Define your own magic loop

Hey folks,

Here are the top 10 things I found worth sharing and your UX tip of the week.

UX tip of the week

Define your (modified) magic loop for 2024.

• Ethan Evans describes the Magic Loop as a process through which any employee may systematically grow at a company with five basic steps:

  • 1) Do your current job well. 2) Ask your manager how you can help them. 3) Do what they ask. 4) Ask your manager if you could help in a way that also grows your skills toward a particular goal. 5) Do as they suggest, and repeat in a loop from step 4.

  • For more seasoned professionals, suggest your own ideas and align with your manager (or just go action them and report back).

• For best results, add the following to the above framework:

  • Reexamine your inner purpose with these 5 questions.

  • Articulate career goal(s) in the short and long-term.

  • Build a relationship with your manager. Ensure they are (or can become) a quality manager.

  • Assess skills that you need applied experience with to achieve career goal(s).

Top 10 things worth sharing this week

1. Matej Latin tested how well AI in FontJoy and ChatGPT can produce font pairings. It might not be long until it can pick original, contextual, high-quality pairings.
   
   

2. Jump start your UX knowledge with these free resources: Hack Design, Growth Design, UXDesign.CC Start, Degreeless Design, Webflow University, Figma Basics (h/t @abmankendrick)
   
   

3. Explore the recently Luro App launch by Paravel to improve design system component usage, documentation, and a11y/performance insights.
   
   

4. Try the story triangle or mountain if you need to upgrade your storytelling. Extended reading: Storytelling for User Experience and Design is Storytelling.
   
   

5. Seth Godin started a community called Purple Space. Jeffrey Zeldman wrote about users doing you a favor when they snag on your experience.
   
   

6. Refero is 19,000+ pages of real-world design from top products.
   
   

7. “Listening to music during brief (5-20min) breaks between cognitive tasks (done in silence) is best [for the sake of learning and attention].” Learn more from Dr. Huberman.
   
   

8. Haochen Zhang shared examples and challenges of AI-powered UX.
   
   

9. Reminder: Skip the prototype and use storyboards like AirBnB and experience mapping like Adaptive Path to drive vision alignment.
   
   

10. Indeed launched a redesigned Indeed.Design site with expanded brand guidelines and resources.

Thanks for reading!

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Sincerely,
Gerren