Now, before we dive in, let me assure you: AI isn’t here to replace us. At least, not for a while yet. There are still crucial areas where human expertise reigns supreme. AI struggles with strategic planning that considers the nuances of human behavior and market trends. It can’t match our emotional intelligence when navigating client relationships and team dynamics. And when it comes to creative thinking that pushes boundaries and creates truly innovative solutions, we humans still have the upper hand.

But here’s the exciting part: AI is becoming an invaluable tool that’s supercharging our productivity. Think of it as having a highly capable intern at your disposal. As the Nielsen Norman Group aptly put it in their article “AI as an Intern,” we need to approach AI tools with the right mindset. Double-check their work, use them for initial drafts rather than final products, and provide specific instructions and relevant context.

The key to harnessing AI’s power lies in working with it collaboratively.

Don’t expect perfect results on the first try. Instead, engage in a back-and-forth conversation, refining the AI output through iteration. This process of continuous improvement is where AI truly shines, dramatically speeding up our workflow.

Let’s explore how AI is reshaping different areas of our industry, looking at some of the many tools available to us.

In the realm of design, AI is proving to be a game-changer. It’s particularly adept at:

• Collaborating on layout;
• Generating the perfect image;
• Refining and adapting existing imagery.

Take AI in Figma, for instance. It’s become my go-to for generating dummy content and tidying up my layers. The time saved on these mundane tasks allows me to focus more on the creative aspects of design.

Generative imagery tools like Krea, which uses Flux, have revolutionized how we source visuals. Gone are the days of endlessly scrolling through stock libraries. Now, we can describe exactly what we need, and AI will create it for us. This level of customization and specificity is a game changer for creating unique, on-brand visuals.

Relume is another tool I’ve found incredibly useful. It’s great for a collaborative back-and-forth over designs or for quickly putting together designs for smaller sites. The ability to iterate rapidly with AI assistance has significantly sped up my design process.

And let’s not forget about Adobe. Their upcoming tools, such as lighting matching for composite images, are set to take our design capabilities to new heights. If you want to see more of what’s on the horizon, I highly recommend checking out the latest Adobe Max presentations.

The impact of AI on coding is nothing short of revolutionary. According to a McKinsey study, developers using AI tools performed coding tasks like code generation, refactoring, and documentation 20%-50% faster on average compared to those not using AI tools. That’s a significant productivity boost!

AI is helping developers in several key areas:

• Coding faster;
• Debugging more efficiently;
• Automatically generating code comments;
• Writing basic code.

To put this into perspective, AI now writes 25% of the code at Google. That’s a staggering figure from one of the world’s leading tech companies.

Tools like Cursor AI and GitHub Copilot are at the forefront of this revolution, offering features such as:

• AI pair programming with predictive code edits;
• Natural language code editing;
• Chat interfaces for asking questions and getting help.

I’ve personally been amazed by what ChatGPT 01-Preview can do. I’ve used it to build simple WordPress plugins in minutes, tasks that would have taken me significantly longer in the past.

In the field of User Experience (UX), AI is opening up new possibilities for research and analysis. It’s allowing us to:

• Conduct user research at scale;
• Analyze open-ended qualitative feedback;
• Query analytic data using natural language;
• Predict user behavior.

I’ve found ChatGPT to be an invaluable tool for data analysis, particularly when it comes to making sense of analytics and survey responses. It can quickly identify patterns and insights that might take us hours to uncover manually.

Tools like Strella are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in user research. AI can now perform user interviews at scale, allowing us to gather insights from a much larger pool of users than ever before.

Attention Insight is another fascinating tool. It uses AI to predict where people will look on a page, providing valuable data for optimizing layouts and user interfaces.

Microsoft Clarity has also upped its game, allowing us to ask questions about our analytic insights, heatmaps, and session recordings. This natural language interface makes it easier than ever to extract meaningful insights from our data.

When it comes to copywriting, AI is proving to be a powerful ally. It’s helping us:

• Transform poor-quality stakeholder content into web-optimized copy;
• Brainstorm value propositions and create high-converting copy;
• Craft compelling business cases and strategy documentation;
• Write standard operating procedures.

Notion AI has become one of my go-to tools for content creation. It combines the best of ChatGPT and Claude, allowing it to draw upon a wide range of provided source material to write detailed documentation, articles, and reports.

ChatGPT has been a game-changer for improving the quality of website copy. It can take user questions and bullet-point answers from subject specialists and transform them into web-optimized content. I’ve found it particularly useful for defining value propositions and writing high-converting copy.

For refining existing content, the Hemingway Editor is invaluable. It can take the existing copy and make it clearer, more concise, and easier to scan — essential qualities for effective web content.

AI isn’t just transforming the technical aspects of our work; it’s also making a significant impact on those mundane administrative tasks that often eat up our time. By leveraging AI, we can streamline various aspects of our daily workflow, allowing us to focus more on high-value activities.

Here are some ways AI is helping us tackle administrative tasks more efficiently:

• Getting our thoughts down faster;
• Writing better emails;
• Summarizing long emails or Slack threads;
• Speeding up research;
• Backing up arguments with relevant data.

Let me share some personal experiences with AI tools that have transformed my administrative workflow:

I’ve dramatically increased my writing speed using Flow. This tool has taken me from typing at 49 words per minute to dictating at over 95 words per minute. Not only does it allow me to dictate, but it also tidies up my words to ensure they read well and are grammatically correct.

For email writing, I’ve found Fixkey to be invaluable. It helps me rewrite or reformat copy quickly. I’ve even set up a prompt that tones down my emails when I’m feeling particularly irritable, ensuring they sound reasonable and professional.

Dealing with long email threads or Slack conversations can be time-consuming. That’s where Spark comes in handy. It summarizes lengthy threads, saving me valuable time. Interestingly, this feature is now built into iOS for all notifications, making it even more accessible.

When it comes to research, Google Notebook LLM has been a game-changer. I can feed it large amounts of data on a subject and quickly extract valuable insights. This tool has significantly sped up my research process.

Lastly, if I need to back up an argument with a statistic or quote, Perplexity has become my go-to resource. It quickly finds relevant sources I can quote, adding credibility to my work without the need for extensive manual searches.

As I wrap up this article, I realize I’ve only scratched the surface of what AI can do for our industry. The real challenge isn’t in the technology itself but in breaking out of our established routines and taking the time to experiment with what’s possible.

I believe we need to cultivate a new habit: pausing before each new task to consider how AI could help us approach it differently. The winners in this new reality will be those who can best integrate this technology into their workflow.

AI isn’t replacing us — it’s empowering us to work smarter and more efficiently. By embracing these tools and learning to collaborate effectively with AI, we can focus more on the aspects of our work that truly require human creativity, empathy, and strategic thinking.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the rapid pace of change, don’t worry. We’re all learning and adapting together. Remember, the goal isn’t to become an AI expert overnight but to gradually incorporate these tools into your work in ways that make sense for you and your projects.

Penpot is a free, open-source design tool that allows true collaboration between designers and developers. Designers can create interactive prototypes and design systems at scale, while developers enjoy ready-to-use code and make their workflow easy and fast because it's built with web technologies, works in the browser, and has already passed 33K starts on GitHub.

The UI feels intuitive and makes it easy to get things done, even for someone who’s not a designer (guilty as charged!). You can get things done in the same way and with the same quality as with other more popular and closed-source tools like Figma.

As someone who works with commercial open-source on my day-to-day, I strongly believe in it as a way to be closer to your users and unlock the next level of delivery. Being open-source creates a whole new level of accountability and flexibility for a tool.

Developers are a different breed of user. When we hit a quirk or a gap in the UX, our first instinct is to play detective and figure out why that pattern stuck out as a sore thumb to what we’ve been doing. When the code is open-source, it’s not unusual for us to jump into the source and create an issue with a proposal on how to solve it already. At least, that’s the dream.

On top of that, being open-source allows you and your team to self-host, giving you that extra layer of privacy and control, or at least a more cost-effective solution if you have the time and skills to DYI it all.

When the cards are played right, and the team is able to afford the long-term benefits, commercial open-source is a win-win strategy.

Talking about the extensibility of open-source, Penpot has the PenpotHub the home for open-source templates and the newly released plugin gallery. So now, if there’s a functionality missing, you don’t need to jump into the code-base straightaway — you can create a plugin to achieve what you need. And you can even serve it from localhost!

Creating Penpot Plugins

When it comes to the plugins, creating one is extremely ergonomic. First, there are already set templates for a few frameworks, and I created one for SolidJS in this PR — the power of open-source!

When using Vite, plugins are Single-Page Applications; if you have ever built a Hello World app with Vite, you have what it takes to create a plugin. On top of that, the Penpot team has a few packages that can give you a headstart in the process:

npm install @penpot/plugin-styles

That will allow you to import with a CSS loader or a CSS import from @penpot/plugin-styles/styles.css. The JavaScript API is available through the window object, but if your plugin is in TypeScript, you need to teach it:

npm add -D @penpot/plugin-types

With those types in your node_modules, you can pop-up the tsconfig.json and add the types to the compilerOptions.

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "types": ["@penpot/plugin-types"]
  }
}

And there you are, now, the Language Service Provider in your editor and the TypeScript Compiler will accept that penpot is a valid namespace, and you’ll have auto-completion for the Penpot APIs throughout your entire project. For example, defining your plugin will look like the following:

penpot.ui.open("Your Plugin Name", "", {
  width: 500,
  height: 600
})

The last step is to define a plugin manifest in a manifest.json file and make sure it’s in the outpot directory from Vite. The manifest will indicate where each asset is and what permissions your plugin requires to work:

{
  "name": "Your Plugin Name",
  "description": "A Super plugin that will win Penpot Plugin Contest",
  "code": "/plugin.js",
  "icon": "/icon.png",
  "permissions": [
    "content:read",
    "content:write",
    "library:read",
    "library:write",
    "user:read",
    "comment:read",
    "comment:write",
    "allow:downloads"
  ]
}

Once the initial setup is done, the communication between the Penpot API and the plugin interface is done with a bidirectional messaging system, not so different than what you’d do with a Web-Worker.

So, to send a message from your plugin to the Penpot API, you can do the following:

penpot.ui.sendMessage("Hello from my Plugin");

And to receive it back, you need to add an event listener to the window object (the top-level scope) of your plugin:

window.addEventListener("message", event => {
  console.log("Received from Pendpot::: ", event.data);
})

A quick performance tip: If you’re creating a more complex plugin with different views and perhaps even routes, you need to have a cleanup logic. Most frameworks provide decent ergonomics to do that; for example, React does it via their return statements.

useEffect(() => {
  function handleMessage(e) {
    console.log("Received from Pendpot::: ", event.data);
  }
  window.addEventListener('message', handleMessage);

  return () => window.removeEventListener('message', handleMessage);
}, []);

And Solid has onMount and onCleanup helpers for it:

onMount(() => {
  function handleMessage(e) {
    console.log("Received from Penpot::: ", event.data);
  }
  window.addEventListener('message', handleMessage);
})

onCleanup(() => {
  window.removeEventListener('message', handleMessage);
})

Or with the @solid-primitive/event-listener helper library, so it will be automatically disposed:

import { makeEventListener } from "@solid-primitives/event-listener";

function Component() {

  const clear = makeEventListener(window, "message", handleMessage);

  // ...
  return (<span>Hello!</span>)
}

In the official documentation, there’s a step-by-step guide that will walk you through the process of creating, testing, and publishing your plugin. It will even help you out.

So, what are you waiting for?

Well, maybe you’re waiting for a push of motivation. The Penpot team thought of that, which is why they’re starting a Plugin Contest!

For this contest, they want a fully functional plugin; it must be open-source and include comprehensive documentation. Detailing its features, installation, and usage. The first prize is US$ 1000, and the criteria are innovation, functionality, usability, performance, and code quality. The contest will run from November 15th to December 15th.

If you decide to build a plugin, I’d love to know what you’re building and what stack you chose. Please let me know in the comments below or on BlueSky!

It seems like everyone has a different answer, but one thing is for sure: Smashing can help you with that. 😉

Good news for people who love a good value for a friendly price: throughout the entire month of November, you can save 30% off three or more books and eBooks, 30% off three or more workshops, or get the entire Smashing eBook library for $75. This is a perfect time to set yourself up for a year of learning in 2025.

Our hardcover books are our editorial flagships. They deliver in-depth knowledge and expertise shared by experts from the industry. No fluff or theory, only practical tips and insights you can apply to your work right away.

No matter if you want to complete your existing Smashing book collection or start one from scratch, you can now pick and mix your favorite books and eBooks from our Smashing Books line-up to create a bundle tailored to your needs. Or take a look at our bundle recommendations below for some inspiration.

Save 30% with 3 or more books. No ifs or buts!

Throughout the month of November, the 30% book discount will automatically apply to your cart once you add three or more items. Please note that the discount can’t be combined with other discounts.

Once you’ve decided which books should go into your bundle, we’ll pack everything up safely and send the parcel right to your doorstep from our warehouse in Germany. Shipping is free worldwide. Check delivery times.

We know decisions can be hard, that’s why we collected some ideas for themed book bundles to make the choice at least a bit easier. These bundles are perfect if you want to enhance your skills in one particular field.

You can click on each book title to jump to the details and add the book to your cart. The discount will be applied during checkout.

Front-End Bundle

Save 30% on the complete bundle.
Regular price (hardcover + PDF, ePUB, Kindle versions): $146.25
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Front-End Bundle dives deep into the challenges front-end developers face in their work every day — whether it’s performance, TypeScript and Image Optimization. You’ll learn practical strategies to make your workflow more efficient, but also gain precious insights into how teams at Instagram, Shopify, Netflix, eBay, Figma, Spotify tackle common challenges and frustrations.

• Success at Scale by Addy Osmani
• TypeScript in 50 Lessons by Stefan Baumgartner
• Image Optimization by Addy Osmani

Design Best Practices Bundle

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Design Best Practices Bundle is all about creating respectful, engaging experiences that put your users’ well-being and privacy first. The practical and tactical tips help you encourage users to act — without employing dark patterns and manipulative techniques — and grow a sustainable digital business that becomes more profitable as a result.

• Click! How to Encourage Clicks Without Shady Tricks by Paul Boag
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• The Ethical Design Handbook by Trine Falbe, Martin Michael Frederiksen, and Kim Andersen

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A lot of websites these days look rather generic. Our Interface Design Bundle will make you think outside the box, exploring how you can create compelling, effective user experiences, with clear intent and purpose — for both desktop and mobile.

• Touch Design for Mobile Interfaces by Steven Hoober
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Big Design Bundle

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The Big Design Bundle shines a light on the fine little details that go into building cohesive, human-centered experiences. Covering everything from design systems to form design patterns, mobile design to UX, and data privacy to ethical design, it provides you with a solid foundation for designing products that stand out from the crowd.

• Click! How to Encourage Clicks Without Shady Tricks by Paul Boag
• The Ethical Design Handbook by Trine Falbe, Martin Michael Frederiksen, and Kim Andersen
• Design Systems by Alla Kholmatova
• Form Design Patterns by Adam Silver
• Touch Design for Mobile Interfaces by Steven Hoober
• Understanding Privacy by Heather Burns

Get all eBooks for $75. You’re more of an eBook kind of person? The bundle-up discounts do apply to eBooks, too, of course. Or take a look at our Smashing Library to save even more: It includes 68 eBooks (including all our latest releases) for $75 (PDF, ePUB, and Kindle formats). Perfect to keep all your favorite books close when you’re on the go.

Ready to dig even deeper? Whether you want to explore design patterns for AI interfaces, learn how to plan a design system, or master the art of storytelling, our online workshops are a friendly way to boost your skills online and learn practical, actionable insights from experts, live.

To prepare for the challenges that 2025 might have in store for you, you can now bundle up 3 or more online workshops and save 30% on the total price with code BUNDLEUP. Please note that the discount can’t be combined with other discounts. Take a look at all our upcoming workshops and start your smashing learning journey this winter.

Do you need a custom bundle? At Smashing, we would love to know how we can help you and your team make the best of 2025. Let’s think big!

We’d be happy to craft custom bundles that work for you:

• Group discounts on large teams for Smashing Membership,
• Bulk discounts on books or other learning materials for education or non-profit groups,
• Door prize packages for meetups and events,
• ...any other possibilities for your team, your office, your career path. Let us know via contact form!

  We are always looking for new ways to support our community. Please contact us if you’d like us to craft a custom bundle for your needs, or if you have any questions at all. Let’s have a great year!

  Community Matters ❤️

  Producing a book or a workshop takes quite a bit of time, and we couldn’t pull it off without the support of our wonderful community. A huge shout-out to Smashing Members for their kind, ongoing support. 👏 Happy learning, everyone!

The aim of the article is to inspire and show you how, by using different technical illustrations and data visualisations, you can really engage and communicate with your users and do much more good for the surrounding content.

Below are interesting and not commonly seen examples of technical illustration and data visualisation, that show data and information. As you know, more commonly seen examples are bar graphs and pie charts, but there is so much more than that!

So, keep reading and looking at the following examples, and I will show you some really cool stuff.

Technology

Typically, technical illustration and data visualisations were done using paper, pens, pencils, compasses, and rulers. But now everything is possible — you can do analog and digital. Since the mainstream introduction of the internet, around 1997, data (text, numerical, symbol) has flourished, and it has become the current day gold currency. It is easy for anyone to learn who has the software or knows the coding language. And it is much easier to do technical illustrations and data visualisation than in previous years. But that does not always mean that what is done today is better than what was done before.

What Makes Data And Information Good

• It must be aesthetically pleasing, interesting, and stimulating to look at.
• It must be of value and worth the effort to read and digest the information.
• It must be easy to understand and logical.
• To convey ideas effectively, both aesthetic form and functionality need to go hand in hand, as Vitaly Friedman in his article “Data Visualization and Infographics” has pointed out.
• It must be legible and have well-named and easy-to-understand axes and labels.
• It should help explain and show data and information in a more interesting way than if it were presented in tabular form.
• It should help explain or unpack what is written in any surrounding text and make it come to life in an unusual and useful way.
• It must be easy to compare and contrast the data against the other data.

The Importance Of Knowing About Different Audiences

There are some common categories of audiences:

• Expert,
• Intermediate,
• Beginner,
• Member of the public,
• Child,
• Teenager,
• Middle-aged,
• Ageing,
• Has some prior knowledge,
• Does not have any prior knowledge,
• Person with some kind of disability (vision, physical, hearing, mobility).

Sara Dholakia in her article “A Guide To Getting Data Visualization Right” points out the following considerations:

• The audience’s familiarity with the subject matter of your data;
• How much context they already have versus what you should provide;
• Their familiarity with various methods of data visualisation.

Just look at what we are more often than not presented with.

So, let us dive into some cool examples that you can understand and start using today that will also give your work and content a really cool edge and help it stand out and communicate better.

It provides a great way to show relationships and connections between items and different components, and the 3D style adds a lot to the diagram.

It’s an effective way to highlight and select information or data in relation to its surrounding data and information.

Being great at showing two categories of information and comparing them horizontally, they are an alternative to typical horizontal or vertical bar graphs.

They are an excellent way to enliven overused 2D pie and bar graphs. 3D examples of common graphs give a real sense of quality and depth whilst enhancing the data and information much more than 2D versions.

This diagram is a good way to show the progression and the journey of information and data and how they are connected in relation to their data value. It's not often seen, but it's really cool.

A stream graph is a great way to show the data and how it relates to the other data — much more interesting than just using lines as is typically seen.

It provides an excellent way to show a map in a different and more interesting form than the typically seen 2D version. It really gives the map a sense of environment, depth, and atmosphere.

It’s a great way to show the data spatially and how the data value relates, in terms of size, to the rest of the data.

A waterfall chart is helpful in showing the data and how it relates in a vertical manner to the range of data values.

It shows the data against the other data segments and also as a value within a range of data.

A lollipop chart is an excellent method to demonstrate percentage values in a horizontal manner that also integrates the label and data value well.

It’s an effective way to illustrate data values in terms of size and sub-classification in relation to the surrounding data.

How To Start Doing Technical Illustration And Data Visualisation

There are many options available, including specialized software like Flourish, Tableau, and Klipfolio; familiar tools like Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint (with redrawing in software like Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer, or CorelDRAW); or learning coding languages such as D3, Three.js, P5.js, WebGL, or the Web Audio API, as Frederick O’Brien discusses in his article “Web Design Done Well: Delightful Data Visualization Examples.”

But there is one essential ingredient that you will always need, and that is a mind and vision for technical illustration and data visualisation.

Worthwhile Practitioners And Links To Look At

• Stefanie Posavec
• Yuri Engelhardt
• Giorgia Lupi
• Edward Tufte
• Information is Beautiful Awards

We’ve all had that moment. You’re optimizing the performance of some website, scrutinizing every millisecond it takes for the current page to load. You’ve fired up Google Lighthouse from Chrome’s DevTools because everyone and their uncle uses it to evaluate performance.

After running your 151st report and completing all of the recommended improvements, you experience nirvana: a perfect 100% performance score!

Time to pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Maybe you can use this to get that pay raise you’ve been wanting! Except, don’t — at least not using Google Lighthouse as your sole proof. I know a perfect score produces all kinds of good feelings. That’s what we’re aiming for, after all!

Google Lighthouse is merely one tool in a complete performance toolkit. What it’s not is a complete picture of how your website performs in the real world. Sure, we can glean plenty of insights about a site’s performance and even spot issues that ought to be addressed to speed things up. But again, it’s an incomplete picture.

I hear other developers boasting about perfect Lighthouse scores and see the screenshots published all over socials. Hey, I just did that myself in the introduction of this article!

Lighthouse might be the most widely used web performance reporting tool. I’d wager its ubiquity is due to convenience more than the quality of its reports.

Open DevTools, click the Lighthouse tab, and generate the report! There are even many ways we can configure Lighthouse to measure performance in simulated situations, such as slow internet connection speeds or creating separate reports for mobile and desktop. It’s a very powerful tool for something that comes baked into a free browser. It’s also baked right into Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool!

And it’s fast. Run a report in Lighthouse, and you’ll get something back in about 10-15 seconds. Try running reports with other tools, and you’ll find yourself refilling your coffee, hitting the bathroom, and maybe checking your email (in varying order) while waiting for the results. There’s a good reason for that, but all I want to call out is that Google Lighthouse is lightning fast as far as performance reporting goes.

To recap: Lighthouse is great at many things!

• It’s convenient to access,
• It provides a good deal of configuration for different levels of troubleshooting,
• And it spits out reports in record time.

And what about that bright and lovely animated green score — who doesn’t love that?!

OK, that’s the rosy side of Lighthouse reports. It’s only fair to highlight its limitations as well. This isn’t to dissuade you or anyone else from using Lighthouse, but more of a heads-up that your score may not perfectly reflect reality — or even match the scores you’d get in other tools, including Google’s own PageSpeed Insights.

Not all data is created equal in capital Web Performance. It’s important to know this because data represents assumptions that reporting tools make when evaluating performance metrics.

The data Lighthouse relies on for its reporting is called simulated data. You might already have a solid guess at what that means: it’s synthetic data. Now, before kicking simulated data in the knees for not being “real” data, know that it’s the reason Lighthouse is super fast.

You know how there’s a setting to “throttle” the internet connection speed? That simulates different conditions that either slow down or speed up the connection speed, something that you configure directly in Lighthouse. By default, Lighthouse collects data on a fast connection, but we can configure it to something slower to gain insights on slow page loads. But beware! Lighthouse then estimates how quickly the page would have loaded on a different connection.

DebugBear founder Matt Zeunert outlines how data runs in a simulated throttling environment, explaining how Lighthouse uses “optimistic” and “pessimistic” averages for making conclusions:

“[Simulated throttling] reduces variability between tests. But if there’s a single slow render-blocking request that shares an origin with several fast responses, then Lighthouse will underestimate page load time.

Lighthouse averages optimistic and pessimistic estimates when it’s unsure exactly which nodes block rendering. In practice, metrics may be closer to either one of these, depending on which dependency graph is more correct.”

And again, the environment is a configuration, not reality. It’s unlikely that your throttled conditions match the connection speeds of an average real user on the website, as they may have a faster network connection or run on a slower CPU. What Lighthouse provides is more like “on-demand” testing that’s immediately available.

That makes simulated data great for running tests quickly and under certain artificially sweetened conditions. However, it sacrifices accuracy by making assumptions about the connection speeds of site visitors and averages things in a way that divorces it from reality.

While simulated throttling is the default in Lighthouse, it also supports more realistic throttling methods. Running those tests will take more time but give you more accurate data. The easiest way to run Lighthouse with more realistic settings is using an online tool like the DebugBear website speed test or WebPageTest.

These Core Web Vitals everyone talks about are Google’s standard metrics for measuring performance. They go beyond simple “Your page loaded in X seconds” reports by looking at a slew of more pertinent details that are diagnostic of how the page loads, resources that might be blocking other resources, slow user interactions, and how much the page shifts around from loading resources and content. Zeunert has another great post here on Smashing Magazine that discusses each metric in detail.

The main point here is that the simulated data Lighthouse produces may (and often does) differ from performance metrics from other tools. I spent a good deal explaining this in another article. The gist of it is that Lighthouse scores do not impact Core Web Vitals data. The reason for that is Core Web Vitals relies on data about real users pulled from the monthly-updated Chrome User Experience (CrUX) report. While CrUX data may be limited by how recently the data was pulled, it is a more accurate reflection of user behaviors and browsing conditions than the simulated data in Lighthouse.

The ultimate point I’m getting at is that Lighthouse is simply ineffective at measuring Core Web Vitals performance metrics. Here’s how I explain it in my bespoke article:

“[Synthetic] data is fundamentally limited by the fact that it only looks at a single experience in a pre-defined environment. This environment often doesn’t even match the average real user on the website, who may have a faster network connection or a slower CPU.”

I emphasized the important part. In real life, users are likely to have more than one experience on a particular page. It’s not as though you navigate to a site, let it load, sit there, and then close the page; you’re more likely to do something on that page. And for a Core Web Vital metric that looks for slow paint in response to user input — namely, Interaction to Next Paint (INP) — there’s no way for Lighthouse to measure that at all!

It’s the same deal for a metric like Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) that measures the “visible stability” of a page layout because layout shifts often happen lower on the page after a user has scrolled down. If Lighthouse relied on CrUX data (which it doesn’t), then it would be able to make assumptions based on real users who interact with the page and can experience CLS. Instead, Lighthouse waits patiently for the full page load and never interacts with parts of the page, thus having no way of knowing anything about CLS.

That’s what I want you to walk away with at the end of the day. A Lighthouse report is incredibly good at producing reports quickly, thanks to the simulated data it uses. In that sense, I’d say that Lighthouse is a handy “gut check” and maybe even a first step to identifying opportunities to optimize performance.

But a complete picture, it’s not. For that, what we’d want is a tool that leans on real user data. Tools that integrate CrUX data are pretty good there. But again, that data is pulled every month (28 days to be exact) so it may not reflect the most recent user behaviors and interactions, although it is updated daily on a rolling basis and it is indeed possible to query historical records for larger sample sizes.

Even better is using a tool that monitors users in real-time.

Data pulled directly from the site of origin is truly the gold standard data we want because it comes from the source of truth. That makes tools that integrate with your site the best way to gain insights and diagnose issues because they tell you exactly how your visitors are experiencing your site.

I’ve written about using the Performance API in JavaScript to evaluate custom and Core Web Vitals metrics, so it’s possible to roll that on your own. But there are plenty of existing services out there that do this for you, complete with visualizations, historical records, and true real-time user monitoring (often abbreviated as RUM). What services? Well, DebugBear is a great place to start. I cited Matt Zeunert earlier, and DebugBear is his product.

So, if what you want is a complete picture of your site’s performance, go ahead and start with Lighthouse. But don’t stop there because you’re only seeing part of the picture. You’ll want to augment your findings and diagnose performance with real-user monitoring for the most complete, accurate picture.

The wallpapers in this post come in versions with and without a calendar for November 2024 and can be downloaded for free — as it has been a monthly tradition here at Smashing Magazine for more than 13 years already. As a little bonus goodie, we also added a selection of November favorites from our wallpapers archives to the post. Maybe you’ll spot one of your almost-forgotten favorites in here, too?

A huge thank-you to everyone who shared their wallpapers with us this month — this post wouldn’t exist without you. Happy November!

• You can click on every image to see a larger preview.
• We respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.
• Submit your wallpaper design! 👩‍🎨
  Feeling inspired? We are always looking for creative talent and would love to feature your desktop wallpaper in one of our upcoming posts. We can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with!

“Today, we celebrate the saxophone, an instrument that has added its signature sound to jazz, rock, classical, and so much more. From smooth solos to bold brass harmonies, the sax has shaped the soundtrack of our lives. Whether you’re a seasoned player or just love its iconic sound, let’s show some love to this musical marvel!” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

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“The end of the year is approaching, and winter is just around the corner, so we’ll spend this month in the Alps. The snow has arrived in the mountains, and we can take advantage of it to ski or have a hot coffee while we watch the flakes fall.” — Designed by Veronica Valenzuela from Spain.

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Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Spain.

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Designed by Cronix from the United States.

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“A peaceful, minimalist wallpaper of a lone cartoon astronaut floating in space surrounded by planets and stars.” — Designed by Reethu from London.

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Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Spain.

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Designed by Cronix from the United States.

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“November 25th is the “International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.” We wanted to create a wallpaper that can hopefully contribute to building awareness and support.” — Designed by Friendlystock from Greece.

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“When playing with lines, which were at the beginning displaying a square, I finally arrived to this drawing, and I was surprised. I thought it would make a nice wallpaper for one’s desktop, doesn’t it?” — Designed by Philippe Brouard from France.

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“Inspired by the transition from autumn to winter.” — Designed by Tecxology from India.

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“November is autumn in all its splendor. Earthy colors, falling leaves, and afternoons in the warmth of the home. But it is also adventurous and exciting and why not, different. We sit in Bali contemplating Pura Ulun Danu Bratan. We don’t know if it’s sunset or dusk, but… does that really matter?” — Designed by Veronica Valenzuela Jimenez from Spain.

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“Autumn coziness, which is created by fallen leaves, pumpkins, and cups of cocoa, inspired our designers for this wallpaper. — Designed by MasterBundles from Ukraine.

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“Been looking for a mysterious, gloomy, yet beautiful desktop wallpaper for this winter season? We’ve got you, as this month’s calendar marks Jellyfish Day. On November 3rd, we celebrate these unique, bewildering, and stunning marine animals. Besides adorning your screen, we’ve got you covered with some jellyfish fun facts: they aren’t really fish, they need very little oxygen, eat a broad diet, and shrink in size when food is scarce. Now that’s some tenacity to look up to.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

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“Autumn can be dreary, especially in November, when rain starts pouring every day. We wanted to summon better days, so that’s how this colourful November calendar was created. Open your umbrella and let’s roll!” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

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Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Spain.

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“I designed some Halloween characters and then this idea came to my mind — a bat family hanging around in the moonlight. A cute and scary mood is just perfect for autumn.” — Designed by Carmen Eisendle from Germany.

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Designed by Glynnis Owen from Australia.

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“Kindness drives humanity. Be kind. Be humble. Be humane. Be the best of yourself!” — Designed by Color Mean Creative Studio from Dubai.

