Reviewing designs and senseless UIs

Also, remember... most people don’t want to use software.

Author

Ted Goas
March 27, 2025

🔖 What I’ve been reading

I recently wrote an article (yes I read my own articles!) about how I’ve been guiding my team’s design work. To help my team anticipate design feedback from leadership, I tried to define what I think “good” design looks like at Dialpad and how folks can ensure their work meets our quality bar.

One part I’d highlight is the importance of storytelling. As a manager, I have a more zoomed-out view of product design than I did as a designer. I no longer know the details of every project, so a strong narrative helps me understand the overall picture before diving into the weeds.

Before I look at any screens, I need to understand why we’re doing something in the first place. It helps us all stick to first principles when reviewing designs. You know how we say that storytelling is important? This is what we mean.

Me

Not only does it help me understand why, but it helps the designer control the conversation and get the outcomes they’re looking for (specific feedback, approval, etc.).

This dovetails nicely with what Chris Abad talks about in a recent podcast about storytelling during design presentations:

You’ve probably been in those presentations where the questions feel like they’re out of left field. You actually have a lot of control over that depending on how you shape the conversation, because the story that you’re telling directs what they’re thinking about. If they’re asking questions that feel on topic, you’re like “Ok, my message is landing”.

Chris Abad

Organizing your thoughts into a story helps us be more intentional about where we want to discussion to go.

First… this is an art-direct posted and I love it. Art-directed posts used to be a little more common before the Mediums and Substacks took over the publishing world. Not that I’m bitter or anything 😇 but when I first opened the article, I just scrolled through it. Exploring the artwork and interactions is so fun!

But, of course, there’s the actual article too!

All day, we poke, swipe, and scroll through flat, silent screens. But we're more than just eyes and a pointer finger. We think with our hands, our ears, our bodies.

Ameila Wattenberger

Amelia’s been noodling with the concept of a richer interface, one that responds to multiple gestures simultaneously. It’s really interesting to see her explain her train of thought.

A cheeky pink graphic with a rainbow that says “It’s just fucking computers” in huge red type.

Nobody wakes up in the morning thinking, "I want some software."

Jane Ruffino

A good reminder that people don’t want to use software, they just want to use software to accomplish a task and then get back to not using software as fast as possible.

Climate politics are rough right now, but clean energy saw remarkable growth in 2024. Just the NEW solar and wind additions alone matched over 6% of fossil-fueled electricity, signaling a viable path to net zero if sustained. Granted, that’s a pretty bit “if”…

According to the latest estimates, 99% of livestock in the United States is factory-farmed. Factory farms are defined as ‘concentrated animal feeding operations’ where many animals are held in an intensive feeding operation for more than 45 days.

The only minority ruining things for America are the ultra rich.

I love maps and lost about 30min playing Seterra’s free map quiz games.

I’ve been binging this year’s Parcel Unpacked talks on YouTube since I wasn’t able to attend the event live this year.

This is what terrifies me about non-regulated health companies. 23andMe filed to bankruptcy and their customer’s DNA will likely go to the highest bidder. My email address or shopping preferences are one thing, but my DNA? No thank you!

🏛️ From the Archives

A favorite I periodically re-read.

Unfortunately there’ve been more layoffs in tech, which means more folks are interviewing. Julie Evans published questions she asks people interviewing her. Because we should be interviewing them as well.

❝ One Good Quote

On asking good questions when talking to customers:

My goal is to feel bad in the same way that customers feel bad.

🖼️ One Good Image

We’re all racing around, wearing multiple hats, trying to do more with less. Yea, this instantly struck a chord. via Sunsama.

Illustration, the top depicts multitasking as digging a bunch of shallow holes and finding pebbles, whereas the bottom depicts a single hole dug deep that reveals a gem.

Thanks for reading ✌️
- Ted (@tedgoas)