Smorgasblog
What the f* is Smorgasblog?
Smörgåsbord
📓 [ smawr-guhs-bawrd,-bohrd or, often, shmawr- ]
noun
- 1. a buffet meal of various hot and cold hors d'oeuvres, salads, casserole dishes, meats, cheeses, etc.
2. an extensive array or variety: "a smorgasbord of choices."
Cambridge Dictionary
About
Smorgasblog
Smorgasblog, much like a “smörgåsbord”; is an extensive array of my design interests, personal hobbies, and passions, including but not limited to fashion and footwear, as well as random, but curated sources of inspiration that have piqued my interest and curiosity as of late. Moreover, Smorgasblog is a showcase of hot topics of all things related to design and tech that deserve attention and awareness in the gospel according to Moi.
Smorgasblog will give you an intimate screen capture into my eccentric and eclectic, but I assure you, always light-hearted world. Read on!
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Quotes of the day
Storytelling and its effect on the brain
I read Giovanni René Rodriguez’s article; “This Is Your Brain On Storytelling: The Chemistry Of Modern Communication" on Forbes.com a few years ago and it particularly resonated with me because I finally grasped the powerful effects of storytelling on human behavior.
Read on to learn more about the role that storytelling plays in activating a small set of organic chemicals in your brain chemistry!
Article summarized and reworded for your reading pleasure by Moi.
- 1. First, there’s cortisol, which gets produced when something warrants our attention like distress. When we hear about potential threats in our environment or hear something distressing in a story, cortisol helps us stay attentive. From a marketer’s perspective may be the compound most closely associated with “the top of the funnel” experience (the first contact with a customer) known as awareness. Or the hook.
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2. Next comes a far more popular and controversial compound, dopamine. This gets produced to aid in an elaborate learning system that rewards us with pleasure when we follow emotionally charged events in a story. This takes us further down the funnel. - If cortisol helps with awareness, dopamine aids with arousal, or in other words, rewards us to stick with the journey.
3. And then comes the wonder drug of storytelling: oxytocin. This chemical has been identified as promoting prosocial, empathic behavior. And according to story scientists, it’s what enables us to identify with the hero/protagonist in a story.
So, let’s pause for a moment, and summarize; we have a storytelling cocktail of chemicals: cortisol that helps with awareness; dopamine that helps with arousal (pleasure). With oxytocin, in combination with cortisol and perhaps with dopamine we have a drug that helps produce action.
This is intriguing and slightly dangerous to know that storytelling possesses the power to “hook” users into action by manipulating their neurochemistry. This knowledge should be used for the greater good but unfortunately people know the power of propaganda. The brain is so hungry for its pattern-making dopamine rewards, it overlooks contradictory or conflicting information whenever possible. Fewer people may know just how biologically susceptible we are to telling stories and hearing storing stories that blind us to the truth, or other perspectives.
Storytellers have a choice, and they are the most human when they exercise that choice with an understanding of the ethical implications of their craft.
The bottom line is empathy when applied to the science of storytelling isn’t just part of the formula but it’s also an unquestionable part of the decision making process behind storytelling.
Faa-shion & UX design:
Surprising synergies
Original article by Moi.
I own a remarkable and inspiring coffee table book, "Dior: Couture Photographs by Patrick Demarchelier," Text by Ingrid Sischy. The foreword explains how the public’s curiosity with fashion strongly correlates to the growing affluence of the times, combined with the intoxicating effect of advertising and intense social media coverage. The author, Ingrid Sischy remarks upon an idea that is key and truer than ever today:
“It [Fashion] has to do with our collective need to believe in some kind of magic.”
- Ingrid Sischy
Fashion is pure escapism and a creative expression of daily reality and culture. And that is what captivated me to join the industry in my early twenties.
The highest echelon of fashion is haute couture and to produce a show requires Olympian statistics: a show, such as Dior, for example, necessitates approximately; “9750 yards of material: 22 miles of pattern canvas; 100,000 working hours; 500-700 working hours for a dress; plus 300-400 working hours for the embroidery on that dress.”
A typical collection requires collaboration between artists, workshops, milliners, hosiers, shoemakers, corsetières, embroiderers, textile manufacturers, not to speak of all the talent that is contributed by the in-house staff, the assistant designers, the seamstresses, tailors, the stylists, and of course, the superstar who reigns over the atelier, the creative director. We’re clearly not talking T-shirts.
Connecting the dots between Fashion & UX design
Although the role of the designer is paramount, haute couture is a collaborative medium. And here we can see the parallels between fashion and the UX Design process. Process being the conditional word. The agile and cross-functional like nature of both disciplines involves endless amounts of trust, communication, sensitive interpretation, and inspired execution.
There is workmanship, esprit de corps, empathy, and know how - what the French call "savoir-faire". And just as in the fashion world, much like we enjoy in the tech industry, there is always amazement, pride, satisfaction, and joy in what is created. For the fashion set, the “MVP of couture” becomes their baby too.
