Hyperloop Interface. Around the World in a Minute.

Hyperloop Interface. Around the World in a Minute.

Hardik Gandhi   January 26, 2018

An idea emerged back in the 20th century about a brand new mode of transport involving a magnetic pad to reduce friction. In 2012, when California was all about the California High-Speed Rail project, Elon Musk suggested Hyperloop. For several years now, the world’s best engineers have been working toward a technological breakthrough. The future is a tantalizing secret and we’re constantly trying to predict and infer what will happen. Hyperloop One just disclosed their own vision of the passenger app interface, and you can easily compare the work they did with what we imagined to be the perfect Hyperloop app: https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/08/hyperloop-one-and-here-built-a-hyperloop-passenger-app/

Everything changes at lightning speed, and we can’t always keep up with the latest news. In the meantime, innovations encourage us to think up creative solutions that have everyday applications using smartphones, tablets, MacBooks, etc. Our company has a lab for generating experimental interfaces where we’re always asking what kinds of challenges we’ll get to see in a year or two, like:

• An AR app for studying anatomy which shows you someone’s internal organs when you direct the camera view at them.
• The messenger of the future which will boast additional functions like micro crowdfunding, dating options, and a bunch of other cool stuff.
• A news service which uses AI to predict newsworthy events a spine-tingling 15 minutes before they actually occur.

In this article, we want to talk about creating an app for Hyperloop. After all, they call it the 5th transport mode, with its own infrastructure. So its interface will be totally unique, with its own functionality and usability.

Obviously, what interests us most is which cities are included in Hyperloop’s network, and how long travel will take.

Route Selection

A map of the US emphasizing key cities on Hyperloop’s map and indications of travel time (in minutes, based on speeds of 1080 km/hr). The user selects two cities on different coasts. The interface shows which segments make up the route and calculates general travel time (taking into account stops along the way). We see the route screen, which presents the points of departure and arrival, travel time, cost, and a “Choose Seats” button.

If the trip takes 12 minutes, what kind of service can you offer to your passenger? A meal? Unlikely. Movies or music? We hope there’ll be wifi on board, which is more than enough to meet that demand. What about the possibility of chatting with a new friend? Link to your Facebook profile and the app will analyze your interests and select a spot beside compatible traveling companions.

Let Your Hobbies Choose Your Seat

Sync up your Facebook account and the app filters available seats next to people who share your interests, whether they be web design, subway construction, or volunteer work in Africa. The user can select one or several interests. The app will show your neighbor’s photo and a brief bio, something like: “Okay, we’ll seat you next to Amy Richards, she’s an IT security specialist and has been involved in charity work in Namibia for the past five years.”

What’s the best thing you can inherit from good old airline companies and railroads? Democracy! Hyperloop will suggest several classes of service and possibly even a free trip to go with your submersion into a diverting virtual reality which features ads.

Selecting the Right Class of Service

Standard: a carriage map with densely packed seats. Here you’ll see the seat cost and the number of pre-selected seats. Swiping left takes you to the Business class map, with fewer, comfier seats and more leg room. Suite: this gets you a full carriage including a conference table and opulent armchairs or sofas. Auto: this includes the option to bring your ride along for the ride.

So, I’m right in the middle of my 40-minute journey from Washington to Seattle. Where am I? How fast am I going? What’s going on around me? The app has to be totally able to answer such questions, especially when you’re stuck in an enclosed space in a vacuum.

Useful Info Along the Journey

During the trip you can check out a map with your designated route and trip trajectory. You’ll also see all the information relevant to you: speed, time en route, expected stops, and even points of interest along your journey.

How can a company make Hyperloop more accessible for ordinary people? By lowering costs at the expense of advertisers, for example. But how to tempt passengers into communicating with the brand? Easy: brand promotion should be available to all the passengers on board.

Lightning Speed Delivery

Every station has a special carriage with compartments. Put together all your shipment info in your Hyperloop app. Approach the carriage and use your phone to open the compartment, then insert your package. The mail carrier will take off on schedule and will soon arrive at its destination. The recipient will get an alert and receipt location beforehand. All that’s left to do is to go to the mail carriage and, using a phone, open up the right compartment. Fast and easy.

Conclusion

Cutting-edge technology expands our horizons and inspires us to think about how we’ll benefit from it throughout the course of an ordinary day. These intriguing concepts have been developed by our company, Cuberto, and we totally get that sooner or later, all of this will become reality. We grow and evolve with the times. It’s not just technology that’s transforming, but also our attitudes to everyday objects. As a product team, it’s our job to establish the most convenient conditions for the use of these technologies.

