The Diary Of Design Thinking Simon Hoang and Chuck Rice

Edward Chechique is a Product Designer, with a successful extra-curricular track record in sharing and teaching Design and AI on Medium (6.7k followers!), YouTube, and more.

Timestamps

0:00:00 Introduction0:00:45 Who is Edward Chechique0:09:18 Graphic design education0:10:40 Discovering Figma0:12:08 Should design leads stay hands-on?0:14:30 Helping others become autonomous0:17:57 Remaining efficient in Figma0:22:28 Figma's hidden shortcut0:26:37 Variables, Dev mode, Advanced prototyping: yay or nay?0:32:11 Designer efficiency0:36:20 Famous Spanish slogans0:39:11 How design workflows have changed since ChatGPT0:45:40 GPT 3.5, or 4.0?0:50:08 Disadvantages of using ChatGPT and AI0:55:01 Keeping your authentic voice, even with AI tooling0:58:05 Synthesizing your own AI voice0:59:18 Midjourney, stolen art, and stress testing prompts1:04:00 Defending against fake images and videos1:06:10 Using chatbots to maintain your friendships1:09:11 Future for designers1:14:01 Last words from Edward



Full show notes available at https://chk.fyi/0UzN8G

Whether UX, UI, product, research or content design—this one's for all the job hunters and newly minted hiring managers. Our guidance and reassurance in the rapids of the 2023 job market.

We cover balancing the role versus culture, negotiating salary, optimising your CV, landing remote roles, the interview process as it is today, and how to onboard your first hire.

Yes, it's tough out there, but it's not impossible. If we can connect you to anyone or help review your CV for example, drop us a line on LinkedIn.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckwired/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonhoang23/.



Full notes and resources at: https://chk.fyi/FocFni



Timestamps

00:00 Introduction

00:47 Episode starts

01:50 Job hunting in 2022/2023

01:50 Simon's most recent job hunt

05:40 Role, or culture?

07:00 Making your mark

07:44 Recruiters: yay or nay?

12:29 Negotiating salary

14:59 Optimising your CV

17:47 Design interview processes

23:31 Whiteboard exercises

26:52 What to do when you're stuck

31:30 Hiring and managing your time

36:42 Interns versus Seniors

38:48 Onboarding a new hire

44:01 Does design education prepare you for industry?

47:26 What to look for in a hire?

50:41 Memes and conclusions

Kevin Coyle, currently working with Brad Frost and friends at Big Medium, is an incredible all-star professional in tech currently focusing on frontend. While we cover the professionally interesting work of building a Design System within the giant that is Pfizer, we also cover some lighter topics such as AI stealing jobs, Blu-ray is ancient, and Apple's Vision Pro.

What we discussed

0:00:00—Introduction

0:00:49—Welcome Kevin Coyle

0:02:29—How did you get into Design Systems? Where did it all start?

0:06:39—What it's like working on Helix, Pfizer's Design System

0:09:20—Overcoming resistance to adopting a system

0:13:28—Origins and intentions behind DatePickers and Hero sections

0:16:42—How to approach each new client

0:19:17—Thorny experiences of open source development

0:20:39—Where does an "open mindset" come from?

0:23:00—"Design systems are simply a collection of decisions"

0:24:34—How strict to be following your system guidelines?

0:29:54—What's the future of Design Systems, and does AI affect it?

0:37:51—How does AI affect the incoming workforce's skillsets?

0:43:56—Gen Z don't know what a "folder" or "directory" is

0:45:55—CD's, cassette tapes, and ownership of media

0:52:16—Kevin's sci-fi novel

0:52:59—AR, Apple Vision Pro, and the beauty of spatial design

1:00:30—3-dimensional Design Systems, and abstracting physical actions

1:02:24—ChatGPT coaching Kevin on writing his sci-fi novel

1:06:25—Last words of wisdom from Kevin

Full show notes, resources, and the blurb to Kevin's book can be viewed at: https://chk.fyi/KuUo2T

Dan Donald, previously Zeroheight and Autotrader, is not only an engineer, designer, and product person rolled into one, but an absolute generous gem of a human being.

We're privileged to have him with us to discuss all things Design Systems. How do we start one? What's the best tool? Will ChatGPT change how we approach them?

Plus: what our beers of choice were, Dan's celebrity doppelgänger, and some very wise words from Dan:

"Perfect is the enemy of the good".

