Newsletter 2.0 (now with links, quotes, memes, videos, and events)


Dear Reader,

Jeff here...Today, we're trying something different with the newsletter.

For the last two years, Hannah and I have been writing this weekly advice column for you and over 5,000 designers.

It's been a wild ride...from late-night cramming to early-morning writing sessions to beautiful feedback and encouragement that makes it all worth it.

This advice letter has been a weekly reminder for us to keep innovating, but the Fountain Institute is becoming more than just Hannah and I...

The community of designers around the Fountain Institute is our real value so we thought--it's time for our newsletter to grow with the community.

Introducing the newsletter2.0...(final_final_but_not_really)

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🦾 AI-powered post-its
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Today, Miro launched an AI version of its popular white-boarding tool (shared by Jerome Bertrand)
​Learn more​

πŸŒ… Non-managerial career path
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Staff Design explores how individual contributors are exploring careers at the highest level and has some great resources
(shared by Anja Lena)
​Learn more​

πŸ’° Paid Figma plugins
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Figma just launched a section in their resources page with paid items
​Learn more​

🧠 How to be a facilitator
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Hannah Baker just published an article on how and why you should build skills as a design facilitator
​Learn more​

Apply to join the Guild of Working Designers here.

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from Henry Mintzberg, an excellent source for design strategy
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Share this quote on Instagram​

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​Source, shared by Rana Fathi in the Guild​

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Learn to create a winning strategy in UX

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Learn how to initiate systemic change within an organization, whether a small team or a large city.

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

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Learn how to build a winning UX or product strategy that aligns design with business.

April 17-May 8, 2023

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Until next week!

Jeff Humble
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Designer & Co-Founder
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The Fountain Institute

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P.S. We'd love some feedback on the new newsletter. Hit reply and let us know what you think!

The Fountain Institute

The Fountain Institute is an independent online school that teaches advanced UX & product skills.

Read more from The Fountain Institute

Ready Beats Perfect (+ four habits from Hatch Conference) By Hannah Baker Dear Reader, Last week I had the pleasure of hosting the Dome Stage at Hatch, a design-leadership conference bringing product and UX folks together to share what’s working (and what isn’t). Q&A with Iris Latour, co-founder of THEFT Studio. Photos from Hatch Conference Photographers Rebecca ruetten, Indigo Lewisohn, Not because I’m fearless, but because I’d done two simple things: I prepped my intros for each speaker,...

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10 Design Diagrams To Study Instead of Staring Into the Void by Jeff Humble Dear Reader, It's that time of the year. Another boring Q3 earnings call, and all you want is to go back to the beach. You look at yourself in Zoom, and all you see is a bottomless void. Hey. Stop that. Instead, check out some of the best Jeffing diagrams on the internet. At least you will look like you are kind of working... 1. Diverging and converging in action by Nicholas Frota Designers talk a lot about diverging...

Six-screen signup: SSO/login, email entry, verify email (pre- & post-entry states), OTP with timer, success.

Level-up your critiques in 3 questions By Hannah Baker Dear Reader, You know the critique that starts with β€œquick feedback” and ends 45 minutes later with five conflicting opinions and no next step? Or the one where a senior voice speaks first and the room quietly aligns, even when the data points elsewhere. Here’s a simple pattern, adapted from Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), that pulls critiques out of taste debates and into clearer decisions. What VTS is (in 60 seconds) VTS is a...