
436: Reclaiming Your Focus
Explicit content warning
04/20/22 • 23 min
This week, we share our tips and strategies for reclaiming our focus to do deep design work. In the Sidebar, we revisit last week's conversation about the value of ideas and finding the right time to share an idea with the world.
Golden Ratio Supporters:
Vagaro is hiring designers to build the booking, payments, and marketing solutions for growing businesses in the beauty, wellness and fitness industries around the world. If you want to have an immediate, direct and high impact through design, learn more about designing at Vagaro.
The Sidebar:
The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.
Latest VIP Patrons:
- Shogo Tsuruda
- Øyvind Hjartnes
- Adrien Domken
- Ravi Aujla
- Javin Towers
Main Topic:
This week, we share our tips and strategies for reclaiming our focus to do deep design work.
Cool Things:
- Brian shared The Always Sunny Podcast, a happy-place podcast that shares the backstory and inside jokes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
- Marshall shared Balance Lock, a macOS utility app that locks the balance on your sound output.
Design Details on the Web:
- 📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
-
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
- ❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
- ⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.
- Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
- Subscribe on Spotify
Byeee!
This week, we share our tips and strategies for reclaiming our focus to do deep design work. In the Sidebar, we revisit last week's conversation about the value of ideas and finding the right time to share an idea with the world.
Golden Ratio Supporters:
Vagaro is hiring designers to build the booking, payments, and marketing solutions for growing businesses in the beauty, wellness and fitness industries around the world. If you want to have an immediate, direct and high impact through design, learn more about designing at Vagaro.
The Sidebar:
The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.
Latest VIP Patrons:
- Shogo Tsuruda
- Øyvind Hjartnes
- Adrien Domken
- Ravi Aujla
- Javin Towers
Main Topic:
This week, we share our tips and strategies for reclaiming our focus to do deep design work.
Cool Things:
- Brian shared The Always Sunny Podcast, a happy-place podcast that shares the backstory and inside jokes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
- Marshall shared Balance Lock, a macOS utility app that locks the balance on your sound output.
Design Details on the Web:
- 📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
-
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
- ❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
- ⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.
- Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
- Subscribe on Spotify
Byeee!
Previous Episode

435: New Feature Launch Checklist
This week, we share the checklist that we use when launching new features to make sure we’re not missing certain states, flows, or edge cases. In the Sidebar, we talk about working in public and the risk of people stealing your ideas.
Golden Ratio Supporters:
Vagaro is hiring designers to build the booking, payments, and marketing solutions for growing businesses in the beauty, wellness and fitness industries around the world. if you want to have an immediate, direct and high impact through design, learn more about designing at Vagaro.
The Sidebar:
The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.
Latest VIP Patrons:
- Predragus
- Josh Allen
- Lukas Oppermann
- Yi-Xuen Tan
- Zoë Smith
- Veronica Lin
- Lin Qiu
- BlueDog
- Cristian Iordan
- Tøirdheålbhåch Våinåmøinen
Main Topic:
This week, we share the checklist that we use when launching new features to make sure we’re not missing certain states, flows, or edge cases.
When there is new feature in app, how do you guys make sure that you considered all the scenarios and designed all the screens which will be affected by this change?
A gut-check checklist:
- Talk to eng!
- Design systems!
- Retrospectives and learning from mistakes
- No data, some data, lots of data
- Long strings, short strings, emoji, other user generated content
- New user (to product and to feature)
- Network status — offline state / network change
- Loading states
- Error states
- Screen sizes / orientation
- Accessibility settings (text size, contrast modes, voiceover)
- Entry points (deep link, email)
- Signed in, signed out, other authentication states
- Permissions status
- Color themes
- Performance
- Metrics / analytics
- Product-specific settings
- Product-specific plans (free, pro, etc.)
- Product-specific content (moderation, pending requests, etc.)
Cool Things:
- Brian shared Midsommar and Severance — lots of wholesome, lighthearted material for your week.
- Marshall shared the Spelling Bee daily puzzle from the New York Times.
Design Details on the Web:
- 📻 We are @designdetailsfm
- 🎙 Brian is @brian_lovin
- 🎙 Marshall is @marshallbock
-
- 🙌 Support us on Patreon - your support literally makes this show possible. Thank you ❤️
- ❓ Got a question? Ask it on our Listener Questions Hub, and we'll do our best to answer it on the show :)
- ⭐️ Enjoying the show? Leave us a review on iTunes.
- Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
- Subscribe on Spotify
Byeee!
Next Episode

437: Scaling Design Critique
This week, we talk about methods to scale design critiques with a growing team. In the Sidebar, we dig into the...details...of Figma's latest UI changes which added file type icons to file tabs.
Golden Ratio Supporters:
Zeplin recently shipped Flows!
Flows are a fast/effortless way to create and outline user flows and journeys. Designers can use flows to connect screens in seconds and map complete user journeys, showing not just the happy path but all possible paths and behaviors.
All you need to do is add screens you want in a flow, then add a connector which will snap into place to connect screens or design elements. You even add a label to clarify edge cases or error paths.
As you publish new versions of designs, your flows and connectors will get updated automatically as screens change.
Job Board:
We're curating the best product design roles from the world's most design-forward companies.
Universe is looking to hire a mid-level or higher product designer for remote work anywhere in the US. Universe opens up the possibilities of the internet, allowing anyone on earth to build a custom website or online store in seconds — without code, all from a phone. They’re looking for a Product Designer who is obsessed with the delightful possibilities of software and sees UI design as an artistic medium, not just a method of problem solving.
Dynaboard is the fastest way for developer teams to go 0 -> 1 on new web apps such as dashboards, admin panels, and approval flows. It combines multiple aspects of design and development tools into a single, collaborative experience. They are looking for their first Product Designer to join their high-velocity, early team to own the process of creating a new category of creative tool.
Glow is building the most elegant, powerful, and reliable crypto wallet. To do this, they need great designs — ones that are simple, familiar, and smart. Their small team is growing, and you’ll work closely with the team to craft new user experience patterns for interacting with crypto that will become the new normal for millions of people in the future.
Vagaro is hiring designers to build the booking, payments, and marketing solutions for growing businesses in the beauty, wellness and fitness industries around the world. if you want to have an immediate, direct and high impact through design, join Vagaro.
The Sidebar:
The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.
Latest VIP Patrons:
- Tolu Alder
- Daniel Graungaard
- Ryan Stone
- Dorian Grey
- Rishi Mody
- Laura Schweiger
- Dennis Harris
- Nick Myers
Main Topic:
This week, we talk about methods to scale design critiques with a growing team.
Hey friends! My UX team has grown immensely in past year, to 30+ members. We have weekly 1-hour design crits where anyone can share work & receive feedback. This has been helpful in leveling up presentation and feedback-giving skills, as well as unblocking team members and maintaining alignment.
This has become challenging at scale though. Any tips to make crits more useful for larger teams, or are we destined to break apart?
- Around can transcribe and collect meeting notes automatically.
Cool Things:
- Brian shared Nightmare Alley, the latest screenplay from Guillermo del Toro. No spoilers here!
- Marshall shared Play for iPad — native mobile prototyping, now on the big screen. It's good!
Design Details on the Web:
- 📻 We are
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