Dan Mall

In my 20+ year design career, I've never heard a design client say... I'm looking for someone more: • Creative • Strategic • Data-driven • Collaborative • User-centred And yet, if you open 100 design agency websites, you'll see some variation of these 5 descriptors. I noticed this discrepancy a few years ago. So, I started taking notes every time a design client complained about design and design services. The truth is, none of the above ever showed up in my notes. Instead, here are the top 5 concerns: 1. Communication Issues 2. Slow Design Cycles 3. Scope Creep 4. Disagreement on Design Decisions 5. Difficulty Measuring ROI Here's my full summary note: Communication Issues: Founders may feel that designers don't understand the technical limitations of the product or the business needs of the company. This can lead to frustration on both sides, as founders may feel like designers are designing products that can't be built, and designers may feel like founders aren't giving them the freedom they need to be creative. Slow Design Cycles: The design process can be slow, especially for founders who are used to moving quickly. This can be frustrating for founders who need to get products to market quickly. Scope Creep: SaaS products are constantly evolving, and founders may feel like designers are constantly adding new features to the product, rather than focusing on the core features that will drive user adoption. This can lead to products that are bloated and difficult to use. Disagreement on Design Decisions: Founders and designers may not always agree on the best way to design the product. This can lead to disagreements that can slow down the development process. Difficulty Measuring ROI: It can be difficult to measure the return on investment (ROI) of design decisions. This can make it hard for founders to justify the cost of hiring designers. I hope this helps you the next time you pitch your service. #design #ux #productdesign #designservice #copywriting

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As I refine my hiring process I have question. What would you guys prefer? 1) In person/remote 30min white board session 2) Challenging design assignment done over a week 3) Mock podcast recording where we have a conversation about design.

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Join me and my guest, Sarah Doody, for Episode 137 of the #DesignThinking 101 #Podcast: Designing Your Career + UX for Small Business. Listen to it here: https://bit.ly/45lUCgN #CareerPlanning #UX #UserExperience

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After reading Kara Swisher's "Burn Book," (which I HIGHLY recommend for anyone working in tech), I started thinking more about how digital designers can actualize responsible design techniques in their day-to-day practice. John Payne's lecture, "How to Work Responsibly with Emerging Technologies" (on EPIC People's website) is really an outstanding and inspiring resource. He reminds us of the unintended consequences of launching MVPs at scale, and how we might shift our thinking and practices to mitigate unintended effects. One method, creating a Narrative Map, was an especially fun exercise that John shared. My team and I thought about that in relation to transportation -- the Jetsons and Mad Max as examples of fictional utopian and dystopian vehicles. Both the vehicles and their environments tell very different stories about humanity. Designers -- how are you thinking differently about your practice than you did 5 years ago? What methods and tools are you using to practice responsible design?

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I recently wrote about design system metrics, including adoption. Adoption can be pushed as a mandate. Having seen hundreds of design systems up close Dan Mall points out that there is no definitive evidence that high adoption doesn’t hurt. But, it certainly doesn’t differentiate between useful design systems and that frankenstack monster that has documentation in Excel with hundreds of links to a private Git repo along with multiple swim lanes with infinite scroll. The only reason why adoption persists as a common metric is because even really bad design systems have the ability to generate significant value. Full article in the comments.

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Wondering why startups should invest in UX design and why the current UX hiring market sucks? Wonder no more: https://lnkd.in/eeJzmrNH Genuinely let me know what you think, I'm trying to improve my writing constantly, as well as my understanding of why UX matters :)

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High-fidelity UX mockups are fantastic - but they come with a dark side. The more time you invest perfecting them, the more attached your team gets - and the harder it is to change course. Save yourself the trouble. Test your core ideas first using low-fidelity storyboards that show your customer using your product over time. You'll learn 10x faster once you see your end-to-end concept in front of real users. Watch the full video at: https://lnkd.in/gPfwsJhY #mockups #productdesign #prototype

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I don't inherently hate A/B testing. I've just seen so many clients miss the forest for the trees because of it. We had a client who tested every design variation of their UI down to the color and label of buttons. They were able to tell us that blue buttons converted better than green ones. Why? No idea. Why? Because we don't talk to customers. Why? It doesn't even take five tries until you get to the root of the problem in companies that push all of the design responsibility to the end of the line saying "we'll just test it in production." I applaud their desire to get good data from real people, but the clapping slows to golfing pace when I hear them defer everything to A/B testing in production. That is the most expensive form of research in time, money and the effort to unwind and rewire what you just launched. The dirty reality is that people who often say "we'll just A/B test it" know that it'll never get unwound or reworked. So do yourselves a favor and instead of kicking the design responsibility can down the production, take a beat. Think. Decide. What should you be designing and why?

