Hi there, Matt here.

For most of my career I've been designing dashboards. Maybe it's just an inevitability of being in product design. Or maybe I'm drawn like a moth to the flame of complex products laden with impossible-to-meet expectations of insightful data visualizations.

Design trends have changed plenty in the last 20 years, but one thing has stayed the same: dashboards are supposed to be dense. Absolutely chock full of numbers, charts and graphs, all updating in real time. The expectation comes mostly from a belief that the denser the dashboard, the more understanding it will yield.

Whether or not that expectation is reasonable is debatable. But as an interface designer (and manager of designers), it's important for me to understand how to achieve the density my partners, clients, and stakeholders expect. Until recently I've been satisfied to simply pack all the pieces of the interface close together and call it a day. But is that really density?

Hi there, Matt here.

It’s been over a year since I last emailed you, so if you need a refresher: you’re getting this email because you signed up for my newsletter at matthewstrom.com.

I’ve been pretty busy in the interim, writing long-form things that aren’t quite finished yet. But I did manage to finish one of the longest pieces I’ve ever posted, on generating color palettes for design systems. I’m really proud of it and I hope you can take some time to read it — especially if you work on design systems.

But I’m emailing today to share a shorter essay I originally sent to my colleagues at work. It’s about polish, specifically about the design details that are so well-considered that they blend in and are seldom noticed. But first, a song.

Hi there, Matt here.

A few emails ago, I mentioned that I wanted to get published in Harvard Business Review. Today's essay was a continuation of that quest, but unfortunately, it got a rejection slip, too.

This one felt a little less disappointing. So maybe it goes like this: the more you fail at something, the less each failure costs (emotionally). That means that each subsequent attempt is bit easier, in some sort of reverse compound interest of disappointment! I'm going to keep trying.

Here's a song: "The Shrine", from Jaga Jazzist's latest LP Pyramid. Jaga Jazzist has been one of my favorite groups for years; their brand of pop slash ensemble jazz, with prominent bass clarinet, groovy complex time signatures, and crystal-clear production, makes for great listening.

Hi there, Matt here.

There are a lot of hot takes about AI and design. Brad Frost explored how AI could create product experiences from design systems. Mills Baker warns of a coming winter of design discontent. And Budd says it’s the end of design as we know it.

I’m slightly more optimistic, somewhere between a GPT Luddite and an AI Pollyanna: new tools and technology will challenge designers to evolve, but will ultimately result in more efficiency, more impact, and more opportunities for designers to innovate. That’s what today’s essay is all about.

Before we dig in, some tunes. Awesome Tapes from Africa has always been on my radar as a source of great music. But when I heard the few bars of the first song on Hailu Mergia’s “Tezeta,” I immediately bought the record. The loping, pleasant funk, the chorus of horns, and Mergia’s virtuosic (but not alienating) organ playing all come together for a mood-boosting 40 minutes.

Hi there, it’s me, Matt.

I want to get published in Harvard Business Review.

Plenty of MBA-types (strategists, economists, psychologists, consultants, investors, and product managers) write in Harvard Business Review (HBR). But no designers (or design managers) write in HBR. I want to change that.

So I recently sat down and wrote about management. Micromanagement, specifically (And game theory. I wanted to make sure HBR would eat this up). I edited, re-wrote, got feedback, edited, re-wrote again, then bit my lip and submitted the essay.

Hi there, Matt here.

As a manager, I’m expected to maximize the performance of the teams I manage. Conventional wisdom says that the best way to do this is to invest most of my team and resources in “top performers” — the employees who do the best work. That means, in most cases, I should spend my time with the most experienced folks on the team.

But I’m skeptical of conventional wisdom. I think that one of the fastest ways to increase a team’s performance is to invest in the least experienced members of the team.

Why don’t more managers do this? Partly because managing folks with very little experience can be intimidating. Beginning a career is equal parts exciting and terrifying. And managing someone’s expectations through their first years is no different; the highs are really high, and the lows can be really low.

Hi there, Matt here.

Coding can feel like magic. You’re literally conjuring; type the right words in the right order, and you can do all sorts of superhuman things. Of course, getting those words right is no small feat, but that adds to the sense of accomplishment when you get it right.

