almost 6 years ago from Eliot Slevin, Nostalgia Maker
8/10 of the top posts this month have been about design tools. 5 of the first 10 posts on the current front page are about design tools.
As much as I appreciate this content, it's not really what I'm here for? I'd love if we could try a week of no talking about tools?
Yeah. It's "shiny object syndrome." We're no better than anyone else there, haha.
It's also good business. There's no lack of people out there promoting their new tool with an in-depth Medium post that's really just a big ad (obviously there are exceptions...yours: yours is an exception, and it's lovely- Big fan).
But yeah...it's all candy. Give me some meat sometime. A whitepaper, a research methods teardown, an end-to-end case study, etc. These couple of months have been nothing but cheap popcorn (again, except your post, which I love...yes, you, who's reading this right now, YOUR post). ;)
I've never known DN to have "meaty" stories. If you look at this year's top stories, I think it accurately reflects what the community here wants:
There's nothing wrong with this content, but I think the "lack of substance" feeling comes when you combine these types of post with the large amount of low quality self promotion.
Where do you all go to find more substantive content on design?
Where do you all go to find more substantive content on design?
That's what I'm trying to figure out. r/Design sometimes has the occasional good post, 99% invisible is always very interesting (but not always practical to my work), I really like hackernews to be honest - but other than that I'm not sure. Maybe I need to read books more?
Slack groups seem to be the place where I find the most depth regarding design conversations.
I once suggeseted to the DN Team, i think, as feedback to provide us a badge for tools and/or better Filter Functions. Look at the search is horrable too, always a pain to Look out for interessting posts.
True that. Many times I found myself in pain trying to find something that I was reading sometime in the past.
Well, we seem to forget that this site is not really being worked on as much. We have been asking for more badges for ages and we are not getting anything.
be the change you want to see in thr world
I believe posts about design tools are very important but I agree with you that the balance is off. I have been thinking a lot about what kind of content we should all be producing and sharing with each other.
In general, most of the articles have seen are way too whitewashed and aren't messy enough.I just spent the past few days over the break writing down my thoughts. I am curious what you guys think.
Great read! I loved the layout and entertaining snippets you've put through! Very true points, everybody loves to gloss over the messy details in case studies, when in reality they are some of the most useful lessons.
Thanks for the positive feedback Eliot. I just posted it as a story here https://www.designernews.co/stories/90638
New design tools are an important way to improve your craft. Whether it's a fancy new mechanical pencil, some nice Copic markers, the InVision Studio Beta or a new design methodology, they all help you improve and expand your skills. That's why they keep being shared.
I get that argument, I really do - but I find the challenges I face with my daily design work have very little to do with tools? Things like approaching new situations, communication and teamwork with users / clients, workshopping, concepting & iteration, etc. Tools are obviously important for all of that, but they're just at the surface? All the tools in the world won't help me if I don't know how & why I'm using them.
Even though you're couching everything in a nice way, you sound like a negative nancy complainer. Complainers say what they don't want, but never say what they want instead. This is exactly what you did. If you're not here for design tools, what are you here for?
Fair point - I'm here for case studies, advice from the experienced, studies, research methods, guides, and in-depth retrospectives.
For example, here's an article I keep coming back to which helped me become a slightly better designer - https://medium.com/mission-log/design-better-data-tables-430a30a00d8c
That kinda stuff. I just find tools articles don't help me improve in my day to day work.
I think because we're setting out on a new year and all of the household design tools are coming out with the 'next big thing', it's bound to remain firmly in our view.
Give it a month or two, once the dust has settled, the next 'design tool' equivalent story will saturate our feeds.
The arguments between avid Sketch, Figma, Framer & Invision Studio users' will always rage on though.
Yes 100% feel the same way.
what we design designs us back. and the tools we use to design.. design what we design which designs us, so if we don't talk about design tools that define how we design, how will we design ourselves?
Login to Comment
You'll need to log in before you can leave a comment.
LoginRegister Today
New accounts can leave comments immediately, and gain full permissions after one week.
Register now