384: Finding Time for North Star Design

384: Finding Time for North Star Design

Author: Brian Lovin, Marshall Bock February 10, 2021 Duration: 29:38

This week, we talk about the real struggle of finding the time to do North Star design. It’s complicated! In The Sidebar, we try to find the digital equivalent of a Norman Door.


Golden Ratio Supporter:

A huge shoutout to Copilot, the best app for budgeting and tracking your personal finances. It’s our favorite tool for categorizing our spending, having our net worth available at a glance, and getting monthly (and yearly!) digests of all your spending.

Get the app at copilot.money.

Latest VIP Patrons:

  • Ana Mak
  • Jackie Chui
  • Kyriakos Spiliotopoulos
  • Stacy Holmstedt
  • Chris
  • Aislinn Kelly
  • Eric Stahl
  • Nathan Lindahl
  • Tim von Bischopinck
  • Joshua McDonald

The Sidebar:

The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to full episodes going forward! Sign up at https://patreon.com/designdetails.

In this week's Sidebar, we try to decide what is the “Norman Door” of digital design.

  • nosam7 asks: What, if anything, would you consider the "norman door" of the digital space?
  • What are Norman doors? A Norman door is a poorly designed door that confuses or fails to give you an idea whether to push or pull. It was named after Don Norman, the author of The Design of Everyday Things which explored the phenomenon.
  • Don Norman wrote The Design of Everyday Things.

Follow up:


Main Topic:

John Cafazza asks: With a typical day being filled with heads down work, review sessions, and all the things necessary for shipping new features, how do you and your larger design team find the time and headspace to design for the future of your product? A proverbial North Star vision for the entire Product.


Cool Things:

  • Brian shared The Sinner, an anthology series that examines how and why ordinary people commit brutal crimes. Not a whodunnit, but a “why-“dunnit.
  • Marshall shared Ready Player Two, the follow up to Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. If you want some 80’s nostalgia candy, this is for you.

Design Details on the Web:


Byeee!


Every week, Brian Lovin and Marshall Bock settle in for a thoughtful, often meandering chat that pulls back the curtain on how things are made. Their Design Details podcast lives in the rich space where technology and the arts intersect, focusing less on polished case studies and more on the real, sometimes messy, work of design. You’ll hear them dissect the nuances of product decisions, debate the evolving culture of creative teams, and share personal stories from their own experiences in the industry. It feels less like a lecture and more like eavesdropping on a conversation between two deeply knowledgeable friends. The discussions regularly venture into the philosophical side of craft, examining why certain choices resonate and how design shapes our daily interactions with the world. For anyone curious about the thinking behind the pixels and interfaces, this show offers a consistent, grounded perspective. Tuning in provides a sense of community and a candid look at the process, making it a staple for designers and creators who appreciate substance over flash.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Design Details
Podcast Episodes
394: Open Source Design ft. Joey Banks [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:37
This week, we caught up with Joey Banks to talk about contributing to open source design. In the Sidebar, we ask Joey bonus questions about ramping up in a new job, the design advocate role, and being Twitter famous.Late…
393: The Not-So-Humble Button [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:21
This week, we talk about the hidden complexities of a designer’s favorite element: the button. In the Sidebar, we examine interfaces that defer moderation responsibilities onto the end user.Golden Ratio Supporter:AroundT…
392: Becoming a Strategic Designer [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:06
This week, we talk about how to become a more strategic designer: what should you be doing day to day, or thinking about more often? In The Sidebar, we talk about the downsides of using metaphors to describe the role of…
391: Portfolio Review Tips for Senior Designers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:50
This week, we share tips and best practices for senior designers who are presenting their work in a portfolio review. In The Sidebar, we break down the qualities of great typographic hierarchy in interface design.Golden…
390: Building Design Infrastructure ft. Kathryn Gonzalez [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:39
This week, we catch up with Kathryn Gonzalez, the Head of Design Infrastructure at DoorDash. We talk about building DoorDash’s first design system, how to scale a design systems team, balancing technical and design skill…
389: Better Design Reviews [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:47
This week, we talk about how to have better design reviews. Who, what, where, and when? We share our experiences, and frustrations, with certain formats and processes. In The Sidebar, we try to answer the question: WTF i…
388: Design Tips and Tricks, Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:34
This week, we cover part two of our design tips and tricks series. We talk about naming conventions, thinking in divs, structuring frames, and share a few Figma pro-tips. In The Sidebar, we talk about design content over…
387: Design Craft Tips & Tricks [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:59
This week, we dig into specific tips and tricks to level up your craft game: how to leverage tools to make faster iterations, stay organized, and allow your mocks to easily scale over time. In The Sidebar, we dig into ho…
386: Designing with Grid Systems [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:52
This week, we talk about designing with grid systems. In particular: when grid systems break, and what to do when they don’t align with our hardware screens perfectly. In The Sidebar, we talk all about design debt: how t…
385: Raising Your Team’s UI Bar [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:32
This week, we talk about strategies and tactical tips for elevating a team’s bar to design high quality interfaces. In The Sidebar, we talk about how to transition from web to mobile design.Golden Ratio Supporter:A huge…