Complementary (Anthony Hobday, Katie Langerman)

Anthony, Katie and special guest Jeremy Elder chat about the visual design aspect of design systems.

Find Jeremy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeremyelder

GitLab's papercuts site: https://papercuts.gitlab.com/

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

How might designers learning how to code impact interface design? Enjoy this extremely reasonable conversation between Katie and Anthony.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

In contrast with episode 25, Anthony and Katie discuss things they are good at when it comes to interface design.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

What does it really mean to design for developers? Should you cater to power users or beginners? Anthony, Katie and Nate discuss this (and more) with lots of spicy takes and speculation.

Nate Butler: https://nate.cv/

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

What are the different kinds of constraints and how do they impact design? Anthony and Katie break it down into several types of constraints including: arbitrary, technical, principled, and convenient.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

In this pilot episode, Anthony and Katie discuss taste as it relates to visual design.

Topics covered:

• Defining taste
• Are you born with good taste, and can it be learned?
• Why taste is important for designers

References:

• Brie Wolfson: Notes on "Taste" 

Hosts:

• Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign
• Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss what it takes to start designing something from scratch compared to working on an existing product, and the upsides/downsides of both.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss pace layering, design systems and AI.

Articles mentioned:

Nathan Curtis: Design System UI is More Expensive than a Product Team's UI

Mark Boulton: The Fast and Slow of Design

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

This week we're joined by Donnie D'Amato to discuss how design systems have impacted interface design.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie attempt to define wireframing, and discuss why or why not you might want to use them.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

In this episode, Anthony and Katie discuss beauty.

Topics covered:

• Universal beauty
• Classical vs. expressive aesthetics
• Practical applications of beauty
• The societal impact of beautiful interfaces
• Relying on classical beauty techniques when expressive design is out of reach

Anthony and Katie discuss how interface design evolves over time.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss the various properties that make up typography.

Links mentioned:

https://designregression.com/article/line-length-revisited-following-the-research

https://abookapart.com/products/on-web-typography

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony, Katie and special guest Lukas Oppermann discuss color. Check out Lukas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lukasoppermann⁠.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss the term “coherent” as it relates to interface design (after a bit of banter).

Figma Config talks mentioned:

• Ashley Seto: Using color at scale for aesthetics and accessibility
• Duolingo: Embracing art to enhance your product
• CSS talk: The future of responsive design

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss AI and what is uniquely human about design.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

In this episode, Anthony and Katie discuss skeuomorphism.

Topics covered:

• How we define skeuomorphism
• The rise and fall of design trends
• Applying realism and visual richness to flat design
• How design systems might handle embellishments vs. flat design

Hosts:

• Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign
• Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss design systems.

Topics covered:

• How to define the term “design system”

• Design tokens

• Naming things and ordinal scales

• Breaking out of a design system

Links mentioned:

• https://gk3fyi.substack.com/p/the-cost-of-craft
  

Anthony and Katie analyze two quotes related to design.

Anthony's quote from Frank Chimero: https://frankchimero.com/blog/2013/what-screens-want/

Katie's quote from PJ Onori: https://pjonori.blog/posts/analysis-of-style/

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss different roles and responsibilities related to interface design, sharing their preferred combinations.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss "Just Enough Design" by Taku Satoh. Spoiler: we like it.

Anthony's recommended short design books: https://www.anthonyhobday.com/blog/20230101.html

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie chat about futuristic interface design and make some *fun* predictions.

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony shares a quote to define elegance vs. extravagance as "do a lot with a little vs. a lot with a lot". Katie and Anthony discuss how this relates to interface design and the impact it has on interaction design and product longevity.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠⁠⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony, Katie and special guest Adam Silver discuss all things form design. We try to define form design (for Anthony's sake), and discuss things like toggle switches, good/bad form experiences, and border color contrast.

Find Adam on Twitter: https://twitter.com/adamsilverhq

Adam's book on form design: https://formdesignpatterns.com/

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie share their top habits for good interface design.

Design inspiration site Anthony mentioned: https://mobbin.com/

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss what makes interface design "thoughtful", including some specific things to keep in mind as a designer.

Anthony and Katie discuss what takes interaction design from good to great.

• Things look like they act and act like they look
• Useful animation
• Physical/spatial consistency
• Speed and responsiveness
• Fiddle factor
• Context awareness

Links:

• WWDC talk on fluid interfaces

Hosts:

• Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign
• Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss design feedback: how important it is, bad vs. good feedback, and the difference between harsh and direct feedback.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

In this episode, Anthony and Katie discuss accessibility for interface design.

