Tentative: Recent Episodes
thoughtbot
Tentative is a podcast about digital product design. Hosted by thoughtbot's Chief Design Officer Kyle Fiedler & Boston Design Director Jaclyn Perrone.
This week Jaclyn & Kyle catch up on streamlining UI, building landing pages in Hubspot CMS, first impressions of Tailwind, and auto-layout in Figma. Also, we reminisce as we say adieu to Kyle and his tenure on Tentative. 👋🥲
This week Jaclyn & Kyle discuss neglecting your backlog, the emotions around a design sprint, and changes to the design and development team structure at thoughtbot. Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
Nelsy Hubb, Product Manager at Neocova, joins Jaclyn to discuss engaging with outside partners, maintaining a design system, customer feedback, trusting your subject matter experts, design debt, and many, many allusions to The Lord of the Rings. Neocova (https://neocova.com/) Spotlight AI (https://neocova.com/solutions/spotlight-ai/) Tiger King meets Lisa Frank (https://www.reddit.com/r/TigerKing/comments/fsmeep/tiger_king_meets_lisa_frank/) Nelsy on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsy-hubb-403823188/) Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
To wrap up our year, this week Kyle & Jaclyn run a retro for 2020. So put on those comfy pants and join us while they reflect on their most used tools, new amenities, and favorite hobbies of the year; as well as air some behind the scenes goodness. This episode is brought to you by HelloFresh (http://HelloFresh.com/tentative80): Enter code TENTATIVE80 to get a total of $80 off, including free shipping Miro (https://miro.com) Between the World and Me (https://amzn.to/38kdUGt)- Ta-Nehisi Coates The Lord of the Rings (https://amzn.to/34vF9g6)- J.R.R. Tolkien The Queen's Gambit (https://www.netflix.com/title/80234304) Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
Lloyd Bennett, designer at thoughtbot London, joins the show to discuss Tones & Shades, his new digital magazine, as well as designing a brand identity, prototyping early in the design process, and animating with intent. This episode is brought to you by: ExpressVPN (https://www.expressvpn.com/tentative): Click through to get three months for free Remote Works Podcast (https://link.chtbl.com/remoteworks_cyoa?sid=podcast.Tentative) Tones & Shades (https://tonesandshad.es/) "The Three-Hour Brand Sprint" (https://library.gv.com/the-three-hour-brand-sprint-3ccabf4b768a)- Jake Knapp "Reinvention & the Creative Journey" (https://tonesandshad.es/reinvention-and-the-creative-journey/)- an interview With Helen Cammock Offscreen Magazine (https://www.offscreenmag.com/) Tones & Shades on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/tonesshades/) Lloyd on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/designbyljb/) Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
Adekunle Oduye, UX Engineer at Mailchimp, discusses working on a design-system team, setting goals for 2021, storing documentation in Figma, and conducting user research for design systems. This episode is brought to you by: ExpressVPN (https://www.expressvpn.com/tentative): Click through to get three months for free HelloFresh (http://HelloFresh.com/tentative90): Enter code TENTATIVE90 to get a total of $90 off, including free shipping Mailchimp Style Guide (http://ux.mailchimp.com/) Essentialism (https://amzn.to/2UDdapA) Adekunle on Twitter (https://twitter.com/adekunleoduye) Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
Ryan Rumsey, founder & CEO of Second Wave Dive, discusses building programs that solve systems problems through design thinking, and struggling with critique. This episode is brought to you by ExpressVPN (https://www.expressvpn.com/tentative). Click through to get three months for free. Second Wave Dive (https://www.secondwavedive.com/) Business Thinking for Designers (https://www.designbetter.co/business-thinking-for-designers)- Ryan Rumsey Ryan's Personal Site (https://www.ryanrumsey.com/) Ryan on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ryanrumsey) Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
Senongo Akpem, author of Cross-Cultural Design, joins the show to discuss design in civic-tech, ways to include cross-cultural design thinking into short engagements, staying dedicated to long-term projects, and memories of Dreamweaver. This episode is brought to you by ExpressVPN (https://www.expressvpn.com/tentative). Click through to get three months for free. Cross-Cultural Design (https://abookapart.com/products/cross-cultural-design)- Senongo Akpem A Civic Technologist's Practice Guide (https://amzn.to/31rkIPV)- Cyd Harrell curry.cafe (http://curry.cafe/) Senongo on Twitter (https://twitter.com/senongo) Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
From User Interviews, Erin May (VP Growth & Marketing) & JH Forster (VP Product) join the show to discuss hiring during Covid, onboarding remotely, using GitHub for documentation, backlog management, managing team morale while remote, and work on diversity & inclusion initiatives. User Interviews (https://www.userinterviews.com/) Awkward Silences (https://www.userinterviews.com/podcast)- User Interviews Podcast Being There (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_There) Remo (https://remo.co/) The UX Research Flex Stack (https://www.userinterviews.com/lp/ux-research-flex-stack) Rocket Emoji App (https://matthewpalmer.net/rocket/) JH on Twitter (https://twitter.com/jhforster) Erin on Twitter (https://twitter.com/erinhmay) Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