What It Takes to Train The Next Generation of Innovators

What It Takes to Train The Next Generation of Innovators

Hardik Gandhi   January 25, 2018

Unsplash

This article was published on GrowthX Academy’s Blog on August 28, 2017.

Sean Sheppard, founder of GrowthX Academy, discusses the critical skills for the upcoming “Innovation Economy”.

“How do we educate people for a future we can’t predict?” It’s a question that’s been on my mind a lot lately — and, it turns out, it’s been on Sean Sheppard‘s as well.

Sean is a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and the founder of GrowthX and the GrowthX Academy. He’s someone who’s been steeped in modern sales, marketing and growth hacking methods, so I was excited to get the chance to chat with him recently about the skills he believes will be critical for the coming “Innovation Economy.”

The Problem: Our Outdated Education System

Most of us have the sense that our education systems haven’t kept pace with innovation. In our conversation, Sean explains how deeply behind we’ve fallen:

“The modern education system was developed in the Age of Enlightenment to support the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century as a way to take people off of farms and educate them to work in factories. That’s why there are school bells. They’re meant to mimic factory whistles. That’s why we have the people lined up in desks, in rows, because that’s how an assembly line is constructed.”

As Sean notes, this transition was critical. “In the 1900s, 40 percent of the jobs in this country were farming jobs. Today, only 2 percent are farming jobs.” Moving from an agriculture-driven society to an industrial one required education systems that prepared students for the kinds of jobs that were becoming available.

Sean points out that we’re in a similar transition now. “Very soon, 40 to 50 percent of the jobs are going to be replaced by robots and automation. We’re now entering what the World Economic Forum has called the fourth industrial revolution: the ‘Innovation Economy.’”

The Four Factors of Future Effectiveness

So what changes do we need to make to prepare for this coming transition? What skills do students and professionals need to practice today to build competency for future jobs? Sean highlights four pillars in particular that form the basis of his approach at GrowthX (I’ll give you a hint — none of them involve getting an MBA or liberal arts degree).

1. Mindset

I was happy to hear Sean touch on mindset as one of his four pillars, as it’s something I’ve been hammering into my team at Web Profits. Sean and I agree — the future belongs to those who adopt a growth mindset, rather than a fixed mindset.

None of us can predict with 100% certainty what the future of the Innovation Economy looks like (except maybe Mark Zuckerberg). Limiting yourself with a fixed mindset — one that restricts you to considering things as they are, not as they might be — could prevent you from identifying and taking advantage of opportunities as they arise.

That’s somewhat obvious, but Sean added an important note: “There is no distinction between personal and professional development in the Innovation Economy.” You can’t think of your future performance in terms of your career alone. Embracing the growth mindset Sean suggests means recognizing that every part of yourself — from your work to your health and beyond — can, and should, be improved upon.

2. Mastery

Having a growth-based mindset provides needed flexibility for an unclear future. But mindset alone doesn’t fully answer the question of how you prepare today for jobs that may not exist until tomorrow.

That’s where competency-based education comes into play, according to Sean. “Competency-based education models will be the future of education. It’s the idea that we can measure people the same way you and I measure marketing efforts in real-time. We can assess people quickly about whether or not they’ve achieved the competency.”

Out of competency, Sean suggests, mastery grows. “You acquire the knowledge; there’s a framework for that. You practice it to demonstrate that you can acquire the competencies, and then through the repetitive iteration of that, you develop proficiency and then, ultimately, mastery.”

Sean’s model makes more sense when applied to a hypothetical job. Suppose you want to become a growth hacker. There’s no “official” training program; no university you can attend. So how do you prepare for this job? According to Sean, you study the existing knowledge that’s available. You identify and develop the core competencies involved in the job. Then, through practice, iterative improvement and the simple investment of time, you eventually achieve mastery.

The beauty of this approach is that it’s available to everyone. Sean states, “It’s about being a learn-it-all not a know-it-all. It’s about understanding that the foundation of mastery is that you do not have to be born with some natural level of inborn talent or set of skills.”

3. Career

Transforming personal and professional mastery into a career will look different than it used to, according to Sean. “As an individual you have to focus on your career development, and as a manager and a leader, you have to focus on helping people develop their careers.”

Long tenures with a single company are practically nonexistent these days, and our transition to the Innovation Economy will only accelerate this change. Succeeding in this future — in whatever role you define yourself — will require that you take an active role in managing your career, as well as helping guide the careers of others.

4. Community

Mindset, mastery and career are all factors you develop on your own. But, in Sean’s opinion, where things really come together is in a focus on community. “The modern education requires diversity of thought, opinion, background, and experience from a whole host of different points of view.”