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“Anbani means alphabet in Georgian. The letters that grow on that tree are the Georgian alphabet. It’s very unique!” — Designed by Vlad Gerasimov from Georgia.

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“By the end of autumn, ferocious Poseidon will part from tinted clouds and timid breeze. After this uneven clash, the sky once more becomes pellucid just in time for imminent luminous snow.” — Designed by Ana Masnikosa from Belgrade, Serbia.

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Designed by Bart Bonte from Belgium.

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“It is autumn! It is raining and thus… it is mushroom season! It is the perfect moment to go to the forest and get the best mushrooms to do the best recipe.” — Designed by Verónica Valenzuela from Spain.

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“The smell of winter is lingering in the air. The time to be home! Winter reminds us of good food, of the warmth, the touch of a friendly hand, and a talk beside the fire. Keep calm and let us welcome winter.” — Designed by Acodez IT Solutions from India.

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“We were inspired by the nature around us and the universe above us, so we created an out-of-this-world calendar. Now, let us all stop for a second and contemplate on preserving our forests, let us send birds of passage off to warmer places, and let us think to ourselves — if not on Earth, could we find a home somewhere else in outer space?” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

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Designed by Elise Vanoorbeek from Belgium.

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Designed by ActiveCollab from the United States.

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Designed by Maria Porter from the United States.

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“November is the Peanut Butter Month so I decided to make a wallpaper around that. As everyone knows peanut butter goes really well with some jelly so I made two sandwiches, one with peanut butter and one with jelly. Together they make the best combination.” — Designed by Senne Mommens from Belgium.

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“On December 7, we mark International Civil Aviation Day, celebrating those who prove day by day that the sky really is the limit. As the engine of global connectivity, civil aviation is now, more than ever, a symbol of social and economic progress and a vehicle of international understanding. This monthly calendar is our sign of gratitude to those who dedicate their lives to enabling everyone to reach their dreams.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

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“Those chill November nights when you see mountain tops covered with the first snow sparkling in the moonlight.” — Designed by Jovana Djokic from Serbia.

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Designed by Xenia Latii from Germany.

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“Whether or not you celebrate Thanksgiving, there’s certain things that always make the harvest season special. As a Floridian, I’m a big fan of any signs that the weather might be cooling down soon, too!” — Designed by Dorothy Timmer from the United States.

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“Universal Children’s Day, November 20. It feels like a dream world, it invites you to let your imagination flow, see the details, and find the child inside you.” — Designed by Luis Costa from Portugal.

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Designed by Cedric Bloem from Belgium.

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This article is part of our ongoing series on UX. You can find more details on design patterns and UX strategy in Smart Interface Design Patterns 🍣 — with live UX training coming up soon. Free preview.

When we talk about Generation Z, we usually refer to people born between 1995 and 2010. Of course making universal statements about a cohort where some are adults in their late 20s and others are school students is at best ineffective and at worst wrong — yet there are some attributes that stand out compared to earlier generations.

Gen Z is the most diverse generation in terms of race, ethnicity, and identity. Research shows that young people today are caring and proactive, and far from being “slow, passive and mindless” as they are often described. In fact, they are willing to take a stand and break their habits if they deeply believe in a specific purpose and goal. Surely there are many distractions along that way, but the belief in fairness and sense of purpose has enormous value.

Their values reflect that: accessibility, inclusivity, sustainability, and work/life balance are top priorities for Gen Zs, and they value experiences, principles, and social stand over possessions.

What Gen Z Deeply Cares About

Gen Z grew up with technology, so unsurprisingly digital experiences are very familiar and understood by them. On the other hand, digital experiences are often suboptimal at best — slow, inaccessible, confusing, and frustrating. Plus, the web is filled with exaggerations and generic but fluffy statements. So it’s not a big revelation that Gen Zs are highly skeptical of brands and advertising by default (rightfully so!), and rely almost exclusively on social circles, influencers, and peers as main research channels.

They might sometimes struggle to spot what’s real and what’s not, but they are highly selective about their sources. They are always connected and used to following events live as they unfold, so unsurprisingly, Gen Z tends to have little patience.

And sure enough, Gen Z loves short-form content, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to a short attention span. Attention span is context-dependent, as documentaries and literature are among Gen Z’s favorites.

Most design advice on Gen Z focuses on producing “short form, snackable, bite-sized” content. That content is optimized for very short attention spans, TikTok-alike content consumption, and simplified to the core messaging. I would strongly encourage us to do the opposite.

We shouldn’t discount Gen Z as a generation with poor attention spans and urgent needs for instant gratification. Gen Zs have very strong beliefs and values, but they are also inherently curious and want to reshape the world. We can tell a damn good story. Captivate and engage. Make people think. Many Gen Zs are highly ambitious and motivated, and they want to be challenged and to succeed. So let’s support that. And to do that, we need to remain genuine and authentic.

Remain Genuine And Authentic

As Michelle Winchester noted, Gen Zs have very diverse perspectives and opinions, and they possess a discerning ability to detect disingenuous content. That’s also where mistrust towards AI comes into play, along with AI fatigue. As Nilay Patel mentioned on Ezra Klein Show, today when somebody says that something is “AI-generated”, usually it’s not a praise, but rather a testament how poor and untrustworthy it actually is.

Gen Z expects better. Hence brands that value sincerity, honesty, and authenticity are perceived as more trustworthy compared to brands that don’t have an opinion, don’t take a stand, don’t act for their beliefs and principles. For example, the “Keep Beauty Real” campaign by Dove (shown below) showcases the value of genuine human beauty, which is so often missed and so often exaggerated to extremes by AI.

Gareth Ford Williams has put together a visual language of closed captions and has kindly provided a PDF cheatsheet that is commonly used by professional captioners. There are some generally established rules about captioning, and here are some that I found quite useful when working on captioning for my own video course:

• Divide your sentences into two relatively equal parts like a pyramid (40ch per line for the top line, a bit less for the bottom line);
• Always keep an average of 20 to 30 characters per second;
• A sequence should only last between 1 and 8 seconds;
• Always keep a person’s name or title together;
• Do not break a line after conjunction;
• Consider aligning multi-lined captions to the left.

On YouTube, users can select a font used for subtitles and choose between monospaced and proportional serif and sans-serif, casual, cursive, and small-caps. But perhaps, in addition to stylistic details, we could provide a careful selection of fonts to help audiences with different needs. This could include a dyslexic font or a hyper-legible font, for example.

Additionally, we could display presets for various high contrast options for subtitles. This gives users a faster selection, requiring less effort to configure just the right combination of colors and transparency. Still, it would be useful to provide more sophisticated options just in case users need them.

Support Intrinsic Motivation

On the other hand, in times of instant gratification with likes, reposts, and leaderboards, people often learn that a feeling of achievement comes from extrinsic signals, like reach or attention from other people. The more important it is to support intrinsic motivation.

As Paula Gomes noted, intrinsic motivation is characterized by engaging in behaviors just for their own sake. People do something because they enjoy it. It is when they care deeply for an activity and enjoy it without needing any external rewards or pressure to do it.

Typically this requires 3 components:

• Competence involves the need to feel capable of achieving a desired outcome.
• Autonomy is about the need to feel in control of your own actions, behaviors, and goals.
• Relatedness reflects the need to feel a sense of belonging and attachment to other people.

In practical terms, that means setting people up for success. Preparing the knowledge and documents and skills they need ahead of time. Building knowledge up without necessarily rewarding them with points. It also means allowing people to have a strong sense of ownership of the decisions and the work they are doing. And adding collaborative goals that would require cooperation with team members and colleagues.

Encourage Critical Thinking

The younger people are, the more difficult it is to distinguish between what’s real and what isn’t. Whenever possible, show sources or at least explain where to find specific details that back up claims that you are making. Encourage people to make up their mind, and design content to support that — with scientific papers, trustworthy reviews, vetted feedback, and diverse opinions.

And: you don’t have to shy away from technical details. Don’t make them mandatory to read and understand, but make them accessible and available in case readers or viewers are interested.

In times where there is so much fake, exaggerated, dishonest, and AI-generated content, it might be just enough to be perceived as authentic, trustworthy, and attention-worthy by the highly selective and very demanding Gen Z.

I keep repeating myself like a broken record, but better accessibility is better for everyone. As you hopefully have noticed, many attributes and expectations that we see in Gen Z are beneficial for all other generations, too. It’s just good, honest, authentic design. And that’s the very heart of good UX.

What I haven’t mentioned is that Gen Z genuinely appreciates feedback and values platforms that listen to their opinions and make changes based on their feedback. So the best thing we can do, as designers, is to actively involve Gen Z in the design process. Designing with them, rather than designing for them.

And, most importantly: with Gen Z, perhaps for the first time ever, inclusion and accessibility is becoming a default expectation for all digital products. With it comes the sense of fairness, diversity, and respect. And, personally, I strongly believe that it’s a great thing — and a testament how remarkable Gen Zs actually are.

• Large parts of Gen Z aren’t mobile-first, but mobile-only.
• To some, the main search engine is YouTube, not Google.
• Some don’t know and have never heard of Internet Explorer.
• Trust only verified customer reviews, influencers, friends.
• Used to follow events live as they unfold → little patience.
• Sustainability, reuse, work/life balance are top priorities.
• Prefer social login as the fastest authentication method.
• Typically ignore or close cookie banners, without consent.
• Rely on social proof, honest reviews/photos, authenticity.
• Most likely generation to provide a referral to a product.
• Typically turn on subtitles for videos by default.

• Designing for Gen Z, by Designlab
• Designing For Gen Z (Case Study), by Michelle Winchester
• Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation, by Paula Gomes
• Shopping Habits For Gen Z, by Sara Karlovitch
• 10 Gen Z Insights To Improve Your CX, by Telus
• Millennials vs. Gen Z Expectations, by Zendesk

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See the Pen Container Units for All Units [forked] by Chris Coyier.

What I found interesting about this is how it demonstrates the complexity of sizing things. We’re constrained to absolute and relative units in CSS, so we’re either stuck at a specific size (e.g., px) or computing the size based on sizing declared on another element (e.g., %, em, rem, vw, vh, and so on). Both come with compromises, so it’s not like there is a “correct” way to go about things — it’s about the element’s context — and leaning heavily in any one direction doesn’t remedy that.

I thought I’d try my own experiment but with the CSS min() function instead of container query units. Why? Well, first off, we can supply the function with any type of length unit we want, which makes the approach a little more flexible than working with one type of unit. But the real reason I wanted to do this is personal interest more than anything else.

I won’t make you wait for the end to see how my min() experiment went:

Taking website responsiveness to a whole new level 🌐 pic.twitter.com/pKmHl5d0Dy

— Vayo (@vayospot) March 1, 2023

We’ll talk about that more after we walk through the details.

The min() function takes two values and applies the smallest one, whichever one happens to be in the element’s context. For example, we can say we want an element to be as wide as 50% of whatever container it is in. And if 50% is greater than, say 200px, cap the width there instead.

See the Pen [forked] by Geoff Graham.

So, min() is sort of like container query units in the sense that it is aware of how much available space it has in its container. But it’s different in that min() isn’t querying its container dimensions to compute the final value. We supply it with two acceptable lengths, and it determines which is best given the context. That makes min() (and max() for that matter) a useful tool for responsive layouts that adapt to the viewport’s size. It uses conditional logic to determine the “best” match, which means it can help adapt layouts without needing to reach for CSS media queries.

.element {
  width: min(200px, 50%);
}

/* Close to this: */
.element {
  width: 200px;

  @media (min-width: 600px) {
    width: 50%;
  }
}

The difference between min() and @media in that example is that we’re telling the browser to set the element’s width to 50% at a specific breakpoint of 600px. With min(), it switches things up automatically as the amount of available space changes, whatever viewport size that happens to be.

When I use the min(), I think of it as having the ability to make smart decisions based on context. We don’t have to do the thinking or calculations to determine which value is used. However, using min() coupled with just any CSS unit isn’t enough. For instance, relative units work better for responsiveness than absolute units. You might even think of min() as setting a maximum value in that it never goes below the first value but also caps itself at the second value.

I mentioned earlier that we could use any type of unit in min(). Let’s take the same approach that Chris did and lean heavily into a type of unit to see how min() behaves when it is used exclusively for a responsive layout. Specifically, we’ll use viewport units as they are directly relative to the size of the viewport.

Now, there are different flavors of viewport units. We can use the viewport’s width (vw) and height (vh). We also have the vmin and vmax units that are slightly more intelligent in that they evaluate an element’s width and height and apply either the smaller (vmin) or larger (vmax) of the two. So, if we declare 100vmax on an element, and that element is 500px wide by 250px tall, the unit computes to 500px.

That is how I am approaching this experiment. What happens if we eschew media queries in favor of only using min() to establish a responsive layout and lean into viewport units to make it happen? We’ll take it one piece at a time.

There are various approaches for responsive type. Media queries are quickly becoming the “old school” way of doing it:

p { font-size: 1.1rem; }

@media (min-width: 1200px) {
  p { font-size: 1.2rem; }
}

@media (max-width: 350px) {
  p { font-size: 0.9rem; }
}

Sure, this works, but what happens when the user uses a 4K monitor? Or a foldable phone? There are other tried and true approaches; in fact, clamp() is the prevailing go-to. But we’re leaning all-in on min(). As it happens, just one line of code is all we need to wipe out all of those media queries, substantially reducing our code:

p { font-size: min(6vmin, calc(1rem + 0.23vmax)); }

I’ll walk you through those values…

1. 6vmin is essentially 6% of the browser’s width or height, whichever is smallest. This allows the font size to shrink as much as needed for smaller contexts.
2. For calc(1rem + 0.23vmax), 1rem is the base font size, and 0.23vmax is a tiny fraction of the viewport‘s width or height, whichever happens to be the largest.
3. The calc() function adds those two values together. Since 0.23vmax is evaluated differently depending on which viewport edge is the largest, it’s crucial when it comes to scaling the font size between the two arguments. I’ve tweaked it into something that scales gradually one way or the other rather than blowing things up as the viewport size increases.
4. Finally, the min() returns the smallest value suitable for the font size of the current screen size.

And speaking of how flexible the min() approach is, it can restrict how far the text grows. For example, we can cap this at a maximum font-size equal to 2rem as a third function parameter:

p { font-size: min(6vmin, calc(1rem + 0.23vmax), 2rem); }

This isn’t a silver bullet tactic. I’d say it’s probably best used for body text, like paragraphs. We might want to adjust things a smidge for headings, e.g., <h1>:

h1 { font-size: min(7.5vmin, calc(2rem + 1.2vmax)); }

We’ve bumped up the minimum size from 6vmin to 7.5vmin so that it stays larger than the body text at any viewport size. Also, in the calc(), the base size is now 2rem, which is smaller than the default UA styles for <h1>. We’re using 1.2vmax as the multiplier this time, meaning it grows more than the body text, which is multiplied by a smaller value, .023vmax.

This works for me. You can always tweak these values and see which works best for your use. Whatever the case, the font-size for this experiment is completely fluid and completely based on the min() function, adhering to my self-imposed constraint.

Spacing is a big part of layout, responsive or not. We need margin and padding to properly situate elements alongside other elements and give them breathing room, both inside and outside their box.

We’re going all-in with min() for this, too. We could use absolute units, like pixels, but those aren’t exactly responsive.

min() can combine relative and absolute units so they are more effective. Let’s pair vmin with px this time:

div { margin: min(10vmin, 30px); }

10vmin is likely to be smaller than 30px when viewed on a small viewport. That’s why I’m allowing the margin to shrink dynamically this time around. As the viewport size increases, whereby 10vmin exceeds 30px, min() caps the value at 30px, going no higher than that.

Notice, too, that I didn’t reach for calc() this time. Margins don’t really need to grow indefinitely with screen size, as too much spacing between containers or elements generally looks awkward on larger screens. This concept also works extremely well for padding, but we don’t have to go there. Instead, it might be better to stick with a single unit, preferably em, since it is relative to the element’s font-size. We can essentially “pass” the work that min() is doing on the font-size to the margin and padding properties because of that.

.card-info {
  font-size: min(6vmin, calc(1rem + 0.12vmax));
  padding: 1.2em;
}

Now, padding scales with the font-size, which is powered by min().

Setting width for a responsive design doesn’t have to be complicated, right? We could simply use a single percentage or viewport unit value to specify how much available horizontal space we want to take up, and the element will adjust accordingly. Though, container query units could be a happy path outside of this experiment.

But we’re min() all the way!

min() comes in handy when setting constraints on how much an element responds to changes. We can set an upper limit of 650px and, if the computed width tries to go larger, have the element settle at a full width of 100%:

.container { width: min(100%, 650px); }

Things get interesting with text width. When the width of a text box is too long, it becomes uncomfortable to read through the texts. There are competing theories about how many characters per line of text is best for an optimal reading experience. For the sake of argument, let’s say that number should be between 50-75 characters. In other words, we ought to pack no more than 75 characters on a line, and we can do that with the ch unit, which is based on the 0 character’s size for whatever font is in use.

p {
  width: min(100%, 75ch);
}

This code basically says: get as wide as needed but never wider than 75 characters.

Over time, with a lot of tweaking and modifying of values, I have drafted a list of pre-defined values that I find work well for responsively styling different properties:

:root {
  --font-size-6x: min(7.5vmin, calc(2rem + 1.2vmax));
  --font-size-5x: min(6.5vmin, calc(1.1rem + 1.2vmax));
  --font-size-4x: min(4vmin, calc(0.8rem + 1.2vmax));
  --font-size-3x: min(6vmin, calc(1rem + 0.12vmax));
  --font-size-2x: min(4vmin, calc(0.85rem + 0.12vmax));
  --font-size-1x: min(2vmin, calc(0.65rem + 0.12vmax));
  --width-2x: min(100vw, 1300px);
  --width-1x: min(100%, 1200px);
  --gap-3x: min(5vmin, 1.5rem);
  --gap-2x: min(4.5vmin, 1rem);
  --size-10x: min(15vmin, 5.5rem);
  --size-9x: min(10vmin, 5rem);
  --size-8x: min(10vmin, 4rem);
  --size-7x: min(10vmin, 3rem);
  --size-6x: min(8.5vmin, 2.5rem);
  --size-5x: min(8vmin, 2rem);
  --size-4x: min(8vmin, 1.5rem);
  --size-3x: min(7vmin, 1rem);
  --size-2x: min(5vmin, 1rem);
  --size-1x: min(2.5vmin, 0.5rem);
}

This is how I approached my experiment because it helps me know what to reach for in a given situation:

h1 { font-size: var(--font-size-6x); }

.container {
  width: var(--width-2x);
  margin: var(--size-2x);
}

.card-grid { gap: var(--gap-3x); }

There we go! We have a heading that scales flawlessly, a container that’s responsive and never too wide, and a grid with dynamic spacing — all without a single media query. The --size- properties declared in the variable list are the most versatile, as they can be used for properties that require scaling, e.g., margins, paddings, and so on.

I shared a video of the result, but here’s a link to the demo.

See the Pen min() website [forked] by Vayo.

So, is min() the be-all, end-all for responsiveness? Absolutely not. Neither is a diet consisting entirely of container query units. I mean, it’s cool that we can scale an entire webpage like this, but the web is never a one-size-fits-all beanie.

If anything, I think this and what Chris demoed are warnings against dogmatic approaches to web design as a whole, not solely unique to responsive design. CSS features, including length units and functions, are tools in a larger virtual toolshed. Rather than getting too cozy with one feature or technique, explore the shed because you might find a better tool for the job.

In many companies, designers are perceived as disruptors, rather than enablers. Designers challenge established ways of working. They ask a lot of questions — much needed ones but also uncomfortable ones. They focus “too much” on user needs, pushing revenue projections back, often with long-winded commitment to testing and research and planning and scoping.

Almost every department in almost every company has their own clearly defined objectives, metrics and KPIs. In fact, most departments — from finance to marketing to HR to sales — are remarkably good at visualizing their impact and making it visible throughout the entire organization.

But as designers, we rarely have a set of established Design KPIs that we regularly report to senior management. We don’t have a clear definition of design success. And we rarely measure the impact of our work once it’s launched. So it’s not surprising that moste parts of the business barely know what we actually do all day long.

Business wants results. It also wants to do more of what has worked in the past. But it doesn’t want to be disrupted — it wants to disrupt. It wants to reduce time to market and minimize expenses; increase revenue and existing business, find new markets. This requires fast delivery and good execution.

And that’s what we are often supposed to be — good “executors”. Or to put differently, “pixel pushers”.

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Specifically, we’ll focus on two powerful models: Reka and Gemini 1.5 Pro.

Both models take things to the next level compared to the tools we used earlier. They eliminate the need for separate speech recognition models, providing a unified solution for multimodal tasks. With this in mind, our goal in this article is to explore how Reka and Gemini simplify building advanced applications that handle images, text, and audio all at once.

The architecture of multimodal models has evolved to enable seamless handling of various inputs, including text, images, and audio, among others. Traditional models often require separate components for each modality, but recent advancements in “any-to-any” models like Next-GPT or 4M allow developers to build systems that process multiple modalities within a unified architecture.

Gato, for instance, utilizes a 1.2 billion parameter decoder-only transformer architecture with 24 layers, embedding sizes of 2048 and a hidden size of 8196 in its feed-forward layers. This structure is optimized for general tasks across various inputs, but it still relies on extensive task-specific fine-tuning.

GPT-4o, on the other hand, takes a different approach with training on multiple media types within a single architecture. This means it’s a single model trained to handle a variety of inputs (e.g., text, images, code) without the need for separate systems for each. This training method allows for smoother task-switching and better generalization across tasks.

Similarly, CoDi employs a multistage training scheme to handle a linear number of tasks while supporting input-output combinations across different modalities. CoDi’s architecture builds a shared multimodal space, enabling synchronized generation for intertwined modalities like video and audio, making it ideal for more dynamic multimedia tasks.

Most “any-to-any” models, including the ones we’ve discussed, rely on a few key concepts to handle different tasks and inputs smoothly:

• Shared representation space
  These models convert different types of inputs — text, images, audio — into a common feature space. Text is encoded into vectors, images into feature maps, and audio into spectrograms or embeddings. This shared space allows the model to process various inputs in a unified way.
• Attention mechanisms
  Attention layers help the model focus on the most relevant parts of each input, whether it’s understanding the text, generating captions from images, or interpreting audio.
• Cross-modal interaction
  In many models, inputs from one modality (e.g., text) can guide the generation or interpretation of another modality (e.g., images), allowing for more integrated and cohesive outputs.
• Pre-training and fine-tuning
  Models are typically pre-trained on large datasets across different types of data and then fine-tuned for specific tasks, enhancing their performance in real-world applications.

Reka is an AI research company that helps developers build powerful applications by offering models for a range of tasks. These tasks include generating text from videos and images, translating speech, and answering complex questions from long multimodal documents. Reka’s models can even write and execute code, providing flexible, real-world solutions for developers.

These are the three main models Reka offers:

1. Reka Core
   A 67-billion-parameter multimodal language model designed for complex tasks. It supports inputs like images, videos, and texts while excelling in advanced reasoning and coding.
2. Reka Flash
   A faster model with a 21-billion-parameter, designed for flexibility and rapid performance in multimodal settings.
3. Reka Edge (PDF)
   A smaller 7-billion-parameter model was built for on-device and low-latency applications, making it efficient for local use and local or latency-sensitive applications.

Reka’s models can be fine-tuned and deployed securely, whether on the cloud, on-premises, or even on-device. Let’s start by testing Reka’s capabilities directly through its playground. This allows us to experiment with its multimodal features without writing any code, providing a hands-on way to see how the models handle various tasks, such as image and video comprehension.

Alright, we’ll kick things off by uploading an image of a diagram outline of the PaliGemma architecture and ask Reka for a detailed explanation.

Can you provide a more detailed explanation of this image?

Here’s what we get from Reka Core:

“This image is a schematic representation of a machine-learning model named PaliGemma. The model appears to be designed for multimodal input, combining both image and text data. At the top, there are two input sources: ‘Image Input’ and ‘Text Input’. The image input is processed by a ‘SigLIP Image Encoder’, which likely stands for a specific type of image encoding technique. The output of this encoder is then subjected to a ‘Linear Projection’, which is a common step in machine learning to transform data into a lower-dimensional space. The text input is directly fed into the model. Both the projected image data and the text input are then concatenated into ‘Concatenated Tokens’, which are then processed by a component labeled ‘Gemma’. The final output of the model is ‘Text Output’, which suggests that the model is designed to generate text based on the input data.”

It’s a clear and detailed breakdown of the PaliGemma architecture. The model accurately identifies image and text inputs, the SigLIP image encoder, and the linear projection step. It also grasps how the image and text inputs are combined and processed to generate text output. I should admit that the response is quite neat, offering a solid explanation of the architecture.

Let’s try a video input instead. We’ll upload the video about Genny, a software, and ask a question to see how well Reka Core handles video comprehension.

What is this video about?

“This video is a screen recording of a group of friends discussing their plans for the weekend.”

Well, it’s not a good answer compared to what LLaVA gave us in the previous article. Now let’s try a longer video, but with the Reka Flash model. The video is about a TTS model called Parler TTS. Instead of asking what the video is about, let’s prompt it like this:

I’m an AI developer, and I’m not sure how this TTS model can help me in my projects. Can you explain how I can use it or what it’s useful for?

Reka Flash generates a solid answer this time:

“Of course! This TTS (Text-to-Speech) model can be incredibly useful for developers, especially those working on projects that involve creating more human-like interactions or providing audio feedback to users. Here are some ways you can leverage this TTS model in your projects:

1. Accessibility: TTS models can greatly enhance the accessibility of your applications for users with visual impairments or reading difficulties. By providing spoken feedback or narrating content, you can make your applications more inclusive
2. Voice Assistants: You can integrate this TTS model into voice assistants or chatbots, allowing them to generate more natural-sounding responses. This can improve user experience and make interactions with your bots more engaging.
3. Multimedia Applications: This TTS model can be used in multimedia applications, such as e-books, educational tools, or games, to provide spoken narration or instructions. This can make the content more engaging and easier to understand.
4. Audio Notifications: You can use the TTS model to generate audio notifications for your applications, providing users with spoken alerts or reminders. This can be particularly useful for users who may not always have their screens visible.
5. Language Learning: The TTS model can be used in language learning applications to provide users with correct pronunciation and intonation. It can also generate spoken feedback or narrate lessons, making the learning process more immersive.
6. Audio Books: You can use the TTS model to generate audio books, allowing users to listen to written content instead of reading it. This can be especially helpful for users who prefer auditory learning or have difficulty reading.
7. Explainer Videos: The TTS model can be used to generate voiceovers for explainer videos, providing users with spoken narration that explains the content on the screen. This can make the content more engaging and easier to understand.
8. Audio Feedback: You can use the TTS model to generate audio feedback for users in your applications, such as confirming actions, providing instructions, or giving feedback on their performance. This can make the interactions more natural and intuitive.

In summary, the TTS model can be a valuable tool for developers looking to create more human-like interactions, improve accessibility, and enhance the user experience in various applications.”

It’s a good answer that’s informative and quite practical for developers. Let’s compare what happens when we try the Reka Edge model with a PDF input titled “Meta AI — Responsible Use Guide” (PDF).

As an AI developer, how can I ensure that I am following the responsible AI guidelines outlined in this document?

“To ensure that your use of AI aligns with the principles outlined in this guide, you can follow these steps and best practices:

1. Familiarize yourself with the principles of responsible AI, such as transparency, accountability, and user empowerment, as outlined in the guide.
2. Understand the potential impacts of AI on users and society, and be aware of the risks and challenges associated with the development and deployment of AI systems.
3. Embrace an iterative model-development mindset, continuously striving for improvement and learning from feedback and errors.
4. Build a responsible AI ecosystem by working with partners, experts, and communities to develop and share best practices, tools, and benchmarking resources.
5. Follow the guidelines and best practices outlined in the guide for each stage of model development, from data collection and preparation to fine-tuning, evaluation, and deployment.
6. Consider the specific use case and requirements for your AI system, and tailor your approach accordingly.
7. Regularly monitor and evaluate the performance and safety of your AI system and make adjustments as needed to ensure it aligns with the principles outlined in the guide.
8. Be transparent and accountable in your interactions with users and stakeholders, and be open to feedback and suggestions for improvement.
9. Stay informed about the latest developments and research in the field of AI, and be prepared to adapt your approach as needed to address new challenges and opportunities.
10. Follow the specific guidelines and best practices outlined in the addendum for Code Llama, such as defining content policies, evaluating and benchmarking models, and addressing input- and output-level risks.”

Reka Edge’s answer is quite thorough and detailed, too!

If you want to dive into coding, start by creating a Reka account and getting an API key. Then you can follow along with this notebook. Try out their Python SDK, and make sure to explore the different models available. It’s a great way to see how these tools work under the hood!

Gemini 1.5, developed by Google DeepMind, is designed to handle complex tasks efficiently, thanks to the new Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) system. MoE is like packing several specialized models inside one big model. Instead of using the whole network for every task, Gemini 1.5 activates only the parts (or what they call “experts”) that are most relevant. This means Gemini 1.5 can tackle complex tasks with less processing power than a typical monolithic model.

We can explore Gemini’s features in Google AI Studio since it’s already baked right in. We’ll begin by uploading the following image illustrating VLM capabilities.

We’ll ask Gemini to analyze the image and extract details or concepts:

Explain this image. What are the specific details or concepts it represents?

“The image is a flowchart illustrating different types of image understanding tasks with a Vision Language Model.

• Object Localization: This task aims to identify the precise location of objects within an image. The example question asks, “Is one cat behind another?”
• Zero-shot Segmentation: This task involves segmenting an image into different regions based on a given label, even if the model has never seen that specific label before. The example question asks to segment “striped cat.”
• Zero-shot Visual QA: This task requires answering questions about an image, even if the model has not been specifically trained to answer that type of question. The example question asks, “What is the breed of these cats?”
• One-shot Learning with Instructions: This task involves providing the model with a single example and instruction to learn a new concept and apply it to other images. The example question asks, “Striped cats are called tabby cats. What is the breed of the cats in the image?”

Well, Gemini nailed it — it clearly understood the image and recognized the tasks a VLM handles. This is exactly what you’d expect from a model designed for advanced image analysis.

Now, we’ll upload another image — this time of an Italian dish — and ask Gemini if it can recognize the dishes and list the ingredients needed for them. This type of “food recognition task” will help us test its ability to identify foods and ingredients.

List the different dishes in this image, also from which country, and give me the ingredients I need to make them.

“The image shows an Italian feast with the following dishes:

1. Seafood Stew: A rich and flavorful stew with seafood like clams, mussels, shrimp, fish, and vegetables in a tomato broth.
2. Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce: Classic spaghetti pasta tossed in a simple yet flavorful tomato sauce.
3. Meatballs in Tomato Sauce: Tender and juicy meatballs simmered in a rich tomato sauce.
4. Lasagna: Layered pasta with meat sauce, cheese, and tomato sauce.
5. Side Salad: A refreshing side salad with mixed greens, tomatoes, and other vegetables.
6. Garlic Bread: Toasted bread slices rubbed with garlic and olive oil.
7. Marinara Sauce: A simple tomato-based sauce.

This is a typical Italian meal with various dishes showcasing the flavors of Italian cuisine.

As for the ingredients, you’ll need tomatoes for many of these dishes, specifically for the sauces and the side salad.”

