On dog psychology, sneaky trends in advertising, AI content tools, celebrities in commercials, and the best pizza in Chicago. — Patrick is Director of Research & Insights at DISQO, where he manages research design, execution, and reporting for projects in Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, and Product. Patrick received his PhD in Social Psychology from Indiana University in 2014, and has worked in increasingly senior research-consulting roles for both vendor and…

Why Design Systems have changed how designers work, and why you may need one. — Every craft is in a constant state of evolution, and the product design field is no different. Persistent changes in materials, tools, and consumer tastes are just a few external pressures. Complexity and specialization continually modify design team structures and processes. Surrounding all of that is the organization where time…

Teams are remixing their brand identities more than ever in order to juice revenue and stay relevant. — Up until the 1990s, logos, jerseys, and uniforms for professional sports teams in the U.S. were a relatively static affair. An occasional throwback jersey here, a patch honoring past greats there. Teams would go 10 years (or 90) without a major design change. The marketing of merchandise used to center…

The UX patterns established in 1980s-era video game arcades are all around us today. — We can trace so much of our relationship with digital devices back to the video arcades of 40 years ago. Seriously. In fact, it’s difficult to really talk about dark or gray patterns in UX today because of subtle (and not so subtle) patterns that began in gaming’s origin story. Pitfalls and Pole Positions …

Glenn Yu is cofounder and CEO of Melange, a company building prediction markets that help financial institutions see the future. How did you come up with the name Melange for your company? In Dune, the spice melange is a drug that lets you see the future. It’s the most valuable commodity in the universe because it’s what enables humanity to navigate the…

New Year, New You At the start of each year, so many of us make a list of things we want to do or do differently for the new year. A regular favorite in the resolutions department is to “work out more” or “go to the gym more.” Beyond the resolutions, the fitness industry…

15 essential, go-to resources recommended for designers and the creatively curious. — Happy 2023 — it’s a new year and the perfect time to reinvest in yourself. While some may go to a gym, I encourage designers to head to their bookshelf (after the gym). In my house, I have a single area in our family’s bookshelf dedicated to design and design-related…

Brandon is Team Lead & Senior Software Engineer, Domains for Squarespace. — What’s a tech buzzword you wish would go away? You know, one that really bothers me is “cloud” because I think it’s a marketing term for people who aren’t necessarily in tech. Something being “in the cloud” really just means it exists on the internet, on a server somewhere. Buzzwords sell. But really, you’re just paying for space. You’re…

March 11, 2022 Edition 696 Keeping Our 50,000 NYC Tech Industry Readers Informed and Connected __________________ — 1. Employees of NYC’s Better.com found out this week that they were being laid off by seeing a severance check in their Workday account — the company’s payroll app. An estimated 3,000 of the company’s 8,000 employees in the U.S. and India are being let go. (TechCrunch) 2. NYC’s Alfred…