What we discussed


0:00:00—Overview and introductions
0:01:00—Chuck, Simon, and Dan Donald’s introductions
0:03:58—Zeroheight, Storybook, and other design system tools
0:05:01—Maintaining culture as you scale, and hiring for culture
0:07:59—How Dan got into Design Systems
0:10:57—Types and patterns of Design Systems
0:12:15—Do you even need a Design System?
0:15:52—Scoping a Design System appropriately
0:17:28—Risk to your team’s velocity when starting out
0:21:20—Forget perfect, just aim for good
0:22:47—Auditing and documenting
0:24:30—“The best way to start a Design System for startups”
0:28:42—The technicals aren’t the challenge, it’s the people
0:31:11—Managing a Design System with a design team of 3
0:34:01—Outreach, and getting buy-in
0:37:18—Figma, file versioning, and branching
0:39:08—Do design and engineering need to version the same way?
0:42:40—Organising components and documentation in Figma
0:47:47—TLDR; the best way to organise or set up 
0:48:50—Comedic relief: Dan’s celebrity doppelgänger
0:49:49—What beers are we drinking? (scroll down to see!)
0:53:04—Does ChatGPT affect Design Systems?
0:59:18—How does ChatGPT affect the incoming workforce?
1:02:04—What do we lose by using ChatGPT
1:05:03—Hype cycles, and the future is both incredible and boring
1:06:40—Dan’s time at Zeroheight
1:08:52—What’s the best tool to host a Design System?
1:11:06—Alternative Design System tools
1:14:31—There’s no wrong way to do things
1:16:01—Uno makes an appearance
1:16:59—Dan’s wise words for anyone trying to build a Design System
1:17:41—First wrap-up of the episode
1:18:25—Dan’s next steps (he might still be looking!)
1:22:13—Dan’s content, ebooks, and Design System Triage
1:24:29—Last words of Wisdom from Simon and Dan

Full show notes with links and resources available at: https://chk.fyi/jHDcgY

Designers often have an easier time progressing into leadership positions, we think, because giving feedback and critique is core to a healthy design culture. We discuss how to do it right, how to handle aggressive feedback, and techniques for lowering your defences while maintaining your dignity.

…and when you grab your iconic GTA weapons during feedback.


0:00:04—Introduction and topics overview
0:00:27—Episode starts: mic problems and camera simping
0:01:20—Uno the dog makes a guest appearance
0:02:10—Sync and async design feedback. Well, critique
0:03:50—Wrestling with getting time for design feedback
0:05:21—How do you get the right level of feedback?
0:07:00—Trying out video recordings for sharing design work
0:08:30—Embedding design crit sessions to an existing team
0:10:00—Feedback matrix: a structured way to critique design work
0:13:45—Design-only sessions, and wider cross-functional sessions. How many, and what ratio is right?
0:18:14—When should Engineers be involved in the design process?
0:21:20—What happens if you show Engineers at the end
0:23:30—What does a business with no designers look like?
0:24:55—Feedback at larger, established organisations
0:26:04—Being your authentic self at work
0:27:45—How to disagree with a piece of feedback the right way
0:29:17—Handling aggressive feedback
0:31:20—Getting data to back up your decisions
0:34:43—Sorting design choices into type 1, hard to reverse, and type 2, easy to reverse
0:37:05—Getting copy and content right, and what elements can be deferred
0:39:18—Being clear to others what’s still in flux, and what’s set in stone
0:43:01—Learning how to deliver feedback using Radical Candour
0:44:00—The other type of feedback: feeding up, and feeding down
0:44:43—How to lower your defences, if you find feedback hard to take?
0:46:20—Using fast and slow thinking to distill out the essence of feedback from tough people
0:48:48—Your mental health, and remembering you might just be in a toxic environment
0:51:19—Strategies to elicit clearer, constructive feedback from someone else
0:54:00—Wrap up and last words

Full show notes and links to resources: https://chk.fyi/SCfubd

Post-pandemic, we’ve gone from home bound to remote whenever we can, but is it even possible for a modern Product Designer? We discuss the ultimate desk setup, the worst desk setup, what belongs in your “go-bag”, and what setup graduates and freshly minted designers might need.

Plus, a couple books we can recommend, and tips to avoid causing your colleagues ear bleeds.

What we discussed


0:00:52—episode begins
0:01:30—post pandemic desk setups
0:02:40—dedicated microphone, is it worth it?
0:04:15—adjusting gain levels, to prevent your team mates’ ears bleeding
0:05:20—Chuck’s ultimate desk setup items
0:08:00—posture, neck positions, and preventing injuries
0:10:00—Simon’s ultimate desk setup items
0:11:30—managing all the dongles and devices
0:14:15—notes and sketching during meetings: pencil and paper, iPad..?
0:17:10—desk setup tips for fresh graduates and early career
0:20:00—desk setup tips if you have a dedicated space or room
0:22:00—standing desk versus normal desks
0:26:15—history of Chuck’s setup and how it developed over time
0:29:40—history of Simon’s setup and how it developed over time
0:31:30—is there truly a de-facto ultimate setup? Show us yours!
0:33:50—ultimate bag setup for digital nomads and people on-the-go
0:46:10—what’s the worst desk setup item?
0:51:30—desk mats, decoration, and more
0:55:45—book recommendations to feed your brain
0:58:55—discovery by speaking to users… every week?!
1:05:00—a question for next time
1:06:45—final thoughts

Don’t worry, these are all affiliate free 😉.

For full show notes, visit https://medium.com/north-west-ux/should-product-designers-work-remotely-and-the-ultimate-desk-setup-for-ux-ui-work-8fb6b474d4bb