UI/UX Articles and Interesting Tidbits of the Week
October//22//2021
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.
Bridging the Gap between Designers and Developers. While this article is indeed sponsored by UX Pin, and therefore is highly focused on product placement, it’s nonetheless an insightful observation of how much Design Systems, and Handoff tools have evolved, as well as the working processes that exist in this particular ecosystem. The author, Matthew Talebi, focuses on detailing the process by which the communication between Design artifacts craftsmanship and implementation gets established, and also how the updates get implemented. Worth reading through. Highlight of the article includes:
“Today, when we set out to upgrade a component, there is always the fear of breaking a component or layers that may get renamed and cleaned up. A total re-structure of the component could even occur which often leads to anxiety (on the designer’s side) on whether they should upgrade a component or stick with the old one. When a component is developed, however, as long as the properties are remaining the same, it doesn’t matter how the component layout changes or the actual markup of the component. This, in turn, allows designers to upgrade their components to the latest versions with confidence. Of course, in the hopefully rare instant that a component gets totally screwed up, just like with any coding project, it can easily be rolled back and republish the old version of the component.”
2.
3 Steps to Grow a Startup Ecosystem. This is somewhat of an atypical article highlight for the newsletter. It is however, well worth reading, essentially because it focuses on amplifying experiences, nourishing innovation and crafting strategies in order to make businesses & general initiatives viable and successful. This article from author JF Gauthier, focuses on three points, namely Building Critical Mass, Tearing Down Barriers and Plugging into the World. The article illustrates how to effectively nourish, sustain and scale these initiatives, with some of the insights being very applicable to business strategy and even career paths. Well worth reading. Highlight of the article includes:
“In the beginning, the focus is on growing the startup ecosystem — simply creating more startups and growing the sub-communities of support. As the ecosystem heats up, the role of local leaders must shift to identifying the biggest barriers to success — which we call Success Factor Gaps — and tearing them down. But before you can close gaps, you must have clarity on where they are. We’ve spent a lot of time working with ecosystem builders and innovation agencies to develop the first and still the only objective, data-driven assessment of success factor gaps in startup ecosystems so that governments can focus their scarce resources on what is not working and avoid meddling in what is.”
3.
A Conversation with Patrice Vermette. Patrice Vermette is a celebrated Production Designer and Art Director who has collaborated with film director Denis Villeneuve in several of his features, including the recently released “Dune”. This article, a detailed interview with Mr. Vermette, is not only an illustration of the creative process itself, but a demonstration that, much like Product Design itself, there’s a strategy and process which involves a collective undertaking from multiple team members, all of which bring their insights, perspectives and experiences to craft something that truly resonates. Please discard the gaffe in the article, where the name of Mr. Vermette is referred to as “Paul” as opposed to “Patrice”. Highlight of the article includes:
“After seven months, we had seen like a good 125 or 130 illustrations, and that served as the Bible, the book that we showed the studio and everybody on the team. We wanted to make sure that everybody was on the same boat and that we were going on the same journey together. We had props, all the sets were already modeled, illustrated. I said ‘the Bible’; but it was a bit like the cookbook. We were a bit shy about the costumes. We had broad brushstrokes. But [costume designers] Jacqueline West and Bob Morgan used the sets and the color palette to make [the costumes] their own. The sets; the cities; what you see beyond the city wall: the skies of Arrakis. The planets were there. The two moons were there. It was fun. It was a great process because it was a small unit. It was Denis and I creating the world.”
