Christine Fok

Some of the most effective design leaders don’t need to speak the loudest. Here’s what we've seen: ↳ Junior designers look to you to simplify complex problems. ↳ Product teams rely on you to connect business goals with user needs. ↳ Executives trust you to turn insights into clear, actionable plans. But, at times, others will question your decisions, even if they don’t fully understand the context. However ↓ The best leaders don’t have to make noise to prove their point. Your quiet influence comes from years of experience and knowing when to guide the conversation. Being a design leader means: → Mentoring others without seeking recognition. → Taking thoughtful, small steps that shape long-term strategy. → Helping people grasp the impact of design, even when it isn’t immediately clear. If you ever feel unnoticed, remember that the value you bring is often realised over time—not in a single meeting or presentation. Keep at it. The people who matter see the difference you're making. #design #designleadership #management

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We brainstormed with software development teams and CTOs, and here's the deal: 1. A lot of processes are automated in companies, but development feels malnourished in terms of products. Product designers and strategists seem to have Miro, Figjam, task managers, and notetakers. But tools for software architects seem absent from many workflows so they do things the old way. 2. When starting a project from 0, teams accelerate to jot down a plan. Roadmaps and interface wireframes are created, but little time is left to plan software. Completing task after task, teams tend to get lost in translation, and tech debt overtakes. 3. The tech lead, or in smaller companies - the CTO is the knowledge base. They have to spend time onboarding, offboarding, and answering a myriad of questions per day. 4. Code is reused. A company builds expertise in a domain and knows how to build the technology for it. When the next idea or project comes up, they can reuse this knowledge to build better, and faster. But, it's challenging not to waste time automating instead of doing the job. 5. CTOs and developers have a lot of great ideas - and have to figure out a way to match them to the business goals and company profitability. If you think these are about your company, too, let's talk! 💬 Book a quick call with CEO: https://lnkd.in/d457HAHB

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When you fit together thousands of jigsaw pieces, the seams are visible. Our job was to make it seamless.    A client needed to edit thousands of content pieces to fit their new app format. Without a solid content strategy, it risked looking like a jigsaw puzzle – jagged edges included.     But with a helping hand, the content migration was fully optimized. Sharp. Smooth. With no seam, join or edge in sight.      Read more on how they got their ‘appily ever after here 👉  https://lnkd.in/evgrurFD   #UX #ContentStrategy #DigitalTransformation #UserExperience 

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Recently, the head of a financial company asked me: "How much does it cost for UXDA to fully design and finish a mobile banking app?" I explained, “It is akin to asking what specific book you should read to become smart. All depends on your routine.” Often, banks spend nothing on UX and design, relying on vendors’ white-label design. But the real question is: what’s the point of investing millions in digital transformation and infrastructure if it’s delivered to users by cheap, copycat UI/UX design? Find out how UXDA's approach is different and why 150+ financial products choose us.

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🚀 New UXDA Financial UX Design Podcast Episode: "The Apple Way for Banking." What makes Apple's design so irresistible, and how can banks tap into this user-centric magic?  Banks should adopt Apple's design philosophy to enhance customer retention and loyalty. Instead of overwhelming users with endless features, Apple focuses on simplicity, security, and emotional engagement—key elements that create unparalleled customer experiences. 💡 Dive into UXDA’s multi-level approach to embedding user-centricity across financial institutions, from strategy development to app evaluation. Also, uncover why defining a company’s “why” can be the ultimate game-changer in aligning with customer needs and fostering long-term loyalty. Find out: 1. How can banks adopt Apple's user-centric design principles? 2. What are the key elements of a user-centered financial app? 3. How do companies define and integrate their core purpose? 👉🏼 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dRijE8DP 👉🏼 Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/d_W6Jc5a 👉🏼 TuneIn: http://tun.in/tDKYSL 📖 Read the full article on UXDA's blog:  https://lnkd.in/erKKsj7B #uxda #fintech #banking #financialservices #bankingux #digitalbanking #fintechpodcasts #bankingtrends #innovation #future #bankinginnovation #uxdigitalstrategy #uxstrategy #userexperience #apple

