Design

I have spent hundreds of hours analyzing design systems. One of the things that confused me for many years is how to structure color scales and tokens. I have experimented with multiple structures at different sizes of design systems, and at a high-level recommend the following approach: 1. Primitive Colors Your design system foundations should always start with a full color scale that is based on your brand identity. We call these colors Primitives, and your variable/token collection should look like this: - purple-600 - purple-500 - purple-400 - And so on.. To create a Primitives palette you will want to start from your main brand colors and use a tool like UIColors, Supapalette, Colorbox to expand to the full scale. (links in comments) This is a great foundation to have, as it gives you a set of shades that can be used in different ways, and ensures all of them have consistent hues, saturation and brightness. However, Primitive colors are simply not effective when used directly in your designs: - They create ambiguity - Their names have no contextual meaning - They are often misused due to similarity If you have had the “why are there 20 different shades of gray?” conversation with an engineer, you know what I mean. So let’s see how we can improve that. 2. Semantic Colors This is my default recommendation to all product design teams that don’t have a highly complex design system. What you will want to do here is create a new variable collection named Semantic, which is what’s visible in your design files, and comprises of: - Brand / Action - Text - Link - Border - Icon - Surface / Background - Bias - Data / Charts Each color should point to a primitive value, e.g. - text-primary → gray-800 - text-secondary → gray-600 - text-tertiary → gray-400 This takes a bit of setting up, but creates immense long-term value. A great example of a simple, theme-level Semantic structure is Shopify’s Polaris (link in comments) 3. Component-level Semantic Lastly, if you are working on a design system with a lot of complexity and, ideally, a dedicated design systems team, you might want to add another level of hierarchy and specify colors at a component-level. In this structure, you would want to create color tokens based on how they are used in each component. - input-text-filled → text-primary - input-text-placeholder → text-secondary - input-text-disabled → text-tertiary This eliminates all guesswork, but also increases the complexity exponentially. It does serve a purpose though. As design systems scale, you may find that: - A theme-level semantic structure is too restrictive - There is still some guesswork - Decisions need to be documented. An example of this is Uber’s Base and Adobe’s Spectrum design system, linked in the comments. I’m curious to know, what structure are you using for your design system and what has worked well for you? — If you found this useful, consider reposting ♻️ #uidesign #designsystems #productdesign

Let’s talk about hidden disabilities—ADHD, dyslexia, anxiety, and others that don’t meet the eye. Too often, these students are left to struggle because their needs aren’t immediately visible. But here’s the thing: when we ignore those needs, it’s no different from denying someone in a wheelchair access to a ramp. Think about it. Would you expect someone to climb stairs without the tools they need? Of course not. Yet we often expect students with hidden disabilities to navigate education without the accommodations that would level the playing field. It’s not fair, and it’s not right. Accommodations like extra time, clear instructions, or a quiet space aren’t “special treatment.” They’re the difference between drowning and swimming. They’re the tools these students need to show us their potential, not their struggles. I’ve seen the power of a single adjustment. They’re what happens when we meet students where they are. What if we reimagined education as a place where every student feels valued and equipped to succeed? What if we stopped seeing accommodations as “extras” and started recognizing them as essential? Here’s a question for you: Have you seen examples of simple accommodations making a big impact? Or do you think schools are doing enough to support students with hidden disabilities? Let’s share, reflect, and push for better together. Image Courtesy: No Nonsense Neurodivergent #Disability #Accessibility #SDGs #Equity #HumanRights #WeAreBillionStrong ID: Allowing a student with a hidden disability (ADHD, Anxiety, Dyslexia) to struggle academically or socially when all that is needed for success are appropriate accommodations and explicit instruction, is no different than failing to provide a ramp for a person in a wheelchair.

