#12 / It’s Worth Staying In The Loop
Hello my friend! ??
Long time, no see! I know it’s been a hot minute since my last update, and boy, has a lot happened in that time. We’ve had WWDC, Google I/O, and Config 2023 by Figma – it’s been a whirlwind of activity in the design and tech world.
Keeping up can be tough, I get it. But trust me, it’s worth staying in the loop. Because if you’re not, you won’t even know what you’re missing out on. That’s why I’ve been spending loads of time soaking up all I can from these events.
Now, onto some exciting news - I’m shaking up the format of this newsletter. Each week, I’ll be sharing 4–5 nuggets of goodness with you. Expect thoughts, books I’m reading, handy tools, and great articles. This way, I can keep on learning and sharing all at once.
So, welcome to the first issue in our new style! I’d love to hear what you think. Enjoy! ??
Here’re a few things I’d like to share with you today ??
Have a great one and see you soon!
How to get to know new people as an introvert
As an introvert who speaks a second language, I’m not very comfortable reaching out to people I don’t know (the scariest scenario: networking session). However, I know it’s essential.
At Xero, we are lucky enough to have many opportunities (Friday drinks, morning teas, lunch hours, etc.) to meet new people. I started to take the mindset of using those opportunities to train my social skills.
Since last week, I intentionally push myself out of my comfort zone by going to a group of people I don’t know, joining their conversations, and introducing myself a bit. I got to know at least 4 peers from different teams that I haven’t have the chance to work with.
My approaches:
Thoughts?
AI is going to disrupt the stock photo business ?? ??
I did an experiment - to test my hypothesis that AI is going to disrupt the stock photo business ?? ??
I randomly picked a photo example from ShutterStock and used MidJourney to generate a second image based on it. The second image was almost like an upgraded version of the first one, and the quality was totally usable (except for a slightly lower resolution). According to current copyright laws, I can freely use the AI-generated image, even for commercial purposes, while the first image would cost me $249 for commercial use ??
Furthermore, I fed a ShutterStock thumbnail as a seed to the AI, which is not legally risky because the image is publicly available on ShutterStock’s website, and I didn’t directly use it (this will need to confirm, but I think someone definitely did similar things before me) ??
If you think about it, this is scary. It means that decades-old businesses like ShutterStock and Getty Images can be wiped out just like that. All the related business, such as photographers, equipment vendors, rental services, makeup artists, models, and props, will be affected, or even impacted ??
The key thing is that this cannot be stopped ??
Currently, there are some barriers, such as the photography parameters and descriptions involved in the Prompt, which may be difficult for people don’t have photography experience. But it will not be a problem soon: GPT-4 is coming. In fact, you can already use ChatGPT to generate Prompts for MidJourney now ??
AI is crushing another industry, just like digital cameras wiped out film industry back in the day ??
Stress, FOMO and anxiety will gradually become more common this year ??
What do you think? ??
Selfie at a conference: mission complete!
Thanks to UXNZ for having me. Really enjoyed the talking experience and all those talks from other speakers are awesome! ??
PS. I always wanted to take a selfie from a conference talk, and now the milestone was achieved ?
领英推荐
100 hours for a 20 mins talk
In Feb 2023, I joined the UX New Zealand conference in Wellington and do a speak alongside 42 other guests from all over the world. It was a 20+ mins talk, but I can say I prob spent 100 hours in total for my talk.
Sounds insane? Is it worth investing 100+ hours for a 20 mins talk?
If listing all the activities relevant to the talk, it’s actually a reasonable sum of time. Things like below:
This is something similar to designing a product. The result is only the tip of the ice, and the main body is hidden under the water.
The great thing about this process is that those learnings, experiences and examples are transferrable and reusable. In addition, it will strengthen my research, presentation and visualisation skills, so 100 hours? Time well spent!
Screen Studio: Your Next Favorite Recording App
Explore Screen Studio, a powerful video recording tool that combines simplicity with style, and elevate your video content creation game.
Keep Drawing in the AI World
This is a sketchnote I made last year when my family visited an exhibition about ancient Greeks. I quite like it and don’t think any MidJourney prompt can do the same thing and also refresh my memory of those good times with my family.
Non-crap tips and thoughts on design, product and technology ?
???Bear Who?
Hi there ??, I’m Bear, a seasoned Product Designer with 15 years of overall design experience and six years in product design, transforming the user experiences for millions ??
As an Apple Award-Winning Podcast Host at BearTalk and a Design Mentor at Springboard and CareerFoundry, I apply my self-taught design skills and science background to solve complicated problems and mentor budding designers ??
In my downtime, you’ll find me reading, drawing, podcasting, and making videos about everything from tech to design and productivity ?? ??
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