#004 The Design Insider: Digest
Instagram allows users to add pronouns on profiles, Clubhouse goes live on Android, Pinterest testing livestream events and more
In the news
Instagram adds pronouns for profiles
In a bid to become more inclusive, raise awareness and support gender identity, Instagram users in selected countries will soon be able specify their pronouns on their profiles. As seen in the image above, the pronouns will appear directly next to the users name, above the bio, in a slightly shaded grey colour. Users can also select whether they want to make this public, or visible only to their followers.
TikTok reveals green screen duet feature
TikTok is combining the über popular Green Screen and Duet editing tools to create Green Screen Duet. A new collaborative tool that will allow users to add video content from other creators as a background for their videos. Currently, the green screen feature only allows creators to add a background image to their videos. While the "Duet" feature allows users to create videos alongside original video content from other accounts in four layouts; left and right layout, react layout, top and bottom layout, and three-screen layout.
New social sharing features for Spotify
Over the past year, Spotify has added several features to make social sharing more seamless and this week unveiled some new ways users will soon be able to share their favourite content. These include;
Podcast timestamp sharing: This feature will allow users to share their favourite podcast beginning at a particular moment. To do this, users need to tap the "share" button while listening to the episode and use the "switch to share" feature for the current playtime and share. Recipients can then click the link and start listening to the podcast at the selected starting time.
New layout and expanding Canvas: Spotify will be expanding Canvas, a feature that converts a static song page into video art. Users can now preview what their canvas looks like on the respective platform before sharing. Also, in addition to Instagram Stories, users will be able to share their canvas on Snapchat.
Clubhouse now on Android
Over a year after launching on iOS, Clubhouse will now be available to android users by mid next week. Perfect timing, as the social audio giant faces choppy waters, with the initial hype dying out and increasing competition causing a 72% decrease in downloads, from February (9.6 Million) to March (2.7 Million). Unfortunately, both the iOS and Android versions of the app will remain invite-only for now, with no immediate plans to open up soon.
Twitter adding tiered subscription service
Hidden feature huntress, Jane Manchun Wong, shared some details about "Twitter Blue". A premium subscription service starting at $2.99pm that will give users access to a selection of exclusive new features. These include the highly requested undo a tweet button and the ability to organise their bookmarked tweets into folders to name a few. Unfortunately, Twitter is yet to confirm or deny these claims; however, Jane is pretty accurate with her predictions, so we can expect to hear something very soon.
Pinterest testing livestream events
Pinterest will begin publicly testing a new live-stream feature with users for the first time at a three day virtual event from May 24th to 26th. The event will see 21 top creators on the platform host a series of video sessions covering several topics, from recipes, beauty tips and much more. Although initially a test, its expected that Pinterest will expand the service, eventually allowing users to send money during or after streams, subscribe for exclusive content and pay for access. Powerful features that provide creators with an additional revenue stream. To access the events, users will need to select a new "live" tab in Pinterest’s iOS and Android app.
Recommended reads
KPI-centred design: Many companies claim to employ a human-centred approach to design. In reality, their entire design process is driven by hitting key metrics (KPI) that help stakeholders evaluate the business performance. This article dives deep into the concepts of Human and KPI-centric design, detailing what they are, how they're different and what you can take from each and adapt to formulate a more effective evidence-centred design process instead.
Boost task completion with dopamine: Dopamine is a neurotransmitter produced by our brain that plays a critical role in motivating behaviour. It essentially provides us with a reward for completing a beneficial action, thus encouraging us to do it again. As designers, our job is to create products and interfaces that keep people engaged, so we must understand how this magic chemical works. This article dives deeper into the details of dopamine and offers some practical tips you can implement in your designs to stimulate its release so you can keep users motivated and drive their to behaviour.
What can we learn about design from Netflix?: Designing a website that both looks good and offers a good user experience is tricky, especially if you’re a beginner. This article gives you a brief over of what UI/UX is and breaks down some best practices of web design from thee websites of tech brands we use everyday, such as Netflix, Duo Lingo and much more.
Remote card sorting technique: Card sorting is an excellent exercise that can help you and fellow team members better understand users' information needs and how to can organise content within an application or website. Ideally, you should do card sorting in person, however as we’ve seen with the pandemic, it's essential to know how to run a session remotely. This article describes the basics of card sorting and gives you a step by step walkthrough on what you should do to run a remote session successfully.
How to design a logo - A step by step guide for designers: Creating a logo can often be a very daunting process. Due to its significance in a company/products brand identity, you must keep a close eye and pay strong attention to detail when creating it. In this article, the author breaks down his approach in multiple steps, with tips and advice that will come in handy when you're creating your logo.
A guide to user personas in UX design: User Personas are descriptive fictional profiles of target users which, when done right, can help clarify a design project’s goal, build empathy, create a shared understanding and focus product teams on specific users’ goals. This article covers everything you need to know about user personas, from what they are, why they’re essential, how to create and effectively apply them to design products people love.
Useful tools and resources
Book of the week - Interactions of colour by Josef Albers: A revolutionary book containing clear and concise explanations of complex colour theory principles by renowned academic and former head of the Design School at Yale.
50 UI Tips: Curated by UI/UX obsessed developer, Victor Ponamariov, this free ebook contains 50 tips, tricks and best practices that will help you design successful digital products and interfaces.
The Universal Score: Created by global design studio, Idean, this resource will help you understand how well you're designing for inclusion and offer practical tips on what you can do to improve.