UI/UX Articles and Interesting Tidbits of the Week
November//25//2022
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.
High Documentation and Low Meeting Work Culture. A very interesting and pertinent article from the Tremendous blog, and author Kate Monica, illustrating the shift that occurred within the company, when documentation started being used more frequently, therefore reducing the need for so many meetings. The author details how Tremendous values autonomy and asymmetric projects, and the risks that can happen when those go unchecked, but with the creation and deliverability of high value documentation, that has been the perfect balance for those traits. The article also highlights Tremendous’ hiring perspective, and once again reinforces the fact that meetings end up being highly disruptive events, which prevent people from actually being able to rationalize and act upon what they need to get accomplished. At a time when remote work is here to stay, this is a very important topic to reflect upon. Highlight of the article includes:
“We do have meetings to discuss particularly heated topics and succinctly communicate ideas on projects that require high-bandwidth collaboration. Our low-meeting culture allows us time to do high-value tasks. Our high-documentation culture is the secret sauce that makes us more productive, transparent, thoughtful, scalable, and efficient. We couldn’t afford to cut down on meetings if we didn’t document our thought processes, decisions, and projects so diligently and openly. At times, it does seem like a lot of work. But it pays dividends, and you can write whenever you like.”
2.
The Smartphone has Outlasted Emerging Trends. One of the most interesting articles I’ve recently read from The Verge, courtesy of author David Pierce. The author provides an apt and succinct analysis of the state of AI, VR and the Metaverse, and how these supposedly changing technologies have failed to ignite the interest their proponents originally were proclaiming to the high winds (or whomever would listen). As the author does mention, this may still happen, but some of these technologies simply haven’t entirely figured out what their scope of utilization actually is, their monetization angles, and how users truly transpose their behaviors into those ecosystems. On the other side of this equation lies the smartphone, which is now a mature product in terms of adoption, and though its surprises are fewer and fewer, it still remains one of the most adopted and disruptive products to emerge in the last 20 years. And as its features continue to evolve, it will be interesting to witness where its future lies. Worth reading. Highlight of the article includes:
“The companies working on AR, VR, and the metaverse are having an even harder time, as they try to invent a whole new technology stack while simultaneously convincing the world that you totally want to spend all your waking and working hours inside of a headset. It seems likely that augmented reality will catch on eventually, at least for things like getting directions and accessing information about the real world. But the tech to make that great is still a ways off, and it’s not at all clear that VR is ever going to be a mainstream activity outside of some fun video games.”
3.
The KIA Rebrand. The Verge and author Mitchell Clark have pointed out what has since become a hot topic, KIA’s rebrand and how most users perceive the new logo to be something completely different than KIA itself (for that matter, users actually read the logo as KN cars). Much like last week’s article on how most brands are becoming homogenized, KIA’s attempt at producing a more stylized version of their brand, has created more confusion to potential clients and users (the search for KN cars has continued since the rebranding has taken place). This is an example of what following trends without truly marrying them to what the brand represents, will actually cause. In this case it’s not about the sameness of the brand with its competitors, it literally is impacting reconnaissance from its clients. A situation to keep in mind when embarking on future Brand exercises. Highlight of the article includes:
“The Kia confusion isn’t a new phenomenon — Creative Bloq wrote about people being confused by the new logo almost a year and a half ago. (It’s also worth noting that some car logos have always been confusing — Ford’s screams the company’s name at you, but how do you Google the Mercedes, Mazda, or Subaru logo?) However, while the tweets confusing it with the Nine Inch Nails logo are certainly funny, the statistics take the comedy to a new level by giving us data on just how many people are getting this mixed up.”
