📰 3 ARTICLES
A Designer's Guide to the AI Deep End
- Product designer Jon Friedman shares the incredible story of how he and a dermatologist friend took a leap into AI to develop a healthcare-based app, elaborating on how the technology was deeply integral to both the development of the product as well as its continued use for future consumers.
- Identifying that seeing a dermatologist can often take months due to availability, they built the app DappleDoc, which provides patients with greater access to online dermatology coupled with free, AI-based skin diagnoses through making a photo submission on their site.
- “As designers, we often think of our work as being purely about the user—creating beautiful, intuitive experiences that solve real problems. But a great product design has to do more than that. It has to be technically viable, find a market fit, be economically sustainable, and reach the right customers. Only by balancing all these elements can we create something with sustained impact.”
Behind the Design: An Inside Look at Webflow's Rebrand
- Product designer Hüseyin Gayiran takes a deep-dive into his creative process for Webflow’s rebrand, where he designed over 800 icons, breaking down the challenges of balancing simplicity and usability, fun versus function, and how the new iconography reflects the brand's identity.
- While icons may seem simple, the design behind them is complex: they often need to communicate a complicated concept in a single button, and have a variety of constraints such as sizing, readability, stylistic consistency, and more.
- “Icons are a vital part of your brand’s visual language. Well-designed icons can communicate your brand’s personality and values more effectively. Creating a unique and cohesive icon set starts with establishing design principles that reflect your brand’s identity.”
Mental Models: A Key to Inclusive Transit Apps
- This insightful article, written by two expert product designers, explores the challenges older adults and individuals with cognitive disabilities can face when navigating public transportation, and researches how transit apps can improve accessibility through more inclusive design.
- Looking specifically at transit app Moovit, the research that was conducted revealed the importance of reassurance, autonomy, and familiarity in transportation planning for these populations, emphasizing how tailored features like saved routes, real-time updates, and a conversational user interface can empower users and reduce stress in public transit use.
- “When we asked this population about their smartphone usage, we found their smartphone literacy is limited. They mainly use WhatsApp and Facebook, and perceive Public Transportation Apps as complicated. The anxiety associated with using public transportation further distances them from adoption. Therefore, a new, familiar experience is required.”
💜 PORTFOLIO INSPIRATION
Grace Gwe, a UX Academy graduate, brings a strong backbone in research to her projects, coupled with a theme of building community. In app UNIUS, she develops a platform for university students to find living spaces that both suit their housing needs while also setting them up for holistic success within their academic environment. And with FIB (short for “Finding Fitness Buddies”), she creates an accessible and inviting app where other active adults can find equally motivated partners to help with their fitness accountability and goals.
Got a portfolio you love that you’d like to share with our audience? Email your suggestions to hello@designlab.com.
💡 INTERESTING STUFF...
- The Boy Who Broke a 3,500 Year Old Vase
- Fearlessly Put Yourself Out There
- Bitter Aftertaste: Branding Cultural Food Products
- What's Your Icon IQ?
Digital design is like painting, except the paint never dries. — Neville Brody (graphic designer)
🧪 FROM THE LAB
👀 UX Academy Alumni Panel Next Week 👀
Join us this Wednesday, September 18th, at 6:30PM EST for a special webinar where we’ll be joined by four recent UX Academy alum. These individuals span various backgrounds, disciplines, and levels of prior design experience, but all have one thing in common: they found a new, successful career as a UX/UI designer through UX Academy.
We’ll chat with our grads about their time in UX Academy, what it was like transitioning into the UX design field, and the advice they’d offer for those looking to make the switch themselves. We’ll also have a Q&A at the end, so you can have time to get your most pressing questions answered.
Register here—even if you can’t attend, you’ll receive a recording.
🎤 Additional Upcoming Design Events
September 17th 1PM EST: Designing the Future: A Conversation with Visual Electric Cofounder Colin Dunn
September 18th 12PM EST: Designing for People, Planet, and Climate
September 23rd 4PM EST: Paths to Design Leadership
🚀 Advanced Usability and Accessibility Launching Next Week
Our Advanced Usability and Accessibility course for experienced designers launches in just one week, on Friday, September 20th.
Hands-on projects allow for students to actively evaluate a digital product through the lens of advanced usability techniques. Peer sessions led by an expert mentor allow for discussion, problem solving, and collaboration with your peers. Learn how to integrate universal design principles into your work, understand techniques for enhancing usability and applying accessibility tools and standards, become a more confident advocate for accessibility, and more.
Register for our informational webinar next week on Wednesday, September 18th at 12PM EST to learn more, or enroll today to secure your spot.
