The hottest Design Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Culture Topics

Welcome to Big Charts! Behind the scenes with interactive data stories

Big Charts • 79 implied HN points • 26 Sep 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. Interactive data storytelling projects involve a complex process involving journalism, design, and coding.
  2. The process of creating interactive data stories often deviates from the initial plan due to the dynamic nature of the work.
  3. Various modes of communication, such as writing, design, and coding, play unique and essential roles in organizing thoughts and shaping storytelling.

#2 - How to make a good text field

A Good Interface • 79 implied HN points • 10 Aug 23
🕹 Technology Design
  1. A good text field is displayed at the right time - only show it when needed, use alternatives like toggle switches or choice lists when possible.
  2. A good text field has clear label - make labels short, precise, and avoid overusing technical language.
  3. A good text field gives visual feedback - ensure visual cues like hover, active, focus states are properly incorporated to guide users.

Mirage at Apple Park

Tabletops • 78 implied HN points • 05 Jun 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. Mirage at Apple Park is a public sculpture made of cast-glass pillars from deserts worldwide, creating a stunning visual during the day and a gentle glow at night.
  2. Apple Battersea in London is Apple's 40th store in the UK and is located in a redevelopment area with offices and apartments.
  3. Apple Watch Pride Edition is celebrated in stores with new displays featuring colorful geometric shapes, and Apple Camp offers kids aged 8-12 a chance to design inventions on iPad.
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Validating PCAs (1)

Only Wonder Knows • 78 implied HN points • 15 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Validating designed electronics is as important as designing them.
  2. The U-test model involves generating controlled stimulus and checking responses to ensure proper functioning of circuits.
  3. Different types of tests like design, manufacturing, integration, and regression tests play a crucial role in validation processes.

July 2023

Product Composition • 78 implied HN points • 21 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Decipad is launching its beta version, focusing on making sense of numbers in a dynamic way
  2. AI in the industry should prioritize collapsing data to enhance clarity and facilitate action-taking
  3. The future of jobs is facing a drastic shift, with issues around productivity, social contracts, asymmetrical compensation, and poor job descriptions

#071 ✰ (Re)connecting with objects

Objet • 78 implied HN points • 26 May 23
🎭️ Culture Design
  1. The relationship between humans and shopping objects is broken, aiming to bring back joy and pride in mindful shopping.
  2. Objects can hold soul and meaning, like Rendl's Japanese teacups, representing significant moments in the creator's life.
  3. There is a need to shift towards a circular economy, embracing repair and sustainability in design to combat overconsumption.

#113 Is anyone there?

Design Lobster • 239 implied HN points • 11 Jul 22
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. Sophisticated AI tools are changing how art and design are created, sparking debates on the nature of creativity and artistry.
  2. Design that connects with its context can reveal surprising and special elements, adding depth and meaning to the work.
  3. The core of design always revolves around people, emphasizing the importance of designing with empathy and understanding the human element.

Creating love stories from metal. And melting them down when they end.

Men Yell at Me • 259 implied HN points • 07 Mar 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. Creating personalized story rings with unique designs like mountains or bird feathers can be a powerful way to symbolize love and connection.
  2. Repurposing wedding rings after a divorce by melting them down can be a cathartic and transformative process, helping individuals let go of emotional baggage and begin a new chapter.
  3. Jewelry holds deep connections to personal stories and histories, making it more than just a material possession - it can represent relationships, memories, and values.

20 years of social posts (+ weekly update)

12challenges • 257 implied HN points • 01 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Design
  1. The diagram shows how much social media has changed over the last 20 years, with a shift towards platforms like TikTok.
  2. The idea of using the diagram as a menu to choose preferred social media options is intriguing, revealing possible disparities in usage.
  3. The author seeks suggestions to improve the diagram's presentation and structure, anticipating future articles about social media platforms.

#100 Consider the lobster

Design Lobster • 339 implied HN points • 10 Jan 22
🍲 Food & Drink Design
  1. Consider innovative ways to grow food like fish without catching them, such as through cellular agriculture technology
  2. Be mindful of the social codes your designs may implicitly reinforce, like the historical significance of niche cutlery
  3. Persistently work on problems, like the waves wearing down the beach, to find solutions in your design work

Good brittle

The Uncertainty Mindset (soon to become tbd) • 99 implied HN points • 28 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Situated software is made for specific needs in small groups. It may lack polish but works well for those it helps.
  2. Good brittleness means being tailored to a specific situation and easily adapting when things change. This makes systems and products more responsive.
  3. We should focus on building things that are both suited to situations and able to change easily, rather than just aiming for large, flawless systems.

