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Get a seat at the table and build the design career you want. This podcast is for designers looking to break in, level up, and take control of their careers—whether you're freelancing, climbing the corporate ladder, or just trying to get noticed. Every two weeks, we dive into career fundamentals, design best practices, and the hottest topics in the design community.
Mean, Storybook is a good thing to get yourself familiar with, you know. So just for our listeners thinking about, you know, working more together with developers or on design systems. Like, Storybook is one of the the big names, right, to to work with. Just just to play devil's advocate here, like what you just described for a single frame, like one page, is it quicker and better compared to just doing it yourself? And also, isn't it less fun?
Nick:This this way.
Tyler:And we're officially live.
Nick:We're officially live exactly. I mean, this is just an experiment. Good morning.
Tyler:Good morning, sir. How are we doing?
Nick:We're doing well. We're doing well. Yeah. Just... We're doing well.
Nick:Nothing else nothing else to say. How about you? How is and not Yes. Yeah. Very, very, very well.
Nick:You know, it's just me not being able to think about anything silly or crazy is, I think, a very good sign. But how how about you? How's director life? Because you are a design director now. I mean, is it like a new job?
Tyler:It feels like a new job. Mhmm. So I I am... I think I'm a month in, if you'd call it that. So the figuring it out phase.
Tyler:So I'm in that that nice little happy place where you have that... Not impostor syndrome, but, like, at the edge of what I know and what I don't know, which is a good kind of area to be in for growth, but still figuring it out. I don't know what I'm doing yet, but I'll I'll get there.
Nick:Right. So it's it's so it's it's, like, really a big jump compared to your, quote, unquote, old job then, this promotion.
Tyler:Yeah. Exactly. I think it... It's... I mean, the main thing is enabling other...
Tyler:Like, your success is measured by enabling others, not your individual contribution, which is something I'm gonna have to get used to. So I'm in that transition period where I'm handing off some of my projects or more immediate hiring for my replacement. Mhmm. And I'll do a bit more managing and future vision stuff than doing the actual work. So Right.
Tyler:Interesting transition.
Nick:Well, I mean, it will be very interesting also because, you know, our main topic of today, you know, later on in this episode is about, you know, actually practicing and improving your design hard skills, you know, actually designing. But sounds like like that's something you are not really doing anymore.
Tyler:Yeah. I don't do... I'm doing less and less. Like, to be fair, I'm doing less and less in my nine to five. I will always...
Tyler:My my manager joked to me about, like, I... My goal for you is to forget all the Figma shortcuts, but that will not happen. Will... I always do my outside experimental projects to always kind of keep up with what's current, but in the day to day, probably less so.
Nick:Well, let's do a quick test. What happens when you press k in Figma?
Tyler:Oh, I didn't even know it. To be fair, I never knew any other shortcuts to begin with.
Nick:Okay. Okay. Well, then you're well on your way. I mean I mean Yeah. Funny that you still have a manager at that level, by the way.
Nick:But so you... Yeah. You're achieving the goals your manager set for you.
Tyler:Yep. That's that's it. I'm I'm ahead of the curve there. I have no idea what any of the shortcuts are. I know what command f does, so that's that's one of the things.
Nick:I I... I'm not sure that that I do. F. More on f. Let's see what happens.
Nick:Find. Yep. I think. Yeah. I had to I had to look that one up, and I'm not even a director.
Nick:Anyway, so we, as you know, we started a new series, you know, becoming a modern in demand, hireable product designer. Yeah. Right? And today is is part number two out of 10. And today, we're talking about how to, you know, become a better designer in the literal sense.
Nick:Like, how do you just improve your craft, your taste, all the hipster things you read on on social media? But then, you know, really, like, how do you make something better? How do you make something look really good? And how do you practice? How do you get there?
Nick:Which will be very interesting because you being a director in house, me being a freelancer, I think that might mean different things for the both of us. And we practice in different ways, I guess.