Hannah Yang, Product Manager of Provider Experience at Oscar Health Insurance, joins us to discuss feature prioritization during COVID, designing towards a KPI goal, customer relationships at small & large companies, qualitative vs quantitative data in health-tech, and the hurdles of working in a regulated industry. This episode is brought to you by ExpressVPN (https://www.expressvpn.com/tentative). Click through to get three months for free. TheShareWay (https://www.theshareway.com/) Oscar Health (https://www.hioscar.com/) Hannah on Twitter (https://twitter.com/hannahcyang) Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
Elaina Natario and Vendela Larsson join us to discuss the research, procedure, and findings, that went into their Glides project for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. "Gliding to Success" (https://designmuseumfoundation.org/gliding-to-success/)- Design Museum Magazine MBTA Case Study (https://thoughtbot.com/case-studies/mbta) Just Enough Research (https://abookapart.com/products/just-enough-research)- Erika Hall What the heck is a bomb cyclone? (https://www.popsci.com/bomb-cyclone/) Elaina on Twitter (https://twitter.com/elainanatario) Vendela on Twitter (https://twitter.com/vendelalarsson) Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
Hey Tentative listeners, this week we're bringing you an announcement of upcoming changes to the format of Tentative. We'll be exploring more focused topics, bringing in guests from around the design community, and discussing the intersection of design and business; all while bringing our true and silly selves that make Tentative what it is today. So come join us on the ride, and tell a friend! Also, conference call fatigue, an internet outage during a remote design sprint, and embracing async communication. Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
This week, Kyle updates case studies in our CMS and Jaclyn returns from PTO. Also, tips & tricks for Alfred, working in non-traditional design tools, and a design-team book club. Alfred (https://www.alfredapp.com/) Prismic (https://prismic.io/) Cross-Cultural Design (https://abookapart.com/products/cross-cultural-design)- Senongo Akpem
This week, Jaclyn volunteers on a design sprint and prepares for PTO, while Kyle preps for a website redesign workshop. Also, collaboration vs customization in presentations, preparing a 2 day Pre-MVP workshop, approaches to editing, and balancing experimentation with expertise. The Code Cooperative (https://codecooperative.org/) Website Redesign Workshop (https://thoughtbot.com/events/website-redesign-workshop) Upcase (https://thoughtbot.com/upcase/) Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
This week, Kyle works on documentation and updating pages in our CMS, while Jackie hosts an internal trivia game as well as troubleshoots her terminal setup. Also, avoiding burnout, extending Covid protections, and Zoom fatigue. Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
This week, Jaclyn conducted a remote design sprint and Kyle utilizes "no Slack" communication on a project. Also, cutting scope, the importance of the human element in product validation, and the varied usage of "It depends". Remote Design Sprint Template (https://miro.com/templates/remote-design-sprint/) The Agile Bicycle (https://m.dotdev.co/the-agile-bicycle-829a83b18e7) Double Denim Outfits (https://www.usmagazine.com/stylish/news/britney-spears-justin-timberlakes-double-denim-outfits-15th-anniversary-w451495/) Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
This week Kyle discusses his iterative approach to everything, and Jaclyn discusses take-aways from her Lightning Design Jam. Also, a design-thinking escape room, life lessons learned from previous jobs, and human corn. Lightning Design Jam (https://info.thoughtbot.com/unstick-your-product-strategy-recording) Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
We are pushing back our normally scheduled podcast in support of the protests this week and the Black community as a whole. To give space for their words, their actions, and all of the grieving caused by the killing of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. Too many members of the Black community have lost their lives through racial injustice. For those that are mourning and those that are fighting for equality: we see you, we love you, and we support you. Black culture matters. Black communities matter. Black lives matter. The systemic racism that plagues our nation NEEDS to come to an end. We've included a short list of resources in the show notes of ways each of us can take action. We ask everyone to research ways to get involved in a way they feel they can have the biggest impact. What follows is an episode from our sister podcast, Giant Robots Smashing into Other Giant Robots with Gareth Burrowes, focusing on removing unconscious bias from the hiring flow and the importance of diversity at every level of a company. Fighting for equality falls on each of us, regardless of race or position, to work together to fight racism and unequal treatment. Giant Robots: Seeking Strengths (Gareth Burrowes) (https://www.giantrobots.fm/312) Black Tech Twitter (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BlackTechTwitter&src=saved_search_click) Black Tech Pipeline (https://www.blacktechpipeline.com/) Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatter.com/) Resources provided by Diversify Tech (https://twitter.com/DiversifyTechCo/status/1266797966498684928) Original Notes from Giant Robots Episode 312 Gareth Burrowes, Co-Founder & Head of Product and Marketing at The Tech Connection, discusses employment screening focused on candidate strengths, removing unconscious bias from the hiring flow, and the importance of diversity at every level of a company.