Well, the model did a good job recognizing the dishes, but it also didn’t give me all the necessary ingredients. Let’s see how it does with videos instead, using the same video we used earlier with the Reka models. This time, the task will focus on action recognition.

What is the purpose of this video, and what key actions or processes are being demonstrated?

“The video is a tutorial about the importance of friendship and how it can impact our lives. It demonstrates the use of a video editing software called “Genmy” to create a video and add text subtitles. The video creator is using Genmy to:

• Record their voice: This is seen at the top of the screen with the mic icon.
• Add text to speech: You see the “Text to Speech” option, which is likely being used to generate subtitles or captions for the video.
• Edit the timeline: They’re working with a video timeline, adding and arranging different elements.
• Add voice-over: The speaker is adding commentary to the video.
• Create a visually appealing presentation: They’re using a combination of video footage, text, and voice-over to create an engaging tutorial.”

Well, Gemini gave a clear breakdown of the video, identifying it as a tutorial demonstrating the Genmy video editing software to highlight how it’s used for recording voice, adding text-to-speech, editing video timelines, and allowing voice-over. Impressive!

Let’s upload one more video, the same one we used for Reka about the Parler TTS model, and ask Gemini to analyze and summarize the contents.

Summarize this video and explain how the contents might be relevant or helpful for software engineers.

“This video showcases different voice samples generated by a text-to-speech (TTS) system called “Parler-TTS.” The video highlights various voice characteristics like gender, pace, pitch, and even the simulated environment. For software engineers, this video demonstrates the progress made in TTS technology. These are some insights:

• Voice Variety: The video shows that Parler-TTS can create diverse voices, potentially useful for applications needing different personas or tones.
• Fine-grained Control: The video emphasizes the ability to control voice parameters like pace and pitch, showcasing the potential for customizability.
• Quality and Naturalness: The video focuses on the quality of the generated speech, demonstrating the advancements made in speech synthesis, which is crucial for user experience.”

Nicely done! I can go with that answer. Gemini explains adjusting voice settings, like pitch and speed, and how having different voices can be useful. Gemini also emphasizes the importance of natural, high-quality speech, which is handy for developers working with TTS systems!

Alright, for coding, you can grab the code from Google AI Studio by clicking the Get Code button. You can choose between formatting the code in Python, Swift, and Java, among other languages.

Both Reka and Gemini are strong multimodal models for AI applications, but there are key differences between them to consider. Here’s a table that breaks those down:

Reka stands out for on-device deployment, which is super useful for apps requiring offline capabilities or low-latency processing.

On the other hand, Gemini 1.5 Pro shines with its long context windows, making it a great option for handling large documents or complex queries in the cloud.

We’ll obviously work with RSS technology in the process, but we’re also going to combine it with some things that maybe you haven’t tried before, including Astro (the static site framework), TypeScript (for JavaScript goodies), a package called rss-parser (for connecting things together), as well as scheduled functions and build hooks provided by Netlify (although there are other services that do this).

I chose these technologies purely because I really, really enjoy them! There may be other solutions out there that are more performant, come with more features, or are simply more comfortable to you — and in those cases, I encourage you to swap in whatever you’d like. The most important thing is getting the end result!

Here’s how this will go. Astro generates the website. I made the intentional decision to use a static site because I want the different RSS feeds to be fetched only once during build time, and that’s something we can control each time the site is “rebuilt” and redeployed with updates. That’s where Netlify’s scheduled functions come into play, as they let us trigger rebuilds automatically at specific times. There is no need to manually check for updates and deploy them! Cron jobs can just as readily do this if you prefer a server-side solution.

During the triggered rebuild, we’ll let the rss-parser package do exactly what it says it does: parse a list of RSS feeds that are contained in an array. The package also allows us to set a filter for the fetched results so that we only get ones from the past day, week, and so on. Personally, I only render the news from the last seven days to prevent content overload. We’ll get there!

But first...

RSS is a web feed technology that you can feed into a reader or news aggregator. Because RSS is standardized, you know what to expect when it comes to the feed’s format. That means we have a ton of fun possibilities when it comes to handling the data that the feed provides. Most news websites have their own RSS feed that you can subscribe to (this is Smashing Magazine’s RSS feed: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/feed/). An RSS feed is capable of updating every time a site publishes new content, which means it can be a quick source of the latest news, but we can tailor that frequency as well.

RSS feeds are written in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) format and have specific elements that can be used within it. Instead of focusing too much on the technicalities here, I’ll give you a link to the RSS specification. Don’t worry; that page should be scannable enough for you to find the most pertinent information you need, like the kinds of elements that are supported and what they represent. For this tutorial, we’re only using the following elements: <title>, <link>, <description>, <item>, and <pubDate>. We’ll also let our RSS parser package do some of the work for us.

We’ll start by creating our Astro site! In your terminal run pnpm create astro@latest. You can use any package manager you want — I’m simply trying out pnpm for myself.

After running the command, Astro’s chat-based helper, Houston, walks through some setup questions to get things started.

 astro   Launch sequence initiated.

   dir   Where should we create your new project?
         ./rss-buddy

  tmpl   How would you like to start your new project?
         Include sample files

    ts   Do you plan to write TypeScript?
         Yes

   use   How strict should TypeScript be?
         Strict

  deps   Install dependencies?
         Yes

   git   Initialize a new git repository?
         Yes

I like to use Astro’s sample files so I can get started quickly, but we’re going to clean them up a bit in the process. Let’s clean up the src/pages/index.astro file by removing everything inside of the <main></main> tags. Then we’re good to go!

From there, we can spin things by running pnpm start. Your terminal will tell you which localhost address you can find your site at.

The src/pages/index.astro file is where we will make an array of RSS feeds we want to follow. We will be using Astro’s template syntax, so between the two code fences (---), create an array of feedSources and add some feeds. If you need inspiration, you can copy this:

const feedSources = [
  'https://www.smashingmagazine.com/feed/',
  'https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/blog/rss.xml',
  // etc.
]

Now we’ll install the rss-parser package in our project by running pnpm install rss-parser. This package is a small library that turns the XML that we get from fetching an RSS feed into JavaScript objects. This makes it easy for us to read our RSS feeds and manipulate the data any way we want.

Once the package is installed, open the src/pages/index.astro file, and at the top, we’ll import the rss-parser and instantiate the Partner class.

import Parser from 'rss-parser';
const parser = new Parser();

We use this parser to read our RSS feeds and (surprise!) parse them to JavaScript. We’re going to be dealing with a list of promises here. Normally, I would probably use Promise.all(), but the thing is, this is supposed to be a complicated experience. If one of the feeds doesn’t work for some reason, I’d prefer to simply ignore it.

Why? Well, because Promise.all() rejects everything even if only one of its promises is rejected. That might mean that if one feed doesn’t behave the way I’d expect it to, my entire page would be blank when I grab my hot beverage to read the news in the morning. I do not want to start my day confronted by an error.

Instead, I’ll opt to use Promise.allSettled(). This method will actually let all promises complete even if one of them fails. In our case, this means any feed that errors will just be ignored, which is perfect.

Let’s add this to the src/pages/index.astro file:

interface FeedItem {
  feed?: string;
  title?: string;
  link?: string;
  date?: Date;
}

const feedItems: FeedItem[] = [];

await Promise.allSettled(
  feedSources.map(async (source) => {
    try {
      const feed = await parser.parseURL(source);
      feed.items.forEach((item) => {
        const date = item.pubDate ? new Date(item.pubDate) : undefined;

          feedItems.push({
            feed: feed.title,
            title: item.title,
            link: item.link,
            date,
          });
      });
    } catch (error) {
      console.error(Error fetching feed from ${source}:, error);
    }
  })
);

This creates an array (or more) named feedItems. For each URL in the feedSources array we created earlier, the rss-parser retrieves the items and, yes, parses them into JavaScript. Then, we return whatever data we want! We’ll keep it simple for now and only return the following:

• The feed title,
• The title of the feed item,
• The link to the item,
• And the item’s published date.

The next step is to ensure that all items are sorted by date so we’ll truly get the “latest” news. Add this small piece of code to our work:

const sortedFeedItems = feedItems.sort((a, b) => (b.date ?? new Date()).getTime() - (a.date ?? new Date()).getTime());

Oh, and... remember when I said I didn’t want this RSS reader to render anything older than seven days? Let’s tackle that right now since we’re already in this code.

We’ll make a new variable called sevenDaysAgo and assign it a date. We’ll then set that date to seven days ago and use that logic before we add a new item to our feedItems array.

This is what the src/pages/index.astro file should now look like at this point:

---
import Layout from '../layouts/Layout.astro';
import Parser from 'rss-parser';
const parser = new Parser();

const sevenDaysAgo = new Date();
sevenDaysAgo.setDate(sevenDaysAgo.getDate() - 7);

const feedSources = [
  'https://www.smashingmagazine.com/feed/',
  'https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/blog/rss.xml',
]

interface FeedItem {
  feed?: string;
  title?: string;
  link?: string;
  date?: Date;
}

const feedItems: FeedItem[] = [];

await Promise.allSettled(
  feedSources.map(async (source) => {
    try {
      const feed = await parser.parseURL(source);
      feed.items.forEach((item) => {
        const date = item.pubDate ? new Date(item.pubDate) : undefined;
        if (date && date >= sevenDaysAgo) {
          feedItems.push({
            feed: feed.title,
            title: item.title,
            link: item.link,
            date,
          });
        }
      });
    } catch (error) {
      console.error(Error fetching feed from ${source}:, error);
    }
  })
);

const sortedFeedItems = feedItems.sort((a, b) => (b.date ?? new Date()).getTime() - (a.date ?? new Date()).getTime());

---

<Layout title="Welcome to Astro.">
  <main>
  </main>
</Layout>

It’s time to show our news articles on the Astro site! To keep this simple, we’ll format the items in an unordered list rather than some other fancy layout.

All we need to do is update the <Layout> element in the file with the XML objects sprinkled in for a feed item’s title, URL, and publish date.

<Layout title="Welcome to Astro.">
  <main>
  {sortedFeedItems.map(item => (
    <ul>
      <li>
        <a href={item.link}>{item.title}</a>
        <p>{item.feed}</p>
        <p>{item.date}</p>
      </li>
    </ul>
  ))}
  </main>
</Layout>

Go ahead and run pnpm start from the terminal. The page should display an unordered list of feed items. Of course, everything is styled at the moment, but luckily for you, you can make it look exactly like you want with CSS!

And remember that there are even more fields available in the XML for each item if you want to display more information. If you run the following snippet in your DevTools console, you’ll see all of the fields you have at your disposal:

feed.items.forEach(item => {}

We’re nearly done! The feeds are being fetched, and they are returning data back to us in JavaScript for use in our Astro page template. Since feeds are updated whenever new content is published, we need a way to fetch the latest items from it.

We want to avoid doing any of this manually. So, let’s set this site on Netlify to gain access to their scheduled functions that trigger a rebuild and their build hooks that do the building. Again, other services do this, and you’re welcome to roll this work with another provider — I’m just partial to Netlify since I work there. In any case, you can follow Netlify’s documentation for setting up a new site.

Once your site is hosted and live, you are ready to schedule your rebuilds. A build hook gives you a URL to use to trigger the new build, looking something like this:

https://api.netlify.com/build_hooks/your-build-hook-id

Let’s trigger builds every day at midnight. We’ll use Netlify’s scheduled functions. That’s really why I’m using Netlify to host this in the first place. Having them at the ready via the host greatly simplifies things since there’s no server work or complicated configurations to get this going. Set it and forget it!

We’ll install @netlify/functions (instructions) to the project and then create the following file in the project’s root directory: netlify/functions/deploy.ts.

This is what we want to add to that file:

// netlify/functions/deploy.ts

import type { Config } from '@netlify/functions';

const BUILD_HOOK =
  'https://api.netlify.com/build_hooks/your-build-hook-id'; // replace me!

export default async (req: Request) => {
  await fetch(BUILD_HOOK, {
    method: 'POST',
  })
};

export const config: Config = {
  schedule: '0 0 * * *',
};

If you commit your code and push it, your site should re-deploy automatically. From that point on, it follows a schedule that rebuilds the site every day at midnight, ready for you to take your morning brew and catch up on everything that you think is important.

Conventional, top-down design approaches start with the big picture before breaking these goals and concepts into smaller details. Bottom-up philosophies, by contrast, consider the minute details first, eventually achieving the broader goal piece by piece.

This alternative way of thinking is important for accessibility in general because it reflects how neurodivergent people commonly think. While non-autistic people tend to think from a top-down perspective, those with autism often employ a bottom-up way of thinking.

Of course, there is considerable variation, and researchers have identified at least three specialist thinking types within the autism spectrum:

• Visual thinkers who think in images;
• Pattern thinkers who think of concepts in terms of patterns and relationships;
• Verbal thinkers who think only in word detail.

Still, research shows that people with autism and ADHD show a bias toward bottom-up thinking rather than the top-down approach you often see in neurotypical users. Consequently, a top-down strategy means you may miss details your audience may notice, and your site may not feel easily usable for all users.

As a real-world example, consider the task of writing an essay. Many students are instructed to start an essay assignment by thinking about the main point they want to convey and then create an outline with points that support the main argument. This is top-down thinking — starting with the big picture of the topic and then gradually breaking down the topic into points and then later into words that articulate these points.

In contrast, someone who uses a bottom-up thinking approach might start an essay with no outline but rather just by freely jotting down every idea that comes to mind as it comes to mind — perhaps starting with one particular idea or example that the writer finds interesting and wants to explore further and branching off from there. Then, once all the ideas have been written out, the writer goes back to group related ideas together and arrange them into a logical outline. This writer starts with the small details of the essay and then works these details into the big picture of the final form.

In web design, in particular, a bottom-up approach means starting with the specifics of the user experience instead of the desired effect. You may determine a readable layout for a single blog post, then ask how that page relates to others and slowly build on these decisions until you have several well-organized website categories.

You may even get more granular. Say you start your site design by placing a menu at the bottom of a mobile site to make it easier to tap with one hand, improving ease of use. Then, you build a drop-down menu around that choice — placing the most popular or needed options at the bottom instead of the top for easy tapping. From there, you may have to rethink larger-scale layouts to work around those interactive elements being lower on the screen, slowly addressing larger categories until you have a finished site design.

In either case, the idea of bottom-up design is to begin with the most specific problems someone might have. You then address them in sequence instead of determining the big picture first.

While neither bottom-up nor top-down approaches dominate the industry, some web engineers prefer the bottom-up approach due to the various accessibility benefits this process provides. This strategy has several accessibility benefits.

Putting User Needs First

The biggest benefit of bottom-up methods is that they prioritize the user’s needs.

Top-down approaches seem organized, but they often result in a site that reflects the designer’s choices and beliefs more than it serves your audience.

Consider some of the complaints that social media users have made over the years related to usability and accessibility for the everyday user. For example, many users complain that their Facebook feed will randomly refresh as they scroll for the sake of providing users with the most up-to-date content. However, the feature makes it virtually impossible to get back to a post a user viewed that they didn’t think to save. Likewise, TikTok’s watch history feature has come and gone over the years and still today is difficult for many users to find without viewing an outside tutorial on the subject.

This is a common problem: 95.9% of the largest one million homepages have Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) errors. While a bottom-up alternative doesn’t mean you won’t make any mistakes, it may make them less likely, as bottom-up thinking often improves your awareness of new stimuli so you can catch things you’d otherwise overlook. It’s easier to meet user’s needs when you build your entire site around their experience instead of looking at UX as an afterthought.

Consider this example from Berkshire Hathaway, a multi-billion-dollar holding company. The overall design philosophy is understandable: It’s simple and direct, choosing to focus on information instead of fancy aesthetics that may not suit the company image. However, you could argue it loses itself in this big picture.

While it is simple, the lack of menus or color contrast and the small font make it harder to read and a little overwhelming. This confusion can counteract any accessibility benefits of its simplicity.

Alternatively, even a simple website redesign could include intuitive menus, additional contrast, and accessible font for easy navigation across the site.

The homepage for U.K. charity Scope offers a better example of web design centered around users’ needs. Concise, clear menus line the top of the page to aid quicker, easier navigation. The color scheme is simple enough to avoid confusion but provides enough contrast to make everything easy to read — something the sans-serif font further helps.

Ensuring Accessibility From The Start

A top-down method also makes catering to a diverse audience difficult because you may need to shoehorn features into an existing design.

For example, say, a local government agency creates a website focused on providing information and services to a general audience of residents. The site originally featured high-resolution images, bright colors, and interactive charts.

However, they realize the images are not accessible to people navigating the site with screen readers, while multiple layers of submenus are difficult for keyboard-only users. Further, the bright colors make it hard for visually impaired users to read the site’s information.

The agency, realizing these accessibility concerns, adds captions to each image. However, the captions disrupt the originally intended visual aesthetics and user flow. Further, adjusting the bright colors would involve completely rethinking the site’s entire color palette. If these considerations had been made before the site was built, the site build could have specifically accommodated these elements while still creating an aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly result.

Alternatively, a site initially built with high contrast, a calm color scheme, clear typography, simple menus, and reduced imagery would make this site much more accessible to a wide user base from the get-go.

As a real-world example, consider the Awwwards website. There are plenty of menus to condense information and ease navigation without overloading the screen — a solid accessibility choice. However, there does not seem to be consistent thought in these menus’ placement or organization.

There are far too many menus; some are at the top while others are at the bottom, and a scrolling top bar adds further distractions. It seems like Awwwards may have added additional menus as an afterthought to improve navigation. This leads to inconsistencies and crowding because they did not begin with this thought.

In contrast,

Bottom-up alternatives address usability issues from the beginning, which results in a more functional, accessible website.

Redesigning a system to address a usability issue it didn’t originally make room for is challenging. It can lead to errors like broken links and other unintended consequences that may hinder access for other visitors. Some sites have even claimed to lose 90% of their traffic after a redesign. While bottom-up approaches won’t eliminate those possibilities, they make them less likely by centering everything around usage from the start.

The website for the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden, showcases a more cohesive approach to ensuring accessibility. Like Awwwards, it uses menus to aid navigation and organization, but there seems to be more forethought into these features. All menus are at the top, and there are fewer of them, resulting in less clutter and a faster way to find what you’re looking for. The overall design complements this by keeping things simple and neat so that the menus stand out.

Increasing Awareness

Similarly, bottom-up design ensures you don’t miss as many accessibility concerns. When you start at the top, before determining what details fit within it, you may not consider all the factors that influence it. Beginning with the specifics instead makes it easier to spot and address problems you would’ve missed otherwise.

This awareness is particularly important for serving a diverse population. An estimated 16% of the global population — 1.6 billion people — have a significant disability. That means there’s a huge range of varying needs to account for, but most people lack firsthand experience living with these conditions. Consequently, it’s easy to miss things impacting others’ UX. You can overcome that knowledge gap by asking how everyone can use your site first.

As these benefits show, a bottom-up design philosophy can be helpful when building an accessible site. Still, top-down methods can be advantageous at times, too. Which is best depends on your situation.

Top-down approaches are a good way to ensure a consistent brand image, as you start with the overall idea and base future decisions on this concept. It also makes it easier to create a design hierarchy to facilitate decision-making within your team. When anyone has a question, they can turn to whoever is above them or refer to the broader goals. Such organization can also mean faster design processes.

Bottom-up methods, by contrast, are better when accessibility for a diverse audience is your main concern. It may be harder to keep everyone on the same overall design philosophy page, but it usually produces a more functional website. You can catch and solve problems early and pay great attention to detail. However, this can mean longer design cycles, which can incur extra costs.

It may come down to what your team is most comfortable with. People think and work differently, with some preferring a top-down approach while others find bottom-up more natural. Combining the two — starting with a top-down model before tackling updates from a bottom-up perspective — can be beneficial, too.

Should you decide a bottom-up design method is best for your goals, here are some ways you can embrace this philosophy.

Talk To Your Existing User Base

One of the most important factors in bottom-up web design is to center everything around your users. As a result, your existing user base — whether from a separate part of your business or another site you run — is the perfect place to start.

Survey customers and web visitors about their experience on your sites and others. Ask what pain points they have and what features they’d appreciate. Any commonalities between responses deserve attention. You can also turn to WCAG standards for inspiration on accessible functionality, but first-hand user feedback should form the core of your mission.

Look To Past Projects For Accessibility Gaps

Past sites and business projects can also reveal what specifics you should start with. Look for any accessibility gaps by combing through old customer feedback and update histories and using these sites yourself to find issues. Take note of any barriers or usability concerns to address in your next website.

Remember to document everything you find as you go. Up to 90% of organizations’ data is unstructured, making it difficult to analyze later. Reversing that trend by organizing your findings and recording your accessible design process will streamline future accessibility optimization efforts.

Divide Tasks But Communicate Often

Keep in mind that a bottom-up strategy can be time-consuming. One of the reasons why top-down alternatives are popular is because they’re efficient. You can overcome this gap by splitting tasks between smaller teams. However, these groups must communicate frequently to ensure separate design considerations work as a cohesive whole.

A DevOps approach is helpful here. DevOps has helped 49% of its adopters achieve a faster time to market, and 61% report higher-quality deliverables. It also includes space for both detailed work and team-wide meetings to keep everyone on track. Such benefits ensure you can remain productive in a bottom-up strategy.

You can’t overstate the importance of accessible website design. By the same token, bottom-up philosophies are crucial in modern site-building. A detail-oriented approach makes it easier to serve a more diverse audience along several fronts. Making the most of this opportunity will both extend your reach to new niches and make the web a more equitable place.

The Web Accessibility Initiative’s WCAG standards are a good place to start. While these guidelines don’t necessarily describe how to apply a bottom-up approach, they do outline critical user needs and accessibility concerns your design should consider. The site also offers a free and comprehensive Digital Accessibility Foundations course for designers and developers.

Familiarizing yourself with these standards and best practices will make it easier to understand your audience before you begin designing your site. You can then build a more accessible platform from the ground up.

Additionally, the following are some valuable related reads that can act as inspiration in accessibility-centered and user-centric design.

• Inclusive Design for a Digital World: Designing with Accessibility in Mind by Regine M. Gilbert
• Practical Web Inclusion and Accessibility: A Comprehensive Guide to Access Needs by Ashley Firth
• Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug

By employing bottom-up thinking as well as resources like these in your design approach, you can create websites that not only meet current accessibility standards but actively encourage site use among users of all backgrounds and abilities.

Further Reading On SmashingMag

• “Getting To The Bottom Of Minimum WCAG-Conformant Interactive Element Size,” Eric Bailey
• “How To Make A Strong Case For Accessibility,” Vitaly Friedman
• “A Guide To Accessible Form Validation,” Sandrina Pereira
• “Creating A High-Contrast Design System With CSS Custom Properties,” Brecht De Ruyte

Note: The original interview was conducted in Swedish and is available to watch.

Philip Jägenstedt: Tell me a little about yourself, Björn.

Björn Ottosson: I worked for many years in the game industry on game engines and games like FIFA, Battlefield, and Need for Speed. I've always been interested in technology and its interaction with the arts. I’m an engineer, but I’ve always held both of these interests.

Philip: For someone who hasn’t dug into colors much, what’s so hard about working with them?

Björn: Intuitively, colors can seem quite simple. A color can be lighter or darker, it can be more blue or more green, and so on. Everyone with typical color vision has a fairly similar experience of color, and this can be modeled.

However, the way we manipulate colors in software usually doesn’t align with human perception of colors. The most common color space is sRGB. There’s also HSL, which is common for choosing colors, but it’s also based on sRGB.

One problem with sRGB is that in a gradient between blue and white, it becomes a bit purple in the middle of the transition. That’s because sRGB really isn’t created to mimic how the eye sees colors; rather, it is based on how CRT monitors work. That means it works with certain frequencies of red, green, and blue, and also the non-linear coding called gamma. It’s a miracle it works as well as it does, but it’s not connected to color perception. When using those tools, you sometimes get surprising results, like purple in the gradient.

Philip: How do humans perceive color?

Björn: When light enters the eye and hits the retina, it’s processed in many layers of neurons and creates a mental impression. It’s unlikely that the process would be simple and linear, and it’s not. But incredibly enough, most people still perceive colors similarly.

People have been trying to understand colors and have created color wheels and similar visualizations for hundreds of years. During the 20th century, a lot of research and modeling went into color vision. For example, the CIE XYZ model is based on how sensitive our photoreceptor cells are to different frequencies of light. CIE XYZ is still a foundational color space on which all other color spaces are based.

There were also attempts to create simple models matching human perception based on XYZ, but as it turned out, it’s not possible to model all color vision that way. Perception of color is incredibly complex and depends, among other things, on whether it is dark or light in the room and the background color it is against. When you look at a photograph, it also depends on what you think the color of the light source is. The dress is a typical example of color vision being very context-dependent. It is almost impossible to model this perfectly.

Models that try to take all of this complexity into account are called color appearance models. Although they have many applications, they’re not that useful if you don’t know if the viewer is in a light or bright room or other viewing conditions.

The odd thing is that there’s a gap between the tools we typically use — such as sRGB and HSL — and the findings of this much older research. To an extent, this makes sense because when HSL was developed in the 1970s, we didn’t have much computing power, so it’s a fairly simple translation of RGB. However, not much has changed since then.

We have a lot more processing power now, but we’ve settled for fairly simple tools for handling colors in software.

Display technology has also improved. Many displays now have different RGB primaries, i.e., a redder red, greener green, or bluer blue. sRGB cannot reach all colors available on these displays. The new P3 color space can, but it's very similar to sRGB, just a little wider.

Philip: What, then, is Oklab, and how did you create it?

Björn: When working in the game industry, sometimes I wanted to do simple color manipulations like making a color darker or changing the hue. I researched existing color spaces and how good they are at these simple tasks and concluded that all of them are problematic in some way.

Many people know about CIE Lab. It’s quite close to human perception of color, but the handling of hue is not great. For example, a gradient between blue and white turns out purple in CIE Lab, similar to in sRGB. Some color spaces handle hue well but have other issues to consider.

When I left my job in gaming to pursue education and consulting, I had a bit of time to tackle this problem. Oklab is my attempt to find a better balance, something Lab-like but “okay”.

I based Oklab on two other color spaces, CIECAM16 and IPT. I used the lightness and saturation prediction from CIECAM16, which is a color appearance model, as a target. I actually wanted to use the datasets used to create CIECAM16, but I couldn’t find them.

IPT was designed to have better hue uniformity. In experiments, they asked people to match light and dark colors, saturated and unsaturated colors, which resulted in a dataset for which colors, subjectively, have the same hue. IPT has a few other issues but is the basis for hue in Oklab.

Using these three datasets, I set out to create a simple color space that would be “okay”. I used an approach quite similar to IPT but combined it with the lightness and saturation estimates from CIECAM16. The resulting Oklab still has good hue uniformity but also handles lightness and saturation well.

Philip: How about the name Oklab? Why is it just okay?

Björn: This is a bit tongue-in-cheek and some amount of humility.

For the tasks I had in mind, existing color spaces weren’t okay, and my goal was to make one that is. At the same time, it is possible to delve deeper. If a university had worked on this, they could have run studies with many participants. For a color space intended mainly for use on computer and phone screens, you could run studies in typical environments where they are used. It’s possible to go deeper.

Nevertheless, I took the datasets I could find and made the best of what I had. The objective was to make a very simple model that’s okay to use. And I think it is okay, and I couldn’t come up with anything better. I didn’t want to call it Björn Ottosson Lab or something like that, so I went with Oklab.

Philip: Does the name follow a tradition of calling things okay? I know there’s also a Quite OK Image format.

Björn: No, I didn’t follow any tradition here. Oklab was just the name I came up with.

Philip: I discovered Oklab when it suddenly appeared in all browsers. Things often move slowly on the web, but in this case, things moved very quickly. How did it happen?

Björn: I was surprised, too! I wrote a blog post and shared it on Twitter.

I have a lot of contacts in the gaming industry and some contacts in the Visual Effects (VFX) industry. I expected that people working with shaders or visual effects might try this out, and maybe it would be used in some games, perhaps as an effect for a smooth color transition.

But the blog post was spread much more widely than I thought. It was on Hacker News, and many people read it.

The code for Oklab is only 10 lines long, so many open-source libraries have adopted it. This all happened very quickly.

Chris Lilley from the W3C got in touch and asked me some questions about Oklab. We discussed it a bit, and I explained how it works and why I created it. He gave a presentation at a conference about it, and then he pushed for it to be added to CSS.

Photoshop also changed its gradients to use Oklab. All of this happened organically without me having to cheer it on.

Philip: In another blog post, you introduced two other color spaces, Okhsv and Okhsl. You’ve already talked about HSL, so what is Okhsl?

Björn: When picking colors, HSL has a big advantage, which is that the parameter space is simple. Any value 0-360 for hue (H) together with any values 0-1 for saturation (S) and lightness (L) are valid combinations and result in different colors on screen. The geometry of HSL is a cylinder, and there’s no way to end up outside that cylinder accidentally.

By contrast, Oklab contains all physically possible colors, but there are combinations of values that don’t work where you reach colors that don’t exist. For example, starting from light and saturated yellow in Oklab and rotating the hue to blue, that blue color does not exist in sRGB; there are only darker and less saturated blues. That’s because sRGB in Oklab has a strange shape, so it’s easy to end up going outside it. This makes it difficult to select and manipulate colors with Oklab or Oklch.

Okhsl was an attempt at compromise. It maintains Oklab’s behavior for colors that are not very saturated, close to gray, and beyond that, stretches out to a cylinder that contains all of sRGB. Another way to put it is that the strange shape of sRGB in Oklab has been stretched into a cylinder with reasonably smooth transitions.

The result is similar to HSL, where all parameters can be changed independently without ending up outside sRGB. It also makes Okhsl more complicated than Oklab. There are unavoidable compromises to get something with the characteristics that HSL has.

Everything with color is about compromises. Color vision is so complex that it's about making practical compromises.

This is an area where I wish there were more research. If I have a white background and want to pick some nice colors to put on it, then you can make a lot of assumptions. Okhsl solves many things, but is it possible to do even better?

Philip: Some people who have tried Oklab say there are too many dark shades. You changed that in Okhsl with a new lightness estimate.

Björn: This is because Oklab is exposure invariant and doesn’t account for viewing conditions, such as the background color. On the web, there’s usually a white background, which makes it harder to see the difference between black and other dark colors. But if you look at the same gradient on a black background, the difference is more apparent.

CIE Lab handles this, and I tried to handle it in Okhsl, too. So, gradients in Okhsl look better on a white background, but there will be other issues on a black background. It’s always a compromise.

Philip: Final question: What’s your favorite color?

Björn: I would have to say Burgundy. Burgundy, dark greens, and navy blues are favorites.

Philip: Thank you for your time, Björn. I hope our readers have learned something, and I’ll remind them of your excellent blog, where you go into more depth about Oklab and Okhsl.

Björn: Thank you!

The wallpapers in this post come in versions with and without a calendar for October 2024 and can be downloaded for free. And since so many beautiful and unique designs evolve around our little wallpapers challenge every month (we’ve been running it for more than 13 years already, can you believe it?!), we also added some timeless October treasures from our wallpapers archives to the collection. Maybe you’ll spot one of your almost-forgotten favorites in here, too?

A huge thank you to everyone who shared their wallpapers with us this month — this post wouldn’t exist without you. Happy October!

