Nicholas McClay

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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This quote nails it: “AI is leading us to a paradigm shift in user interfaces. Current interfaces are deterministic: a generic design is created that attempts to support all possible use cases. The result is often a complex design that puts the burden on the user. AI-driven user interfaces are probabilistic. The design is created real-time, based on the user’s intent, context and history, providing just the right options at the right time. This requires a completely new way of designing user interfaces, where we design the rules, and let AI fill in the details. This change is unavoidable in a world of AI interfaces. The question is who gets there first.”

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Light vs Dark UI: Is the debate even real? Science says... Forget the Twitter wars. There's no real villain in the battle between light and dark interfaces. Both have merits, and the "best" choice depends on your specific design goals, NOT your personal choice. Let's ditch the black-and-white thinking and explore the science behind colour choices. The "light vs dark" UI debate is a tired trope. Everyone and their moms on Twitter have opinions on the issue... yet they all remain strictly personal opinions. Is there more than meets the eye? We're bombarded with opinions on light and dark interfaces. But what about facts? Let's ditch the bias and focus on what truly matters: readability, accessibility, and user experience. ⚗️ Science says... → Readability Generally, dark text on light backgrounds is easier on the eyes, especially for extended reading. → Accessibility Don't alienate users! Consider those with visual impairments when choosing colors. → Context matters Light themes shine for content-heavy interfaces, while dark ones can enhance visuals. 🫣 But it's not just about science → Target audience Who are you designing for? (It's not you or your Twitter friends). Younger users might prefer dark, while older users might favour light. → User preferences Let them choose! Many platforms offer light and dark mode options. → Emotional connection Colours evoke emotions. Consider the feeling you want your interface to convey. 🚚 Moving beyond the debate → User testing is king Gather real-world feedback to see how users interact with your design. → Embrace iteration Don't get stuck on the first try. Test, refine, and improve based on user input. → Accessibility first Always prioritize inclusive design that caters to a wide range of users. The final word: It's not black and white The "perfect" UI colour scheme depends on your specific project. By considering these factors and prioritizing user experience, you can create interfaces that are both beautiful and functional. Yes design taste comes into play but there is much more to it. Remember that YOU ARE NOT the user through all this. Which side are you on and why? #darkui #lightui #ux #ui #designer #uxdesign #userinterface

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⏱ “Just in time accessibility docs” I think I’ve been doing it all wrong. As we build out our design system, we’ve been continuing to add lengthy accessibility documentation to each of our components, check. But is it actually helpful? → W3C Guidelines are verbose and many of the guidelines become redundant once the component has been built. → Text based documentation can be hard to visualize without examples or access to assistive technology. → While components may test accessible in isolation, new issues come up when components are used in context. 👏 Some folks who are doing it right that we're trying to learn from at Exygy → Carbon design system from IBM provides context specific tips for both designers and developers. The guidelines they provide act as quick implementation checklists. https://lnkd.in/gbmeJe5F → GOLD Design System by Design System AU is really unique in the way that it provides accessibility previews of components. I really dig how they simulate keyboard navigation and color blindness! https://lnkd.in/gDBgUiyN → USWDS from GSA goes above and beyond any system that I have seen by providing accessibility testing documentation that can be used when doing QA of components in the wild. ...whoa https://lnkd.in/gYP2ptrR 💎 A couple of things our team has taken away from these amazing resources that might be helpful to others: → Focus component documentation on the most "actionable" implementation details for both designers and engineers. → Reserve verbose technical setup requirements for the initial component acceptance criteria. → Experiment with ways to easily preview accessibility options and outputs. → If possible, document how someone could test issues that could come up during ongoing product feature development and QA. 🧙‍♂️ This post was in part inspired by a talk from Dan Mall at the last Figma Config when he referenced "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" to describe the "notes in the margins that help Harry improve his potion skills" as a way to describe better "just in time" design system documentation. If you do actually need the verbose stuff for component acceptance criteria you can always get it here: → W3C Authoring practices guide https://lnkd.in/g_MUENbn #accessibility #designsystems #documentation #ui #uidesign

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Time for another book recommendation. In addition to providing tremendous insight about information architecture, penning this book in 2002, Earl Morrogh was well ahead of his time in the way he viewed the discipline of UX. You can get it for a reasonable price on Amazon or read it for free on GoodReads. https://bit.ly/4bpD1Ha

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If you're a designer and new to AI, I highly recommend watching this video (only 20 mins long if you watch at 1.5x speed), which provides a great primer for the topic of AI in UX. I find the content very well organized and easy to follow. It touches on the concept of AI at a super high level, various use cases, important considerations when designing with AI, and how Booking.com leverages AI to enhance their user experience.

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I see the potential in AI tools, but let's hold up for a second. This recent mess with Figma's AI tool seemingly cloning Apple's Weather app is a wake-up call. It's a glaring example of what happens when we don't put proper guardrails in place. AI can be a game-changer, but not if it tramples on intellectual property and copyright. We need these tools to be smart enough to avoid ripping off existing work. It's not just about innovation; it's about respecting creativity and ownership. https://lnkd.in/gUHxJd_c

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10 basic lessons of a design system. Being someone who has worked within and created many design systems, brand guidelines, and UI libraries, I've encountered many bumps along the way. What would you add or remove from this list? #designsystem #UX #lessonslearned #basics https://lnkd.in/evFxwP79

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Principle 11: Cool people want to be rich, and rich people want to be cool. Offer each what they want, and you’ll always be in demand. View all of my work principles here: https://lnkd.in/gKmi2ZDB

I've received countless terrible cold outreach messages from aspiring designers. I hope this is helpful for anyone who reads it: * Apply for the job before reaching out, then mention the role. * Ask a specific question your curious about instead of requesting time to "pick your brain" or "learn more about the team"—these are too vague. * Be concise, you get 2-4 sentences before you're tuned out. * Don't sound like a bot. Avoid formal language; write naturally and sincerely. * Provide value before you ask for it. Send a reference or idea that may be relevant to our product/brand. Keep it simple; i.e. don't go nuts re-designing our website, no one wants you to do free work. Brevity is a sign of intelligence, if you put in the work to edit your message down to the essentials, I'll put in the work to read it.