- The Tech Connection
- Gareth on Twitter
This week we contemplate how people see their time, posture tips to reduce physical stress while working from home, and conducting a 'consulting skills' workshop. Here Are Some Excellent Zoom Backgrounds (https://www.themarysue.com/best-zoom-backgrounds/) How China is using QR code apps to contain Covid-19 (https://technode.com/2020/02/25/how-china-is-using-qr-code-apps-to-contain-covid-19/) The 20-20-20 Rule: Preventing Digital Eye Strain (https://us.discovericl.com/blog/the-20-20-20-rule-preventing-digital-eye-strain) Lightning Design Jam (https://info.thoughtbot.com/unstick-your-product-strategy-recording) Jeff Goldblum "Talking to Myself" (https://youtu.be/zDfBLFyTBM4) Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
Kyle serves as interim Design Director for London while Jaclyn prepares for a design workshop. Also, shifting locations to improve focus, the importance of ergonomics, content audits, and an impromptu live-feedback session. Unstick Your Product Strategy Workshop (https://info.thoughtbot.com/unstick-your-product-strategy-recording) Google Meet Grid View Extension (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-meet-grid-view/bjkegbgpfgpikgkfidhcihhiflbjgfic) JQBX (JU·KE·BOX) (https://www.jqbx.fm/) Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
Kyle gets stressed out by grocery shopping, and prepares for a workshop. Jaclyn finishes a draft on a case study and benefits from the value of time-boxing. Also, tricking Zoom, staying productive, the importance of routine, and little things to break up your days. This episode is brought to you by ExpressVPN (https://www.expressvpn.com/tentative). Click through to get three months for free. World Famous Abbey Road Crossing Is Repainted During The London Lockdown (https://www.forbes.com/sites/oisinlunny/2020/03/27/world-famous-abbey-road-crossing-is-repainted-during-the-london-lockdown/#55db09375eea) The Future of Facilitation (https://voltagecontrol.com/blog/the-future-of-facilitation-virtual-workshop-recap/) Procreate App (https://procreate.art/) Being Human in the Absence of Humans: A Q&A for Product Teams (https://info.thoughtbot.com/remote-product-team-resources) Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
As thoughtbot transitions to working remotely, we discuss the tools and tips we use when conducting remote design sprints. Enroll in our free online-workshop on going remote Being Human in the Absence of Humans: A Live Q&A for Product Teams (https://info.thoughtbot.com/being-human-in-the-absence-of-humans?utm_source=Tentative&utm_medium=Podcast) Running design sprints and kickoffs remotely (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/running-design-sprints-and-kickoffs-remotely) MURAL (https://mural.co/) Miro (https://miro.com/) Invision Freehand (https://www.invisionapp.com/feature/freehand) Play 'Sorry' 'Online (http://sorry.eeimer.de/) Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
Kyle kicks off a new project, and Jaclyn plans a design sprint workshop. Also, remote camera etiquette, the labels of 'designer' & 'developer', and creating professional bios. This episode is brought to you by ExpressVPN (https://www.expressvpn.com/tentative). Click through to get three months for free. Kyle's Blog Posts (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/authors/kyle-fiedler) "Get Your Type Back in Shape" (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/get-your-type-back-in-shape-with-these-simple-tricks) "The mess of web font services" (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/the-mess-of-web-font-services) "User Testing Gone Wild" (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/user-testing-gone-wild-a-guide-to-course-correction) See open positions (https://goo.gl/AAazrT) at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
Jaclyn shares insights from running a large design-thinking workshop, Kyle discusses the methodology of the new thoughtbot.com redesign, and the highs & lows of the Frosty™. Shape up (https://basecamp.com/shapeup) thoughtbot.com Redesign (https://thoughtbot.com/)
Jaclyn plans an intimate design sprint exercise for developers as well as a large design-thinking workshop, discusses why you can't just start ideating, and getting a large group to converge on a problem-statement. 3-12-3 Brainstorming (https://gamestorming.com/3-12-3-brainstorm/) Royal Tenenbaums Tracksuits (and other styling tips from Wes Anderson) (https://coolmaterial.com/feature/wes-anderson-style-tips/) See open positions (https://goo.gl/AAazrT) at thoughtbot! Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Tentative!
Happy new year! We welcome back Jaclyn, refreshed after her break, and discuss burn-out, task prioritization, MVP-ing your mental load, and setting goals & themes for the new year.
- Yard 'O Twix
- How Long is Fruit by the Foot?
- Buc-ees Jerky Paradise
- Impact/Effort Matrix
- Getting Things Done- David Allen
See open positions at thoughtbot!
Become a Sponsor of Tentative!
Miles Johnson, designer at thoughtbot London, joins Kyle to discuss leveling-up sales skills, when to introduce clients to your process, maintaining the focus of development & design as a cohesive unit, and the joy of being a 'generalist'.
Elaina Natario enlightens Kyle on all things jazz hands, as well as discusses Storybook, documenting design, working effectively alongside development, and how to use emoji.
- Storybook
- The Hot Potato Process
- There are many ways to spell
~~tszuj~~👨‍🍳✨ - Sobbing Heart Eyes
- Elaina on Twitter
- Elaina on Instagram
Chris Schnaars joins Kyle to discuss computational design, creative control, design vs art, and the nature of design tooling.
- Sol Lewitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective
- Bret Victor - Inventing on Principle
- Things for macOS & iOS
- Chris on Instagram
Skipper Chong Warson, Design Director of thoughtbot San Francisco, joins Kyle to discuss the psychology of podcast recording, overcoming awkwardness in communication & public speaking, and avoiding proxies when engaging with clients.
- “Steve would really like you to get 5 stars…”
- Full Episode
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Sesame Street
- Skipper on Twitter
Live from New York, it's Keiran King & Tyson Gach! They join Kyle to discuss designing apples, comparing and contrasting jobs-to-be-done to other frameworks, and defining 'customer success'.