Simply put: you need a diverse community whose wisdom you can draw on to advance your learning beyond what you’re capable of on your own.

Sean attempts to build communities like these through GrowthX (the next session starts September 12th), but you can also cultivate your own community by connecting with older mentors, those in other industries and thought leaders you admire.

Now isn’t the time to remain idle. By focusing on updating your mindset, mastery, career and community, you’ll be ready to face whatever challenges come your way in the new Innovation Economy.

---

This article was published on GrowthX Academy’s Blog on August 28, 2017.

---

Simple App Ideas: How to Find the Next Big Thing

Simple App Ideas: How to Find the Next Big Thing

Hardik Gandhi   January 23, 2018

Originally published on http://www.appsterhq.com/

When it comes to building mobile apps, app makers tend to overcomplicate their ideas and strategies.

The app winds up becoming a clunky Swiss Army knife — one that offers too many features, is difficult to learn and use, and costly to maintain.

But when we think about successful apps, it’s often the simplest ones that come to mind — apps like Dropbox and Evernote that address a pressing pain point, yet are effortlessly easy to use.

As Steve Jobs famously said:

“Simple can be harder than complex: you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

Below, I’ll share about tried-and-tested strategies that I’ve used to help startups and entrepreneurs at Appster come up with simple app ideas effectively.

1. Train yourself to become an idea machine:

How do you get better at coming up with app ideas?

The answer, according to entrepreneur, best-selling author and podcaster James Altucher is to become an idea machine.

In Altucher’s words, it’s akin to being a superhero, where you’re never at a loss for ideas — regardless of whichever situation you’re in or whatever questions you’re thrown at.

If this sounds unrealistic, it isn’t — but it does require plenty of practice. Here’s a quick roundup of Altucher’s tips for becoming an idea machine:

How many ideas should you come up with each time?

10.

Why 10 ideas?

Most of us wouldn’t have much difficulty with conceiving a handful of ideas, even if it’s centered around topics that we don’t usually ponder about.

But after the fifth idea is just about when it gets challenging — where we find ourselves at a loss for ideas.

The point of the exercise is to break through this stage in order to build up your idea muscle.

How can you assess your ideas?

You can’t, and evaluating your app ideas isn’t the priority at this point in time. Says Altucher:

“You have to try multiple ideas and see which ones gets the excitement of customers, employees, and you can see that people are legitimately using it and excited by it.”

What are topics you can start brainstorming on?

The key here is to have fun with the ideation process, so don’t limit yourself to business-related ideas.

It helps to think out of the box, and conceptualize ideas around topics like “10 ridiculous mobile apps I would want”, “10 ways an app can solve a problem that I’m facing”, “10 mobile apps that I can reinvent” or “10 mobile apps I would improve”.

How long does it take to become an “idea machine”?

Altucher suggests doing this daily for at least six months.

2. Hone your problem-solving skills

How can app makers go about finding the right idea for their startup?

Daniel Kempe, founder of hand-curated content suggestion platform Quuu elaborates in a Forbes article:

“It’s not about the search for ideas, it’s identifying problems or gaps with existing products or services. Ideas are tough to come by, at least good ones are. But problems, they’re everywhere! Almost every product or service you use on a daily basis was created to solve a problem.”

Here four strategies you can use to hone your problem-solving abilities:

2.1. Review problems you face on a day-to-day basis

The first place to start is by identifying problems that you encounter on a day-to-day basis.

It can be difficult to come up with ideas in a brainstorming session, so start by observing any moments of frustration you have throughout the day — whether it’s an interruption or delay that occurred at work or a problem that crops up in your personal life.

At first glance, these issues may appear to be minute or mundane — but resolving a personal problem has been the launching point for apps like Dropbox and Summly.

The idea for Dropbox arose out of co-founder Drew Houston’s frustration with the absence of a seamless storage solution for his files, while Summly was conceived when founder Nick D’Aloisio found it inefficient to click through Google search results while preparing for his exams.

2.2. Pay attention to everyday conversations

Everyday conversations and seemingly banal complains can become a source of inspiration.

Try carving out a block of time — say five days to a week — where you pay close attention to and note down problems that crop up in conversations all around you. “I wish this could be better”, “I hate this…”, “Why does this keep happening…” are some phrases you’d want to prick your ears up for.

2.3. Tap on social media

Social media platforms are a great way to find out about larger scale problems encountered by individuals and communities all around the world.

There are different ways of conducting a search via social media: you may create hashtags around the problems you’ve picked up on through the above methods, or come up with a list of hashtags around topics or problems that you’re concerned about.

2.4. Go to where your potential users are at

Blog articles, blog comments, forums, discussion boards, Quora — apart from being a useful source of information, these sites are also a great way to interact with potential users or target audience.