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UX has a language problem. We use various terms to describe the same concepts or processes, which can lead to confusion and miscommunication. For instance, consider how we interchangeably use terms like "user journey," "user flow," and "task flow," or how we describe activities like "wireframing," "mockups," and "prototyping." These may be clear to practitioners but can baffle stakeholders and clients. Our main issue is our reliance on activity-oriented language. We need to make a shift towards outcome-oriented language. Instead of talking to stakeholders about running usability testing or heuristic reviews, we need to pitch that we can identify the issues with the experience. If stakeholders can align with that goal, we can devise the best approach to achieving it depending on the timing and budget.  By refining our language to be more outcome-focused, we can better articulate the value of our work and bridge the gap between UX professionals and other stakeholders. It's time to simplify our UX vocabulary. What are some UX terms that outcome-oriented language should replace? Have an outcome you are looking to achieve with your product or service experience? Akendi can deliver it. #UXDesign #UserExperience #LanguageMatters #ContentClarity #SimplifyUX #OutcomeDrivenDesign

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Research is a function of strategy.  "According to CB Insights, over 90% of all products fail, most commonly due to no market need." Leave yourself time to ask big questions about whether any actually needs your product or service before you decide to launch it. #UXstrategy #UXresearch #Marketresearch

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Random prediction: Experience espionage for AI data scrapping. Unethical training on proprietary art, design, and experience will create teams of people signing up for services just to capture what’s behind the paywall or password protected experience. Other than an Air gapped server at home is there any way to protect your digital universe from the machine. If you share that data out , there is no way that I see today of it not going through a company that can “abstract it” into training material. I think there is going to be a bright future for whomever creates the user friendliest on prem or on device , controllable point to point encryption. I used to use voltage but it creates so much friction in the experience. The red pill or blue pill choice is getting harder and harder by the day.

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Figma, you perseverant folks are probably working fiercely to figure out how to deeply intertwine the graphic and text interface creation tool of the future. I am looking forward to your efforts! On the way there, a slight request: A project wide ui copy review tool, including bulk edit actions. There's probably some dev mode benefit in there, too. The suite will need it for the above at some point. Why not get some early halo effect going?

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I've treated my entire career as a journey to get as many snaps as possible to make what was once unknown for me (making, doing, thinking, directing, delegating, etc.) into a highly developed muscle that situationally flexes as necessary. AND I continue to adapt to my surroundings, and sacrifice what I may have once considered to be core to my integrity as a design professional in order to meet the moment fully. It hasn't felt like a clear progression into the commodification wall that Ryan describes; more like bits and pieces, here and there, more or less in various domains. Operating today in an early stage startup within a speculative industry (tech) for a conservative problem space (pharma & healthcare) yet with intelligent leadership who are true SMEs creates a stew of interesting trade-offs and opportunities as a function leader. Generally speaking, I've experienced what Ryan describes, but as with analytics in basketball, there's a big difference between a generalized approach to manifest offensive efficiencies and the individual choices one must make in a game seven. Matchups dictate adaptive strategies.

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+1 to all of this, especially being an education major -> graphic designer -> logo/brand designer -> visual designer -> UX designer -> design systems practitioner Spoiler alert: the teaching degree has been the most helpful "role" to date, and every role after that was basically the same (simply with different problems to solve and artifacts to make)

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In a competitive job market, leveling up your skills is crucial. I highly recommend this course at The Designership - it's a great and inexpensive way to enhance your design abilities. No kickbacks involved. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/eGfV5kXC #Design #SkillDevelopment #CareerGrowth #productdesign

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🗣️ Pssst! Many (most?) UX/Design orgs have way more people than are actually necessary to deliver great user experience. This is something I was first clued into in 2014, speaking with a design leader who had recently left a Silicon Valley software company to run a team at a bank. She told me how the team she inherited had 20 people, but, given her team's straightforward remit (showing balances, transaction activity, and other basics), she should only need 10 folks to deliver a quality user experience. But then she said something that I've replayed in my head at least weekly since then. She said that she was stunned to realize that, given the complexity of her product organization, she actually needed 40 people to cover all the work and relationships. This is when I realized that many design orgs were not "user-centered" or "customer-centered," but "product-centered." And these product teams are bloated (from the perspective of delivering meaningful customer value), which drives design teams to be bloated as well (again, from the frame of reference of delivering user/customer value). What I didn't know at the time was the trend (and cult) of agile transformations and SAFe, which I now believe to be the primary culprit of this bloat. Shortly before I left Adaptive Path, I lead a team that designed the entire ecommerce experience (for desktop and mobile web) for a major brand, including landing pages, category pages, detailed product pages with reviews, shopping cart and checkout functionality, wishlists, address books, birthday reminders, and more. We had 5 people. For a team covering all those things to be effective in-house now, you'd need at least 15, and many would have so much more. I know what I'm saying may strike a sensitive chord in this time of layoffs and difficulty finding work. And I'm not saying we should cut UX/Design teams in half—these teams need to be this size to ensure quality UX is delivered in these contexts. But I suspect the convulsions we're experiencing are in some part due to a realization that these product development organizations are fundamentally misshapen to deliver the kind of value expected of them.

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