Sarah Paterson

The moment you realize just how powerful you are as a designer and how much you shape the subconscious of men, then you will take care to wield that power responsibly. A while ago, I wrote about how a single design decision, made by a designer (Aza Raskin) some 18 years ago, led to endless scrolling on social media -- what we now today call "doomscrolling". It’s the reason why you open TikTok or Instagram for a quick 5-minute break, only to end up scrolling for 5 hours. I strongly believe that designers have a duty to create with care and consideration for users’ well-being. Yes, we have a responsibility to the businesses we work with, but we also have a responsibility to the people who use our products. Design ethics should never be an afterthought. For ages, design (and designers) has been shaping the subconscious of people. It has shaped culture, behaviour, and even belief systems. This power is incredibly subtle—perhaps even dangerous—because it’s so often overlooked, blending quietly into the background. Ultimately, my goal with design is to leave the world better than I found it. It starts with understanding that, no matter how small or insignificant it seems, every design decision has the potential to create a ripple effect.

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I wrote a little something for Lyft Design+. It provides a bit of insight into the our Design System team and our process. If that sort of thing tickles your fancy give it a read, like or share. Have you contributed to a design system before? If so, I’d love to hear about your biggest learnings and the challenges you faced along the way. https://lnkd.in/dfiMMBU5

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Interesting article on rethinking the role of UX Teams. https://lnkd.in/eN7SQHEm #design #designthinking #designbuild #designstrategy #product #producctdesign #productmanagement #productstrategy #designprinciples #innovation #designers #digitaltransformation #ux #uxdesign #uiux #uidesign #designinnovation #application #software #softwaredesign #usability #userresearch #research #usercentereddesign #productleadership #uxwriting #designsystems #empathy #interfacedesign #usabilitytesting #userexperience #productdesign #accessibility #ui

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Highlighting my article on the topic of Dark UX patterns and how they impact client journeys and experiences. https://lnkd.in/dm_zcXZ #design #designthinking #designbuild #designstrategy #product #producctdesign #productmanagement #productstrategy #designprinciples #innovation #designers #digitaltransformation #ux #uxdesign #uiux #uidesign #designinnovation #application #software #softwaredesign #usability #userresearch #research #usercentereddesign #productleadership #uxwriting #designsystems #empathy #interfacedesign #usabilitytesting #userexperience #productdesign #accessibility #ui #ai #genai 

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Designers, good design is about understanding the limitations and constraints you’re given and crafting solutions that address the core problem within those boundaries. It’s not a setback to design within a low-code environment or use a design system that may not be as flexible or aesthetically pleasing as you’d like. Resist the urge to go rogue and deviate from brand guidelines just because you think you can improve them. Deviating from a design system not only creates more work for you but also burdens developers. Straying from brand guidelines dilutes the brand identity and leads to unnecessary rework. Hiring managers value designers who can work within constraints and collaborate effectively. Instead of going off-script, partner with your design system team. Help them succeed, and in turn, they’ll help you deliver better outcomes. Designing within constraints isn’t a limitation—it’s an opportunity to innovate and build stronger partnerships within your organization. #DesignThinking #LowCode #DesignSystems #BrandIdentity #Collaboration #GoodDesign

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Here’s a quick look at another project I recently wrapped up for Splits. I enhanced the handling of multi-signature transactions for smart accounts—a huge quality-of-life improvement for teams needing multiple signatures. In this earlier example a 2+N multi-signature transaction is taking place. To complete the process, the second signer needed to approve before the transaction could be successfully submitted. This wasn't the final iteration but the functionality more or less was the same at time or delivery.

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Hard truth about process This is a classic problem in design portfolios: lengthy case studies where the designer shares a detailed breakdown of every single step they took and how “user-centered” and “data-driven” everything was—only to land on underwhelming designs and even more underwhelming results. Design thinking, double diamond, agile, scrum, lean UX, design sprint. Humans seek formulas. Formulas sell books, classes, and courses, and feed multi-million contracts where consultancies come in to fix teams that are misaligned and can’t get work done. Watch out for Trademarked Processes™ that claim to solve all your company’s problems. Instead, find what works for your team and your users. Read more...

