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Clueless To Designer A Beginners Guide To Product Design - 3 - Compressed
Clueless To Designer A Beginners Guide To Product Design - 3 - Compressed
By Mitchelle Chibundu
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Dedication
Dedication
For Yomi, who helped bring this midnight idea to life.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
I’m grateful to God for life and good health. Thank You for
giving me the power to believe in my passion and pursue my
dreams.
This book would not have been possible without the inspiration
and support from some amazing people. For almost everyone
that has transitioned into the tech industry is someone that
gave them a chance when they were unqualified. Special
thanks to GB Agboola, for giving me the opportunity to learn
and grow at Flutterwave.
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Acknowledgements
story.
4
Index
Index
Introduction 6
What is Design? 8
Learning Curriculum 36
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Introduction
Introduction
On 18th September 2017, I left my previous life and took on a
huge challenge to try something I was clueless about. Just the
day before, I was still a fresh graduate, exploring her creative
side as a makeup artist and by Monday, I was interning as a
designer at Flutterwave.
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What is Design?
What is Design?
When designing for people, you need to remove your ego from
of the user to arrive at the result. This means that you know
experiences.
This also means that you test your assumptions with an open
and teachable mind, that will enable you to learn from the
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What are the aspects of Design?
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What are the aspects of Design?
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What are the aspects of Design?
Design
Awareness of our
environment
Accumulation of
Our good taste.
creative raw materials Assesses creative
raw materials
Consciousness Consideration
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What are the aspects of Design?
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What are the aspects of Design?
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What are the aspects of Design?
“If I had to pick just one I'd say Google Maps, particularly
the explore feature. It provides an interesting way to
discover new places - restaurants, shops, and so on.”
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What are the aspects of Design?
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What does a Product Designer do?
you are happy and satisfied when you send your broadcast
messages, videos, and share your WhatsApp stories. At
Flutterwave, we have products like this for payment and
finances. I’m one of the people ensuring that people like you
are satisfied when they use our products.”
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How is a UX Designer different from a Product Designer
How is a UX Designer
different from a
Product Designer?
A great differentiator between a UX Designer job and a
Product Designer job is where the designer’s job begins or
ends. Both of them fundamentally entails the same processes
- product research, user analysis, ideation, design, testing, and
validation. However, as a product designer, I am more in tune
with what is going on with the business. I know that my design
decisions will affect the business of the product as much as it
affects the users. I not only deliver on the project briefs shared
with me but I also constantly iterate and improve on the
product.
UX
Product
Designer Designer
Product research
Usability Business
User analysis
Cost
Human-centered
Product
Ideation
evolution
User testing
Validation
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Why is Product Design a good career path?
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Why is Product Design a good career path?
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Why is Product Design a good career path?
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Which skills do you need for a job in Product Design?
Product Design?
In this chapter, I’ll share with you fourteen skills that I believe
worked well enough and the things that didn’t work so well
other people's eyes, to see what they see, feel what they
designing for.
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Which skills do you need for a job in Product Design?
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Which skills do you need for a job in Product Design?
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Which skills do you need for a job in Product Design?
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How do you improve as a Product Designer through others?
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How do you improve as a Product Designer through others?
some steps they have taken and how they think my experience
share the strong qualities that you’ll bring into the relationship.
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How can you launch your Product Design career?
The good thing about the current times we are in is that there
is a lot of information and resources on the internet to get you
up to speed. In the next chapter, you will find a 3-month
learning curriculum that I specially curated to help you get
educated on product design.
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How can you launch your Product Design career?
If you're just starting out with design and you find all the
tools overwhelming, here’s my advice to you: do your
experiments, take notes of what you like about the tools
you tried out, be clear on the goals you want to achieve,
and narrow your options down to the tools that can help
you achieve those goals.
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How can you launch your Product Design career?
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Learning Curriculum
Learning Curriculum
When I started writing this book, I had just written a few pages
take time to flesh out my vision and goals for the book.
and I also curated this learning curriculum using it. If you follow
this diligently, at the end of the three months you will surely be
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Learning Curriculum
Goals
I understand the concept of design.
Resources
Introduction to Graphic Design
Why is Design Thinking popular?
What is Design Thinking?
A brief history of Graphic Design
The first secret of great design
Further reading
The Design of Everyday Things By Don Norman
Goals
I understand the principles of UX Design.
