. Pieter Omvlee)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 10:00:00 +0000

In this episode we sat down with Pieter Omvlee, the creator of Bohemian Coding and Sketch. We chat about remote work, building and designing software, creating culture, the vision for Sketch, and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsor:

Dropbox
UENO

Pieter on the web:

Show Notes:

140: Murky Waters (feat. Mike Davidson)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 12:00:00 +0000

This episode has been a long time coming: we finally caught up with Mike Davidson, the previous VP of design at Twitter and an all-around wonderful human. We dig deep into topics like evaluating designers, openness and honesty in tech, building teams, diversity, and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Dropbox

Mike on the web:

Show Notes:

139: Story Time! (feat. Josh Austin)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 10:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Josh Austin, a designer working on the VR team at YouTube. We dig into his past, talk about blogs and learning, communities and leveling up, virtual reality and what's next for designers, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsor:

Dropbox
UENO

Josh on the web:

Show Notes:

138: SlickSlacks (feat. Chanpory Rith)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 10:00:00 +0000

In this episode we catch up with Chanpory Rith, co-founder of Mixmax and previously a designer at Google, Dubberly Design Office and Meta Design. We talk about his journey through tech, working at agencies, big companies and startups, advice to young designers, and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsor:

Dropbox

Chanpory on the web:

Show Notes:

137: NBA Friends (feat. Christophe Tauziet)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 Jun 2016 10:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Christophe Tauziet, a designer at Facebook working on social VR. We dig into his background and hobbies, working at Apple, Parse and Facebook, designing at scale, VR, the future of design, and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsor:

UENO

Christophe on the web:

Show Notes:

136: All Bridge, No Apple (feat. Rasmus Andersson)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 6 Jun 2016 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we sat down with Rasmus Andersson, a designer at Figma who previously designed at Dropbox, Facebook and Spotify. We dig into the world of design tools, programming, design process, collaboration, craft, bridges and apples, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Rasmus on the web:

Show Notes:

135: How Hard Can It Be? (feat. Jasper Hauser)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 1 Jun 2016 10:00:00 +0000

In today's show we catch up with Jasper Hauser, the co-founder of SOFA and currently a design manager at Facebook. We dig into Jasper's past, the creation and evolution of SOFA, moving to Palo Alto by way of Facebook, craft and icon design, managing teams and processes, and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

UENO

Jasper on the web:

Show Notes:

134: Bias Filter (feat. Braden Kowitz)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 30 May 2016 10:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Braden Kowitz, a design partner at Google Ventures. We dig into Braden's work at GV, his background and journey at Google, prototyping, design process, building a design culture, and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Braden on the web:

Show Notes:

133: Follow the Gifs (feat. Sarah Jackson)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 25 May 2016 10:00:00 +0000

Today we're excited to share a very special episode of Design Details! In this show we sat down with Sarah Jackson, the full-time producer of our very own Spec Network. Sarah has been producing all of the Spec podcasts for almost a year, managing all operations, sales, new show onboarding and so much more – we dig into her journey to SF, what it's like building a content network, upcoming projects and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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UENO

Sarah on the web:

Show Notes:

132: Outdoor Disrupt (feat. Justin Graham)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 23 May 2016 10:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Justin Graham after returning from his journey to the Pacific Northwest and Japan. We dig into his background, making the leap to SF, building side projects, freelancing, remote work, traveling and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Freshbooks

Justin on the web:

Show Notes:

131: A Silicon Valley Eternity (feat. Joshua Taylor)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 May 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up once again with Joshua Taylor, previously a design director at Evernote who is currently contracting and working on a better experience for podcast consumption. We talk about his back story and becoming a designer, growing within organizations, freelancing and humility, leveling up as a junior designer and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

UENO

Joshua on the web:

Show Notes:

130: Ramen UI (feat. Linda Dong)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 16 May 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Linda Dong, a designer who worked on the prototyping team at Apple before leaving to travel the world. We dig into her experiences prototyping, diversity in tech, dealing with criticism, building video games and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Freshbooks

Linda on the web:

Show Notes:

129: Respect the Craft (feat. Claudio Guglieri)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 May 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we were able to catch up with Claudio Guglieri, a designer in SF making beautiful websites and products. We dig into his background as a designer from Spain, his process, honing craft, hiring designers, building products, writing for yourself, developing personal styles and so much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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UENO, UENO on Twitter

Claudio on the web:

Show Notes:

128: I Call Shotgun! (feat. Al Ingram and Ben Mingo)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 9 May 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Al Ingram and Ben Mingo, two pixel pushers at UENO and recent SF transplants. We dig into their backgrounds and journeys to San Francisco, what it's like working at UENO, finding inspiration, interviewing and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Al on the web:

Ben on the web:

Show Notes:

127: F of X (feat. Luke Beard)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 May 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Luke Beard, a designer currently working on building Exposure, a platform for photo stories. We invent a new mathematical formula for success, discuss building businesses vs. companies, talk origin stories and making moves to Silicon Valley, and much more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
UENO

Luke on the web:

Show Notes:

126: Hone Your Own (feat. Heather Phillips)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 2 May 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Heather Phillips, a designer currently managing at Designer Fund. We chat about her experiences working across a huge range of designers and startups, women in design, mentorship, getting a first job, the value of design school and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Heather on the web:

Show Notes:

125: Back to the Drawing Board, Baby (feat. Vanessa Cho)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Vanessa Cho, a designer and manager leading the software team at GoPro. We dig into her background as a designer, the hard truths about being a great manager and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
UENO

Vanessa on the web:

Show Notes:

124: Dazzle (feat. Jeremy Goldberg)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 25 Apr 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up once more with Jeremy Goldberg, a designer at Facebook working on Messenger and bots. We dig into designing for AI/bots, critique, process, trust, and more. Oh, and we coin a fun new term for designers.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Jeremy on the web:

Show Notes:

123: Live @ Github (feat. Carolyn Zhang, Heather Phillips, Mo Woods & Diana Mounter)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 12:00:00 +0000

This is it! Our first live episode recorded at GitHub in SF - thank you so much to GitHub for hosting and to everyone who was able to make it out! We had a blast in this episode talking with our four panelists about design mentorship, education, critique and more.

If you weren't able to make it to the live show, you can catch the video on our Twitch stream. We'll be hosting more live events soon, so stay in touch on Twitter.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Dropbox
UENO

Mo on the web:

Diana on the web:

Carolyn on the web:

Heather on the web:

Show Notes:

122: Lookin' to Cookin' (feat. Josh Puckett & Justin Pervorse)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we regrouped with the JPs - Justin Pervorse and Josh Puckett! We dig into cooking, definitions, titles, critique, management and so much more.

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 4,200 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Josh on the web:

Justin on the web:

Show Notes:

121: Web Trauma (feat. Bill Labus and Benjamin De Cock)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with two members of the Stripe design team, Bill Labus and Benjamin De Cock. We dig into their roles as UI designers, collaborating in code, critique, process and tools at Stripe, working remotely, origin stories, and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

UENO
Dropbox

Bill on the web:

Ben on the web:

Show Notes:

120: Shout Out, Mom! (feat. Adam Polselli)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Adam Polselli, a product designer and design lead at Dropbox. We dig into current projects at Dropbox, Adam's background, rejection and navigating a career path, hiring designers, what keeps Adam up at night and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
Etsy

Adam on the web:

Show Notes:

119: Dead Sea Scrollbar (feat. Yaron Schoen)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 Apr 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Yaron Schoen, a designer at Compass living in New York. We dig into Yaron's background and path into design, the changing environment of client work, building style guides and shipping great work.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
UENO

Yaron on the web:

Show Notes:

118: The Helena Price™ (feat. Helena Price)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 4 Apr 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we were able to sit down with Helena Price, a photographer in SF who has been hard at work on the Techies Project (launching today!). In this show we dig into Techies, Helena's background in tech and path to becoming a full-time photographer, dealing with stagnation and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
Etsy

Helena on the web:

Show Notes:

117: The Cool Tools (feat. Dylan Field)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Dylan Field, the CEO and co-founder of Figma. In this episode we dig into Dylan's background, design tools an Figma, internships, opinionated design, design education and more.

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 3,500 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
UENO

Dylan on the web:

Show Notes:

116: At Least There's Catan (feat. Connor McSheffrey)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Connor McSheffrey, a photographer and designer in SF most recently at Dropbox and VSCO. We dig into his background in programming and freelancing, making the leap to SF, photography and more!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
Etsy

Connor on the Web:

Show Notes:

115: Puppies, People, 'Puters (feat. Kelly Sutton)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Kelly Sutton, a software engineer currently leading product at imgix who is well-known in the design community for co-founding Designer News. In this episode we dig into Kelly's background, learn how to deal with a company shutdown and the story of Designer News, discuss tips for managing ICs and more!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsor:

Dropbox
UENO

Kelly on the Web:

Show Notes:

113: Artist Formerly Known As (feat. Jeff Smith)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with our good friend Jeff Smith, a designer at Facebook, a shralper at heart, and an all-around amazing designer. We start off digging into Jeff's background but quickly start to uncover what makes a great manager, how to deal with imposter syndrome, filling in skill gaps, answering the eternal 1x vs 2x debate, and addressing the importance of visual design.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsor:

Dropbox
UENO

Jeff on the Web:

Show Notes:

112: Turtleneck Tutorials (feat. Marshall Bock)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Today we finally had the chance to catch Marshall Bock on a solo recording! We dig deeper into his background, dive into sketch tips and tricks, talk about grids and guides and how to build great cross-platform experiences.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsor:

Dropbox

Marshall on the Web:

Show Notes:

111: Claim to Flame (feat. Vicki Tan)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 9 Mar 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Vicki Tan, a designer here in SF working at Lyft and wearing all black. In this episode we get into Vicki's journey to design, crafting a better interview process, management and having successful one-on-ones, hustling, getting a first design job and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
UENO

Vicki on the Web:

Show Notes:

110: MAMP Patient Zero (feat. Joey Banks)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 7 Mar 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Joey Banks, a designer here in SF, previously at Scoot Networks. Joey is a self-described junior designer, and in today's show we dig into his journy in the industry, his next projects, what makes a good mentor, how to build your network and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox

Joey on the Web:

Show Notes:

109: Vim Me Up, Scottie (feat. Dan Eden)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 2 Mar 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Daniel Eden, a design engineer at Dropbox. We dig briefly into Dan's background, talk about the relationship between designers and developers, writing CSS at scale, scratching your own itch and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

UENO

Dan on the Web:

Show Notes:

108: The Flopping Dead (feat. Brad Simpson)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with the designer formerly known as Brad Simpson. Brad currently designs at Medium, but he comes from a highly technical hardware background at IDEO and MIT. We dig into Brad's transition from hardware/mechanical design to software design, the challenges of designing at Medium and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Brad on the Web:

Show Notes:

107: Just Enough Wax: LIVE @ Epicurrence

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Today we have a very special, experimental episode of Design Details. On our last night of Epicurrence #3 we invited folks to come answer one of three questions; the result is a 28-guest mega-episode!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Show Notes:

106: Glorified Hustlers (feat. Mackey Saturday & Meg Robichaud)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 18:00:00 +0000

For our third Epicurrence episode we sat down with Mackey Saturday and Meg Robichaud. We catch up on their past year, branding and illustration work, how to navigate company politics, the way to get critique as a freelancer, and a handfull of listener questions at the end!

