Rhiannon Bell

Had to share this thoughtful article about the conflicting feelings we have as designers with new AI tools.... made me consider the threat of too much standardization over innovation, or letting your own creative instincts atrophy. Check it out and lmk your thoughts

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O-M-G. Learn how to craft some seriously refined 3D letters using Affinity in the next Creative Session. Especially for those Designers that have recently downloaded Affinity and still running it through it's paces. You'll pick up essential Affinity illustration skills and tricks in seconds. https://lnkd.in/gYvsrdme #affinity #illustrators #canva

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Remember when people couldn't connect *enough* with others in the beginning of the pandemic? We hopped into virtual groups so much that we experienced zoom fatigue. And now, in 2024, connection feels like it's the new ankle sock?? Iykyk. I met Rachel, indirectly, in one of those networking zooms, and we didn't really speak after that because, life, but when I saw her posting about a design book club meetup, something inside me said: "Hm... you love reading, maybe you should go to that." SO, I didn't sign up and forgot about it. But, then, the day of, she posted about it again and I bit the bullet. I am SO glad I did— I got to turn someone from being a stream of linkedin posts into a 3D human being, I got to meet other cool people, have cerebral and intellectual conversation around design and the state of the world, and I discovered that Johnny Pastrami is actually amazing?! (Also, why didn't my team ever tell me about this place when we talk about food all the time?? Performance reviews will now include: met all expectations but failed me in the UX of our bonding.) If you're on the fence about going outside of your comfort zone, I hope this post reminds you of how exciting and rewarding even the smallest steps over that line can be. And great food is probably waiting there.

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Friday fun... The last post in motion 1 of 2. From last post... "Sharing some detail 3D work highlighted in the FY24 Studio reel I recently shared. Utilizing the new color palette from the Microsoft Brand these metaphors created for the Microsoft Cloud visual identity celebrate fluidity, harmony, diversity, transformation, and imagination. Waveforms showcase the human element, expressing these ideas organically with texture, imperfection, and inherent optimism." ACD's Juliet Park Tierney Cunningham 3D Artists Steve Lee joseph andrade Handel Eugene #Microsoft #BrandStudio #CreativeTeam #BrandIdentity #VisualDesign #Teamwork #Grateful #Brand #C4D #MicrosoftCloud #creativedirector #creativedirection #visualidentity #promotion #motion #motiongraphics #motiondesign

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So immensely proud of such an amazing group of people who've been working so hard on this big set of launches at Figma for #Config2024. ICYMI what we launched today, this blog post recap covers it well: https://lnkd.in/gX3KSWj3 I wanted to share a couple fun tweets from a few of the fantastic designers/leaders that worked on some of the things you may have seen in our keynote this morning. * This is not even close to an exhaustive list of those who worked on today's launches, but just a quick lil glimpse showcasing a few who happened to post about them today (also linkedin obscures the links for some reason, but they're all just fun behind the scenes tweets not shady sites I promise lol): Figma Slides - Keeyen Yeo: https://lnkd.in/gmxBH3wq - Mihika Kapoor: https://lnkd.in/gr54Upnu - Natasha T. / Ryan Reid: https://lnkd.in/gd-v9gE3 Redesigned Figma (UI3) - Ryhan Hassan: https://lnkd.in/g868XAze (can't wait to watch the behind the scenes talk with him and Joel Miller and KC Oh as well as Wayne Sun's when they come online later) - Tim Van Damme: https://lnkd.in/gQyvqzYr - Nikolas Klein: https://lnkd.in/ge_kKyvD Figma AI - Jordan Singer: https://lnkd.in/gXmFeXTM - Oscar Dumlao: https://lnkd.in/gkACVY_c - Marco Cornacchia: https://lnkd.in/gMt3BvVY - Vincent van der Meulen: https://lnkd.in/gCrHvcVu - Jediah Katz: https://lnkd.in/gMxEu7i8 - Giorgio Caviglia: https://lnkd.in/gCNVQrKC And more: - Jenny Wen (pages design by rocky chen ✌️): https://lnkd.in/gd_6RHAv - Soundharya Muthukrishnan: https://lnkd.in/gsnibt-j - Daniel Destefanis: https://lnkd.in/gu6mYBe6 - Becca Ramos: https://lnkd.in/gqM7RGKQ We hope you enjoy these updates, and excited to meet more of the amazing community at Config for Day 2 tomorrow! I'm particularly excited for Marcin Wichary's talk tomorrow at 3:40 https://lnkd.in/gvJNNerg

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Now that Config is over here's a good recap for design execs:

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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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I want to share the lessons I’ve learned and the perspective I’ve gained about the UX discipline as well as life in general through the written word, and this is the start of that. Here's a topic that has been top of mind for the last few years and some perspective I've gained. https://lnkd.in/du9e463j Would appreciate thoughts and feedback on it. How do you balance your time?