• You can click on every image to see a larger preview,
• We respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.
• Submit a wallpaper!
  Did you know that you could get featured in our next wallpapers post, too? We are always looking for creative talent.

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Spain.

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“Let’s celebrate reptiles and raise awareness of their vital role in ecosystems. Many species face threats, so let’s learn, appreciate, and protect these incredible creatures and their habitats!” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

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“‘Make today a good day’ is a simple yet powerful reminder to take control of the present moment. It emphasizes that our attitude and actions shape our experience, encouraging positivity and purpose. Each day brings new opportunities, and by choosing to make it good, we invite growth, joy, and fulfilment into our lives.” — Designed by Hitesh Puri from Delhi, India.

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Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Spain.

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“I was inspired by Dussehra’s rich symbolism and cultural significance while creating this design. The festival celebrates the triumph of good over evil. The bow and arrow become the central focus, while the bold red background, golden accents, and the temple’s silhouette add a sense of grandeur and spirituality.” — Designed by Cronix from the United States.

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“If my heart were a season, it would be autumn.” — Designed by Lívia Lénárt from Hungary.

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Designed by Vlad Gerasimov from Georgia.

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“The transition to autumn brings forth a rich visual tapestry of warm colors and falling leaves, making it a natural choice for a wallpaper theme.” — Designed by Farhan Srambiyan from India.

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“Join us in commemorating National Fossil Day, a day dedicated to honoring the wonders of Earth’s prehistoric past. On this special day, we invite you to step back in time and explore the remarkable world of fossils. These ancient remnants of life on our planet offer a glimpse into the evolution of life, from the tiniest microorganisms to the towering giants that once roamed the Earth.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

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“‘I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.’ (L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables)” — Designed by Lívi Lénárt from Hungary.

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“October is a significant month for me because it is when my favorite type of bird travels south. For that reason I have chosen to write about the swallow. When I was young, I had a bird’s nest not so far from my room window. I watched the birds almost every day; because those swallows always left their nests in October. As a child, I dreamt that they all flew together to a nicer place, where they were not so cold.” — Designed by Eline Claeys from Belgium.

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Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Spain.

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Designed by Xenia Latii from Germany.

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“Did you know that squirrels don’t just eat nuts? They really like to eat fruit, too. Since apples are the seasonal fruit of October, I decided to combine both things into a beautiful image.” — Designed by Erin Troch from Belgium.

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“The term ‘Hanlu’ literally translates as ‘Cold Dew.’ The cold dew brings brisk mornings and evenings. Eventually the briskness will turn cold, as winter is coming soon. And chrysanthemum is the iconic flower of Cold Dew.” — Designed by Hong, ZI-Qing from Taiwan.

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“Autumn is the best moment for discovering the universe. I am looking for a new galaxy or maybe… a UFO!” — Designed by Verónica Valenzuela from Spain.

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Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Spain.

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“At the end of the kolodar, as everything begins to ripen, the village sets out to harvesting. Together with the farmers goes Makosh, the Goddess of fields and crops, ensuring a prosperous harvest. What she gave her life and health all year round is now mature and rich, thus, as a sign of gratitude, the girls bring her bread and wine. The beautiful game of the goddess makes the hard harvest easier, while the song of the farmer permeates the field.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

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“To me, October is all about cozy evenings with hot chocolate, freshly baked cookies, and a game night with friends or family.” — Designed by Lieselot Geirnaert from Belgium.

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“October makes the leaves fall to cover the land with lovely auburn colors and brings out all types of weird with them.” — Designed by Mi Ni Studio from Serbia.

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Designed by Amy Hamilton from Canada.

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“October is the month when the weather in Poland starts to get colder, and it gets very rainy, too. You can’t always spend your free time outside, so it’s the perfect opportunity to get some hot coffee and work on your next cool web project!” — Designed by Robert Brodziak from Poland.

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“To me, October is a transitional month. We gradually slide from summer to autumn. That’s why I chose to use a lot of gradients. I also wanted to work with simple shapes, because I think of October as the ‘back to nature/back to basics month’.” — Designed by Jelle Denturck from Belgium.

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“Autumn is a wonderful time to go for walks in the forest!” — Designed by Hilda Rytteke from Sweden.

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“We are about to experience the magical imagery of nature, with all the yellows, ochers, oranges, and reds coming our way this fall. With all the subtle sunrises and the burning sunsets before us, we feel so joyful that we are going to shout it out to the world from the top of the mountains.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

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“Fall is my favorite season!” — Designed by Thuy Truong from the United States.

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Designed by Ricardo Delgado from Mexico City.

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“When I was little, my parents always took me and my sister for a walk at the beach in Nieuwpoort. We didn't really do those beach walks in the summer but always when the sky started to turn gray and the days became colder. My sister and I always took out our warmest scarfs and played in the sand while my parents walked behind us. I really loved those Saturday or Sunday mornings where we were all together. I think October (when it’s not raining) is the perfect month to go to the beach for ‘uitwaaien’ (to blow out), to walk in the wind and take a break and clear your head, relieve the stress or forget one’s problems.” — Designed by Gwen Bogaert from Belgium.

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“Finished September, with October comes the month of routines. This year we share it with turtles that explore space.” — Designed by Veronica Valenzuela from Spain.

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“The story is a mash-up of retro science fiction and zombie infection. What would happen if a Mars rover came into contact with an unknown Martian material and got infected with a virus? What if it reversed its intended purpose of research and exploration? Instead choosing a life of chaos and evil. What if they all ran rogue on Mars? Would humans ever dare to voyage to the red planet?” Designed by Frank Candamil from the United States.

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“It would be nice if we could bring summer back, wouldn’t it?” — Designed by Terezija Katona from Serbia.

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“We were inspired by the breathtaking beauty of autumn, with its colorful foliage and the symbolic pumpkin, which epitomizes the season. Incorporating typography allows us to blend aesthetics and functionality, making the calendar not only visually appealing but also useful.” — Designed by WPclerks from India.

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“October is the month when fall truly begins, and many people feel tired and depressed in this season. The jumping fox wants you to be happy! Also, foxes always have reminded me of fall because of their beautiful fur colors.” — Designed by Elena Sanchez from Spain.

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Different actions can lead to various outcomes, some of which might be critical.

While we often need to provide additional protection in case users attempt to perform dangerous or irreversible actions, It’s good to remember that one of the ten usability heuristics called “Error Prevention” says:

“Good error messages are important, but the best designs carefully prevent problems from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action.”

Surprisingly, when we talk about dangerous actions, it doesn’t necessarily mean that something is being deleted.

Here’s an example of a dangerous action from the banking application I use:

The bank approved a loan for me, and as soon as I clicked “Get Money,” it meant that I had signed the necessary documents and accepted the loan. All I have to do is tap the yellow button, and I’ll get the money.

As a result of an accidental tap, you might end up taking a loan when you didn’t intend to, which is why this action can be considered significant and dangerous.

Therefore, a dangerous action does not necessarily mean deleting something.

Some examples may include the following:

• Sending an email,
• Placing an order,
• Publishing a post,
• Making a bank transaction,
• Signing a legal document,
• Permanently blocking a user,
• Granting or revoking permissions.

There are many methods to prevent users from losing their data or taking irreversible actions unintentionally. One approach is to ask users to explicitly confirm their actions.

There are several ways to implement this, each with its own pros and cons.

Modal Dialogs

First of all, we should understand the difference between modal and non-modal dialogs. It’s better to think about modality state since dialogs, popups, alerts — all of these might be presented either in the modal state or not. I will use the term dialogs as a general reference, but the keyword here is modality.

“Modality is a design technique that presents content in a separate, dedicated mode that prevents interaction with the parent view and requires an explicit action to dismiss.”

— Apple design guides

Modal dialogs require immediate user action. In other words, you cannot continue working with an application until you respond in some way.

Non-modal dialogs, on the other hand, allow you to keep using the application without interruption. A common example of a non-modal element is a toast message that appears in the corner of the screen and does not require you to do anything to continue using the app.

When used properly, modal dialogs are an effective way to prevent accidental clicks on dangerous actions.

The main problem with them is that if they are used to confirm routine actions (such as marking a task as done), they can cause irritation and create a habit of mindlessly confirming them on autopilot.

However, this is one of the most popular methods. Besides, it can be combined with other methods, so let’s dive into it deeper.

When To Use Them

Use modal dialogs when a user action will have serious consequences, especially if the result of the action is irreversible. Typical cases include deleting a post or project, confirming a transaction, and so on.

It depends on what kind of action users want to take, but the main thing to keep in mind is how serious the consequences are and whether the action is reversible or not.

Things To Keep In Mind

1. Avoid vague language.
   If you ask users, “Are you sure?” chances are, they will not have any doubts.
2. In the title, specify what exactly will happen or which entity will be affected (e.g., project name, user name, amount of money).
3. Provide an icon that indicates that the action is dangerous.
   It both increases the chances that users will not automatically confirm it and is good for accessibility reasons (people with color blindness will notice the icon even if it appears grey to them, signaling its importance).
4. In the description, be specific and highlight the necessary information.
5. The CTA button should also contain a word that reflects the action.
   Instead of “Yes” or “Confirm,” use more descriptive options like “Delete,” “Pay $97,” “Make Transaction,” “Send Message,” and so on — including the entity name or amount of money in the button is also helpful. Compare: “Confirm” versus “Pay $97.” The latter is much more specific.

However, this might not be enough.

In some cases, you may require an extra action. A typical solution is to ask users to type something (e.g., a project name) to unblock the CTA button.

Here are a few examples:

ConvertKit asks users to type “DO IT” when removing subscribers.

Pro tip: Note that they placed the buttons on the left side! This is a nice example of applying proximity law. It seems reasonable since the submit button is closer to the form (even if it consists of only one input).

Resend asks users to type “DELETE” if they want to delete an API key, which could have very serious consequences. The API key might be used in many of your apps, and you don’t want to break anything.

This modal is one of the best examples of following the best practices:

• The title says what the action is (“Delete API Key”).
• In the text, they mentioned the name of the API Key in bold and in a different color (“Onboarding”).
• The red label that the action can not be undone makes it clearer that this is a serious action.
• Extra action is required (typing “DELETE”).
• The CTA button has both a color indicator (red usually is used for destructive actions) and a proper label — “Delete API Key”. Not a general word, e.g., “Confirm” or “Delete.”

Notice that Resend also places buttons on the left side, just as ConvertKit does.

Note: While generally disabling submit buttons is considered bad practice, this is one of the cases where it is acceptable. The dialog’s request is clear and straightforward both in ConvertKit and Resend examples.

Moreover, we can even skip the submit button altogether. This applies to cases where users are asked to input an OTP, PIN, or 2FA code. For example, the bank app I use does not even have a log in button.

On the one hand, we still ask users to perform an extra action (input the code). On the other hand, it eliminates the need for an additional click.

Accessibility Concerns

There is ongoing debate about whether or not to include a submit button when entering a simple OTP. By “simple,” I mean one that consists of 4-6 digits.

While I am not an accessibility expert, I don’t see any major downsides to omitting the submit button in straightforward cases like this.

First, the OTP step is typically an intermediate part of the user flow, meaning a form with four inputs appears during some process. The first input is automatically focused, and users can navigate through them using the Tab key.

The key point is that, due to the small amount of information required (four digits), it is generally acceptable to auto-submit the form as soon as the digits are entered, even if a mistake is made.

On the one hand, if we care about accessibility, nothing stops us from providing users control over the inputs. On the other hand, auto-submission streamlines the process in most cases, and in the rare event of an error, the user can easily re-enter the digits.

Danger Zones

For the most critical actions, you may use the so-called “Danger zone” pattern.

A common way to implement this is to either have a dedicated page or place the set of actions at the bottom of the settings/account page.

It might contain one or more actions and is usually combined with other methods, e.g., a modal dialog. The more actions you have, the more likely you’ll need a dedicated page.

When To Use Them

Use a Danger Zone to group actions that are irreversible or have a high potential for data loss or significant outcomes for users.

These actions typically include things like account deletion, data wiping, or permission changes that could affect the user’s access or data.

Things To Keep In Mind

1. Use colors like red, warning icons, or borders to visually differentiate the Danger Zone from the rest of the page.
2. Each action in the Danger Zone should have a clear description of what will happen if the user proceeds so that users understand the potential consequences.
3. Ask users for extra effort. Usually, the actions are irreversible and critical. In this case, you may ask users to repeat their password or use 2FA because if someone else gets access to the page, it will not be that easy to do the harmful action.
4. Keep only truly critical actions there. Avoid making a danger zone for the sake of having one.

Inline Guards

Recently, I discovered that some apps have started using inline confirmation. This means that when you click on a dangerous action, it changes its label and asks you to click again.

This pattern is used by apps like Zapier and Typefully. While at first it seems convenient, it has sparked a lot of discussion and questions on X and Linkedin.

I’ve seen attempts to try to fix accidental double-clicking by changing the position of the inline confirmation label that appears after the first click.

But this creates layout shifts. When users work with the app daily, it may cause more irritation than help.

As an option, we can solve this issue by adding a tiny delay, e.g., 100-200ms, to prevent double-clicking.

It also matters who your users are. Remember the good old days when we used to click a dozen times to launch Internet Explorer and ended up with dozens of open instances?

If your target audience is likely to do this, apparently, the pattern will not work.

However, for apps like Zapier or Typefully, my assumption is that the target audience might benefit from the pattern.

Two-factor Authorization Confirmation

This method involves sending a confirmation request, with or without some kind of verification code, to another place, such as:

• SMS,
• Email,
• Authenticator app on mobile,
• Push notifications (e.g., instead of sending SMS, you may choose to send push notifications),
• Messengers.

Notice: I’m not talking about authentication (namely, login process), but rather a confirmation action.

An example that I personally face a lot is an app for sending cryptocurrency. Since this is a sensitive request, apart from submitting the requisition from a website, I should also approve it via email.

When To Use It

It can be used for such operations as money transfers, ownership transfers, and account deletion (even if you have a danger zone). Most of us use this method quite often when we pay online, and our banks send us OTP (one-time password or one-time code).

It may go after the first initial protection method, e.g., a confirmation dialog.

As you can see, the methods are often combined and used together. We should not consider each of them in isolation but rather in the context of the whole business process.

Passkeys

Passkeys are a modern, password-less authentication method designed to enhance both security and user experience.

“Passkeys are a replacement for passwords. A password is something that can be remembered and typed, and a passkey is a secret stored on one’s devices, unlocked with biometrics.”

— passkeys.dev

There are a few pros of using passkeys over 2FA, both in terms of security and UX:

1. Unlike 2FA, which typically requires entering a code from another device or app (e.g., SMS or authenticator apps), passkeys streamline the confirmation process. They don’t require switching between devices or waiting for a code to arrive, providing immediate authentication.
2. While 2FA provides extra protection, it is vulnerable to phishing, SIM-swapping, or interception. Passkeys are much more resistant to such attacks because they use public-private key cryptography. This means no secret code is ever sent over the network, making it phishing-resistant and not reliant on SMS or email, which can be compromised.
3. Passkeys require less mental effort from users. There’s no need to remember a password or type a code — just authenticate with a fingerprint, facial recognition, or device-specific PIN. This way, we reduce cognitive load.
4. With passkeys, the authentication process is almost instant. Unlike 2FA, where users might have to wait for a code or switch to another device, passkeys give us the opportunity to confirm actions without switching context, e.g., opening your email inbox or copying OTP from a mobile device.

The passkeys are widely supported and more and more companies adopt it.

Second-person Confirmation

This is a mechanism when two users are involved in the process. We may call them initiator and approver.

In this case, the initiator makes a request to take some action while the approver decides whether to confirm it or not.

In both roles, a confirmation dialog or other UI patterns may be used. However, the main idea is to separate responsibilities and decrease the probability of a bad decision.

Actually, you have likely encountered this method many times before. For example, a developer submits a pull request, while a code reviewer decides whether to confirm it or decline.

When To Use It

It is best suited for situations when the seriousness of decisions requires few people involved.

There is a direct analogy from real life. Take a look at the picture below:

The Council of Physicians reminds us that in medicine, seeking a second opinion is crucial, as collaboration and diverse perspectives often result in more informed decisions and better patient care. This is a perfect example of when a second opinion or an approver is essential.

Here, you will find some apps that use this method:

• GitHub, as previously mentioned, for merging pull requests.
• Jira and other similar apps. For example, when you move issues through a certain workflow stage, it may require manager approval.
• Banking applications. When you make a high-value transaction, it could be necessary to verify it for legal issues.
• Deel, which is a global hiring and payroll. One part (e.g., employer) draws up a contract and sends it to another part (e.g., freelancer), and the freelancer accepts it.

But here is the thing: We can consider it a separate method or rather an approach for implementing business logic because even if another person confirms an action, it is still a dangerous action, with the only difference being that now it’s another person who should approve it.

So, all of the examples mentioned above are not exactly a standalone specific way to protect users from making wrong decisions from the UI point of view. It’s rather an approach that helps us to reduce the number of critical mistakes.

When you ask users to take action, you should be aware of its original purpose.

The fact that users make actions does not mean that they make them consciously.

There are many behavioral phenomena that come from psychology, to name a few:

• Cognitive inertia: The tendency of a person to stick to familiar decisions, even if they are not suitable for the current situation. For instance, the vast majority of people don’t read user agreements. They simply agree with the lengthy text because it’s necessary from the legal point of view.
• Availability Heuristic: People often make decisions based on information that is easily accessible or familiar to them rather than making a mental effort. When users see the same confirmation popups, they might automatically accept them based on their previous successful experience. Of course, sooner or later, it might not work, and the acceptance of required action can lead to bad consequences.
• Cognitive Miser: The human mind is considered to be a cognitive miser due to the tendency of humans to think and solve problems in simpler and less effortful ways rather than in more sophisticated and effortful ways, regardless of intelligence. This explains why many users just click “yes” or “agree” without carefully reading the text.
• Quite a representative example is banner blindness, even though not related to confirmation but, in fact, revolves around the same human behavior idiosyncrasies.

A reasonable question that may arise: What are the alternatives?

Even though we cannot entirely affect users’ behavior, there are a few tactics we can use.

Delaying

In some scenarios, we can artificially delay the task execution in a graceful way.

One of my favorite examples is an app called Glovo, which is a food delivery app. Let’s have a look at the three screens you will see when you order something.

The first screen is a cart with items you chose to buy (and an annoying promotion of subscription that takes ⅓ of the screen).

After you tap the “confirm order” button, you’ll see the second screen, which asks you whether everything is correct. However, the information appears gradually with fade-in animation. Also, you can see there is a progress bar, which is a fake one.

After a few seconds, you’ll see another screen that shows that the app is trying to charge your card; this time, it’s a real process. After the transaction proceeds, you’ll see the status of the order and approximate delivery time.

Pro tip: When you show the status of the order and visually highlight or animate the first step, it makes users more confident that the order will be completed. Because of the trick that is called Goal-Gradient Effect.

You’ve just paid, and “something starts happening” (at least visually), which is a sign that “Oh, they should have already started preparing my order. That’s nice!”

The purpose of the screen with a fake progress bar is to let users verify the order details and confirm them.

But this is done in a very exquisite way:

1. On the first screen, you click “confirm order”. It doesn’t invoke any modals or popups, such as “Are you sure?”.
2. On the second screen, users can see how information about their order appears right away, and the scroll bar at the bottom goes further. It seems like that app is doing something, but it’s an illusion. An illusion that makes you take another quick look at what you’ve just ordered.

In the previous version of the app, you couldn’t even skip the process; you could only cancel it. Now they added the “Continue” button, which is essentially “Yes, I’m sure” confirmation.

This means that we return back again to the drawbacks of classic confirmation modals since users can skip the process. But the approach is different: it’s a combination of a feedback loop from the app and skipping the process.

This combination makes users pay attention to the address, order, and price at least sometimes, and it gives them time to cancel the order, while in the classic approach, the confirmation is “yes or no?” which is more likely to be confirmed right away.

The Undo Option

The undo pattern allows users to reverse an action they have just performed, providing a safety net that reduces anxiety around making mistakes.

Unlike confirmation modals that interrupt the workflow to ask for user confirmation, the undo pattern provides a smoother experience by allowing actions to be completed with the option to reverse them if needed.

When To Use It

It works perfectly fine for non-destructive, reversible actions &mdashl actions that don’t have significant and immediate consequences:

• Reversing actions when editing a document (The beloved ctrl + z shortcut);
• Removing a file (if it goes to the trash bin first);
• Changing the status of a task (e.g., if you accidentally marked a task completed);
• Deleting a message in a chat;
• Applying filters to a photo.

Combined with a timer, you can extend the number of options since such tasks as sending an email or making a money transfer could be undone.

When You Cannot Use It

It’s not suitable for actions that have serious consequences, such as the following:

• Deleting an account;
• Submitting legal documents;
• Purchasing goods (refund is not the same as the undo option);
• Making requests for third-party APIs (in most cases).

How To Implement Them?

1. The most common way that most people use every day is to provide a shortcut (ctrl + z). However, it’s constrained to some cases, such as text editors, moving files between folders, and so on.
2. Toasts are probably the most common way to implement these web and mobile apps. The only thing that you should keep in mind is that it should stand out enough to be noticed. Hiding them in a corner with a tiny message and color that is not noticeable might not work — especially on wide screens.
3. A straightforward solution is simply to have a button that does the undo option. Preferably close to the button that evokes the action that you want to undo.

The undo option is tightly related to the concept called soft deleting, which is widely used in backend frameworks such as Laravel.

The concept means that when users delete something via the UI, it looks like it has been deleted, but in the database, we keep the data but mark it as deleted. The data is not lost, which is why the undo option is possible since we don’t actually delete anything but rather mark it as deleted.

This is a good technique to ensure that data is never lost. However, not every table needs this.

For example, if you delete an account and don't want users to restore it (perhaps due to legal regulations), then you should erase the data completely. But in many cases, it might be a good idea to consider soft deleting. In the worst case, you’ll be able to manually restore user data if it cannot be done via the UI for some reason.

There’s something I want everyone to keep in mind, regardless of who you are or what you do.

Every situation is unique. A certain approach might work or fail for a variety of reasons. You might sometimes wonder why a specific decision was made, but you may not realize how many times the interface was revised based on real user feedback.

User behavior is affected by many factors, including country, age, culture, education, familiarity with certain patterns, disabilities, and more.

What’s crucial is to stay in control of your data and users and be prepared to respond when something goes wrong. Following best practices is important, but you must still verify if they work in your specific case.

Just like in chess, there are many rules — and even more exceptions.

Further Reading

• Modality, Apple
• “An effective ‘Cancel’ dialog confirmation on Web,” João Bexiga
• “Confirm or undo? Which is the better option?,” Josh Wayne
• “Understanding Soft Delete and Hard Delete,” Suraj Singh Bisht
• “Confirmation Dialogs Can Prevent User Errors — If Not Overused,” Jakob Nielsen
• “Microcopy for confirmation dialogues,” Kinneret Yifrah
• What is a passkey?, passkeys.io

In a checkered career spanning copywriting, journalism, engineering, and teaching, I’ve seen time and time again how powerful and useful spreadsheets are in all walks of life. The cold, hard truth is that you — yes, you — likely have an enormous amount to gain by understanding how spreadsheets work. And, more importantly, how they can work for you.

That’s what this piece is about. It’s a rallying cry, with examples of spreadsheets’ myriad uses and how they can actually, in the right circumstances, be the bedrock of altogether inspiring, lovely things.

Spreadsheets have been around for thousands of years. Papyrus remnants have been discovered from as far back as 4,600 BC. Their going digital in the late ‘70s was a major factor in the rise of personal computing. Much is (rightly) made of the cultural transformation brought about by the printing press. The digital spreadsheet, not so much.

For as long as people have had projects and data to organize, spreadsheets have been indispensable. They were the original databases.

Spreadsheets don’t always get a lot of attention these days. For organization and workflow, we usually find ourselves in the worlds of Trello, Jira, or GitHub Projects. Datasets live in Oracle, MongoDB, and the like. There are good reasons for these services emerging — everything has its place — but

I do get the sense that specialized tooling causes us to skip over the flexibility and power that today’s spreadsheet editors provide.

This is especially true for smaller projects and ones in their early stages. Yes, sometimes only a huge database will do, but often spreadsheets are more than fit for purpose.

What makes spreadsheets so great? We’ll get into a few real-world examples in a second, but several qualities hold true. They include the following:

• Collaboration
  Cloud-based editors like Google Sheets give groups of people a space in which to collaborate on data. They can serve as a middle ground for people working on different parts of the same project.
• Structure
  It’s inherent to spreadsheets that they’ll get you thinking about the ‘shape’ of the information you’re dealing with. In the same way that a blank piece of paper invites fluidity of thought, tables coax out frameworks — and both have their place
• Flexibility
  Spreadsheets can evolve in real time, which is especially useful during the formative stages of a project when the shape of the ‘data’ is still being established. Adding a field is as simple as naming a column, and the ability to weave in formulas makes it easy to infer other values from the ones you have. With stuff like the Google Sheets API, you can even scrape data directly from the spreadsheet
• Power
  You’d be surprised how much you can do in spreadsheets. Sometimes, you don’t even need bespoke dashboards; you can do it all in the editor. From data visualization to pivot tables, spreadsheet editors come with a bunch of powerful out-of-the-box features.
• They translate into other data formats
  Spreadsheets are one small jump from the mighty CSV. When the time is right, spreadsheets can still become raw data if you want them to.

Such is the flexibility and power of spreadsheets, and what’s listed here is scratching the surface. Their fundamental strength of organizing data has made them useful for thousands of years, while contemporary enhancements have taken them to the next level.

Below are a few examples from my own experiences that showcase these benefits in the real world. They’re obviously slanted towards my interests, but hopefully, they illustrate the usefulness of spreadsheets in different contexts.

Galaxies (Of The Guardian)

I work as a software engineer at Guardian News & Media, a place where 10% of the time, i.e., one work day every two weeks, is yours to spend on independent learning, side projects, and so on, is part of the working culture. An ongoing project of mine has been Galaxies (of the Guardian), a D3-powered org chart that represents departments as a series of interrelated people, teams, and streams.

What you see above is powered by information stored and edited in spreadsheets. A lambda scraps departmental information using the aforementioned Google Sheets API, then reformats into a shape Galaxies plays nicely with.

This approach has had several benefits. The earliest iterations of Galaxies were only possible because there was already a spreadsheet being maintained by those who needed to keep track of who worked where. Techies and non-techies alike are able to update information easily, and it is transparent to anyone who works inside the organization.

For anyone interested, I wrote a piece about how Galaxies works on the Guardian engineering blog. Suffice it to say here, spreadsheets were — and remain — the engine of the whole thing.

Food Bank Britain

My background is in journalism, and I still freelance in my own time. As my coding skills have improved, I’ve naturally gravitated towards data journalism, even teaching it for a year at my old journalism school.

Spreadsheets are inseparable from a lot of modern journalism — and, indeed, copyrighting in general. The digital world is awash with data, and good luck making sense of it without a working knowledge of spreadsheets.

For example, a piece I wrote for the Byline Times about foodbanks earlier this year simply wouldn’t have been possible without spreadsheets. It was by collating data from the Trussell Trust, the Independent Food Aid Network, and national census reports that I was able to map out the sheer scale of the UK’s food bank network.

Granted, the map is more visually engaging. But then that’s the idea. It’s the same information, just presented more pointedly.

There are plenty of other instances of spreadsheets being instrumental at the Guardian alone. Typerighter, the newspaper’s automated house style checker, began life as a subeditor’s spreadsheet. User research and bug tracking for the new Feast cooking app, which I worked on during its formative stages, was tracked and discussed in spreadsheets.

And, of course, countless pieces of quality journalism at the Guardian and beyond continue to be powered by them.

If this piece has got you to at least consider learning more about spreadsheets and spreadsheet editors, you’re in luck. There are countless free learning resources available on the web. Here are a few excellent beginner videos to help you on your way:

• Google Sheets Tutorial for Beginners
• How to use Pivot Tables in Google Sheets
• Excel Tutorial for Beginners
• Pivot Table Excel Tutorial

As for spreadsheet editors, the big three these days are probably Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, and LibreOffice Calc (for the open source devotees out there). They all work much the same way. And as you get comfortable with their functionality, new avenues will open.

Data is the lifeblood of the modern web, and spreadsheets remain one of the most accessible, flexible ways to organize, analyze, and share it. As I hope the examples I’ve shared with you show, spreadsheets aren’t inherently boring. They can be, but when used in the right ways, they become the engines of dynamic, impactful work.

The way they go is up to you.

I also love interviews and usability testing, where I interact with users and engage in meaningful conversation. And then I am exhausted. I love speaking about the findings of research and sharing the spotlight with my colleagues during a presentation, and then I want to go to bed underneath the conference room table. I facilitate workshops with ease but have trouble mustering up the energy required to attend what often feels like mandatory post-workshop socializing.

In truth, I have sometimes felt introverted tendencies set me back at work, particularly as a consultant who needs to build relationships to keep the work flowing (in theory). An example would be getting called out by a manager in my junior days for not engaging in as many networking activities as I could have been with some of our clients. My defense of feeling overstimulated, overwhelmed, and uninterested in socializing fell on deaf ears.

I think we have grown in our understanding of introverts and what they need to be high performers, particularly since Susan Cain’s 2013 best-selling book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking was released.

This article aims to celebrate the power of introversion in UX research and design. We’ll debunk common misconceptions, explore the unique strengths introverted researchers and designers bring to the table, and offer practical tips for thriving in a field that sometimes seems tailored for extroverts. My goal is to build on some of the work on UX and introversion that already exists. I’ve cited other articles where appropriate and shared the resources I’ve found on UX and introversion at the end of this article.

Introversion is not the same thing as being shy, just as extroversion isn’t the same thing as being brash. For simplicity and the sake of this article, I am going to use the following definitions provided by de Jongh & de la Croix:

“Extroverts get energy from interaction with others and like to share ideas with others to help develop their thinking, whereas introverts need to recharge on their own after much social contact and prefer to share ideas only when they are fully formed.”

There are many potential reasons one could have introvert or extrovert tendencies (McCulloch 2020), and these come on a scale where one might lean or introvert or extrovert depending on the occasion. Those who straddle the middle ground of introversion and extroversion are considered ambiverts.

As Jonathan Walter notes in a series of articles on introverts and UX, many UX professionals find themselves drawn to the field because of their introverted nature. Introversion, often misunderstood as shyness or social awkwardness, is simply a preference for internal reflection and processing. It’s about drawing energy from solitude and finding fulfillment in deep thought and meaningful connections.

As UX is clearly a space where introverts are drawn, there is already a decent amount of literature aimed at introverted UX practitioners. In writing this article, I wanted to differentiate from what is already out there, as well as extend.

I wanted to include some personal stories of introverts who aren’t myself and work in UX. To do this, I went to LinkedIn and asked people to send me personal anecdotes. My post, at least by my standards, was well received, with over 100 reactions and a dozen people sending me direct messages sharing anecdotes. I was even introduced to Tim Yeo, who has recently released a book on introverts in the workplace. I’ll be sharing some of the stories people shared with me over LinkedIn, where appropriate (and with their permission), throughout this article to help draw the connections to real life.

First, let’s talk a little about what we know about measuring if you (or others) are introverted, extroverted, or in between.