How Not to AI

The Intersection • 59 implied HN points • 02 Nov 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. Authenticity is becoming increasingly valuable in a world where AI can create realistic but artificial images.
  2. Using AI in creative work offers convenience, speed, and experimentation opportunities, but also raises concerns about originality and authenticity.
  3. As AI technology advances, maintaining authenticity, pursuing originality, and ensuring quality become crucial to stand out amid the convenience AI offers.

Complete Visual Guide to Sony MiniDisc Blank Media (1992-2004)

Obsolete Sony’s Newsletter • 2 HN points • 18 Aug 24
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Sony's MiniDisc format started in 1992, offering basic models with different recording times, such as 60 and 74 minutes. This was the beginning of their journey into the MiniDisc market.
  2. Over the years, Sony introduced various colorful and uniquely designed MiniDiscs. Each new series often featured innovative designs and enhancements to attract users and improve functionality.
  3. By 2004, the Hi-MD format emerged with enhanced features and greater storage capacity. However, it struggled to compete with newer technologies and was discontinued a few years later.

Starting off 2024: Invitations for Soft skills & OOP Encapsulation

🔮 Crafting Tech Teams • 39 implied HN points • 02 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Design
  1. The focus for 2024 is on developing human and soft skills alongside Software Engineering Fundamentals, starting with architecture and design techniques.
  2. The XP disciplines will be covered in February, building on the foundational knowledge of architecture and design.
  3. The importance of human skills alongside technical skills in technology will be discussed in an upcoming stream on Jan 3rd.

A great recipe for word vomit

My Home Office Hacks • 5 implied HN points • 22 Dec 25
🎭️ Culture Design
  1. Just The Recipe strips away extra words from online recipes so you can download or print a clean, one‑page ingredient-and-instruction sheet; you make a free account to use it.
  2. The Lowdesk is a versatile alternative to regular standing desks that supports standing or low seated positions (even sitting on a pillow), but it’s expensive — you can offset up to about 30% with HSA/FSA funds.
  3. Reading the full lyrics to “Winter Wonderland” highlights surprising lines and a little story you might not know, which creates a cozy, reflective holiday vibe.

Group Theory. The Math Twin to Object Oriented Programming[Math Mondays]

Technology Made Simple • 79 implied HN points • 31 Jan 23
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Group theory in mathematics helps in understanding inheritance and polymorphism in Object-Oriented Programming.
  2. In OOP, inheritance allows classes to inherit properties, similar to how groups inherit properties from subgroups.
  3. Group theory provides a framework for designing efficient and modular systems by understanding class and object relationships.

#5: October Travel Links

Bureau of Adventure • 59 implied HN points • 07 Oct 23
🏝 Travel Design
  1. Japan Airlines is offering a clothing rental service for travelers. This could help people pack lighter and reduce the fuel used for flights.
  2. There are new high-speed trains connecting Miami and Orlando, making travel easier in Florida. More routes are being planned too, which is exciting!
  3. United Airlines is expanding its fleet with more planes. This shows they are focusing on premium travelers and growing internationally.

5 Fresh Cities I'm Watching

The New Urban Order • 59 implied HN points • 14 Sep 23
🏝 Travel Design
  1. The author is following five fresh cities for their urban development and innovative approaches.
  2. These cities include a North American city repurposing vacant office buildings, an Eastern European city with a dynamic mayor focusing on city design, an Asian megacity with unique urban planning narratives, a city challenging London to become the U.K.'s cultural hub, and an African city undergoing transformation with pedestrianization and tech sector growth.
  3. The author's work revolves around exploring cities with forward-thinking mayors and unique urban development models.

California Legislature Passes Electronics Right To Repair

Fight to Repair • 59 implied HN points • 15 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Design
  1. California Legislature passed a Right to Repair Act, a big win for consumers, small repair shops, and the environment, following years of lobbying resistance from tech firms.
  2. Designer Ollee Means breathes new life into old chairs by restoring and revitalizing them, highlighting the importance of repair and sustainability in modern design.
  3. Google agrees to 10 years of Chromebook support and sustainability measures like adaptive charging, saving costs, reducing waste, and promoting longer-lasting devices.