🌎 Designing Cross-Cultural And Multi-Lingual UX. Guidelines on how to stress test our designs, how to define a localization strategy and how to deal with currencies, dates, word order, pluralization, colors and gender pronouns. ⦿ Translation: “We adapt our message to resonate in other markets”. ⦿ Localization: “We adapt user experience to local expectations”. ⦿ Internationalization: “We adapt our codebase to work in other markets”. ✅ English-language users make up about 26% of users. ✅ Top written languages: Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese. ✅ Most users prefer content in their native language(s). ✅ French texts are on average 20% longer than English ones. ✅ Japanese texts are on average 30–60% shorter. 🚫 Flags aren’t languages: avoid them for language selection. 🚫 Language direction ≠ design direction (“F” vs. Zig-Zag pattern). 🚫 Not everybody has first/middle names: “Full name” is better. ✅ Always reserve at least 30% room for longer translations. ✅ Stress test your UI for translation with pseudolocalization. ✅ Plan for line wrap, truncation, very short and very long labels. ✅ Adjust numbers, dates, times, formats, units, addresses. ✅ Adjust currency, spelling, input masks, placeholders. ✅ Always conduct UX research with local users. When localizing an interface, we need to work beyond translation. We need to be respectful of cultural differences. E.g. in Arabic we would often need to increase the spacing between lines. For Chinese market, we need to increase the density of information. German sites require a vast amount of detail to communicate that a topic is well-thought-out. Stress test your design. Avoid assumptions. Work with local content designers. Spend time in the country to better understand the market. Have local help on the ground. And test repeatedly with local users as an ongoing part of the design process. You’ll be surprised by some findings, but you’ll also learn to adapt and scale to be effective — whatever market is going to come up next. Useful resources: UX Design Across Different Cultures, by Jenny Shen https://lnkd.in/eNiyVqiH UX Localization Handbook, by Phrase https://lnkd.in/eKN7usSA A Complete Guide To UX Localization, by Michal Kessel Shitrit 🎗️ https://lnkd.in/eaQJt-bU Designing Multi-Lingual UX, by yours truly https://lnkd.in/eR3GnwXQ Flags Are Not Languages, by James Offer https://lnkd.in/eaySNFGa IBM Globalization Checklists https://lnkd.in/ewNzysqv Books: ⦿ Cross-Cultural Design (https://lnkd.in/e8KswErf) by Senongo Akpem ⦿ The Culture Map (https://lnkd.in/edfyMqhN) by Erin Meyer ⦿ UX Writing & Microcopy (https://lnkd.in/e_ZFu374) by Kinneret Yifrah

Embracing a Spacious Lifestyle within Compact Spaces: The Evolution of Small Apartments and Modular Furniture. Would you live there? The modern living landscape is undergoing a remarkable transformation as small apartments and modular furniture redefine the way we inhabit our spaces. The concept of "living large in a small footprint" has become more than just a catchphrase; it has become a tangible reality reshaping our living experiences. Small apartments, once seen as a compromise, are now celebrated for their efficiency and practicality. As urban centers grow denser, these compact living spaces have evolved to maximize functionality without sacrificing comfort. The ingenious use of design elements, multifunctional furniture, and smart storage solutions enables residents to enjoy a comfortable and enriching lifestyle even within limited square footage. Enter modular furniture, a game-changer that perfectly complements the ethos of small-space living. Modular pieces are designed to adapt, transform, and serve multiple purposes, allowing residents to tailor their environments to their needs. From transforming sofas that become beds to dining tables that expand and contract, modular furniture empowers us to customize our surroundings while optimizing space utilization. This trend is profoundly impacting how we live. It encourages a shift towards intentional living, prompting us to carefully curate our possessions and prioritize what truly matters. The focus is on quality over quantity, leading to more thoughtful consumption patterns and sustainable living choices. Moreover, small apartments and modular furniture are fostering a sense of versatility. The boundaries between spaces are blurring as rooms multitask and evolve with our activities. A dining area can seamlessly transform into a workspace, and a living room can transition into a guest bedroom, all at the push of a button or the rearrangement of a few pieces. Innovations in design and technology are driving this evolution, making small apartments not just viable options but preferred choices for a diverse range of people, from young professionals seeking urban convenience to empty nesters downsizing their living arrangements. The convergence of small apartments and modular furniture is reshaping our understanding of space and how we utilize it. This transformation isn't just about making the most of less; it's about fostering a more deliberate, adaptable, and mindful way of living, where every square foot is an opportunity to express our personality and create a meaningful environment. #innovation via @ ori_living #technology

