Every 2024 Newsletter You Missed by Jeff Humble Dear Reader, It's that time of the year again! Here are all the newsletters you missed in 2024 from the Fountain Institute: A Designer's Uncertain Path to Success Design Strategy vs. Design Vision: What's the difference? Is Poor Communication Hindering Your Projects? Balancing Freelance Life with Maya McBeath Innovation by Design with Cristina Colosi Shaping the Future of the Guild of Working Designers Figma Skills Won't Get You Promoted See...
26 days ago • 1 min read
Turning Challenges into Confidence: Lessons from Dyslexia By Hannah Baker Dear Reader, When I was seven, I was an expert at pretending. I could "read" picture books without actually decoding the words, using context to fill in the gaps. It wasn’t until my mom, a teacher, noticed I was faking it that I was tested and diagnosed with dyslexia. What followed were years of frustration, advocacy, and learning how to embrace a brain that simply worked differently. While my initial reaction was...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
28 Ways to Test an Idea (that is NOT an A/B Test) by Jeff Humble Dear Reader, Today I'm thankful for all the ways you can test that are not A/B tests. Executives and product people think A/B testing is the only thing on the testing menu. 🍽️ For me, it doesn't usually make sense to A/B test. Here's why: A/B tests should happen as late as possible. They might be the most scientific approach, but they require a lot of traffic. Plus, they're usually live and in code, so everything must be...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Big Updates and New Initiatives at the Guild of Working Designers By Hannah Baker Dear Reader, It’s been a transformative year for the Guild of Working Designers. We set out with a vision: to shape a community that’s driven by its members and creates real value for working designers. From co-creating our purpose and values with the community to building a core team, we’ve come a long way—and we’re only getting started! Here’s a quick look at everything that’s led us to this point, along with...
2 months ago • 3 min read
The Halloween Meme Special 🎃 by Jeff Humble Dear Reader, This year, I went a little crazy with the Spirit of Halloween designer memes. I could only find three on Google, so I made nine new ones for you. 🤓 Now, you have no excuse for showing up to work without a costume. I'm sure you can steal anything you need to make these costumes from the office supplies closet. 🫢 1. UX Designer by Jeff Humble Making this one was too easy. How are there so many clichés in the UX world? 2. Service Designer...
3 months ago • 2 min read
How Miro’s New Features Help Designers Move from Ideas to Action By Hannah Baker Dear Reader, If you’re a regular, you know the drill: every year, the biggest players reveal their latest tricks and tools, aiming to change the way we work. This time, it was Miro’s turn with Canvas '24, rolling out the Innovation Workspace with many new features that promise to take our workshops, meetings, and design sessions to new heights. You might be a die-hard FigJam fan, but for those like me who live...
3 months ago • 4 min read
The Biggest Hurdle in Strategic Projects by Jeff Humble Dear Reader, Strategic projects can fall into a million difficulties, but one hurdle takes down more designers than any other, and the sooner you prepare for it, the better. What is the hurdle? It’s the possibility that your strategic deliverable will be ignored entirely. Why strategic projects fail…🦗 We often start strategic projects with too much optimism. After bumbling around for a few months trying to figure out how to align your...
4 months ago • 2 min read
The Secret to Better Feedback: A Two-Way Approach By Hannah Baker Dear Reader, Ever been in a feedback session that felt... one-sided? You’re sitting there, listening to a barrage of opinions, and you start wondering—Is this even useful? The truth is, feedback can feel overwhelming when it’s not treated as a dialogue. That's because feedback is a two-way street. It's not just about one person talking and the other listening; it's about exchanging ideas that help both parties grow. The best...
4 months ago • 3 min read
5 Ways to Do Strategic Research by Jeff Humble Dear Reader, You may have done some user research and thought, what does the next level of research project look like? Well, strategy research is a good example. It can help you see how advanced research can look for any project, not just strategy. Here are five activities of strategy research to give you an idea of how you can go beyond user research: 1.) Understanding Market Dynamics Are you fighting the next wave or riding it? Markets...
5 months ago • 2 min read