Career planning for happiness, Gamification, and Design Engineers
What to do when you've achieved all your design career goals, as well as a collection of articles, videos, and podcasts I've been enjoying or creating in April 2023.
I’ve decided to split this month’s newsletter into two parts, letting people choose whether to read the story or browse my findings. Let me know what you think!
Seniors, you’ve Eminem’d your career. Where to next?
Working in tech is great for those who can’t seem to quench their thirst for learning, progression, and recognition. You can climb the career ladder, become an expert in a niche, and perhaps one day take centre stage and present your work and ideas to thousands across the globe.
As you speak your heart out, you feel the energy in the room — people either nod in agreement, or are mesmerised by your stories. Not a soul in the crowd is distracted, checking out who’s talk is next. By the end of your carefully curated journey, the response is palpable:
You’ve truly, struck a chord.
Continue reading April’s personal story ⇒
👀 What I’ve been reading
👾 Gamification in UX. Increasing User Engagement. by tubik
Inherent to designing digital tools, services, and experiences is to nudge users down a particular path. Gamification was once a hot topic, but there’s still many under-utilised techniques we can leverage from the game world today. When used well, we can give our users the motivation to get through their work.
🎭 The Power of Merging Development and UX/UI Design Skills: A Personal Journey by Ana Peric Ursic
I’m always interested to see other people’s experiences merging the two disciplines. It’s not for everyone, but most people I know who can get to a decent level at both skills are able to see the bigger picture more easily.
🧠 Lessons of Design by Fabricio Teixeira
A long piece, but a must-read for all designers. It’s almost poetic in structure, but there’s some real valuable takeaways for both newcomers and long-time veterans. Bookmark, and browse Fabricio’s musings when you need a reminder why you wanted to be a designer in the first place.
✍️ What I’ve been writing
The cheapest way to get a custom, branded short-link domain
How I got chk.fyi and 1,000 short links per year, for £2.14.
🎬 The No Bull Guide to Figma
Can you believe it’s been a month since I released my crash course on learning to use Figma? Here’s some quick stats:
- 1,670 minutes watched
- 28 students on Skillshare
- 38 subscribers on YouTube
That’s incredible. I’m hugely grateful, and hope to teach even more people over time.
Here’s some comments I’ve received:
You can learn more about the No Bull Guide to Figma using this link: https://chk.fyi/NBGtF
And here’s some direct, free YouTube links if you’re already convinced:
- Windows and Panels in 5 minutes
- Tools and their keyboard in 5 minutes
- Pages and page naming best practices in 5 minutes
- Border radius and shape editing in 5 minutes
- Lines and arrows in 3 minutes
- Colour styles in 4 minutes
- Typography styles in 4 minutes
- Groups in 4 minutes
I recommend watching Typography styles, as it’s the most popular.
🎙️ Diary of Design Thinking podcast
What does Design Feedback have to do with GTA Weapons!?
We discuss design feedback the right way, how to handle aggressive feedback, and techniques for lowering your defences while maintaining your dignity.
Listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
🗞️ In case you missed the last edition
On a scale of 0 to Lewis Capaldi, how authentic are you?
License to be authentic, Windows 95 UI kits, learn Figma fast, and my favourite writes and reads of March 2023.
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