The human relationships that are formed from realizing the final product, whether they are forged from the creation of a stunning garment or improving functionalities of a feature or product; it is a wonderful reminder of what human beings can create together; when you depend on imagination, teamwork, leadership, and vision.
What are some of your favorite books from this spread?
BALENCIAGA VS. RIB EYE
Balenciaga makes "raw meat" colorway.
How would you like your meat served?
Balenciaga is back at it again with more controversy! Months after releasing their crocs with stiletto heel, and yes I had the same reaction you had while reading that. The luxury fashion house, under the creative direction of Demna Gvasalia, has turned their attention towards reviving the chunky dad kicks; the style known as “Triple S”.
The colors include red, beige, black, blue, and green and are also covered in a white overlay to give it a more “faded” or “dusty” effect. Aside from these new hues, the red one in particular, remind us of raw meat.
The result: bloody, indeed.
Top
e-commerce UX trends
My Top 3 Trends:
1. Mobile is King.
2. Chatbots as the norm.
3. The opportunity to customize products.
The role of the designer.
To be or not to be.
That is the question.
With the advent of ChatGPT and steamrolling usage of AI and machine learning, does this sad looking designer have a future? Read on!
Original article by Moi.
Y'all can breathe. Job posts for technical roles are still on the rise. According to Knowledgehut.com, the US Bureau of Labor statistics have reported that the number of job posts for technical roles are increasing, so we can still witness a sharp demand for UX designers in the industry.
Digital product development considers UI/UX design not so much as a valuable consideration but as a critical, non-negotiable component. Technology has grown at phenomenal rate in recent years. It has caused a paradigm change in attitudes towards UI/UX design.
Many of our workflow and workplace systems are already affected by AI, whether we recognize them or not. AI will make some aspects of jobs obsolete, but where one door closes, others will open. For example, AI is likely to free up time for those working in the UX industry to focus on tasks, machines can’t do. AI will not take the designer’s job away; instead, AI will likely automate many mundane tasks and help designers focus on more significant problems. Only humans can design a powerful UX and beautiful UI because only we can relate to fellow humans. AI may do very well for algorithms, but only humans can think and design systems that resonate with people’s hearts and minds.
"What will happen inevitably, is an evolution of the role of the designer."
The specialty of UX design will vary and increase. Designers may choose to focus on areas including but not limited to, mixed or virtual reality, artificial intelligence, accessibility, or voice user interface.
Furthermore, design solutions are affected by today's trends. With the rise of remote work, markets are going to mix. It means one needs to be even more empathetic and open minded towards learning about different peoples' mindsets. Designers are not only going to have to be up to date with the latest technical skills-set to create stunning designs; but they also need to be equipped with adaptable soft skills too, in order to be successful in the future.
10 tips for better Financial UX design
Creating smooth user experience for banking, wealth management, and other areas of fintech.
Reworded by Moi.
1. Show don't tell: It's important to translate information like numbers into a much more digestible form, and that's where data visualization can help.
2. Build a tool, not a marketing channel: While there is value to marketing where it applies, overwhelming customers with irrelevant messages through a financial product can have a negative impact. Oftentimes, users simply disable notifications, or they may stop using the product altogether.
3. Provide tailored, personalized, content: The goal is to create a product that serves as a digital assistant of sorts, to extract the most relevant and important information for an individual user and provide short, digestible summaries.
4. Create smooth, client onboarding experience: To deliver that perfectly tailored experience from day one, it’s important to properly onboard clients.
5. Make customers feel special: With the technology available today, it’s so much easier and cheaper than ever before to give each client a perfectly personalized experience.
6. Make security a serious issue: With new advanced ways to steal money emerging every day, security is a top priority for consumers and financial institutions alike. In the constant effort to remain secure, it’s not fair to leave the work up to the user.
7. Leverage the latest technologies: With the technology available today, businesses can build conversational chatbots into the user experience for seamless support and to carry out simple operations like money transactions. Voice-assisted banking is already popular, and as smart speakers become more widespread; we’re rapidly approaching an era where people are using virtual assistants for all kinds of banking transactions.
8. Don't overwhelm users: While we like to think that offering customers more choices and information is useful, it may not be as simple as that. When the amount of information available exceeds human ability to process it, it causes cognitive overload.
9. Be transparent and clearly communicate progress with users: Uncertainty breeds anxiety, and whenever users interact with a system, they need to know whether the interaction was successful. Communicating the current status allows users to feel more in control of the system, take the appropriate actions to reach their goals, and ultimately build trust in the brand. Communication increases trust, one of the key elements impacting customer retention.
10. Speak your customer's language: If you are looking to design an intuitive product, it’s important to avoid technical language. Another common issue with the way fintech products communicates with users is the tone and voice. For some reason, it often comes across as too serious, official, or boring. In many ways, this depends on a brand’s overall personality and values.
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