Understanding where you and your team members fall on the introversion-extroversion spectrum can be invaluable for tailoring your approach to work, collaboration, and personal development. Reinoud de Jongh and Anne de la Croix, two medical school professors, write that medical educators should know where they fall on the introversion — extroversion spectrum to deliver great teaching experiences. I’d extend this to UX practitioners, including UX managers, UX researchers, and designers. If we collaborate with others, we will benefit from knowing where we fall on this scale.

While there’s no single definitive test, here are a few simple and accessible tools that can offer insights:

1. Online Quizzes: Numerous online quizzes and assessments are available, often based on established personality frameworks like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) or the Big Five personality traits. These quizzes can provide a general sense of your tendencies and preferences. Popular options include:
   • 16Personalities: Offers a free, comprehensive assessment based on the MBTI.
   • Truity: Provides a variety of personality tests, including the Big Five and Enneagram.
   • Verywell Mind: Offers a quiz specifically focused on introversion and extroversion.
2. Reflection and Journaling: Take some time to reflect on your daily experiences and interactions. Ask yourself the following questions:
   • What activities energize me vs. drain me?
   • Do I prefer to work alone or in groups?
   • How do I recharge after a long day?
   • Do I prefer deep conversations with a few people or socializing with a larger group?
3. Observation: Pay attention to your behavior and reactions in different social settings. Notice what triggers your stress response and what environments make you feel most comfortable and productive.
4. Professional Assessment: If you’re seeking a more in-depth analysis, consider consulting a career coach or psychologist who specializes in personality assessment. They can administer standardized tests and provide personalized feedback and guidance.
   • Multidimensional Introversion-Extroversion Scales (MIES): This scale specifically focuses on the multifaceted nature of introversion and extroversion. It measures several sub-traits associated with each dimension, such as social engagement, assertiveness, enjoyment of social interaction, and preference for solitude. Professional psychologists often reference this test, which can be accessed freely here, but might be best done with the guidance of a professional.

There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to introversion or extroversion. You might even find some folks are ambiverts who display different personalities in different settings. You can’t force your teammates to take these types of tests. But if you are able to get buy-in, it can be a fun activity to see who considers themselves more introverted or more extroverted. The goal is to understand your own preferences and tendencies and those of your colleagues so you can create a work environment that supports your well-being and maximizes your potential.

The idea that UX is an extrovert’s game couldn’t be further from the truth. As Jeremy Bird notes in his article on the strengths of introverts in design, it’s a field that demands a wide range of skills, including deep listening, empathy, observation, analysis, and creativity — all of which introverts excel at. With so much information already available from articles on UX and introversion noted in the biography below, I’m going to briefly highlight the commonly accepted strengths of introverts.

Deep Listening

Introverts are often exceptional listeners. In user interviews, they give participants the space to fully express their thoughts and feelings, picking up on subtle cues and nuances that others might miss. This active listening leads to a deeper understanding of user needs and motivations, which is crucial for both research and design.

One practitioner shared their experience on LinkedIn:

“In a nutshell, being introverted gives a natural advantage in giving the user space to tell their story. I’m more likely to embrace pauses that others may feel are awkward, but this allows users to either double down on their point or think of another point to add (“lightbulb” moment).”

— Dominique S. Microsoft User Research via LinkedIn

Empathy

Many introverts possess a high degree of empathy. They can easily put themselves in users’ shoes, feeling their frustrations and celebrating their successes. This empathy fuels user-centered design, ensuring that products and services are not only functional but also emotionally resonant.

Observational Skills

Introverts are naturally observant. They notice details in user behavior, interface interactions, and environmental context that others might overlook.

Thoughtful Analysis

Introverts often prefer to process information internally, engaging in deep, solitary reflection before sharing their insights. This leads to well-considered and insightful findings and well-crafted data-informed design.

Independent Work

Introverts tend to thrive in independent work environments. As Heather McCulloch notes, teachers should allow introverted students to work independently or in pairs. This way, they can focus deeply on research tasks, design problems, or data analysis without the distractions that come with constant collaboration.

Now that we’ve covered the commonly recognized strengths introverts bring to the table, let’s cover some common hurdles and explore effective strategies for overcoming them that empower introverts to thrive.

Being introverted can bring up some challenges when it comes to doing things that require a lot of social energy. However, many introverts in UX find ways to push beyond their natural tendencies to meet the demands of their profession. One UX practitioner shared their experience on LinkedIn:

“I’ve been extremely introverted all my life, but have always been able to proceed beyond my introverted boundaries because of a commitment to (perceived) duty. My passion for synergizing user needs, business needs, and the assorted bevy of constraints that arise helps me downplay and overlook any challenges arising from my tendency to be withdrawn.”

— Darren H. MS UXD via LinkedIn

Networking

Introverts might initially feel overwhelmed in networking situations or workshops due to the continual social interaction and the need to navigate unfamiliar environments and interact with new people, which can be particularly daunting for those who prefer solitude or small-group conversations.

• Researchers & Designers: Building professional relationships can be challenging for introverts. Large conferences or networking events can feel overwhelming. Small talk can feel forced and inauthentic.
  • Solutions for researchers and designers:
    • Focus on quality over quantity: Instead of trying to meet as many people as possible, focus on building a few meaningful connections.
    • Utilize online communities: Connect with other UX professionals on platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter. Engage in discussions, share your insights, and build relationships virtually before meeting in person.
    • Attend smaller events: Look for niche conferences or meetups focused on specific areas of interest. These tend to be more intimate and less overwhelming than large-scale events.
    • Leverage existing relationships: Don’t be afraid to ask a colleague or mentor to introduce you to someone new.

Presenting Work and Public Speaking

Introverts may initially avoid presenting because they tend to prefer avoiding the spotlight. They may also worry about being judged or scrutinized by others.

• Researchers: May feel anxious about presenting research findings to stakeholders, especially if they have to do so in front of a large audience.
• Designers: Can struggle with pitching design concepts or justifying their decisions to clients or colleagues, fearing criticism or pushback.

For the introvert, you might not like this, but you need to get comfortable presenting, and the sooner you do, the better.

Solutions for researchers and designers:

• Practice, practice, practice
  The more you rehearse your presentation or pitch, the more comfortable you’ll feel. Practice in front of a mirror, record yourself or ask a trusted friend for feedback.
• Use visual aids
  Slides, mockups, or prototypes can help you illustrate your points and keep your audience engaged.
• Focus on clear communication
  Structure your presentation logically, use simple language, and avoid jargon. Speak slowly and confidently, and make eye contact with your audience.
• Build confidence over time
  Start with small presentations or informal feedback sessions. As you gain experience and positive feedback, your confidence will naturally increase.

I’ve personally found presenting in front of a large anonymous crowd to be less intimidating than smaller, intimate meetings where you might know a few people mixed in with a few strangers. In the end, I always remind myself I am supposed to be the expert on what I’ve been asked to present or that my job is to clearly state the outcome of our research to stakeholders hungry to see the relevance of their work. The audience wants to support you and see you succeed. I take confidence in that. I’m also exhausted after giving a presentation where I’ve left it all on the floor.

Now, let’s move on to topics beyond what I’ve found covered in existing articles on UX and introversion and cover workshop facilitation and managing group dynamics.

Managing Group Dynamics

Introverts may find group dynamics challenging, as they often prefer solitary activities and may feel overwhelmed or drained by social interactions. In group settings, introverts may have difficulty asserting themselves, sharing their ideas, or actively participating in discussions. They may also feel uncomfortable being the center of attention or having to make decisions on the spot.

Additionally, introverts may struggle to build relationships with their peers in a group setting, as they may be hesitant to initiate conversations or join in on group activities. These challenges can make it difficult for introverts to fully engage and contribute in group settings, leading to feelings of isolation and exclusion.

One UX designer responding over LinkedIn eloquently shared their experience with communication challenges:

“Introversion can sometimes create challenges in communication, as my thoughtful nature can be misinterpreted as shyness or disinterest. To step out of my shell, I need to build trust with those around me before I can feel truly comfortable. However, I don’t see this as the worst thing in the world. Instead, I view it as an opportunity to identify areas where I need to improve and learn to advocate for myself more effectively in the future. In embracing both the strengths and challenges of being an introvert, I’ve found that my introverted nature not only enhances my work as a designer but also drives continuous personal and professional growth, ultimately leading to better outcomes for both myself and my team.”

— Arafa A. via LinkedIn

• Challenge: Large groups can be overwhelming, and introverted facilitators might find it difficult to assert control or manage dominant personalities who may derail the discussion.
• Solutions:
  • Clear Ground Rules: Establish explicit ground rules at the beginning of the workshop to ensure respectful communication and equal participation.
  • Assertive Communication: Practice techniques like “broken record” or “fogging” to politely but firmly redirect the conversation when necessary.
  • Partner with a Co-Facilitator: Collaborate with an extroverted colleague who can complement your strengths. They can take the lead in managing group dynamics and energizing participants.

Managing group dynamics covers a broad number of situations UX professionals face on a daily basis. Let’s get a little more specific and focus on how introverted UXers can thrive as workshop facilitators.

Facilitating Workshops

If you’re an introverted UX professional who shies away from leading workshops, it’s time to reconsider. Here are some of the reasons introverts can be perfect workshop facilitators:

1. Preparation:
   • Introverts tend to be meticulous planners. We thrive on preparation and often go above and beyond to ensure a workshop is well-structured, organized, and aligned with learning objectives. This thoroughness translates to a smooth, well-paced session that instills confidence in participants.
2. Thoughtful Facilitation:
   • Introverts are known for their active listening skills. We genuinely want to hear what others have to say and create a safe space for diverse perspectives to emerge. We ask thoughtful questions, encourage reflection, and facilitate meaningful discussions that lead to deeper understanding.
3. Empathy & Connection: We’ve already discussed in the section on superpowers how introverts excel at empathy and connection.
4. Observation Skills: We’ve already discussed in the section on superpowers how introverts excel at observational skills.
5. Comfort with Silence:
   • Introverts understand the power of silence. We’re not afraid to pause and allow reflection after asking a question or during a brainstorming session. This creates space for deeper thinking and prevents premature conclusions or groupthink.

We’ve reviewed many of the challenges introverts might face in their daily work life. Let’s turn our attention to a more recent phenomenon, at least in terms of its widespread availability as an option for many UX professionals: remote work.

Working Remotely

Increased telecommuting offers a unique opportunity for some introverts. Introverts, who often find comfort in solitude and derive energy from spending time alone, sometimes find the constant socialization and bustle of open-plan offices overwhelming and draining.

Remote work provides introverts with an opportunity to control their surroundings and create a workspace that promotes focus, productivity, and creativity. Remote work allows introverts to communicate and collaborate on their own terms. Introverts often prefer one-on-one interactions over large group meetings, and remote work makes it easier for them to engage in meaningful conversations with colleagues and clients.

Potential Challenges For Introverts Working Remotely

While remote work has been a game-changer for many introverts, it is important to acknowledge that it is not without its challenges. Introverts may miss the camaraderie and social connections of an in-person workplace, and they may need to make a conscious effort to stay connected with colleagues and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Introverts working remotely may need to develop strategies for self-advocacy and communication to ensure that their voices are heard and their contributions are valued in a virtual work environment.

• Isolation and Disconnect: The lack of face-to-face interaction can lead to feelings of isolation and detachment from the team.
• Communication Barriers: Virtual communication can be less nuanced, making it harder to convey complex ideas or build rapport with colleagues.
• Meeting Overload: Excessive video calls can be exhausting for introverts, leading to burnout and decreased productivity.
• Limited Non-Verbal Cues: Virtual interactions lack the subtle body language and facial expressions that introverts rely on to understand others’ perspectives.

Overcoming Challenges: Strategies For Introverts Working Remotely

Introverted remote employees can implement some of these strategies and tactics to enhance their productivity, reduce burnout, and maintain a positive work environment:

• Proactive Communication: Initiate regular check-ins with colleagues and managers, both for work-related updates and casual conversations.
• Schedule Breaks: During long virtual meetings, take short breaks to recharge and refocus.
• Advocate for Your Needs: If you’re feeling overwhelmed by meetings or social interactions, don’t hesitate to speak up and suggest alternatives, such as asynchronous communication or smaller group discussions.
• Build Virtual Relationships: Participate in virtual social events, share personal anecdotes in team channels, and find opportunities to connect with colleagues on a personal level.
• Embrace Video Calls (Strategically): While video calls can be tiring, they can also be valuable for building rapport and understanding non-verbal cues. Use them strategically for important discussions or when you need to connect with a colleague on a deeper level.

Implementing what we’ve covered in this section will help to reduce the likelihood of frustration from both remote working introverts and their colleagues.

We’ve covered a lot of ideas in this article. If you find yourself nodding along as an introvert or perhaps coming to the realization you or someone on your team is more introverted, this section and the next will end this article on a high note, introducing some actionable tips for introverted researchers and designers, and their managers and teammates, to create a more comfortable and successful working environment for introverts to thrive alongside their extroverted colleagues.

Self-Care

Everyone needs to engage in an appropriate amount of self-care to feel their best. For an introvert, this is often done in solitude, particularly after engaging in a day or week full of social interaction. Some tips that could apply to anyone but are of particular relevance to introverts include the following:

• Schedule downtime: Block out time in your calendar for quiet reflection and recharging after meetings or social interactions. This could be a walk in nature, reading a book, or simply sitting in silence.
• Honor your energy levels: Pay attention to when you’re feeling drained. Don’t be afraid to decline invitations or reschedule meetings if you need time to recharge.
• Create a calming workspace: Surround yourself with things that promote relaxation and focus, such as plants, calming music, or inspiring artwork.

Play To Your Strengths

Introverts know themselves best and have spent a lifetime reflecting on who they are and what makes them wake up happy to go to work. As such, introverts may have a high awareness of their strengths. This allows an introvert to do the following:

• Identify your unique talents: Are you a meticulous researcher, a creative problem-solver, or a passionate user advocate? Focus on tasks and projects that align with your strengths.
• Communicate your preferences: Let your manager or team know what type of work you thrive in. Perhaps you prefer to work independently on research tasks or focus on the visual aspects of design.
• Build on your skills: Seek opportunities to develop your existing skills and acquire new ones. This could involve taking online courses, attending workshops, or seeking mentorship from experienced researchers and designers.

Communication

Introverts might hesitate to speak up when the room is crowded with unknown future friends. However, anyone, introverted or not, needs to be their own best advocate when it comes to making colleagues and management aware of how to create the best workplace environment to thrive in:

• Advocate for your needs: Don’t be afraid to speak up and ask for what you need to succeed. This could involve requesting a quiet workspace, suggesting alternative meeting formats, or simply letting your team know when you need some time to yourself.
• Develop your communication skills: Even though you may prefer written communication or one-on-one conversations, it’s important to be able to communicate effectively in various settings. Practice public speaking, participate in team discussions, and learn to articulate your ideas clearly and confidently.

It’s essential for introverts to advocate for their needs and communicate their preferred work styles to their colleagues and managers. One UX professional shared their experience on LinkedIn:

“I do my best work when I have time to think and prepare vs. on-demand thinking, speaking, & decision making. So, I ask for agendas, context, and pre-reads to help me make the most impact in meetings. When I shared this fact, it really helped my outgoing teammates, who never thought that others might operate differently than they do. I got feedback that this was a learning experience for them, and so I have continued to share this fact with new teammates to set expectations and advocate for myself since I find it to be an extrovert-centered business world.”

— Anonymous UXer on LinkedIn

Another LinkedIn UXer provided additional tactics for how they navigate communication styles and expectations, particularly in a fast-paced or extrovert-dominated environment.

“The longer I work with people in a creative capacity, the more I recognize the power of delay. Plenty of introverts are also high-achieving people pleasers (raises hand 🙋🏻). This has caused stress over the years when working with extroverts or verbal processors because there can be a perceived sense of urgency to every thought or ask.
[slowing things down] can look like using certain phrases to help slow down the implied urgency to allow me to more thoughtfully process the ask:

• “Ah, interesting! Could you say more about that?”
• “Can you clarify the ‘why’ behind this for me? I want to make sure I’ve got it right.”
• “How does this support our goals for < x project / user >?”

And if the ask comes through asynchronously via email or Slack, I ask myself the following:

1. Was this sent during working hours?
2. Am I the only one who can answer this question / address this issue?
3. Can I provide a short response that lets the person know their message was seen and that it’s on my radar?”

— Kait L. UXer via LinkedIn

Group Dynamics

Introverts may not initially thrive when it comes to group dynamics. They might wish to observe the group before deeply engaging. They can find it difficult to assert themselves in a group setting and may feel overwhelmed by the constant need for social interaction.

Additionally, introverts may find it harder to contribute to discussions or be slower to form meaningful connections with others in a group. The extroverted nature of group dynamics can be draining for introverts, and they may require more time to recharge after being in a group setting.

• Prepare in advance: Gather your thoughts, jot down key points, or even practice your delivery. This can help you feel more confident and articulate in group settings.
• Take breaks: If a meeting is dragging on, step out for a few minutes to recharge. A quick walk or a moment of solitude can do wonders for your energy levels.
• Seek one-on-one interactions: If you’re struggling to be heard in a group, try scheduling separate meetings with key stakeholders to share your insights or design concepts in a more intimate setting.
• Utilize virtual collaboration tools: If in-person meetings are particularly draining, suggest using tools like Slack, Miro, or Figma for asynchronous collaboration and feedback.

Introverts often find creative ways to navigate the challenges of large group settings. One UX researcher shared their experience on LinkedIn:

“I have a monthly meeting with many employees (50+) to go over survey results. I realized it was super awkward for me just to wait as people joined the meeting. I tried to make small talk about upcoming weekend plans or what people had done over the weekend, but engagement was still pretty low, and I was not equipped enough to carry on conversations. I decided to fill the time with memes. I would search for user research memes and tie them into why user research is important. More people started coming to my meetings just to see the meme! As time went on, I became known as the meme person. While I can’t necessarily say if that’s a good thing — brand awareness is powerful! At least people know user research exists and that we’re fun — even if it all started from being awkward and introverted.”

— Anonymous LinkedIn UXer

Guidance For Moving Up As An Introverted Researcher Or Designer

I turned to Tim Yeo to provide some insight into how introverts can best prepare for moving up the career ladder. Tim provided some tactical advice focusing on teamwork and people skills:

“Practice your people skills. If you, as an individual, could do it all on your own, you would’ve probably done it already. If you can’t, then you need to work with people to bring your creation to life. It takes a team.”

Tim also shared the strategic reason behind the importance of leaders having excellent people skills:

“We also like to believe that higher management is always more sure, more right, and has all the answers. In my experience, the reality is almost the opposite. Problems get fuzzier, messier, and more complex the higher up the organization you go. Making decisions with incomplete, imperfect information is the norm. To operate successfully in this environment requires steering people to your worldview, and that takes people skills.”

You can find some additional information on ways for introverts (and extroverts) to gain people skills in some of the references listed at the end of this article.

Let’s move on and wrap up with some tips for those who are working alongside introverts.

If you are a manager of a team consisting of more than yourself, you likely have an introvert among your team. Tim Yeo states, “Research from Susan Cain’s book, Quiet, shows that 1/3 to 1/2 of our population identify as quiet or introverted.”

Therefore,

“If you work in a diverse team, it follows that 1/3 to 1/2 of your team are quiet. So if you don’t create a space for quiet ones to be heard, that means you are missing out on 1/3 to 1/2 of ideas.”

UX managers of teams, including introverts and extroverts, should engage in some of the following suggested practices to create an inclusive work environment where everyone feels valued, heard, and able to contribute effectively to the team’s success. UX managers can use these tips to foster a diverse and productive team dynamic that drives innovation and creativity.

• Flexibility
  • Offer communication options: Not everyone thrives in the same communication environment. Provide alternatives to large meetings, such as email updates, one-on-one check-ins, or asynchronous communication tools like Slack.
  • Embrace different work styles: Recognize that not everyone is most productive in a bustling office environment. Allow for flexible work arrangements, such as remote work or flexible hours, to accommodate different needs and preferences.
• Value Diversity
  • Recognize the strengths of introverts: Introverts bring a unique perspective and valuable skills to the table. Encourage their contributions, celebrate their successes, and create an environment where they feel comfortable sharing their ideas.
  • Foster inclusivity: Make sure everyone on the team feels heard and valued, regardless of their personality type. Encourage open communication, active listening, and mutual respect.
• Create Safe Spaces
  • Provide quiet spaces: Designate areas in the office where people can go to work independently or simply decompress.
  • Encourage breaks: Remind your team to take regular breaks throughout the day to recharge. This could involve stepping outside for fresh air, taking a short walk, or simply closing their eyes for a few minutes of meditation.
• Professional Development
  • Offer tailored training: Provide opportunities for introverted researchers and designers to develop their communication and presentation skills in a supportive environment. This could involve workshops, coaching, or mentorship programs.

As a bonus, if you’re an introverted UX Manager and you are managing a team composed of introverts and extroverts, remember to encourage a variety of communication channels for your team members. You might default to your preferred style of communication but recognize that different team members may prefer different communication channels.

Some extroverted team members might enjoy brainstorming in large meetings, and introverted team members might prefer to contribute their ideas through written channels such as email, chat, or discussion boards.

Encouraging a variety of communication channels ensures that all team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas.

Tim Yeo provided this list of tactics for encouraging and engaging introverts in participating in discussion:

• Sharing the agenda before the meeting (so your quiet teammates, who are amazing preppers, by the way, can prepare and be ready to contribute).
• Using a mix of silent and think-out-loud activities in meetings (so people who process information differently can all perform).
• Give a heads-up before you call on a quiet colleague to speak.
• Offer to be a thinking partner (when your quiet colleague appears to be stuck on a piece of work).

Now, let’s move on to focus on some tips for managing remote workers.

Recommendations For Managers And Teams Working Remotely

Managers and colleagues play a crucial role in creating a supportive and inclusive environment for introverted researchers and designers on dispersed teams. Here are some strategies to consider:

1. Intentional Communication
   • Asynchronous First: Prioritize asynchronous communication methods (email, project management tools, shared documents) for brainstorming, feedback, and routine updates. This gives introverts time to process information and craft thoughtful responses.
   • One-on-One Check-Ins: Schedule regular one-on-one meetings with introverted team members to build rapport, discuss their concerns, and offer individualized support.
   • Mindful Meeting Management: Be mindful of meeting frequency and duration. Consider alternatives to video calls when possible, such as shared documents or asynchronous communication channels. When video calls are necessary, ensure they have a clear agenda and purpose.
2. Creating Virtual Water Cooler Moments
   • Casual Communication Channels: Set up dedicated IM channels or virtual spaces for non-work-related conversations, allowing for informal social interaction and team bonding.
   • Virtual Social Events: Organize virtual coffee chats, game nights, or team-building activities to foster camaraderie and connection outside of work-related tasks.
   • Collaborative Tools: Utilize virtual whiteboards or shared documents for brainstorming sessions, encouraging participation and idea generation from all team members.
3. Cultivating Empathy and Understanding
   • Education and Awareness: Share articles or resources about introversion with the team to foster understanding and appreciation for different personality types.
   • Open Dialogue: Encourage open conversations about communication styles and preferences, creating a safe space for everyone to express their needs.
   • Celebrate Strengths: Highlight the unique contributions that introverted team members bring to the table, such as their deep listening skills, thoughtful analysis, and ability to advocate for users.
4. Leadership Support
   • Model Inclusive Behavior: Managers should lead by example, demonstrating respect for different communication styles and creating opportunities for all team members to contribute.
   • Provide Resources: Offer training or workshops on effective virtual communication and collaboration, tailoring them to the needs of introverted team members.
   • Check-In Regularly: Regularly touch base with introverted team members to gauge their well-being, address any concerns, and offer support.

Managers and teams can implement these strategies to create a work environment that values and empowers introverted researchers and designers, enabling them to thrive and make significant contributions to the team’s success.

Conclusion

We create a more inclusive and productive environment when we understand and appreciate the unique needs and preferences of introverts. Whether you’re an introverted UXer navigating the challenges of remote work or a manager looking to foster a diverse and engaged team, the strategies and insights shared in this article can help you unlock the full potential of introverted talent.

“The superpower of introspection that comes with introversion has enabled me to reflect on my behaviours and engineer myself to become more of an omnivert — able to adapt to different situations.

Being self-aware and working hard to ladder up through increasingly more challenging experiences has taken me from an introvert who was too concerned to tweet to an active leader in the community, delivering seminars, speaking at an international conference and now running a mentorship program for hundreds of UX professionals across the globe.”

— Chris C. UX Master Certified, via LinkedIn

Introversion is not a weakness to be overcome but a valuable asset to be embraced. We build stronger teams, foster innovation, and ultimately deliver more meaningful and impactful user experiences when we create a culture that celebrates both introverted and extroverted strengths. The best solutions often emerge from a blend of diverse perspectives, including the quiet voices that deserve to be heard.

In closing, I’d like to use the words of Tim Yeo, who provides us with some inspiration and positive reinforcement of who we are as introverts:

“You are enough. The world may continue to favour the extrovert ideal, but pretending to be someone you are not will never feel right. Know that there is a different path to have impact at work where you don’t have to pretend to be someone you are not. That path comes from tiny habits, done well, accumulated over time.”

[You can learn more about tiny habits in Tim’s book The Quiet Achiever]

Biography And Additional Resources

• The Quiet Achiever: Tiny habits to have impact at work (without pretending to be extroverts), Tim Yeo
• “How To Design Better UX With Introverted Design,” Pratik Joglekar
• “Why Introverts Make Exceptional Designers & How Leaders Can Support Them,” Jeremy Bird
• “Embracing Introverted Strengths, Part 1,” Jonathan Walter
• “An Introvert’s Guide To User Engagement In UX Research,” Jesús R
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, Susan Cain
• “Incorporating More Quiet Into The UX Design Process,” Angela Craven and SueAnne Hall
• UXPodcast on Introvert Designers
• “12 Tips To Hear The Voices Of Introverts In Medical Education … And To Improve The Learning Climate For Everyone,” Reinoud De Jong & Anne de la Croix
• “Embracing Introverts in the Classroom: A Guide to Helping Students and Teachers Survive and Excel” (PDF), Heather McCulloch
  A wonderful and fairly easy-to-read in-depth review of introversion and extroversion, including a discussion of the differences in nervous system functioning between introverts and extroverts. I strongly recommend reading this and the citations McCulloch provides if you are interested in an academic view on this topic.

But here we are.

I dove deep into SVG specs last winter when I created a project to draw Calligraphy Grids, and even though I knew the basic structures and rules of SVG, it was only then that I fully tried to figure out and understand what all of those numbers meant and how they interacted with each other.

And, once you get the hang of it, it is actually very interesting and quite fun to code SVG by hand.

No <path> ahead

We won’t go into more complex SVG shapes like paths in this article, this is more about practical information for simple SVGs. When it comes to drawing curves, I still recommend using a tool like Illustrator or Affinity. However, if you are super into compounding your lines, a path is useful. Maybe we’ll do that in Part 2.

Also, this guide focuses mostly on practical examples that illustrate some of the math involved when drawing SVGs. There is a wonderful article here that goes a bit deeper into the specs, which I recommend reading if you’re more interested in that: “A Practical Guide To SVG And Design Tools.”

Illustrator, Affinity, and all other vector programs are basically just helping you draw on a coordinate system, and then those paths and shapes are stored in SVG files.

If you open up these files in an editor, you’ll see that they are just a bunch of paths that contain lots of numbers, which are coordinates in that coordinate system that make up the lines.

But, there is a difference between the all-powerful <path> and the other, more semantic elements like <rect>, <circle>, <line>, <ellipse>, <polygon>, and <polyline>.

These elements are not that hard to read and write by hand, and they open up a lot of possibilities to add animation and other fun stuff. So, while most people might only think of SVGs as never-pixelated, infinitely scaling images, they can also be quite comprehensive pieces of code.

How Does SVG Work? unit != unit

Before we get started on how SVG elements are drawn, let’s talk about the ways units work in SVG because they might be a bit confusing when you first get started.

The beauty of SVG is that it’s a vector format, which means that the units are somewhat detached from the browser and are instead just relative to the coordinate system you’re working in.

That means you would not use a unit within SVG but rather just use numbers and then define the size of the document you’re working with.

So, your width and height might be using CSS rem units, but in your viewBox, units become just a concept that helps you in establishing sizing relationships.

What Is The viewBox?

The viewBox works a little bit like the CSS aspect-ratio property. It helps you establish a relationship between the width and the height of your coordinate system and sets up the box you’re working in. I tend to think of the viewBox as my “document” size.

Any element that is placed within the SVG with bigger dimensions than the viewBox will not be visible. So, the viewBox is the cutout of the coordinate system we’re looking through. The width and height attributes are unnecessary if there is a viewBox attribute.

So, in short, having an SVG with a viewBox makes it behave a lot like a regular image. And just like with images, it’s usually easiest to just set either a width or a height and let the other dimension be automatically sized based on the intrinsic aspect ratio dimensions.

So, if we were to create a function that draws an SVG, we might store three separate variables and fill them in like this:

`<svg 
  width="${svgWidth}" 
  viewBox="0 0 ${documentWidth} ${documentHeight}" 
  xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
>`;

SVG Things Of Note

There is a lot to know about SVG: When you want to reuse an image a lot, you may want to turn it into a symbol that can then be referenced with a use tag, you can create sprites, and there are some best practices when using them for icons, and so on.

Unfortunately, this is a bit out of the scope of this article. Here, we’re mainly focusing on designing SVG files and not on how we can optimize and use them.

However, one thing of note that is easier to implement from the start is accessibility.

SVGs can be used in an <img> tag, where alt tags are available, but then you lose the ability to interact with your SVG code, so inlining might be your preference.

When inlining, it’s easiest to declare role="img" and then add a <title> tag with your image title.

Note: You can check out this article for SVG and Accessibility recommendations.

<svg
  role="img"
  [...attr]
>
  <title>An accessible title</title>
  <!-- design code -->
</svg>

There is usually some mathematics involved when drawing SVGs. It’s usually fairly simple arithmetic (except, you know, in case you draw calligraphy grids and then have to dig out trigonometry…), but I think even for simple math, most people don’t write their SVGs in pure HTML and thus would like to use algebra.

At least for me, I find it much easier to understand SVG Code when giving meaning to numbers, so I always stick to JavaScript, and by giving my coordinates names, I like them immeasurable times more.

So, for the upcoming examples, we’ll look at the list of variables with the simple math and then JSX-style templates for interpolation, as that gives more legible syntax highlighting than string interpolations, and then each example will be available as a CodePen.

To keep this Guide framework-agnostic, I wanted to quickly go over drawing SVG elements with just good old vanilla JavaScript.

We’ll create a container element in HTML that we can put our SVG into and grab that element with JavaScript.

<div data-svg-container></div>
<script src="template.js"></script>

To make it simple, we’ll draw a rectangle <rect> that covers the entire viewBox and uses a fill.

Note: You can add all valid CSS values as fills, so a fixed color, or something like currentColor to access the site’s text color or a CSS variable would work here if you’re inlining your SVG and want it to interact with the page it’s placed in.

Let’s first start with our variable setup.

