Design Details

This week, we share our tips for writing better self-reviews during performance review season.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.Latest VIP Patrons:Samuel Ong Mun KeongNicole OMalleyLauren MelenudoPer KarlssonTrang Minh NguyenGabe de la MoraLena LamRadek BerkaDan V PetersonYurong ZhengMain Topic:This week, we share our tips for writing better self-reviews during performance review season.Guarang Alat asks on GitHub:It's performance review season again! Would love to hear from you two about strategies, frameworks and tips you typically use while writing self-reviews, especially when you are aiming to level up to the next level as a product designer. Beyond using metrics, how can I effectively present the overall impact of my work as an IC?Writing better self reviewsJob Board:We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most d

This week, we talk about interviewing for roles in design systems, what to prepare, and how many different kinds of skills are relevant in the field.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.Latest VIP Patrons:MatchaiLois YangShankarVuokko AroKirill SlavetskiAshwin K STiffany C YuIzabela BulskaAdithya JayanSylvester LauDario CamachoMain Topic:This week, we talk about interviewing for roles in design systems, what to prepare, and how many different kinds of skills are relevant in the field.Atomic DesignEric asks on GitHub: How do you explain what you do?Job Board:We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most design-forward companies.

This week, we share stories and lessons from some of our most memorable mentors.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.Latest VIP Patrons:Nick CrawfordJonas SchützJasonHenri RaadiEva DufeySarai VillalobosJoyce XiaoIlias ManolisHai PiaoMattlouie solomonAlexBen TildenJordan BoudreauJessica HuQuinn HoangFollow up:We're switching the show to a bi-weekly cadence. As always, our supporters on Patreon will get bonus episodes.Main Topic:This week, we share stories and lessons from some of our most memorable mentors.Job Board:We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most design-forward companies.

This week, we recap all of our favorite...design details...announced at this week's WWDC.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.Latest VIP Patrons:Cody RamseyBarac JohnGrantSam CroswellKatie ZengAllen ShiAJZuki ModunkwuJoel Milleryue yangKyle LambertChao LiTLLoren TracyYue GaoMike RileyStrahinja TodorovicFollow up:Two plugins to change your canvas color for Figma's dark mode:Darker PagesDark MatterMain Topic:This week, we recap all of our favorite...design details...announced at this week's WWDC.Watch the WWDC KeynoteM2 MacBook AiriOS 16macOS VenturaiPadOS 16watchOS 9Job Board:We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most design-forward companies.

This week, we talk about how to make design critiques more fun, and how to encourage teams to share their work-in-progress more often.Supported by:Play — Play is the first native iOS design tool built for creating mobile prototypes. They recently launched Play for iPad, giving designers more room to create pixel-perfect and native-first prototypes directly on their device. The app is intuitive, powerful, and damn fun to use. Level up your prototype game today with Play!Get your full access invitation now.Zeplin recently shipped Flows!Flows are a fast/effortless way to create and outline user flows and journeys. Designers can use flows to connect screens in seconds and map complete user journeys, showing not just the happy path but all possible paths and behaviors.Learn more about Zeplin FlowsWatch a demo on YouTubeThe Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/design

This week, we cover all of the exciting new releases from Config 2022, and do a deep dive into the new version of Auto Layout.Supported by:Clay — Clay is the beautiful and private home for all your relationships. Populated from the ground up using your calendar and social history, Clay is the most stunning, powerful way to remember who you’ve met—and what matters to them.Get two months freeEnjoy Clay's beautiful websiteClay is hiring product designersZeplin recently shipped Flows!Flows are a fast/effortless way to create and outline user flows and journeys. Designers can use flows to connect screens in seconds and map complete user journeys, showing not just the happy path but all possible paths and behaviors.Learn more about Zeplin FlowsWatch a demo on YouTubeThe Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.Latest VIP Patrons:KarloGiladOscar NilssonMike

This week, we dissect Substack’s new podcast player design, talking about both the pixels and the strategic advantage of sharing craft-specific content on Twitter. In the Sidebar, we talk about the nature and risks of critiquing software as podcasters and design practitioners.Supported by:Zeplin recently shipped Flows!Flows are a fast/effortless way to create and outline user flows and journeys. Designers can use flows to connect screens in seconds and map complete user journeys, showing not just the happy path but all possible paths and behaviors.All you need to do is add screens you want in a flow, then add a connector which will snap into place to connect screens or design elements. You even add a label to clarify edge cases or error paths.As you publish new versions of designs, your flows and connectors will get updated automatically as screens change.Learn more about Zeplin FlowsWatch a demo on YouTubeThe Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe sta

This week, we talk about methods to scale design critiques with a growing team. In the Sidebar, we dig into the...details...of Figma's latest UI changes which added file type icons to file tabs.Golden Ratio Supporters:Zeplin recently shipped Flows!Flows are a fast/effortless way to create and outline user flows and journeys. Designers can use flows to connect screens in seconds and map complete user journeys, showing not just the happy path but all possible paths and behaviors.All you need to do is add screens you want in a flow, then add a connector which will snap into place to connect screens or design elements. You even add a label to clarify edge cases or error paths.As you publish new versions of designs, your flows and connectors will get updated automatically as screens change.Learn more about Zeplin FlowsWatch a demo on YouTubeJob Board:We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most design-forward companies.