- Jobs-to-be-done Workshop Replay
- Solving Real Problems With Design- Keiran King
- When Coffee and Kale Compete- Alan Klement
- Competing Against Luck- Clayton M. Christensen
- Shape Up- Ryan Singer
- Keiran on Twitter
- Tyson on Twitter
Jaclyn is taking a break for a little bit and Kyle sets a course for happiness. We talk about embracing change as an opportunity to define yourself, and having a similar mindset to build good habits between projects. Also, experimenting with and evolving process, and reflecting on the importance of collaboration.
- The Science of Well-Being
- Atomic Habits- James Clear
- Practical Applications of Jobs-to-be-Done for Designing Successful Products
See open positions at thoughtbot!
Become a Sponsor of Tentative!
Kyle has fun with a hiring-promo read, while Jaclyn dislikes the polling system in Slack. Also, presenting visual design to clients for feedback, frameworks for critique, and fostering creativity through constraints.
This episode of Tentative is sponsored by Indeed Prime
- Red Light, Yellow Light, Green Light: A Design Exercise for Getting Feedback From the Team
See open positions at thoughtbot!
Become a Sponsor of Tentative!
While Jaclyn gives interview tips (both user and hiring), Kyle does his best Michael Keaton impression. Also, active listening, pizza facts, trying to keep a work / home balance when working remotely, and interview horror stories.
This episode of Tentative is sponsored by Indeed Prime
- Fun 🍕 Facts
- Redesigning How We Hire Designers at thoughtbot
Jaclyn puts together a role-playing workshop for consulting your way through difficult conversations, and building empathy for the other parties. Kyle discusses conducting team 1<>1's all on one day vs spreading them throughout the week. Plus, some techniques for dealing with context switching, blocking off time, and calendar hacks.
This episode of Tentative is sponsored by Indeed Prime
Jaclyn designs wristbands for a 5k, fiddles around with CSS Grid, and kicks off a new project. Meanwhile, Kyle attends many serious meetings. We discuss up-front user-research, timeline interviews, and pacing interviews for sustainability.
- J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge
- Wristbands
This week Kyle follows his calendar, while Jaclyn wraps up a research project and celebrates a fruitful sales-call, and we discuss trying to focus on positive reinforcement, the importance of being able to communicate your design work, and 'clicking' with the sales process.
- Designers Who Code Meetup
Jaclyn is frustrated with calendars, and Kyle continues work on the thoughtbot.com redesign. Also skills evaluations, and lots of interviews.
- Calendly
- 15Five
- Put a Bird on It
Kyle deals with a "dentist situation" and writes a blog post, while both he & Jaclyn return to IC design work. Also, manager training, partnering with an offshore development team while on a tight deadline, and the "good problems" of a large design sprint.
- Plucky Manager Training
- Jennifer Dary, founder of Plucky, on Giant Robots
- Red Light, Yellow Light, Green Light: A Design Exercise for Getting Feedback From the Team
- French Fries
Jaclyn goes on a ski trip, Kyle eats cake on the microphone (sorry). Also, de-stressing techniques, Austin weather (surprise), daylight savings time, the UI of car clocks, making the most of small gaps in your schedule, enriching collaboration with developers, clarifying the title of "designer", and iterating on podcast recording. Plus, the introduction of a new segment "good, bad, and ugly".
- Press Me
- The Case of the 500 Mile Email
- King Cake
Jaclyn hosts a cooking show while Kyle does what his calendar tells him to. Also, being excited by invalidating ideas, devoting more time to synthesizing, taking TL;DR level sprint-notes, how switch interviews can influence your design sprint, and end of week recuperation strategies.
- Ralph's Kitchen Delicacies
- Swedish Fish Sandwich Recipe
Jaclyn starts a new Meetup and wonders about ice-breaking activities & community building. Kyle tries his hand at video editing after filming a skill interview, and starts work planning a thoughtbot.com redesign. Also, stress around social media email / notifications and why we should design them more humanely.
- Designers Who Code (Boston)
- Previous thoughtbot.com Redesign on Tentative
- Why Does McDonald’s Use the Colors Red and Yellow?
- Blue-plate Special
- Jobs @ thoughtbot
- Tropical Storm Jackie
Jaclyn and Kyle discuss remote interview methodology, skillset tracking, Design Sprint 101™️, and Kyle's skills as a Beer Ninja.
- Zoom
- Kyle During Usability Tests
- Plucky Cards
Jaclyn & Kyle wish you a (very belated) Happy New Year, and discuss the shortcomings of video-chat during interviews, using GitHub as a project management tool for company policy, the weirdnesses of user-interviews, and de-jargoning the term "prototype".
Jaclyn sells some art, kicks off a giant design sprint, and prepares a presentation on how to co-facilitate a design sprint. Kyle deals with new-office echoes & internet woes. We share the projects that we worked on for this year's Ralphapalooza; plus, reactions on designing for React Native.
- Jaclyn's Art Show!
- Vendela's Ice Cream Blog
- thoughtmoji
- CSS Grid
- Segway Mall Store
Jaclyn & Kyle discuss the value of in-person meetings, the philosophy of Trello backgrounds, nostalgia for antiquated recording mediums, refining thoughtbot's designer hiring process, and design implementation.
- Squad Goals Background
- bikeTunes
- The ZIP Disk
- Jaclyn on Awkward Silences Podcast
See open positions at thoughtbot!
Jaclyn & Kyle chat about the new thoughtbot Austin office, designing for Android, feelings on maintaining Sketch file tidiness, trying to make tabular data exciting to present, and commiserate over call-center software workflows.
