Tag: design

What is Design Thinking and Why Is It So Popular? | Interaction Design Foundation

Design Thinking is an iterative process in which we seek to understand the user, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems in an attempt to identify alternative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent with our initial level of understanding. At the same time, Design Thinking provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It is a way of thinking and working as well as a collection of hands-on methods.

Design Thinking revolves around a deep interest in developing an understanding of the people for whom we’re designing the products or services. It helps us observe and develop empathy with the target user. Design Thinking helps us in the process of questioning: questioning the problem, questioning the assumptions, and implications. Design Thinking is extremely useful in tackling problems that are ill defined or unknown, by re-framing the problem in human-centric ways, creating many ideas in brainstorming sessions, and adopting a hands-on approach in prototyping and testing. Design Thinking also involves ongoing experimentation: sketching, prototyping, testing, and trying out concepts and ideas.

Source: What is Design Thinking and Why Is It So Popular? | Interaction Design Foundation

An Atomic workflow for design & development at Nordnet

In this article we’ll give an overview of the Atomic way of thinking, and share how we’ve applied it — with a little help from BEM and Git.

Atomic Design is a methodology used to construct design systems. The concept was first coined by Brad Frost in 2013. Brad uses a Chemistry analogy to describe the process, in which design is broken down into simple, reusable patterns.

These are called Atoms, Molecules, Organisms, Templates, and Pages.

Source: An Atomic workflow for design & development at Nordnet. — Nordnet Design Studio — Medium

Design Criticism and the Creative Process

In every design project, at some point we quit what we’re doing and share our unfinished work with colleagues or clients. This begs the question: Just what does the critique do for the design and the rest of the project? Do critiques really help and are they necessary? If so, how do we use their inconsistencies to improve our creative output? Cassie McDaniel explores how critiques can help us navigate complex processes and projects and collaborate effectively to create original and engaging work.

Source: Design Criticism and the Creative Process

Simon Whatley – Nordstrom’s Innovation Lab: Sunglasses iPad app case study

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS3sD96m8gc

By applying a healthy dose of Lean and Agile methodologies to projects, the waterfall model of software development has been replaced leading to rapid

Source: Simon Whatley – Nordstrom’s Innovation Lab: Sunglasses iPad app case study

Don’t design for mobile, design for mobility

MOBILITY IS ABOUT THE CONTEXT, NOT THE DEVICE

The meaning of “responsive” has been badly spoiled. It’s reduced to no more than being able to adapt to different screen sizes. We need to bring back the concept of “responsive” to its fullest meaning: being able to respond, and thus establishing a communication with the user.

Just when we were starting to get used to the tools, frameworks and methodologies needed to design good mobile apps, we find the device landscape is changing again: smartwatches and other connected wearables, sensors and everything under the “Internet of Things” umbrella are bringing new complexity to our field, and makes it very difficult to tell where “mobile” or an “app” really starts and ends.

Source: Don’t design for mobile, design for mobility

Design Mock-Ups Need Dynamic Content: Tools and Plugins – Smashing Magazine

Nothing is perfect on the web, so our mock-ups shouldn’t pretend otherwise. Some helpful tools and plugins for using dynamic content in our deliverables.

Source: Design Mock-Ups Need Dynamic Content: Tools and Plugins – Smashing Magazine

In practice, mock-ups usually represent a perfect experience in a perfect context with perfect data which doesn’t really exist. A good example for it are “optimal” usernames which are perfectly short, fit on a single line on mobile and wrap nicely, or perfect photography that allows for perfectly legible text overlays. It’s not realistic. We need to work with dynamic content in our prototypes, with both average and extremes being represented.

We need to craft future-proof experiences, too. What if your interface design would need to be translated into other languages?