Take note of common problems and issues that are being discussed, and don’t hesitate to post comments or start a new thread around any questions you might have — this could spark off conversations that will shed light on problems that you weren’t previously aware of.

3. Keep a close watch on your competitors

A competitive analysis should be carried out at several stages over the lifetime of a mobile app: during the ideation process, before significant changes are made to your app or business strategy, and at regular intervals to keep up with changes in the competitive landscape.

Below, I’ll be focusing on competitive analysis conducted at the ideation stage.

Pay attention to user feedback and comments

User feedback and comments are a treasure trove of information. Start poring through reviews and ratings left by users of your competitors’ apps — from app store reviews to social media comments and forum posts — to obtain a clearer idea of features and strategies that resonate with your potential users.

If you’re in the midst of sounding out your ideas with friends and family or testing your MVP, keep an eye out for remarks like “I’ve tried out the ABC app, but didn’t like a particular feature they had” or “This feature reminds me of XYZ app” — you’ll know that these are competitors to keep track of.

Dig deep into your competitors’ strategies

By delving deep into the strategies implemented by your competitors, you can then break these down into simpler elements, and reverse engineer the processes to replicate their success.

The objective here isn’t to imitate what your competitors are doing, but to combine their strategies with your existing ideas to create concepts and features that work for your app.

Here’s a checklist of questions to help you get started on your research process:

• Which strategies have produced the best results for your competitors?
• What were unsuccessful strategies implemented?
• How can you improve on strategies your competitors implemented?
• How can you adapt these strategies to make it work for your mobile app?
• Don’t forget about indirect competitors

While your indirect competitors may not have launched a mobile app, they are still targeting a similar set of users — so it helps to pay attention to how they’re attracting your potential users with their products or services.

Here are key questions to guide you in your analysis of indirect competitors:

• In what areas are their products or services similar to yours?
• What are successful strategies and ideas that have helped them target and retain their users?
• How can these strategies be improved on?
• Can you adapt these ideas or concepts to make it work for your mobile app?

4. Stay on top of the latest trends

The ever-changing mobile landscape is a challenging space to navigate.

App makers are up against the intense competition — a 2017 Statista study indicated that Android users were able to choose between 2.8 million apps, while the number of apps on the App Store totaled at 2.2 million.

In addition, the emergence of trends like augmented reality, virtual reality and chatbots are revolutionizing the way users engage with mobile apps.

Strategies and features that are effective now may easily be rendered irrelevant in a matter of months. Generating ideas that resonate with today’s users requires a constant pursuit of keeping up with the trends.

Here are a few tools and websites you can use to stay on top of the latest developments:

• Google Trends
• Google Alerts
• App Annie: App market data and insights company producing consumer and competitive information on downloads, revenue, ratings, usage, search terms and more. App Annie’s Insights Blog and webinars are also great resources for app makers.
• Priori Data: App Store intelligence company providing market data and competitive benchmarking information on the global app economy.
• Forrester Research: Market research firm providing advice on existing and potential impacts of technology.
• Trendwatching: Independent trend firm scanning the global market for promising consumer trends and insights.
• Springwise: Provides information on innovation intelligence. Springwise sources for the latest innovation, startup, and business ideas from around the world.
• Trends and mobile apps outside of your industry

Too often, startups and businesses fall into the trap of living within the industry bubble. In adopting a myopic focus on industry trends, benchmarking and best practices, companies eventually wind up providing run-of-the-mill experiences that fail to stand out.

This can be prevented by studying and introducing ideas and concepts from industries, businesses or mobile apps that differ from your own.

Here are key takeaways you can gain from studying mobile apps across different industries:

• Zappos: Zappos is known for delivering stellar customer experiences, and its mobile app is no different. App makers can learn about providing top-notch experiences through studying features like Ask Zappos, a feature that helps users find any product with just a tap of their camera, and Handover, which enables users to shop seamlessly between their Apple devices.
• JetBlue: Pesky push notifications are a bane for smartphone users. Learn from JetBlue’s timely and thoughtful communication, which includes providing flight check-in reminders 24 hours before a flight is scheduled to take off, as well as notifications to let passengers review flight entertainment options in advance.
• Venmo: App makers can learn from the convenience and efficiency that mobile payment apps like Venmo provides — from the way user information is saved for easy access, to how a complex process like sending out money or making purchases can be completed in a few quick taps.

