Four Must-See Features in Zoom’s Big New Redesign (6 minute read)
Zoom's most significant redesign comes with a new platform called Zoom Workplace, which uses AI to compete with Slack and Teams. The new features address anxieties around screen sharing, stuffiness in online meetings, and getting work done. Zoom is also improving UI by updating its gradient backdrops, adding color to everyone's windows, and redesigning its bottom bar of icons to express more personality, softness, and value of care.
Future Apple Vision Pro May Get Bob Ross-style Virtual Painting Tools (4 minute read)
A recent patent application by Apple describes techniques for enabling drawing in a computer-generated reality environment. It illustrates how the company plans to track users' hands and allow them to draw without additional devices on Vision Pro. The technology lets users pinch their fingers like a paintbrush to make an object appear over their hand. When the user switches tools, Apple Vision Pro changes the virtual object in the user's hand.
Interview: Julie Zhuo (40 minute read)
Julie Zhuo, a renowned Silicon Valley executive and management author, rose from an intern to the VP of Product Design at Facebook through her unique strength in bridging engineering and design disciplines. Now a co-founder of Sundial, she uses her management expertise to foster a strong employee culture and continues to embrace the learning journey, sharing insights with over 70,000 newsletter subscribers.
Hold on, but should design managers design…? (9 minute read)
Design management encompasses various roles, from those heavily involved in hands-on design to leaders focusing exclusively on strategy and guiding their teams. The kind of leader one becomes is primarily dictated by business context, organizational structure, and team dynamics. The actual test of leadership is where team members turn to their problems, identifying the de facto leader beyond titles.
The Death of Craft (11 minute read)
The rise of AI in the creative industry is a return to the past, as AI can only combine existing ideas and not create genuinely new ones. Becoming overly proficient in a single tool can be limiting, as tools can become irrelevant over time. The future may see a shift towards a more adaptable, generalized skillset due to the changing landscape of the creative industry.
Why UX Designers Should Create Object Maps (9 minute read)
An aligned mental model between what users perceive and how products perform makes completing tasks easy. When mental models are not aligned, it can make using the product so difficult that users give up using it. You can facilitate and enhance the design of workflows, mock-ups, and prototypes by creating a map of the objects users create, edit, and use within a product.
Product design tools database (Website)
Free database of 700 curated product design resources, covering topics ranging from research and analysis to delivery and metrics tracking, that will improve your product design workflow.
The investment value of Design (11 minute read)
Companies that prioritize design enhance their products or services and achieve better financial outcomes. Investing in design results in higher revenue growth and stock performance, so design should be considered a strategic asset that can generate substantial returns for businesses willing to invest in it.
How to Design Climate-Forward AI Companies (16 minute read)
Despite the immense benefits AI promises, it substantially impacts the environment. The gravity of this footprint makes it crucial that every AI company is a climate company, and thoughtful design is critical to achieving that goal. We should design for AI with decarbonization in mind, preferring more sustainable hardware and infrastructure, aiming for simpler yet powerful user interfaces, and be able to define where AI makes an actual difference.