October 2017 | Design-centric companies WIN
When design is valued and prioritized by a company’s leadership, the company as a whole performs substantially better: “[Design Management Institute] found that design-led organizations outperformed their competition by 211%—and the margin grew dramatically when looked at year over year.”
1
DESIGN ELEVATES ENTIRE COMPANIES
2
MICROCOPY: AN EASY UX WIN
Sure, copy should be clear, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be playful. Connect with users and polish the product with quirky, quippy microcopy (but don’t overuse the fun stuff; when you repeat a joke, it loses its impact).
3
SPARKLING … WATER FOUNTAINS
We’ve all experienced it: We’re browsing the web and hit a broken link. The designers of 404 errors can go a few different directions – generic (404 error, page not found), boring (this page is no longer available), uninformative (ERROR 36234sfd9B), informative (this link is broken; try searching for the topic you seek from the home page’s search bar), or - the holy grail – humorous (clever copy with clever image). It shows a level of care when designers and writers take the time to create delightful 404 pages; by disarming the frustration that normally accompanies the presentation of an error message, the customer goes away pleasantly surprised instead of disappointed.
4
404 ERRORS: DELIGHT, NOT FRIGHT
5
DESIGNING BAD NEWS WELL
How do you share bad news in the best way? Design something beautiful.
6
BONUS ARTIST POST
Did you learn how to draw two- and three-point perspective in school? I remember using rulers to draw vertigo-inducing cityscapes viewed from the sky. It turns out I could have been using a rubber band and a paperclip all this time. Now just teach me a shortcut for drawing ellipses in perspective, and my life will be complete.