Tyler:Yeah. I think, yeah, the hard skill is a really important one to get done first. Especially, like, I mean, especially with, like, new tools and how we're automating things, I think the hard skill is something you have to nail immediately. So if I'm thinking about someone who's new or junior or kind of in the junior mid category, the hard skill is something you have to really get right. As we are...
Tyler:Like, I think we've talked about it before. Like, you're jumping into prototyping using all these things where these AI tools are very prescriptive or it's very happy path. If you're not using your, I guess, designer brain, you can really fail at your deliverable. So it's really important to get, like, a a base level understanding of, like, design, like, the umbrella design, like like, aesthetics, spacing, proper UX, like, all all, like, all the things. That way, you can be the art director that you need to be when you kind of, like, onboard some of these newer tools.
Nick:Yeah. So does that mean starting in the old school manual way, just you and your keyboard and the tool just working?
Tyler:Yeah. Like, jumping into, like, jumping into Figma and, like, doing things manually is the the important thing. So it's jumping into, like, Figma, creating some designs, creating a design system from scratch by bundling things together into reusable components, like learning, like, the the baby steps that you need to know. Eventually, you can speed that up, but you have to know what good looks like first until you can start running with it.
Nick:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, sure. But if you generate something, you know, you can say, well, it looks fine. But if you have the skills, you'll be able to tell, you know, the places where it gets it right and more importantly, the places where it doesn't get it right Yeah.
Nick:For your follow-up prompt or your fine tuning in in in Figma. I... Yeah. I I still don't really do it. You know, I I I tried this, you know, the five coding, the prototyping thing.
Nick:I see so many people talk about, you know, get an 80 version first and then, you know, find you in in Figma. But I'm just not sure. You know, it feels to me like having to analyze that 80% that just drops into your your Figma. Mhmm. You know, it's...
Nick:There's so much disconnect there. You know, you... I mean, you haven't built it yourself, so you don't really know all the details. You have to start from scratch looking at it. It feels more exhausting than just creating it yourself because you just get so much more familiar with it when you build it yourself.
Nick:So I'm not sure if I'm just old, you know, boomer like in this this scenario or if, you know, arrogantly speaking, everyone else is getting it wrong.
Tyler:No. I think you're there. I think you're not the lone wolf here. Like, I did an exercise with my team, like, two weeks ago as I'm trying to, like, get them into this kind of builder mindset. I did, like, a quick kind of FigJam whiteboard session of, like, the current state of AI in our workflow.
Tyler:Basically, three categories, what you do today, what you'd love to start doing, and then what does AI not do well at all, which is, like, the sanity check. And then that last bucket was really something that I wanted to kind of double click on. It's like, number one, it's too happy path. You miss a bunch of mistakes. It generates a very generic style if it's not anchored on if it's not anchored on the design system.
Tyler:It's like, there's a bunch of flaws to it, so, like, you're not wrong there. One thing I think you shouldn't ever skip or you should only skip if you're more of, like, the senior is, like, the journey or flow map in process where you're understanding, like, what is the current state? What are the edge cases that you're supporting? And then you can vibe the code on top of that. But, like, there's some of, like, the, like, first principles from, like, a craft standpoint that you don't wanna skip or you you wanna keep sharp.
Nick:Yeah. Well, that's true. It's like if you... If you're an athlete, you're you're a professional hockey player or basketball player or whatever, you do warm up exercises. Right?
Nick:Like before a game, but also during the week, like just your training ground moments. Like, that's that's something we should do. Like, we're athletes in our own way. You know, we we have a a skill that needs to... We need to stay on top of.
Nick:So that means for me, at least, like, Figma, like, a cannabis tool is probably going to stay. Right? I mean, you you have you have to... I'm not sure how it... If this applies to you and your role.
Nick:In your builder, like, your your not nine to five situation, I think it will, but you have to keep drawing things just to say... To to just to remember how it works and to just to just to stay sharp, I think.