// vars
const container = document.querySelector("[data-svg-container]");
const svgWidth = "30rem"; // use any value with units here
const documentWidth = 100;
const documentHeight = 100;
const rectWidth = documentWidth;
const rectHeight = documentHeight;
const rectFill = "currentColor"; // use any color value here
const title = "A simple square box";

Method 1: Create Element and Set Attributes

This method is easier to keep type-safe (if using TypeScript) — uses proper SVG elements and attributes, and so on — but it is less performant and may take a long time if you have many elements.

const svg = document.createElementNS("http://www.w3.org/2000/svg", "svg");
const titleElement = document.createElementNS("http://www.w3.org/2000/svg", "title");
const rect = document.createElementNS("http://www.w3.org/2000/svg", "rect");

svg.setAttribute("width", svgWidth);
svg.setAttribute("viewBox", 0 0 ${documentWidth} ${documentHeight});
svg.setAttribute("xmlns", "http://www.w3.org/2000/svg");
svg.setAttribute("role", "img");

titleElement.textContent = title;

rect.setAttribute("width", rectWidth);
rect.setAttribute("height", rectHeight);
rect.setAttribute("fill", rectFill);

svg.appendChild(titleElement);
svg.appendChild(rect);

container.appendChild(svg);

Here, you can see that with the same coordinates, a polyline won’t draw the line between the blue and the red dot, while a polygon will. However, when applying a fill, they take the exact same information as if the shape was closed, which is the right side of the graphic, where the polyline makes it look like a piece of a circle is missing.

This is the second time where we have dealt with quite a bit of repetition, and we can have a look at how we could leverage the power of JavaScript logic to render our template faster.

But first, we need a basic implementation like we’ve done before. We’re creating objects for the circles, and then we’re chaining the cx and cy values together to create the points attribute. We’re also storing our transforms in variables.

const polyDocWidth = 200;
const polyDocHeight = 200;
const circleOne = { cx: 25, cy: 80, r: 10, fill: "red" };
const circleTwo = { cx: 40, cy: 20, r: 5, fill: "lime" };
const circleThree = { cx: 70, cy: 60, r: 8, fill: "cyan" };
const points = ${circleOne.cx},${circleOne.cy} ${circleTwo.cx},${circleTwo.cy} ${circleThree.cx},${circleThree.cy};
const moveToTopRight = translate(${polyDocWidth / 2}, 0);
const moveToBottomRight = translate(${polyDocWidth / 2}, ${polyDocHeight / 2});
const moveToBottomLeft = translate(0, ${polyDocHeight / 2});

And then, we apply the variables to the template, using either a polyline or polygon element and a fill attribute that is either set to none or a color value.

<svg
  width={svgWidth}
  viewBox={`0 0 ${polyDocWidth} ${polyDocHeight}`}
  xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
  role="img"
>
  <title>Composite shape comparison</title>
  <g>
    <circle
      cx={circleOne.cx}
      cy={circleOne.cy}
      r={circleOne.r}
      fill={circleOne.fill}
    />
    <circle
      cx={circleTwo.cx}
      cy={circleTwo.cy}
      r={circleTwo.r}
      fill={circleTwo.fill}
    />
    <circle
      cx={circleThree.cx}
      cy={circleThree.cy}
      r={circleThree.r}
      fill={circleThree.fill}
    />
    <polyline
      points={points}
      fill="none"
      stroke="black"
    />
  </g>
  <g transform={moveToTopRight}>
    <circle
      cx={circleOne.cx}
      cy={circleOne.cy}
      r={circleOne.r}
      fill={circleOne.fill}
    />
    <circle
      cx={circleTwo.cx}
      cy={circleTwo.cy}
      r={circleTwo.r}
      fill={circleTwo.fill}
    />
    <circle
      cx={circleThree.cx}
      cy={circleThree.cy}
      r={circleThree.r}
      fill={circleThree.fill}
    />
    <polyline
      points={points}
      fill="white"
      stroke="black"
    />
  </g>
  <g transform={moveToBottomLeft}>
    <circle
      cx={circleOne.cx}
      cy={circleOne.cy}
      r={circleOne.r}
      fill={circleOne.fill}
    />
    <circle
      cx={circleTwo.cx}
      cy={circleTwo.cy}
      r={circleTwo.r}
      fill={circleTwo.fill}
    />
    <circle
      cx={circleThree.cx}
      cy={circleThree.cy}
      r={circleThree.r}
      fill={circleThree.fill}
    />
    <polygon
      points={points}
      fill="none"
      stroke="black"
    />
  </g>
  <g transform={moveToBottomRight}>
    <circle
      cx={circleOne.cx}
      cy={circleOne.cy}
      r={circleOne.r}
      fill={circleOne.fill}
    />
    <circle
      cx={circleTwo.cx}
      cy={circleTwo.cy}
      r={circleTwo.r}
      fill={circleTwo.fill}
    />
    <circle
      cx={circleThree.cx}
      cy={circleThree.cy}
      r={circleThree.r}
      fill={circleThree.fill}
    />
    <polygon
      points={points}
      fill="white"
      stroke="black"
    />
  </g>
</svg>

And here’s a version of it to play with:

See the Pen SVG Polygon / Polyline (simple) [forked] by Myriam.

When it comes to drawing SVGs, you may find that you’ll be repeating a lot of the same code over and over again. This is where JavaScript can come in handy, so let’s look at the composite example again and see how we could optimize it so that there is less repetition.

Observations:

• We have three circle elements, all following the same pattern.
• We create one repetition to change the fill style for the element.
• We repeat those two elements one more time, with either a polyline or a polygon.
• We have four different transforms (technically, no transform is a transform in this case).

This tells us that we can create nested loops.

Let’s go back to just a vanilla implementation for this since the way loops are done is quite different across frameworks.

You could make this more generic and write separate generator functions for each type of element, but this is just to give you an idea of what you could do in terms of logic. There are certainly still ways to optimize this.

I’ve opted to have arrays for each type of variation that we have and wrote a helper function that goes through the data and builds out an array of objects with all the necessary information for each group. In such a short array, it would certainly be a viable option to just have the data stored in one element, where the values are repeated, but we’re taking the DRY thing seriously in this one.

The group array can then be looped over to build our SVG HTML.

const container = document.querySelector("[data-svg-container]");
const svgWidth = 200;
const documentWidth = 200;
const documentHeight = 200;
const halfWidth = documentWidth / 2;
const halfHeight = documentHeight / 2;
const circles = [
  { cx: 25, cy: 80, r: 10, fill: "red" },
  { cx: 40, cy: 20, r: 5, fill: "lime" },
  { cx: 70, cy: 60, r: 8, fill: "cyan" },
];
const points = circles.map(({ cx, cy }) => ${cx},${cy}).join(" ");
const elements = ["polyline", "polygon"];
const fillOptions = ["none", "white"];
const transforms = [
  undefined,
  translate(${halfWidth}, 0),
  translate(0, ${halfHeight}),
  translate(${halfWidth}, ${halfHeight}),
];
const makeGroupsDataObject = () => {
  let counter = 0;
  const g = [];
  elements.forEach((element) => {
    fillOptions.forEach((fill) => {
      const transform = transforms[counter++];
      g.push({ element, fill, transform });
    });
  });
  return g;
};
const groups = makeGroupsDataObject();
// result:
// [
//   {
//     element: "polyline",
//     fill: "none",
//   },
//   {
//     element: "polyline",
//     fill: "white",
//     transform: "translate(100, 0)",
//   },
//   {
//     element: "polygon",
//     fill: "none",
//     transform: "translate(0, 100)",
//   },
//   {
//     element: "polygon",
//     fill: "white",
//     transform: "translate(100, 100)",
//   }
// ]

const svg = document.createElementNS("http://www.w3.org/2000/svg", "svg");
svg.setAttribute("width", svgWidth);
svg.setAttribute("viewBox", 0 0 ${documentWidth} ${documentHeight});
svg.setAttribute("xmlns", "http://www.w3.org/2000/svg");
svg.setAttribute("role", "img");
svg.innerHTML = "<title>Composite shape comparison</title>";
groups.forEach((groupData) => {
  const circlesHTML = circles
    .map((circle) => {
      return &lt;circle 
          cx="${circle.cx}" 
          cy="${circle.cy}" 
          r="${circle.r}" 
          fill="${circle.fill}"
        /&gt;;
    })
    .join("");
  const polyElementHTML = &lt;${groupData.element} 
      points="${points}" 
      fill="${groupData.fill}" 
      stroke="black" 
    /&gt;;
  const group = &lt;g ${groupData.transform ?transform="${groupData.transform}": ""}&gt;
        ${circlesHTML}
        ${polyElementHTML}
      &lt;/g&gt;;
  svg.innerHTML += group;
});
container.appendChild(svg);

And here’s the Codepen of that:

See the Pen SVG Polygon / Polyline (JS loop version) [forked] by Myriam.

Now, that’s all the basics I wanted to cover, but there is so much more you can do with SVG. There is more you can do with transform; you can use a mask, you can use a marker, and so on.

We don’t have time to dive into all of them today, but since this started for me when making Calligraphy Grids, I wanted to show you the two most satisfying ones, which I, unfortunately, can’t use in the generator since I wanted to be able to open my generated SVGs in Affinity and it doesn’t support pattern.

Okay, so pattern is part of the defs section within the SVG, which is where you can define reusable elements that you can then reference in your SVG.

Graph Grid with pattern

If you think about it, a graph is just a bunch of horizontal and vertical lines that repeat across the x- and y-axis.

So, pattern can help us with that. We can create a <rect> and then reference a pattern in the fill attribute of the rect. The pattern then has its own width, height, and viewBox, which defines how the pattern is repeated.

So, let’s say we want to perfectly center our graph grid in any given width or height, and we want to be able to define the size of our resulting squares (cells).

Once again, let’s start with the JavaScipt variables:

const graphDocWidth = 226;
const graphDocHeight = 101;
const cellSize = 5;
const strokeWidth = 0.3;
const strokeColor = "currentColor";
const patternHeight = (cellSize / graphDocHeight) * 100;
const patternWidth = (cellSize / graphDocWidth) * 100;
const gridYStart = (graphDocHeight % cellSize) / 2;
const gridXStart = (graphDocWidth % cellSize) / 2;

Now, we can apply them to the SVG element:

<svg
  width={svgWidth}
  viewBox={`0 0 ${graphDocWidth} ${graphDocHeight}`}
  xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
  role="img"
>
  <defs>
    <pattern
      id="horizontal"
      viewBox={`0 0 ${graphDocWidth} ${strokeWidth}`}
      width="100%"
      height={`${patternHeight}%`}
    >
      <line
        x1="0"
        x2={graphDocWidth}
        y1={gridYStart}
        y2={gridYStart}
        stroke={strokeColor}
        stroke-width={strokeWidth}
      />
    </pattern>
    <pattern
      id="vertical"
      viewBox={`0 0 ${strokeWidth} ${graphDocHeight}`}
      width={`${patternWidth}%`}
      height="100%"
    >
      <line
        y1={0}
        y2={graphDocHeight}
        x1={gridXStart}
        x2={gridXStart}
        stroke={strokeColor}
        stroke-width={strokeWidth}
      />
    </pattern>
  </defs>
  <title>A graph grid</title>
  <rect
    width={graphDocWidth}
    height={graphDocHeight}
    fill="url(#horizontal)"
  />
  <rect
    width={graphDocWidth}
    height={graphDocHeight}
    fill="url(#vertical)"
  />
</svg>

And this is what that then looks like:

See the Pen SVG Graph Grid [forked] by Myriam.

Dot Grid With pattern

If we wanted to draw a dot grid instead, we could simply repeat a circle. Or, we could alternatively use a line with a stroke-dasharray and stroke-dashoffset to create a dashed line. And we’d only need one line in this case.

Starting with our JavaScript variables:

const dotDocWidth = 219;
const dotDocHeight = 100;
const cellSize = 4;
const strokeColor = "black";
const gridYStart = (dotDocHeight % cellSize) / 2;
const gridXStart = (dotDocWidth % cellSize) / 2;
const dotSize = 0.5;
const patternHeight = (cellSize / dotDocHeight) * 100;

And then adding them to the SVG element:

<svg
  width={svgWidth}
  viewBox={`0 0 ${dotDocWidth} ${dotDocHeight}`}
  xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
  role="img"
>
  <defs>
    <pattern
      id="horizontal-dotted-line"
      viewBox={`0 0 ${dotDocWidth} ${dotSize}`}
      width="100%"
      height={`${patternHeight}%`}
    >
      <line
        x1={gridXStart}
        y1={gridYStart}
        x2={dotDocWidth}
        y2={gridYStart}
        stroke={strokeColor}
        stroke-width={dotSize}
        stroke-dasharray={`0,${cellSize}`}
        stroke-linecap="round"
      ></line>
    </pattern>
  </defs>
  <title>A Dot Grid</title>
  <rect
    x="0"
    y="0"
    width={dotDocWidth}
    height={dotDocHeight}
    fill="url(#horizontal-dotted-line)"
  ></rect>
</svg>

And this is what that looks like:

See the Pen SVG Dot Grid [forked] by Myriam.

This brings us to the end of our little introductory journey into SVG. As you can see, coding SVG by hand is not as scary as it seems. If you break it down into the basic elements, it becomes quite like any other coding task:

• We analyze the problem,
• Break it down into smaller parts,
• Examine each coordinate and its mathematical breakdown,
• And then put it all together.

I hope that this article has given you a starting point into the wonderful world of coded images and that it gives you the motivation to delve deeper into the specs and try drawing some yourself.

SVGator has gone through a series of updates since our last article, which was published in 2021, when it was already considered to be the most advanced web-based tool for vector animation. The first step toward more versatile software came with the mobile export feature that made it possible to implement the animations in iOS and Android applications.

The animation tool continued its upgrade with a series of new export options: video formats including MP4, AVI, MKV, MOV, and WebM, as well as image formats such as GIF, Animated PNG, WebP, and image sequence. By covering a larger area of users’ needs, the app now enables anyone to create animated stickers, social media, and newsletter animations, video assets, and many more types of visual content on demand.

The goal of becoming a “one tool for all” still lacked the last piece of the puzzle, namely full support for Lottie files. Lottie, just like SVG, is a vector-based format, but it has even better comprehensive multi-platform support, a fact that makes it super popular among developers and design professionals. It is built for use across various platforms, enabling smooth integration into both web and mobile applications. Its file size is minimal, it is infinitely scalable, and developers find it straightforward to implement once they get familiar with the format. Lottie can incorporate raster graphics and also supports interactivity.

SVGator’s latest version has everything you need for your various applications without the need for any third-party apps or plug-ins.

Note: You can test all of SVGator’s functionalities free of charge before committing to the Pro plan. However, you can export up to three watermarked files, with videos and GIFs limited to basic quality.

In this article, we will follow a creation process made of these steps:

• Importing an existent Lottie JSON and making some minor adjustments;
• Importing new animated assets created with SVGator (using the library);
• Creating and animating new elements from scratch;
• Exporting the Lottie animation.

The sign-up process is simple, fast, and straightforward, and no credit card is required. Sign up either with Google or Facebook or, alternatively, by providing your name, email address, and password. Start a project either with a Lottie animation or a static SVG. If you don’t have an existing file, you can design and animate everything starting from a blank canvas.

Now that you’ve created your account, let’s dive right into the fun part. Here’s a preview of how your animation is going to look by the time you’re done following this guide. Neat, right?

After logging in and clicking on the New Project option, you will be taken to the New Project Panel, where you can choose between starting from a blank project or uploading a file. Let’s start this project with an existing Lottie JSON.

• Download the Lottie demo

1. Click on the Upload file button and navigate to the directory where you have saved your Lottie file.
   
   
2. Select the “Fast response.json” file and click Open.
   
   Hit play in the editor, and the animation should look like this:
   
   (Large preview)

Note: Make sure to hit Save after each step to make sure you don’t lose any of your progress while working on this project alongside our guide.

In this step, you will learn how to use the Library to import new assets to your project. You can easily choose from a variety of ready-made SVGs stored in different categories, load new files from your computer (Lottie, static SVG, and images), or save animations from other SVGator projects and reuse them.

In this case, let’s use an animated message bubble previously created and saved to the Uploads section of the Library.

Learn how to create and save animated assets with this short video tutorial.

• Download the message bubble Lottie animation

1. Navigate to the left sidebar of the app and switch to the Library tab, then click the “+” icon to upload the message bubble asset that you downloaded earlier.
2. After it is loaded in the uploads section, simply click on it to add it to your project.
   
   All the animated properties of the asset are now present in the timeline, and you can edit them if you want.
   
   Note: Make sure the playhead is at the second “0” before adding the animated asset. When adding an animated asset, it will always start animating from the point where the playhead is placed.
3. Freely adjust its position and size as you wish.
4. With the playhead at the second 0, click on the Animate button, then choose Position.

At this point, you should have the first Position keyframe automatically added at the second 0, and you are ready to start animating.

1. Start by dragging the playhead on the timeline at 0.2 seconds:
   
   
2. Then, drag the message bubble up a few pixels. The second keyframe will appear in the timeline, marking the element’s new position, thus creating the 2 milliseconds animation.
   
   Note: You can hit Play at any moment to check how everything looks!
   
   Next, you can use the Scale animator to make the bubble disappear after the dots representing the typing are done animating by scaling it down to 0 for both the X and Y axes:
   
   
3. With the message bubble still selected, drag the playhead at 2.2 seconds, click on Animate, and select Scale (or just press Shift + S on the keyboard) to set the first Scale keyframe, then drag the playhead at 2.5 seconds.
4. Set the scale properties to 0 for both the X and Y axes (in the right side panel). The bubble won’t be visible anymore at this point.
   
   Note: To maintain the ratio while changing the scale values, make sure you have the Maintain proportions on (the link icon next to the scale inputs).
   
   To add an extra touch of interest to this scaling motion, add an easing function preset:
   
   
5. First, jump back to the first Scale keyframe (you can also double-click the keyframe to jump the playhead right at it).
6. Open the Easing Panel next to the time indicator and scroll down through the presets list, then select Ease in Back. Due to its bezier going out of the graph, this easing function will create a bounce-back effect for the scale animation.
   
   Note: You can adjust the bezier of a selected easing preset and create a new custom function, which will appear at the top of the list.
   
   Keep in mind that you need at least one keyframe selected if you intend to apply an easing. The easing function will apply from the selected keyframe toward the next keyframe at its right. Of course, you can apply a certain easing for multiple keyframes at once.
   
   To get a smoother transition when the message bubble disappears, add an Opacity animation of one millisecond at the end of the scaling:
   
   
7. Choose Opacity from the animators’ list and set the first keyframe at 2.4 seconds, then drag the playhead at 2.5 seconds to match the ending keyframe from the scale animation above.
8. From the Appearance panel, drag the Opacity slider all the way to the left, at 0%.

For the concept behind this animation to be complete, let’s create (and later animate) a “new email” notification as a response to the character sending that message.

Once again, SVGator’s asset library comes in handy for this step:

1. Go to the search bar from the Library and type in “mail,” then click on the mail asset from the results.
2. Place it somewhere above the laptop. Edit the mail icon to better fit the style of the animation:
   
   
3. Open the email group and select the rectangle from the back.
4. Change its fill color to a dark purple.
5. Round up the corners using the Radius slider.
   
   
6. Make the element’s design minimal by deleting these two lines from the lower part of the envelope.
   
   
7. Select the envelope seal flap, which is the Polyline element in the group, above the rectangle.
8. Add a lighter purple for the fill, set the stroke to 2 px width, and also make it white.
   
   To make the animation even more interesting, create a notification alert in the top-right corner of the envelope:
   
   
9. Use the Ellipse tool (O) from the toolbar on top and draw a circle in the top-right corner of the envelope.
10. Choose a nice red color for the fill, and set the stroke to white with a 2 px width.
    
    
11. Click on the “T” icon to select the Text tool.
12. Click on the circle and type “1”.
13. Set the color to white and click on the “B” icon to make it bold.
    
    
14. Select both the red circle and the number, and group them: right-click, and hit Group.
    
    You can also hit Command or Ctrl + G on your keyboard. Double-click on the newly created group to rename it to “Notification.”
    
    
15. Select both the notification group and email group below and create a new group, which you can name “new email.”

Let’s animate the new email popping out of the laptop right after the character has finished texting his message:

1. With the “New email” group selected, click twice on the Move down icon from the header to place the group last.
   You can also press Command or Ctrl + arrow down on your keyboard.
2. Drag the group behind the laptop (on the canvas) to hide it entirely, and also scale it down a little.
3. With the playhead at 3 seconds, add the animators Scale and Position.
   You can also do that by pressing Shift + S and Shift + P on your keyboard.
   
   
4. Drag the playhead at the second 3.3 on the timeline.
5. Move the New Email group above the laptop and scale it up a bit.
6. You can also bend the motion path line to create a curved trajectory for the position animation.
   
   
7. Select the first keyframes at the second 3.
8. Open the easing panel.
9. And click on the Ease Out Cubic preset to add it to both keyframes.

Let’s animate the notification dot separately. We’ll make it pop in while the email group shows up.

1. Select the Notification group.
2. Create a scale-up animation for it with 0 for both the X and Y axes at 3.2 and 1 at 3.5 seconds.
3. Select the first keyframe and, from the easing panel, choose Ease Out Back. This easing function will ensure the popping effect.

Make the character smile while looking at the email that just popped out. For this, you need to animate the stroke offset of the mouth:

1. Select the mouth path. You can use the Node tool to select it directly with one click.
2. Drag the playhead at 3.5 seconds, which is the moment from where the smile will start.
3. Select the last keyframe of the Stroke offset animator from the timeline and duplicate it at second 3.5, or you can also use Ctrl or Cmd + D for duplication.
   
   
4. Drag the playhead at second 3.9.
5. Go to the properties panel and set the Offset to 0. The stroke will now fill the path all the way, creating a stroke offset animation of 4 milliseconds.

You can still make all kinds of adjustments to your animation before exporting it. In this case, let’s change the color of the initial Lottie animation we used to start this project:

1. Use the Node tool to select all the green paths that form the character’s arms and torso.
2. Change the color as you desire.

Once you’re done editing, you can export the animation by clicking on the top right Export button and selecting the Lottie format. Alternatively, you can press Command or Ctrl + E on your keyboard to jump directly to the export panel, from where you can still select the animation you want to export.

1. Make sure the Lottie format is selected from the dropdown. In the export panel, you can set a name for the file you are about to export, choose the frame rate and animation speed, or set a background color.
2. You can preview the Lottie animation with a Lottie player.
   Note: This step is recommended to make sure all animations are supported in the Lottie format by previewing it on a webpage using the Lottie player. The preview in the export panel isn’t an actual Lottie animation.
3. Get back to the export panel and simply click Export to download the Lottie JSON.

Now that you’re done with your animation don’t forget that you have plenty of export options available besides Lottie. You can post the same project on social media in video format, export it as an SVG animation for the web, or turn it into a GIF sticker or any other type of visual you can think of. GIF animations can also be used in Figma presentations and prototypes as a high-fidelity preview of the production-ready Lottie file.

We hope you enjoyed this article and that it will inspire you to create amazing Lottie animations in your next project.

Below, you can find a few useful resources to continue your journey with SVG and SVGator:

• SVGator tutorials
  Check out a series of short video tutorials to help you get started with SVGator.
• SVGator Help Center
  It answers the most common questions about SVGator, its features, and membership plans.

In this article, I’ll introduce you to Luzmo Flex, a new feature from the Luzmo team who have been working hard making developer tooling to flatten the on-ramp for analytics reporting and data visualization.

With Luzmo Flex, you can hook up a dataset and create beautifully crafted, fully customizable interactive charts that meet your reporting needs. They easily integrate and interact with other components of your web app, allowing you to move away from a traditional “dashboard” interface and build more bespoke data products.

While many charting libraries offer similar features, I often found it challenging to get the data into the right shape that the library needed. In this article, I’ll show you how you can build beautiful data visualizations using the Google Analytics API, and you won’t have to spend any time “massaging” the data!

Well, it’s two things, really. First of all, Luzmo is a low-code platform for embedded analytics. You can create datasets from just about anything, connect them to APIs like Google Analytics or your PostgreSQL database, or even upload static data in a .csv file and start creating data visualizations with drag and drop.

Secondly, Luzmo Flex is their new React component that can be configured to create custom data visualizations. Everything from the way you query your data to the way you display it can be achieved through code using the LuzmoVizItemComponent.

What makes Luzmo Flex unique is that you can reuse the core functionalities of Luzmo’s low-code embedded analytics platform in your custom-coded components.

That means, besides creating ready-to-use datasets, you can set up functions like the following out-of-the-box:

• Multi-tenant analytics: Showing different data or visualizations to different users of your app.
• Localization: Displaying charts in multiple languages, currencies, and timezones without much custom development.
• Interactivity: Set up event listeners to create complex interactivity between Luzmo’s viz items and any non-Luzmo components in your app.

What Can You Build With Luzmo Flex?

By combining these off-the-shelf functions with flexibility through code, Luzmo Flex makes a great solution for building bespoke data products that go beyond the limits of a traditional dashboard interface. Below are a few examples of what that could look like.

Report Builder

A custom report builder that lets users search and filter a dataset and render it out using a number of different charts.

Filter Panel

Enable powerful filtering using HTML Select inputs, which will update each chart shown on the page.

Wearables Dashboard

Or how about a sleep tracker hooked up to your phone to track all those important snoozes?

When building data-intensive applications, using something like Recharts, a well-known React charting library, you’ll likely need to reformat the data to fit the required shape. For instance, if I request the top 3 page views from the last seven days for my site, paulie.dev, I would have to use the Google Analytics API using the following query.

import dotenv from 'dotenv';
import { BetaAnalyticsDataClient } from '@google-analytics/data';
dotenv.config();

const credentials = JSON.parse(
  Buffer.from(process.env.GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS_BASE64, 'base64').toString('utf-8')
);

const analyticsDataClient = new BetaAnalyticsDataClient({
  credentials,
});

const [{ rows }] = await analyticsDataClient.runReport({
  property: properties/${process.env.GA4_PROPERTY_ID},
  dateRanges: [
    {
      startDate: '7daysAgo',
      endDate: 'today',
    },
  ],
  dimensions: [
    {
      name: 'fullPageUrl',
    },
    {
      name: 'pageTitle',
    },
  ],
  metrics: [
    {
      name: 'totalUsers',
    },
  ],
  limit: 3,
  metricAggregations: ['MAXIMUM'],
});

The response would look something like this:

[
  {
    "dimensionValues": [
      {
        "value": "www.paulie.dev/",
        "oneValue": "value"
      },
      {
        "value": "Paul Scanlon | Home",
        "oneValue": "value"
      }
    ],
    "metricValues": [
      {
        "value": "61",
        "oneValue": "value"
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "dimensionValues": [
      {
        "value": "www.paulie.dev/posts/2023/11/a-set-of-sign-in-with-google-buttons-made-with-tailwind/",
        "oneValue": "value"
      },
      {
        "value": "Paul Scanlon | A set of: \"Sign In With Google\" Buttons Made With Tailwind",
        "oneValue": "value"
      }
    ],
    "metricValues": [
      {
        "value": "41",
        "oneValue": "value"
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "dimensionValues": [
      {
        "value": "www.paulie.dev/posts/2023/10/what-is-a-proxy-redirect/",
        "oneValue": "value"
      },
      {
        "value": "Paul Scanlon | What Is a Proxy Redirect?",
        "oneValue": "value"
      }
    ],
    "metricValues": [
      {
        "value": "23",
        "oneValue": "value"
      }
    ]
  }
]

To make that data work with Recharts, I’d need to reformat it so it conforms to the following data shape.

[
  {
    "name": "Paul Scanlon | Home",
    "value": 61
  },
  {
    "name": "Paul Scanlon | A set of: \"Sign In With Google\" Buttons Made With Tailwind",
    "value": 41
  },
  {
    "name": "Paul Scanlon | What Is a Proxy Redirect?",
    "value": 23
  }
]

To accomplish this, I’d need to use an Array.prototype.map() to iterate over each item, destructure the relevant data and return a key-value pair for the name and value for each.

const data = response.rows.map((row) => {
  const { dimensionValues, metricValues } = row;

  const pageTitle = dimensionValues[1].value;
  const totalUsers = parseInt(metricValues[0].value);

  return {
    name: pageTitle,
    value: totalUsers,
  };
});

And naturally, if you’re reformatting data this way in your application, you’d also want to write unit tests to ensure the data is always formatted correctly to avoid breaking your application… and all of this before you even get on to creating your charts!

With Luzmo Flex, all of this goes away, leaving you more time to focus on which data to display and how best to display it.

Typically, when building user interfaces that display data insights, your first job will be to figure out how to query the data source. This can take many forms, from RESTful API requests to direct database queries or sometimes reading from static files. Your next job will be figuring out when and how often these requests need to occur.

• For data that rarely changes: Perhaps a query in the build step will work.
• For data that changes regularly: A server-side request on page load.
• For ever-changing data: A client-side request that polls an API on an interval.

Each will likely inform your application’s architecture, and there’s no single solution to this. Your last job, as mentioned, will be wrangling the responses, reformatting the data, and displaying it in the UI.

Below, I’ll show you how to do this using Luzmo Flex by using a simple example product.

Here’s a screenshot of a simple data product I’ve built that displays three different charts for different reporting dimensions exposed by the Google Analytics API for page views for my site, paulie.dev, from the last seven days.

You can find all the code used in this article on the following link:

• https://github.com/luzmo-official/luzmo-flex-tutorial

Before we get going, hop over to Luzmo and sign up for a free trial. You might also like to have a read of one of the getting started guides listed below. In this article, I’ll be using the Next.js starter.

• Getting started with Luzmo Data Visualization and Next.js
  • https://github.com/luzmo-official/luzmo-getting-started-next-js
• Getting started with Luzmo Data Visualization and Astro
  • https://github.com/luzmo-official/luzmo-getting-started-astro

To create data visualization, you’ll first need data! To achieve this using Luzmo, head over to the dashboard, select Datasets from the navigation, and select GA4 Google Analytics. Follow the steps shown in the UI to connect Luzmo with your Google Analytics account.

With the setup complete, you can now select which reporting dimensions to add to your dataset. To follow along with this article, select Custom selection.

Lastly, select the following using the search input. Device Category, Page Title, Date, and Total users, then click Import when you’re ready.

You now have all the data required to build the Google Analytics dashboard. You can access the dataset ID from the URL address bar in your browser. You’ll need this in a later step.

If you’ve followed along from either of the first two getting started guides, you’ll have your API Key, API Token, App server, and API host environment variables set up and saved in a .env file.

Install Dependencies

If you’ve cloned one of the starter repositories, run the following to install the required dependencies.

npm install

Next, install the Luzmo React Embed dependency which exports the LuzmoVizItemComponent.

npm install  @luzmo/react-embed@latest

Now, find page.tsx located in the src/app directory, and add your dataset id as shown below.

Add the access object from the destructured response and pass access.datasets[0].id onto the LuzmoClientComponent component using a prop named datasetId.

