Designer's Coffee #01: Figma Jambot, Dribbble Redesign, The Art of Arguing, and Ethical Design
September 2023 Edition
Kristina Volchek
September 06, 2023
Hey guys! 👋
This September I collected interesting articles on ethical design, storytelling and design communication. You will also find a few of my favourite podcasts, the Dribbble redesign overview, and an incredible, thought-provoking interview with Don Norman - author of “The Design of Everyday Things“ - about humanity-centered design.
But let’s start with something fun, a few tips on the new Jambot AI assistant by Figma.
Design news
First up we have some pretty cool updates from Figma.
What can you do with it?
Brainstorm, ask questions, learn new topics, write some commonly used UX copy (e.g. error messages), create dummy copy (instead of lorem ipsum), get real examples and have fun.
Just copy the community file to your drafts, and ask a question, for example “How to give and receive great design feedback?”. As you can see on the screen below, it gives you some pretty solid ideas. It’s almost like having a pocket design tutor (with some funny bugs 😅).
Or you can even ask for specific examples of good design feedback:
And probably my favourite. You can turn any answer or text into a summary with bullet points or even haiku.
Also, a more practical usage would be writing error messages or small bits of UX copy that you want to sound as standard as possible:
Well, it seems like more and more companies (even IKEA 😮) are introducing AI assistants into their products. So if you’re not already using AI, it’s probably it’s time to try it out. Just register and play around with ChatGPT as your first step.
In other news, Dribbble has redesigned their website
Yes, we all have an opinion about it. This redesign certainly divided designers into two camps. 😆 However, @Michal Malewicz published a brutally direct video explaining that this redesign is a sign of a much deeper problem in the design industry: the post-design era is coming (or put it simply, big corporations are taking over by templating and systemizing everything). Sounds pretty dark. Especially after Figma being acquired by Adobe. 👀
To be honest, I’m not sure what I think about this new, more corporate Dribbble. I guess we will see.
What to read
My favourite articles, case studies, books and posts this month.
Watch or listen
My favourite YouTube tutorials, movies, podcasts and reels this month.
Design for a Better World with Don Norman by Brave UX
Don Norman, the author of the Designer’s bible - The Design of Everyday Things - shares his wisdom on what it means to design for a better world. A world that is meaningful, sustainable, & humanity-centred (yep, rather than user-centered, all of humanity) and what role designers are playing in it.
1. Font pairing guide by @narrowtype:
2. My new favourite design newsletter (not me 😅):
3. And even more links:
I know, another click. Hope you can survive this task 😅
Juan J. Ramirez’s LinkedIn post on achieving simplicity in design
Red Flags in UX/UI Job Postings
Meme: designers showing their ideas to developers to code 😄
Who to follow
It’s not a call to action, but here are some cool designers, companies and websites that are worth checking.
That’s all for today! If you found the newsletter interesting, don’t forget to share it with your friends 😉. And if you have any cool links to share - drop them my way. 📮
See you next time!
Kristina
P.S. To ensure you don't miss any future editions, consider adding my email to your contacts, primary inbox or whitelisting it. I promise, no spam - just a good cup of Designer's Coffee each month! ☕
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