Recently I went down a deep rabbit hole in pursuit of a silly idea: what if my website could make generative art for every essay I wrote? Then, I wrote an essay about the journey. So that’s what I’m sharing today. It’s definitely going to make more sense if you have some experience writing javascript, or at least have a passing interest in doing so; if you’re not into code, feel free to skip this episode. I have a very non-technical essay coming out in a week or two!

But first, some tunes. Alvvays has been in my frequent rotation since their 2014 self-titled debut. But their new record Blue Rev goes to a decidedly more dream-pop/shoegaze place, and it couldn’t be more to my taste. Buried on the b side is “Pomeranian Spinster,” a solid 3-minutes of bright fuzzy pop. Give it a listen!

Hi there, Matt here.

I have a love-hate relationship with design twitter. On one hand, there's lots of inspiring folks to follow, and I love to see new work published and shared. On the other hand, the platform encourages shallow takes and leaves no room for nuanced discussions.

Occasionally, I see a tweet circulating that perfectly captures this yin and yang: lots of interesting ideas shared, but little depth or follow-up. In the most recent case, instead of my typical response (draft and delete a bunch of tweets) I dove into a research spiral that lead me through the history of modern design. Once I came back up for air, I had a decent essay sculpted; much better than trying to craft a pithy twitter thread 🧵.

Before I share the essay, here's some tunes. Believers is a band/project that started in Columbia, Missouri, a college town that consistently punches above its weight in solid indie music. While their earlier music stayed solidly in the sonic shadow of Animal Collective, their new songs are finding their own tone and voice; slowly building, energetic without being urgent, nostalgic and sleepy but bright and catchy. Check out the track "Midnight Shoppers" here.

Hi there, Matt here,

Have you heard the term “nerd sniping”? The phrase comes from this XKCD comic. It describes a question that can stop a person in their tracks, tricking them into obsessively searching for the answer.

I recently got nerd sniped. The question was: how can I pick the best colors for data visualization? It’s deceptively simple; as I pulled at the thread, I discovered layers and layers of complexity, weaving together physics, philosophy, and math. The following essay is the result of my journey.

Hi there, Matt here,

There's a lot going on right now, so not much from me today; just sending you some empty space to occupy, if you'd like.

(One of my favorite ways to fill the void is with this 10-hour version of Marconi Union's Weightless.)

As for today's essay, it's a short exploration of the counterintuitive nature of exponential (aka "hockey stick") growth. The charts and tables might look a little wonky in email form, so you may want to hop over to my website to read.

Hi friends, it's Matt.

At this point, it's easy to take design systems for granted. For any interface spanning more than a few screens, creating a design system is usually on the checklist along with things like "test for bugs," and "deploy to production." But I think we're coming to a moment where we're going to have to re-think what a design system is and how it works. Some of the assumptions we make about design and the role of the designer just don't work in a world where an app can show up on dozens of different types of devices, from postage-stamp-sized smart watches to the infinite expanse of the metaverse.

Needless to say, today's essay is a long one. But before we get started, let's turn on some tunes.

Skee Mask is the project of Bryan Müller, an electronic music producer from Munic. Müller already has a Best New Music under his belt — in the past 4 years he's touched on a wide array of styles, from straight-laced trance tunes to ambient and atmospheric collages. "Dolan Tours," from his latest release Pool, gives me some really good early 90s electro vibes; think Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works, or Squarepusher's "Theme From Ernest Borgnine."

Hi there, Matt here.

I’ve started 2022 by spending a few weeks of time off from work. Not on a real vacation, say — just giving myself lots of time to do nothing. Of course, lots of writing and reading and tinkering fills the space.

One reflection that keeps coming to me is just how much time I usually spend in meetings. And in the absence of those meetings, I’m more productive, but also more fulfilled. In pulling at that thread, I wanted to learn more about one of the most common fixtures of meetings: brainstorming. So today’s essay is all about the history of brainstorming, the research on why it doesn’t work, and what to do (or not do) instead.

A quick song to start: I’m a sucker for dry, skittering drums tightly locked with mellow, funky bass lines. Combine that with a bed of atmospheric synths and guitars, and you’ve got Louis Prince’s “The Number Thirteen.” Also, the music video (dither-heavy hypercard inspired visuals!) is brilliant. Please watch.

