#visualdiary6

[creativecollectionnk32-blog]

Visual Diary #6  |  Design Leadership Tools

I’ve been seeing a ton of advertising for this lately and it makes me interested to see how good it could be for workflow and projects. While there are other similar platforms, I’ve just been curious if this one is as good as they say it is. We use basecamp where I work, and while it’s fine, I think it lacks in giving an overall picture of where you’re at with projects - individually and as a team. If monday.com can do this then I think it would be worth a try!

I definitely like the design, it’s bold in color but clean cut and simple overall. Not sure how easy the navigation is, but from the research I’ve done it seems simple as well. This is a tangible design leadership tool that I hope to try, but I also think there is going to be a variety of pms and workflow platforms like this in the near future to try as well. Regardless, I think the design is great and I can definitely see the benefit of having such a seamless way to monitor and stay on top of work and projects–it’s something we can always get better at!

[creativecollectionnk32-blog]

Visual Diary #6  |  Design Leadership Tools

I came across InVision a while back when I was deciding whether or not I wanted to pursue my masters degree in design management. I will say, it got me excited about design and how you can be a leader, but still integral in the design process. A lot of popular companies, Uber and Netflix to name a few, use this platform as a way to sort of “check” their design process and keep it inline with their ultimate goal. It takes all of your creative ideas and helps you start off in the right direction with design thinking. It’s a little tricky to describe exactly what all it does because there’s so much going on there and it’s got so many resources. The way I can describe it best is a tool to guide your design thinking–for whatever design project you’re working on–from start to finish. It’s purpose is to keep you, the design leader, and your team on the right track and up to speed. It’s a major strategy tool and I’ve listened to a lot of their podcasts on the DesignBetter.Co, which is just one small facet of the content overall. 

Some people may see this as just a Project Management System, but I think the educational aspect and the abundance of information you have access to sets it apart from a typical PMS. I’m sure a lot of people are aware of InVision, but it was the first thing that popped into my mind as a design leadership tool, and it’s a strong one!

[akcadle]

I wasn’t sure what was meant by an abstract design leadership tool so after reading the course materials and doing some research online, I figured that some abstract design leadership tools I can expand on in my daily life would be to lead with compassion and enthusiasm. I tend to think I already exude those qualities, but not to the level I believe they need to be to effectively use them to lead a team of creatives, which is good because I don’t lead a team quite yet. Something I came across in reading was the idea of empathy marketing, which is the idea that if companies can look through their clients’ eyes and understand their desires, they will be better able to tailor their offerings and gain a competitive advantage. The same can be said for product designers, like myself, when creating products with the users goals in mind. A great example of this would be if you open Spotify or Apple Music and want to sing along to a song, you can click the lyrics icon and know exactly what words come next in every single song. In this example, these streaming services empathized, or had compassion, for their users wanting to use their app for karaoke nights, singing in the car, or any other situation where some vocal guidance was required!

[akcadle]

Adobe Firefly & Generative AI

One tool that I started using on a consistent basis the last few weeks at work and on personal projects was generative AI, a new update for Photoshop that completed beta testing and was rolled out completely to subscribers. With this tool, you can select an area of a photo and type in a description of what you want added, and Adobe Firefly will create various versions of your description within your photo. You can also upload a photo to photoshop, expand the crop boundaries, and generate similar surroundings to expand the composition, which is what I have pictured in this post. 

Being able to expand the view of the camera lens and add subjects and events to photos without having to go back into the field and recapturing the moments you want to create is a huge asset to me and many designers. Of course, there are drawbacks to using AI, considering it’s not your original work, your manipulating a scene, etc. for professional or personal gain, but so far, with what I’ve used it for, I find it’s a valuable tool that many young designers and photographers can use to help get their ideas out of their head and onto the screen!

[insowmnia]

CAD Software is highly utilized in the fashion industry. It breaks down measurements by the SKU and allows the transfer of information to be standardized from vendor to vendor. I imagine, great companies - if not all fashion companies utilize this software. One that comes to mind is Anthropologie. It has countless dresses and styles every season, that can be easily tracked through the CAD system.