The Lies Facebook Tells Itself (and Us)

The Lies Facebook Tells Itself (and Us)

Hardik Gandhi   January 20, 2018

Mark Zuckerberg on a tractor in Blanchardville, Wis., in April

Mark Zuckerberg informed us a few days ago that he would be rewiring our information landscape. Posts from friends and family move up in the rankings; news and media fall off. He made a few oblique references as to why and assured us in an insipid 533-word blog post that the changes would mean that the 50 minutes users spend on the platform each day would be “time well spent.”

Anyone who has been even partially sentient over the past few years has noticed how we have become shrouded in our filter bubbles, secure like never before in the complacency of our convictions. This certainty in the righteousness of our own point of view makes us regard a neighbor with a yard sign the way a Capulet regards a Montague. It seems to me that we suddenly hate each other a whole lot more than we ever did before.

So it should come as no surprise that the place where filter bubbles are the thickest, where the self-satisfied certitude that comes from unchecked power is iron-clad, is at the headquarters of Facebook itself. This was brought home to me when I read an interview with the head of Facebook’s News Feed product, Adam Mosseri, by the savvy tech blogger Ben Thompson.

Mosseri, who has been at Facebook for nearly a decade (eons in Facebook chronos), was eager to explain to an interviewer why this change was rational, normal, good for humanity (the company counts one quarter of humanity as monthly active users). The interview was quite a get for Thompson, and he published it in near-verbatim format. In so doing, he laid bare just how removed from the rest of humanity Facebook management is, and how blissfully ignorant they are about the consequences of their actions.

I refined my outrage into five points Mosseri makes (down from 15 initially) that illustrate the degree to which Facebook executives live in a world of their own making where the rest of us are expected to comply.

#1 The changes are for our collective “well-being”

The most glaring assumption that jumps out of this interview (as well as official Facebook communiques) is that we are all asked to swallow Facebook’s incredibly vague gauge of “well-being,” or “meaningful social interaction.” In fact, these terms are sometimes tossed about interchangeably. (Zuckerberg uses “well-being” three times in his post.)

Excerpt from interview on Stratechery.com.

In the excerpt above, Mosseri implies that Facebook is doing this for our own mental health, and that it’s based on extensive research. Interactions = good. Passively consuming content = bad.

Aside from the disturbingly paternalistic assumptions therein, can I ask how Facebook defines well-being? And, since they have done such extensive research, can they share it with the public transparently? Mosseri’s answer: “We’ll certainly consider it…” (Facebook has a blog post that discusses a few of its conclusions here.)

To me, this strikes at the heart of the peril posed by Facebook: The platform has probably more power than any company has ever wielded over information (and perhaps even our well-being). And yet it engages in zero public debate about the changes it makes. It simply rolls them out. We are asked to buy Facebook’s version of meaningful, as in this Mosseri statement: “So if you and I had a back and forth conversation on a post from a Page, that would actually count as a meaningful social interaction.” Hence, it would get a higher rank in the algorithm, etc.

Is an exchange “meaningful”? I can think of plenty of Facebook exchanges that merely raised my blood pressure. These are sweeping categories. Facebook has placed itself as the imperious custodian of our well-being, but tells us nothing about how it cares for us. And do they care if it has side effects? Just ask independent journalists in Bolivia what happens when Facebook starts using them as guinea pigs in an experiment about their well-being: Their audience drops, the government’s ability to control public opinion increases. And when they complain to Facebook, they get an automated reply email.

#2 “This change actually has very little to do with false news…”

Mosseri actually said that. But that’s not as stunning as what came next: “I will say that the amount of attention on false news specifically and a number of other integrity issues, certainly caught us off guard in a number of ways and it’s certainly been something we’ve tried to respond responsibly [to].”

Let’s unpack this. For more than a year, Facebook has been under scrutiny because there has been a flood of outright fake and misleading “news” coursing through its pipes. As studies have shown, people share fake news on Facebook, often more than the real stuff. The Pope endorsed Donald Trump? That spreads on Facebook. People get pissed. When the senior leadership at Facebook says this caught them “off guard” I have to pick my jaw up off the floor. Inside the Facebook HQ, the filter bubble is thicker than a security blanket. They really believe that all they are doing is connecting people and fostering “meaningful interactions.” They are not playing Russian roulette with our democratic institutions or selling adds to people who want to burn Jews.

And this filter bubble is so impenetrable that they believe one minute that they have the power to manipulate our mood (they do) and are shocked the next when they get blowback for allowing people to manipulate our politics.

Then the last part: it’s “something we’ve tried to respond responsibly [to].” No, Facebook, you have not. The only responsible response after these revelations would be a massive overhaul of your system and a transparent conversation with the public and Congress about how your algorithm works. You have produced the information equivalent of a massive e.coli contamination. Instead, your response has been an under-funded effort to infuse fact-checking into the News Feed, and a 41% uptick in what you pay your lobbyists.