- Material Design for Android
- Abstract- Sketch Version Control
Jaclyn wraps up a project to hand off to a client's design team, Kyle looses his voice after giving a design sprint presentation, plus personal habits to pursue before speaking engagements or while in Product Design Sprints, design patterns in children's apps, and screen-time controls in iOS.
- Kyle's Star Wars PJs
- Product Design Sprint - 5 Phase Breakdown Video
Jaclyn & Kyle discuss prototyping with a different tool, providing feedback for teammates, and practice spooky voices for Halloween / team 1-on-1 purposes.
- Medieval Times
- An Everyone Culture- Robert Kegan, Lisa Laskow Lahey
- Creativity, Inc.- Ed Catmull, Amy Wallace
- 15Five
Jaclyn & Kyle discuss disrupting a good flow state, quitting coffee, balancing support & client work, and negotiating a healthy work/life balance.
- Kyle near a segway
- Kyle on a segway
Jaclyn & Kyle record in person (for the first time ever!) as thoughtbot gathers for our annual Summer Summit, and discuss the language around design / development, switch interviews, opinions about post-it notes, and the point of design sprints.
- Wanna Go on a Segway Tour?
- Rocketship.fm Bob Moesta Interviews: part 1, part 2
- Mastering Jobs-To-Be-Done Interviews Workshop
- Kyle & His Clapper
Dawn & Sam take the reigns this week and discuss designing filter systems, World Emoji Day, a11y in Emoji, and how 'design goals' should merge with 'business goals'.
- Dawn on Twitter
- Sam on Twitter
- World Emoji Day
- input type="emoji"
- Compare Emoji Across Different Platforms
- An Entomologist Rates Ant Emojis
- Orkin, On Queen Ants
- How to Pronounce Chipotle
- Designing Parenthood
- Austin Design Week
- Greg Storey: Design @ USAA on Giant Robots Podcast
Jaclyn and Kyle are joined by Robert Indries of DG Studio to discuss applying design principles to other industries, deadlines (and procrastination), as well as the importance and difficulty of communication.
- DG Studio
- DermaSensor
- GDPR
- Robert on LinkedIn
Sameera Kapila, a designer from thoughtbot Austin, joins Kyle to talk about prototype user testing, being wary of leading questions, challenging assumptions, and ways to take action on your findings.
- Podcasting Chic
- UserInterviews.com
- Rocket Surgery Made Easy- Steve Krug
- A Comprehensive Guide To User Testing
- barkTHINS
- Sameera on Twitter
- Foodstagram
This week we discuss the importance of keeping a tight feedback loop on communication, and allowing time for experimentation & validation. Also, are retro notes helpful?
- thoughtbot Playbook
- What's the Hardest Word to Spell?
- Just Like Mario
Dealing with React Native, designing email templates for Outlook, "Designer News", and combating distraction.
- SendGrid
- Designer News
- no name®️
- 5 steps to nailing your portfolio presentation in design interviews
- The First Cut is the Deepest
- Deep Work
- Carl Jung
- How to Pronounce 'Jung'
This week, we discuss approaches to prototypes in User Testing, Sharpie preferences, how Batman arrived at the final design of his utility belt, and defining thoughtbot's design values.
- Tuxedo Snuggie
- Wonder Woman Snuggie
- Batman's Utility Belt
- thoughtbot Design Team Values
- thoughtbot Purpose
- Lucy's Psychiatry Booth
While recovering from SxSW Kyle & Jaclyn discuss design experiences in day-to-day life, and surviving conferences / networking events.
- Massive Change: Bruce Mau
- Bruce Mau’s 24 Principles for Massive Change
- South by Southwest
- Kyle @ SxSW
- Build Conf
- Wilson Miner - When We Build
- Jaclyn @ Venture Cafe
Kyle & Jaclyn discuss weather apps, maintaining focus in User Interviews, tips for managing frequent contexting switching, and documentation during a design sprint.
- Daily UI Challenge
- Dragon Speech Recognition
- Kyle's New BFF
Jaclyn & Kyle catch up and chat about user testing, and empathizing with user-problems you haven't personally experienced.
Other tangents include: sleep, traveling to NYC, the weather, spelling & pluralization techniques, the annoyance of advertisements, Netflix confessions, misadventures with torrenting, Kyle's new voice-acting career, and motivational speaking.
- Full Story
- Netflix Artwork Testing
- Bat Out of Hell in German
We're a bit giddy this rare pre-coffee morning recording, before Segway-ing into naming conventions in CSS, as well as communicating about the design process and decisions.
- AeroPress
- Elbow Pit
- BEM
- The Agile Bicycle
Jaclyn and Kyle ponder their past lives and spirit animals, and manage to squeeze in some design talk about condensed sprints, tips for managing remote user testing, reinforcing best-practices, and time management.
- Danger Zone
Kyle & Jaclyn are back for 2018! This week they discuss Die Hard, designing on an iPad, the importance of community to creation, and embracing the flaws in your art.
- Daily UI Challenge
- My Kid Could Paint That Trailer
- Art & Fear: On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking- David Bayles
- iCarez matte iPad Pro Screen Protector
- New Skype Ringtone
Kyle & Jaclyn chat about Stranger Things, design approaches to personal sites, using improv to build better trust & communication on a team, & the importance of naming and language.
- Keep Ruby Weird
- Kyle on thoughtbot Blog
- Rocket Surgery Made Easy- Steve Krug
- Just Enough Research- Erika Hall
- A Script To Kickstart Your Jobs To Be Done Interviews
- JTBD Mattress Interview
- Mixed Methods Podcast
- Design Systems- Alla Kholmatova
Brenda and Dawn talk about early experiences with tech, CSS DevConf, code review, performance considerations around the world, and refactoring legacy sketch files.
- Keep Ruby Weird
- Elle Meredith KRW Keynote
- NeoPets
- CSS Dev Conf
- CSS Layout Club NYC
- Incomplete List of Mistakes in the Design of CSS
- The Ins and Outs of Easing- Val Head
- Cubic Bezier Curves - Under the Hood
- Slides and Resources from CSS Dev Conf 2017 New Orleans
Jaclyn and Kyle talk about ways to start a design career, as well as what happens when you're deep in the trenches building products.
- Headspace
- thoughtbot Jobs
- thoughtbot Purpose
- Beginning HTML5 and CSS3 for Dummies
- A Complete Guide to Flexbox | CSS Tricks
- Upcase
- Treehouse
- Optimizely
- thoughtbot Product Design Sprint
- jaclynperrone.com
Reda & Kyle discuss color consistency across tools and devices, as well as the inefficiencies of design workflows.
- Making Sense Of Color Management- Craig Hockenberry
- React Sketch.app
- "Inventing on Principle"- Brett Victor Talk
- Abstract
Kyle & Reda discuss search engines, documentation searches, reminisce about Photoshop Slices in Dreamweaver, and question Reda's Google-Fu.
- DuckDuckGo
- Dash Documentation
- Dreamweaver
- Keep Ruby Weird Call For Proposals
- PSD2HTML
Kyle & Dawn discuss end-of-project planning / organization, jobs vs user stories, and the merits of Austin TX.
- thoughtbot Home Page
- Parent/Child Management for Trello
- Converting to Jobs Stories
Brenda joins Reda to discuss CSS Grid Layout, the reasons they don't use grid frameworks as much anymore, iPad design, and the pros/cons of client vs product work.
- CSS Layout Club
- CSS Working Group
- "Learn CSS Grid"- Jen Simmons
- Neat
Dawn and Kyle talk about Dawn’s recent experience running usability tests, and what learned from running them. Kyle discusses how he's using Jobs-to-be-done theory to build a marketing landing page. Finally, how they approach which resolution screen to design for first.
Reda and Jack talk about design from the perspective of a developer, why CSS sucks for layout, retro game making, and App Store things.
- Jack’s Twitter
- Safari default CSS
- CSS Grid module
- CSS Flexbox
- Build Phase
- Scribattle
- FlippyBit
- App Store purge
We talk about the dichotomy of perfection in design, versus shipping something that is 'good enough'. Reda discusses how he is keeping track of the places in the app that he wants to improve while trying to hit deadlines. Also, recent experience jumping on print design and branding projects, and the different tools used when tackling them.
We discuss whether it is better to have a bunch of work waiting for you or none when getting back from a vacation, what it’s like being the only designer on a project, documenting design, and trends / style specifically for iOS (and how it relates to the web).
- Ottoneu Fantasy Baseball
- Bear Notes App
Kyle is joined by Jaclyn Perrone to talk about designing with seed data, and how to make a new interface not look empty. They discuss using jobs-to-be-done to influence a product through interviews and job statements, as well as how they approach designing with users in mind, and the value of real users' reactions when testing interfaces.
- Jobs-to-be-done
- Design sprints
- Alan Klement
- Design sprint episode with Reda
- Remote design sprint episode with Dawn
- Jaclyn Perrone
Kyle is joined by Dawn Delatte to discuss the different tools and methodology employed in tackling a remote design sprint. They cover some of the success and failures of a recent sprint and how they split up work afterwards.
Dawn talks about diving into JavaScript which leads to a discussion on how they learn new technology and design techniques. Kyle is back on a rails app and is enjoying planning out the product.
- Trello Board For Design Sprints
- Trello App
- Miro - Whiteboard App (formerly Realtimeboard)
- Fullstory
- JavaScript For Web Designers
- Jobs Stories
- Sketch
- Invision
- Lulu Miller Tedx Talk
- Kyle Recording Under a Coat
- Dawn on Twitter
- Dawn's Website
They're back! Reda and Kyle team up for a new season of Tentative. In this episode we discuss the thought process, tools, and execution plan for goals and resolutions in the new year. Plus, books for Reda to read over the coming year, and the importance of reading not only as a designer but also as a person.
- Gina Bolton’s V2MOM
- Getting Things Done
- Moonwalking with Einstein
- Kindle
- Competing Against Luck- Clayton Christiansen
- Kale and Coffee Compete- Alan Klement
- Making Sense of Color Management- Craig Hockenberry
- Creativity Inc.
- Thinking Fast and Slow
Using Instagram’s redesign as an example, we discuss the new wave of apps that are starting a trend of black and white UI. This leads to a debate on having concrete style trends, and why it doesn’t always make sense to follow them (but why it might make sense for Instagram).
- Episode about burnout
- Reda’s tweet
- Instagram redesign
- Reda’s Build Phase Episode
- Laila & Brenda Show
Reda and Kyle talk about how Kyle is tackling a branding project for a fantasy sports app. They then dig into how both are planning for upcoming design sprints, and the methodology behind their different approaches.
