Christine Schumaker

A new Studio Quick Fact is out. This article explores recent research investigating the elements that allow people to enter into a state where they're completely absorbed in what they're doing, to the point where everything else fades away (aka a flow state). Is mastery required? Is it intense critical thinking? Read on to find out!

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Thought provoking FC article on the future of design leadership! In an era where design thinking and understanding customer journeys remains fundamental to shaping the products and experiences we encounter daily, the landscape of design leadership is undergoing a profound transformation. As pioneers like IDEO, renowned for their innovative design thinking methodologies, undergo restructuring, a new generation of design leaders is emerging, tasked with grappling not only with the future of design but also with redefining the role of design in business strategy. What are your experiences navigating the changing landscape of design leadership? How do you envision the future role of design in shaping businesses? 

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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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This visual illustration by the Nielsen Norman Group highlights how having just a style guide is a good start but is by no means the complete story. Building a complete design system takes time, a lot of collaboration and patience between teams. Working together is an important component to success. You or your design team cannot do this alone. So understand, who in your business you need to collaborate with, who is needed as your supporter - ideally one or more higher up and peer - in your business. Finally, if you are privileged to lead and serve a team or department of people, understand the strengths and weaknesses of your team, put them to use in the correct areas of Design System development, ensure you don't lock in or build solid walls around your Design System, keep it organic, which will ensure it's cross business benefit. #strategy #designsystems #ux #designthinking #criticalthinking #collaboration #victorinox Victorinox

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✏ Here's a really rough map of Design-related career clusters that I've been sharing in some recent high school visits. Some of these students are aware of design, some are not. Most are wondering where art and design will take them. I'm trying to get across that there are a lot of design-related careers and interesting paths for them to follow. What would you add to this map? What would you change? - - - I zoomed in on the clusters in the comments below. - - - #designeducation #careerpaths #creativecareers #design #arteducation #artcareers

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Everyone wants a fabulous logo. It takes a great design process to get there. And that's exactly what we are covering in this series of posts. Yesterday, I covered the preliminary, "discovery phase" or, as some people like to call it, "onboarding." If you haven't read that post and the one before it, I recommend reading both to get full context. I'm breaking out the full brand design process so you know what to do if you are trying to do it yourself, or know what to expect of a really great designer if you are hiring someone. Here we go! The Brand Design Process: Phase 1 - Research This is THE MOST IMPORTANT PHASE. The better the research, the better the strategy. The better the strategy, the better the execution. The research phase is mainly comprised of audits. Compiling lists and comparing data. These are the audits and the data within each that we want to examine if it exists: • Brand - name, messaging, taglines, trademarks, brand manuals • Business - stationary, forms, invoices, business cards • Internal - memos, employee swag, holiday greetings • Retail - packaging, promos, bags, merch • Sales - sales/product literature, decks, investor relations, campaigns • Electronic - social/web, video, apps • Environment - interiors, exteriors, signage, trade show booths I use a checklist and a corresponding file structure to gather and organize all of this data from each client. This can take days, weeks or even months, depending on the size and history of the brand. (DM me if you would like the checklist and file structure) It should be noted that you can use the checklist to also reverse engineer the deliverables that will be created for the brand in phase 4 of this process. Corresponding with this data gathering is the interview. I interview the team that is responsible for branding decisions. The owner, founder, CEO, whoever it may be that is on the team. The interview is comprised of 16 questions that elicit the values, purpose, mission, vision, culture, goals and more. It is recorded, and transcribed and annotated and delivered for the team's digestion. This interview usually goes for several hours and a byproduct is a business/life coaching session where the answers that the team comes up with are revelatory for those being interviewed. I have found that time and again, that interview ends up being one of the most valuable parts of the branding process. The value comes from the clarity that arises for the leadership of the company. Even if the company had plenty of clarity in their business, it's amazing what happens when you get a whole lot more. Once the audits and interview are finished and all of the data is in our hands, the research phase is complete. The next phase is strategy, which is distilling this data down to two one page briefs. The Brand Brief defines the brand personality and the Creative Brief defines where we are going and why. And I have hit the character limit! See you tomorrow!

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Have you thought about the physical accessibility of your digital designs? Getting physical controls right is really hard, and industrial designers spend a lot of time learning about how to use data as a starting point for making design decisions. As we create digital designs that we interact with using our bodies, it's going to become important for digital designers to understand physical ergonomics too.

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🎈Pretty colors aren’t good enough. Color needs to do the hard work of balancing brand voice with utility and accessibility. Fortunately there's color tooling to help designers with the complexity of managing contrast across multiple colors, tints and shades. A valuable color tool should allow you to do a couple of things: → Seed your palette with brand colors → Provide sufficient tints and shades with documented accessibility contrast → Generate output that can be leveraged by design and engineering team members 🌈 Genome Color Tool by Kevin Muldoon The Genome Color web app allows you to create custom color scales from brand colors by leveraging recommended tints/shades from proven color systems. The thinking behind the tool is so smart it makes my head spin and the video tutorial provided makes it super easy to use. Writeup: https://lnkd.in/gjAmBJq6 Tool: https://lnkd.in/ggumsweN Figma plugin: https://lnkd.in/gr6B_Cpi 👨‍🎨 Leonardo by Nate Baldwin Leonardo is a web app that allows you to build out multiple color ramps for a uniform theme that share the same contrast ratios. It offers a number of slick visualizations, accessibility options and ways to export everything. There’s even a plugin that allows you to pull your palette directly into Figma. Writeup: https://lnkd.in/gufQhmFT Tool: https://leonardocolor.io/# Figma plugin: https://lnkd.in/g-FFqJuW 🎨 Supa Pallete by Angelo Libero Supa Pallette is an elegant Figma plugin with a paid option. I’ve tested a fair share of Figma plugins, and this one is packed with features and worth the license. Starting with a seed color, the tool allows you to customize WCAG or APCA accessibility contrast scale, export visual color tiles for preview and even generate Figma variables. Tool: https://lnkd.in/ge92ND2N Figma plugin: https://lnkd.in/gX7sq25U 💎 For as complicated as color can be, we’re lucky to have access to so many resources. Some takeaways our team at Exygy now uses to make color decisions: → Align the team on accessibility guidelines like WCAG or APCA → Meet with designers to find out what Figma tooling and color method, including HEX or HSL, are the most intuitive for them → To ensure adoption, talk with engineering to find out what a valuable output format looks like, whether that’s CSS or tokens I’ve posted about managing color before including more helpful resources: https://lnkd.in/g6E3zYjA #color #ui #design #designsystems #figma #accessibility #branding #color

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Etsy was recently seen A/B testing AND eventually shipping a more visible search with the help of a higher contrast orange background button color (instead of a ghost-like icon only approach). Full screenshots: https://lnkd.in/gVJThW3W Now I don't work for Etsy (as much as I'd love to design some experiments for/with them) so we can't see the actual numbers beyond this feint probabilistic residue from the public domain. However, the amazing Andrey Andreev who runs experiments at Metro recently ran a very similar one and shared a solid result on GoodUI - with a positive impact to sales and searches. N = 896,009 SRM Check = Pass p-val on Increased Sales = 0.0139 (I know some people might like this to be even lower for a primary metric; but there is also reinforcing evidence on increased searches with an even lower p value at "ultra stat-sig" levels using Ron Kohavi's language; p < 0.00000001). I inverted the a/b test and categorized it under the Filled Vs Ghost Button pattern - further weakening the ghosts and strengthening the high contrast filled button styles on multiple metrics. https://lnkd.in/gmD8Exvc Thanks Andrey for a somewhat of an unintended replication, as I know your source of inspiration came from somewhere else on this one. :) Have you tested anything similar or different. If so, what did you discover? I'd be super curious to see more examples where increases to search have either ❌ failed or ✅ succeeded. Please share independent of outcome. ps. We also have a handful of similar "visible search" experiments where companies tested adding or hiding search: https://lnkd.in/gvWqzrK5 - further supporting this direction. [EDIT]: Note the additional confounders / variables in the Metro test - a stronger border, a change in background color of the search box as per Jakob Nielsen comment. They may be similar along the lines of the increased visibility theme - but possible additional variables nevertheless. #experimentation #ecommerce #replication #optimization #ui #ux