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 3,000 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Mackey on the web:

Meg on the web:

Show Notes:

105: Arbiter of Taste (feat. Ben Cline & Anson Schall)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 13:00:00 +0000

In another Epicurrence recording of Design Details, we caught up with Ben Cline and Anson Schall of Rally Interactive. We dig into Rally's humble beginnings, the merit of design awards, how designers and developers work together, and the worst kind of client.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Ben on the web:

Anson on the web:

Show Notes:

104: All Good in the Hood (feat. Jen & Amy Hood)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 17:00:00 +0000

In our first Epicurrence recording we caught up with the talented Amy and Jen Hood, founders of Hoodzpah Design. In this show we chat with the twins about their backgrounds as designers, work life balance, side projects, pricing and how to start a design business.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Amy on the web:

Jen on the web:

Show Notes:

103: Sacrifice for Pixels (feat. Drew Wilson & Dann Petty)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 13:00:00 +0000

In another special roundtable episode of Design Details, we caught up with Drew Wilson and Dann Petty, the creators of the Valio Con and Epicurrence design conferences. We dig into the ethos of their creations, the hardest parts of pulling together a community, and what it takes to create a physical experience for hundreds of people.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsor:

UENO

Dann on the Web:

Drew on the Web:

Show Notes:

102: Sick Ajax Skills (feat. Adam Michela)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 8 Feb 2016 13:00:00 +0000

This episode with Adam Michela was soopa fun; Adam is a designer at AirBnb, previously at Last, Facebook and Gowalla among others. We caught up to talk about Adam's background as a designer, building style guides at scale, the impact of engineering on user experience, and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Adam on the web:

Show Notes:

101: Everyone's Thirsty (feat. Katie Zhu & Tara Mann)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 3 Feb 2016 13:00:00 +0000

In another roundtable episode of Design Details, we caught up with Katie Zhu and Tara Mann to chat about social media, personal brands, new media, storytelling and our favorite undiscovered apps!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Katie on the Web:

Tara on the Web:

Show Notes:

100: Goldilocks Fidelity (feat. Daniel Burka)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 1 Feb 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Episode 100! We made it - thank you so much to everyone has listened to an episode, shared the show with a friend or reached out to us on Twitter this past year; we wouldn't be here without you. For this special episode we caught up with Daniel Burka to talk about his background, process, critique, what keeps him up at night and more. Enjoy!

Daniel on the Web:

Show Notes:

99: Internet Points (feat. Ian Silber)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 17:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Ian Silber, a designer (and design manager!) at Instagram. We dig into his background, talk about taking bets on young designers, his key learnings in management, briefly diverge into cooking, and return back to his process for hiring at Instagram.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Ian on the Web:

Show Notes:

98: Inhale the Flattery (feat. Marc Hemeon & Joshua Taylor)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 13:00:00 +0000

For episode 98 we sat down with Marc Hemeon and Joshua Taylor to talk about their new company, Design Inc. We also dig into their biggest advice for young designers, what they would learn if they could start again, soul vs. ego and what it takes to surround yourself with the best people.

Marc on the Web:

Josh on the Web:

Show Notes:

97: Eleven Month Itch (feat. Marshall Bock & Joshua Sortino)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 18:00:00 +0000

In today's episode of Design Details we brought the Vicarious crew, Marshall Bock and Josh Sortino, over to have a round table discussion about design leadership. This is a different format from our usual shows, so ping us on Twitter @designdetailsfm with your thoughts and feedback!

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Josh on the Web:

Marshall on the Web:

Show Notes:

96: Granola Mogul (feat. Kerem Suer)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Kerem Suer, a product designer at Operator. We've been itching to chat with Kerem for the past year, and it was so fun to finally get to catch up! In this episode we talk about Kerem's background as a designer and sailor, career progression, side projects, and the dumbest domain names we've ever bought.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Kerem on the Web:

Show Notes:

95: Sandwich Artist (feat. Brian Benitez)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 13:00:00 +0000

For our first new recording in 2016 we caught up with Brian Benitez, a designer who built Collective Ray over the past 5 years and has just recently joined the team at Weebly. We chat about his origins as a designer, making the switch to Weebly, moving to SF and, of course, sandwich art.

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 2,900 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Brian on the Web:

Show Notes:

94: Best of 2015 - Part 4

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 13:00:00 +0000

For the next two weeks we're taking some time off with our friends and family - to tide everyone over, we've compiled four episodes with some of our favorite clips of 2015. We hope you enjoy listening back and re-discovering some of our earliest content, and we'll be back with new interviews in 2016!

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 2,700 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Design Details on the Web:

Show Notes:

93: Best of 2015 - Part 3

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 Jan 2016 13:00:00 +0000

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Design Details on the Web:

Show Notes:

92: Best of 2015 - Part 2

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 4 Jan 2016 13:00:00 +0000

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Design Details on the Web:

Show Notes:

91: Best of 2015 - Part 1

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 13:00:00 +0000

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Design Details on the Web:

Show Notes:

90: Master Yodan (feat. Dan Mall)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 13:00:00 +0000

In our last recorded guest episode of 2015, we were able to catch up with Dan Mall! We couldn't have asked for a more perfect episode to end our year - in this show Dan drops knowledge about freelancing, job titles, and helping people do the best work of their lives.

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 2,600 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Dan on the Web:

Show Notes:

89: Sh**s & Gigs (feat. Justin Pervorse)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 13:00:00 +0000

In this episode we caught up with Justin Pervorse, a designer and illustrator at Dropbox, and previously at MailChimp. We dig into Justin's backstory, making vinyl toys at MailChimp, creating a custom t-shirt deli shop at Dropbox and the worst parts about living in San Francisco.

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 2,500 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

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Justin on the Web:

Show Notes:

88: Deuces, Coding (feat. Katie Zhu)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 13:00:00 +0000

This week we caught up with Katie Zhu, an engineer and product manager at Medium. We pick Katie's brain about product management, holacracy and organizational structure, exploring new products, email newsletters, imposter syndrome and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Katie on the Web:

Show Notes:

87: Chillustrations (feat. Meg Robichaud)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 13:00:00 +0000

In this episode we finally caught up with Meg Robichaud, a designer and illustrator traveling and freelancing around the world. We talk about her background as a creator, the nomad lifestyle, her illustration processes and some of her latest thoughts and writings.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Meg on the Web:

Show Notes:

86: Adult Recess (feat. Susan Lin)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 13:00:00 +0000

This week we caught up with Susan Lin, an artist, designer and coder building things over at Treehouse. In this episode we dig into Susan's background as a creative, her process as a designer and developer, how remote work and flat organizations can maximize productivity, and the value of building a personal brand.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Susan on the Web:

Show Notes:

85: Lettering Liaison (feat. Tobias Frere-Jones)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 9 Dec 2015 13:00:00 +0000

This is the last of our New York recordings with none-other than legendary type designer, Tobias Frere-Jones! Tobias recently released Mallory, his new company's first family, so the timing couldn't have been better. In this episode we learn about Tobias' design process, how he first became interested in type, and just what kind of details go into creating an entire family.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Tobias on the Web:

Show Notes:

84: Crochet Monotype (feat. Aaron Moodie)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 7 Dec 2015 13:00:00 +0000

Last month while in New York City we got to catch up with Aaron Moodie, a product designer at Etsy. We pick his brain about hustling, portfolio advice, moving around the world for new jobs and the future of apps.

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 2,300 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

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Aaron on the Web:

Show Notes:

83: It Depends (Live @Etsy, feat. Randy Hunt)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 2 Dec 2015 13:00:00 +0000

A few weeks ago we flew to New York City to interview some of our favorite designers. On our first day in the city we had the chance to sit down with Randy Hunt, the VP of Design at Etsy, in front of the entire Etsy design team for a very special live episode! In this show we dig into some of the challenges Randy's facing as the design org continues to expand, his journey to becoming a designer, what keeps him awake at night, and much more.

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 2,400 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

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Randy on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - Introductions

82: Salt Boogers (feat. Charlie Waite)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 13:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Charlie Waite, a designer at GoPro who previously spent time designing at Focus Lab. We explore how design works at GoPro, the key differences between agency and product work, navigating work-life balance and working as a freelancer on the side.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

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Charlie on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - Introductions

81: It's Complicated... (Live at Etsy, feat. Joel Califa, Jessica Harllee & Justin Edmund)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 13:00:00 +0000

Last weekend we visited New York City to meet some of our favorite designers for Design Details! While we were there, we hosted our first-ever live meetup at the Etsy offices. More than 70 people came to catch up with Justin Edmund, Jessica Harllee and Joel Califa; we picked their brains about their journey, mistakes they've made, mentorship vs. coaching, learning new skills, and more - we even answered questions from the audience! Huge thanks to Aaron, Diana and Floris at Etsy for making this event possible; we can't wait to host our next meetup in San Francisco next year!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

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Joel on the Web:

Jessica on the Web:

Justin on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - Introductions

80: Helvetica, Helvetica, Helvetica (feat. Jason Santa Maria)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 13:00:00 +0000

Last weekend we visited New York City and caught up with one of our favorite designers, Jason Santa Maria. We pick his brain about process, mentorship and typography, and he walked us through his journey as a designer.

