The UX Akron team is always seeking fresh perspectives on User Experience, Product Design, Interface Design, and Content Strategy. Here’s what we’re enjoying right now:
🎧 Podcast:
The Design Systems Podcast
https://www.designsystemspodcast.com
The Design Systems Podcast features fantastic conversations with great guests, with new episodes every week.
In a recent episode, “From Consistency to Contribution: How Design Systems Grow Trees with Jay Smith at REI,” host Chris Strahl and guest Jay Smith discuss the goal of “creating models that encourage flexibility of use while slowing down the rate of change.”
📚 Book:
Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World by Henry Grabar
https://bookshop.org/p/books/paved-paradise-how-parking-explains-the-world-henry-grabar/18727296
The impact of design decisions is far-reaching, and in Paved Paradise, the author discusses the myriad ways 20th Century Infrastructural design decisions continue to shape our world in surprising, heartbreaking, and comical ways.
Listen to Terry Gross interview the author on Fresh Air here: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/09/1174962751/paved-paradise-examines-how-parking-has-changed-the-american-landscape
💻 Blog Post:
Expressing Ideas Through Mind Maps by Tasha Markovich, UX Matters https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2022/12/expressing-ideas-through-mind-maps.php
Local UX Researcher Tasha Markovich highlights the under-utilized visualization tool “mind maps,” fleshing out best practices culled from her experience creating them for a variety of contexts, and reviewing some of her favorite digital tools for hosting collaborative mapping events.
🗞 Article:
New Yorker – “What Happens to All the Stuff We Return?” by David Owen https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/21/the-hidden-cost-of-free-returns
This thought provoking article about the reverse logisitics industry provides a window into the world of physical product development, where many of the same concerns digital product designers face also pop up. The author discusses how snags can lead to design innovation when someone takes the time to really look at the process. “You can’t beat the information you get from a product once a customer has touched it.”
😂 In Pop Culture:
Dennis Takes a Mental Health Day – It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, S16 E8
The longest running live action sitcom in American history ended their latest season with a deep dive into tech hell, where every device Dennis encounters seems to be conspiring against him. You can stream the episode on Hulu.
Have you read, watched, or listened to something really great and UX-y lately? We’d love to share it!
