ellie

designing

[ellie @emariestig]

@embernic i’ve been doing this every year with tomatoes since i was like 7, marginal improvements for me

[ellie @emariestig]

@raunofreiberg i love a process post !! it’s so easy to give up during the “ugly middle”. lots of good stuff here

[joshpuckett @joshpuckett]

You have a superpower you're probably not using enough. But you should be.

So let's talk about encouragement!

At any time, you can just shoot a friend, or even stranger, a quick note letting them know something they made or said or did was wonderful.

It might take you 30 seconds to share your appreciation and let them know what it means or how it inspired you, but to the person receiving it, it'll very likely make their day if not week. That ability, to speak a few words into existence that turns into joy for the recipient and might be remembered forever, is a superpower.

For one reason or another, it feels like as we age we tend to ration our praise. I think that's stupid. It should be the opposite.

One of the most powerful gifts you can give to someone is to let them know you're proud of them, or that they're doing a great job, or that you're simply glad they're in your life.

So whenever you think of someone, or see something they did that you enjoyed or appreciated, tell them! Be lavish in your encouragement, and make your corner of the world that much brighter today.

[ellie @emariestig]

@macyagilliam well this is the coolest thing ever !! a gorgeous result

[ellie @emariestig]

@michelletliu @designmeetuphq had to check what that font was immediately... such a yummy choice. site is gorgeous !!

[ellie @emariestig]

having the time of my life with @paper attempting to design a card game for a friend’s birthday

iterating on designs has never been so fun and so fast

[ellie @emariestig]

@willking very excited to be attending !!! shoutout @joshpuckett for the sponsored ticket ! :’)

[ellie @emariestig]

@joshpuckett @faydesignsstuff @krispuckett i’m headed off for a vacation right now, but am gonna try this for sure when i’m back from eating croissants in france. shall report back 🫡 thanks for the practical wisdom!

[ellie @emariestig]

being thoughtful takes time. caring takes time. solving the right problem takes time.

decided to get vulnerable on the internet about how it’s felt to be a designer lately → https://t.co/yUi8Bns4DB

[ellie @emariestig]

@joshpuckett @faydesignsstuff @krispuckett this is suuuuper helpful to hear. thank you! i think at times, my team has mismatched expectations for
time investments so this is a practical way to start addressing that :’)

[ellie @emariestig]

@joshpuckett @faydesignsstuff @krispuckett please do write about it!

i love that the sign is a daily reminder. my PM does that for me lol. i still feel slow as an early career designer learning judgment. when you think about intentionality and pace, how do you know when you’re done with a design (at least an iteration)?

[ellie @emariestig]

had some fun playing with this last night

[kazu. @pnly_tar]

リリースしました！

紙に印刷したような風合いになる写真加工アプリです。

[ellie @emariestig]

@raunofreiberg more of this content please !! love reading your thoughts & seeing your iterations

[joshpuckett @joshpuckett]

In Defense of Writing.

A disturbing trend I see emerging is people lazily generating longer form content from bullet points or dictation they give to an LLM, and then passing it off as their own.

Beyond the obvious breach of trust and social expectation when doing this, there are several more nuanced but equally insidious problems with doing this.

First, writing is thinking. If you aren't taking the time to write, edit, rework, reshape, and play with your words, you're shortcutting a key aspect of refining an thought. You rob yourself of this opportunity if you just skip to the end.

I have yet to read anything generated that even comes close to the clarity and impact of a well-written piece.

Second, respect. Very few people will tell you this to your face, but as soon as they read something 'from you' that has all the tell-tale signs of AI slop, their respect (and trust) for you drops.

What you are communicating is that you don't take the time and effort to do things properly, or at least entirely honestly. This is damaging in way many don't realize. I instantly discount anything I read as soon as I recognize it as AI slop.

Third, and I think most important, you are training yourself to take the easy way out. I think this is different than 'working smart'. It's intellectual laziness, effectively choosing cheap calories rather than a nourishing meal, even if it takes longer to prepare. That effort is where good things, as well as your own growth, come from.

Many days on here I feel like the last man alive who wants to actually read what you wrote. It's entirely possible that this is a losing battle and the nature of media and medium is trending in an irreversible way. But I really hope it's not.

I'll leave you with a philosophical question: every social media platform is going to great lengths to label AI-generated images and video. Why not writing, as well?

[ellie @emariestig]

@baylerkelly you can just do things

[ellie @emariestig]

i also asked claude if this was a stupid thing to tweet. it gassed me up. hope it was right !

[ellie @emariestig]

me agonizing over why these look different when all the specs seem to be the same ... that's the funny thing about ✨optical size✨ (i'm going insane)

[ellie @emariestig]

@baylerkelly @softwarecuddler tis my honor ! now i just need to actually design the favorites page lol

[ellie @emariestig]

(iPad) baby's first hand drawn animation. in the age of AI, it still feels good to (sometimes) do things the slow way. cheers!