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 2,200 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

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Jason on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - Introductions

20:00 - Typekit, Editorially, etc.

40:00 - Type

45:00 - Process, mentorship

79: Fart Director (feat. Gene Ross)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 13:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Gene Ross, a designer at Luxe currently NOT living in San Francisco. We picked Gene's brain about imposter syndrome, work life balance, his Runescape journey and coming to the west coast.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

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Gene on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - Introductions

78: Bob Ross Petty (feat. Dann Petty)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 13:00:00 +0000

We've been waiting to chat with Dann Petty for months now, but finally after returning from Epicurrence No. 2 we made it happen! In this episode we chat about Dann's background as a designer, what's going on with Epicurrence, his advice for freelancers, and tips for young designers just getting started. If you enjoy this episode, go to Epicurrence.com and sign up to come hang out this February in Park City, Utah!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

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Dann on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - Introductions

12:00_ - Epicurrence and Diversity

[https://twitter.com/donovanxdb](Donovan Bass)
Jessica Collier on Epicurrence
Dan Mall on Epicurrence
Rally Interactive
Ben Cline

22:00 - Background, advice

Nixon
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77: Pegacorns (feat. Drew Wilson)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 13:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Drew Wilson, a prolific designer, developer and product creator who recently moved to the Bay Area to build Plasso. We chat about Drew's background, how he builds so many products, taking risks and his observations on design in the valley.

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 1,900 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

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Drew on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - Introductions

15:00 - Taking risks, road trips

76: Full Feltron (feat. Justin Edmund)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 9 Nov 2015 13:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Justin Edmund, a designer well known for his work at Pinterest over the last four years. We chat about his background in design, going to design school, what the Pinterest process is like, and how Justin is looking into the future of design.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
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Justin on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - Introductions

75: Gitway Drug (feat. Brent Jackson)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Nov 2015 13:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Brent Jackson aka jxnblk to talk about all things design and development! Brent is a prolific creator and we love his tools here at Spec - we chat with him about side projects, being a designer and a developer, building design systems and how he got his nickname.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

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Brent on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - Introductions

9:00 - Jackson's work

74: Itchy Feet (feat. Diana Mounter)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 2 Nov 2015 13:00:00 +0000

In today's episode of Design Details we caught up with Diana Mounter, aka Broccolini. Diana is a designer at Etsy, and in this show we chat about her journey to Etsy, why git is a valuable tool for designers and the hardest part about onboarding new hires.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

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Diana on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - Introductions

12:00 - Background

28:00 - Coding, git, startups

73: Feedback Friends (feat. Katie Dill)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 12:00:00 +0000

This week we had the chance to sit down with Katie Dill, the head of experience design at Airbnb. We talked about her background as a designer, what she looks for in new hires, how designers can work more effectively with businesses, and the critique process used at Airbnb.

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 1,800 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

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Katie on the Web:

Show Notes:

2:00 - Introductions

24:00 - Background

72: No...Nope...Not At All (feat. Morgan Knutson)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Morgan Knutson, a co-founder and designer at Shift, notable for his previous work at Dropbox and Google. In this episode we talk about what it takes to get hired as a designer, Morgan's background, working at Google, and how to get things done as a designer.

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 1,500 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

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Morgan on the Web:

Show Notes:

2:00 - Introductions

11:00 - Getting hired

16:00 - Background

71: Tomb Braider (feat. Maykel Loomans)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 12:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we sat down with Maykel Loomans, a designer and developer currently working on search at Facebook and is notable for his previous work at Instagram. In this episode we chat about Maykel's background as a designer, working at scale, mentorship and more.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

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Maykel on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - Introductions

27:00 - Facebook

56:00 - Mentorship

Modeling Mentorship

70: Nothing's Sacred, Not Even Goats (feat. Ash Huang)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 12:00:00 +0000

For episode 70 we sat down with Ash Huang, an independent designer, illustrator and writer here in San Francisco. In the past Ash worked on brand design at Twitter, brand and product design at Pinterest, and has most recently published her own book, The Firesteel.

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 900 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
Iconfinder - use the promo code 'DESIGNDETAILS' to save 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro

Ash on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - Introductions

20:00 - Writing

69: Epicurrence Live (feat. Dustin Senos + Haraldur Thorleifsson)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 12:00:00 +0000

Welcome to our first live episode of Design Details! We recorded this show last week at Epicurrence North Shore with Haraldur Thorleifsson and Dustin Senos - we dig into inspiration, mentorship, identifying potential and more. Let us know what you think of this live format on Twitter!

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 1,400 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Haraldur on the Web:

Dustin on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - Inspiration

12:00 - Mentorship

24:00 - Sharing work

34:00 - Designers

45:00 - Q&A

68: Should Designers Cat? (feat. Trevor McNaughton + Katie Rinkevich)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 12:00:00 +0000

Today we had a very fun, very casual conversation with Katie Rinkevich and Trevor McNaughton, both product designers living here in San Francisco. We chat about A/B testing, accidentally becoming designers and the concept car method of designing products.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

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Katie on the Web:

Trevor on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - Introductions, story time

67: Open the Kimono (feat. Soleio Cuervo)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 7 Oct 2015 12:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Soleio Cuervo, a designer, advisor and investor. He's well known for laying the groundwork of Facebook's early design team and, of course, his work on the original incarnation of the 'like' button. He currently advises many companies and startups in tech, and we had a blast digging into his stories and lessons learned!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Soleio on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - Introductions

13:00 - Facebook

48:00 - New designers

66: Kittenish (feat. Ryan Hoover)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 5 Oct 2015 12:00:00 +0000

For episode 66 we caught up with Ryan Hoover, the founder of Product Hunt. We get insights into PH's latest podcasting branch, building in public, what it's like designing and building Product Hunt, and some of the biggest mistakes Ryan sees people making.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
Iconfinder - use the promo code 'DESIGNDETAILS' to save 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro

Ryan on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - Introductions

9:00 - Podcasting, building in public

42:00 - Designing Product Hunt

65: Meatwad Flip-Flops (feat. Linda Eliasen)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Linda Eliasen to chat about the latest happenings in her career, what it was like illustrating for Cartoon Network and her favorite project at Dropbox. We also take the time to dig through Linda's journey as a designer leading up until now as she sets off on her next adventure.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Harvest - use the promo code 'designdetails' to save 50% off your first month of Harvest

Linda on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - Introductions

10:00 - Stories

64: Get Tricky (feat. Alli Dryer)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Alli Dryer, a designer and architect working on the Twitter timeline. In this show we chat about Alli's background in design and architecture, what it's like to design at Twitter and what she's working on next.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
Iconfinder - use the promo code 'DESIGNDETAILS' to save 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro

Alli on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - Introductions

11:00 - Architecture and starting up

20:00 - Twitter

36:00 - Interests

63: More Nougat (feat. Jon Lax)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 11:00:00 +0000

For episode 63 we sat down with Jon Lax, one of the design directors at Facebook overseeing the Utility Org. Jon is well-known for his writings during his time at Teehan+Lax, the design agency he co-founded with Geoff Teehan. In this show we talk about his work at Facebook, design culture, designing at scale, and of course, Jon's backstory as a designer.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Code School

Jon on the Web:

Show Notes:

2:00 - Introductions

4:00 - Culture

19:00 - Backstory

44:00 - Designing at scale, more

62: Pencil Mileage (feat. Alice Lee)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 11:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we caught up with Alice Lee, a designer, illustrator and developer living in San Francisco. Alice is well-known for her work at Dropbox, illustrating for the New York Times, and her latest freelance work across a range of amazing companies. In this show we chat about her journey as a designer and illustrator, the story behind Dropbox and Carousel and the latest projects Alice is working on.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
Iconfinder - use the promo code 'DESIGNDETAILS' to save 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro

Alice on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - Introductions

27:00 - Carousel and Dropbox

37:00 - Other projects

50:00 - Voice

Naruto

61: State of Louisville (feat. Josh Puckett)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 11:00:00 +0000

In today's show we caught up with Josh Puckett, a designer and developer living in Palo Alto. We talk about Josh's journey at Dropbox and what it was like to build Carousel, how he manages to make so many apps, the current state of design tools, and the world of freelance designing. Stick around after the show to hear our 30 minutes of bonus conversation about the latest Apple event!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Josh on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - Introductions

9:00 - The Carousel story

15:00 - Building side projects

32:00 - Design tools

45:00 - Wealthfront

50:00 - Freelancing

1:06:00 - Bonus! We chat about the Apple event

60: One Big Wrist Button (feat. Ayaka Nonaka and Sam Soffes)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

In this episode we sat down with Ayaka Nonaka and Sam Soffes to deconstruct the new Apple announcements from last week. We dig through each product and talk about the design and development implications we can expect in the future!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
Iconfinder - use the promo code 'ROBOT' to save 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro

Ayaka on the Web:

Sam on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - Introductions + Apple Chat

59: Bay Curious (feat. Tara Mann)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 9 Sep 2015 15:00:00 +0000

For episode 59 we caught up with Tara Mann, a product designer and sneaker collector currently making things at Twitter. In this show we dig into Tara's background and discuss what it means to grow as a new designer. We also chat about the recent Google rebrand, entrepreneurial thought leaders and design school.

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 800 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Hired
Harvest - use the promo code 'designdetails' to save 50% off your first month of Harvest

Tara on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - Introductions

10:00 - Design school

14:00 - New Google logo

16:00 - Background

34:00 - Design chat

58: Fat Cat Cat Chat (feat. Kyle Meyer and Charlie Deets)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 7 Sep 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In this episode we caught up with Kyle Meyer and Charlie Deets, two product designers that have a huge range of experience in the design and development world. We chat about design at Facebook, remote working, unsolicited redesigns and the power of sound.

