LinkedIn Design

In our fifth Conversations On Craft with LinkedIn Design, Senior Director of Design and my manager, Christopher Garvey, reminds designers that the end user is in charge. 🔎 Because of that, we all must continue to work every day to get the perspective of the user, and have that inform our work. What are the signs you’re not reflecting the user’s needs in your work? 💠 Jargon – using language the customer or user wouldn’t understand 💠 Complexity – extra steps or features that aren’t relevant to the user 💠 Context blindness – failing to account for how the product or service fits into the rest of the users’ life or workflow 👇 There are others I’m sure, please share any obvious ones I missed in the comments. 📽️ But, as you’ll see in the video, Chris offers a technique to help: Conscious consideration of the products and services in your life. When you use the products and services in your life, reflect on the features, the feel of the object, the emotions they create for you. 👟 Then put yourself in the shoes of the team that created that product or service: 💠 What were they thinking about the end-user? 💠 Why did they use that material or create that workflow? 💠 What did they hope the end user would think about the product or feel about the experience? 💡 Then, bring that careful consideration into your own work. Reflect on your own process, are you keeping the users’ needs centered in your thinking? What I love about this idea is how approachable it is. We all have multiple opportunities each day to stop and reflect on the products and services we're using, and to imagine the thought process of the people who created them.

In our fourth Conversations On Craft with LinkedIn Design, Senior Manager of User Experience Research, Kurt McCulloch, reminds designers that great work on its own is not enough. You have to get credit for having done great work. There are so many techniques that help your work get the credit it deserves: 📖 Ensure your presentations tell a compelling, memorable narrative 🎤 Push to present your work to executive audiences 🖊️ Sign your work. Make sure stakeholders know you did it 📣 Request that your manager acts as your advocate I'm sure there are other tactics too. Please share your favorites in the comments. 💡Kurt also stresses the importance of making the place you work a better place to work: 💠 After completing a project, think about how to do the work better the next time 💡The magic of this suggestion is that you can turn your daily work into deliberate practice. This enables you to be thoughtful and intentional about improving your craft simply by doing the work, and then reflecting on how to do the work better the next time. 💠 Create a culture where you and your colleagues can do better work. I love this idea of creating leverage by working at improving the culture of your organization. That way, it's not just you doing better work, it is making it possible for colleagues to do better work. 📽️ This is the fourth in a limited series of videos we're calling Conversations on Craft with LinkedIn Design, where I interview my talented LinkedIn Design colleagues and ask them to share the secrets behind some of their design superpowers. Please share your favorite design superpowers in the comments. #Design #UX #Culture

In our third Conversations On Craft with LinkedIn Design, Senior Principal Product Designer, Denise H., shares her formula for becoming better at her design craft: 💠 Speed to learning beats perfect planning 💡By letting go of perfectionism, and embracing the messy process of learning by failing fast, and iterating, Denise has grown immeasurably as a designer 💠 Don’t talk about it. Be about it. It’s easy to espouse a philosophy on how things should be – far harder to get to work making it so. Denise stresses the importance of modeling and influencing through our actions and behaviors more than through what we say. I absolutely love this sentiment, even though it made me reflect that I have work to do on this count. 💠 Embrace flexibility and adaptability In Denise’s role, 30% of her work is unplanned, and she simply has to be resourceful and responsive to get things done. 💡My guess is this mindset would serve many of us well – there are so many opportunities to capitalize on unforeseen circumstances if we embrace this mindset of being ready to take them on. 💠 Connect your work to meaning. Denise quotes Fred Kofman saying “The most powerful force in the world is not money or technology, it’s meaning.” Denise stresses the benefit she’s seen by connecting her work to its meaning to others, to its contribution to the mission and business objectives of LinkedIn. 📽️ This is the third of a limited series of videos we're calling Conversations on Craft with LinkedIn Design, where I interview my talented LinkedIn Design colleagues and ask them to share the secrets behind some of their design superpowers. Please share your favorite design superpowers in the comments. And I'd love your feedback about these posts. What other topics or conversations would you like to hear? #Design #Storytelling

What does it take to be a great Design Leader? For Keri Maijala, becoming a better leader meant become a better Active Listener. In our second Conversations On Craft with LinkedIn Design, Senior Manager of Content Design, Keri Maijala shares how she is developing her leadership and listening skills to be the kind of manager who attracts, grows and retains top talent. 💡 Active listening is at the heart of Keri's approach, and in less than 4 minutes, you'll hear how Keri has cultivated the active listening skill that makes her a great leader. Active Listening: 💠 Is not just about hearing what people say, but also the feelings behind what they are saying. 💠 Helps you tailor your management-style to be appropriate for each member of your team - understanding what will work for each individual. 💠 Becomes the basis for effective, collaborative problem-solving that build trust between managers and team members 📽️ This is the second of a limited series of videos we're calling Conversations on Craft with LinkedIn Design, where I interview my talented LinkedIn Design colleagues and ask them to share the secrets behind some of their design superpowers. ❓ Besides active listening, what other skills make managers great? Please your favorite manager superpowers in the comments. And I'd love your feedback about these posts. What other topics or conversations would you like to hear? #Design #Storytelling

Are great storytellers born, or are they made? Made! Ok, but how do you become a great storyteller? In our inaugural Conversations On Craft with LinkedIn Design video, Principal Product Designer Nicholas Smith shares the secrets behind his approach to telling great stories. 💡 Storytelling is a design superpower, and in less than 5 minutes , you'll learn detailed steps that will empower you to tell better stories. 💠 Storytelling helps you sell your ideas 💠 Practicing your presentation 50 times or more 💠 Focusing on your audience and what they will hear 💠 Deliberate practice leads to stories that sound effortless 📽️ This is the first in a limited series of videos we're calling Conversations on Craft with LinkedIn Design, where I interview my talented LinkedIn Design colleagues and ask them to share the secrets behind some of their design superpowers. I'd love your feedback about these posts. What other topics or conversations would you like to hear? #Design #Storytelling