// src/app/page.tsx


+ import dynamic from 'next/dynamic';

import Luzmo from '@luzmo/nodejs-sdk';
- import LuzmoClientComponent from './components/luzmo-client-component';
+ const LuzmoClientComponent = dynamic(() => import('./components/luzmo-client-component'), {
  ssr: false,
});


const client = new Luzmo({
  api_key: process.env.LUZMO_API_KEY!,
  api_token: process.env.LUZMO_API_TOKEN!,
  host: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_LUZMO_API_HOST!,
});

export default async function Home() {
  const response = await client.create('authorization', {
    type: 'embed',
    username: 'user id',
    name: 'first name last name',
    email: 'name@email.com',
    access: {
      datasets: [
        {
-          id: '<dataset_id>',
+          id: '42b43db3-24b2-45e7-98c5-3fcdef20b1a3',
          rights: 'use',
        },
      ],
    },
  });

-  const { id, token } = response;
+  const { id, token, access } = response;

-  return <LuzmoClientComponent authKey={id} authToken={token} />;
+  return <LuzmoClientComponent authKey={id} authToken={token} datasetId={access.datasets[0].id} />;
}

And lastly, find luzmo-client-component.tsx located in src/app/components. This is where you’ll be creating your charts.

The first chart you’ll create is a Donut chart that shows the various devices used by visitors to your site.

Add the following code to luzmo-client-component.tsx component.

// src/app/component/luzmo-client-component.tsx

'use client';

+ import { LuzmoVizItemComponent } from '@luzmo/react-embed';

interface Props {
  authKey: string;
  authToken: string;
+  datasetId: string;
}

- export default function LuzmoClientComponent({ authKey, authToken}: Props) {
+ export default function LuzmoClientComponent({ authKey, authToken, datasetId }: Props) {

+  const date = new Date(new Date().getTime() - 7 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000).toISOString(); // creates a date 7 days ago

  console.log({ authKey, authToken });

  return (
    <section>
+    <div className='w-1/2 h-80'>
+      <LuzmoVizItemComponent
+        appServer={process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_LUZMO_APP_SERVER}
+        apiHost={process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_LUZMO_API_HOST}
+        authKey={authKey}
+        authToken={authToken}
+        type='donut-chart'
+        options={{
+          title: {
+            en: Devices from last 7 days,
+          },
+          display: {
+            title: true,
+          },
+          mode: 'donut',
+          legend: {
+            position: 'bottom',
+          },
+        }}
+        slots={[
+          {
+            name: 'measure',
+            content: [
+              {
+                label: {
+                  en: 'Total users',
+                },
+                column: '<column id>', // Total users
+                set: datasetId,
+                type: 'numeric',
+                format: '.4f',
+              },
+            ],
+          },
+          {
+            name: 'category',
+            content: [
+              {
+                label: {
+                  en: 'Device category',
+                },
+                column: '<column id>', // Device category
+                set: datasetId,
+                type: 'hierarchy',
+              },
+            ],
+          },
+        ]}
+        filters={[
+          {
+            condition: 'or',
+            filters: [
+              {
+                expression: '? >= ?',
+                parameters: [
+                  {
+                    column_id: '<column id>', // Date
+                    dataset_id: datasetId,
+                  },
+                  date,
+                ],
+              },
+            ],
+          },
+        ]}
+      />
+    <div/>
    </section>
  );
}

There’s quite a lot going on in the above code snippet, and I will explain it all in due course, but first, I’ll need to cover a particularly tricky part of the configuration.

Column IDs

You’ll notice the filters parameters, measure, and category content all require a column id.

In the filters parameters, the key is named column_id, and in the measure and category, the key is named column. Both of these are actually the column IDs from the dataset. And here’s how you can find them.

Back in the Luzmo dashboard, click into your dataset and look for the “more dots” next to each column heading. From the menu, select Copy column id. Add each column ID to the keys in the configuration objects.

In my example, I’m using the Total users for the measure, the Device category for the category, and the Date for the filter.

If you’ve added the column IDs correctly, you should be able to see a rendered chart on your screen!

… and as promised, here’s a breakdown of the configuration.

Initial Props Donut chart

The first part is fairly straightforward. appServer and authKey are the environment variables you saved to your .env file, and authKey and authToken are destructured from the authorization request and passed into this component via props.

The type prop determines which type of chart to render. In my example, I’m using donut-chart, but you could choose from one of the many options available, area-chart, bar-chart, bubble-chart, box-plot, and many more. You can see all the available options in the Luzmo documentation under Chart docs.

<LuzmoVizItemComponent
  appServer={process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_LUZMO_APP_SERVER}
  apiHost={process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_LUZMO_API_HOST}
  authKey={authKey}
  authToken={authToken}
  type='donut-chart'

The one thing I should point out is my use of Tailwind classes: w-1/2 (width: 50%) and h-80 (height: 20rem). The LuzmoVizItemComponent ships with height 100%, so you’ll need to wrap the component with an element that has an actual height, or you won’t be able to see the chart on the page as it could be 100% of the height of an element with no height.

Donut Chart Options

The options object is where you can customize the appearance of your chart. It accepts many configuration options, among which:

• A title for the chart that accepts a locale with corresponding text to display.
• A display title value to determine if the title is shown or not.
• A mode to determine if the chart is to be of type donut or pie chart.
• A legend option to determine where the legend can be positioned.

All the available configuration options can be seen in the Donut chart documentation.

options={{
  title: {
    en: `Devices from last 7 days`,
  },
  display: {
    title: true,
  },
  mode: 'donut',
  legend: {
    position: 'bottom',
  },
}}

Donut Chart Slots

Slots are where you can configure which column from your dataset to use for the category and measure.

Slots can contain multiple measures, useful for displaying two columns of data per chart, but if more than two are used, one will become the measure.

Each measure contains a content array. The content array, among many other configurations, can include the following:

• A label and locale,
• The column id from the dataset,
• The datasetId,
• The type of data you’re displaying,
• A format for the data.

The format used here is Python syntax for floating-point numbers; it’s similar to JavaScript’s .toFixed() method, e.g number.toFixed(4).

The hierarchy type is ​​the Luzmo standard data type. Any text column is considered as an hierarchical data type.

You can read more in the Donut chart documentation about available configuration options for slots.

slots={[
  {
    name: 'measure',
    content: [
      {
        label: {
          en: 'Total users',
        },
        column: '<column id>', // Total users
        set: datasetId,
        type: 'numeric',
        format: '.4f',
      },
    ],
  },
  {
    name: 'category',
    content: [
      {
        label: {
          en: 'Device category',
        },
        column: '<column id>', // Device category
        set: datasetId,
        type: 'hierarchy',
      },
    ],
  },
]}

Donut Chart Filters

The filters object is where you can apply conditions that will determine which data will be shown. In my example, I only want to show data from the last seven days. To accomplish this, I first create the date variable:

const date = new Date(new Date().getTime() - 7 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000).toISOString();

This would produce an ISO date string, e.g., 2024-08-21T14:25:40.088Z, which I can use with the filter. The filter uses Luzmo’s Filter Expressions, to determine if the date for each row of the data is greater than or equal to the date variable. You can read more about Filter Expressions in Luzmo’s Academy article.

filters={[
  {
    condition: 'or',
    filters: [
      {
        expression: '? >= ?',
        parameters: [
          {
            column_id: '<column id>', // Date
            dataset_id: datasetId,
          },
          date,
        ],
      },
    ],
  },
]}

The second chart you’ll be creating is a Line chart that displays the number of page views on each date from the last seven days from folks who visit your site.

Initial Props Line Chart

As with the Donut chart, the initial props are pretty much the same, but the type has been changed to line-chart.

<LuzmoVizItemComponent
  appServer={process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_LUZMO_APP_SERVER}
  apiHost={process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_LUZMO_API_HOST}
  authKey={authKey}
  authToken={authToken}
  type='line-chart'

Line Chart Options

The options for the Line chart are as follows, and the mode has been changed to line-chart.

options={{
  title: {
    en: `Site visits from last 7 days`,
  },
  display: {
    title: true,
  },
  mode: 'grouped',
}}

Line Chart Slots

The slots object is almost the same as before with the Donut chart, but for the Line chart, I’m using the date column from the dataset instead of the device category, and instead of category, I’m using the x-axis slot type. To ensure I’m formatting the data correctly (by day), I’ve used level 5. You can read more about levels in the docs.

slots={[
  {
    name: 'measure',
    content: [
      {
        label: {
          en: 'Total users',
        },
        column: '<column id>', // Total users
        set: datasetId,
        type: 'numeric',
        format: '.4f',
      },
    ],
  },
  {
    name: 'x-axis',
    content: [
      {
        label: {
          en: 'Date',
        },
        column: '<column id>', // Date
        set: datasetId,
        type: 'datetime',
        level: 5,
      },
    ],
  },
]}

Line Chart Filters

I’ve used the same filters as I used in the Donut chart.

The last chart you’ll be creating is a Bar chart that displays the number of page views for the top ten most viewed pages on your site.

Initial Props Bar Chart

As with the Donut and Line chart, the initial props are pretty much the same, but the type has been changed to bar-chart.

<LuzmoVizItemComponent
  className='w-full h-80'
  appServer={process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_LUZMO_APP_SERVER}
  apiHost={process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_LUZMO_API_HOST}
  authKey={authKey}
  authToken={authToken}
  type='bar-chart'

Bar Chart Options

The options for the Bar chart are a little more involved. I’ve included some styling options for the border-radii of the bars, limited the number of results to 10, and sorted the data by the highest page view count first using the sort by measure and direction options.

options={{
  title: {
    en: `Page views from last 7 days`,
  },
  display: {
    title: true,
  },
  mode: 'grouped',
  bars: {
    roundedCorners: 5,
  },
  limit: {
    number: 10,
  },
  sort: {
    by: 'measure',
    direction: 'desc',
  },
}}

Line Chart Slots

As with the Line chart, I’ve used an axis for one of the columns from the dataset. In this case, it’s the y-axis which displays the page title.

slots={[
  {
    name: 'measure',
    content: [
      {
        label: {
          en: 'Total users',
        },
        column: '<column id>', // Total users
        set: datasetId,
        type: 'numeric',
        format: '.4f',
      },
    ],
  },
  {
    name: 'y-axis',
    content: [
      {
        label: {
          en: 'Page title',
        },
        column: '<column id>', // Page title
        set: datasetId,
        type: 'hierarchy',
      },
    ],
  },
]}

Bar Chart Filters

I’ve used the same filters as I used in the Donut and Line chart.

As you can see, there are plenty of types of charts and customization options. Because this is just an “ordinary” React component, you can very easily make it configurable by an end user by allowing options to be set and unset using HTML input elements, checkbox, select, date, and so on.

But for me, the real power behind this is not having to mutate data!

This is particularly pertinent when displaying multiple charts with different reporting dimensions. Typically, this would require each to have their own utility function or reformatting method. That said, setting column IDs and dataset IDs is a little fiddly, but once you have the component hooked up to the dataset, you can configure and reconfigure as much as you like, all without having to rewrite data formatting functions.

If you’re interested in bringing data to life in your application and want to get it done without the usual headaches, book a free demo with the Luzmo team to learn more!

Today’s digital world is flooded with choices, information, and data, which is both exciting and overwhelming. Unlike Krug’s time,

Today, the problem isn’t interaction complexity but opacity. AI-powered solutions often lack transparency and explainability, raising concerns about user trust and accountability.

The era of click-and-command is fading, giving way to a more seamless and intelligent relationship between humans and machines.

Expanding on Krug’s Call for Clarity: The Pillars of Anticipatory Design

Krug’s emphasis on clarity in design is more relevant than ever. In anticipatory design, clarity is not just about simplicity or ease of use — it’s about transparency and accountability. These two pillars are crucial but often missing as businesses navigate this new paradigm. Users today find themselves in a digital landscape that is not only confusing but increasingly intrusive. AI predicts their desires based on past behavior but rarely explains how these predictions are made, leading to growing mistrust.

Transparency is the foundation of clarity. It involves openly communicating how AI-driven decisions are made, what data is being collected, and how it is being used to anticipate needs. By demystifying these processes, designers can alleviate user concerns about privacy and control, thereby building trust.

Accountability complements transparency by ensuring that anticipatory systems are designed with ethical considerations in mind. This means creating mechanisms for users to understand, question, and override automated decisions if needed. When users feel that the system is accountable to them, their trust in the technology — and the brand — deepens.

Image AI like a waiter at a restaurant. Without AI, they wait for you to interact with them and place your order. But with anticipatory design powered by AI and ML, the waiter can analyze your past orders (historical data) and current behavior (contextual data) — perhaps, by noticing you always start with a glass of sparkling water.

This proactive approach has evolved since the late 1990s, with early examples like Amazon’s recommendation engine and TiVo’s predictive recording. These pioneering services demonstrated the potential of predictive analytics and ML to create personalized, seamless user experiences.

Amazon’s Recommendation Engine (Late 1990s)

Amazon was a pioneer in using data to predict and suggest products to customers, setting the standard for personalized experiences in e-commerce.

TiVo (1999)

TiVo’s ability to learn users’ viewing habits and automatically record shows marked an early step toward predictive, personalized entertainment.

Netflix’s Recommendation System (2006)

Netflix began offering personalized movie recommendations based on user ratings and viewing history in 2006. It helped popularize the idea of anticipatory design in the digital entertainment space.

Designing for anticipation is designing for a future that is not here yet but has already started moving toward us.

Designing for anticipation involves more than reacting to current trends; it requires businesses to plan strategically for future user needs. Two critical concepts in this process are forecasting and backcasting.

• Forecasting analyzes past trends and data to predict future outcomes, helping businesses anticipate user needs.
• Backcasting starts with a desired future outcome and works backward to identify the steps needed to achieve that goal.

Think of it like planning a dream vacation. Forecasting would involve looking at your past trips to guess where you might go next. But backcasting lets you pick your ideal destination first, then plan the perfect itinerary to get you there.

Forecasting: A Core Concept for Future-Oriented Design

This method helps in planning and decision-making based on probable future scenarios. Consider Netflix, which uses forecasting to analyze viewers’ past viewing habits and predict what they might want to watch next. By leveraging data from millions of users, Netflix can anticipate individual preferences and serve personalized recommendations that keep users engaged and satisfied.

Backcasting: Planning From the Desired Future

Backcasting takes a different approach. Instead of using data to predict the future, it starts with defining a desired future outcome — a clear user intent. The process then works backward to identify the steps needed to achieve that goal. This goal-oriented approach crafts an experience that actively guides users toward their desired future state.

For instance, a financial planning app might start with a user’s long-term financial goal, such as saving for retirement, and then design an experience that guides the user through each step necessary to reach that goal, from budgeting tips to investment recommendations.

Integrating Forecasting and Backcasting In Anticipatory Design

The true power of anticipatory design emerges when businesses efficiently integrate both forecasting and backcasting into their design processes.

For example, Tesla’s approach to electric vehicles exemplifies this integration. By forecasting market trends and user preferences, Tesla can introduce features that appeal to users today. Simultaneously, by backcasting from a vision of a sustainable future, Tesla designs its vehicles and infrastructure to guide society toward a world where electric cars are the norm and carbon emissions are significantly reduced.

As businesses increasingly adopt anticipatory design, the integration of forecasting and backcasting becomes essential. Forecasting allows businesses to predict and respond to immediate user needs, while backcasting ensures these responses align with long-term goals. Despite its potential, anticipatory design often fails in execution, leaving few examples of success.

Over the past decade, I’ve observed and documented the rise and fall of several ambitious anticipatory design ventures. Among them, three — Digit, LifeBEAM Vi Sense Headphones, and Mint — highlight the challenges of this approach.

Digit: Struggling with Contextual Understanding

Digit aimed to simplify personal finance with algorithms that automatically saved money based on user spending. However, the service often missed the mark, lacking the contextual awareness necessary to accurately assess users’ real-time financial situations. This led to unexpected withdrawals, frustrating users, especially those living paycheck to paycheck. The result was a breakdown in trust, with the service feeling more intrusive than supportive.

LifeBEAM Vi Sense Headphones: Complexity and User Experience Challenges

LifeBEAM Vi Sense Headphones was marketed as an AI-driven fitness coach, promising personalized guidance during workouts. In practice, the AI struggled to deliver tailored coaching, offering generic and unresponsive advice. As a result, users found the experience difficult to navigate, ultimately limiting the product’s appeal and effectiveness. This disconnection between the promised personalized experience and the actual user experience left many disappointed.

Mint: Misalignment with User Goals

Mint aimed to empower users to manage their finances by providing automated budgeting tools and financial advice. While the service had the potential to anticipate user needs, users often found that the suggestions were not tailored to their unique financial situations, resulting in generic advice that did not align with their personal goals.

The lack of personalized, actionable steps led to a mismatch between user expectations and service delivery. This misalignment caused some users to disengage, feeling that Mint was not fully attuned to their unique financial journeys.

The stories of Digit, LifeBEAM Vi Sense, and Mint underscore a common pitfall: over-promising and under-delivering. These services focused too much on predictive power and not enough on user experience. When anticipatory systems fail to consider individual nuances, they breed frustration rather than satisfaction, highlighting the importance of aligning design with human experience.

Digit’s approach to automated savings, for instance, became problematic when users found its decisions opaque and unpredictable. Similarly, LifeBEAM’s Vi Sense headphones struggled to meet diverse user needs, while Mint’s rigid tools failed to offer the personalized insights users expected. These examples illustrate the delicate balance anticipatory design must strike between proactive assistance and user control.

Failure to Evolve with User Needs

Many anticipatory services rely heavily on data-driven forecasting, but predictions can fall short without understanding the broader user context. Mint initially provided value with basic budgeting tools but failed to evolve with users’ growing needs for more sophisticated financial advice. Digit, too, struggled to adapt to different financial habits, leading to dissatisfaction and limited success.

Complexity and Usability Issues

Balancing the complexity of predictive systems with usability and transparency is a key challenge in anticipatory design.

When systems become overly complex, as seen with LifeBEAM Vi Sense headphones, users may find them difficult to navigate or control, compromising trust and engagement. Mint’s generic recommendations, born from a failure to align immediate user needs with long-term goals, further illustrate the risks of complexity without clarity.

Privacy and Trust Issues

Trust is critical in anticipatory design, particularly in services handling sensitive data like finance or health. Digit and Mint both encountered trust issues as users grew skeptical of how decisions were made and whether these services truly had their best interests in mind. Without clear communication and control, even the most sophisticated systems risk alienating users.

Inadequate Handling of Edge Cases and Unpredictable Scenarios

While forecasting and backcasting work well for common scenarios, they can struggle with edge cases or unpredictable user behaviors. If an anticipatory service can’t handle these effectively, it risks providing a poor user experience and, in the worst-case scenario, harming the user. Anticipatory systems must be prepared to handle edge cases and unpredictable scenarios.

LifeBEAM Vi Sense headphones struggled when users deviated from expected fitness routines, offering a one-size-fits-all experience that failed to adapt to individual needs. This highlights the importance of allowing users control, even when a system proactively assists them.

Anticipatory design should empower users to achieve their goals, not just automate tasks.

We can follow a layered approach to plan a service that can evolve according to user actions and explicit ever-evolving intent.

But how do we design for intent without misaligning anticipation and user control or mismatching user expectations and service delivery?

At the core of this approach is intent — the primary purpose or goal that the design must achieve. Surrounding this are workflows, which represent the structured tasks to achieve the intent. Finally, algorithms analyze user data and optimize these workflows.

For instance, Thrive (see the image below), a digital wellness platform, aligns algorithms and workflows with the core intent of improving well-being. By anticipating user needs and offering personalized programs, Thrive helps users achieve sustained behavior change.

It perfectly exemplifies the three-layered concentric representation for achieving behavior change through anticipatory design:

1. Innermost layer: Intent

Improve overall well-being: Thrive’s core intent is to help users achieve a healthier and more fulfilling life. This encompasses aspects like managing stress, improving sleep quality, and boosting energy levels.

2. Middle layer: Workflows

Personalized programs and support: Thrive uses user data (sleep patterns, activity levels, mood) to create programs tailored to their specific needs and goals. These programs involve various workflows, such as:

• Guided meditations and breathing exercises to manage stress and anxiety.
• Personalized sleep routines aimed at improving sleep quality.
• Educational content and coaching tips to promote healthy habits and lifestyle changes.

3. Outermost layer: Algorithms

Data analysis and personalized recommendations: Thrive utilizes algorithms to analyze user data and generate actionable insights. These algorithms perform tasks like the following:

• Identify patterns in sleep, activity, and mood to understand user challenges.
• Predict user behavior to recommend interventions that address potential issues.
• Optimize program recommendations based on user progress and data analysis.

By aligning algorithms and workflows with the core intent of improving well-being, Thrive provides a personalized and proactive approach to behavior change. Here’s how it benefits users:

• Sustained behavior change: Personalized programs and ongoing support empower users to develop healthy habits for the long term.
• Data-driven insights: User data analysis helps users gain valuable insights into their well-being and identify areas for improvement.
• Proactive support: Anticipates potential issues and recommends interventions before problems arise.

Anticipatory design is inherently future-oriented, making it both appealing and challenging. To succeed, businesses must combine anticipation — predicting future needs — with foresight, a systematic approach to analyzing and preparing for future changes.

Foresight involves considering alternative future scenarios and making informed decisions to navigate toward desired outcomes. For example, Digit and Mint struggled because they didn’t adequately handle edge cases or unpredictable scenarios, a failure in their foresight strategy (see an image below).

As mentioned, while forecasting and backcasting work well for common scenarios, they can struggle with edge cases or unpredictable user behaviors. Under anticipatory design, if we demote foresight for a second plan, the business will fail to account for and prepare for emerging trends and disruptive changes. Strategic foresight helps companies to prepare for the future and develop strategies to address possible challenges and opportunities.

The Foresight process generally involves interrelated activities, including data research, trend analysis, planning scenarios, and impact assessment. The ultimate goal is to gain a broader and deeper understanding of the future to make more informed and strategic decisions in the design process and foresee possible frictions and pitfalls in the user experience.

Actionable Insights for Designer

• Enhance contextual awareness
  Help data scientists or engineers to ensure that the anticipatory systems can understand and respond to the full context of user needs, not just historical data. Plan for pitfalls so you can design safety measures where the user can control the system.
• Maintain user control
  Provide users with options to customize or override automated decisions, ensuring they feel in control of their experiences.
• Align short-term predictions with long-term goals
  Use forecasting and backcasting to create a balanced approach that meets immediate needs while guiding users toward their long-term objectives.

Predicting the future is no easy task. However, design can borrow foresight techniques to imagine, anticipate, and shape a future where technology seamlessly integrates with users evolving needs. To effectively implement anticipatory design, it’s essential to balance human control with AI automation. Here’s a 3-step approach to integrate future thinking into your workflow:

1. Anticipate Directions of Change
   Identify major trends shaping the future.
2. Imagine Alternative Scenarios
   Explore potential futures to guide impactful design decisions.
3. Shape Our Choices
   Leverage these scenarios to align design with user needs and long-term goals.

This proposed framework (see an image above) aims to integrate forecasting and backcasting while emphasizing user intent, transparency, and continuous improvement, ensuring that businesses create experiences that are both predictive and deeply aligned with user needs.

Step 1: Anticipate Directions of Change

Objective: Identify the major trends and forces shaping the future landscape.

Components:

1. Understand the User’s Intent

• User Research: Conduct in-depth user research through interviews, surveys, and observations to uncover user goals, motivations, pain points, and long-term aspirations or Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD). This foundational step helps clearly define the user’s intent.
• Persona Development: Develop detailed user personas that represent the target audience, including their long-term goals and desired outcomes. Prioritize understanding how the service can adapt in real-time to changing user needs, offering recommendations, or taking actions aligned with the persona’s current context.

2. Forecasting: Predicting Near-Term User Needs

• Data Collection and Analysis: Collaborate closely with data scientists and data engineers to analyze historical data (past interactions), user behavior, and external factors. This collaboration ensures that predictive analytics enhance overall user experience, allowing designers to better understand the implications of data on user behaviors.
• Predictive Modeling: Implement continuous learning algorithms that refine predictions over time. Regularly assess how these models evolve, adapting to users’ changing needs and circumstances.
• Explore the Delphi Method: This is a structured communication technique that gathers expert opinions to reach a consensus on future developments. It’s particularly useful for exploring complex issues with uncertain outcomes. Use the Delphi Method to gather insights from industry experts, user researchers, and stakeholders about future user needs and the best strategies to meet those needs. The consensus achieved can help in clearly defining the long-term goals and desired outcomes.

Activities:

• Conduct interviews and workshops with experts using the Delphi Method to validate key trends.
• Analyze data and trends to forecast future directions.

Step 2: Imagine Alternative Scenarios

Objective: Explore a range of potential futures based on these changing directions.

Components:

1. Scenario Planning

• Scenario Development: It involves creating detailed, plausible future scenarios based on various external factors, such as technological advancements, social trends, and economic changes. Develop multiple future scenarios that represent different possible user contexts and their impact on their needs.
• Scenario Analysis: From these scenarios, you can outline the long-term goals that users might have in each scenario and design services that anticipate and address these needs. Assess how these scenarios impact user needs and experiences.

2. Backcasting: Designing from the Desired Future

• Define Desired Outcomes: Clearly outline the long-term goals or future states that users aim to achieve. Use backcasting to reduce cognitive load by designing a service that anticipates future needs, streamlining user interactions, and minimizing decision-making efforts.
  • Use Visioning Planning: This is a creative process that involves imagining the ideal future state you want to achieve. It helps in setting clear, long-term goals by focusing on the desired outcomes rather than current constraints. Facilitate workshops or brainstorming sessions with stakeholders to co-create a vision of the future. Define what success looks like from the user’s perspective and use this vision to guide the backcasting process.
• Identify Steps to Reach Goals: Reverse-engineer the user journey by starting from the desired future state and working backward. Identify the necessary steps and milestones and ensure these are communicated transparently to users, allowing them control over their experience.
• Create Roadmaps: Develop detailed roadmaps that outline the sequence of actions needed to transition from the current state to the desired future state. These roadmaps should anticipate obstacles, respect privacy, and avoid manipulative behaviors, empowering users rather than overwhelming them.

Activities:

• Develop and analyze alternative scenarios to explore various potential futures.
• Use backcasting to create actionable roadmaps from these scenarios, ensuring they align with long-term goals.

Step 3: Shape Our Choices

Objective: Leverage these scenarios to spark new ideas and guide impactful design decisions.

Components:

1. Integrate into the Human-Centered Design Process

• Iterative Design with Forecasting and Backcasting: Embed insights from forecasting and backcasting into every stage of the design process. Use these insights to inform user research, prototype development, and usability testing, ensuring that solutions address both predicted future needs and desired outcomes. Continuously refine designs based on user feedback.
• Agile Methodologies: Adopt agile development practices to remain flexible and responsive. Ensure that the service continuously learns from user interactions and feedback, refining its predictions and improving its ability to anticipate needs.

2. Implement and Monitor: Ensuring Ongoing Relevance

• User Feedback Loops: Establish continuous feedback mechanisms to refine predictive models and workflows. Use this feedback to adjust forecasts and backcasted plans as necessary, keeping the design aligned with evolving user expectations.
• Automation Tools: Collaborate with data scientists and engineers to deploy automation tools that execute workflows and monitor progress toward goals. These tools should adapt based on new data, evolving alongside user behavior and emerging trends.
• Performance Metrics: Define key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness, accuracy, and quality of the anticipatory experience. Regularly review these metrics to ensure that the system remains aligned with intended outcomes.
• Continuous Improvement: Maintain a cycle of continuous improvement where the system learns from each interaction, refining its predictions and recommendations over time to stay relevant and useful.
  • Use Trend Analysis: This involves identifying and analyzing patterns in data over time to predict future developments. This method helps you understand the direction in which user behaviors, technologies, and market conditions are heading. Use trend analysis to identify emerging trends that could influence user needs in the future. This will inform the desired outcomes by highlighting what users might require or expect from a service as these trends evolve.

Activities:

• Implement design solutions based on scenario insights and iterate based on user feedback.
• Regularly review and adjust designs using performance metrics and continuous improvement practices.

Anticipatory design holds immense potential to revolutionize user experiences by predicting and fulfilling needs before they are even articulated. However, as seen in the examples discussed, the gap between expectation and execution can lead to user dissatisfaction and erode trust.

To navigate the future of anticipatory design successfully, businesses must prioritize transparency, accountability, and user empowerment. By enhancing contextual awareness, maintaining user control, and aligning short-term predictions with long-term goals, companies can create experiences that are not only innovative but also deeply resonant with their users’ needs.

Moreover, combining anticipation with foresight allows businesses to prepare for a range of future scenarios, ensuring that their designs remain relevant and effective even as circumstances change. The proposed 3-step framework — anticipating directions of change, imagining alternative scenarios, and shaping our choices — provides a practical roadmap for integrating these principles into the design process.

As we move forward, the challenge will be to balance the power of AI with the human need for clarity, control, and trust. By doing so, businesses can fulfill the promise of anticipatory design, creating products and services that are not only efficient and personalized but also ethical and user-centric.

In the end,

The success of anticipatory design will depend on its ability to enhance, rather than replace, the human experience.

It is a tool to empower users, not to dictate their choices. When done right, anticipatory design can lead to a future where technology seamlessly integrates with our lives, making everyday experiences simpler, more intuitive, and ultimately more satisfying.

In this article, I’m gonna flip that on its head and show you how I wrote a GitHub Action that queries Google Analytics, generates a top ten list of the most frequently viewed pages on my site from the last seven days and compares them to the previous seven days to tell me which pages have increased in views, which pages have decreased in views, which pages have stayed the same and which pages are new to the list.

The report is then nicely formatted with icon indicators and posted to a public Slack channel every Friday at 10 AM.

Not only would this surfaced data be useful for folks who might need it, but it also provides an easy way to copy and paste or screenshot the report and add it to a slide for the weekly company/department meeting.

Here’s what the finished report looks like in Slack, and below, you’ll find a link to the GitHub Repository.

To use this repository, follow the steps outlined in the README.

• https://github.com/PaulieScanlon/smashing-weekly-analytics

To build this workflow, you’ll need admin access to your Google Analytics and Slack Accounts and administrator privileges for GitHub Actions and Secrets for a GitHub repository.

Naturally, all of the code can be changed to suit your requirements, and in the following sections, I’ll explain the areas you’ll likely want to take a look at.

Customizing the GitHub Action

The file name of the Action weekly-analytics.report.yml isn’t seen anywhere other than in the code/repo but naturally, change it to whatever you like, you won’t break anything.

The name and jobs: names detailed below are seen in the GitHub UI and Workflow logs.

The cron syntax determines when the Action will run. Schedules use POSIX cron syntax and by changing the numbers you can determine when the Action runs.

You could also change the secrets variable names; just make sure you update them in your repository Settings.

# .github/workflows/weekly-analytics-report.yml

name: Weekly Analytics Report

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 10 * * 5' # Runs every Friday at 10 AM UTC
  workflow_dispatch: # Allows manual triggering

jobs:
  analytics-report:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    env:
      SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL }}
      GA4_PROPERTY_ID: ${{ secrets.GA4_PROPERTY_ID }}
      GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS_BASE64: ${{ secrets.GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS_BASE64 }}

    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20.x'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm install

      - name: Run the JavaScript script
        run: node src/services/weekly-analytics.js

Customizing the Google Analytics Report

The Google Analytics API request I’m using is set to pull the fullPageUrl and pageTitle for the totalUsers in the last seven days, and a second request for the previous seven days, and then aggregates the totals and limits the responses to 10.

You can use Google’s GA4 Query Explorer to construct your own query, then replace the requests.