AI will drive 2x growth in data centre power capacity in 5 years. This means data centres must evolve. This week, I visited Barcelona to see how Schneider Electric assembles its prefabricated and containerised data centres at its factory. Also had the chance to attend briefings by senior members of its data centre division. Here are my thoughts. 𝟭/ 𝗔𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱𝘀 AI is here to stay. There are no pathways that don't include AI in some shape or form. But compute systems with lower power demands won't disappear either. This means our current way of designing data centres - often carving out a separate section for AI while non-AI workloads reside elsewhere, won't work. We need a new approach to cooling for maximum flexibility and sustainability for supporting both AI and non-AI workloads. - A new end-to-end design approach. - Partnerships for an AI-inclusive ecosystem. - New systems suited for this new paradigm. 𝟮/ 𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 Unsurprisingly, the new AI-centric data centres of the future must support liquid cooling. < 𝟰𝟬/𝗸𝗪 𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀 - Liquid cooling offers better efficiency. ~ 𝟱𝟬/𝗸𝗪 𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀 - Air cooling still possible, but barely. > 𝟱𝟬/𝗸𝗪 𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀 - Liquid cooling is a must-have. I just wrote a post about why liquid cooling is the future of data centres yesterday. (Read: https://lnkd.in/g5jhCNcX) 𝟯/ 𝗡𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗸 But liquid cooling isn't trivial. - Local sustainability standards differ. - Not all liquid cooling solutions scale well. - Efficiency might come at the expense of other areas. Throw in the need for continued need for air-cooling, and it just gets... complicated. 𝟰/ 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 What will the data centres of the future look like? The industry must come for a new generation of more sustainable, flexible, data centres. We need: - New data centre design and modeling software. - New high-capacity power trains, systems for AI. - Easy way to determine data centre efficiency. - Greater innovation across the ecosystem. And yes, Schneider Electric says it has developed a reference design for an AI-centric data centre with Nvidia - I'll share more about it in another post. 👉 Would love to hear your thoughts about how data centres must evolve. 𝗣𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼: Schneider Electric's Sant Boi factory in Barcelona. --- My name is Paul Mah and I write about tech that matters in #EverydayTechStories 📆 Get weekly updates: www.techstories.co/updates 👀 See my other posts: www.techstories.co 🙋 Follow me on LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/gu5EMKQg #datacentre

Nature's Hacks for Success. Biomimicry might sound complex, but it's simply about learning from nature to enhance our designs. It's like learning from the best teacher, Mother Nature herself. Defined by the Biomimicry Institute, this approach guides us toward sustainable solutions by mimicking perfected patterns and strategies found in nature. Nature has already solved many of our challenges. So, why not apply its genius to our packaging designs? It offers patterns and relationships that inspire better, eco-friendly packaging designs. Whether in structure or materials, designers can draw from nature's beauty, texture, and flow. We discover materials that are waterproof, breathable, flexible, and more. It's as if nature has already completed the heavy lifting of innovation, evolution, and adaptation for us. Think of the honeycomb structure in beehives, not only sturdy but also space-efficient. A great example of biomimicry in packaging design is the SIS bottle by Backbone Branding. Their designers draw inspiration from a flower's pistil to shape a two-litre juice bottle. The design not only stands out with its natural juice colour but also resolves many stacking, storage, and merchandising challenges through its interlocking form. Rooted in geometry with equilateral triangles, these bottles fit snugly together, saving space. Every aspect of the bottle, from its size and proportions to its lines and curves, has been carefully considered. Even the label has been specially designed to adhere to the bottle's irregular surface, eliminating the need for glue. Consider adding nature's strategy into your design process. It will help you close the loop and build a solution that resonates with the ecosystem we breathe in. Biomimicry enables us to develop sustainable systems rather than short-lived, isolated solutions that may soon become outdated. One thing's for sure, we stand at a crucial juncture in human history. The challenges ahead demand designers and innovators capable of creating resilient, adaptable solutions. Our path forward must consider the well-being of future generations across the planet. We must continually draw inspiration from nature and reciprocate by nurturing and preserving it. In doing so, we'll not only enrich our designs but also contribute to the greater ecosystem. Let nature continue to inspire us, and in return, let's contribute to its well-being A cycle of respect and reciprocity where our designs and actions reflect a deep reverence for the natural world. Ready to take a cue from nature's playbook for your next packaging design? 📷Backbone Branding

