Diane Cronenwett 🔮

One thing I've seen often is candidates apologizing for the design work. Don't apologize for your work. Many candidates present their work and then apologize for the final design. This shows a need for more confidence in your solution and your expertise. Not every design solution is what we've hoped for. In our work, there are a lot of tradeoffs and constraints. But, if you aren't happy with the solution- why present it? Given the challenges you faced, it's better to stand behind your solution and justify why it was the best conclusion and approach. You should include other options that were considered and rejected and why. Tell the story of getting some features over the line, but you're still climbing the hill for the rest.

Disagreements around design are common, what’s worked for me to gain alignment are the following: ❇️ Show key flows and design you’ve already explored ❇️ Organize the tradeoffs into a matrix so the team can weigh in ❇️ Invite the team into the discussion and potentially brainstorm different ideas Design is a team sport, and getting to alignment is much easier to do when you’re transparent with your design and thinking.

You can get feedback about your product by reading app reviews or comments on public platforms like YouTube or Reddit. I reviewed app store reviews to find issues with the product for a mobile app I worked on. It's an excellent way to gain feature ideas and investigate issues that could contribute to a poor experience. You do have to determine if every idea is worth pursuing. Some ideas won't make sense for your product strategy if you implement them. So, carefully evaluate the ideas and roadmap the good ones.

Designers have many meetings. My day would consist of sessions for 6 hours with only a couple of hours to design. My favorite ways to manage time and workload: ❇️ Block off your calendar for "heads down" time. This is when you won't be pinged or asked to go to a meeting. This is your time to produce work. ❇️ Find your times of flow. For example, mornings to lunch are my most creative times. I have much energy to create. After lunch, I'm not as creative, so meetings are perfect for that time. ❇️ Be comfortable with saying no to some meetings. You should be a part of some meetings. For some meetings, you don't have to be. Ask for meeting notes and let you know if something is essential or if there's a follow-up.

Some scenarios to design for all income levels mean you should include these factors when considering a diverse audience. ❇️ Low-end devices ❇️ Screen sizes ❇️ Access to Internet or Wi-Fi Lower-end devices often have little storage, and people have to make tradeoffs for storage. Consider storage when designing experiences. Apps or experiences that reduce battery life are also concerned for lower-end devices. Try to design lightweight experiences that aren't taxing on the battery. Also, access to the Internet or Wi-Fi might not be consistent. In many places, the digital divide still exists. Consider offline scenarios that might enhance the experience even if the user is offline.

In a study of edutainment for children, storytelling was found to be the most impactful element to ensure learning. The way that story is organized is essential; not all stories work. ❇️ Define your goals. ❇️ Define your audience. ❇️ Use visuals that support the audience and goals. For example, is the audience children, adults, teens? The visual language and content should be tailored to audience.