// src/services/weekly-analytics.js#L75

const [thisWeek] = await analyticsDataClient.runReport({
  property: `properties/${process.env.GA4_PROPERTY_ID}`,
  dateRanges: [
    {
      startDate: '7daysAgo',
      endDate: 'today',
    },
  ],
  dimensions: [
    {
      name: 'fullPageUrl',
    },
    {
      name: 'pageTitle',
    },
  ],
  metrics: [
    {
      name: 'totalUsers',
    },
  ],
  limit: reportLimit,
  metricAggregations: ['MAXIMUM'],
});

There are two functions to determine which page views have increased, decreased, stayed the same, or are new.

The first is a simple reduce function that returns the URL and a count for each.

const lastWeekMap = lastWeekResults.reduce((items, item) => {
  const { url, count } = item;
  items[url] = count;
  return items;
}, {});

The second maps over the results from this week and compares them to last week.

// Generate the report for this week
const report = thisWeekResults.map((item, index) => {
  const { url, title, count } = item;
  const lastWeekCount = lastWeekMap[url];
  const status = determineStatus(count, lastWeekCount);

  return {
    position: (index + 1).toString().padStart(2, '0'), // Format the position with leading zero if it's less than 10
    url,
    title,
    count: { thisWeek: count, lastWeek: lastWeekCount || '0' }, // Ensure lastWeekCount is displayed as '0' if not found
    status,
  };
});

The final function is used to determine the status of each.

// Function to determine the status
const determineStatus = (count, lastWeekCount) => {
  const thisCount = Number(count);
  const previousCount = Number(lastWeekCount);

  if (lastWeekCount === undefined || lastWeekCount === '0') {
    return NEW;
  }

  if (thisCount > previousCount) {
    return HIGHER;
  }

  if (thisCount < previousCount) {
    return LOWER;
  }

  return SAME;
};

I’ve purposely left the code fairly verbose, so it’ll be easier for you to add console.log to each of the functions to see what they return.

The Slack message config I’m using creates a heading with an emoji, a divider, and a paragraph explaining what the message is.

Below that I’m using the context object to construct a report by iterating over comparisons and returning an object containing Slack specific message syntax which includes an icon, a count, the name of the page and a link to each item.

You can use Slack’s Block Kit Builder to construct your own message format.

// src/services/weekly-analytics.js#151 

    const slackList = report.map((item, index) => {
      const {
        position,
        url,
        title,
        count: { thisWeek, lastWeek },
        status,
      } = item;

      return {
        type: 'context',
        elements: [
          {
            type: 'image',
            image_url: ${reportConfig.url}/images/${status},
            alt_text: 'icon',
          },
          {
            type: 'mrkdwn',
            text: ${position}.  <${url}|${title}> | *\${x${thisWeek}}`* / x${lastWeek}`,
          },
        ],
      };
    });

Before you can run the GitHub Action, you will need to complete a number of Google, Slack, and GitHub steps.

Ready to get going?

Head over to your Google Cloud console, and from the dropdown menu at the top of the screen, click Select a project, and when the modal opens up, click NEW PROJECT.

Project name

On the next screen, give your project a name and click CREATE. In my example, I’ve named the project smashing-weekly-analytics.

Enable APIs & Services

In this step, you’ll enable the Google Analytics Data API for your new project. From the left-hand sidebar, navigate to APIs & Services > Enable APIs & services. At the top of the screen, click + ENABLE APIS & SERVICES.

Enable Google Analytics Data API

Search for “Google analytics data API,” select it from the list, then click ENABLE.

Create Credentials for Google Analytics Data API

With the API enabled in your project, you can now create the required credentials. Click the CREATE CREDENTIALS button at the top right of the screen to set up a new Service account.

A Service account allows an “application” to interact with Google APIs, providing the credentials include the required services. In this example, the credentials grant access to the Google Analytics Data API.

Service Account Credentials Type

On the next screen, select Google Analytics Data API from the dropdown menu and Application data, then click NEXT.

Service Account Details

On the next screen, give your Service account a name, ID, and description (optional). Then click CREATE AND CONTINUE.

In my example, I’ve given my service account a name and ID of smashing-weekly-analytics and added a short description that explains what the service account does.

Service Account Role

On the next screen, select Owner for the Role, then click CONTINUE.

Service Account Done

You can leave the fields blank in this last step and click DONE when you’re ready.

Service Account Keys

From the left-hand navigation, select Service Accounts, then click the “more dots” to open the menu and select Manage keys.

Service Accounts Add Key

On the next screen, locate the KEYS tab at the top of the screen, then click ADD KEY and select Create new key.

Service Accounts Download Keys

On the next screen, select JSON as the key type, then click CREATE to download your Google Application credentials .json file.

Google Application Credentials

If you open the .json file in your code editor, you should be looking at something similar to the one below.

In case you’re wondering, no, you can’t use an object as a variable defined in an .env file. To use these credentials, it’s necessary to convert the whole file into a base64 string.

Note: I wrote a more detailed post about how to use Google Application credentials as environment variables here: “How to Use Google Application .json Credentials in Environment Variables.”

From your terminal, run the following: replace name-of-creds-file.json with the name of your .json file.

cat name-of-creds-file.json | base64

If you’ve already cloned the repo and followed the Getting started steps in the README, add the base64 string returned after running the above and add it to the GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS_BASE64 variable in your .env file, but make sure you wrap the string with double quotation makes.

GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS_BASE64="abc123"

That completes the Google project side of things. The next step is to add your service account email to your Google Analytics property and find your Google Analytics Property ID.

Whilst your service account now has access to the Google Analytics Data API, it doesn’t yet have access to your Google Analytics account.

Get Google Analytics Property ID

To make queries to the Google Analytics API, you’ll need to know your Property ID. You can find it by heading over to your Google Analytics account. Make sure you’re on the correct property (in the screenshot below, I’ve selected paulie.dev — GA4).

Click the admin cog in the bottom left-hand side of the screen, then click Property details.

On the next screen, you’ll see the PROPERTY ID in the top right corner. If you’ve already cloned the repo and followed the Getting started steps in the README, add the property ID value to the GA4_PROPERTY_ID variable in your .env file.

Add Client Email to Google Analytics

From the Google application credential .json file you downloaded earlier, locate the client_email and copy the email address.

In my example, it looks like this: smashing-weekly-analytics@smashing-weekly-analytics.iam.gserviceaccount.com.

Now navigate to Property access management from the left hide side navigation and click the + in the top right-hand corner, then click Add users.

On the next screen, add the client_email to the Email addresses input, uncheck Notify new users by email, and select Viewer under Direct roles and data restrictions, then click Add.

That completes the Google Analytics properties section. Your “application” will use the Google application credentials containing the client_email and will now have access to your Google Analytics account via the Google Analytics Data API.

In the following steps, you’ll create a new Slack channel that will be used to post messages sent from your “application” using a Slack Webhook.

Creating The Slack Channel

Create a new channel in your Slack workspace. I’ve named mine #weekly-analytics-report. You’ll need to set this up before proceeding to the next step.

Creating a Slack App

Head over to the slack api dashboard, and click Create an App.

On the next screen, select From an app manifest.

On the next screen, select your Slack workspace, then click Next.

On this screen, you can give your app a name. In my example, I’ve named my Weekly Analytics Report. Click Next when you’re ready.

On step 3, you can just click Done.

With the App created, you can now set up a Webhook.

Creating a Slack Webhook

Navigate to Incoming Webhooks from the left-hand navigation, then switch the Toggle to On to activate incoming webhooks. Then, at the bottom of the screen, click Add New Webook to Workspace.

On the next screen, select your Slack workspace and a channel that you’d like to use to post messages, too, and click Allow.

You should now see your new Slack Webhook with a copy button. Copy the Webhook URL, and if you’ve already cloned the repo and followed the Getting started steps in the README, add the Webhook URL to the SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL variable in your .env file.

Slack App Configuration

From the left-hand navigation, select Basic Information. On this screen, you can customize your app and add an icon and description. Be sure to click Save Changes when you’re done.

If you now head over to your Slack, you should see that your app has been added to your workspace.

That completes the Slack section of this article. It’s now time to add your environment variables to GitHub Secrets and run the workflow.

Head over to the Settings tab of your GitHub repository, then from the left-hand navigation, select Secrets and variables, then click Actions.

Add the three variables from your .env file under Repository secrets.

A note on the base64 string: You won’t need to include the double quotes!

To test if your Action is working correctly, head over to the Actions tab of your GitHub repository, select the Job name (Weekly Analytics Report), then click Run workflow.

If everything worked correctly, you should now be looking at a nicely formatted list of the top ten page views on your site in Slack.

And that’s it! A fully automated Google Analytics report that posts directly to your Slack. I’ve worked in a few places where Google Analytics data was on lockdown, and I think this approach to sharing Analytics data with Slack (something everyone has access to) could be super valuable for various people in your organization.

Here’s a visual demo of the desired effect for clarity.

Looks like it should be easy enough, right? I was sure (read: overconfident) that the problem would only take a couple of minutes to solve, only to find it was a much deeper well than I’d assumed.

Before we dive in, let’s take a quick look at the initial markup and CSS to see what we’re working with:

<body>
  <header class="header">Header Content</header>
  <section class="hero">Hero Content</section>
  <main class="main">Main Content</main>
</body>

.header {
  position: sticky;
  top: 0; /* Offset, otherwise it won't stick! */
}

/* etc. */

With those declarations, the .header will stick to the top of the page. And yet the .hero element below it remains intrinsically sized. This is what we want to change.

The first impulse you might have, as I did, is to enclose the header and hero in some sort of parent container and give that container 100vh to make it span the viewport. After that, we could use Flexbox to distribute the children and make the hero grow to fill the remaining space.

<body>
  <div class="container">
    <header class="header">Header Content</header>
    <section class="hero">Hero Content</section>
  </div>
  <main class="main">Main Content</main>
</body>

.container {
  height: 100vh;
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
}

.hero {
  flex-grow: 1;
}

/* etc. */

This looks correct at first glance, but watch what happens when scrolling past the hero.

See the Pen Attempt #1: Container + Flexbox [forked] by Philip.

The sticky header gets trapped in its parent container! But.. why?

If you’re anything like me, this behavior is unintuitive, at least initially. You may have heard that sticky is a combination of relative and fixed positioning, meaning it participates in the normal flow of the document but only until it hits the edges of its scrolling container, at which point it becomes fixed. While viewing sticky as a combination of other values can be a useful mnemonic, it fails to capture one important difference between sticky and fixed elements:

A position: fixed element doesn’t care about the parent it’s nested in or any of its ancestors. It will break out of the normal flow of the document and place itself directly offset from the viewport, as though glued in place a certain distance from the edge of the screen.

Conversely, a position: sticky element will be pushed along with the edges of the viewport (or next closest scrolling container), but it will never escape the boundaries of its direct parent. Well, at least if you don’t count visually transform-ing it. So a better way to think about it might be, to steal from Chris Coyier, that “position: sticky is, in a sense, a locally scoped position: fixed.” This is an intentional design decision, one that allows for section-specific sticky headers like the ones made famous by alphabetical lists in mobile interfaces.

See the Pen Sticky Section Headers [forked] by Philip.

Okay, so this approach is a no-go for our predicament. We need to find a solution that doesn’t involve a container around the header.

Maybe we can make our lives a bit simpler. Instead of a container, what if we gave the .header element a fixed height of, say, 150px? Then, all we have to do is define the .hero element’s height as height: calc(100vh - 150px).

See the Pen Attempt #2: Fixed Height + Calc() [forked] by Philip.

This approach kinda works, but the downsides are more insidious than our last attempt because they may not be immediately apparent. You probably noticed that the header is too tall, and we’d wanna do some math to decide on a better height.

Thinking ahead a bit,

• What if the .header’s children need to wrap or rearrange themselves at different screen sizes or grow to maintain legibility on mobile?
• What if JavaScript is manipulating the contents?

All of these things could subtly change the .header’s ideal size, and chasing the right height values for each scenario has the potential to spiral into a maintenance nightmare of unmanageable breakpoints and magic numbers — especially if we consider this needs to be done not only for the .header but also the .hero element that depends on it.

I would argue that this workaround also just feels wrong. Fixed heights break one of the main affordances of CSS layout — the way elements automatically grow and shrink to adapt to their contents — and not relying on this usually makes our lives harder, not simpler.

So, we’re left with…

Now that we’ve figured out the constraints we’re working with, another way to phrase the problem is that we want the .header and .hero to collectively span 100vh without sizing the elements explicitly or wrapping them in a container. Ideally, we’d find something that already is 100vh and align them to that. This is where it dawned on me that display: grid may provide just what we need!

Let’s try this: We declare display: grid on the body element and add another element before the .header that we’ll call .above-the-fold-spacer. This new element gets a height of 100vh and spans the grid’s entire width. Next, we’ll tell our spacer that it should take up two grid rows and we’ll anchor it to the top of the page.

This element must be entirely empty because we don’t ever want it to be visible or to register to screen readers. We’re merely using it as a crutch to tell the grid how to behave.

<body>
  <!-- This spacer provides the height we want -->
  <div class="above-the-fold-spacer"></div>

  <!-- These two elements will place themselves on top of the spacer -->
  <header class="header">Header Content</header>
  <section class="hero">Hero Content</section>

  <!-- The rest of the page stays unaffected -->
  <main class="main">Main Content</main>
</body>

body {
  display: grid;
}

.above-the-fold-spacer {
  height: 100vh;
  /* Span from the first to the last grid column line */
  /* (Negative numbers count from the end of the grid) */
  grid-column: 1 / -1;
  /* Start at the first grid row line, and take up 2 rows */
  grid-row: 1 / span 2; 
}

/* etc. */

This is the magic ingredient.

By adding the spacer, we’ve created two grid rows that together take up exactly 100vh. Now, all that’s left to do, in essence, is to tell the .header and .hero elements to align themselves to those existing rows. We do have to tell them to start at the same grid column line as the .above-the-fold-spacer element so that they won’t try to sit next to it. But with that done… ta-da!

See the Pen The Solution: Grid Alignment [forked] by Philip.

The reason this works is that a grid container can have multiple children occupying the same cell overlaid on top of each other. In a situation like that, the tallest child element defines the grid row’s overall height — or, in this case, the combined height of the two rows (100vh).

To control how exactly the two visible elements divvy up the available space between themselves, we can use the grid-template-rows property. I made it so that the first row uses min-content rather than 1fr. This is necessary so that the .header doesn’t take up the same amount of space as the .hero but instead only takes what it needs and lets the hero have the rest.

Here’s our full solution:

body {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-rows: min-content 1fr;
}

.above-the-fold-spacer {
  height: 100vh;
  grid-column: 1 / -1;
  grid-row: 1 / span 2;
}

.header {
  position: sticky;
  top: 0;
  grid-column-start: 1;
  grid-row-start: 1;
}

.hero {
  grid-column-start: 1;
  grid-row-start: 2;
}

And voila: A sticky header of arbitrary size above a hero that grows to fill the remaining visible space!

It’s worth noting that the HTML order of the elements matters here. If we define .above-the-fold-spacer after our .hero section, it will overlay and block access to the elements underneath. We can work around this by declaring either order: -1, z-index: -1, or visibility: hidden.

Keep in mind that this is a simple example. If you were to add a sidebar to the left of your page, for example, you’d need to adjust at which column the elements start. Still, in the majority of cases, using a CSS Grid approach is likely to be less troublesome than the Sisyphean task of manually managing and coordinating the height values of multiple elements.

Another upside of this approach is that it’s adaptable. If you decide you want a group of three elements to take up the screen’s height rather than two, then you’d make the invisible spacer span three rows and assign the visible elements to the appropriate one. Even if the hero element’s content causes its height to exceed 100vh, the grid adapts without breaking anything. It’s even well-supported in all modern browsers.

The more I think about this technique, the more I’m persuaded that it’s actually quite clean. Then again, you know how lawyers can talk themselves into their own arguments? If you can think of an even simpler solution I’ve overlooked, feel free to reach out and let me know!

That assumption often led to bad user experiences. The skills for effective web design are quite different from those for print design.

A similar thing happens today. Designers know how to design traditional marketing and e-commerce sites. They, therefore, presume they have the skills to work on SaaS apps and other digital projects.

But when it comes to design, there’s a big distinction between traditional websites and digital products. If we want to work on digital products, we need to understand those differences and adopt a different approach to our work.

The biggest difference is that users interact with digital products more than most websites.

Think about your own web use. What are the sites you visit most often? If you listed your top ten, well over half would be some form of digital product, from a social media application to a productivity tool.

So, with that in mind, let’s dive into the specifics of how the frequency of usage impacts our design approach and what we can do about it.

The more we interact with a web app or website, the more important the overall user experience becomes. Users develop deeper connections with digital products. They also form more complex mental models of products they use often. This changes how they see the app in two fundamental ways.

Friction Becomes Significantly More Irritating

First, friction points become increasingly annoying. Users interact with a digital product many times per day. Any small problem in the interface compounds quickly.

When you encounter a clunky UI or confusing workflow on a website you only visit once in a while, it’s frustrating but easy to overlook. But, when that same friction occurs in an app you use multiple times per day, it becomes a major source of irritation.

Change Undermines Our Procedural Knowledge

Second, the more we use an app, the more familiar we become with it and how it works. We end up using the app automatically, without even thinking, much like when you’ve been driving a car for years, you don’t think about the process. This is known as procedural knowledge.

This is great news for digital product designers, as it means we can create interfaces that become second nature to our users. But, if we break their mental models or introduce unexpected changes, we risk causing frustration and disruption.

So, knowing these two things, how does this affect our approach to digital product design? Well, let’s start by considering the problem of friction.

As digital product designers, we need to become obsessed with removing friction from the user experience. Failure to do so will alienate users over time and ultimately lead to churn.

To mitigate friction, we need to constantly seek out friction points. We need to diagnose the exact problem and then test any solution to ensure it does, in fact, make things better.

So, how exactly do we find friction points?

Finding Friction

The most obvious way is to listen to customers. User feedback is crucial in identifying friction points in the user experience. However, we can’t simply rely on that. Analytics can be your friend, too.

Microsoft Clarity offers essential insights to pinpoint issues on your app.

I would highly recommend using a tool like Microsoft Clarity. It gives detailed insights into user behavior. They help find points of friction. These include the following:

• Rage clicks: Where individuals continuously click on something due to frustration.
• Dead clicks: Where people click on something that is not clickable.
• Excessive scrolling: Where users scroll up and down looking for something.
• Quick backs: Where a person accidentally lands on a screen and promptly navigates back to the previous one.
• Error messages: Where the user is triggering an error in the system.

These will help you identify potential friction points that you can then investigate further.

Diagnosing Friction

Once you know where things are going wrong, you can use heat maps and session recordings in Clarity. They will help you understand the problem. Why are people excessively scrolling or rage-clicking, for example?

Session recordings are valuable for pinpointing particular problems in the interface.

If the heat maps or session recordings don’t make things clear, that is where you would need to consider usability testing.

Once you understand the problem, you can then begin exploring solutions and testing them rigorously to ensure they effectively reduce friction.

Testing Your Friction Busting Solutions

How you test your solution to the point of friction will depend on the size and complexity of the changes you need to make.

For small changes, such as tweaking the UI or changing some text, A/B testing is often the best approach. You show the new solution to a subset of your users and measure the impact on those indicators of frustration.

But A/B testing isn’t always the right approach. If your app has lower levels of traffic, getting results from a statistically significant A/B test can be time-consuming.

Also, when your solution involves big changes, like adding new features or redesigning many screens, A/B testing can be expensive. That is because you need to first fully develop the solution before you can test it, meaning that it can prove costly if that solution turns out not to work.

Your best approach in such situations is to create a prototype for remote testing.

Initially, I usually conduct unfacilitated testing with a tool such as Maze. Unfacilitated testing is easy to set up. It requires minimal time investment, and Maze offers analytics, so you don’t necessarily need to watch every session back.

Maze serves as a valuable resource for conducting remote testing, offering both test data and recordings for each test.

If testing uncovers issues you can’t fix, then try facilitated testing. Facilitated testing enables you to delve into any arising issues by asking questions.

Once you have a solution that works, it’s time to roll that feature out. But you need to be careful at this point because of the procedural knowledge I mentioned earlier.

Introducing fixes to a user interface has a good chance of breaking a user’s procedural knowledge. Interface elements are often moved and so are no longer where users expect to find them, or they look different, and so users miss them.

This can upset many existing customers. That can panic stakeholders and lead to rash decisions.

To some extent, you need to accept that this is inevitable and prepare stakeholders for this eventuality. Users will normally adapt in a couple of weeks of regular use, and so there is no immediate need to panic.

That said, there are things you can do to mitigate the reaction.

1. To start with, you can let people know that change is coming. This allows people to mentally adapt to the change before it occurs.
2. Secondly, if the change is significant, you may wish to give people the ability to opt out of it, at least in the short term. That is why some apps roll out features in beta and give users the option to opt in or out. This provides a sense of control that reduces people’s reactions.
3. Finally, you can also provide guidance within the user interface itself. Tooltips and overlays can show users where features have been moved so new interface elements can be highlighted.

Slack use tooltips to explain how their interface works.

The key is to strike a balance. You must add needed improvements while causing minimal disruption to users’ workflows. You will also need to carefully monitor adoption and adapt accordingly.

That constant monitoring and adaptation lies at the heart of digital product design. You cannot rely solely on the initial solution but must be prepared to continuously refine and iterate as user behavior and needs evolve.

With that in mind, we started our monthly wallpapers series more than 13 years ago, and from the very beginning to today, artists and designers from across the globe have submitted their designs to it to cater for a bit of variety on your screens every month. Of course, it wasn’t any different this time around.

In this post, you’ll find their wallpaper designs for September 2024. All of them come in versions with and without a calendar and can be downloaded for free. As a little bonus goodie, we also added some favorites from past years’ September editions to the collection. So maybe you’ll spot one of your almost-forgotten favorites in here, too? A huge thank-you to everyone who shared their wallpapers with us this month — this post wouldn’t exist without you!

• You can click on every image to see a larger preview,
• We respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.
• Submit a wallpaper!
  Did you know that you could get featured in our next wallpapers post, too? We are always looking for creative talent.

“Today, we celebrate these magnificent creatures who play such a vital role in our ecosystems and cultures. Elephants are symbols of wisdom, strength, and loyalty. Their social bonds are strong, and their playful nature, especially in the young ones, reminds us of the importance of joy and connection in our lives.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

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“We continue in tropical climates. In this case, we travel to Costa Rica to observe the Arenal volcano from the lake while we use a kayak.” — Designed by Veronica Valenzuela from Spain.

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Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Spain.

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“My eyes have a mind of their own: they see what they want to see…” — Designed by Bhabna Basak from India.

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Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Spain.

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“Our team takes pride in aligning our volunteer initiatives with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’s ‘Quality Education’ goal. This goal reflects a global commitment to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. We encourage our team members to volunteer with non-profits they care about year-round. Explore local opportunities and use your skills to make a meaningful impact!” — Designed by Jenna Finberg from Portland, OR.

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“I was thinking about African bead necklaces when making this wallpaper. I chose green and warm colors, because summer has not ended in the north — let’s enjoy it.” — Designed by Philippe Brouard from France.

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“Celebrate World Tourism Day by exploring new destinations and cultures around the globe!” — Designed by Reethu M from London.

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“I wanted my design to revolve around the themes of unity, hard work, and patriotism to honor the workforce that builds a great nation. The flags, the skyline, and the human figure outline evoke a sense of pride, appreciation, dedication, and solidarity.” — Designed by Cronix from the United States.

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“This autumn, we expect to see a lot of rainy days and blues, so we wanted to change the paradigm and wish a warm welcome to the new season. After all, if you come to think of it: rain is not so bad if you have an umbrella and a raincoat. Come autumn, we welcome you!” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

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“With the end of summer and fall coming soon, I created this terrazzo pattern wallpaper to brighten up your desktop. Enjoy the month!” — Designed by Melissa Bogemans from Belgium.

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“Cats are beautiful animals. They’re quiet, clean, and warm. They’re funny and can become an endless source of love and entertainment. Here for the cats!” — Designed by UrbanUI from India.

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“Seasons come and go, but our brave cactuses still stand. Summer is almost over and autumn is coming, but the beloved plants don’t care.” — Designed by Lívia Lénárt from Hungary.

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“As summer comes to an end, all the creatures pull back to their hiding places, searching for warmth within themselves and dreaming of neverending adventures under the tinted sky of closing dog days.” — Designed by Ana Masnikosa from Belgrade, Serbia.

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Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Spain.

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“September 12th brings us National Video Games Day. US-based video game players love this day and celebrate with huge gaming tournaments. What was once a 2D experience in the home is now a global phenomenon with players playing against each other across statelines and national borders via the internet. National Video Games Day gives gamers the perfect chance to celebrate and socialize! So grab your controller, join online and let the games begin!” — Designed by Ever Increasing Circles from the United Kingdom.

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“While September’s Autumnal Equinox technically signifies the end of the summer season, this wallpaper is for all those summer lovers, like me, who don’t want the sunshine, warm weather, and lazy days to end.” — Designed by Vicki Grunewald from Washington.

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“The earth has music for those who listen. Take a break and relax and while you drive out the stress, catch a glimpse of the beautiful nature around you. Can you hear the rhythm of the breeze blowing, the flowers singing, and the butterflies fluttering to cheer you up? We dedicate flowers which symbolize happiness and love to one and all.” — Designed by Krishnankutty from India.

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Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Spain.

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Designed by Elise Vanoorbeek from Belgium.

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Designed by Teodora Vasileva from Bulgaria.

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“Science is like magic, except it’s real.” — Designed by Bhabna Basak from India.

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“It’s this time of the year when children go to school and grown-ups go to collect mushrooms.” — Designed by Igor Izhik from Canada.

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Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Spain.

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“Welcome to the wine harvest season in Serbia. It’s September, and the hazy sunshine bathes the vines on the slopes of Fruška Gora. Everything is ready for the making of Bermet, the most famous wine from Serbia. This spiced wine was a favorite of the Austro-Hungarian elite and was served even on the Titanic. Bermet’s recipe is a closely guarded secret, and the wine is produced by just a handful of families in the town of Sremski Karlovci, near Novi Sad. On the other side of Novi Sad, plains of corn and sunflower fields blend in with the horizon, catching the last warm sun rays of this year.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

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Designed by Bojana Stojanovic from Serbia.

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“As summer comes to a close, so does the end of blue crab season in Maryland. Blue crabs have been a regional delicacy since the 1700s and have become Maryland’s most valuable fishing industry, adding millions of dollars to the Maryland economy each year. The blue crab has contributed so much to the state’s regional culture and economy, in 1989 it was named the State Crustacean, cementing its importance in Maryland history.” — Designed by The Hannon Group from Washington DC.

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“Nature and our planet have given us life, enabled us to enjoy the most wonderful place known to us in the universe. People have given themselves the right to master something they do not fully understand. We dedicate this September calendar to a true nature lover, Vedran Badjun from Dalmatia, Croatia, who inspires us to love our planet, live in harmony with it and appreciate all that it has to offer. Amazon, Siberia, and every tree or animal on the planet are treasures we lose every day. Let’s change that!” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

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“Penguins are sociable, independent and able to survive harsh winters. They work as a team to care for their offspring and I love that!” — Designed by Glynnis Owen from Australia.

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“September is usually considered as early autumn so I decided to draw some trees and leaves. However, nobody likes that summer is coming to an end, that’s why I kept summerish colors and style.” — Designed by Kat Gluszek from Germany.

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“It is inevitable. Summer is leaving silently. Let us think of ways to make the most of what is left of the beloved season.” — Designed by Bootstrap Dashboards from India.

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“This month is Mexico’s independence day and I decided to illustrate one of the things Mexico’s best known for: the Lucha Libre.” — Designed by Maria Keller from Mexico.

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“I designed this wallpaper to remind everyone that autumn is here.” — Designed by Advanced Web Ranking from Romania.

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Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Spain.

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“It’s officially the end of summer and I’m still in vacation mood, dreaming about all the amazing places I’ve seen. This illustration is inspired by a small town in France, on the Atlantic coast, right by the beach.” — Designed by Miruna Sfia from Romania.

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“I love September. Its colors and smells.” — Designed by Juliagav from Ukraine.

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“Clean, minimalistic office for a productive day.” — Designed by Antun Hiršman from Croatia.

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Now, we are taking things a step further. Instead of just providing audio descriptions, we are building that can have interactive conversations about images or videos. This is known as Conversational AI — a technology that lets users talk to systems much like chatbots, virtual assistants, or agents.

While the first iteration of the app was great, the output still lacked some details. For example, if you upload an image of a dog, the description might be something like “a dog sitting on a rock in front of a pool,” and the app might produce something close but miss additional details such as the dog’s breed, the time of the day, or location.

The aim here is simply to build a more advanced version of the previously built app so that it not only describes images but also provides more in-depth information and engages users in meaningful conversations about them.

We’ll use LLaVA, a model that combines understanding images and conversational capabilities. After building our tool, we’ll explore multimodal models that can handle images, videos, text, audio, and more, all at once to give you even more options and easiness for your applications.

We are going to look at visual instruction tuning and the multimodal capabilities of LLaVA. We’ll first explore how visual instruction tuning can enhance the large language models to understand and follow instructions that include visual information. After that, we’ll dive into LLaVA, which brings its own set of tools for image and video processing.

Visual Instruction Tuning

Visual instruction tuning is a technique that helps large language models (LLMs) understand and follow instructions based on visual inputs. This approach connects language and vision, enabling AI systems to understand and respond to human instructions that involve both text and images. For example, Visual IT enables a model to describe an image or answer questions about a scene in a photograph. This fine-tuning method makes the model more capable of handling these complex interactions effectively.

There’s a new training approach called LLaVAR that has been developed, and you can think of it as a tool for handling tasks related to PDFs, invoices, and text-heavy images. It’s pretty exciting, but we won’t dive into that since it is outside the scope of the app we’re making.

Examples of Visual Instruction Tuning Datasets

To build good models, you need good data — rubbish in, rubbish out. So, here are two datasets that you might want to use to train or evaluate your multimodal models. Of course, you can always add your own datasets to the two I’m going to mention.

Vision-CAIR

• Instruction datasets: English;
• Multi-task: Datasets containing multiple tasks;
• Mixed dataset: Contains both human and machine-generated data.

Vision-CAIR provides a high-quality, well-aligned image-text dataset created using conversations between two bots. This dataset was initially introduced in a paper titled “MiniGPT-4: Enhancing Vision-Language Understanding with Advanced Large Language Models,” and it provides more detailed image descriptions and can be used with predefined instruction templates for image-instruction-answer fine-tuning.

There are more multimodal datasets out there, but these two should help you get started if you want to fine-tune your model.

LLaVA (which stands for Large Language and Vision Assistant) is a groundbreaking multimodal model developed by researchers from the University of Wisconsin, Microsoft Research, and Columbia University. The researchers aimed to create a powerful, open-source model that could compete with the best in the field, just like GPT-4, Claude 3, or Gemini, to name a few. For developers like you and me, its open nature is a huge benefit, allowing for easy fine-tuning and integration.

One of LLaVA’s standout features is its ability to understand and respond to complex visual information, even with unfamiliar images and instructions. This is exactly what we need for our tool, as it goes beyond simple image descriptions to engage in meaningful conversations about the content.

Architecture

LLaVA’s strength lies in its smart use of existing models. Instead of starting from scratch, the researchers used two key models: