Nadia's November Digest - Issue #10

One month has passed and issue #10 is here! In the November digest, I’m excited to share with you: 

This article eloquently yet confronting calls attention to the responsibility of those working in tech and shaping the future. “Designers are the first line of defense to protect people’s privacy, safety, and sanity. In many, many cases we’re failing at that right now. If the past 20 years of tech represent the Move Fast and Break Things era, now it’s time to slow down and take stock of what’s broken.”

“What people do and what people say are rarely the same. Equally, what people think, and what they say are very different.” If you’ve ever set foot in the realm of human-centered design, you have probably experienced this idiosyncrasy first-hand - I hope sooner rather than later in your process. For next time, this article proposes a handful of activities to use during your next user research to help your interviewees ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’ and try to close that gap between what they say and do.

“Let’s think about those 1,000 minutes as 100 10-minute blocks. That’s what you wake up with every day.” Time is perhaps the greatest mindfuck of human existence and the source of many of our anxieties. Time being one of the few things we can’t just go and make more of, we ought to make conscious choices about where we decide to spend our minutes. I love this visual approach by one of my favorite blogs of all time “Wait But Why”, which never fails to leave me with a new perspective by the end of a read.

Most of us like to think of ourselves as inclusive and non-biased. But in practice, few of us are. The trick is that it’s incredibly tough to design for people we don’t know, or we don’t interact with on a daily. Even with all our best intentions, we simply don’t think about them. This is where perspective cards come in. By prompting you with various groups of people that you might forget about initially, you can cross-check how inclusive your product or service really is, and from thereon act accordingly. Although a simple tool, I believe a reminder often-times is all we need. 

In a world full of noise, it can be hard to hear our own voices. And in a world full of on-demand distractions, it’s too easy to never truly be with ourselves. So let’s create a little space for that. Today I want to share with you over 70 questions worth asking yourself and pondering on for a moment. Some may lead to affirmation, some to confusion, even frustration; but all will lead you to a deeper insight into yourself and your relation to the world. I’d say grab a piece of paper and enjoy the journey within.

With love from Berlin,

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