Come chat with us in our new Slack team! Over 750 designers and developers have already joined our team, chatting about the latest tools and news in the design world. Each week we also host a community critique with a special guest host. To join our team visit our Slack invite page and we'll send you an invitation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
Iconfinder - use the promo code 'ROBOT' to save 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro

Kyle on the Web:

Charlie on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - Introductions

10:00 - Unsolicited redesigns

14:00 - Backstories

Big Cartel

27:00 - Facebook Groups, games, sound design

44:00 - More backstories

57:00_ - Workflows

Wake
Peek

57: DubDubDub (feat. Robin and Roxane Clediere)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 2 Sep 2015 13:00:00 +0000

In this episode, we hung out with Robin and Roxane Clediere. They're a pair of French designers who not only are married, but work together on design projects. We discussed working together as a couple, joining Facebook, and moving from a small town in France to San Francisco.

If you missed it, we recently announced Spec, a new podcast network for designers and developers and our first new show, Immutable! We hope you'll check it out and follow @specfm and @immutablefm on Twitter for new shows and updates!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Roxane on the Web:

Robin on the Web

Show Notes:

4:30 - Introductions

Limoges, France

7:00 - Joining Facebook

10:00 - Working together as a couple, getting visas, and side projects

21:30 - Getting started in design & working with large design teams

37:00 - Launching a product at Facebook

45:00 - Design Tools

55:00 - Startups vs Agencies

56: Lego Bits (feat. Adam Morse)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 15:00:00 +0000

In this episode we sat down with Adam Morse, aka mrmrs, a front-end developer and designer. Adam shares his knowledge of building systems and making the internet better.

If you missed it, we recently announced Spec, a new podcast network for designers and developers! We hope you'll check it out and follow @specfm on Twitter for new shows and updates!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Harvest
Iconfinder - use the promo code 'ROBOT' to save 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro

Adam on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - Introductions

12:00 - CSS

22:00 - Writing

43:00 - Other

55: Wizards (feat. Wilson Miner and Ryan Sims)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 15:00:00 +0000

They're back! In this episode we sat down with Wilson Miner and Ryan Sims to chat about their latest adventures in design, Apple Music, design collaboration and job transitions.

If you missed it, we recently announced Spec, a new podcast network for designers and developers! We hope you'll check it out and follow @specfm on Twitter for new shows and updates!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Wilson on the Web:

Ryan on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - Introductions

7:00 - Transitioning jobs, Apple Music, collaborating

54: Cute Puppy Syndrome (feat. Jacob Thornton)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 15:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Jacob Thornton, co-founder of Bootstrap and previously an engineer at Twitter and Medium. Jacob tells us all about his magical experience with Snoop Dogg, the history of CSS and the free software movement.

If you missed it, we recently announced Spec, a new podcast network for designers and developers! We hope you'll check it out and follow @specfm on Twitter for new shows and updates!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
Iconfinder - use the promo code 'ROBOT' to save 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro

Jacob on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - Introductions and Snoop Dogg

Snoop Dogg at Twitter

11:00 - Free software

23:00 - Bootstrap

33:00 - CSS

53: Solving the Shout Problem (feat. Sahil Lavingia)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 15:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Sahil Lavingia, the founder and CEO at Gumroad. We chat about building an audience online, the challenges of being a designer, engineer and founder, and what the hiring process looks like at Gumroad.

If you missed it, we recently announced Spec, a new podcast network for designers and developers! We hope you'll check it out and follow @specfm on Twitter for new shows and updates!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Wake
Wake

Sahil on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - Introductions

6:00 - Building audiences

46:00 - Design challenges

52: Save the Prototype (feat. Malthe Sigurdsson)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 15:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Malthe Sigurdsson, the current Head of Design at Stripe. Before joining Stripe, Malthe was the VP of Product at Rdio, and before that he was the Creative Director at Skype. In this episode we dig into Malthe's journey through these amazing companies, diving deep into hiring and scaling design teams and how to think like a product designer.

If you missed it, we recently announced Spec, a new podcast network for designers and developers! We hope you'll check it out and follow @specfm on Twitter for new shows and updates!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Hired
Iconfinder - use the promo code 'ROBOT' to save 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro

Malthe on the Web:

Show Notes:

5:00 - Introductions

7:00 - Design at Stripe

12:00 - Malthe's history

35:00 - Growing a design team

Design of Everyday Things

51: Dopesick (feat. Marshall Bock and Sam Soffes)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 15:00:00 +0000

It's teaser time! This episode we caught up with Sam Soffes and Marshall Bock, two upcoming hosts on the Spec Network! In this show we chat about the future of Spec and dive deep into some Sketch pro tips.

If you missed it, we recently announced Spec, a new podcast network for designers and developers! We hope you'll check it out and follow @specfm on Twitter for new shows and updates!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Sam on the Web:

Marshall on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - Who are you?

6:00 - New Spec shows!

17:00 - Message us on Twitter (@specfm) with your email address to join our Slack Team!

@specfm

21:00 - Marshall shares his story.

33:00 - Sam's working on things.

38:00 - Sketch talk.

50: #FF00FF (feat. Steph Monette and Liam Campbell)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 17:00:00 +0000

For our 50th episode we sat down with Steph Monette and Liam Campbell, developers at Mule Design, to chat about CSS, startups versus agencies and the state of tech in San Francisco.

If you missed it, we recently announced Spec, a new podcast network for designers and developers! We hope you'll check it out and follow @specfm on Twitter for new shows and updates!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
Iconfinder - use the promo code 'ROBOT' to save 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro

Steph on the Web:

Liam on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - NPR

5:00 - Introductions

6:00 - What are you working on?

12:00 - Hyphens vs. Underscores

26:00 - Startup culture

51:00 - What are you excited about?

49: Space Dinosaurs (feat. Anand Sharma)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 15:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Anand Sharma, founder of Gyroscope and an insanely-talented designer/developer. We caught up about his work on Gyroscope, the future of health tracking and how the quantified self is changing the world.

If you missed it, we recently announced Spec, a new podcast network for designers and developers! We hope you'll check it out and follow @specfm on Twitter for new shows and updates!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Anand on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - What are you working on?

48: Switzerland of Tumblr (feat. Floris Dekker)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 3 Aug 2015 15:00:00 +0000

Happy Monday! Today we caught up with Floris Dekker, senior design manager at Etsy and founder of Little Big Details! In this show we chat about Little Big Details, management as a design problem, gardening and what Floris is excited about in the world of design.

If you missed it, we recently announced Spec, a new podcast network for designers and developers! We hope you'll check it out and follow @specfm on Twitter for new shows and updates!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
Iconfinder - use the promo code 'ROBOT' to save 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro

Floris on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - What are you working on right now?

10:00 - Designing around the world.

Made by Sofa

14:00 - We learn about Little Big Details

29:00 - Management as a design problem.

45:00 - What else are you excited for in the design world?

49:00 - What's a strong opinion you have right now?

47: Symmetrical Sandwich (feat. Mark Otto)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 15:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Mark Otto, the creator of Bootstrap and designer at GitHub. We go deep into the CSS/front-end world on this one, we hope you enjoy listening!

If you missed it, we recently announced Spec, a new podcast network for designers and developers! We hope you'll check it out and follow @specfm on Twitter for new shows and updates!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Mark on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - What are you working on?

14:00 - We learn more about Boostrap

24:00 - More about the current state of the front-end

40:00 - Burritos

47:00 - Getting into our backgrounds

46: It Started With Neopets (feat. Joshua Sortino)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 15:00:00 +0000

Today we caught up with Josh Sortino, designer at Teespring, startup advisor and photographer. We chat about design and communication, the design world in San Francisco, photography and how designers can get a seat at the table.

If you missed it, we recently announced Spec, a new podcast network for designers and developers! We hope you'll check it out and follow @specfm on Twitter for new shows and updates!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
Iconfinder - use the promo code 'ROBOT' to save 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro

Josh on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - What are you working on right now?

9:00 - How did you start advising startups?

20:00 - How did you get into photography?

30:00 - What do you do outside of work?

Agar

40:00 - Design + Communication

45: Year of the Snail (feat. Elle Luna)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 15:00:00 +0000

It's time for a break from the normal conversations we have here on Design Details; today we stepped back to try and see the bigger picture with Elle Luna. Elle is a writer, designer, artist, entrepreneur and life adventurer, and in this episode she helps us navigate some of the bigger questions in our lives and in our careers.

If you missed it, we recently announced Spec, a new podcast network for designers and developers! We hope you'll check it out and follow @specfm on Twitter for new shows and updates!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Adobe (and check out What's New in CC 2015!)
Dropbox

Elle on the Web:

Show Notes:

5:00 - What are you working on?

14:00 - We chat about design, art and utility.

41:00 - More about side projects and careers

44: Everything is a Beta (feat. Haraldur Thorleifsson)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:00:00 +0000

For episode 44 we caught up with Haraldur Thorleifsson, a designer and agency founder leading the amazing team at UENO. In this show we chat about Haraldur's background and journey to starting UENO, the state of web design, Apple Watch, burnout and more.

We recently announced Spec, a new podcast network for designers and developers! We hope you'll check it out and follow @specfm on Twitter for new shows and updates!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
Iconfinder - use the promo code 'ROBOT' to save 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro

Halli on the Web:

Show Notes:

5:00 - What are you working on?

13:00 - How did you get big clients as a freelancer?

22:00 - Is the web becoming a series of boxes?

35:00 - What's your toolkit these days?

40:00 We chat UENO, Apple Watch, burnout and more

42: Lonely T-Rex (feat. Sebastien Gabriel and Jean-Marc Denis)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This week we finally caught up with our friends at Google, Jean-Marc Denis and Sebastien Gabriel. In this episode we chat Material Design, designing invisible interfaces, current design tools and moving from France to the US.

Last week we also announced Spec, a new podcast network for designers and developers! We hope you'll check it out and follow @specfm on Twitter for new shows and updates!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
Iconfinder - use the promo code 'ROBOT' to save 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro

Sebastien on the Web:

Jean-Marc on the Web:

Show Notes:

5:00 - What are you working on?

14:00 - We chat about designing interfaces.

35:00 - What design tools do you use?

46:00 - On designing error pages.

Chrome T-Rex

52:00 - We dig into Jean-Marc and Sebastien's backgrounds.