Of Mice and Graphics Tablets

Better After a Nap • 39 implied HN points • 22 Dec 23
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Tech optimism can be addictive, always seeking the next best thing.
  2. The search for the perfect graphics tablet is a long and frustrating journey.
  3. Combining existing peripherals to create a better graphics tablet poses challenges and limitations.

Lesson Plan: Model Home

The Field Trip Newsletter • 58 implied HN points • 17 Apr 23
🚌 Education Design
  1. The lesson plan focuses on teaching children about different housing styles around the world
  2. Children are encouraged to create a blueprint design of their own home and build a model home from another part of the world
  3. Additional ideas include hosting a mini film festival, studying global weather patterns, and building structures from around the world

Brainstorming a Framework for Avatar-Centered Design

skry • 58 implied HN points • 09 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Avatar-Centered Design is essential in the metaverse and web3 to understand avatars' significance and influence.
  2. The increasing importance of digital avatars is driven by trends like self-expression, NFTs, and avatar interoperability.
  3. For Avatar-Centered Design, it's crucial to consider questions about avatar interoperability, value sources, and point of transfer.

Forté #7

SJF • 58 implied HN points • 26 May 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. The importance of creating a Root Document for self-understanding
  2. Exploring the creativity of artists like Taylor Deupree and Ryuichi Sakamoto
  3. Learning about the construction of a replica of the Sutton Hoo ship from the 7th century

Stubs (I)

Only Wonder Knows • 58 implied HN points • 21 Jul 23
🔬 Science Design
  1. Stubs in transmission lines can cause reflections and affect signal quality.
  2. The impact of a stub can be minimized by understanding its notch frequencies.
  3. For frequencies below half of the notch frequency, the effect of a stub can be ignored.

#062 ✰ Childish x colorful x soulful design

Objet • 58 implied HN points • 22 Mar 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. Objet aims to bring back joy and pride to the relationship people have with their possessions.
  2. Soulful design can be found in everyday objects, like Estelle's designed-by-herself bedside table.
  3. Swatch watches, 40 years old, reinvented watches as fashion items and brought art into everyday life.

How to Get From Zero to Prototype in 5 Days

CodeLink’s Substack • 58 implied HN points • 25 May 23
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Learn how to go from zero to prototype in just five days using an async design sprint.
  2. Key elements of a design sprint team include Facilitator, Timekeeper, Bus Driver, Decider, and Interviewer.
  3. Daily schedule for a design sprint includes warm-up sessions, group collaboration, individual work periods, and sync-up meetings to stay on track.

Design Documents

Engineering Open Societies • 58 implied HN points • 12 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Design documents are essential for software engineers to communicate ideas and solutions with others.
  2. Design documents should be treated as ephemeral artifacts used to drive a collaborative process and then discarded.
  3. In design documents, focus on presenting the problem, provide solution-independent correctness conditions, and offer a solution with trade-offs and decisions.

The consulting grass needs watering to be greener

Kenny’s Sub • 39 implied HN points • 21 Dec 23
💼 Business Design
  1. Freelancing allows for more control and fulfillment in your work. You can choose projects that excite you instead of being stuck in a regular job.
  2. It's important to build strong relationships and always keep your pipeline full. Referrals can greatly help in getting new clients and sustaining your business.
  3. Shifting your mindset about value and time is crucial. It's about delivering impact, not just billing hours, and you can charge for the value you bring.

🖐 Five ideas about design

Design Lobster • 259 implied HN points • 14 Feb 22
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. Be more specific in your design by paying attention to the details that fit the context.
  2. Work with the natural elements and constraints of a situation rather than against them to create solutions that blend seamlessly.
  3. Design with personal experiences in mind to create universal connections, and stay alert to unintended discoveries in your process.

A UXer's guide to neurodiversity

UX Psychology • 158 implied HN points • 13 May 22
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Neurodiversity encompasses a wide range of neurological variations in the human population, emphasizing the positive aspects and uniqueness of different thinking styles and cognitive functions.
  2. When designing for neurodiversity, consider factors like font choice, error prevention, clear copywriting, sensory issues, and consistency in design to create inclusive user experiences.
  3. In the workplace, it's important to foster understanding and flexibility to support neurodiverse individuals, from adjusting hiring practices to creating accommodating work environments and providing education and resources.