Kaylee Schwitzer Yarrow

There’s still time for folks to sign up for my Fundamentals of User Experience Design class at SVA which runs three weeks, meeting twice a week, starting next Tuesday. That's six weeks of UX goodness packed into three. More information below if you're interested or want to pass this on to someone else who may be. #UX #UXdesign #IA

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Great opportunity for any strategic design leaders looking to apply their expertise within an organization that still places value on practice rigor, end-to-end experience delivery, and design operations. I'm not too familiar with the current conditions for success in this role at Walmart, but the opportunity may speak to those who've felt their expertise minimized by the recent shift toward speed to delivery, especially in publicly traded SaaS companies. As a service design professional, I'm intimately familiar with and arguably biased toward the value of holistic customer experience strategy and delivery. I think there's real human value in designing experiences end-to-end, front-to-back and across touchpoints, even if your main value proposition is transferred through a digital product (SaaS). That being said and, as Peter Merholz and Jesse James Garrett point out in Finding Our Way, many leaders and practitioners haven't been able to demonstrate enough value from these specialties to maintain their importance, especially amid economic volatility (i.e., the rising cost of money and companies' urgent need to drive revenue for survival). Now, I'd argue most of these craft specialists were never properly set up for success in the first place so it's a catch-22, but that's another whole conversation. What I'm seeing from the inside is companies laying off researchers, downsizing service design, replacing leaders, and doubling down on interaction design and visual design because these are the hard skills that achieve speed to delivery. While this approach doesn't always result in great outcomes (ever experienced flying with little kids?!), some leaders believe that the upfront investment in thoughtful human experience delivery isn't the best business move right now. Instead, they prefer shipping features quickly and advancing AI. It's also unsurprising to see an increase in investment for design operations as a support function to maturing design delivery. I'll wrap with a few possible takeaways for strategic designers in this landscape: - If your skills are underutilized, think about how you can adapt and transfer them to related areas like design management or design operations. - Look for organizations that still believe in the value of strategic design and join those teams. Advocate for and protect the conditions you need to succeed. - Find organizations that have successfully supported strategic designers and see what roles they offer; some might be more about enabling others, while some are hands-on (player / player-coach). - Reflect on your career and consider what steps you can take today to prioritize your needs and make a positive change. Don't get stuck in learned helplessness. Any other hot takes? Good luck out there, folks! 💙

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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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There's nothing more invigorating than to convene with and cultivate our design community. I had that honor by speaking on strategic foresight at the recent UXDX conference in New York a few weeks ago. First, a big thank you to the incredibly supportive UXDX team—Rory Madden, Catherine Madden, and Palina Viarbitskaya. Thank you for letting me bring some fresh thinking to our design community. Now more than ever, Designers need to expand their "T" even more. Fluency in designing futures is critical in this time of "perma-crisis" marked by perpetual war, lingering pandemics, environmental degradation, and profound human alienation. The future will be designed either consciously or by simply downloading past patterns. Design has a unique contribution to make to this field. We can create form out of the intangible and create harmony out of chaos. We can bring awareness to the hidden actors in a complex system and bring courage to the inevitable politics of preferred futures. Maybe I believe too deeply in the promise of conscious collaboration and creativity, but I hope I'm not alone. Let's make tomorrow desirable. Big shout-out to the fabulous UXDX community for your support. What an event with some incredible speakers such as Joe Meersman, Mamuna Oladipo, MBA, Jehad Affoneh, Chris Avore and many more. Thanks again for the opportunity!

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How do design system teams prove their value? Finding hard metrics around the impact of design system teams has historically been a challenge. A year ago, I met the design system team at Eventbrite who could confidently say that they saved 534 days of engineering effort with their design system. Here's their calculation: Time spent to develop a component pre-design system - time spent to install the design system component = Time saved In order to extrapolate this number, though, you need to know how many times a component has been used. And, that used to require a savvy dev on the team to build something custom. That's no longer the case. We built something at zeroheight that will allow you to track component use in a single repo or across all of your repos. This should help teams show how valuable they are, plus do things like: see which components to prioritize based on use see which product teams are adopting As an added bonus, anyone using the new feature set can also monitor design system packages, allowing them to quickly see which teams are using outdated packages. On a personal note, I'm hoping with data like this, more teams can confidently quantify their impact. And along the way, we'll get better as design system practitioners at identifying the right things to work on. This new feature set is in beta and totally free. Even if you aren't using zeroheight to document your design system, you can use it. Takes like 15 minutes and you've got rich data. Here's the sign up:

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Excited about supercharging your design team? 🌟 Don't miss our April Gather & Grow webinar! Learn how DesignOps can transform your design crew into your brand’s MVP and drive sustainable ROI. 🚀 Join Aletheia Delivre from Zapier, Jasmine Price from Airbnb, and Kim Marchant from JPMorgan Chase & Co as they dive into strategies for keeping that creative spark alive, seamlessly integrating brand and product, and why embracing progress over perfection matters. Plus, get insights on leveraging AI for feedback and shifting from centralized to distributed teams effectively. Ready to elevate your design game? Sign up now and let's make magic happen together! ✨ #DesignOps #Webinar #CreativeMomentum

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Just listened to this interview with Katie Dill, Head of Design at Stripe - a great listen. 😊 If you're interested in UX leadership and knowing where to add value - this is definitely worth listening to! #uxleadership #designleaders #uxjobs #designvalue #product

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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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As a design leader, I've always been driven by a company's vision and mission. It's deeply meaningful to me, and I've found joy in igniting that same passion in others by sharing our North Star. Over the years, I've come to realise that nothing is more fundamental than the essence of a brand itself. Inspiring others stems from a shared understanding of who we are and why we do what we do throughout the entire organisation. But how do we achieve this alignment? Sometimes, big changes don't require massive efforts. Investing just three hours in the right discussion with the right people can lead to transformative outcomes. The Brand Sprint: a concise three-hour brainstorming session aimed at making tangible what "our brand" truly represents. Surprisingly, there's a lack of accessible templates for this process. So, I created one myself. In my latest video, I walk you through it and share some valuable insights. Feel free to utilise it and share your feedback.

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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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Every client I've worked with over the past few years has been special in their own way. One of the trends I've seen while working with different e-commerce companies is what fueled me to start Imagine Helix. I watched some of our most beloved American retailers evolve from e-tailers to tech companies, suddenly implementing some of the most cutting-edge technology to solve old commerce problems and meet quickly growing customer expectations. #Ecommerce needed and needs critical thinkers. My specialty and our focus at Imagine Helix is using collaborative and unconventional thinking to solve real customer problems with our #Product, #Business, and #Marketing partners using data, open-minded but focused conversations, and Discovery workshops. This case study is one of those examples.

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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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The primary caregiving landscape is evolving, offering great opportunities for women looking to re-enter the workforce. However, brands continue to focus their messaging primarily on Moms. Jorge Aguilar's article highlights key strategies for brands to effectively engage with Dads. Thank you for sharing, Jorge. #Parenting #Brands #Dads #Caregiving #Workplace https://lnkd.in/e75DmYmU 

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Want to create a product roadmap that truly aligns with your product's vision and core value? 🎯 Hudson, a Senior Product Manager at Walmart Labs, shares some golden nuggets! – Engage stakeholders early, – Set clear delivery dates, – prioritize initiatives based on customer and business benefits. But wait, there's more: – Balancing multiple projects, – tweaking roadmaps based on performance – handling changes are all in a day's work. Remember, Adjusting timelines and team dynamics, along with gaining leadership buy-in on priorities and metrics, are game-changers. Passion for your product, tech savvy, and a crystal-clear roadmap are your tickets to success in the product management realm. Ready to ace the product game? Let's dive in!

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Engaging advice for aspiring design leaders

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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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Wow, spot on… Also consider the complexity of a “design system factory” product intended to offer design system stability to the diverse clientele of a consultancy with vastly unique clients, all with critically important needs. I often describe(d) the design tokens and design system as the CENTER of the tech ecosystem, or at minimum on par with the most critical data APIs. Few were ready for what that would cost. Financially, technically and emotionally. #outofwork

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With the rapid adoption curve of AI, users are expecting more ‘magic' from their digital tools and products. Great piece here about the relevancy and reframing of the value of design when building a non-deterministic digital experience: “Sophistication, in prompting, comes from deeply understanding the user — their attitudes and behaviours towards this experience — and integrating that knowledge into the prompt. This is even more important than with traditional software interactions because of the open-ended nature of conversational experiences. As noted by designer, Emily Campbell, “the more autonomy that users have to direct computers to their personal whim, the better they will expect computers to understand them and anticipate their needs.” Logan Kilpatrick, head of developer relations for OpenAI, boils it down to “context.” The model needs context to do its perform a specific task well. This makes prompting an “inherently human” task because it requires that we understand the nuances of what people are trying to achieve.”

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