Baldur’s Gate UX, local variables in Figma, career crisis, landscape theory

“The physical environment around us has been the main interface for the most part of humanity: grasslands, forests, mountains, river valleys, deserts. In order to survive and reproduce, humans have evolved to have perceptual tools that allow them to interact with their landscapes efficiently: where to find food, water, shelter, and, as importantly, what to avoid.

The dawn of digital interfaces and the Internet shifted our places of being from the physical environment to a virtual one. We spend more time looking at the screens of computers and phones than we do looking at nature. Evolution has shaped our visual perception to prefer certain landscapes, and these preferences can be applied to the new virtual 2D landscapes we encounter on screens as well.”

Why do users prefer certain designs? Insights from landscape theory →

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Editor picks

• The UX writing of Baldur’s Gate 3 . Dungeons and dragons and details, details, details.
• The most valuable MVP . The one that can’t be designed, built, or shipped.
• Do brainstorms work? The tyranny of collaborative ideation.
• Designing for trials . How Blinkist increases trial with push notifications.

Are we losing color? All logos are starting to look the same →

Make me?think

• Leaning into business as in-house designers . “If you want a “seat at the table,” you must learn the language and motivations that drive those already seated there. And for many of us, this language can feel foreign.”
• Working on zero-to-one . “Building new products from zero-to-one is hard. The odds are stacked unreasonably against you and your team. You need an incredibly strong self-belief, and a set of people who believe in that thing with the same amount of vigour, if you are to have any chance of succeeding at building something new.”
• Open challenges in LLM research . “Never before in my life had I seen so many smart people working on the same goal: making LLMs better. After talking to many people working in both industry and academia, I noticed the 10 major research directions that emerged. The first two directions, hallucinations and context learning, are probably the most talked about today. I’m the most excited about the others.”

Little gems this?week

Can designers truly ‘create’ value? →

Delightful and frustrating UX in video games →

Oppenheimer & UX: from atoms to experiences →

Tools and resources

• Tools for divergent thinking . How to avoid pre-mature convergence.
• Local variables in Figma . Migrating from color styles to variables.
• Career in crisis . Building a design career when the economy is against you.

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