Hi there 👋 I'm Michelle and welcome to Edition 62 Design Insight. A weekly newsletter for creatives with a focus on design.
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This week I spent some time working on shiny new business cards as I prepare to start my adventure as a freelance web designer. I’m equal parts excited and nervous so please send good vibes!!
P.S. head to the tweet below and you’ll find a link to the Figma template you can use for yourself 😉
Let's get started.
📃 3 Articles
Paying off design debt
The article in 3 ideas:
Design debt refers to all the imperfections in the UI and UX of an app that appears over time due to growth, innovation, and a lack of refactoring.
Start overcoming design debt by doing an audit of all design debt issues and prioritizing them into a dedicated Design Debt Backlog.
Use t-shirt sizing to estimate design debt from S to XL depending on the scope/scale of the change.
Mental model examples: How to actually use them
The article in 3 ideas:
Mental models are frameworks for thinking. They help you to figure out how things work help you to make decisions without needing to know everything about a situation.
The one level higher mental model forces you to question: is it more beneficial to optimize a level above the one I'm focused on?
The theory of constraints is a mental model for moving through stagnation. Ask yourself: doubling which of these inputs (constraints - time, money, knowledge) would help me progress towards my goal.
The Pomodoro Technique – Why It Works & How To Do It
The article in 3 ideas:
Pomodoro is Italian for tomato 🍅
You do focused work within pomodoro sessions, with a short break in between.
This method allows for sustained concentration and helps to prevent mental fatigue.
🔨 2 Tools/Resources
A free tool for generating shadow gradients using CSS.
Learn the best practices for creating accessible web experiences for users of assistive technologies and keyboard interfaces
🎨 1 Design Tip
Design Tip
📰 Classifieds
Social Media Kit (Figma) - This social media kit is a useful quick start for anyone looking to build a presence on social media. Created by me and available for FREE.
Do you want to see your ad here? Buy a classified ad spot
In case you missed it, here are last week's most popular links:
1. Tailgrids - Tailwind Components ➜
2. Using a work journal to create design case studies ➜
Want to help support this newsletter?. Let me know if you’d like a shout out 🥳
Design Insight Tools + Resources - All the tools and resources I've mentioned across all editions of Design Insight in one place.
You’ve reached the end of this week’s edition of Design Insight. Thank you for reading, I truly hope you found value in the design insights I shared today.
Til next week 👋
Michelle