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(Most) Designers can't showcase their work period In the recent years I've seen over 500 portfolios for different design seniority roles from people from different locations. Most of the portfolios I've seen were just bad: - Nobody cares about your double diamond if you can't explain why you used it and what was the outcome. - Many don't show actual designs, it's difficult to talk design when all I am seeing is a miniature of a desktop screen one designed, over a screenshare. - No one wants to read a wall of text or hear you reading it. - Many talk about all activities around the project and can't clearly tell what their contributions to the projects were. Recruiting for a design role - especially when you're regular or early senior you will most often find yourself being evaluated by a person who goes over dozens of portfolios and cv`s daily. Believe me - it's not difficult to stand out. Interested to learn more about portfolios and how you can improve? #portfolio #productdesign #uidesign #uxdesign #designismypassion #product #work

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I finally finished writing a Medium post on the Design Principles we created as a team at AZA Finance. Problem: Our design team in five countries faced misaligned expectations and understanding. What we did: Ran a team workshop to create and introduce design principles. To gain greater clarity and cohesion as a team. The top-level principles we agreed on: • Understand and solve real problems • Get out of the way • Know your product • Consider the whole system High-level findings: • Better alignment • Higher work quality • Expanded our continuous improvement efforts • Stronger cross-team relationships We found that design principles helped to transform our team. If your team still needs to have principles, I highly recommend creating them! You can read the whole article on Medium. Thanks to Christian Harries, Elizabeth Wangari, Oluwatobi Akindunjoye, Anthony Do Souto and Chidiebere Okoro for their work creating and implementing them. #AZAFinance #TeamAlignment #ProductDesign #RemoteWork #DesignPrinciples #DesignLeadership #Collaboration

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Join Marcus Dreyer and Jakob Fröhlich from crossnative for a powerful Partner Talk, “How to ROI with UX,”! 💡💸 With economic pressures on the rise, justifying the impact of UX has never been more crucial. Through real-world examples in banking and insurance, Marcus and Jakob will show how targeted UX strategies boost efficiency, spark new products, and secure UX’s role in the organization for the long haul. Ready to turn UX into ROI? 💥🚀 Learn more about the partner talk: https://lnkd.in/dbyEYwE7 

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▶︎ You might know about Amazon's "Working Backwards" philosophy. It is a product development method that starts by imagining the product is ready to ship and writing a press release for it. 👉 Here's what Brain Chesky says about "Designing Backwards" with a real world example. #design #startup

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🚀 Kicking off the day at DesignOps LA 2024 with an insightful opening session: Measure by Measure - New Frameworks to Measure the (elusive) Value of DesignOps 🎯 DesignOps can be tricky to quantify. While we know its impact is essential, how do we measure it beyond just the glowing feedback from partners? 📏 Join Rachel Posman and John Calhoun of Salesforce, co-authors of 'The Design Conductors: Your Essential Guide to DesignOps', as they explore innovative frameworks for proving the true value of DesignOps. This conversation is sure to reshape how we think about metrics in design operations! #DesignOpsLA #DesignLeadership #Innovation #Metrics #Conference #CreativeTech #DesignOps

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The future of UX As the landscape of user experience (UX) evolves, understanding its future trajectory is crucial for businesses looking to stay ahead. Recent shifts in the industry, particularly the integration of UX practices within organisations, the role of UX research, and the impact of emerging technologies like AI, are reshaping how we approach user experience. https://lnkd.in/eD9D3nku

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⭐ Bonus Material ⭐ After his webinar on User Research Superpowers, Kuldeep Kelkar stayed a little longer to answer questions from the audience. Hear his thoughts on how to research for a product that hasn't launched yet, how to think about the UXR industry and job market, and how to use superpowers in job interviews. https://lnkd.in/gf32gJeu #UXR #UXResearch #ResearchCareer #CareerAdvice #JobHunt #ProductResearch #ProductLaunch #BonusMaterial #UserResearchSuperpowers #Superpowers

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#UX #workshops come off the rails far too often, especially given the certainty and frequency with which they’re run and sold. Here’s why and how: https://lnkd.in/gpghgpkz Keep up with Next Mile for more insight you can use to prevent #digitaldisasters.