Tyler:Yeah. I think there's always gonna be... Like, if I'm thinking about, like, future state, what's the ideal workflow? I think part of it is still part of it is still Figma or some kind of design tool. I just think where the future state, what I'm thinking about is, like, the source of truth has always been two different locations.
Tyler:It's like in Figma and then also in code. And then it's just like... It's like this yelling match between design and engineering. Make sure it looks like this, and then there's always a delta. There's always a delta between the two.
Tyler:But I think the ideal workflow that I think I want or that we should get to is having code be the source of truth. So there's this, like, workflow that I've seen some designer do where he's using paper, which is like a Figma equivalent.
Nick:Mhmm.
Tyler:Yep. But the workflow there is essentially the same where you would do in engineering where you'd, if you wanna create a new thing or a new feature, you'd create a branch off of current state. So you branch off of production, you create your new thing, you merge it back. There's a similar designer workflow that this designer was doing where they were pulling in current state into paper or Figma, which is one to one to what exists in in code, doing the edits, updates, and then merging that design back into the code base. So there is a...
Tyler:There is still a craft or a high fidelity kind of pixel pushing action that is required if you really wanna get something, like, super, super clean and tight that still requires you to move things around within, like, a Figma or some kind of design tool, which is interesting.
Nick:Mhmm. It is. But but then the main question is, how do you get better at this? Like, the literal... The output.
Nick:Like, how how do you grow to deliver something that looks better than you were able to do, you know, six months ago?
Tyler:You know, it's a boring answer. And, like, we've seen, like, a lot of this on, like, Twitter or LinkedIn where people do these, like, three hundred and sixty five day challenges where every day Mhmm. They would take up an... Like, you can either subscribe to a website or, like, you would pick something new to design every day, and the goal is just to have one output. And that could just be as simple as just, a form, a quick hero section, whatever it is.
Tyler:Like, repetition seems like the thing. So it's Yeah. Either creating something new or replicating of something that currently exists, whether it's like a new style, a new a new liquid glass, whatever. Whatever the new liquid glass is of today, just like try to figure that out so you're trying all these different things. And then the goal there is not that you wanna implement every one of those different techniques or styles into what you're building, but just that you have them at the ready.
Tyler:Because you might merge things together or, like, aggregate, like, two different concepts together to make a new thing, but it's just getting... It's just keeping your your your your sword sharp.
Nick:Right. And then you probably need someone or something to give you advice. Right? Because how do you otherwise know if you're doing something well and why you can improve?
Tyler:Yeah. I think... Yeah. That's that's true. I think pick your favorite one or two designers, copy their stuff, or create something new every day, and then have some coaching and mentorship in in terms of what is your one or two year goal so they can they can keep you accountable in that in that journey that you wanna be on.
Tyler:Yeah. I I hesitate to say five years because things change so quickly. So I I like to cap it at, like, one to two years.
Nick:Yeah. Things are shifting so quickly.
Tyler:It's hard for me to, like, concretely say, like, a five year plan is worth worth doing.
Nick:No. No. No. Five five years. I mean, it it...
Nick:That feels like a century, like a lifetime away in in in today's world. So... Yeah. I mean, I would even go... Like, it's it's...
Nick:When this releases, it's it's October. I would even look to have a goal between now and Christmas even just, like, really short term. Then when you have a Christmas break, allow yourself to, you know, make a plan for the New Year, you know, for Christmas the year after. Specifically, you know, you you... I mean, you could think about, you know, having a job, but also more maybe about systems.
Nick:Like like, next year, around this time, I want to have a playground section on my website where I share 52 experiments that I designed. So once a week, something. Multiple benefits. It makes you a better designer, of course, because you created 52 things. You're building a mindset of shipping something, and you have this wonderful collection of of crazy ideas and cool things that you can showcase on your website, which makes you appear as someone who's really passionate about their work.
Nick:And I think that's a big selling point and a great way to stand out compared to the vast majority of people who do not have a playground on their website.
Tyler:Yeah. I think that's... Yeah. And to your point, it's not... I don't think it's...
