Pixel Perfect Design. (Image Credit : Wired.com)
Hi
This week’s edition of the UXD Inspired Reading List is a rather long one focused primarily on Design, Social Media, and Leadership. Several great submissions, keep them coming!
First we look at several links covering how to create precise designs within Sketch. As designers are often building complex designs over short periods of time, having a robust library of assets is one of the most crucial aspects to increasing speed and output. The upfront time costs of building a rich UI/UX library in Sketch can be initially high, but one that will pay dividends as teams build complex applications that look, interact, and work together seamlessly. Simple interactions like clicking a hamburger menu icon can be playful and easy to code.
We have been reading a lot about Blockchain over the last several weeks, and for good reason. The future for Blockchain will certainly be bright, have you thought about how it may impact our interactions and experiences on the internet? Apple’s new iPhone 8 was released this past week along with iOS 11, which features a number of ARKit abilities thanks to the new framework. The possibilities of building next generation experiences are large with these two technologies.
Next we switch over to looking at the effects of likes within Social Media. Sunil Gupta reminds us to look past immediate to consider what really matters, the connection with the consumer. Having a like button does nothing for a brand unless the connection is valuable for the user. Facebook may clearly be a beast too large for Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg to control. More reports and data are coming out about how Facebook and Twitter and were used to influence the 2016 U.S. Election. These technology platforms were certainly not created to spread hate, fear, and mistrust, but they are being used to do so. How these companies face these issues and we as individuals using these platforms changes remains to be seen. Equifax’s security breach was extremely alarming as it may have directly affected 143 million customers. The lessons here? Protect your data and please always be vigilant.
Next we look at the qualities of great leaders, and how they can create positive, if not radical change. Good word to which to aspire. Sundar Pichai came under fire for firing an engineer who incited immense debate over Google’s diversity efforts. While there are many ways to look at the situation, Pichai did the right thing by protecting the many and their differences as individuals, while quashing stereotypes. The Amish have long since been derided as technology and future-phobic for their slow (if at all) embrace of technology. There is something to be learned from their viewpoint that moderation and purposeful use of technology can be a very good thing. Last we look at the Maker Faire happening this weekend in NYC. If you have never been, there is something magical to see people using technology to create inspirational and imaginative projects.
Have a great weekend.
Mohit
1. 10 Tips For Precise Designing In Sketch
“These 10 tools will help you create pixel-perfect designs in Sketch.”
http://www.creativebloq.com/web-design/10-tips-precise-designing-sketch-41620127
2. Getting The Pixels Right In Sketch
“If you’re designing interfaces for digital platforms, pixels are your Lego. You build each part of the interface and have full control over where each pixel goes. The designs you create also act as the foundation upon which the final product is built. So it’s important to make sure your designs are true to the pixels they’re built of — precise and repeatable units that can be replicated with consistency and without error.”
https://medium.com/sketch-app-sources/getting-the-pixels-right-in-sketch-2386c730af90
3. How To Create A Menu Icon
If you are not using an icon library, you can create a basic menu icon with CSS:
https://www.w3schools.com/howto/howto_css_menu_icon.asp
4. Just What The Heck Is Blockchain? Watch This Explainer Video. (from Dan)
“If you’re tired of asking what in the world blockchain is and why you should care about it, then watch this video explainer and discover what all the fuss is about.”
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/300555
5. Here’s A Look At The First Wave Of Augmented Reality ARKit Apps Hitting The iOS App Store Today
“With the launch of iOS 11 today, Apple has turned hundreds of millions of iPhones into augmented reality-capable devices thanks to the support of a new developer framework called ARKit. With this technology, iOS developers can more easily craft AR experiences for users on compatible iPhones and iPads, using each device’s built-in cameras, processors, and motion sensors.”
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/09/19/first-wave-arkit-apps-app-store/
6. ‘Likes’ Lead To Nothing—And Other Hard-Learned Lessons Of Social Media Marketing
“As an example, take a look at location-based mobile marketing. “You walk past a restaurant, and McDonald’s sends you a 50-percent-off coupon,” Gupta says. “We’ve been doing that forever with a poster in the window; I can have a guy stand in the doorway and hand you coupons. What’s the difference? We get caught up in the activity and never stop to ask: What is the benchmark?””
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/don-t-express-sympathy-with-a-cheerio-and-other-hard-learned-lessons-of-social-media-marketing
7. Facebook’s Frankenstein Moment
“The reality is that if you’re at the helm of a machine that has two billion screaming, whiny humans, it’s basically impossible to predict each and every possible nefarious use case,” said Antonio García Martínez, author of the book “Chaos Monkeys” and a former Facebook advertising executive. “It’s a Whac-a-Mole problem.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/21/technology/facebook-frankenstein-sandberg-ads.html
8. The Fake Americans Russia Created To Influence The Election
“An investigation by The New York Times, and new research from the cybersecurity firm FireEye, reveals some of the mechanisms by which suspected Russian operators used Twitter and Facebook to spread anti-Clinton messages and promote the hacked material they had leaked. On Wednesday, Facebook officials disclosed that they had shut down several hundred accounts that they believe were created by a Russian company linked to the Kremlin and used to buy $100,000 in ads pushing divisive issues during and after the American election campaign.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/us/politics/russia-facebook-twitter-election.html
9. On The Equifax Data Breach
“Last Thursday, Equifax reported a data breach that affects 143 million US customers, about 44% of the population. It’s an extremely serious breach; hackers got access to full names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, driver’s license numbers — exactly the sort of information criminals can use to impersonate victims to banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, and other businesses vulnerable to fraud.”
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2017/09/on_the_equifax_.html
10. The Three Types of Leaders Who Create Radical Change
“What determines whether a social movement will be a flash in the pan or a real catalyst for longterm change? Why did Occupy Wall Street subside in a matter of months, for instance, while the American Civil Rights Movement thrived, resulting in the passage of multiple laws? Julie Battilana, a long-time scholar of institutional change, has identified common themes among those social movements that don’t merely broadcast the need for a social change, but actually create long-term impact.”
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/the-three-types-of-leaders-who-create-radical-change
11. Op-Ed: Google Engineer Deserved To Be Fired By The CEO
“Was Google CEO Sundar Pichai right to fire engineer James Damore after his condemnation of the company’s diversity initiatives? Of course, answers Bill George; treating colleagues as gender stereotypes rather than as individuals poisons the workplace.”
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/op-ed-why-google-engineer-deserved-to-be-fired-by-the-ceo
12. In Amish Country, The Future Is Calling
“The Amish have not given up on horse-drawn buggies. Their rigid abstinence from many kinds of technology has left parts of their lifestyle frozen since the 19th century: no cars, TVs or connections to electric utilities, for example. But computers and cellphones are making their way into some Amish communities, pushing them — sometimes willingly, often not — into the 21st century.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/15/business/amish-technology.html
13. Maker Faire (from Rajan)
“Part science fair, part county fair, and part something entirely new, Maker Faire is an all-ages gathering of tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, science clubs, authors, artists, students, and commercial exhibitors. All of these “makers” come to Maker Faire to show what they have made and to share what they have learned.”
https://makerfaire.com/new-york/
September 23 + 24, 2017, New York City, NY
10AM – 6PM Saturday & Sunday