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Exciting updates for my portfolio 📦 I’m updating my case studies section with insights and results. Currently, it's missing how I approach projects and deliver outcomes. New case studies are on the way! Featuring recent work and its impact.

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A common mistake I see young designers making is being too protective about their work and avoiding feedback throughout the UX process Getting feedback early and often is key to delivering great products and it must be made a priority within your process The main reasons designers avoid feedback: - Lack of time - Fear of criticism - The excitement of a big reveal However, if you are avoiding feedback, you are missing out on an opportunity An opportunity to learn, iterate, and improve your designs How do you make sure feedback happens often and efficiently? 1. Do it early The work being shared doesn’t need to be finished or polished. Feel free to share ideas that are not fully developed. 2. Make it regular UX critique sessions must happen frequently throughout the UX lifecycle, it shouldn't be a once-off thing, make it a priority. 3. Make it specific Be clear on exactly what you want feedback on. Your design proposal has always an objective, it's trying to solve a problem. What problem is it trying to solve? Is it solving the problem the best way possible? Getting feedback is about improving the work. If the work receives criticism, always refer back to the main objectives and the problem you are addressing. This will help you avoid feeling that the critique is personal. How about you. Are you seeking feedback often on your projects? How do you do it? Let me know in the comments! Like this post? Like 👍 | Comment ✍ | Repost ♻️

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Yesterday, I had the pleasure of chatting with Nesrine Changuel, PhD about the often-overlooked yet vital role of delight in tech products. Too often, this concept is dismissed as mere eye candy—a superficial layer tacked onto the core functionality of an app or website. But if we look closer, creating an emotional connection with users and customers might just be the key to true success. Borrowing her brilliant neologism, it’s not about B2C or B2B anymore—it’s all about B2H: Business-to-Humans. There’s so much more to explore on this topic! #emotionaldesign #delight #whatpeoplelove

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Great article explaining design systems and how best to use them.

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Here are 3 common mistakes that will hold you back In your UX and product design career - Avoiding feedback - Getting too attached to a solution - Lack of flexibility in the UX process I see these mistakes being made by young and sometimes experienced designers Here is the potential negative impact of each and how to avoid them Avoiding feedback Whether on a project or personal performance, avoiding feedback may result in 👇 - Missing out on valuable growth opportunities - Misalignment between users’ needs and business goals - Project delays due to identifying necessary changes too late - Missing important insights and knowledge from experts and stakeholders Seek feedback, it’s the best tool to accelerate your career - Ask for feedback on design proposals early and often - And at the end of each project, ask your peers - How did the project go? - How things could be done better next time? Getting too attached to a proposed solution We have all been there where we think 🤔 YES THAT’S IT To then realize it, it’s not the best solution overall which may result in 👇 - Resistance to making changes - Wasted time and resources on the wrong solution - Lack of exploration of potential better and more innovative solutions To avoid getting too attached to a solution make sure you - Explore as many options as possible in the beginning - Avoid being too focused on polishing and making pixel-perfect early on - Ask for feedback from different stakeholders to ensure alignment in the solution's direction Lack of flexibility in the UX process Each design project is different, they all have their unique needs, business goals, stakeholders’ objectives, timelines, and constraints A rigid UX process can result in 👇 - Working on the wrong priorities - Poor collaboration with stakeholders - Difficulty in handling changes along the way (Always happen) - A solution that does not meet users’ needs and business objectives Instead of always following a UX formula - Be willing to adapt and change the way you do things - Understand each project’s needs and constraints - Adapt the process and avoid following a formula That’s it, folks. I hope this helps. Like this post? Like 👍 | Comment ✍ | Repost ♻️

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I redesigned the Fidelity Bank PLC mobile app UI Goal: 1. Improve UI 2. Improve the UX of some flows 3. Generally, improve user retention rate Case study coming up soon...

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I recently spoke with FLUX about my career journey and product design leadership. Kristie Craft was a stellar interviewer, which helped me articulate a few things that I've been noodling on over the last little while... 👽 After years of struggling with impostor syndrome, it was when I chose to be brave and have the audacity that the best opportunities came. It's not easy, but it starts with the core belief that you are deserving of your dreams. 👀 The prerequisite of being a great designer is curiosity. Get curious about an aspect of craft, process, leadership, or business and dig like you're doing a deep dive on the hand in the IG story your crush just posted. 🏀 Put in your 10,000 hours. Practice makes perfect, the cliche is true. Whatever part of your skillset you're trying to grow, be patient and put in time — before you know it, you'll be an MVP. 📣 Great communication is a hallmark of a great leader. Great communication and feedback is clear, succinct, and aligned to the business. 🖼 Visual design craft excellence is a hot topic in product design lately. I have a love for graphic design, where I started my career. I just got this book, Sun Ra: Art on Saturn, a collection of sketches and album art Sun Ra created for his works. Very different than what most PDs are looking at every day, which is precisely why I recommend it. Look for inspiration outside of a screen. Check out the full interview and let me know what you think.

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At Nomos One, my Design Team are what we lovingly like to call generalists (or unicorns). We don’t specialise in particular areas of User Experience or Design, as we are too small to make that feasible. As part of this, we need to be able to conduct research both at the beginning of our process (Discovery), but also at the end (Evaluation Testing – covering usability and feedback loops). The key difference between an Intermediate, and a Senior for these areas is level of experience and leadership.  It takes time to build up an arsenal of what testing method/tool to use to get the right information, how to ask non-leading questions, how to efficiently setup research and analyse the results, and overall, your confidence in conducting research. A senior has a toolkit of knowledge and skill around this and leads the process, upskilling others as they go, whereas an Intermediate helps throughout the process and just needs to have an understanding. In our job, we need success metrics to determine whether the solution is solving the underlying problem, and what the customer’s experience is. Otherwise, we would never know whether we’ve done a good job or not! At Nomos One, we use Heap to track analytics to measure these success metrics outside of formal interactions with customers. It tells us what is happening so we can have more detailed follow up conversations with customers for areas of interest in order to learn why something is happening. Our Seniors are responsible for making sure our Heap IDs are setup correctly in our application, and dashboards are created with charts linking to what we are measuring. Are you involved in research for your organisation? If you are, what parts do you enjoy the most? #userexperience #uxdesigner #researchskills #discovery #evaluationtesting #upskilling #generalist #uxcareer #productdesigner #customerexperience  

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When you fit together thousands of jigsaw pieces, the seams are visible. Our job was to make it seamless.    A client needed to edit thousands of content pieces to fit their new app format. Without a solid content strategy, it risked looking like a jigsaw puzzle – jagged edges included.     But with a helping hand, the content migration was fully optimized. Sharp. Smooth. With no seam, join or edge in sight.      Read more on how they got their ‘appily ever after here 👉  https://lnkd.in/evgrurFD   #UX #ContentStrategy #DigitalTransformation #UserExperience 

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“Digital systems, not people, will do much of the craft of (screen-level) interaction design.” These words from The State of UX report by Fabricio Teixeira and Caio Braga might sound scary to UX designers. But here's the truth—this isn't the first time we've faced a shift like this. When I started in the industry in the early ’90s, I was worked on traditional graphic design projects: print, retail, brand identities, etc. Then came websites, WAP sites, responsive design, mobile apps... Each time, designers adapted and evolved. What's remained constant? Our role as the translation layer between businesses and their audiences. Whether it was Charles and Ray Eames designing furniture for modern living, or today's product designers shaping digital experiences, our core mission hasn't changed: we connect businesses with people in meaningful ways. The tools will keep changing, just as they have since my San Francisco days. But our ability to think strategically about the "why"—that's what makes our craft enduring. Here's my full essay: https://lnkd.in/gFQd33GA Special thanks to Byrne Reese and Shawn Smith for some insights on being product managers. #Design #ProductDesign #UX #UXDesign #ProductManagement

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