Tyler:It makes you appear. It just... It it is. You are, like It is.
Nick:Yeah. Yeah.
Tyler:From your... Like, hearing you, like, you're pass... You're still passionate about, like, that part and having a playground place. That's a really cool addition. It's like this person...
Tyler:Here's this person's case studies, but here's these different experiments that he's working on. And that's also Yeah. Like, I think for freelancers also, I think that's probably even double beneficial, whatever the word is. Because these... There's probably...
Tyler:When I'm looking for a freelancer or when someone's looking for a freelancer, I'm looking for a specific style or a thing that they... That I want that they do well. So, like, if someone's a landing page expert, I'm looking for someone who does landing pages. Or if there's someone... I'm looking for a specific aesthetic, I'm looking for someone who designs in that in in that aesthetic.
Tyler:And then also, if you have a playground, I'm looking for a specific thing. Maybe there's something in there that I really want for my product or service Yep. That'll grab my attention to reach out to you.
Nick:Yes. Because it's it's... That playground, it... There's just... There's, I won't say, no constraint, but there are way less constraints compared to an actual project, you know, because Yeah.
Nick:It's just you and your imagination. You can design or build or do anything. You know, it's not customer facing. It's not... There's no deadline or a budget.
Nick:It's just you and whatever you can come up with. Mhmm. So it's also a good way to showcase your creativity, your your range, and and all the things you can do. And it's a lot of fun, most importantly. So Yeah.
Nick:All I see is benefits to to doing something like that. And it's probably the best way to to practice, and then you can also network and and share and talk about it and blah blah blah. But that's for another part of this series, you know, the networking part. So, yeah, foundational stuff, I think, for your career.
Tyler:Yeah. I think the... Like, as boring as the answer is, like, skills is just repetition. Like Yeah. Copy...
Tyler:Like, it just look and copy, look and copy until you develop your own style. And that gets a bit more muddy when we have things like design systems that make things, like, more structured and uncreative, I find.
Nick:You know, less creative than, you know, your playground, but still, as you probably know, the design system is never finished, and there's always a situation where the current rules do not really fit the situation you're in. And then, you know, the the... We designers will always have this pull towards the detach instance button. Right? So we want to to break loose from the design system.
Nick:And whenever that happens, you have to be aware. It means that the the design system probably is limited. Or you're doing something really silly, you know, not in... Not the best thing to do, maybe, but it's probably because the design system, there's an opportunity to to grow it, and then that requires your creativity again. Yep.
Nick:You know? So, of course, it's less less creative, but there's there's opportunity there for sure.
Tyler:I think there's a
Nick:You know?
Tyler:I don't know if you've used the new Figma agent tool recently.
Nick:Not so much. I ran into a bug. So for any Figma principal listening, I need to... Needed to authenticate my my agent. It's really cool.
Nick:It it it shows me a copy prompt button. A really great user experience. Like, it tells me I need to do something. I don't know how, but it gives me the exact text I should paste into my agent chat, and then it should take care of itself. But when I click copy, nothing happens.
Nick:So Okay. So I'm stuck. I'm I'm stuck now. So... But I I have to fix my MCP and and all that stuff.
Nick:So I I had no way around it, but I was frustrated. You know? I was so happy with... I had this moment. That's that's clever, Followed up by a very big disappointment...
Nick:Disappointing moment. So it's exactly the UX roller coaster I don't want to be on. But anyway, you're you're telling me this with a reason. Say more.
Tyler:Fair. Yeah. I mean, it's come... It's initially when I tried it, it wasn't doing at all what I wanted. But now I find...
Tyler:I found some useful things you can do with it. To go to your point about, like, how can you stay creative. The... Like, the design system, like, making sure that you're deliverable or, like, the Figma that you hand over to the engineering team is, like, using the design system so they're not confused. They know what component to leverage.
