Reminders for myself

Design matters because it helps us solve problems, think creatively, understand the world around us, develop empathy, and be critical. Just as you would hire an architect when building a house, design plays an important role in creating functional, beautiful, and meaningful solutions in all aspects of life.

Ben Shih

Taking a chance on a person is making a bet not on what they are now, but the potential of what they can become.

David Hoang

Availability doesn’t mean being ready

The first design management role you have might be because you’re handed the opportunity: there is a need, the manager left/got fired, or something else. Availability does not wait for you to be ready. It asks you to give a direct answer if you will say yes to the call of duty². When I took on the responsibility

“One of the superpowers a designer has is to envision a world that doesn’t yet exist and lay out the steps to get there and make it a reality.

There’s a piece of that that means some designers never really settle for accepting reality as it is, and they do what they can to influence and shape reality into one that’s closer to what they like.”

Dan Mal

While concepting, focus on… concepts

There’s a time and place for different discussions. Oftentimes, in the absence of strategic arguments, peers might raise tactical commentary when reviewing conceptual work (the classic “have you thought about the empty state” comment). But while it's tempting to address every potential scenario immediately, tackl

Concepting is not just executing requirements

A checklist of requirements is not a design; it's a recipe for mediocrity. Design is about critical thinking. It’s about the things you decide NOT to include. Great designers know how to strategically question requirements, say no, and prioritize what really matters. The first step is to have a clear und

A concept is strategy, visualized

Great designers are able to distill the essence of a strategy and transmute it (through a mockup, a storyboard, a sentence, a quote, a metaphor, or a story) into a form that stakeholders can grasp and embrace.

https://www.doc.cc/articles/concept?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Whenever you hear yourself saying “I have to…”, change it to “I choose to…” Remembering you have choices does wonders for your well-being.

Julie Zuho

Satisfaction does not come from money, rewards, status or praise; it comes from impressing yourself. Mistaking the former for the latter is a source of enormous misery.

Julie Zhuo

There are only 3 methods to learning: 1) increase your exposure to new knowledge (conversations, blogs, books, podcasts, etc.) 2) improve retention of knowledge (active listening, highlighting, reflecting, teaching, etc.) 3) increase your pace of personal experimentation (try doing new things). Most people focus on 1, but 2 and 3 yield more gains.

J