#3 “Does the scrutiny accelerate the process? It’s really hard to say.”

Yes, it does and no, it’s not. This statement is in response to Thompson’s question about the criticism Facebook has received in the past year over its distribution of fake and misleading news and whether that has prompted the company to assume greater responsibility over what its users see. Mosseri’s full response is here:

Excerpt from interview on Stratechery.com

Here’s another counterfactual: Do you think the revelations about years of sexual abuse, assault and downright rape in the workplace by powerful men (Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, etc., etc.) have accelerated the conversation about women’s rights and equity in the workplace? I mean, it’s possible.

So let’s assume that Facebook continues to post $4.7 billion in net income each quarter and its stock rises another 40% percent over the next 12 months (market cap at this writing is $517 billion), and there is no public criticism about fake news, targeting voters, and so forth. Absent any external pressure, do you think that Zuckerberg and the rest of the boys in senior management (and Sheryl Sandberg) take it upon themselves to head to a sweat lodge to probe their souls about whether the way they are redrawing the map of our information economy is good for humanity? Sure, that’s likely.

#4 Does Facebook have any responsibility toward media companies?

It’s a great question posed by Thompson. And the answer confirms my worst fears.

Mosseri’s initial response is anodyne enough: “I think we have a number of responsibilities.” News stories are important to people, he says. But then, just as quickly, he contorts himself into a pretzel to explain why it’s also not the case: “…news is a minority of the media content on Facebook, and media is a minority of the overall content in the News Feed.” Ergo, it’s not that big of a responsibility.

Two major fallacies here. The first: If there is less quantity, then there is less importance. My five-year-old niece’s recent birthday was a big hit on Facebook, as I imagine many other birthdays were that day. So, that’s more important to the Facebook community (read: humanity) than the SNAFU alert sent to all the residents of Hawaii warning of an imminent missile attack? The numbers tell us it is.

The second: Reporting, writing and editing a news story of any import takes time, resources and skill. Hence, there will be many fewer of them than there are birthday posts. So if it’s a numbers game, news loses. This is what I’d call self-serving math.

#5 “… there’s understandably going to be a lot of anxiety…”

Here’s some more math: The Pew Research Center reports that 45% of Americans get news from Facebook, a percentage that has been increasing sharply. Why? Because that’s the product Facebook created. It designed itself for that.

As the algorithm tweaks fall into place, and news publishers stand by as their audience plummets, Mosseri concedes: “there’s understandably going to be a lot of anxiety … it’s always a set of trade offs, we do the best we can with the information at hand.” (You possess ALL the information, by the way.) These are not words of someone who sees the news media as partners but as pawns. A post is a post is a post.

But that’s not how this company has operated. Since it burst on the scene, not all that many years ago, it has dangled carrot after carrot in front of news media. Do your headlines this way and you’ll be rewarded. Hey, pivot to video! No, try our Instant Articles product (or else). And then, like Lucy yanking the football, it’s gone. Facebook has moved on.

The heart of the issue is that Facebook wields immense power and is subject to minimal accountability. Changes come when Zuckerberg decrees them. Yes, it’s a publicly traded company. Yes, Congress shall make no law … But the power is real and the accountability is not.

And with all this heft, and all this research, Facebook seems to understand so little about the news it serves up. Take for example this notion that commenting or reacting to news is what makes news valuable. Yes, that’s true some of the time, but it’s also false some of the time. Sometimes we read the news to be informed. To catch up. To be better citizens. Because I didn’t share or like an article about climate change doesn’t mean that I don’t care about climate change.

To treat the value of news purely through the lens of whether people have shared it or had “meaningful interactions” with other members of the Facebook “community” misses the value entirely.

And Dear Facebook, sharing and commenting on every piece of news is actually part of the problem: It is what has thrust news and journalism into this hyper-partisan shithole we’re in right now.

I only have one wish for Zuckerberg. In a few short years, he will be the father of a girl in her tweens. I can only assume that she, too, might become obsessed with the Instagram posts of her friends, whether they liked her pic, or that she might discover that everyone is hanging out without her. And it might drive her to tears. And then her wise parents will decide (unilaterally) that they need to limit her screen time to 30 minutes. It’s for her own well-being, after all.

The Things Junior UX Designers Should Do More Of (Not Just Design)

The Things Junior UX Designers Should Do More Of (Not Just Design)

Hardik Gandhi   January 17, 2018

As a designer starting out in the beginning of your career, you may not know what to expect during your first job. You could be given lots of work and because you are the new designer on team, you do things without question. You might think you are expected to know everything because nobody said you should seek out the things you need to help you.