41: Heart For You (feat. Marshall Bock and Michael Schultz)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 Jul 2015 15:00:00 +0000

It's been a week since Apple Music launched giving us the perfect reason to have a round-table discussion about the new app with Marshall Bock and Michael Schultz. We bounce around this episode sharing our thoughts on Apple Music and streaming services in general - we hope you have fun listening!

You all got us nominated for Podcast of the Year at The Net Awards! If you can spare the time, we would very much appreciate if you would vote for us, or share the show with a friend!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox
Adobe (and check out What's New in CC 2015!)

Marshall on the Web:

Michael on the Web:

Show Notes:

5:00 - So Apple Music came out...

40: Ace of Bass (feat. Gabe Valdivia and Kyle Ryan)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 6 Jul 2015 15:00:00 +0000

Today we sat down with Gabe Valdivia and Kyle Ryan to talk about design at Facebook, the progress of their side project, Peek, and the value of obviousness in design.

You all got us nominated for Podcast of the Year at The Net Awards! If you can spare the time, we would very much appreciate if you would vote for us, or share the show with a friend!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Iconfinder - use the promo code 'ROBOT' to save 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro
Dropbox

Gabe on the Web:

Kyle on the Web:

Twitter

Show Notes:

4:00 - What are you working on?

Peek

20:00 - We dig more into Peek

48:00 - How do you recruit an engineer to help you build a project?

39: YoTube (feat. Mike Essl)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 1 Jul 2015 15:00:00 +0000

On this episode we caught up with Mike Essl: designer, artist, Mr. T memorabilia collector. We talk about Mike's personal story as a designer, Cooper Union, and yes, we chat comics.

You all got us nominated for Podcast of the Year at The Net Awards! If you can spare the time, we would very much appreciate if you would vote for us, or share the show with a friend!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Dropbox

Mike Essl on the Web:

Show Notes:

2:30 - What are you working on right now?

5:00 - F'ing Sandman

8:00 - Essl shares his other projects

14:00 - How do you balance your time with all these projects?

The Cooper Union

22:00 - Why did you ignore everone's advice to not go to art school?

41:00 - Mike's dream work

1:06:00 - What are you taking back from San Francisco?

Jeffrey Zeldman

1:10:00 - What's the difference between design and art?

38: Electronic Parties (feat. Geoff Teehan)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 15:00:00 +0000

For episode 38, we were joined by Geoff Teehan, a super-talented Canadian designer who is at least partially responsible for several of our favorite products. He has not only worked on some amazing projects for companies like Medium, Google, and now Facebook - he has also built some really great resources for designers.

You all got us nominated for Podcast of the Year at The Net Awards! If you can spare the time, we would very much appreciate if you would vote for us, or share the show with a friend!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Iconfinder - Use promo code 'ROBOT' for 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro!
Adobe (and check out What's New in CC 2015!)

Geoff Teehan on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:50 - What are you working on?

Teehan + Lax

6:20 - How do you see the trend of designers moving from small agencies to product companies?

10:00 - Getting work and creating products as an agency

40:00 - How did you get into design?

50:00 - Talking about the Apple Watch... again.

58:00 - Why Facebook?

37: Crisper Articulation (feat. Julie Zhuo)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 15:00:00 +0000

For episode 37, we were lucky enough to get to spend some time with Julie Zhuo! We're both huge fans of her writing on Medium and the way she thinks about design and especially that she shares that with the entire community.

Speaking of sharing with the community, you all got us nominated for Podcast of the Year at The Net Awards! If you can spare the time, we would very much appreciate if you would vote for us, or share the show with a friend!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Julie Zhuo on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:50 - What are you working on?

9:15 - What have been the hardest parts of scaling a design team?

MPK20

14:50 - The Year of the Looking Glass

22:00 - What keeps you excited about working at Facebook?

24:30 - How is design perceived inside Facebook?

HHVM

36:30 - How are products designed at Facebook?

51:00 - What do you want to do next?

Oculus Rift

36: 10x (feat. Meng To)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 15:00:00 +0000

For episode 36, we got to spend some time with Meng To discussing what makes a great product, how to get started with design and development, and what it takes to build a thing. Meng's an incredibly talented creator and we're grateful he was able to take a break from helping people get started in our industry to hang out with us for an hour or so!

In case you haven't noticed, we were nominated for Podcast of the Year at The Net Awards! There's about 2 weeks left and we would love it if you'd take a minute to vote for us!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Adobe (and check out What's New in CC 2015!)
Iconfinder

Meng To on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - What Meng's working on

9:30 - What are you excited about in design?

15:00 - Should designers write production code?

24:30 - Creating free content vs paid content

32:00 - WWDC expectations

UXKit rumors

35:00 - Global differences in design/dev culture

Alipay

40:30 - Learning development and gaming as a gateway to the tech industry

50:30 - The elements of a really compelling product

55:00 - Don't give up. Just do something crazy.

35: Senate Design Overcommittee (feat. Noah Stokes)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 15:00:00 +0000

For episode 35, we finally convinced the Motherfuton himself, Mr. Noah Stokes, to come hang with us for a bit and talk about lazy web design, ornamentation vs utility, design education and so much more. It was super fun to pick his brain for an hour or so and he brought up some frequently overlooked shortcomings of how we build the web today.

In case you haven't noticed, we were nominated for Podcast of the Year at The Net Awards! If you can spare the time, we would very much appreciate a vote!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

Noah Stokes on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:30 - What Noah's working on

6:30 - Moving from client services to an in-house design team

16:45 - Life before BOLD and how Apple has changed

28:15 - How responsive design made the web boring

46:00 - UI for pure utility vs UI ornamentation

50:00 - Web education and regulation

34: Second Shift (feat. Allison House)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 15:36:00 +0000

This week we hopped on a call with the one-and-only Allison House! Allison currently lives in Austin, exploring her way through 3D art and design - in this episode we chat about her background in design, her transition into 3D and what she's excited for in the future. We're also in the running for Podcast of the Year!

If you're enjoying the show, we'd love your support - Vote for Design Details.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsor:

Iconfinder

Allison on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - What in the world are you working on?

9:00 - Have you felt new clarity after leaving SF?

11:00 - What got you started in design?

19:00 - Why Dropbox?

20:00 - How do you identify the next place to grow as a designer?

Dropbox on Dribbble

22:00 - Allison shares her process for the Tweedy video.

28:00 - How do you incorporate expression into design?

Slack

30:00 - What are other products you're excited about right now?

35:00 - What's your take on the state of Dribbble and design credibility?

39:00 - Allison explains her learning process.

44:00 - What's the big picture goal for you as an artist and designer?

47:00 - What are the common struggles for designers moving from freelance to full time?

33: The Rusty Theorem (feat. Marc Edwards & Russell Ivanovic)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 15:15:00 +0000

The epic conclusion of our first ever two-parter! Marc and Russell were kind enough to come back for round two to discuss Apple's WWDC Keynote, Marc's weird workflows, optical alignment, PDF assets and more!

We're also in the running for Podcast of the Year! If you're enjoying the show, we'd love your support - vote for Design Details!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsor:

Dropbox

Marc Edwards on the Web

Russell Ivanovic on the Web

Show Notes:

4:00 - "What'd you think of the Apple Keynote?"

20:30 - Marc's shameful admission

25:00 - iOS announcements

Episode 9

30:00 - Open Source Swift and the only hardware announcement at WWDC

34:00 - iOS Usability

Jean-Marc Denis

38:30 - Apple Music

49:30 - Optical Alignment

57:00 - PDF Assets on iOS

32: Dethrone Marco (feat. Russell Ivanovic and Marc Edwards)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 8 Jun 2015 15:00:00 +0000

It's WWDC week, and this time we're catching up with Russell Ivanovic and Marc Edwards, both founders of independent app development companies in Australia. We spent this hour chatting about Google I/O, iOS, Material Design and more. We're also in the running for Podcast of the Year!

If you're enjoying the show, we'd love your support - Vote for Design Details

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsor:

Iconfinder and the Dream Icon set.

Russell on the Web:

Marc on the Web:

Show Notes:

2:00 - What're you working on?

5:00 - How did you two meet?

One More Thing Conference

8:00 - How do you see your companies growing in the next few years?

12:00 - We chat Android design.

16:00 - What are your reactions to the announcements from Google I/O?

20:00 - We get Marc's thoughts on Yosemite + iOS.

28:00 - And Russell shares his thoughts on Material Design.

Inbox

33:00 - How does Material Design cascade down to Android Wear?

36:00 - We share our opinions on the latest hardware changes, like force touch and haptic feedback.

48:00 - Russell busts the Android fragmentation misconception.

Monica Polewski

31: Jaded People (feat. Caleb Davenport & Sam Soffes)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 3 Jun 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This week we caught up with Caleb Davenport and Sam Soffes to chat about the latest Google I/O announcements, our upcoming WWDC wish list, OSX and iOS design and more. We're also in the running for Podcast of the Year!

If you're enjoying the show, we'd love your support - Vote for Design Details

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsor:

Dropbox

Caleb on the Web:

Sam on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - We catch up on the latest news from Google I/O.

9:00 - You don't have to worry about pixels anymore.

12:00 - We try not to complain the whole episode.

21:00 - We try again - this time digging into upcoming WWDC announcements.

41:00 - We chat about Apple TV design and what we might build.

Werewolf

52:00 - But what are we excited about?

1:00:00 - Our WWDC wishlist.

30: Rewarding Holding Experience (feat. Didi Medina)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 1 Jun 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This episode, we geeked out with Didi Medina over photography and music - and we still found time to dig into his origin story a bit.

We were nominated for Podcast of the Year at The Net Awards and would very much appreciate a vote!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsor:

Iconfinder Use promo code "Robot" to save 50% on your first month!

Didi on the Web:

Show Notes:

2:30 - What Didi's working on... and where he started.

21:10 - Cultural Differences between NYC & SF and making the move to California

37:30 - Starting your own company and future goals

42:30 - Working on physical products, getting away from work, and improving yourself

29: Bananagrams (feat. Ryan Putnam & Nick Slater)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 May 2015 15:00:00 +0000

In this episode of Design Details we had the pleasure of catching up with Ryan Putnam and returning-guest Nick Slater! We chat about illustration, designing a company culture, mixing mediums and finding our spirit animals.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Ryan on the Web:

Nick on the Web:

Show Notes:

1:00 - What are you working on right now?