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I don't know when or how it happened, but Config has become one of the major yearly conferences in our industry. Given how much Figma plays a role in the practice, it's common for design system teams to watch with anticipation/excitement/dread for what's coming. In our latest episode, Davy Fung and I discuss the reveals from Config and what that may mean for folks in the design systems practice moving forward. Listen here: https://lnkd.in/gRMBzfbJ #designsystems #figma #congfig #podcast

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Punks were outsiders, but now that we’re in charge heading creative outputs at studios, corporations and generally everywhere (Mike Monteiro, Andrew Huberman, Mike Cessario, Yoshitomo Nara, Garry Tan, the late Vivienne Westwood, Anthony Bourdain etc.), how are we embodying the punk ethos in our work and work place? The rule breakers are now the rule creators, bending and breaking traditional approaches, ways of thinking, and building a better world. The things we learned from Punk, break the world of business in an intensely creative way (and as a result extremely profitable). A whole bunch of people at the top of the game in design, art, science, and entertainment grew up with punk and it influences and fuels our creativity. It goes beyond music, it’s an attitude. How can we further channel this attitude and how can this type of mindset make the world better? I wrote in 2010 on the top 10 lessons from Punk that’s inspired me “How Bad Do You Want to F*cking Live?” (If you want to read it: https://lnkd.in/SpmRKd ) 1. Don’t sit on you ass and go design for others 2. Without the good idea, the design is s#!t. 3. What you love is the most important 4. Play at eye level 5. Design is not design without ethics 6. Design for the unpopular 7. Stop being sarcastic and ironic 8. If you are a designer, you are automatically NOT special. 9. Do not $ellout 10. Change starts with the consumer Reading this post 14 years later, I haven’t changed much. I’m sure it hasn’t for others like me. Being punk (to me) meant challenging the rules, doing what’s right, and going against all who claim authority that don’t deserve it. Now that we are the authority with power, how will we wield it? (this is basically my AIGA Design conference proposal in October (FYI the call for entries ends today)! Maybe some authority there will accept it, maybe they won’t, but no authority is going to stop me from just putting the content out there into the world. What a punk😂.)

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Designers take note- it's not good enough to simply design great UX, we also need to deeply understand the technology its built on. Good design is: 1. In support of the business model — of course. 2. Leverages strategic technology bets the company is placing — wait, what? Mercedes rejected Apple's next-gen CarPlay because it didn’t fit the company's strategic software and compute architecture shifts. This example underscores a crucial point: what does a new technology architecture enable for the user experience that wasn't possible before?  Takeaway: Understanding the technology is essential for creating differentiated experiences. Mastery of the underlying technology can transform commodified design into great, innovative user experiences that leverage the investment your company is making. Agree or disagree?  https://lnkd.in/gQyvTY2Z #AutomotiveUX #UserExperienceDesign #HumanMachineInterface #SoftwareDefinedVehicles #TechInDesign

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For anyone wanting to learn more about how we're working on AI as a design team here at Klaviyo, have a listen to this interview with Alexandra Holness

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As we witness the growing intersection of UX and AI, I can’t help but think primary customer research will only grow in its importance as a way to differentiate experiences.

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Love this thoughtful and balanced argument for resetting expectations for what design (lowercase d intentional) and design leaders can and can't fix from Sarah Gallivan Mitchell. Andy Polaine, in his response (https://lnkd.in/eC959VEc) to the some of the same rhetoric Sarah responds to, has likened the growth of the design industry in the past 15-20 years to the Cambrian Explosion. It bears considering that the real Cambrian Explosion was followed in relatively short order by multiple mass extinction events. Some species that were less well adapted to the changing conditions for life on Earth didn't make it, but this allowed new forms of life to develop and flourish. My hope is that some evolutionary selection may take place over time in regards to which voices are anointed to speak for All of Design, so that voices like Sarah's may, too, be heard and flourish. #design #designleadership #futureofdesign https://lnkd.in/eQ-PGgBM

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Most designers are trained to present work to our peers, but as your career matures, your audience expands to include many other departments who don’t speak “design”. This article resonated with me and offers some sage advice about the use of storytelling and a “business lens” to craft more compelling presentations. #ProductDesign #Storytelling #UserResearch #BusinessObjectives

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AI is the buzzword of the day, but it's simply the next step in our technology evolution. Evolving generative AI interactions are repeating human-computer interaction history. Remember those green screens and books filled with computer prompts, or learning how to use a search engine? Perhaps you do, maybe you don't, but either way AI has modified the way we do this by using natural language! #AI #technologyevolution #naturalanguageprocessing

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A lot is covered in this concise post. It's particularly relevant for larger maturing companies. Headers below, to entice you to read it: “You treat a transformation as a project You devalue the present You don't let your team lead the change You put "the best" on a pedestal You ignore the continuous improvement muscle You don't let go You lose sight of customers You copy/paste frameworks You ignore architecture You don't use "working examples" to inspire change”

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Products like Recraft are like the Perplexity for creating images with #GenAI. They are leaning into the benefits of going beyond a conversational prompt-based interface ONLY and integrating traditional, familiar GUI-based workflows with prompts to provide outcomes that creative people seek. In this example, they've notably improved the experience of creating multiple #images in a consistent style using #AI. In addition, they seem to be among the few (only one?) offering SVG export, making them a great option for #illustration. https://lnkd.in/eiGPqbKU

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Great insights on design leadership with solid examples of results.

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