🚫 I know this post won’t be popular. But it needs to be said. You’ve probably seen dynamic Hormozi-style captions. Those fast-moving, flashy, high-energy subtitles influencers swear by. They’re everywhere. And yes, they drive views. But what gets attention isn’t always what serves the audience. Here’s the problem. They're not accessible. Let's break it down: - Non-standard colors make text hard to read and cause eye strain. - One or two words at a time are too fast for many viewers. - Motion effects like seesawing cause nausea and distraction. - Karaoke-style pacing forces viewers to follow a rhythm they didn’t choose. - Emphasized words in different colors dilute the message. - ALL hurt readability. Isn’t the message the most important thing? Let the video and its content be the star. If creators want pizzazz, they can add flashy text outside the captions. That’s why I advocate for closed captions. The kind that lets viewers control their captioning preferences. Captioning best practices are simple: * Plain sans-serif font. * Off-white text on off-black background. * Sentence case. * No motion. I know it’s hard to convince creators to change. Influencers are showing them the money. But accessibility isn’t optional. It’s essential. I’ve seen how inaccessible captions can shut people out of the conversation. That's not okay. I’ve worked with creators and audiences who rely on captions. This isn’t theoretical. It’s real. I made a short video to show the difference. Watch it and tell me: Are we prioritizing style over substance? What do you think? Can accessibility and engagement coexist? Reach out if you want help making your content more inclusive. I consult with creators, marketers, and teams who care about accessibility and impact. 🔔 Tap profile bell (You may need to do it again. LinkedIn reset it.) 👉 Follow #MerylMots for past posts #UX #Communication Video description: Identical side-by-side talking head videos of Meryl. Left has boring captions. Right has different dynamic caption styles.

I just read a crisis PR plan that someone paid $12,000 for. Journalists got 14 mentions. Reddit got zero. This plan was written in 2025, not 2015. Most are still museum pieces. They go deep on traditional media (which is still important) but miss the platforms where your reputation can be shredded much faster. Here's what I would've added to this strategy (ecommerce, founder-led brand big on socials): 1. LLM audit → Does your brand show up in ChatGPT responses? Citations? What's the framing like? You need a pre-crisis benchmark so you can track recovery. 2. Reddit watch list → Map your brand and category subreddits. Save them in the plan. Reddit conversations move fast and can amplify quickly - you can't afford to discover this during a crisis. 3. TikTok strategy → If your plan just says "monitor socials" it's useless. Who's watching your TikTok? Who drafts DM responses? Does your official statement go up as a video or text post? These aren't nice-to-haves anymore. 4. Influencer protocol → If you work with creators regularly, they belong in your stakeholder matrix. I've seen too many founders scramble when their usual influencer partners suddenly go quiet during a PR storm. The media landscape has REALLY shifted. Your crisis planning needs to catch up.

