The people, place and space newsletter #15
Design principles, loops, arcs, terrain and brainwashing...
Hi folks! Welcome to the people place and space newsletter, a monthly look at the best human centred design articles and news, tailored for people that love designing for people.
Laura
A guide to Design Principles and why you should create your own
By Christian Jenson
I really like the framing of the different levels of design principles in this article, it’s got a great visual for seeing how they fit into a hierarchy (below). Not only that, but there is a link to a huge list of design principles created by major organisations, and a great interview with the fantastic Julie Zhuo on why they are important.
When Customer Journeys Don’t Work: Arcs, Loops, & Terrain
By Stephen P Anderson
It’s a long one but stick with it, it’s worth it. I’ve got a lot of time for Stephen, right from the moment I saw him talk at UX London over a decade ago I knew he was one to watch. This article is a great exploration into how to re-think what we’re actually designing for our users - the fact it references Super Mario, Minecraft and game theory is a huge bonus for this massive geek 😂
Also check out the interview for this article on the ux podcast.
Brainwashed by Design
By Adrian H Raudaschl
Adrian has written such a thought provoking piece on control and our relationship with design. I found the notes on positive and negative freedoms really interesting, and how design can directly shape and impact those freedoms.
As individuals building the products of tomorrow, we have a responsibility to consider how our designs impact our users. How design both provides control yet makes us feel helpless, how new controls influence our perspective of the world, and finally, how design at its worst makes us see people more like resources than people.
Other stuff worth reading
I was shocked to see the re-design of the British Rail logo - and amused by the original designers comments in the Guardian
I’ve been following along with Peter Merholz’s really interesting series of articles on the emerging shape of design org’s
Reading about the process the Gusto team went through to create their Design System
I really enjoyed Fast Company’s interviews with top designers sharing their design philosophies
I’ll also leave you with this astute cartoon and accompanying comment from Nielson Norman about collaboration between design and adjacent practices.
When my niece Christina was young, she would take a piece of chocolate sitting in front of me, eat it, and happily declare, “I’m sharing.” It reminds me of ’collaboration’ without communication in product development. - Kara Pernice and Raluca Budiu for NNGroup in an article about disciplines that overlap with UX
What I’ve been up to
This month I took a little holiday from this newsletter - life got busy! I’ve mainly been preparing for Novembers’s UCD Gathering conference where I’ll be keynoting day 1 with a talk about Designing for the Future. There are some great sessions running across the two days, so definitely check out the programme if you’re looking for a conference to go to.
That’s all for this month everyone, take care and enjoy your weekend!
Laura