Hi team, Matt here.

Surely you've heard about NFTs, whether you vaguely get the gist, or you've got 'wagmi' in your most recent tweet. I haven't minted or bought any myself, but as someone who loves art and technology, I'm following the meta with keen interest. While Robin Sloan's Notes on Web3 sums up most of my thoughts, I wanted to put together a supplementary piece based on some thoughts I had about the past and potential future. You don't need to know much about NFTs to enjoy it - I hope you do, in fact, enjoy it.

But first, some music. It's hard to describe the allure of "24/7 lo-fi hip hop study beats to relax to;" maybe that's a good essay for the future. Regardless, I'm going to keep on using the endless streams of it on YouTube to fill in empty space ( I wonder what Brian Eno would say?). Here's the mix I'm currently listening to.

Now, on to the essay. As always, you can read it on my website if you like.

Hi there, Matt here.

It’s been a few months since my last update, but I promise I have a good reason: I’m writing a book! There, now that I’ve said it, I can’t take it back. It’s a book about copying, using my long-form essay Copying as foundation. I’ve written about 15,000 words so far, which seems like a lot, but in the grand scheme of things is just a start. I’m hoping to share a few chapters along the way, so stay tuned.

Hi there, Matt here.

I draw a lot of pictures. Sometimes they’re for a marketing campaign, for a tv ad, for a packaging idea. Sometimes they’re a little more abstract, like pictures of possible career paths or coaching frameworks. But most of the pictures I’ve drawn are pictures of websites.

It’s easy to forget that UX and product designers are often working a few steps removed from the things they’re designing. We’re drawing pictures of websites, but that’s not what the end user sees; the end user sees the website itself, translated through a few layers of implementation details and business decisions.

Hi there, Matt here.

Just a quick note before we dive into today's essay: I'm writing something bigger, longer, more ambitious, based on my short book Copying. It might be called a proper book, though typing this sentence gives me the heebie jeebies. Based on my current pace, I'd say it'll probably be finished sometime in the middle of 2021. I'll share more as it shapes up; if you're interested, keep an eye on these emails.

For today, a song: Beat Fall, by Lithics. Funky, frenetic, fey (whatever that means). There are so many catchy moments in the tune, but gosh that floor tom is so punctual, so perfectly bouncy, like an overinflated inner tube.

On to the essay. As always, you can read it on my website if you prefer.

Hi there, Matt here.

Today I wanted to share a short meditation on feedback. It’s one of the things I write about most because it’s the engine of the creative process. Good feedback can drive a team to produce work that no individual would have on their own. Poor feedback can sap your energy, deflate your ego, doom your project to failure.

And here’s a quick song to decorate your brain: One of Suzanne Ciani’s Buchla concerts from 1975. It’s a 20-minute-long improvisational synthesizer odyssey, full of twists and turns from immersive melodic soundscapes to warbly noisy chaos.

Hi there, Matt here.

In case you've forgotten (and you'd be forgiven, it's been a while), this is an email newsletter that goes out whenever I publish a new essay on my website, matthewstrom.com. You're receiving it because you signed up at the bottom of one of my other essays.

Now that we're re-acquainted, I'm very excited to share one of the most in-depth things I've ever written. It's a little more than an essay, but not quite a book, so I'm calling it a very short book.

It's about copying.

Hi there, Matt here.

Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things is an essential piece of the product design canon. It’s remarkably relevant, even as smart phones, AI, and the mobile internet become “everyday things” — things Norman couldn’t have imagined when he first published the book in 1988.

But as I read , I felt like Norman breezed past (or buried) the concept of affordances. For something that underlines everything we design, it doesn’t get much air by way of explanation or exploration.

Hi y'all, it's me, Matt.

Collaborating on design is maybe the most anxiety-inducing thing I do on a daily basis. It's scary because design can be so personal, because stakeholders often don't know the right way to contribute, and also because I have really thin skin.

Lately I've had a lot of success in collaborating in the research phase — focusing on early collaboration lowers the stakes a bit, and sets a good tone for future collaboration. I thought I'd share my tactics and thoughts with you.