Resources
5 Principles of UX Design
Design Pricniples
5 Key principles for UX Designers
Learn UX Fundamentals
The term "UX"
19 Psycological design principles
UX Crash course
Elements of UX Design
20 Laws of UX
Further reading
Laws of UX: Using Psychology to Design Better
Products & Services by Jon Yablonski
Goals
I understand the principles of UI Design.
I understand the best practices for designing
an interface.
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Learning Curriculum
Resources
Principles of UI Design
Core principles of UI Design
Call To Action Button best practices
Solid tips on CTA design
Crafting better cards
Designing UI shadows
Design better UI cards
UI Design crash course
10 rules of good UI Design
UI Design for mobile apps
Further reading
Designing Interfaces by Jenifer Tidwel
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Learning Curriculum
Goals
I understand how colours affect people.
I know how to use colour gradients.
I understand the basic principles of colour
application in design.
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Learning Curriculum
Typography rules
Further reading
Goals
Resources
Material Design
Basics of UI Design
Further reading
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Learning Curriculum
Goals
I understand what grids are.
I understand the importance of proper spacing
in my designs.
I understand the effective use of hierarchy
in design.
Resources
Mobile UI Layout
Fundamental guide to mobile usability
Guide to mobile app design
How to use space in UI Design
The power of empty space
The 8pt consistent grid
Effective UI content organization
Visual Hierarchy
Fundamentals of Hierarchy
Building solid grids
Building better UI grids
Further reading
White Space by Ilsa J. Bick
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Learning Curriculum
Goals
I know what wireframes are.
I know how to prototype my designs.
I know the difference between the types
of wireframes.
I can create wireframes.
I can prototype my wireframes.
Resources
Flow Design processes
Shorthand for designing user flows
Wireflows
How to wireframe
Low fidelity vs high fidelity
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Learning Curriculum
Affinity diagramming
Beginner’s guide to wireframes
How to create your first wireframe
Learn UX Fundamentals
The term "UX"
19 Psycological design principles
Further reading
Prototyping for Designers: Developing the Best
Digital and Physical Products by Kathryn McElroy
Goals
I know how to conduct a usability test.
I understand the benefits of usability tests.
I can differentiate between preference
tests and A/B tests.
I can write a usability test script.
I know how to conduct user interviews.
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Learning Curriculum
Resources
Conducting user interview
Usability testing with 5 users
Conduct a usability test in 6 steps
Usability testing
Pros and Cons of user interviews
How to conduct user interviews
Usability evaluation
What is usability testing
Usability testing 2
A guide to recruiting participants
Preference testing
Guide to usability testing
What is Usability testing?
Further reading
Usability Testing Essentials: Ready, Set...Test! by
Carol Barnum
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Learning Curriculum
Goals
I understand the importance of storytelling.
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Learning Curriculum
Further reading
Storytelling in Design: Defining, Designing, and
Selling Multidevice Products by Anna Dahlström
Goals
I understand what Interaction Design is.
I know how it differs from UX design.
I can design screens with micro-interactions.
Resources
What is Interaction Design?
How does Interaction Design compare to UX?
Beginner’s guide to Interaction Design
Introduction to Interaction Design
Microinteractions
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Learning Curriculum
Inspiration
Daily UI
Collect UI
Dribbble
Behance
Invision
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Career Advice from 15 Product Designers
15 Product Designers
ways, so their words can inspire you too. Here’s what they said:
much as you can. Don't worry too much about the more
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Career Advice from 15 Product Designers
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Career Advice from 15 Product Designers
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Career Advice from 15 Product Designers
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Career Advice from 15 Product Designers
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Career Advice from 15 Product Designers
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Career Advice from 15 Product Designers
at Flutterwave
at HelloFresh
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Career Advice from 15 Product Designers
“Hone your skill set. Work hard on your craft every day
and in time you will find a style that you are comfortable
with and, most importantly, enjoy doing.”
at Eden Life
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Career Advice from 15 Product Designers
I’m super excited that you’ve gotten this far and I’m super
proud of you. I poured out my heart and soul into this, so I’m
certain that you have gotten value. The most important thing
to do for yourself now is to apply all you’ve learnt because
knowledge isn’t power, it’s the application of knowledge that is
power. Read this book as many times as you want to, because
as many times as you do so, you’ll get more understanding of
the words in it. I believe so much in you and I know you have
the ability and power to create the life of your dreams. If I can
do it, so can you.
If you’re up for it, tweet about the book using the hashtag
#cluelesstodesigner, you can share your favourite parts or
quotes from it too. You can also email me at
mitchelle@designerbabe.co to share your experience reading
the book. I wish you all the very best in your budding career.
- DB
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About the Author
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