Hello people, in this issue, we’ll look at…
- 🎨 The new Figma Color Wheel,
- 💼 UX Job Market,
- 💪 The Right Design Skills,
- 🎲 Designer Games,
- 🌈 Adobe MAX 2023,
- 🍟 and extra things to bite it…
Watch out, I’m 🔙
Hey there, design fam! It’s been a whirlwind of deadlines and passion projects lately. Despite the hustle, keeping our newsletter alive and kicking is top of mind. 💌 Your encouragement has floored me to keep the words flowing – shoutout to the reader who penned that heartwarming email claiming this is the only design newsletter she reads. Is it for real? I can’t say for sure but talk about pressure. 🤣
Even with the wizardry of ChatGPT in our toolbox, crafting this newsletter is a hands-on task that eats up my week – but it’s all for you! 🧙♂️✨
🎨 Figma Color Wheel
Figma silenced dropped a new color palette generator, a tool highly anticipated by some people.
Like any other color generator, it allows you to input a color code and instantly create a color palette, streamlining the design process.
I love using Coolors because they give you different methods to generate your color palette. And also because they suggest color names that I love to use on my Design System tokens. But now, if you want to use other methods than Auto, you must pay for it on Coolors.
If you still have doubts about using the different color generator methods, I listed below some easy references you can save for future reference.
- Complementary: Uses colors from opposite sides of the color wheel, offering high contrast and a vibrant look, like blue and orange together.
- Triadic: Involves three colors evenly spaced around the color wheel, like the combination of the primary colors red, yellow, and blue, to create a balanced and harmonious look.
- Split: Combines one base color with the two colors adjacent to its opposite on the color wheel, providing vibrant contrast with less tension, such as blue with yellow-orange and red-orange.
- Square: Chooses four colors evenly spaced around the color wheel, forming a square, to provide a balanced palette with consistent contrast between the colors.
- Monochromatic: Uses different shades, tones, and tints of a single hue to create a unified and visually cohesive effect.
- Tetradic: Utilizes four colors in two complementary pairs, offering a rich scheme with one dominant color and three accents, arranged as a rectangle or square on the color wheel. (This is the only one Figma doesn’t have, and I like to use this one to generate some mesh gradient color tokens as they provide a balance of harmony and contrast, with enough variation to create the intricate color transitions that make them more visually appealing).
To create cool mesh gradients, I often recommend playing with Triadic, Tetradic, and Split Complementary schemes. Check the games I recommend by the end to practice color-picking on those methods.
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💼 UX Job Market
We know the job market mood is not all 😎 sunshine and roses 🌹 right now—landing that dream gig isn’t as breezy as in pre-pandemic times. A mix of factors is shaking things up, and yup, AI’s big moment on the tech stage is definitely stirring the pot. 🤖
And here’s a twist: even some UX pros are feeling the strain. I’ve got a buddy in Brazil who’s hitting pause on the daily grind for a year-long sabbatical to recalibrate and gear up for her next career chapter. 🇧🇷✈️🧘♀️
Diving into Christopher Nguyen’s insights, we’ve got the top 3 reasons why you might quit a UX design job 🏃♂️💨 🏢
1️⃣ Misalignment of values
Frustration with companies that put aesthetics > genuine user needs and feedback.
2️⃣ Lack of growth and learning
Designers leave when they feel:
😩 Stagnant
😩 Unsupported
😩 Unable to access the resources needed to upskill
3️⃣ Under-appreciation and undervaluation
It’s not just about the pay.
🪑 Designers want to work where their contributions are recognized and sit at the table when critical decisions are made.
So, if your current spot’s not ticking these boxes, maybe it’s time to polish that portfolio and scope out new horizons! 🚀👀
To sum it up, if businesses are serious about keeping top-notch UX pros on board, it’s crucial to foster a work environment that champions growth and development 🌱 – truth be told, I’ve noticed this isn’t always a priority for some. Respect is the name of the game 🎮, along with offering salaries that truly reflect our worth – something that’s been a bit off the mark in the recent couple of years.
On the flip side, it’s quite fascinating 🧐 to observe the eagerness in the industry – there’s a bustling crowd ready to step into your shoes if you lose that spark of daily motivation. So, staying charged and bringing your A-game every day is key 🔑 to staying ahead!
💪 The Right Design Skills
First, design is not about being good in Figma. This Figmaism thing from junior designers is so naive. This won’t make you a great designer.
It’s countless times I say not to fall in love with tools. Tools are to use to accomplish your goal. And yes, Figma is a tool as much as you believe in Figma founder’s lovely speech.
Overemphasis on Figma and design systems is due to the popularity of short-form content and the market saturation of aspiring designers.
It never gets easier. You just get better.
— Juno Jo
Bring Business Value Beyond Pixels
As designers, it’s pivotal to zoom out from our creative canvases and sharpen those skills that add tangible value to our business landscape. We’re talking about the art of delivering compelling presentations 🎤, becoming a mentor to foster growth 🌟, offering insightful feedback 🔄, and mastering the smooth handoff of our designs to our developer comrades – no more defaulting to “just check Dev Mode.”
Get out of your designer comfort zone and embrace important aspects of your role as a designer in a company.
