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Paying off design debt

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A newsletter about creativity and design. Each week I share insights from what I've been watching, reading, or listening to. Released every Friday at 5 pm GMT.
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Paying off design debt

How to decide which Design Debt to fix without causing friction

Michelle
Jul 22, 2022
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Paying off design debt

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Hi there 👋 I'm Michelle and welcome to Edition 62 Design Insight. A weekly newsletter for creatives with a focus on design.

If you’ve been a long-time subscriber and find this newsletter enjoyable or helpful, please consider sharing it with a friend 🤗

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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 😉

Twitter avatar for @heymichellemac
Michelle Mac @heymichellemac
After another iteration + here's what I've settled on: A "branded" front and a minimal back. This is the best of both worlds, pretty future proof, I can write on the back if I need to add anything. Plus I'm sharing this template on @figma. Link below👇
Image
1:36 PM ∙ Jul 15, 2022

Let's get started.


📃 3 Articles

Paying off design debt

The article in 3 ideas:

  1. 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.

  2. Start overcoming design debt by doing an audit of all design debt issues and prioritizing them into a dedicated Design Debt Backlog.

  3. Use t-shirt sizing to estimate design debt from S to XL depending on the scope/scale of the change.

Read The Full Article ➜

Mental model examples: How to actually use them

The article in 3 ideas:

  1. 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.

  2. 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?

  3. 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.

Read The Full Article ➜

The Pomodoro Technique – Why It Works & How To Do It

The article in 3 ideas:

  1. Pomodoro is Italian for tomato 🍅

  2. You do focused work within pomodoro sessions, with a short break in between.

  3. This method allows for sustained concentration and helps to prevent mental fatigue.

Read The Full Article ➜


🔨 2 Tools/Resources

CSS Shadow Gradients ➜

  • A free tool for generating shadow gradients using CSS.

W3C Patterns ➜

  • Learn the best practices for creating accessible web experiences for users of assistive technologies and keyboard interfaces


🎨 1 Design Tip

Design Tip

Twitter avatar for @peterondesign
Peter @peterondesign
UI Design Tip ✨ Using visuals to describe options, along with adding context, make a selection process easier
Image
10:00 AM ∙ Feb 4, 2022
474Likes70Retweets

📰 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 ask me a question?

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


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