Tyler:I find that, like, if you're... If you just wanna go quickly, you just design your thing and make sure your mock up is clean, and you don't have to really necessarily think about design system a 100% of the time. Sigma's agent can actually update your mock up to follow the design systems that that it's connected to. Yeah. So that means, like, I'm really literally just selecting the frame that I wanna update, and then I'll attach my design system file or connect it to it, which has...
Nick:Before we continue, if you're feeling stuck in your design career or if you feel like you're doing solid work while no one really notices, we've got a bunch of extra stuff on our website.
Tyler:We're building a community for product designers to actually learn, grow, and get hired, not just scroll and collect more inspiration.
Nick:There's also articles, checklists, and courses.
Tyler:All based on real world experience from both of us. No fluff, just what actually works.
Nick:Check out designtablepodcast.com. The link is in the description.
Tyler:Like everything, typography, all the components, models, all all the things. And I'll just say, make sure you make sure all the style, all the typography, all the spacing rules, all the components variables are applied to the screen. And
Nick:it Yeah.
Tyler:Does a pretty decent job of it.
Nick:Mhmm.
Tyler:Like, it... Like, it's it's saved me a lot of time. It's like, I'm just like, make sure that I'm close to it and then just go the extra mile so that it's perfect for hand off, and it does a really decent job. Like, you have to double check it sometimes. Sometimes it'll hallucinate which component.
Tyler:Like, if your chip component looks too much like a pill component, it'll put the wrong one. Yeah. But that might just be an error in how we construct the design sis... But it Yeah. True.
Tyler:It's really useful. And, like, you can you can stay more creative in kind of creating, like, experience. And then, like, the the tedious part of, like, the design system management piece is handled for you.
Nick:Okay. And then, like, when you say it does a decent job, do you then... You you say you're double checking things. Do you refine things? Or, like, if you do not see any obvious errors, do you then not touch it anymore and consider it's, you know, ready to be hand over?
Tyler:Yeah. Like, I'll I'll just go into the layers of the of the frame that I'm that I'm designing, and I'm just making sure that, like, the spacing variables are applied. The component is the correct one. And if I see, I'll go I'll, like, I'll go 30% into, like, the actual design just making sure... Like, some color things I can tell, like, other...
Tyler:Like, if a font is used correctly or a color is being applied correctly. But, like, some of the components, wanna make sure that we're using it so that we're giving it over to the engineering team using the right component. Because we have the design system, and then we have Storybook, which is, like, the central place where both engine design can validate if a component is truly crafted correctly. And then that's where they... The engineering team kind of drops in components into the production code.
Nick:Right. Yeah. I mean, Storybook is a good thing to get yourself familiar with. You know? It's just for our listeners thinking about, you know, working more together with developers who are on design systems.
Nick:Like, Storybook is one of the the big names, right, to to work with. Just just to play devil's advocate here, like, what you just described for a single frame, like, one page, is it quicker and better compared to just doing it yourself? And, also, isn't it less fun this way with with
Tyler:I don't think so. Because if I'm thinking about, like... Let's say, for example, I am kicking off a new section of a website. So it's... There's some kind of parent page and then a couple sub pages.
Tyler:Theoretically, there's a design system template for across all these. If there's a there's a main page template and then there's sub page template. But if I wanna quickly go through kind of cranking out these pages, And I don't wanna have to think about, okay, am I using the right component? Let me make sure there's auto layout, make sure there's all these things. And I just wanna really just nerd out on, like, the experience of the page.
Tyler:I'm playing with typography. I'm trying to play with different images that complement the text that kind of drive the the funnel where I want to. I'm having more fun because I'm not thinking about this... I don't wanna say compliance, but this thing that we need to do to make... Like, this tick of the box that we need to do.
Tyler:I'm more thinking about, like, in the topic of this conversation, the craft part.
Nick:Right. Right. Okay. So what you're what you're saying is you take away the annoying parts. Am I using the right component?
Nick:Yep. Which allows you to focus on the the solving of the puzzle, so to speak.
Tyler:Yeah. Exactly.