Heads up that there's a slight audio quality change about halfway through.

Topics covered:

• Incorporating accessibility into your design process

• Evaluating a design for accessibility issues 

• How design systems impact the designer’s role in crafting accessible interfaces

• Designing with constraints
  

Hosts:

• Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign
• Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss commonly misused terminology, hot takes for the algorithm, and focusing on the approach instead of the reason.

Anthony and Katie define the process of decision making as it relates to design.

Anthony's post: https://x.com/hobdaydesign/status/1904449738084094138

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss how to safely add personality to an interface without sacrificing usability.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss what makes design feel "novel" and some strategies to achieve it.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Jared Spool joins Anthony and Katie to discuss what it means to be a strategic designer. We cover what strategy means, different leadership styles, and the difference between outcomes vs outputs.

Find Jared Spool on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmspool/

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss a listener topic around "looks pretty vs. works good".

Books mentioned:

Form Design Patterns, Adam Silver

Designing Interactions, Bill Moggridge

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss layout. Take our poll on main content alignment with a sidebar: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign/status/1698041067914801515?s=20

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss the book Do Design: Why Beauty is the Key to Everything by Alan Moore.

Do Design: https://thedobook.co/products/do-design-why-beauty-is-key-to-everything?Format=Paperback

Anthony's list of short design books: https://www.anthonyhobday.com/blog/20230101.html

Dan Luu: Willingness to look stupid

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie celebrate one year of producing this podcast with a game: finish this sentence. Each person prepared sentences for the other to finish, all related to design.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie share some things they're not good at when it comes to interface design. There are plenty of benefits to being aware of your own weaknesses, and learning to talk about them openly can help lead you towards improvement and/or acceptance.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie are joined by Jamie Mill to discuss his post on the elements of product design.

Jamie Mill: https://jamiemill.com/

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Katie reacts to Anthony's "hot takes" to wrap up 2023.

Designers and developers that have influenced us.

The folks we mentioned:

Stephanie Eckles

Andy Bell

Brad Frost

Elizabeth Goodspeed

Frank Chimero

David Pye

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

In this episode, Anthony and Katie discuss how to improve your visual design skills.

Topics covered:

• Tacit vs. explicit knowledge
• Systematic approaches  to learning patterns
• Caring about design details
• How quality in impacts quality out

Visual design inspiration links:

• https://www.lapa.ninja/

• https://land-book.com/

• https://godly.website/

• https://saaslandingpage.com/

• https://www.siteinspire.com/

• https://twitter.com/awesome_saas

• https://twitter.com/saasshots

Other links mentioned:

• https://open-props.style/⁠

It's a ranty one folks. What is performative design, and why does it exist?

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠⁠⁠⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss design portfolios, case studies, and networking.

Links mentioned:

• Original tweet
• Button design walkthrough
• Anthony's website
• Checkbox design

Hosts:

• Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign
• Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Katie, Anthony and special guest Guy discuss design folklore: what it is, where it might come from, and how to best use it in your design practices.

Guy Segal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guysegal

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss what makes typography, layout and color the three pillars of visual design. 

Links mentioned:

• Non Designers Design Book

• Grid systems

Hosts:

• Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

• Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss landing page visual style compared to application visual style, crossover between brand and utility, and whether or not a single designer can do both styles.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony, Katie and special guest Maggie Appleton speculate about how AI could impact interface design in the future.

The five possible futures we discussed:

1. AI replaces designers and developers completely

2. AI produces a rough draft, a designer “tidies it up”

3. AI builds the interface out of supplied components and a description of how the interface works

4. AI produces content/components on demand, designers change it to suit, then put the interface together

5. Designers ask AI focused questions to get inspiration

   
   

You can find Maggie on Twitter or on the web at https://maggieappleton.com/

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie chat about the people behind interfaces, and how competing priorities impact the end result of interface design.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie each pick their top 3 most loved design techniques in the spirit of Valentine's Day.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

What's the difference between customization and personalization in interface design? Anthony and Katie discuss this along with the benefits/downsides of designing for customization.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss some differences and similarities between design and development.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie bring on the holiday vibes by discussing the past, present and future of software design. Bah humbug!

New design systems podcast Katie mentioned: On Theme

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman

Anthony and Katie discuss why visual design is valuable for your career as a designer.

Hosts:

Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesign

Katie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman