TikTok (also known as Douyin in China) has really caught people’s attention and made its way into America. It sparked competition and has forced other tech companies to design similar infinite, crowdsourced, content-scrolling experiences. People have been analyzing TikTok back and forth, thinking it’s the next big thing.

But actually, there’s an app in China that is TikTok’s biggest competitor, called RED. You probably haven’t heard of it in the US yet because it’s only in Chinese at the moment, but locals in China say, “Pretty much everyone is looking at RED.” …

This is the spiritual successor to a story that appeared in OneZero in April 2019: “From Like Buttons to Message Bubbles: The UX Designs You Can’t Use”

You love thinking big. You love looking at other tech companies to see how they designed their products, or their navigation system, or that one animation transition you love. You aspire to design something like that. You keep bookmarks in your head: If you needed an expanding carousel for your entertainment app, you could take inspiration from Netflix.

Or maybe not. There are in fact some patterns you can’t use.

“W-what do you…

I’ve been doing keto for three years now (approaching four years), to help with my PCOS. Low carb is a lifestyle that I will continue for overall health since it supports whole foods and no overly processed stuff. Low carb is a lifestyle that is good for everyone even if you don’t have a medical condition, since “bad carbs” such as bread, sugar, tortillas, most things made with flour, have no nutritional value. I’ve had my fair share of conversations with people that range from no understanding of keto to moderate understanding, and here are their most common questions.

Wait so you just don’t eat carbs? Is that what it is?

Almost…

You did it! You got to the final interview and now you’re preparing for a design whiteboarding challenge. They say it’s like working with a coworker on a problem, but you know it’s not quite that, because it’s an interview. Most big tech companies use 45 minutes to an hour for the whiteboard challenge, which means you need to plan out your strategy beforehand. In reality, it’s probably like 5 minutes of small talk, 5 minutes of the interviewer describing the exercise and the prompt, and only 35 minutes left to work through the problem. …

There are a lot of great articles describing what accessibility is, and some basic guidelines exist like color contrast ratio, and having alt tags and stuff. But if any part of you is still scratching your head on what it really means or how to follow the super grey guidelines set be WCAG, hopefully this article will help you think about it in the right way.

Respectful disability language

It’s important to use the proper terminology when addressing those with a disability so that you don’t accidentally take on pejorative connotations. I personally have been guilty of this without realizing it. Trust me…

Part II

Now that you have a basic understanding of how to use grids, you might be wondering how to apply them to layouts you see on the web. Responsive grids are a method to systematically align your designs, to give order, establish hierarchy, and “logic” to your designs. It makes things look less floaty, and you can generally tell who is and who is not using a grid. As people become better designers, their eyes are constantly drawing horizontal and vertical lines everywhere to create that order and alignment.

On that note, I often get questions like “Wait, how do sticky…

I have always quietly thought to myself, that being a product designer requires the highest standards. Even though the job is fun, fulfilling, and impactful, it’s not for everyone. Or at least it’s not something that a lot of people can do well.

The “definition” of a product designer is always changing, and too many different titles were born out of that problem. Not because it’s a new and upcoming thing and people don’t know what to call them, it’s because being a good designer by nature has a lot of requirements. Why is that?

First of all, you can’t be lazy.

Because industry trends change often…