Layers of Design #0
A new blog, being a "boring" designer, and a beautiful pixel website
💡 Quick Update
I have decided to use Substack solely as a newsletter. For the blog, I built a new one on my portfolio last week. This was mainly because:
Twitter does not support Substack links
I’ve always wanted to build a blog that looks the way I want
If you’re interested, you can check out a post I wrote last week. I shared some behind the scenes of building a new blog from scratch.
So, what’s next? What will this newsletter look like?
To be completely honest, I’m still figuring it out. But, there are two things I want to uphold with this newsletter:
1. Provide useful or inspirational design finds / resources
I have a Notion database of websites, resources, and stuff I found interesting. At the moment, I intend it for personal use since it’s poorly organized. But, I will use this newsletter as a more curated way to share what I found.
Sometimes what I share won’t be design-related. But in some way, shape, or form, they have inspired me as a designer. Sometimes, I may even point out specific design news and share my quick two cent.
Regarding the format, I don’t have a concrete plan. This newsletter will be an experiment of layout and structure.
2. Start conversations with my readers
In the past, countless people have reached out to me about my blog/podcast. I love these conversations and really appreciated the kind words. That’s why I wanted to add a new medium for communication — this newsletter.
When you’re reading my blog or newsletter, if you ever have any thoughts, please don’t hesitate to comment or email me at guoc0818@gmail.com.
Lastly, at the end of my newsletter, I will ask a “Question of the Day” (inspired by Matt’s newsletter). You don’t have to answer, but my hope is that the question may spark a new train of thought in you or a new conversation. I read and respond to every message because you never know: Maybe we will meet some day.
Now, let me share some of design gems.
💎 Design gems
The Boring Designer
Whenever I'm looking at a product designer's work, I find myself continuously asking the same question: which solution is the boring one?
In this post, Cap Watkins, Sr. Product Design Director at Lattice, explains why you should be a “boring” designer. Some of my favorite reasons are:
Choose obvious over clever every time — “When given the choice between hiding things on hover or displaying them right away, the boring designer always chooses the latter.”
Rarely stand their ground — “The boring designer chases the right idea over their idea every time.”
Pentagram’s Case Study on Cohere
Cohere is an AI company focused on developing large language models for enterprise. In 2021, they approached Pentagram (a world-renowned design studio) to help design its new visual identity, website and playground environment.
In my opinion, they absolutely nailed it, and Cohere’s brand is one of my favorites. In the case study, Pentagram shares their thinking behind the visual identity. My favorite part is how they were inspired by biology and more specifically cells (Voronoi pattern).
WorkOS Launch Week
WorkOS is a modern API platform that empowers developers to quickly build and ship complex enterprise features for their applications.
For their launch week, they released a gorgeous pixel website. Playing Pokemon on the DS when I was a kid, I love pixel art, so this was extra special.
The site was designed by Oguz, an incredibly talented designer.
😌 Question of the day
Who are you?
This question is meant to be casual. The point here is I just want to get to know you a little better. You can share your past experience, what you’re currently obsessed with, or your favorite type of cereal. Anything.
See you next time,
Guo