Debut Issue: TikTok, a symbol for everyone, and staying inspired

Social media platforms come and go. Have you ever heard of Vero which supposedly went viral a couple years ago? The latest just might have more staying power. TikTok has been called the Gen Z medium. “This is a generation that came of age amidst flurries of smartphone notifications and mind-melting endless scrolls. Technology has trained their attention spans to be short,” writes Quartz’s Sarah Todd. TikTok is short, vertical content.

TikTok filled a void left by Vine, after Twitter killed the short-format video service in 2016. ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, purchased musical.ly a year later, and the app’s combo of music, filters, and short-form fun, funny, user-generated entertainment has gone mainstream. It helps that Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” went viral on TikTok before going viral in playgrounds and department stores.

Mostly recently TikTok hired ex-Disney alum Kevin Mayer to become its new CEO. Mayer, who most recently ran Disney’s direct-to-consumer arm and oversaw the very successful launch of Disney Plus, will presumably help the business grow up, monetize, and play better with music labels.

Well-intended designers get bees in their bonnets about creating universal symbols for marginalized or even unmarginalized groups of people. The best ones arrive at the right time, right place, and for the right group. Gilbert Baker’s rainbow flag debuted at San Francisco’s Gay Pride Parade in June 1978. But just a few months later, the City’s first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk, was assassinated, propelling demand for the rainbow flag, as it became a symbol of pride and solidarity with the gay community.

In 2012, Sara Hendren, Brian Glenney, with Tim Ferguson Sauder, redesigned the International Symbol of Access, aka the wheelchair symbol. It wasn’t accepted by the ISO, but was starting to get adopted by some states. (BTW, May 21 was Global Accessibility Awareness Day.)

And then there’s [*] and [+]. Two attempts to create a symbol for everyone, within a span of a month. And just using their keyboards? I just want to know why? Maybe it’s coronavirus boredom?

While we’ve all been staying at home with our stay-at-home orders—and as I opened this newsletter—we’re trying to stay productive, creative, and inspired. Quarantine has allowed many people to develop new content, like John Krasinski and his excellent new YouTube channel, Some Good News. Really, it’s a joy, all positivity, so go watch it now.

Just reigniting a dormant hobby is great, or taking up new forms of art. Here’s a list of eight things to try, or read stories of other people’s endeavors to get some ideas.

As creatives we’re always seeking to be inspired. “Inspiration isn’t hiding out there waiting to be discovered. It resides inside us. We need only be receptive to it,” says writer Mike Sturm.

But don’t feel pressured. Adjusting to this time has been hard for everyone, including illustrator Olimpia Zagnoli, who took some time to slow things down. Many of us have to juggle other responsibilities at home, like childcare. So “instead of looking at quarantine as a time of high output, look at it as a time of high input,” suggests Evelyn Fogleman on Medium.

Product design has emerged as a newish term to encompass all aspects of designing a digital product (think a website or mobile app that helps users accomplish something). This is not to be confused with the OG “product design” which was/is still a subset of industrial design. I suppose it’s coming full circle now because the UX discipline did start with industrial designers who were the best-trained among us with human-to-thing interaction.

Product designer Michelle Chiu writes a good primer, “Product design is the all-encompassing process of creative problem-solving. It’s the thoughtful, intentional application of design knowledge to craft functional, intuitive user experiences.”

Slack’s VP of Design, Ethan Eismann, illustrates all these concepts in an interview, where he talks about the latest Slack redesign his team embarked on.

Methinks “product design” is the new “UX/UI.”

(Illustration by Danny Jose)

As designers, we are businesspeople, whether we hustle as a freelancer, own an agency, or work in-house. In our quarantine times, while our businesses may be slowing down, we need to remember that our clients and end customers are facing the same reality. That’s where our secret weapon of empathy comes in. Bartek Bialek reminds us of five strategies to empathize with our clients. And just because times are a little uncertain, doesn’t mean you should drop your rates.

(Illustration by Iryna Korshak, Netguru)

Remote work is the new normal for us designers. At least for a while. I wrote a three-piece series about this on my agency’s blog, including how I manage my remote team, how information work flows today, and the tools to collaborate remotely.

Meanwhile, making sure that you have a good setup in your home office is critical to your success and happiness. Invest in the pieces of furniture and gear that will keep you comfortable and productive.

&Walsh created a pack of designer emojis for this crazy time. Totally compatible with Slack, WhatsApp, iMessage and more.