- Stattleship Logo Dribbble
- thoughtbot design sprint guide
- Reda’s WWDC post
- HiRes with Kyle
This episode Reda and Kyle talk about WWDC. They review new features for both iOS and the Apple Watch before discussing Apple's public attitude towards design, and speculate about the process Apple follows building software.
- WWDC
- iOS
- watchOS
- macOS
- WWDC Keynote
- Reda's WWDC blog post
- Swift Playgrounds
This episode Reda and Kyle start off by talking about podcasting competition and Reda's childhood psychology. Then they talk about how both are tackling SVG and walk away with different feelings about it. Reda wraps up by bashing HAML while Kyle tries to defend its pros.
- Build Phase
- Massimo Vinelli
- SVG episode
- Deal with it
- Glass case of emotion
- SMIL
- Gapplin
- Markoff
- Sassquatch
- HAML
- Sass
- Coffeescript
This week Reda and Kyle talk about content and typography, how both apply to the web, and why they try to use real content as much as possible. Also, the problems that they run into when designing forms and the trade offs between usability and style.
- Brutalist websites
- WWDC
Reda and Kyle talk about the new thoughtbot.com. Kyle explains some of the reasons why they redesigned instead of iterating over the existing design. They talk about parts of their process and how tools like code and graphical editors fit in. They discuss the balance between shipping and getting pixel perfection. They wrap up talking about how they balance multiple projects and multiple tasks.
- thoughtbot.com
- Last iteration of thoughtbot.com on wayback machine
- How we use trello
- Design sprint repo
- Design sprint guide
- Redpen
- Sketch
- Kromatic
- Trello
- Omnifocus
- Tools episode
On this episode Reda and Kyle rehash their conversation about Should designers code. They talk about teams and how design should fit in. They discuss design and design thinking at a high level in the company and design leadership in our community.
- Should designers code episode
- Julie Zhuo Medium
- Geoff Teehan Medium
- John Lax Medium
- Cap Watkins Blog
Cheerful Reda and Kyle talk about ethics in their work. Discussion hovers around dark patterns in design. They talk about dark patterns with cable companies, airlines, and domain registrars. And how dark patterns can effect the long term sustainability of the business. Kyle talks about the technology he's been using on parental leave and his purchase of an Apple Watch.
- The Dark Side
- Apple Watch
- Darkpatterns.org
Reda and Kyle talk about writing as a designer. What their process is for writing, what the process is like writing for thoughtbot, and how they differentiate posts on thoughtbot’s blog and their personal blog. Plus Reda goes on a rant against Medium.
- Giant Robots
- Reda’s iOS posts
- Building iOS Interfaces: A Custom Button
- Building iOS Interfaces: Views
- Building iOS Interfaces: A Primer
- Reda’s blog
- Reda’s Smashing Magazine Retina Article
- Blurred lines
- Kyle’s personal blog
- Six years
- Medium
- Designer news
- Evernote
- Sublime Text
- Markoff: A Free Markdown Previewer for OS X
This week Reda and Kyle talk about tools for collaborative design feedback. They talk about how they’ve used tools at thoughtbot and what are the pros and cons of each of the tools. They also talk about how they use these tools to get feedback from other designers in different thoughtbot offices for more varied design feedback.
- Red Pen
- Invision
- Relay.io
- Hunie
- Hound
- Wake
- Buzzfeed: Snapchat Like The Teens
- NDA
In this episode Red-A and Kyle talk about product design and development at thoughtbot. They go over how they use tools like Trello and Slack to communicate with their teams and their clients and how design fits into that process. They talk about how they validate design decisions and argue about the proper pronunciation of GIF.
- Playbook
- Design sprint
- Design sprint tentative episode
- How we use Trello
- Replacing The User Story With The Job Story
- Converting To Jobs Stories
- High voltage
- Test-Driven Product Design
During this episode, Reda and Kyle talk about conversational user interfaces. They talk about popular implementations of conversational UIs, how they use these tools and what effect it has on the future of graphical user interface.
In this episode Reda and Kyle talk about the homogenization in web design. How styles have evolved in the pas and how they see style trends in graphic design evolving in the future. They discuss the issues and problems facing archiving application design. What they use Dribbble for and what kind of a tool it is now.
- The Dribbblisation of Design
- Agency Landing Pages
- History of trends in graphic design
- Big Spaceship
- Scrolljacking
- Braun
- Dieter Rams
- Dribbble
- Apple TV Behance App
During this episode, Reda and Kyle talk about their qualms with CSS. They talk about CSS naming conventions, how they tackle layout and the wonderful world of flexbox. Kyle tries to educate Reda on some early 90’s pop music and fails.
- Let’s talk about sex baby
- BEM
- Flexbox
- Neat
- OOCSS
- CSS Variables
In this episode Reda and Kyle talk about browser testing. They discuss how they approach testing each browser and operating system and devices. They talk about the differences in type rendering, browser user interface, and layout. Reda talks about how he approaches a simple fluid layout, Kyle talks about his most recent project and some layout challenges and they talk about using CSS for layout.
- Browserstack
- IE blog post
- IE Setup
- Feedback episode
In this episode Reda and Kyle discuss iteration and design process. They talk about the differences between how a junior designer takes on a project and how a senior designer takes on a project. Kyle talks about how jobs to be done fits into his design process. They also go on a few tangents of tracking personal data and posting articles on medium.
