Shellie Hu

Product Designer | create things I love

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

@matthewyuart Wow love how smooth this is! How did you achieve this?

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

effortless effort becoming formless form..

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

@pablostanley Finally the lovely illustration🥹

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

@MadebyIsaac wait this is so playful

[gomi @parveen__tyagi]

writing will genuinely change your life more than motivation ever will. not in some cringe “manifest your dream life” way. i mean in a very real, practical way. most people never actually stop long enough to understand what’s going on inside their own head. they just react to life all day. scroll when they feel uncomfortable. distract themselves when things get quiet. jump from one dopamine hit to the next. but writing forces you to slow down for a second and actually look at your thoughts instead of running from them. and the weird part is you usually don’t even realize what you truly think until you start writing it down.

writing doesn’t just record your thoughts it creates them. ideas start flowing that you didn’t even know were there. patterns start showing up. emotions start making sense. problems become easier to solve because they’re no longer this giant fog floating around in your head. writing organizes your mind. every high performer, every sharp thinker, every person who just gets it, they all write. It keeps showing up as the common thread. not the expensive stuff. not the complex stuff. Just pen and paper. they write because feelings are vague but words are precise. every time they sit down and search for the exact word to describe what’s inside them, they become a sharper, more powerful communicator.

“people follow the person who can say what they mean and mean what they say. writing every day is how you build that muscle until it becomes second nature.”

over time, all that accumulated writing becomes a resource you can draw from forever. the more you write, the more material you have to solve problems, connect dots and think bigger.

the better you get at putting thoughts into words, the better you get at communicating in general. and honestly, communication controls a huge part of your life. like relationships, opportunities, business, confidence, influence, all of it comes down to how clearly you can express yourself. and no, you don’t need to be some amazing writer either. your grammar doesn’t need to be perfect. nobody cares. half the benefit comes from simply getting thoughts out of your head and onto paper.

some of the best writing advice i’ve ever heard was:

“write badly. just write.”

because the moment you stop trying to sound smart or perfect, your real thoughts finally start coming out.

even 30 minutes a day changes something in you. you become calmer because your mind isn’t carrying around a thousand unprocessed thoughts anymore. you become more self aware because you start noticing your own habits and emotional patterns. you become more articulate because you’re practicing turning feelings into language every single day.

if you write every day, your future self gets to sit down and read exactly how far you’ve come. i think that’s more valuable than any photo album.

who knows maybe one day all that writing becomes a book, a course, something you give your children. at the very least, it becomes proof that you were here, that you grew, that you tried.

that’s one of the coolest parts about it. writing lets you watch yourself evolve with time.

seriously. start writing. doesn’t matter if it’s in a notebook, your notes app, twitter wherever. just sit, think about your thoughts and write.

just sit down for 30 minutes and let your mind speak for once. and watch yourself becoming unstoppable.

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

Made some cyanotype prints using @figma shader today🌿

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

Can’t agree more. the process of “coming up with design” might have become easier, but not “coming up with good and right design”.

[Dylan Field @zoink]

I have been thinking about whether to comment on this. Not clear if Gal is serious, rage baiting, etc. Whatever the case, it has spread enough in the design community that I want to share some thoughts.

The psychological journey people go through with AI is quite fascinating to me. A new model launches, people think the world has changed, they sometimes have an existential crisis, then they play with the model, they understand its strengths and limitations and then they settle down. A few weeks later, the cycle repeats.

On top of this, even before AI, designers have often shown insecurity and imposter syndrome. There are probably many reasons for this. First, before ~2010 design wasn't valued by the tech industry in the way it is today. Second, the people attracted to working in the field of design are often very open to new ideas and have high empathy. Third, there is no "one path" to working as a designer and designer backgrounds are often pretty random.

Ironically, despite the insecurity + imposter syndrome so many designers feel, design is more important than ever. I truly believe this. And yes, I have an incentive to believe this. But just think about it... the logic couldn't be more clear. More design is entering the world, the attention economy is real and therefore creativity / design / point of view is how you will stand out. Your brand, marketing, product design, moments of delight and overall customer journey must be excellent. Some companies already get this and are fighting wild battles over design talent. Other companies are still figuring it out. Everyone will get there and it will be obvious in retrospect.

This isn't a new trend with AI. It is a trend that we've seen over the last decade. Designers used to complain about not having a seat at the table. Now designers have a seat at the table. And many of the businesses I speak with are pulling from their design bench when looking for new leaders for their business... they know that design thinking and the design process is what they need to adopt everywhere to win.

I'm not saying that every stakeholder gets it. But so many are trying to learn right now. Designers need to do more than create great work, they have to spend a lot more effort educating.

Showing work can also trigger anxiety. Sometimes the best solution to a design challenge is the first thing you think of. And other times you have to explore for quite a long time to come up with something great. Inputs to a design process might include things that feel like traditional office work and are easy to point to... reading docs, talking with teammates, formal research, etc. Inputs might also include a walk in the park, an interesting dream you had the night before, a good song you listened to on the radio during your commute, a painting from the 1800's or all sorts of other cultural / emotional input.

In summary, I've never been more confident in the role of design and impact design can have. I wish designers felt the same confidence. This is the moment to be more bold, to take more creative risk, to double down on the power of design. Everyone is on their own journey, and there are lots of fascinating ways to move through life, so if Gal is serious about "quitting design" then I wish him the best in his adventures ahead. But I hope if others follow they do it because there are other things they are so excited about spending time on vs fear of AI.

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

you touch grass, I hug trees

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

@yanliudesign Love the pond and the pool!

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

@tutundzhian This reminds me of when I was little I used to imitate other people’s handwritings to find my own style of writing. There was a period where my writings were in constant change. But as I’ve grown older i naturally figure out my own way and it became recognizable.

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

Keep thinking

[Phil Chen @philhchen]

https://t.co/oMoEAYkqGl

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

--sref 7506251900

#midjourney

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

Cool ambient and nostalgic warmth exploration.

@midjourney

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

football matchday

created with @midjourney

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

@batukrskl this is clean and smart!

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

@tutundzhian A nice breeze in this hot summer~

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

@_catwu I use artifacts to plan out my personal project stages. Sometimes I ask cc to summarize the research findings in a more visual way thru artifacts

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

Cool ambient and nostalgic warmth exploration.

@midjourney

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

Too hot so I went to @mfaboston to draw.

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

@geoffreylitt Thanks for sharing! Gotta try this next time I’m presenting

[Shellie Hu @shellwetwit1]

@geoffreylitt @charlieholtz we all should just read more