Maggie Appleton

Thinking about starting a podcast about all the crazy things that happen to people who work at agencies during their careers - here are a couple of mine I could tell: 1. We once found out a major MAJOR stakeholder died minutes before I was due to present for a high profile project - they asked me to present it anyway. Everyone was crying during the presentation and came up and hugged me afterwards saying “X would have loved this.” 2. Prior to a pitch presentation a client once told an account manager assigned to the client: “Never talk. Ever. I don’t like you. I am not even sure why you are here.” The account manager had a small speaking part at the beginning of the pitch - the client asked me to go tell him to stop talking. I had to go across the room walk up to him and whisper in his ear that the client wanted him to stop talking. 3. I was asked to attend an award show to accept an award for work I never had any part in. I had to give a speech - but didn’t know that until I walked on stage. Anyone have some good ones? I feel like this could be a good concept! Haha #designlife #design

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New #WixUX article — If design portfolios could talk, what would they say? David Friedenberg shares 11 practical tips for making a winning portfolio.

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Really annoyed at Figma's price gouging here. There is no reason other than greed: https://lnkd.in/gfdrEiWH Oh, and I emailed them about it and this line from their reply was particularly poignant: "Additionally the minimum for enterprise is a $5k invoice minimum. 6 enterprise seats or made up with other products." To put that in context... our monthly Adobe bill (for 8 CC, 7 PS, 6 Acrobat licenses) is ~NZ$2k... Amazing how quickly enshittification sets in... #Figma #Design #SoftwareLicensing

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The #expresstips series of posts is ongoing. Today, I have some quick thoughts on cross-functional collaborations (also known as xfn) and how to better manage it. It’s not something scary or impossible. It’s just your design research skills applied to collaboration with different teams across the organisation. Even simply asking questions to your engineering team or marketing starts this collaboration 🐙 #productdesignthought #uxuidesign

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I flag brand integration as a critical skill for product designers to develop–it’s a versatile ability to add to your skill set. I’m not talking about learning how to create a brand (logo, color palette, typography, etc.). The skill I advocate designers to cultivate involves the ability to assess and understand all attributes of an existing brand–visual identity, voice/personality–and skillfully integrate those elements into the product experience. Do this, and you add tremendous marketability to yourself because you will know how to ensure that marketing's brand-led first impression will make a seamless handoff to the product experience. We’re in a state where, like Moore’s Law, there is exponential growth in the importance of branding for all businesses, not just corporations. If you know how to wield it in the design of the product experience, you will distinguish yourself.

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The next post in the #accessibility series is out! Check out our post on inclusive language.

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The fundamental principles underlying good design are so simple, yet so easily overlooked. No one actually thinks about concepts like Proximity when producing a communication or user experience. It’s more of an instinctual understanding. But if something just isn’t working overall, it can be helpful to step back and ask if there are basic problems with how individual elements are relating to each other. Any presenter or communicator can benefit from the power of good design. Utilizing the fundamentals is so easy, but mastering them is a lifelong pursuit. Hopefully, you find this information useful, or at the very least, interesting. But beware, you may start to see good and bad uses of the Proximity principle all around you. Enjoy your descent into the rabbit hole! 😂 #design #ux #marketing #communication

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Isn't it strange how the types of process materials in portfolios is different than how real work is done in UX? I talk about what materials we commonly see in portfolios that are never used in real work, then I talk about some that we really do use. https://lnkd.in/g45JT7Qk

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Gail Swanson's Chicago Camps presentation on Design Safety: A Trauma-Informed User Research Guide is so well done - I kept rewinding sections to take more detailed notes. Based on her civic tech experiences (think FEMA disaster relief and government SNAP benefits), she offers actionable steps to facilitate research with vulnerable populations. A few of the highlights are: - Establish concrete expectations with participants of what will happen in the study, what they are expected share, and how their data will be used and protected (preferably with documentation distributed in advance). - Always double check in the moment/at the end that you have explicit consent to share direct quotes/photos, because while participants gave permission at the beginning, they may not have expected to share sensitive information that might put them at risk. - Offer a buddy system where participants can bring a friend/family member, to create a safer, more comfortable environment. - From initial contact through to follow-up, are there resources you can offer at-risk populations related to your study? For example, while conducting a study in the world of foster care, they offered additional materials that might be helpful to foster parents. The presentation is less than 45 minutes and completely free (seriously, Chicago Camps is the best), and you can watch it here:

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"There is no AI and ML without data, and there is no data without people" you have to read this interview with Ovetta! so many powerful insights around the importance of data to the work we do today!

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For the last 3 years, I've always used Figma to create presentations for my projects. Designing slides in Google Slides can be challenging, especially when we need to include prototypes in our slides—we have to record the prototypes and then insert them into Google Slides. Now, Figma has just released Figma Slides, making presentations much easier. We can attach live Figma prototypes, create graphics, and of course match it to personal style. This will streamline our process and enhance collaboration. Love it Figma!😍 What do you think, guys? What presentation tool do you use the most?

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Happy Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2024! Some cracking insights from Azia Ali on the common misconceptions surrounding accessibility in design research, approaches to better understand diverse needs and challenges, along with practical tips for creating more accessible and inclusive products and services.

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Of all the new AI tools I love the replace content feature and renaming layers. I think making prototypes as close to real content is important to keep presentions from going off the rails. https://lnkd.in/e4CGR9TV

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A super quick iteration for a new client who came to me with the basic idea needs of a digital bank MVP. Within one weekend, we approved the project and for sure we can go ahead with the next iterations. The key to action appeared to be ✅ Asynchronous updates via Loom ✅ Short iterations ✅ Clear understanding of the goal #freelancedesign #productdesign #uiuxdesign #mobileapp #mobileappui #mobileux #finance #banking #digitabank #digitalbanking #financeapp #fintech #uiux

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I wonder if the people who believe designers and other roles should be ‘full stack’ - so design engineers and also growth marketers - can explain how non-product development teams seems to be successful? Can you imagine if we have other professions do this? Hey doctor who has years of training, can you also be the nurse taking the vital signs. the front desk administrator who does billing and also know as a radiologist how to set up the X-Ray machine. Also know about managing the inventory of food in the cafeteria in the hospital, take care of vendor pricing on medical supplies and also run the parking lot attendant booth? Also run the coffee stand at the front by the info desk when you’ve done handing out directions to the pharmacy. Funny how the world outside of making products seems to get that we can actually have limits to what people need to know and that’s ok. I don’t see hospitals falling apart because of this. I wonder why that is.

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