Nick:Okay. Okay. I mean, that's interesting because the reason I brought this up is because I see so many more people on on social media, you know, designers saying things like, I'm faster now, but I'm I'm just so much less proud of my work and so much less enjoying it because it's, you know, prompt, prompt, prompt, sitting back, waiting. You know? Reprompt, fine tune.
Nick:Like, that way of working, it's it's... For for a lot of people, it's it's not really designing, you know, in their mind at least. Like, you're not in control. You're just typing and waiting. Yes.
Nick:Yeah. Just an observation of what I'm seeing online. And, like, I... I'm I'm I'm I'm a bit between them and what you're saying. Like, I I can see the benefits.
Nick:It's it's helpful, but I'm I'm I'm not as as flabbergasted and and, woah, you know, mind blown as some people are.
Tyler:Yeah. I mean, it just depends what you mean by... Or what that person means by not doing designing. Because, like, if you were to say, like, what is design? It's it's problem solving.
Tyler:It's the ability to solve a problem with the tools... With the tool set that only a designer would... It's... What's what's the actual... There's a quote here that I'm trying to remember what it is.
Tyler:It's like, design... Designers solve problems with skill sets that no one else can solve or something or some version of that. And, like, what design is is problem solving. It's not... Like, we are not making the next Mona Lisa.
Tyler:We're we're solving a problem through, like, design and design principles and the goal to either reduce friction, solve a goal, solve a business problem, whatever it is. It's... But it's problem solving at the end of the day. But, like, theoretically, like, if... Unless you are working in an agency where you're kind of working on a project next and then you're you're filling up your cup with, like, new...
Tyler:Like, what fills up your cup is essentially creating new things versus working maybe a few projects where it's like you're maintaining them and watching that product or service grow. It really just depends on, like, what you mean by, like, design. Because, like, to me, that means you're solving a problem. Like, the challenge is solving a problem. Like...
Tyler:And then some of that is through, like, strategy and, like... And and kind of discovery. And part of it is also, like, the design... The actual design and pixel pushing. But some of that extra stuff.
Nick:Yeah. Maybe it's maybe it's... This this whole AI thing is really showing us different personal traits in different people, and and some go very well with this way of designing and some really struggle. Not because they're, you know, worst designers, but just because they, you know, enjoy really the nitty gritty pixel perfect stuff. They really want to have their nose on the ground and and and look at things.
Nick:Mhmm. While some people, you know, never really enjoyed Figma and all the pixel pushing and all the shortcuts. They they always were thinking about strategic stuff, and Figma was a ball... Bottleneck for them. And and them being able to explain into...
Nick:In words what they want really enables them to to focus on their strengths. You know? So maybe that's just the case.
Tyler:Yeah. Maybe that's... Maybe I'm the latter. Like, I I enjoy when I'm starting a project to have, like, that verbal diarrhea session with with ChatTubiti.
Nick:Mhmm.
Tyler:It's like, let me talk to to to ChatTubiti as, like, they're either some kind of dictionary or just the... Like a wall in front of me that kinda talks back when I'm... As I'm thinking through a problem. So that's just me talking out loud for thirty minutes. Then, okay.
Tyler:I have a problem. This is what we're working on. There's this thing we wanna do that helps facilitate some kind of workflow for this type of client or this type of persona. Actually, don't know what that means. What does this term mean?
Tyler:And then it tells me, and then I'm I'm piecing all the pieces together in my head so that I am now... I am... It's discovery. It's basically it's my personal discovery. I'm I'm I'm gathering knowledge so that I'm up to speed on, like, what we need to tackle or what kind of problem space we're in.
Tyler:And then from there, if I don't go straight into design from there, I can... I'm now talking with my different teammates to see if we're all on the same page of how we might tackle this problem. But then that thing I've created is is documented. Now I know what I'm trying to build. And it's like back to the whole, like, starting from a transcript thing, where it's like, I have this this this knowledge that I've now created by myself and then aggregated with others, and then I can go off and create a thing that's that's anchored in in insanity versus, like, just exploring and hoping I land on something true.
