November 2017 | Designercize!
Should you find yourselves in a room with a whiteboard and some spare time, I encourage you to designercize. It’s kind of like Zumba, but for designers. I’m kidding! It’s nothing like Zumba – no music, no spandex, no awkward person at the back trying to follow along like she’s totally done this before and failing miserably (no, of course I’m not talking about myself…never…) – just a retro-looking design prompt generator. WHAT? I know! It’s so cool! Who comes up with this rad stuff? You input your preferences (easy, medium, or hard challenge; length of designercize exercise), hit the play button, and a designercize is generated for you. Then, whiteboard like crazy and start feeling like the creative superstars you are.
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DESIGNERCIZE!
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COAX OUT YOUR CREATIVE GENIUS
It’s so easy to develop stellar solutions when your inner creative is on fire. Simply identify the problem; ask some questions; deepen your insight; research the heck out the problem and potential solutions; take a walk or a nap; seek illumination; separate your strong ideas from your weak ones; rinse and repeat. Like I said, so easy.
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IMPERFECTION REQUIRED
When you’re designing your next robot – and you might be because chatbots are coming to AT&T – remember to build in some quirks. When people interact with robots, or bots of any kind, that are too perfect, they begin to lose their common courtesy in human interactions as well. Do the world a favor, and build in a little goofiness, a little orneriness, a few mistakes so we don’t lose our humanity.
Or a pen. Either way. But leave your laptop behind when you attend a meeting. You absorb so much more information and synthesize ideas better when you write. them. down. rather than tippity tap typing them out. Bonus: No one will wonder whether you’re taking relevant notes on that laptop screen you’re hiding behind or editing a manuscript you’ve been working on as a side project.
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GRAB A PENCIL AND PAPER
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TOO MANY BOOKS
You know I’m a reading nut, so “too many books” is not really a phrase in my idiolect, buuuuut, this list of UX design books is daunting, even for me, reader extraordinaire. Proceed with caution (and use the sort function).
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TATTOOS FOR SUN WORSHIPPERS
Apply one of these temporary tattoos before you slather on the sunscreen, and you’ll be able to see when it’s time to seek out some shade; the color changes when you’ve had enough UVB and UVA exposure.