This newsletter comes out every other Thursday and hopefully provides you with thought-provoking content about the mundane, wacky, and weird. I will be writing until the 75th edition. If you know someone who may enjoy the newsletter, share it with them here.
My company Figma made news recently for being acquired by Adobe at a very high price tag. Figma is a collaborative design tool that enables people to design digital products. Part of the reason for Figma’s success is business leader’s understanding the role design has on the bottom line. There are now 1.5 billion websites and apps connected to the internet and 3.5 billion people using the web. How do you make your product stand out? Design.
Design shapes our worldview whether we like it or not. Our brains associate different shapes and colors with particular moods. For instance, a yellow circle can be playful, while a blue square can represent stability.
An interesting example of choosing a particular design to express values are the Protestants and the Catholics. In 16th century Europe, Protestants believed that design took a back seat to ideas. After all, you can read the bible in a barn, why do you need to make a church fancy? Catholics took the opposite approach, they doubled down on opulence, with big stained glass windows, beautiful buildings and golden embossed sculptures. They believed design could inspire people and honor God. On the left is a Protestant church and the right is a Catholic church.
Governments and businesses have also understood the importance of design. For example, have you ever wondered why older banks tend to look like this?
Banks have traditionally wanted to express their values of safety, permanence and wealth by building and owning massive buildings. Typically these were made of expensive, long lasting material such as stone, and the lobby had an imposing high ceiling. The bank’s building says to the customer, “hey, it’s safe to bank with us”.
Today, banks are much less imposing, because most banking has moved online. The building isn’t stuffed with lots of money or confidential personal paperwork. To counter the old behemoth stone banks, this bank in Indiana has a lot of glass, whispering that they are transparent with their customers. Nothing to hide.
The importance of design in now even more evident as most of our wold is online. Here is Bank of America’s webpage.
The two actions they want me to take are clearly logging in or opening a checking account. They also know I’m in San Francisco, which means they are tracking me, which is okay for a bank. It isn’t a “pretty” webpage and that is the point. I don’t want the banking website to look like the website I use to buy shoes.
For instance, Supreme is a clothing brand that markets itself as hip and exclusive. Kohl’s on the other hand is a retail company that people shop at to feel like they got a good deal. Here are there two websites.
A few things that jump out from Supreme’s site. Their website is not supreme.com. It’s is supremenewyork.com anchoring itself to a hip, exclusive, and high priced city. It’s mostly black, except for their logo and a few small white text lines. It whispers, we are a mystery, try to figure me out.
On the other hand, Kohl’s is screaming about the good deals they have. They are trying to create a sense of urgency with the ticking wind down clock to get you to buy now, before the good deals go away. Also, the text is large, accommodating an older audience. Supreme’s text is small, perhaps catering itself to a younger crowd.
The design of your website is the first impression a person has of your company or product and will either establish trust or turn someone away. Design is also at the heart of how a person interacts with your product. Each click you make on a website was a deliberate design decision.
The consulting firm McKinsey did a study recently on the value of design. Here are a few of their findings.
The better you were in design the better you did in business. Good design matters whether your company focuses on physical goods, digital products, services, or some combination of these.
Historically designers have an image of being isolated and wanting a “perfect” design before collaborating with others.
Today, design tools like Figma have obliterated that stereotype by making design a collaborative process.
Collaborative design empowers people to work cross-functionally, quickly test ideas, and create a fast feedback loop. Design is becoming more important and the way to better design is through collaboration.
Here is a graphic that shows the difference collaboration has made on the design process. PM stands for product manager and is a key person in making the design a reality.
The internet has evolved so much that designers now have to do much more than make a pretty static image with some text on the page. They are creating complex digital products. I remember hearing a story of an early Facebook employee in 2010 telling his aunt that he worked at Facebook. She replied, “I don’t understand how you work there with hundreds of other people, isn’t it just a website?” To the user, good design can often disappear into the background. The aunt didn’t realize the thousands of design decisions that were made so that she could post a photo on Facebook to share with friends.
On the other hand, bad design creates friction and confusion. If you want to have a chuckle, check out these examples of bad design.
In a world full of stuff, good design stands out. Even though most of our world is online, the design is still the output of a human mind. It takes someone with intention, vision, and execution to pull off making something beautiful.
Song I’m enjoying
This cover has had me bopping my head for three days straight.
Hack I’m using
“Google search term + reddit”. The web has been overly optimized and counterintuitively it is getting harder to find the right information. Have you noticed that online recipes often have a long essay before telling you the actual recipe you wanted? It’s because websites are incentivized by Google’s search algorithm to get you to spend longer on their website.
Adding “reddit” to a search will bring you to curated small groups who care passionately about a topic.
What I’m watching
Why I love Giannis video clip.
Hassan Minhaj (a famous comedian) told JJ Redick (former NBA player) why Giannis is his favorite player. He makes the hilarious and convincing case for why he will be buying his young son a Giannis jersey. Besides Steph Curry, Giannis is my favorite NBA player. His backstory is incredible and his attitude is inspiring.
Quote I’m pondering
“I get more work done when I’m at home, but I learn more when I go into the office.”
Adam Ali -2019
Pic of the week
A love story in three parts. Every morning after our walk, Chloe will wait outside the bedroom door. If I leave her there for a bit she will start whining, because she wants to go in and greet Jenny. As soon as I open the door, she flies through and jumps on the bed. Jenny and her will then cuddle for a few minutes before getting on with the day. I am grateful for these rituals that make the day a little sweeter.