Sketching for UX Newsletter Issue #10 (May 2023)
My favorite design and visual thinking resources I discovered in May
My work
Before sharing my favorites, here are some pieces of my own work:
#1 Framer Study Guide
My article lists out all the resources you need to dive into this awesome no-code tool. I’m going to update the article frequently. Do you know about a great resource I haven’t included? Please let me know! Some highlights:
Cabana for Framer - a design system by Marc Andrew & Joshua Guo - you’ll learn a lot about Framer by analyzing the components included (paid resource - use the code CABANA15 to get 15% off from the $99 launch price)
Go From Figma to Live Website in 20 Minutes (No-Code) by Framer University (Nandi Muzsik) (free resource)
The Ultimate Framer Masterclass - a comprehensive course that contains 50+ videos, project starter templates, checklists, components and more - by Ryan Hayward (paid resource - pre-sale price is $149)
Framer Bootcamp inside the Framer community space (free resource)
#2 Sketching for UX designers Workbook
My Sketching for UX Designers Workbook has been (re)published! It is a 24-page long ebook that will help you practice drawing basic shapes, icons and other UI elements - like forms; it shows you how to work on your handwriting and more. You can get it here, it is a free resource (you can decide to support me by paying some dollars, I’d really appreciate it!).
#3 My 3rd and 4th lessons inside 10X
I published two more lessons (~25-min each) inside the 10X Designers Community, both are part of the How to train your designer eye series. One is about analyzing UI designs, the other one is about practicing UI design and experimenting with modifying existing designs.
Join me in this learning journey! If you use this link to become a member, you can support me with a couple of dollars! Let me know in a DM either on Twitter or on LinkedIn if you are interested in the membership, I can offer you a discount code that provides 25% off the first month.
#4 UX Visual Library Building Challenge - My book’ll be out soon!
I’m working on the final touches of my 100-day long UX Visual Library Building Challenge book. It’ll be available as a pay-what-you-want (free) e-book, and also as a physical book (you’ll be able to order it from amazon.com). I’m very excited about it :) I designed the book inside Figma:
Favorite resources
After showing you what I’ve been working on, here are the highlights of May, 2023:
#1 Dynamic Interfaces - 145: What if a UI could design itself?
A fascinating article by David Hoang: “I believe there is a world where interfaces will not only present themselves in precise use cases, the application will re-design the interface itself based on feedback.”
Also, I love the little UI sketches he included.
#2 The reason we do low fidelity design
Many designers open up their digital tools right away, without using any lo-fi options. In this article, Dragan Babic beautifully captures why we might need lo-fi methods: “Wireframes, journey maps, site maps, diagrams, those are all thinking tools. They are not deliverables, and you should not treat them as such, unless you have a really valid reason to spend budget on them.” (highlight by me)
#3 Pimp my Type Youtube channel
If you are interested in typography (you should be :) ), this channel by Oliver Schöndorfer is a must. He explains concepts in such an entertaining way! For instance, check out the recording of his UI typography webinar.
You should subscribe to Oliver’s newsletter, too: Font Friday.
#4 Introduction to Design Systems - a free course by Figma
If you are about to build your first design system, or just want to understand this concept, check out this new free video course by Figma. It’s also great for educating clients.
A new podcast hosted by Ridd, founder of Figma Academy and Dive. Here are two great episodes to start with: Joey Banks, Jorn van Dijk
#6 Visual Frameworks by Dave Gray
Visual frameworks are pictorial mental models that can help you clarify your thoughts. Each visual framework is like a building block. You can combine and configure them in different ways to think and build shared understanding about situations, challenges, strategies and plans.
#7 Sketching User Scenarios by Eva-Lotta Lamm
Eva-Lotta’s presentation is about getting from zero to sketching simple (but expressive) people in 20 minutes. Sketching user scenarios allows us to empathize with our users by telling their individual stories. It can spark new ideas about how our products can improve real-world situations.
#8 Find 4 principles used in Shortform's offboarding
A short psychology quiz by growth.design - read this interactive analysis on how Shortform offboards users.
A practical tool for inclusive design: you get two random cards, a person and a trait. Your challenge: work out how you can meet their needs.
#10 Using design patterns (various resources)
Design patterns - "best" practices or reusable, common solutions to a design problem - are very important in UX/UI design, since users expect our product or service to work the same way as other products they use (see Jakob's Law).
Some days ago, Mobbin has announced the Mobbin Contributor Program (Beta): "You can now contribute screens to our ever-growing library and share great design patterns with designers all over the world."
There are also a lot of new design inspiration websites, for instance Leo Askan and Zeydan Kapılı have recently launched their site called SaaS Screenshots.
Check out my startheredesigner.com database for more design inspiration websites (use the category filter, currently there are 44+ inspiration websites included.)
Favorite posts (LinkedIn & Twitter)
#1 iMessage typing indicator that shows length of the message
I love Soren Iverson’s quick design ideas, they are very inspirational!
#2 “Should designers code?” is a bad question
Anthony Hobday offers some better questions. Here is my article on this topic: Development fundamentals for UX designers
#3 My last product launch made $100k in 6 months by Tommy Geoco
A very inspirational post by Tommy Geoco: “My next product launch (happening in 10 days 🤞) aims to make $100k in 90 days. This is my response to a corporate world that seems to have left many of us contributors behind.”
#4 Imagine if Figma forced you to take a break by Trevor Nielsen
An interesting thought-provoking design concept by Trevor Nielsen “This feature will likely never exist. So how do you ensure that you’re taking enough time away from work to recharge?”
Naturally, forced breaks’d destroy your flow state, but at the same time sometimes it’s good to take a break. How’d you approach this problem?
“Léonie Watson explores the importance of the voice behind a brand, using synthetic speech and the many applications in the modern world.” Here is my sketchnote of the talk.
My newest UX Knowledge Piece Sketch: Contrast in UI design
My newest sketch is about applying the principle of contrast.
Check out my sketch & detailed article here soon. (As a newsletter subscriber, you not only get my UX Knowledge Piece Sketch directly to your inbox each month: you get early access to it, too.)
Coupon codes for my Udemy courses
Sketching for UX Designers course - 86% off coupon code, €12.99
Be a better designer by understanding development aspects course - 86% off coupon code, €12.99
Thanks for reading my newsletter, I hope you enjoyed it! 💙
Krisztina
P.S.: Have you written or found an interesting design / visual thinking article or other resource lately? Please send me a DM on Twitter! I might feature your resource in the next issue!