This week, we share our tips and strategies for reclaiming our focus to do deep design work. In the Sidebar, we revisit last week's conversation about the value of ideas and finding the right time to share an idea with the world.Golden Ratio Supporters:Vagaro is hiring designers to build the booking, payments, and marketing solutions for growing businesses in the beauty, wellness and fitness industries around the world. If you want to have an immediate, direct and high impact through design, learn more about designing at Vagaro.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.Latest VIP Patrons:Shogo TsurudaØyvind HjartnesAdrien DomkenRavi AujlaJavin TowersMain Topic:This week, we share our tips and strategies for reclaiming our focus to do deep design work.Cool Things:Brian shared The Always Sunny Podcast, a happy-place podcast that shares the backstory

This week, we share the checklist that we use when launching new features to make sure we’re not missing certain states, flows, or edge cases. In the Sidebar, we talk about working in public and the risk of people stealing your ideas.Golden Ratio Supporters:Vagaro is hiring designers to build the booking, payments, and marketing solutions for growing businesses in the beauty, wellness and fitness industries around the world. if you want to have an immediate, direct and high impact through design, learn more about designing at Vagaro.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.Latest VIP Patrons:PredragusJosh AllenLukas OppermannYi-Xuen TanZoë SmithVeronica LinLin QiuBlueDogCristian IordanTøirdheålbhåch VåinåmøinenMain Topic:This week, we share the checklist that we use when launching new features to make sure we’re not missing certain states, flows,

This week, we talk about enhancing the performance of design teams, a more efficient developer handoff process, and how to develop strong opinions. In the Sidebar, we talk about the tradeoffs of career progression and overall life happiness. At what point are you willing to pause or downgrade your career ambitions for a better life outside of work?Sponsor:BestPracticer helps you find the right design coach to support you to grow faster. You’ll be matched with an experienced coach from a leading tech company, who is a few levels ahead and familiar with your challenges. All of BestPracticer’s design coaches are design veterans who blend their years of expertise with coaching and leadership methodologies to help you grow faster and achieve your goals. You’ll meet on a regular cadence with your design coach as a thought partner on your work and career goals. If you’re interested in finding a design coach or learning more, you can visit designdetails.fm/bestpracticer.Golden Ratio Supporters:Vagaro is hiring design

This week, we make the case for designing product icons and discuss what to do if your team doesn’t want to invest in great iconography. In the Sidebar, we talk about how to incorporate default typefaces into your design system.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.Latest VIP Patrons:Christian RotzollZack MeredithJSZach GeistKates Hartmanmike kennyWilsonAndre DinizMattias KronbergFollow up:Uhl Albert pointed out that “ruinous empathy” comes from the Radical Candor Framework.Main Topic:This week, we make the case for designing product icons and discuss what to do if your team doesn’t want to invest in great iconography.Priscilla Then asks on GitHub:The Lead Developer at my work requested to remove some of the icons, because they slow down development time when having to wait for one to be created, grappling with SVGs, etc. Unfortunately, he is r

This week, we spent more time exploring the traits of a good designer manager. In the Sidebar, we talk about the design details of Apple’s Studio Display and Mac Studio.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.Latest VIP Patrons:SteveJelte BijkerkOliver StahlKevin HwangYan WuParker HendersonSam XiaJames MorganHoyinBradley SedorZachary JohnsonDamien ShanPrerna PradeepJuneAmie ChenHolden TuffieldCaseyEmily ChenFollow up:Bulk-detach follow-up — the Seek and Destroy plugin detaches all nested styles, too!Thanks Damon Ahola for the follow-up on transitioning from industrial to digital product design.Main Topic:This week, we spent more time exploring the traits of a good designer manager.What makes a good manager?We tweeted: ‌What's the most memorable thing a manager has done for/to you? It could be positive or negative, but just generally something tha

This week, we talk about transitioning industries and how to bridge the quality gap in a new field. In the Sidebar, we talk about storytelling and the surprising insights that can be found in engagement data.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.Latest VIP Patrons:Chris CallettaAnna BartaJan FrüchtlMichael LeAlbin Groenkyle baldingerHenri RaadiSara SanguinoFollow up:@smallmedium pointed out that bulk-detach exists in Figma — thanks for the tip!Main Topic:This week, we talk about transitioning industries and how to bridge the quality gap in a new field.The Gap by Ira GlassCool Things:Brian shared Alfread, a small utility app that actually helps you stay on top of your read-it-later backlog.Marshall shared Horizon Forbidden West, the sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn, a beautiful open world game with robot dinosaurs. Need we say more?Design Details on