Having worked in the design industry almost every summer in college, I’ve learned a thing or two about how a new designer, such as myself, can navigate through challenges and learn in environments based on implied messages of what we should or shouldn’t do. Knowing the basic tools and techniques of good design is essential, but it’s the small details surrounding how we work which can help us progress and open doors. Here are a few tips that growing designers should take into consideration during their first year on the job to accelerate career growth.

Asking for Help Doesn't Make You Stupid

It’s okay to ask for help, but the issue that some designers may allude to when they say asking for help is a big no-no is the phrasing. Instead of directly asking for help, ask for feedback and advice. If you need help with doing research, join a research session. If you need help with moving forward in a project, ask designers to join you in prioritizing ideas. This will provide you with direction. Instead of receiving a hard-cut answer, you receive validation and perspective, things that will help you develop your own point of view. Designers don’t receive answers, they problem solve to get there.

Saying “No” is better than saying “Yes” all the time*

Note the asterisk. You are in control of what you want to do. You can decide when you reply to that e-mail or if you want to go that meeting. We are often given so many things to do that we can’t do all of them, yet we think we have to. Many designers, especially in the beginning of their career, do everything they are told to do, and this distracts them from the work they need to do the most. Decide on what is most important to help get your work done and prioritize.

Don’t say yes for the things that get in the way of producing quality work.

Delegating tasks and prioritizing is hard, but if you can do that, you will get so much done (and more). It’s okay to say no for valid reasons because it tells people that you know what’s important.

Speak up

During a critique, we are excepted to provide feedback for our peers, but not everyone does it because they might be self concious of their thoughts, or they don’t make the effort to help. Don’t be selfish with ideas. Ideas are meant to be expressed and help our fellow designers design for the people. Feedback is a gift. Feedback is what results in more iterations and better experiences.

Take Breaks

I used to work hard constantly, whether it was at home, with friends and family…You name it. But then I realized, without fault, I will be working for the rest of my life and work isn’t ever really “done”. I was taking the time to work on something fleeting, when I could have been spending time with the people I loved and the things I loved to do outside of work. Also, too much work can increase stress which can increase burnout. It makes sense to do as much work as you can to get to a certain job or rank, but that takes time. Just do what you can and relax when you feel overworked or exausted. In the end, health is more important than work because without health, we can’t work.

Be Present

As tempting as it is to work from home, especially for people who have the privilege of doing so all the time, it is crucial to be present. Even if the quality of work has not been affected, as designers, collaboration is such an important aspect of the way we do things. Being present in the office can make all the difference, especially when working with the people on your team. It’s not a team if everyone isn’t present.

If you have any questions about design, message me on LinkedIn and I’ll write about it!

Links to some other cool reads:

• I interviewed at Facebook as a new grad. Here is what I learned about design
• Standing Up as a Design Leader
• Journey Mapping is the Key to Gaining Empathy
• Prepping for Design Interviews (My Microsoft Onsite Experience)
• UX is Grounded in Rationale, not Design
• The Types of Design Research every Designer should know NOW
• When did Design become so Easy?

To Build An Amazing Design Team, Founders Should Start Here

To Build An Amazing Design Team, Founders Should Start Here

Hardik Gandhi   January 17, 2018

Today, you’re going to learn how to build an amazing design team.

In most startups, design is often overlooked or seen as a nice-to-have instead of a must-have. But this mentality can quickly send startups on a one-way trip to the startup graveyard.

The first thing founders need to understand when thinking about the design of their mobile app or product is that design is not limited to the pixels. The design of an app is much more than pretty buttons and cool animations. The design is how the app is experienced from the moment it’s opened to the moment it’s closed. Your design can be the difference between building an app that people come back to over and over again and an app that is downloaded and never opened a second time.

Once you have a clear understanding of the important role that design plays in the success of your app, it’s important to realize that a design team’s success is determined by more than just the people you bring on board.

A design team’s success is also determined by the the roles they play, the tools they use, the culture they operate within and the structures that allow them to deliver results. Founders need to take each of these elements seriously if they want to assemble a high-quality design team and equip them for success.

Hiring The Right People For Design

Picking the right people for your design team is the most important of all. If you hire the wrong people, you’ll start down the wrong path and may eventually have to start all over with a new team that can actually deliver. Finding the right designers for your project can be challenging — but it’s not impossible.

Walk in to your search for the perfect design team knowing exactly what you need. Do you need one person who can be contracted for a short period of time, or are you looking to build a 3- to 4-person design team that will become a fundamental part of your startup’s DNA? Identifying which kind of team is right for you at this stage will be a huge factor in knowing where you should look and whom you should look for.

We’ve worked with all kinds of companies, from early-stage technical teams to startups with existing design teams and revenue. In both cases, MindSea was hired to help with design because of our ability to tackle mobile design challenges and deliver quality iOS and Android app experiences for our clients.

As you build your design team, it’s important to look at their previous work to see that they can deliver. It’s also important to take the time to speak with their past employers or clients to ensure that your prospective designers are reliable and easy to work with. If you can accomplish this, you’re more likely to find a successful design team than if you judged them solely on their portfolio.

Picking Roles For A Design Team

Like any other professional team, design teams should consist of assigned roles. Each role comes with a different scope of responsibilities, tasks and expertise. The structure in which these roles operate is an important factor, as it can make or break a team long-term. A lot of early-stage startups make the mistake of creating no clear roles for their design teams and hoping they will instead design by committee. In reality, the best approach for a design team is to establish a sense of structure.

Here’s what the typical roles on a design team look like:

Design Director: Directors push their teams to answer the tough questions about their decisions and are constantly trying to ensure that design decisions are based on reason, not gut instinct. The design director has the final say on the design team when it comes to decisions about the approach being taken.

Design Manager: Managers are responsible for making sure that the design team delivers on the overarching vision and successfully executes based on strategies and plans. Design managers understand how to make experiences that matter and how to help other designers do the same.

Designers: Designers come up with and implement ideas related to how the product works, how users interact with it, how it looks and how it behaves between frames. Within this role, there are a variety of specialties, and some design teams require a vast range of expertise — designers can take on roles in UX, illustration, animation and more. Together, this collaborative group will be on the front lines of bringing the project to life.

If you’re a large startup, hiring for each role would be an ideal scenario, but for early-stage startups, that’s not always a financially feasible solution. Keep in mind that roles and individuals don’t have to match up perfectly — one person can take on multiple roles. In small startups, it’s common to hire only one designer, and that individual takes on the triple role of design director, design manager and individual designer.

Limited resources are one reason that many early-stage startups outsource their app design to a third party. Our own partnership with Glue is a great example of how a third-party team can help a startup bring their ideas to life through design:

The Best Tools For A Design Team

It’s important to arm your team with the best tools of the trade.

There are a number of tools that can help designers craft a quality app, but not all designers are the same. Some designers have a preference for one tool over the next, so in the early days, you shouldn’t force your designer to use a specific tool just because you want them too. In a startup, you need to be optimizing for speed — if a designer is faster on one software than the next, let them use the tool that will take less time.

In this blog post, our design director, Reuben Hall, does a great job highlighting a handful of tools that designers use to plan and build beautiful apps. I strongly recommend that you take the time to check it out and consider these tools when you begin to think about your design process and what you’ll need to equip your team with.

Creating A Design-Friendly Culture

When you’re building your design team, another key component of the equation is the culture that surrounds your team. The culture of your organization as a whole will have a lasting impact on how work is developed and what your final product looks like.

Founders set the company culture within a startup. If you’re committed to open communication, it’s more likely that your team will follow suit. If you’re committed to embracing ideas from anyone regardless of their title, it’s more likely that your team will be too. The takeaway here is simple: Embrace the habits you hope to instill within your team to build a lasting corporate culture.

One of the most important parts of a healthy company culture is a commitment to design. Too many founders view design as a secondary element of the product, when in reality, the design of the product is what often determines its success or failure. Founders can help create a culture that celebrates design by enforcing regular design reviews, ensuring that design always has a seat at the table and hiring the best design talent possible.

Use Design Reviews To Improve Communication

Design reviews should happen throughout the design and development process. Early on in a project, a design review could be a quick meeting with another designer before presenting a concept to the larger team for a more in-depth design review. During development of an app, designers should regularly review in-progress builds to ensure the UX and layout of the app is as amazing as it was envisioned to be. At any stage of a project, a design review is an opportunity for improvement. Teams that overlook design reviews as a part of the process are often left scratching their heads wondering how they missed key features — once it’s too late.

While design reviews are tactical efforts that have an impact on culture, a startup’s design vision is also an important piece of the puzzle. Your design vision isn’t a scheduled action like a standing meeting, but rather a set of guiding ideas that must be communicated to the entire team from day one. It should act as the foundation of all design decisions, ensuring that when tough decisions need to be made, someone at the table is invested in the design of the product, not just the technical specs.

Wrapping Things Up

A quality design team can help a good product become something great with just a few weeks of work.

Not sure if you need a design team quite yet? We’d be happy to jump on a quick call, learn more about your vision and give you some insight based on our experiences helping other startups. Get in touch today!