Great questions! Very helpful and some, challenging. I also love the peptalk. Haha

I didn't see the carousel until I read this comment and went back to check.

I liked them as well! I do agree some took a bit of time to understand. But in that extra time, I actually read each feature title to try to connect the photo to the words. So maybe its a good strategy to pique curiosity and get the user to pause & hopefully read?

Whether it is a website or iOS it doesn't matter, both are digital experiences. The user is not going to act or think differently just because the interaction is within a browser. Not all websites/apps have the need for BOTH check boxes and radio buttons. If the site calls for both, then maybe the check box is square. My opinion is that the author shouldn't say never, because in some cases round check boxes can be okay.

The "checkboxes" in the native iOS reminders app are round and aren't very confusing (anyone think otherwise?). So maybe not never... But I do agree that they don't work well in those examples given though.

As an architectural designer by day, the comparison was quite interesting to me. We can all agree that strong knowledge of the medium can only be beneficial and will allow the designer to have better control over the details of the end product.

Architects detail the construction of a wall, but don't build every single wall in the project. A designer should be able to specify how an element could be built but shouldn't have to be involved in coding the entire app.

TLDR; Yes - knowledge, No - wasting time on production.

Helpful article. Thanks!