5:00 - We discover our spirit animals.

Otters

7:00 - Ryan shares more about his background in illustration.

10:00 - Nick and Ryan share more about their design setups.

13:00 - How does one begin learning illustration? What is product illustration?

21:00 - We talk about design within Dropbox and Palantir and how it impacts culture.

Jon Ying and Dropbox culture

31:00 - A brief divergence into DBZ and comics.

Michael DeForge

33:00 - Where do you come up with all of your ideas for illustration and design?

44:00 - We learn more about freelancing and how it compares to big company work.

Ryan on Instagram

54:00 - Do you have plans for sharing more of your process as blog posts?

Creative South

57:00 - What's the next step in your career?

28: #TeamOneCircle (feat. Michael Schultz)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 25 May 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This week we caught up with Michael Schultz, a designer living in San Francisco tackling one of the hardest design problems out there: health and medicine. We chat all about the problems he faces designing in the medical world, how to launch and market side projects and we end with a healthy debate about designer job titles.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsor:

IconFinder - Promo code 'ROBOT' for 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro!

Michael on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - Michael fills us in on what he's working on.

11:00 - We dig into Michael's background and introduction to the medical world.

24:00 - Michael and Bryn worked on a side project together, Privatize.

35:00 - Michael has strong opinions about Product Hunt.

41:00 - How did you market your personal apps pre-Product Hunt?

Thomas Goetz

48:00 - Michael shares how he designed Iodine to be a place that makes data understandable and easy to use.

Adam Baker

1:03:00 - How do you define different design roles? Bryn and Brian debate.

Jake Marsh

1:12:00 - We discuss designers who code and developers who design.

27: Socialist Design (feat. Kim Bost & Cap Watkins)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 May 2015 15:00:00 +0000

Last week Kim and Cap were in SF for the week and dropped by to record another fun episode of Design Details! We chat about what it's like to be married to a designer, how to hire designers and how to overcome the biggest challenges design managers face.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Kim on the Web:

Cap on the Web:

Show Notes:

1:00 - We touch base with Cap and Kim.

6:00 - Cap fills us in on the latest news at BuzzFeed.

9:00 - What's it like being married to another designer?

Flatiron Health

18:00 - How do you keep a growing product design team in sync?

38:00 - What are the biggest challenges for new design managers?

Start With Why

44:00 - How do hire designers?

AngelList

55:00 - How do you divide up design roles?

1:02:00 - Cap and Kim share what they're excited about in design.

26: Beep Beep I Like Ferns Beep (feat. Sebastiaan De With)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Tue, 19 May 2015 04:00:00 +0000

This week we sat down with Sebastiaan de With to chat about everything design (and motorcycles)! We caught up on his evolving career in design, what it's like building a new agency, how to work with international clients and the power of giving design resources away for free.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sebastiaan on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - We catch up with Sebastiaan on what he's up to.

14:00 - We dig a bit further into SDW's past work as a designer.

Stiched leather

21:00 - We learn a little bit more about the Apple design process.

Louie Mantia

23:00 - SDW shares more about his personal branding and background as a young designer.

32:00 - How did you end up moving to California?

41:00 - Circling back around to some of SDW's current projects.

47:00 - Not a lot of designers can separate from their work this much.

(Follow us on Periscope - designdetailsfm!)

53:00 - What kind of designer do you consider yourself?

25: Arbitrary Head Chef (feat. Danny Trinh & Chris Kalani)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 May 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This episode, we had two designers building their own companies by building some awesome products that we're super excited about - Chris Kalani of Wake and Danny Trinh from Free. We took a bunch of questions from people watching on Periscope and these guys have some great energy which lead to a fantastic conversation and some "real talk"!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

LaunchKit

Chris Kalani on the Web

Danny Trinh on the Web

Show Notes:

3:30 - Danny and Chris tell us about their current projects

12:00 - The best ways to learn design and the fear of sharing things

27:00 - Super Smash Bros. rosters and Pokemon as a game for designers

30:00 - Leveling up your UI and your career

45:00 - Dumb titles and how to divide up design roles on a team

50:00 - Listener Questions

24: Open Source Religion (feat. Kevin Rose)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 11 May 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This week we sat down with Kevin Rose - he's a designer, product creator and venture capitalist who has had a prolific presence in the tech community for several years. We chat about the things he's loving right now, watch culture, health and cooking, hiring and so much more!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsors:

IconFinder - Promo code 'ROBOT' for 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro!
Code School - Learn to code from the comfort of your browser
Video: Unmasking HTML Emails

Kevin on the Web:

Show Notes:

5:00 - We catch up on Kevin's latest projects.

11:00 - Kevin shares more about his journey at Google+.

18:00 - We learn more about what working at Google Ventures was like.

23:00 - Where do you fall on the line of product or design?

Design Details with Cennydd Bowles

26:00 - What are the startups you're really excited about right now?

Shyp

30:00 - We talk watches.

34:00 - What do you bring back from outside of the US into the product and design world?

43:00 - Do you feel like you've gotten out of the rat race of the tech world?

46:00 - Flashback to Kevin's past roles in the media world.

48:00 - How do you spot that in the hiring process?

54:00 - Why do all the podcasts and shows?

57:00 - Would you encourage everyone to come to SF/Silicon Valley?

Kevin Rose's house protest

59:00 - We diverge, briefly, to chat about tattoos, Tokyo and cooking.

Darya Rose

1:02:00 - A fake-out ending, we hear what Kevin is into these days.

1:12:00 - We talk health, nutrition and religion.

23: Brains are Stupid (feat. Christophe Tauziet, Jeremy Goldberg, and George Kedenburg)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 May 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This was the most impromptu episode we've ever done. We were just out to dinner with these guys and we were having so much fun debating design things that we decided to record our first-ever 3-guest episode. We made a lot of references to George and Jeremy's last episode - so definitely go check that out. This was a really fun episode for us - hopefully it is for you too!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors:

George Kedenburg on the Web:

Jeremy Goldberg on the Web:

Christophe Tauziet on the Web:

Show Notes:

4:00 - Apple's product strategy

16:00 - Modern services and stupid brains

30:00 - May predictions and how designers work (We recorded the show in mid-April)

52:00 - Designing original things and what makes a good brand

01:02:00 - Movie Talk

22: Poor Man's Pokemon (feat. Cennydd Bowles)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 4 May 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This week we caught up with Cennydd Bowles over Skype for a truly fascinating discussion about cross-OS design, the future of wearables, what it means to be a junior vs. senior designer, and why sound design will be the next big trend.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsors:

IconFinder - Promo code 'ROBOT' for 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro!
Code School - Learn to code from the comfort of your browser
Video: Unmasking HTML Emails

Cennydd on the Web:

Show Notes:

5:00 - What are you working on these days? How did you get started at Twitter?

16:00 - We talk mobile design, Windows and the OS landscape.

27:00 - Cennydd has more experience with wearables than most.

36:00 - What are your hunches about the future of design for wearables?

39:00 - Cennydd shares his thoughts on the toxic MVP.

48:00 - Thoughts on the process of creation and iteration, junior vs. senior designers.

Letter to a Junior Designer

21: Startup Lubricant (feat. Bin Chen)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This episode, we talked tea with Boba Guys and Tea People co-founder Bin Chen! He's had one of the most unique design careers we've ever heard of and he tells a really great story - which made this episode especially fun for us. Hopefully, you'll dig it too!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsors

IconFinder – Promo code ‘ROBOT’ for 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro!
Iconfinder's Definitive Guide to Apple Watch Icons

Bin on the Web

Show Notes:

3:30 - Beer!

5:00 - What are you working on?

15:30 - Tea People and Boba Guys' Culture

26:30 - Differences between digital design and brick and mortar

37:00 - How Bin got into design...

53:00 - Generalism vs Specialty

59:00 - Managing vs Individual Contribution

1:07:00 - Scaling in digital vs physical space

20: Soft Computer Hands (feat. Dustin Senos)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This week we caught up with Dustin Senos, the lead designer at Medium for the past 3 years who has spent his professional career traversing the worlds of design and engineering. We dig into Dustin's background and how design has shaped Medium into the product it is today.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsor:

IconFinder - Promo code 'ROBOT' for 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro!

Dustin on the Web:

Show Notes:

2:00 - Dustin tells us about his transitions between engineering and design.

7:00 - Should designers code?

11:00 - How did you end up at Medium?

17:00 - How was Medium approached as a design challenge?

The hyphen, n-dash and em-dash

21:00 - How would you describe the aesthetic of Medium today? How did the agency work shape that aesthetic?

30:00 - We chat about the culture at Medium and their experience with holacracy

43:00 - We diverge into a chat about diversity in design.

Design Details Ep. 13 with Mo Woods

45:00 - How did you approach hiring at Medium?

19: Super-Dinky Hodinkee (feat. Caleb Davenport and Jake Marsh)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This episode, we dug into our concerns after all the Apple Watch reviews came out with a couple of our favorite iOS developers: Caleb Davenport and Jake Marsh. This episode was completely ridiculous and fun (even moreso if you caught the Periscope livestream featuring the inimitable Marc Hemeon). We discuss the models that each of us pre-ordered as well as Amazon Dash and our most-hoped-for features of the Apple Watch when it finally comes out!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don’t hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsor:

IconFinder – Promo code ‘ROBOT’ for 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro!

Caleb on the Web:

Jake on the Web:

4:00 - We discuss the Apple Watch pre-orders

9:00 - California vs Not California

13:00 - Technical Difficulties of the Apple Watch

21:00 - Amazon Dash

Poppy by Quirky

23:30 - ...aaaaaand back to the Watch

18: Kleenex Testers (feat. Stone Librande)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This week we broke up our regular string of web designer guests to chat with Stone Librande, lead designer at Riot Games. Stone was also the lead designer of Diablo 3, SimCity and Spore; he's an incredibly talented creator who shared so much insight with us on this episode of Design Details!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsors:

IconFinder - Promo code 'ROBOT' for 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro!
500,000 Icons and why the Number Matters
InVision

Stone on the Web:

Show Notes:

6:00 - We catch up with Stone on his current work as a game designer.