Nick:Right. Right. And this is, like, the the the collaborative part and working with your teammates and then the social part of it. It sounds like that's something you're really enjoying, like, maybe the most of of all of your job, not really being in tools, but more being around people.
Tyler:Yeah. And then... But that also translates to the, like, the individual... The craft work as well. Because, like, prior, if you're creating, let's say, feature x or landing page y, you create, like, two or three different variations that you'd kind of...
Tyler:It's basically the the double dot... The, like, the bracket out for the double diamond, which is going wide and just trying different concepts. You do, like, two... Maybe one or two or three different variations. You'd show you...
Tyler:You'd show whoever you'd... Your stakeholder is, and you get some feedback. You land on one, which is basically usually just a merging of all three into, like, the the perfect version, and then you go ahead. Like, the benefit now is that you're able to go super wide where you're able to go maybe 20 different directions quickly, like, in parallel, and then seeing you get more exposure to what a potential solution might be versus the initial three. So I think it's beneficial because you have...
Tyler:You're able to kind of go super wide, narrow in and still do that double diamond, but you've you've been... Now have been exposed to more solutions than the initial three.
Nick:It's interesting, right, how how some of these social media gurus are claiming just crazy things like the double diamond is dead. UX is dead. You know, is this game changer, blah blah blah. And and what you're just doing now is explaining just double diamond on steroids because of AI.
Tyler:That's what it should be. Like, you're... Like, it's not about throwing... I hear a lot of, like, social media stuff and stuff on LinkedIn. It's like throwing out the playbook.
Tyler:It's like, well
Nick:Yeah.
Tyler:Then what do you... What is the new one? And what is, like, the the the benefit of the playbook, which is that it was some kind of methodology. It was a tried and iterated approach to a thing, and then there's repeatable steps to tackle some kind of process or problem. But if we're throwing it all out and and just going, okay, let's AI it all, then, like, where where does, like, good come from?
Tyler:Like, it's Yeah. Good came from, like, the design process. We can upgrade it, but we don't have to throw, like, the the whole book out or, like, throw out the the baby with the bathwater.
Nick:Yeah. I mean, it's good every now and then to to review the playbook and see if there's a chapter that needs some attention or maybe it needs to have, you know, an attachment like a a little bonus book, stroking the whole thing out as just, you know, social media nonsense. Second question because I'm I'm brewing up a theory here. How much do you enjoy home improvement in and around the house? You know, fixing things, building things, improving things.
Tyler:How much do I enjoy it? Yeah. I like when it's done.
Nick:Well, you know, because... Yeah. Because it's very interesting because, like, you enjoy the the the social part. For me, it's... I, like, I I can do it.
Nick:You know? I'm very friendly there... In the moment, but it's also kinda exhausting for me. Like, at the end of the day, you... So we're opposites there, more or less.
Nick:You enjoy when home improvement is done. I enjoy doing it. So we're opposites there as well. And you you really grab this whole AI thing and just run with it, and I'm more reserved. So what I'm thinking now in theory is that, like, I I like the the the the literal crafting, doing things with my hands more, and you like this strategy more.
Nick:And that is also shown in the kind of jobs that we have. You know, you are a director in, like, in a strategic position in house, like dozens of people, and I'm a solo freelancer who's almost exclusively working from home. You know? I I just see a pattern there, which I think is quite interesting. Fair.
Nick:Without judgment, of course, just a pattern, just an observation.
Tyler:Yeah. I think... Yeah. That's fair. That's fair.
Tyler:I think going back to, like, a home improvement thing, I think the one thing that got me excited last week was a problem that I had to solve where my dishwasher stopped working, and then you have that fear of, like, well, all, like, all, like, appliances these days last, like, thirty seconds. So it's like Yeah. What's Yeah. It's all about, like, what's gonna break next and what do I have to replace? But I went to my dishwasher.