This week, we talk about design file sources of truth, Snapchat's evolution, and the qualities of great managers. In the Sidebar, we talk about building a YouTube channel from scratch, the opportunity for designers on YouTube, and ways to de-risk a new creative exploration.Golden Ratio Supporters:Zeplin lets designers spend more time on design, and less time prepping design files for the team. Effortlessly build user journeys with native connectors, flow groups, and text labels — no more maintaining extra layers in your design tool. Zeplin is so much more than just specs — get started for free to see why.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.Latest VIP Patrons:Andrew AmbrosinoChris RoyConor MackPeter CarletonshanbergPatrick MarxGabriel ValdiviaAlessaDorian ZlatanAslam MarzookMain Topic:This week, we talk about design file sources of truth, Snap

This week, we talk about the messy nature of remote onboarding and share our tips to make it suck just a little less. In the Sidebar, we talk about the visual design for the heads up display used in televised sports.Golden Ratio Supporters:Zeplin lets designers spend more time on design, and less time prepping design files for the team. Effortlessly build user journeys with native connectors, flow groups, and text labels — no more maintaining extra layers in your design tool. Zeplin is so much more than just specs — get started for free to see why.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.Latest VIP Patrons:Kevin BennettChris CarboEricPaula OjansuuTom PhillipsThatSidMaxAnthony DiSpezioXJ LuFollow up:Regarding micromanaging, Stevie Roger tweeted: We have a weekly team show-and-tell/idea sharing and collectively doesn’t feel like I’m being micromanag

This week, we talk about teaching versus micromanaging, or how to give feedback as a manager in a productive and growth-oriented way. In the Sidebar, Marshall shares his tips and tricks for organizing icon systems in Figma.Golden Ratio Supporters:Zeplin lets designers spend more time on design, and less time prepping design files for the team. Effortlessly build user journeys with native connectors, flow groups, and text labels — no more maintaining extra layers in your design tool. Zeplin is so much more than just specs — get started for free to see why.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.Latest VIP Patrons:John CaseyFrancis Wumayra pulidousrnk1Michael OlsonDStacey PetersonJustin HaldaneDian ChenDeclan Reilly-GordonAlex BlancoPhoebe HogelandTLJustin BuckamunthSudhanshu GautamMartin BanuelosAdam StanfordTara KirklandMain Topic:This week, we t

This week, we sat down with Mark McGranaghan and Adam Wiggins to talk about building creative tools, designing across devices and platforms, creating career capital, starting design podcasts, and more.Golden Ratio Supporters:Zeplin lets designers spend more time on design, and less time prepping design files for the team. Effortlessly build user journeys with native connectors, flow groups, and text labels — no more maintaining extra layers in your design tool. Zeplin is so much more than just specs — get started for free to see why.The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.Latest VIP Patrons:Meredith GrubbsBrandon SchmittlingPablo González DayZach SheaPedroAlex KayaianJustin FarrugiaAustin SeeleyShrinkrayJeffrey DaneseMain Topic:This week, we sat down with Mark McGranaghan and Adam Wiggins to talk about building creative tools, designing across de

This week, we share some (hopefully) non-obvious paths to level up at work and exceed the expectations for a senior++ product designer. In the Sidebar, we talk about the importance of giving blunt feedback, and share ways to do it tactfully and with kindness.Golden Ratio Supporters:Play — Play is the first native iOS design tool made for teams creating mobile products. Design, prototype, and collaborate, directly from your phone. With Play you can experience your design as you create it while taking full advantage of native iOS features not found in other design and prototyping tools. Full access invites available for the first 25 people here!The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.Latest VIP Patrons:Derick AniesNatalie HelmerToren JensMorgan QuinnSean KennedyDylan RoseVarun ThotaFernando PegoriniAkshitha VictorMarina BroidoMain Topic:This week,

This week, we share tips for crafting component variants to avoid the dreaded variant-explosion problem. In the Sidebar, we talk about Tesla’s latest UI refresh, where we see auto interfaces going in the future, and share some of our favorite car dashboard design details.Golden Ratio Supporters:Play — Play is the first native iOS design tool made for teams creating mobile products. Design, prototype, and collaborate, directly from your phone. With Play you can experience your design as you create it while taking full advantage of native iOS features not found in other design and prototyping tools. Full access invites available for the first 25 people here!The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.Latest VIP Patrons:Aneliya KyurkchiyskaLuciaMatthew AchariamAlan MillsJordanMejji LeTaylor VogelFilip SzafirowskiMain Topic:This week, we share tips for c