New Layer

How do you design for accessibility? Accessibility means "access ability", the ability for an audience to access and interact with a design. We're not accessibility experts, but throughout our careers we've worked closely with or led design teams that have focused on accessibility. In this episode we share insights, resources, and tips for designing with accessibility in mind, and why it's easier than you might think. As Tanner says: "Great design is accessible design."

From Directors and VPs of Design to Heads of Design and Design Managers, what do these formal leaders do all day? In this return episode of New Layer, Tanner and Jasmine talk about the various responsibilities and areas of focus for formal leaders. Everything from working with their product, engineering, marketing, and sales counterparts, to headcount and financial planning and ensuring the work of the team is having an outsized impact on the business.

What matters most when hiring or being hired: experience, expertise, or eagerness?

This episode was recorded in front of a live audience as part of Chicago Camps Leadership By Design August 2020 event.

What's a one-on-one and why do they matter? Who should you be having one-on-one meetings with and what should you talk about? Should you come prepared or not? In this episode Jasmine and Tanner share insights and anecdotes into what makes for an effective one-on-one meeting and how to plan for them.

Tanner and Jasmine share their must-read books for designers. Spanning everything from how to conduct design critique or present your work, to what makes a good manager and how learning about org design can help your understanding of the work you do.

The full list of books mentioned are:

1. The Design Method, by Eric Karjaluoto

2. The Shape of Design, by Frank Chimero

3. The Design of Everyday Things, by Don Norman

4. How Design Makes the World, by Scott Berkun

5. The Creativity Challenge, by Tanner Christensen

6. The Making of a Manager, by Julie Zhuo

7. Org Design for Design Orgs, by Kristen Skinner and Peter Merholz

8. Sprint, by Jake Knapp

9. Radical Candor, by Kim Scott

10. The Advantage, by Patrick Lencioni

11. The Messy Middle, by Scott Belsky

12. Redesigning Leadership, John Maeda

13. Discussing Design, by Aaron Irizarry and Adam Connor

14. Don't Make Me Think, by Steve Krug

15. About Face, by Alan Cooper

16. The User Experience Team of One, by Leah Buley

17. TED Talks, by Chris Anderson

18. Loonshots, by Safi Bahcall

19. Just Enough Research, by Erika Hall

20. Principles, by Ray Dalio

21. The Dance of the Possible, by Scott Berkun

22. The Elements of Typographic Style, by Robert Bringhurst

23. Thinking With Type, by Ellen Lupton

24. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, by Edward Tufte

25. Why are we Yelling, by Buster Benson

26. Resilient Management, by Lara Callender Hogan

27. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni

28. Articulating Design Decisions, by Tom Greever

29. Start With Why, by Simon Sinek

30. Mastering Collaboration, by Gretchen Anderson

If you pick just four books to read from the list, Tanner and Jasmine recommend: The Design of Everyday Things, Org Design for Design Orgs, Discussing Design, and The Making of a Manager (even if you're not a manager!).

Joining a new team or company? There's a lot you can do up-front to ensure you set the stage for your career. More than that: the insights shared here are applicable for everyone, not just those joining a team for the first time. From dedicating time to meeting those on your team (and learning about them as individuals), to digging into understanding the history and context around the team, company, or projects. Jasmine and Tanner go into depth on what you can do when you're first joining a team to make sure you're successful, as well as what resources you can use to make the process of onboarding easier.

When everyone on your team is working remotely—physically apart—how do you ensure you stay productive? How do you avoid burning out, unnecessary distractions, or worse? In this episode of the podcast Jasmine and Tanner share tips and insights into the world of working apart from your team. Why it's important to create a dedicated work space, how to create that vital transition from "home" to "work", and ways to stay connected when it's so easy to be removed.

What's the best way to present your design work in a critique? There are a number of designers can do to ensure the feedback they get in critique is helpful, actionable, and levels-up not only themselves but their team too. Things like preparing by considering the feedback you're looking for, the stage of work, who will be attending the critique, and more. As well as learning how to be a great facilitator and using critique as a means for not merely sharing work but also uncovering new or different ideas.

What is self awareness and why does it matter? In this episode of New Layer Jasmine and Tanner explain how the more you understand yourself, the more impactful you can be. If you're going to be an impactful designer you have to know how you work best and why, as well as how and why your peers do their best work. Thankfully there are a lot of things you can do to build your self awareness, like building an environment of feedback, taking a persona or archetype personality test, journaling, or getting a coach. All will help you improve your understanding of yourself as others see you, which is a powerful key to doing impactful work.

How do you scope the work of a design project? What do you do when someone asks: "How long will this take to design?" An important component of product design is the ability to estimate how much time and effort a task or project will take, but estimations can be tricky to determine. In this episode Tanner and Jasmine discuss everything that goes into project estimates and why they can be so daunting for designers just starting out (and why estimates can be tricky for experienced designers too).