Early in my facilitation career, I made a big mistake. Spent hours crafting engaging activities and perfecting every little detail… Thinking that amazing learning design is what would make my workshops stand out and get me rehired. Some went great. Some bombed. You know the ones, sessions where: - One participant dominated the conversation. - People quietly disengaged, barely participating. - half the group visibly frustrated but not saying anything. I would push through, hoping things would course-correct. But by the end, it was a bit… meh. I knew my learning design was great so... What was I missing? Why the inconsistency between sessions? 💡I relied too much on implicit agreements. I realised that I either skipped or rushed the 'working agreements'. Treating it like a 'tick' box exercise. And it's here I needed to invest more time Other names for this: Contract, Culture or Design Alliance, etc... Now, I never start a session without setting a working agreement. And the longer I'm with the group, the longer I spend on it. 25 years of doing this. Here are my go-to Qs: 🔹 What would make this session a valuable use of your time? → This sets the north star. It ensures participants express their needs, not just my agenda. 🔹 What atmosphere do we want to create? → This sets the mood. Do they want an energising space? A reflective one? Let them decide. 🔹 What behaviours will support this? → This makes things concrete. It turns abstract hopes into tangible agreements. 🔹 How do we want to handle disagreement? → This makes it practical. Conflict isn’t the problem—how we navigate it is. ... The result? - More engaged participants. - Smoother facilitation. - Ultimately, a reputation as the go-to person for high-impact sessions. You probably already know this. But if things don't go smoothly in your session. Might be worth investing a bit more time at the start to prevent problems later on. Great facilitation doesn't just happen, It's intentional, and it's designed. ~~ ♻️ Share if this is a useful reminder ✍️ Have you ever used a working agreement in your workshops? What’s one question you always ask? Drop it in the comments!

Did you know there’s a font designed just for accessibility? Meet Atkinson Hyperlegible, it was created by the Braille Institute of America to help people with low vision read more easily. It’s not a braille font (doesn’t include raised dots), but a print typeface. It even won the Fast Company Innovation Design Award in 2019! Molly Burke recently worked with her publisher to use the font for her memoir, Unseen. What makes it different? ⤵️ Hyperlegible exaggerates letter shapes so you can tell the difference between the letter “o” and the number zero (0), capital “i” vs. lowercase “l”, and the capital letter “b” vs. the number “8”. Other design features include: - Big open shapes - Clear spaces inside letters (known as open counters) - Distinct forms for commonly confused characters But who benefits? People who are blind or low vision, and people with dyslexia or visual processing differences. Clearer text equals easier reading! And the best part? It’s totally free 🎉 You can download it via Google Fonts or from the Braille Institute website. It also happens to be the same font this graphic post is written in. Accessibility isn’t always about doing more. It’s about doing things so that everyone benefits! This font is a small design choice with a big impact. Next time you design something: Try Atkinson Hyperlegible. Because readability is inclusion. Did you know about this font?  Share your thoughts or tag a designer friend in the comments! 👇 Image Description: Document with 9 slides. Each slide has a lime green border. The Blindish Latina logo with bold graphic black outline of an eye is at bottom of all slides. There is a white background behind all of the text on all slides. The text is in black and some emphasized phrases are purple. On the bottom of slides 1 and 7 is an image of Catarina, a light-skinned, Latiné woman with medium length wavy brown hair. She’s wearing a black jumpsuit with a V neck and her hands are on her hips. Slide 1 is the title slide that reads: “Did you know there’s a font designed just for accessibility?” On slide 1 there is clip art of a book with a red cover and a brain inside a light bulb. Slide 2 has clip art of an award ribbon. Slide 3 has a screenshot of advocate & content creator Molly Burke speaking at an event from one of her TikTok videos inside the outline of an iPhone. Slide 5 has a dark purple check mark inside a circle. Slide 6 has clip art of a computer outline in black with a wrench and gear in the center. All text on the slides is in the caption and alt text. #Disability #Accessibility #UniversalDesign