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I love data; it gives us the confidence to go forward with a plan. In this case, a plan for better in-office work experiences. An eight-hour work day is 480 minutes. Data (linked) finds that when people work in-office, they are only spending around 80 minutes, or ~16% of their time, actually interfacing with other people. There's a lot that can be said about the merits and drawbacks of being in office, but for me the more important question is, if you have to be there, how can we make our time in offices more valuable? There's also something to be said about the value of that face-time. Are people discussing productive ideas? Grousing? Discussing off topic gossip? Is the office space even designed for such face-to-face interactions? (Sadly, most are not.) Seventeen percent is low - an increase to even ~40% (3 hours) would yield significant benefits to us personally, but to increase our face time, we need to design for it. The sad fact is that people and organizations have generally done a poor job of it so far. There are solutions, including consolidating and formalizing face-time activities to when you will be able to see people in person vs virtually, offices that promote 'public' and 'focus' spaces, and even organizational scheduling to free employees to be social. There are also lots of constraints: the need to be productive and actually do work, you can only physically see so many people at once, the geography limitations, etc. The underlying question is, if you have to be there anyway, have you designed your in-office time to maximize face-time opportunities? Could you? Could you make that face-time more valuable to you? PS - I said it before, but I love data; it shows us so many opportunities to ask further questions, to discover more, and to research, solve, and design for new problems. #ux #wfh #commuting #officedesign #ixda Check out the article: https://lnkd.in/eM4XM6zK And the actual report (know your source and its bias): https://lnkd.in/etmByNKD

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Switching things up and adding a full colophon at the end of my deck for Front-end Conf later this week. I love seeing the type and color combinations other design presenters use, so why not make it easy to suss this out? #presentation #slides #inspiration #type #color

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I get asked pretty often what resources are out there that help people break into the UX field. Ryan's great and could offer some really good well informed insights. if you're curious about some interview prep, give this a look

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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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Craft is work done with intuitive expertise - learned deeply by conscious practice through mentorship. Craft is expensive. The mimicry and pattern replication of AI will upend digital craft much like the Industrial Revolution did for physical craftspeople (only faster). It will likely be CFOs who crush craft like origami as they optimize balance sheets. If you love your craft, find a complex niche whose business model is based on value creation not eyeball acquisition. Government especially needs you.

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I’m noticing a peculiar design related anti-pattern of sorts in the post ZIRP economic environment. It’s where companies have the budget to staff design talent, albeit in lower numbers, but the development budget is so limited that teams are unable to implement the work designers produce. This is the third economic downturn I’ve experienced and we always get pendulum swings. In this one, there seems to be a bias toward austerity and implementing the least expensive solution.

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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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Important read.

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"The strategic design gold rush is over." While this might sound like a scary sentiment at first, I'm choosing to see it as an opportunity for design leadership. It's a chance for reinvention of what role design led teams can play in corporate settings. Users are increasing their demand for simple and straightforward user experiences. Every company continues to need more user and customer advocacy and design leaders are perfectly positioned to be the fabric of that advocacy and stitch together the functions required to deliver it to market. Rather than being relegated to a subordinate capability in product-led companies, design leaders can now redefine their purpose, leveraging their skills in user empathy, strategic experiential planning and continue to tie together the often disparate agendas at play in organizations. #Design #Leadership #Reinvention #Innovation

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