Tyler:It didn't finish finish the cycle, opened up the the door, and then it was filled with water. I'm like, okay. Well, what what is working? I'm pressing the button. It won't turn on.
Nick:Yeah.
Tyler:I'm like, well, like, what is happening here? Then I then I noticed... Or that I remembered that I did a... Had heated up some toast or toasted some toast for some peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And I noticed that, like, there was no ding at the end of my toaster oven.
Tyler:I was like, it was it was done, but then there was no ding. But but I didn't pay attention to it. Okay. And then I I realized that I I went... That both my dishwasher and toaster were were out and weren't working, which means, like, I probably tripped the the power switch.
Nick:Power power thing. Yeah.
Tyler:The power thing. So I'm like, okay. Cool. That just means that's the problem. It's not that the dishwasher is broken and that I need to buy a new one.
Tyler:I just go downstairs, flip the switch back on, and I've solved it. That was exciting to me. It was like the... And that was low lift, back to your point. It was like, what is the problem?
Tyler:Let me solve it. Let me just hit the the the easy button to to fix the problem, and let me move on to my day. But that was exciting. It wasn't building a cabinet, I'd say.
Nick:Right. Right. Yeah. I I mean, I I think that that reinforces the the theory we're developing here. I mean, you you were just happy with the the puzzle being solved, I think.
Nick:Like, this moment was the the big happy moment for you. Yeah. That's very interesting. I mean, that makes our our show the more... More interesting because we just have two different opinions instead of just being, you know, agreeing with each other all the time.
Tyler:Well, you know, it's good to hash it out. Different opinion.
Nick:True. True. So maybe we can give a little exercise to our listeners. Like, if they are following along with this new series Mhmm. And they want something specific to work on, maybe they should start their playground with just experiment number one for the week.
Nick:Do you do you have anything... I don't want to put you on the spot, but do you have anything in mind where you're like, wow. That's a cool thing for them to to work on, like, just as a little nuggets, a little design nuggets?
Tyler:I think I would double down on yours and make sure you share it on social media and ask for feedback.
Nick:Okay. Okay. I would... In that in that case, I would say design a hero section for your portfolio. Two constraints just to force you to do something different.
Nick:It has to look... Layout wise, it has to look different to the one you have now if you have one now. If you do not have one now, it's not allowed to have a center, like, centered diff with title paragraph button. You know, the default hero section you see all the time. Mhmm.
Nick:That's the constraint. Do something different and then... Yeah. Share with us what what you came came up with. Email us.
Nick:Find us on social media. I think especially the constraint will be an interesting way for you to force yourself to do something different.
Tyler:And I'll add a little bonus on that one. Make sure you think about translation. Let's imagine that same hero section can be translated into three languages. Let's say English, Spanish.
Nick:Let's do German because it's just that they have their... They have longer words.
Tyler:Yeah. So I was thinking about, like... Exactly. So thinking about, like, you can design a nice hero section, but make sure that it it... The string the string length is dynamic, so make sure it accommodates.
Nick:Yeah. Good one. Good one. And, you know, let us know. You know?
Nick:I mean, because we talk about you need someone to review it. I think we can review submission or two, you know, if someone sends something over. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, become the top 1% of available designers by doing the thing, you know.
Nick:So not only listen to this show, but also, you know, work on this this little hero section experiment. I think it will do you a lot of good for your career.
Tyler:Yeah. 100%. I'm I'm I'm I'm itching to see those submissions though.
Nick:Same. Same. Alright. Well, wishing you the best of luck.
Tyler:Alright. That's another episode in the bag.
Nick:Yeah. Great episode. By the way, if you're stuck second guessing your work or trying to figure out your next move, drop a question in the comments or leave a review. We might actually feature you in one of our future episodes.
Tyler:And if you got any value from this episode, hit subscribe wherever you're listening. It helps more than you think.
Nick:You can can find everything else, resources, articles, and more at designtablepodcast.com.
Tyler:Thanks for being here.
Nick:See you next time.