9:00 - Stone shares his journey to becoming a game designer.

Blizzard North

20:00 - Stone shares some of the more specific challenges he's faces as a game designer.

24:00 - You also build lots of physical games?

28:00 - What has been your favorite game to design?

54:00 - Stone talks about the games he's enjoying at the moment.

57:00 - How do feel about the broader trend of DLC and in-app purchases?

1:07:00 - Stone shares his thoughts on virtual reality and augmented realitigy games.

17: Ptotes Pterodactyl (feat. Divya Manian & Bradee Evans)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This week we hung out with Divya Manian and Bradee Evans from the Photoshop team at Adobe. This was a really, really fun episode to record and Divya and Bradee were amazing guests. We got to talk about everything from important issues around diversity to just making dumb jokes about pterodactyls and unicorns. We hope you enjoy it half as much as we enjoyed recording it.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Divya on the Web:

Bradee on the Web:

Show Notes:

2:00 - Bradee's Second Career & Explicit Ratings for Podcasts

4:00 - What's up with female representation in tech?

7:30 - Making mistakes in big products

16:00 - "Uncle Photoshop"

Marc Edwards

20:00 - What's it like working on Photoshop?

"The Humans are Dead" by Flight of the Conchords

27:00 - Working on Web Standards

38:00 - Sketch's effect on how Photoshop is built

55:00 - Why diversity is important for creativity

"How Diversity Makes us Smarter" - The Scientific American

58:00 - Art vs Design

Twitter Conversation

59:30 - Maintaining confidence when putting out an important tool to a large audience

1:03:30 - Quirks: Sketch vs Photoshop

Seth Clifford

1:11:30 - Running out of keyboard shortcuts and the move from hardware to software

1:15:00 - Magic UI

16: Extravagant Shallowness (feat. Khoi Vinh)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This week we caught up with Khoi Vinh, an insightful and talented designer making Wildcard in New York City. In this Skype chat we talked about designing for the tablet, honesty on the web and how Khoi manages to maintain so many projects!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsors:

IconFinder - Promo code 'ROBOT' for 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro!
InVision

Khoi on the Web:

Show Notes:

5:00 - We catch up with Khoi and chat about his current project, Wildcard.

9:00 - Khoi tells us more about the specifics of designing at Wildcard, including why cards are the future of the web.

15:00 - How have you become such a prolific design writer?

20:00 - We learn a bit more about the process behind How They Got There.

How They Got There

26:00 - Khoi's also busy on other side projects and explorations - we learn more.

32:00 - What are the possibilities for tablets that are still untapped?

Paper

37:00 - We chat about what it means to be honest on the web.

47:00 - Khoi tells us about how he shares content and thinks about having a large following on Twitter.

Buffer
54:00 - What were your responsibilities while designing for the New York Times?
nytimes.com
A Farewell to the Times
1:00:00 - We dig in more to Khoi's journey since leaving the Times.
Kidpost

15: Her Left Me (feat. Jeremy Goldberg and George Kedenburg)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 Apr 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This is our first time to have a second episode scheduled for the week! We're excited to try out this new format, kicking things off with two guests: Jeremy Goldberg and George Kedenburg. We chat about design at Facebook, their journeys as designers and how they're growing within such a large organization!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Jeremy on the Web:

George on the Web:

Show Notes:

1:00 - A beautiful story of a Periscope party.

5:00 - We catch up on the announcements at F8 and what's coming with 3rd party apps.

8:00 - What is the design process like for a product with 600 million users?

"Get real time shipping updates on your phone. Send to Messenger."

15:00 - So React Native is a thing!

18:00 - George shares what it's like to work at Parse, a startup-like culture within Facebook.

Facebook Camera

22:00 - Facebook just moved into a new office!

27:00 - Jared and George share some of their personal stories with us.

36:00 - George chat with Terry Crews on Twitter...

45:00 - Do you worry about feature bloat in Messenger?

51:00 - Jeremy shares his experiences with designing interactions and animations at Google.

55:00 - How are you pushing yourself to be a better designer every day?

14: Unless You're Dumb (feat. Jared Erondu)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 6 Apr 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This week we hung out with Jared Erondu, a designer well-known for his work at Lift, Omada Health, The Industry and his current role as Creative Director at Teespring. We covered a lot of ground – from the future of user interfaces to donuts to whether or not “UX designer” should be a job title anymore!

This was a great conversation and, for the first time ever, we have another one coming on Thursday where we discuss the announcements from the F8 conference with Facebook designers Jeremy Goldberg and George Kedenburg!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsors:

IconFinder - Promo code 'ROBOT' for 50% off your first month of Iconfinder Pro!
Invision

Jared on the Web

Show Notes:

4:00 - We catch up with Jared and the latest projects he's working on!

10:00 - Jared tells us about his journey of becoming a designer.

20:00 - How did The Industry become so popular?

31:00 - What do you think of Apple's first-party apps?

Twitter Conversation

32:00 - We talk about designers getting a seat at the table.

42:00 - What was it like moving from the East Coast to San Francisco?

50:00 - We dig a bit deeper into some of Jared's previous roles in design

1:00:00 - Donuts!

1:05:00 - Jared talks about a secret agenda...

Wake

1:11:00 - What does it mean to be a creative director?

Dann Petty
"The Creative's Mix" on Rdio

13: Eating Horse (feat. Maurice Woods)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 15:00:00 +0000

We had an amazing conversation this week with Maurice "Mo" Woods, a senior visual designer at Yahoo and founder of the Inneract Project. We chat about what he's doing in design education, diversity in design and how his background as a pro basketball player has served him in his career as a designer.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsors:

Iconfinder (use promo code 'ROBOT' for 50% off your first month!)
InVision

Mo on the Web:

Show Notes:

14:00 - We learn more about Mo's interest in design education for kids.

Inneract Project

20:00 - Mo gets into the details of what's going on at Inneract and why it's so important.

37:00 - Want to help with the Inneract Project? They need your help.

57:00 - The real reason design is so important for kids in underserved communities.

1:03:00 - We chat about diversity in design, tech and the hiring process.

Mo on LinkedIn

1:12:00 - Where are all the designers of color?

12: Topsoil Decisions (feat. Ryan Sims)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This past week we sat down with Ryan Sims, the former head of design at Rdio. We caught up with him about his latest career change as he heads to Adobe, what it was like growing the design team at Rdio and what it means to have a design mentor.

This was an insightful episode, and we hope you all enjoy! If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsors:

Iconfinder (use promo code 'ROBOT' for 50% off your first month!)
InVision

Ryan on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - We catch up with Ryan on his latest adventures in funemployment.

9:00 - a mispronunciation kicks off a backstory of Ryan's journey at Rdio.

15:00 - A brief diversion into Ryan's latest music.

18:00 - We chat branding, Vdio and working at a music startup.

21:00 - Ryan explains his path to get into Rdio and how he managed a growing design team.

Ryan Sims on The Great Discontent

42:00 - The two traits that Ryan looks for in a designer.

@mtowber

53:00 - Ryan explains his views on design mentors and why he wished he'd had one.

1:06:00 - How do you navigate a career transition?

11: Artisanal Fitness (feat. Erika Hall)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This week we caught up with Erika Hall, co-founder of Mule Design and author of Just Enough Research. We dive deep into a handful of topics, from user research to gender in tech, from the Apple Watch to the evolution of San Francisco culture - we had a lot of fun recording this one!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsors:

Iconfinder (use promo code 'ROBOT' for 50% off your first month!)
Pixate (click here to save 25% on a yearly subscription!)

Erika on the Web:

Show Notes:

3:00 - We catch up with Erika to learn about design research.

8:00 - What are some of the myths of design and research?

Steve Jobs building NeXT

16:00 - Has Mule ever considered launching original products?

1:17:00 - Plugs!

Bonus Episode: Apple Watch Watch 2015

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 03:55:00 +0000

Today we're excited to release a special bonus episode of the Design Details Podcast! After today's Apple Watch event we grabbed Sam Soffes to chat about the implications for us as designers and what the watch means for app design going into the future.

This is our first "bonus episode" and we'd love to hear your thoughts! We're excited to explore more weekly episodes in the future but we want to make sure we get the content and format just right. If you have feedback or suggestions on this style, give us a shout on Twitter at @designdetailsfm!

Sponsor:

Iconfinder (use promo code 'ROBOT' for 50% off your first month!)

10: Tiny Nuggets of Delight (feat. Tim Van Damme)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 9 Mar 2015 15:00:00 +0000

This week we caught up with Tim Van Damme, an amazing designer who has been a part of some of our favorite products including Instagram and Dropbox. For this hour we chat about Tim's past experience in design, working on Mailbox, Dribbble and the future of design/technology. We had a lot of fun with this show and we hope you all enjoy the conversation!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsors:

Iconfinder (use promo code 'ROBOT' for 50% off your first month!)
Hover (use promo code 'bragdriven' to save on your first order!)

Tim on the Web:

Show Notes:

2:00 - We dig a bit into Tim's past interview experiences and first steps into the design world.

14:00 - Tim talks about taking breaks and disconnecting.

20:00 - What it's like working on Mailbox for Mac; Tim tells us about his personal style.

Mailbox

27:00 - We get into the ethos of UI design, talking about the details and emotional design.

37:00 - Let's talk Dribbble.

48:00 - We chat about the current state of user interfaces and what the next big leap will be.

55:00 - What will be the next breakthrough in input mechanisms?

Paralysed woman flies F-35 fighter jet using only her mind

1:03:00 - We chat about email as a communication method and what's next for Mailbox.

Email is the Worst

1:05:00

Little Big Details on Dropbox

9: When Did the Marketing Department Get Here? (feat. Paul Stamatiou and Avi Cieplinski)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 2 Mar 2015 16:00:00 +0000

For Episode 9, we had our first chat with two guests! This time we caught up with Paul Stamatiou and Avi Cieplinski from the Photo and Video Team at Twitter. We covered a lot this week - chatting about prototyping, wearables, design process and what it's like to work at Twitter and Apple!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsors:

Iconfinder (use promo code 'ROBOT' for 50% off your first month!)
Hover (use promo code 'bragdriven' to save 10% on your first order!)