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If you want to be really, really good at UX... Focus on what really matters and avoid making dumb mistakes. What matters: -Stakeholder buy in and commitment -Good user research -Iterative design + testing with users -Detailed specifications and robust component libraries -Extensive QA testing to flush out the bugs before shipping Dumb mistakes: -Berating design suggestions from non-UX team members -Behaving like design prima donnas, thinking that designers can do no wrong -Whining about not having a seat at the table when you have neither earned it nor demonstrated the capacity to sit there -Criticizing engineers and PMs for behaving like engineers and PMs Note: both lists are incomplete, but hopefully they give the gist #ux  #userexperience  #userresearch #design

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This is likely why your product sucks. You are cramming way too many features into one interface. I have a rule. It’s called the “Rule of Two”. You are only allowed two OBVIOUS features per interface. Obvious features dominate visual and mental space. They’re pricey. They’re pricey in terms of real estate. They’re pricey in terms of cognitive load. They’re pricey in terms of attention span. You’ve used products with more than two “obvious features. How did they make you feel? Anxious? Frustrated? Lost? For example, take a look at the remote control on the left. Overwhelming anxiety. Don't be the brand that gives your customers overwhelming anxiety. Don’t be the brand that makes "SB-IR Remote-HH." Master the subtle art of feature prioritization. You'll destroy competitors. And, you will make your customers fall in love with you. sinpl rlly 🥂

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Here's how to use AI in your UX day-to-day. AI lets us access a ton of scenarios instantly. With the right prompts, you can tap into a historian of user behavior. By leveraging advanced algorithms to predict user behavior and analyze massive datasets, AI anticipates needs before users even realize them. Think of Google's search engine suggesting queries in real-time—that's the power of AI in UX. At Upstory, AI-driven tools aren’t a crucial step in our flow, but we’ll use them on occasion as an extra step in our research process. We prompt our AI with the right story, intended user, and goals, then run through various scenarios to catch potential user behaviors we might’ve missed. This doesn’t replace actual user interviews, but it’s a great way to get quick insights for projects on a tight timeline or budget. AI won’t replace you (yet?), but it can definitely make you better. 🤖

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For the past couple years, something I've been hearing from the highest levels of UX/design leadership is a need to re-engage with craft. That we've lost sight of the importance of craft. That they need to elevate craft within their organizations. But what I never hear is a clear definition of craft. And that causes anxiety, because "craft" is one of those words that can mean different things to different people. There are so many components to UX/Design—planning and conducting research; analyzing findings and developing insights; strategy development and solution-framing; information architecture; interaction design; service design; UX writing and content design; visual UI design. Each of these are practices. Each of them have their craft. But if I were to be able to witness people's thoughts, I think that, for most designers and design leaders, the primary association with "craft" is "visual polish." An attention to visual detail, a care for placement, composition, typography, color. And, I'm not saying visual polish isn't important; but it's just one aspect of many. My concern is that this emphasis on 'craft' leads to a narrowing of focus on the superficial aspects of design, at the expense of the less apparent, but more foundational qualities that impact the user experience. So, when you talk "craft," it's imperative that you define your term. And I hope you're doing so with the robustness necessary to create and deliver deeply satisfying user experiences.