It’s time to expand our horizons beyond the confines of our favorite design tools. Delving into process optimization 🛠️, taking the reins on projects 🏇, and stepping up our communication game 🗣️ can skyrocket our influence within our organizations. Trust me, these moves pack a punch that goes way beyond any savvy Figma shortcut.
So, let’s step out of that designer bubble 🛁 and embrace the multifaceted aspects of our role. Remember, a fixation on tooling alone could put the brakes on your career trajectory. Cultivate those core competencies that businesses are truly after, and watch your career soar 🌈✨.
👉 To keep learning design, you need to be in our club. Click to visit.
🕹️ Designer’s Arcade
I’ve lined up a roster of games that are sure to give your designer’s instinct a workout! Make it part of your daily routine and share your milestones in our club channel – let’s level up together! 🚀
🎯 The Bézier Game: Get your pen tool skills on point by mastering the curves and angles with this interactive challenge.
👽 HEX Invaders: Ready, aim, and match! Zap aliens by finding the right HEX code – it’s color matching with a galactic twist.
🅰️ Kern Type: Become a wizard of whitespace by nailing the perfect spacing between characters.
🔲 Pixactly: Put your pixel prowess to the test – draw boxes that match exact dimensions and refine your eye for detail.
👀 Can’t Unsee: A showdown of UI choices – pick the design that dots the i’s and crosses the t’s with precision.
🌈 Color Method: Dive into the world of color theory and practice creating palettes that pop.
🎯 It’s Center That: Challenge your inner symmetry sage – is that dot really in the center? Put your judgment to the test.
Ready to play? Let’s see who can hit the high scores! 🏆 Remember, these aren’t just games; they’re your ticket to becoming a design dynamo! 🌟
🌈 Adobe “Magic” MAX 2023
Adobe didn’t invite me 😢 like Figma did for Config, to be at this big design party 🎉this year, but I hope we can make it together next year. It’s always a great time to meet other designers and be in LA and do a vegan food tour with my local friends Javi and Natalie ❤️.
🤖 AI Meets Design
I’m really digging how Adobe’s doubling down on Generative AI – it’s like they’ve unlocked a secret door to the design future, and it’s brimming with intuition and imagination.
✨ Adobe Express: The Hero Tool
Talk about efficiency – Adobe Express is our creative cape, folks! It’s transforming us from idea architects to execution experts at warp speed. Whether you’re fine-tuning a masterpiece in Illustrator or cutting your next viral video, Adobe Express is pushing the boundaries of what we can do with our creations.
🔊 And that Filler Word Filter? Pure audio magic, making us sound crisp and clean with just a click.
Adobe Firefly
Recently, I signed up for the paid version of ChatGPT, which gives you access to image-generative AI DALL-E. The main advantage of Firefly is how Adobe streamlines the process of adding AI and how well-integrated it is into Adobe’s ecosystem. I spent hours playing with it and sending the results to Photoshop below.
But more than creating images, it is very interesting how you can save a style to reuse it in the future. So basically, if you can fine-tune it and save it, You will be able in the near future to prompt Adobe tools and create photos, videos, illustrations, and animations in seconds.
This unparalleled level of control 🤯 is just mind-blowing.
From a cozy mountain hut in a tiny square image, I stretched out the scene to include the ocean, gave the house an architectural facelift, and threw in some majestic white horses for good measure.
🫰Hey Figma Lovers
Post-acquisition life for Figma seems…quiet, especially on the AI front, and they’re trailing in the no-code revolution, too. I see designers turning to Framer for a one-stop design and deployment solution. But I’m all eyes and ears for what Figma will unveil at the next Config – it’s gotta be grand. 🚀
🤝 Giving Back
While I have not written this newsletter to you, I was giving back to the design community in different ways.
- Mentoring startups in cohorts for:
- Techstars Miami (2023 Fall)
- Techstars Atlanta (2023 Fall)
- Techstars New Orleans (2023 Fall)
- Running a Design Workshop for the University of Florida in Gainsville (FL)
- Part of the Judging Panel at the Hackathon for ETHMiami 2023
- Mentoring 1:1 at ADPList (I reduced my time slots; my agenda has been too busy)
🍟 BITes
💎 Reinvest in yourself: use this personal brand canvas to help position yourself better, find your strengths for your next interview, and rebuild your portfolio. 🤩
🎨 Try Adobe Express and post videos to your TikTok or Instagram Reels.
🏁 Enjoy This Newsletter?
If you love this newsletter, why not share the goodness with a friend? Forward it to them and let them know they can subscribe right here. 📩
🌟 You can contribute to the newsletter! If you’ve got an awesome section idea, shoot it our way, and we’ll include it in a future edition.
🏋️♀️ Ready for some exciting stuff? Join our super cool UXUI club and be one of the 🎖️ Founding Members. It’s going to be a blast! 💥 Let’s build an awesome community together!
📣 Wanna chat with me? Head on over to ADPList for some mentorship sessions, or follow me on TikTok for more awesome UX tips and tricks. You don’t want to miss it! 🎯
👨🏾🎓 Thinking about becoming a UX/UI Designer? Well, look no further! Enroll in the next Ironhack UX/UI Bootcamp and kickstart your journey to greatness. You’re going to learn so much and have a blast doing it! 🚀
See you next week! 🤗
Juno
Designer, writer, educator, UX/UI advocate, and mentor for startups.