Paul on the Web:

Avi on the Web:

Twitter

Show Notes:

2:00 - We sat down with Paul and Avi to chat about what they've been working on.

6:00 - The importance of sharing the design process in public.

Building Twitter Video

16:00 - We dive a bit deeper into prototyping at big tech companies.

21:00 - We dig a bit into Paul's background as a designer.

Paul's blog

53:00 - The conversation makes a quick transition into past startups and fun Twitter spin-off products.

Super
#IDARB
twiDAQ (incorrectly called Twitstock on air)

1:00:00 - Do you have a design philosophy?

1:07:00 - We dig into some of the hiring processes in place at Twitter.

8: Deathly Allergic to Avocado (feat. Chloe Park)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Episode 8 everyone! This week we sat down with the lovely Chloe Park, an experience designer making things happen at OpenTable. We chat about everything from the design process at OpenTable to Chloe's biggest problems with relationships in tech. This was a fun episode for us to record and we hope you enjoy it!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsors:

Iconfinder (use promo code 'ROBOT' for 50% off your first month!)
Hover (use promo code 'bragdriven' to save on your first order!)

Chloe Park on the Web:

Show Notes:

2:00 - We catch up with Chloe on everything she's working on at OpenTable.

OpenTable

7:00 - What's the design process at OpenTable?

23:00 - Chloe shares a "project" she's working on...

Keezy

7: VP of Unnecessary Redesign (feat. Cap Watkins)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Brian Lovin & Bryn Jackson) — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 09:58:00 +0000

This week we caught up with Cap Watkins, the recently-appointed VP of design at BuzzFeed. We picked Cap's brain about hiring designers, A/B testing, beard-growing, East Coast design and more. Oh, and robo-horses!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsors:

Weebly and their Dribbble team
Hover (use promo code 'bragdriven' to save on your first order!)

Cap Watkins on the Web:

Show Notes:

02:00 - Cap tells us what he's been up to lately.

03:00 - We explore life as a designer on the East Coast.

Bagel.io - unregistered!
Kim Bost

11:30 - Cap Watkins: VP of Unnecessary Redesign.

Two Weeks at BuzzFeed

15:00 - We explore a bit about the hiring decisions being made at BuzzFeed.

18:00 - What prototyping tools are you using?

28:30 - What does it mean to be a VP of design?

32:00 - We learn some management advice for designers.

37:00 - We get down with some chef biographies.

52:00 - We get back to the biggest challenges of hiring designers and some of the most common mistakes people make when applying for a design job.

Dribbblification of Design

59:00 - Cap shares his process as a designer.

1:09:00 - Winding things down, here's where you can find Cap.

6: Down the Stuffed Rabbit Hole (feat. Marissa Louie)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Brian Lovin & Bryn Jackson) — Mon, 9 Feb 2015 06:51:00 +0000

This week we hung out with Marissa Louie - a rather prolific designer, activist, and creator who has worked on many of our favorite products at places like Apple, Yahoo, Ness Computing, and Wanelo, among others. We discussed everything from teddy bears to social justice - and the profound impact of emotional design.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsors:

Weebly and their Dribbble team
InVision

Marissa Louie on the Web:

Show Notes:

01:05 - Marissa's "Origin Story"

15:45 - How did you transition into building stuffed animals?

Bear Ball

30:00 - What's a product with a really great experience?

Wanelo

32:00 - Bringing emotion to data-driven products

35:00 - Designers Guild

44:00 - How can designers best help people?

Flyers
Designers care about people / affect emotions
Neili (Jones) LeCarol

52:00 - BearBear + charity

World Wildlife Fund

5: Squeeze in Some Meat with Your Candy (feat. Gabriel Valdivia)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Brian Lovin & Bryn Jackson) — Mon, 2 Feb 2015 17:21:00 +0000

This week we had a chat with Gabriel Valdivia, a Product Designer at Facebook. He's a close friend and a remarkable designer best known for his work at Automatic. We had a great time chatting about a lot of Gabe's favorite things - from prototyping to Serial to meat/candy hybrids.

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsors:

Weebly and their Dribbble team
InVision

Gabe Valdivia on the Web:

Show Notes:

01:45 - Gabe tells us about his upcoming Facebook adventure in London

Facebook London

05:45 - Does the design culture at Facebook encourage bold new ideas?

Slingshot

07:05 - Gabe shares about his transition from startup life to big corporation

Automatic

17:30 - We learn a bit more about Facebook's latest experimental apps

25:00 - What are the prototyping tools being used at Facebook?

37:00 - How do you design an emotional experience?

Designing Happiness

45:00 - Jay did it

Serial Podcast

60:00 - Gabe shares about a meaningful mentor in his life

Margaret Stewart Twitter

4: Meatspace User Onboarding (feat. Kristy Tillman)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Brian Lovin & Bryn Jackson) — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 06:17:00 +0000

This week we caught up with Kristy Tillman, a former designer at IDEO who now leads the design charge at Society of Grownups. We had a great time chatting across a huge range of topics, from diversity in tech to meatspace user onboarding!

If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsors:

Weebly (and their Dribbble team)
Hover (use coupon code "thatshouldbeaplugin" to save 10% on your first purchase)

Kristy Tillman on the Web:

Show Notes:

00:00 - We catch up with Kristy about what she's working on

07:00 - We explore some of Kristy's work in helping marginalized communities, including why there's less diversity in tech

15:30 - Kristy adds context to explaining why there are fewer prominent female designers

19:00 - We circled back around to talk about Kristy's current work at Society of Grownups

36:30 - Kristy explains some of the challenges in hiring for designers and developers on the East Coast

Christopher Michon

3: I'm Tired of Looking at Apps (feat. Wilson Miner)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Brian Lovin & Bryn Jackson) — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 01:57:00 +0000

Another Monday means another episode of Design Details! This week we caught up with Wilson Miner, an insanely thoughtful and talented designer well-known for his work at Apple, Rdio and Facebook.

In this episode we talked with Wilson about game design, his favorite products and more - we hope you enjoy the show! If you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly (designdetailsfm@gmail.com)

Sponsors:

Weebly and their Dribbble team
Hover, use coupon code "sovanilla" to save 10% on your first purchase

Wilson Miner on the Web:

Show Notes:

2:00

3:00

- Games

Hearthstone
TableFlip14:10
Framer
Quartz Composer
Content Generator Sketch Plugin
Parse
George Kedenburg's piece on prototyping with Parse and Framer
Paintcode (mistakenly called "Codepaint")
Origami
Unreal Engine
Blueprints Visual Scripting
Pixate

27:00

34:00

37:00

Hearthstone

42:00

49:00

"When We Build"

53:00

"I guess I just like liking things."

55:00

1:01:00 - Don't let the frustration own you

1:01:50 - There are no dream jobs

2: So Vanilla (feat. Nick Slater)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Brian Lovin & Bryn Jackson) — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 14:06:00 +0000

Here we go, episode two of the Design Details Podcast! This week we caught up with Nick Slater, an insanely talented designer and illustrator doing wonderful work at Palantir. We had a lot of fun recording this show and we really think you'll enjoy it!

Full Disclosure: this episode is a bit longer and does have some strong language.

As always, if you have feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach us on Twitter at @designdetailsfm or email us directly!

Sponsors:

Weebly and their Dribbble team
Hover (use coupon code "bragdriven" to save 10% on your first purchase)

Nick Slater on the Web:

Show Notes:

0:05:45 - We dig back into Nick's origins - corgi conversations ensue.

Thorgi the Corgi on Instagram

0:07:00 - We start digging into Nick's journey to joining Palantir.

0:28:00 - What's it like working with a quickly-growing team of designers?

0:37:00 - Why is there such a huge focus on investing in illustrators at tech companies?

1:00:00 - Exploring the many Lord of the Rings inside jokes at Palantir.

Through the Wormhole
Chrono Trigger's Unique Design
Battletoads (The bad level is Wind Tunnel)

1:10:30 - Adventure Time

1:12:00 - Dribbble and Nick's lack of online presence.

1:20:50 - Nick's motivation for working hard to succeed.

Brag-Driven Motivation

1:26:00 - Nick's current projects

1: How Nerdy of an Answer Do You Want? (feat. Sam Soffes)

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Brian Lovin & Bryn Jackson) — Mon, 5 Jan 2015 15:58:00 +0000

The first episode of Design Details has arrived! For our opening show, we sat down with designer and developer Sam Soffes to talk about his latest project (Whiskey), building in public, brag-driven development and his interest in working as a designer. This is our first episode and we're learning a lot! We'd love your feedback or suggestions - give a shout on Twitter, @designdetailsfm or send us a private email!

Sam Soffes on the Web:

Show Notes:

1:35 - We chat with Sam about his latest labor of love, Whiskey.

Tim Van Damme of Dropbox designed a theme
Sam is building Whiskey in public via feedback on Twitter and with public release notes

6:30 - We talk about some of Sam's older projects.

Cheddar (which we compared to Whiteboard)
Shares

7:50 - Discussion about the difficulty selling apps, including Cheddar and Roon

11:15 - How do you balance freelancing with clients and building your own side projects?

Nothing Magical

12:10 - We dive a bit deeper into the challenges of building Whiskey - what's your product philosophy?

iA Writer

18:45 - Sam shares a brilliant product development hack.

Example of the changelog process

22:33 - What does it take to design a text/markdown editor?

26:05 - Sam has built several photo apps; we dive into the process.

37:40 - We chat about Sam's motorcycle trip through South Africa

43:52 - Dan Cassaro for Deus

44:01 - Sam tells us about designing an onboarding experience in Litely

Litely
Litely was named one of Apple's Best Apps of 2014

50:50 - Sam talks about his move from development to design. Can taste be learned?

Aaron Draplin Takes On a Logo Design Challenge

57:27 - We briefly chat about prototyping and the tools Sam uses.

0: Design Details Teaser

designdetailsfm@gmail.com (Brian Lovin & Bryn Jackson) — Mon, 1 Dec 2014 05:49:00 +0000

This is a little teaser recording for us to test our equipment, set up our feeds and get the website up and running. You can subscribe to the podcast by heading to http://designdetails.fm and following on iTunes, RSS or email! The first Design Details episode is coming January 5th, 2015 - stay posted!