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Flexibility. Why would we want to do all of this hustle? To impress our colleagues or bosses, or to express our capabilities? A number of creative technologists create overwhelming capabilities of design systems that are rarely used. App Store represents the home of 900M apps, and the Figma plugin marketplace has already grown beyond its limit. How can we stay on top of things without getting distracted? https://lnkd.in/eWxYW43h #designatscale #design #scale #method #das #framework #ways_of_working #process #management #agile #ux #cx #collaboration #designer2designer #startup #coaching #mentoring #madebyhuman

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The UX/UI (User Experience and User Interface) design of a banking app plays a crucial role in shaping both its functionality and user appeal. 

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Hey folks, Adi here! For all the Product Designers, this is a 1-to-1 conversation with a bunch of examples. (or a UI/UX Designer or Visual Designer, as you've been called) On a broader scale, there are 2 types of designers... we'll come back to that. Back in 2022 I asked myself - Should a designer have development knowledge as well? The thought came from all the HTML and CSS requirements being asked in multiple Job Descriptions. I couldn't imagine seeing a JD with "3+ years of VanillaJS or React experience necessary" pointer. Are we still looking for Product Designers? That's preposterous. It's been 2 years now, and I am sure I'll get cancelled for saying this. Yes, you should have the knowledge of development. Here’s a complete breakdown of this situation. I've interacted with 500+ Product Designers in the last 2 years. All thanks to running teaching multiple tools online/offline across India. On a broader scale, there are 2 types of designers: 1. One that creates a UI system in the fanciest manner possible, with semi-rapid animations and aesthetics without worrying about the effects on the backend. 2. One that potentially has some idea on what components are heavier on the backend, what ideally works for the intended demographics and accessibility. You may want to see the examples I'm putting forward now: 1. I remember meeting a designer who recreated IRCTC's web-design. The reason that website has low-scale interactions is due to low-network demographic accessibility. Making it fancy with animations is not the solution. 2. I know a person from our No Code cohort, who made the design in such a manner that the table-view of the pages were normalised. This allowed only the most-essential columns to be extracted from the backend at once. 3. Even the filters that you design lead to additional load onto the system. Next time you see the most popular filters on your favourite application - and wonder why a certain filter is not on the main screen (while being under the drop-down) - data fetch is also one of the reason. 4. Learning a bit of Javascript helped a bunch of my students realise what interactions and animations actually create a horrendous page-load experience. Highly essentially when you are designing a conversion-page, 4-5 secs delay is a big no. Over the last 2 years, my thought process changed thanks to No Code development. Using Bubble, Framer, Wix, Airtable extensively gave me an idea on why these things matter. In the past 3 cohorts that I have conducted in Era of No Code, 50% of the cohort has consisted of Product Designers. There's a reason to it. Having learned the technical side of things has allowed them to become better Product Designers. The verdict is easy. Have some development knowledge (either via No Code or Code, doesn't matter) It helps for your personal growth in the long run.

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Guide #users with visual hierarchy. Dmitry Kustov, Lead UX/UI Designer at UXDA, discusses the power of visual hierarchy in guiding users seamlessly through a product, ensuring they intuitively know where to go next. 👉 Learn how banks can apply lessons from Apple's design approach, using visual hierarchy and other strategies to elevate the user experience. Read more in this article: https://lnkd.in/gSemxAX9 #uxda #digitalbanking #banking #fintech #ux #cx #design #visualhierarchy #ui #appleinspiration #productdesign #uxinsights

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