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55 of the most actionable ways to scale design
If you prefer bullet points to lengthy prose, you’ll enjoy this comprehensive summary of advice from various design leaders.
This post first appeared on the Abstract blog.
In the spirit of reflective summaries and reducing your FOMO on reading everything on the Design Internet, we’ve curated this collection of 55 nuggets of actionable advice from a year’s worth of Abstract editorial. Some of the stand-out themes include ways to future-proof your design career, orient around impact and solutions, and what it means to be a design leader in the Golden Age of Design.
As we head into the 2020s, we’re looking forward to diving into more top-of-mind topics including effective design processes, the latest innovations in design systems, developer integration (as opposed to the baton-pass handoff), sophistication of design ops, and more.
Without further ado, let’s walk down memory lane…
How to understand your impact in the brave new world of product design
If you design products, you have more power and influence than you realize. This is a call for awareness and change in a time when Everything is Design.
By Josh Taylor
- In order to have great impact in product design, we must collaborate with people who work in a wide variety of disciplines, many of whom don’t understand design at all.
- Be honest with yourself about the actual impact your designs have on the world.
- Research how people use your product and how it affects their lives. Many products have unintended consequences. Look at outside metrics that affect your company — like happiness or screen addiction. Really listen to people — not just what you want to hear.
- If you don’t have a lot of resources for research, lean on research that already exists.
- If your platform allows strangers to talk to each other, understand what could…