- Julie Zhuo on Junior Designers vs. Senior Designers
- Design sprints
- Jobs to be done
- Invision
- Marvel
- Blurred lines
- Medium
This week Reda and Kyle talk about the tools that they use during their design process. They touch on everything from graphical editors, color pickers and task list applications.
- Text Editor Episode
- Photoshop
- Illustrator
- Sketch
- Chrome preference for change
- Affinity designer
- Brenda’s SVG Episode
- SVGo
- Sip
- Pixa
- Colour lovers
- Kuler
- ImageOptim
- Typekit
- Google Fonts
- Sublime Text
- Dash
- Text Expander
- El Capitan
- Evernote
- Simplenote
- Google Keep
- Yojimbo
- Omnifocus
- Things
- Wunderlist
- Clear
- Google Inbox
- Mailbox
This week Reda and Kyle talk about empathy in design and keeping in mind a users state of mind while designing. They give examples when when humor and playfulness are good to add into user experience and some cases when it isn't.
- Reda's tweet about Slack changelog
- Timehop on Valentine's Day
- Eric Meyer year on Facebook
- Eric Meyer on Designing for Crisis
- Children's pirate-themed scanner (In NYC not Philly!)
- Mailchimp party pooper mode
- Basecamp default profile photos
This episode Reda and Kyle talk about the thoughtbot hiring process for designers. They talk about what they look for in designers, what they look for in a portfolio, and details about each step in the hiring process.
- Blurred lines
- Organically designing the pathways around buildings
- The Feedback Episode
- Playbook hiring
Reda and Kyle follow up on SVGs, talk about differences between Chrome and new Safari's pinned tabs. They discuss some of the ways of allowing users control over design and themes of the app they are designing. Lastly they talk about how they design with real content or as close to as real as possible. BONUS: Kyle sings a line of Aerosmith.
- Trello inspiration
- Safaris new features
- Vimium
- MySpace default theme
- WWDC Session introducing NSPersonNameComponentsFormatter
- Sketch Data Populator
- Sketch Data Parser
- IE Mac 5.5
In this episode, Brenda Storer stands in for the vacationing Reda. Brenda and Kyle talk about Brenda's recent talk on SVG's. The in's and out's of her process of learning about them and talking about them. They also talk about giving talks.
This episode of The Bike Shed is sponsored by:
- Code School: Entertaining online learning for existing and aspiring developers. Leave a review on our iTunes page to be entered to win a free month of Code School.
Links and Show Notes
- Slides from the talk
- Brenda's codepen account with a bunch of simple examples of SVGs to play with
- SVGO
- Sara Soueidan's 2014 CSSConf talk
- Jacob Jenkov's SVG Book online
- Chris Coyier's technique for using symbols as icons in svgs
- Jake Archibald's article on animating a stroke
- Iconic Icon Responsive Icons
- ManhattanJS website with animated clouds
- Brenda on Twitter
In this episode, Kyle and Reda tackle the 'should designers code' debate. They talk about the differences between designing vs implementing, what to look for in a good designer and if developers should know how to design.
This episode of Tentative is sponsored by:
- Code School: Entertaining online learning for existing and aspiring developers. Leave a review on our iTunes page to be entered to win a free month of Code School.
Links & Show Notes
- Between Screens with Kyle
In this episode, Kyle and Reda talk about vacation as a designer, some of the signs that they are burning out and how they deal with burnout.
This episode of Tentative is sponsored by:
- Code School: Entertaining online learning for existing and aspiring developers. Leave a review on our iTunes page to be entered to win a free month of Code School.
Links & Show Notes
- Between Screens Podcast with Kyle
In this episode, Kyle talks about his current project, Reda talks a lot about accessibility and how he designs for it, and Kyle trolls Reda into a rant about the Hamburger icon.
- World Accessibility Day
- Color Oracle is free Mac app to help you view your designs through the eyes of someone with color Blindness
- Xscope has a bunch of utilities one of which can view colors from different types of color blindness.
- Obvious always wins by Luke W
- Not mentioned but we recommend watching Web Accessibility Wilderness Guide
In this episode, Kyle & Reda finally talk about design sprints, they discuss the process at thoughtbot, argue about prototyping and how they pick the right tool for the right job.
- Invision
- Marvel
- thoughtbot Design Sprint Repo
- Google Ventures design sprint
- Gamestorming
In this episode, Kyle & Reda follow up about product focus, then move on to talk about designer job titles and experimentation in UI design.
- JTBD
- New apple building
- Definition of Product
- Rototo
- Little Big Details
In this episode, Kyle & Reda talk about giving design feedback to peers, and receiving feedback from clients and users.
- On Design Feedback
- Sassquatch- Use coupon code TENTATIVE for 25% off!
In this episode, Kyle & Reda talks about text editors, Sassquatch, and Sass.
- Macvim
- Sublime 3
- Sassquatch- Use coupon code TENTATIVE for 25% off!
In this episode, Reda & Kyle—mostly Reda—talk about game design versus app design, juggling between projects, and creativity.
- Rototo
In our inaugural episode, Reda & Kyle discuss the latest browser announcements, React Native, and buzzword pet-peeves.
- Microsoft Announces "Project Spartan"
- Vivaldi
- React.js Conf 2015 Keynote- Introducing React Native