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Really annoyed at Figma's price gouging here. There is no reason other than greed: https://lnkd.in/gfdrEiWH Oh, and I emailed them about it and this line from their reply was particularly poignant: "Additionally the minimum for enterprise is a $5k invoice minimum. 6 enterprise seats or made up with other products." To put that in context... our monthly Adobe bill (for 8 CC, 7 PS, 6 Acrobat licenses) is ~NZ$2k... Amazing how quickly enshittification sets in... #Figma #Design #SoftwareLicensing

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If you could design a HYBRID presentation app, which would you combine? Imagine the power! TL;DR: Figma + Powerpoint + Gamma would be my dream blend. 👀 Figma’s accessible, design-focused UI is at the top of the list as a designer. Think Google but with design muscle. 🧰 Figma’s power to update components globally without a master is a winner. 👊🏻 Figjam’s ability to collaborate is a snap! PLUS … ⚙️ The fit-for-purpose OG, PowerPoint would be the core of the hybrid. All the capable but sometimes hidden presentation features would be accessible through a fresh UI. SharePoint becomes easier and foolproof. PLUS … 🤖 Gamma’s interface would be the entry point for most users. It builds presentations from an outline in seconds! AI keeps everything laid out in the grid, handles typography and generates layouts on the fly. Designers could switch to a design interface to tweak their twelve-column layouts. EQUALS 🤩👏🔥 The result would be a powerful and modern presentation tool for the average user and designer alike, with AI driving where needed and pixel-level control when warranted. I don’t think this is too much of a dream. Copilot will deliver some of what Gamma does now, and with AI building code, why can’t we get it to build us a hybrid app? What would be your dream blend for a hybrid, and why? Let us know in the comments! Okay, stop dreaming and get back to work for me! #figma #figjam #PowerPoint #gamma #presentationdesign #design #presentations

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Portfolio tip for design leaders: Unless your values/leadership style/‘how I lead’ slides are unique or clearly showing why they make you a good fit for this specific role, skip all that in your portfolio presentation. It’s a waste of time and if it sounds like what all the other candidates are also doing(which is true 90% of the time), it will make you blend in. Not good: Generic words like empathy, team building, servant leadership etc Good: Super specific values that apply to this role Better: Super specific values that are actually then evidenced in the work you will shortly present

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I'm giving away a FREE in-depth UX audit! If your website or mobile app is a bit...well, clunky, and your users get lost or frustrated trying to find what they need, I will help you with that for free. I'm launching a new UX audit tool called Guidesight, and I'm looking for a brave business to test it out. What's in it for you? 💫 A free in-depth look at your platform's usability (fancy way of saying "how easy it is to use") 📊 Actionable insights on how to make your website a user-friendly conversion machine! 🤙 Bragging rights for being an early adopter of a super cool new tool Interested? Drop a comment below with "Free UX Audit"! And if you know someone who might benefit, share this post with them!

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A great episode of UX Potpourri by Darren Hood, MSUXD I recommend all hiring managers in UX or those that are responsible for interviewing for UX listen to this episode. https://lnkd.in/geGFP52v I'll only say my opinion on hiring practices in the industry from my experience. It can be incredibly burdensome to take on a role as a junior without the adequate support, especially when you know the company really needs someone more senior. I've seen entry level and junior UXers leave the field completely because of the poor experience. I agree with companies doing better in their hiring practices. I believe companies should hire juniors, bootcamp grads, and other entry level UXers, but they need the resources to help them. Also, hire a true senior before hiring any juniors who is capable of mentoring and leading. If that's not possible, have training available to them through different organizations or stipends. And finally, hire an experienced UX professional to do the recruiting. I had a GREAT experience at a company some years ago when I was a web designer. That was possible because they had senior and manager level web designers and developers fully involved in the vetting process from beginning to end. Anyway, just my two cents.

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The fee for standing on another's shoulders is making our own shoulders wide enough to climb on. Generalize that component, Document that design decision, Name that entity, You know #DesignSystems #Documentation #ProductDesign #workflow

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As Senior Designers, we have to assert our importance in business decisions to show that we are just as crucial to their organizations as any other senior role. It first starts on a personal level. We have to realize we're not just here to make great design; we're not just here to be the voice of the user; we're here to provide intentionality in every aspect of organizational thinking. "And, while the compensation looked quite good relative to what designers were earning even in senior roles at established design firms, it did not necessarily match senior finance, sales, or engineering jobs." This quote from the Article is what really hits home with me. https://lnkd.in/epemebmx

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