But first, a song (well, songs). This one flew under my radar: Sufjan Stevens collaborated with his stepfather Lowell Brams on a new-age/ambient album called Aporia. It's got all the hallmarks of Sufjan's orchestral work, with a little more electro fuziness. Stellar.

Hi there, Matt here.

Last year I published an essay on a new paradigm of design systems I called a Design API. The gist is this: let’s structure our design system more like software APIs, so that getting information into and out of them is fully automated and extremely flexible.

Since then, the concept has been on a constant simmer on the back burner of my brain. The longer it cooks, the more excited I get. I think this really is the future of design systems. And like any new frontier, it certainly doesn’t explore itself.

Hi there, it's me, Matt.

Since I published the last chapter of Ethics for designers, I've been pretty quiet on social media and on my own website. Leaving space for voices that matter more than mine. Trying to pay more attention to how other folks are reacting and responding to the uncertainty.

So when Snapchat released and promptly removed their Juneteenth filter, I saw it as a good time to try and understand what went wrong; to apply the lessons of Ethics for designers to a real case of ethics in design.

Today, I'm sharing that case study. I hope it makes the case for ethics in design even more concrete and immediate.

Hi there, Matt here.

Today, I’m sharing the last installment of Ethics for designers.

I wrote most of in December and January. At the time, I felt that the case for ethics in design was still pretty abstract. I hoped my arguments would find a few curious ears. I saw the series as just one step towards a more informed practice.

Hello again, Matt here.

When I started writing Ethics for Designers, I felt an elephant in the room: the majority of ethical philosophy is written by white men. The history of ethics is incomplete without the people that not only pointed out this lack of diversity, but asked and answered an important question: how can we make sure ethics works for everyone?

Hi there, it’s me, Matt.

Today’s essay is a break from Ethics for Designers — we’ll be back next week with part V, a look at a modern branch of ethics called Care Ethics.

I had a moment of synchronicity: I read about Winston Churchill’s reform of his own bureaucracy’s communication, then read the coverage of the response to COVID-19. Most of us will never be in command of an aircraft carrier, but there’s a lot we can learn from Captain Crozier’s communication style. I wrote this essay to distill some of that wisdom.

Hi there, Matt here.

In my journey through classical ethics so far, I’ve covered the ideas of people who lived in worlds very different from our own. Socrates, Aristotle, Kant, and Hume all tackled the pressing issues of their own times, so it can be hard to relate to them without the full historical context — and who has time for that?

Hello again. Matt here.

"Deontology" is an intimidating word. If you opened this email despite its appearance in the subject line, thank you.

In part III of Ethics for designers, I explore how deontology — the rules of ethical action — can be applied to design. I ask (and answer, I hope) questions like:

• Is it possible to come up with universal rules of ethical design?
• What would these rules look like?
• What happens when we break the rules?

Hi there, Matt here.

Last June, I presented a case study at a product management conference called Front. I took the opportunity to share my work on the brand update and redesign of Bitly.com; it’s a project I led, one that I feel best demonstrates the challenges of big changes.

I’m jumping into another big change project now at Simple Health. I thought it’d be a good time to revisit my presentation, and translate it into a written essay.

Hi there, it's me, Matt.

A quick personal update: In the weeks since I published Part I of Ethics for designers, I've settled into a much slower and intentional daily routine. The walk from my bedroom to my desk is maybe 20 feet (ah, Brooklyn). Each step feels important.

Likewise, I've had time to fuss over each installment of this series. As I mentioned in my last email, I finished the whole collection in February, before the world got wooly. In this moment, each word matters a lot more to me than it did a few months ago. The temptation to re-write is powerful.

But instead of worrying over the past, I've put my energy into writing new essays on a variety of design and business topics. I'll share them in between updates to Ethics for designers, stating next week.

Hi there, Matt here.

tl;dr: I’ve published the first installment of a new essay series on ethics for designers. You can read it here.

Hi there, it’s me, Matt.

“Brand” has become such a common word: That’s not my brand. It’s on brand. Build your brand. This is branded content.

But what, exactly, is a brand?

Surely there are many books on the subject. But sometimes it’s fun — and educational! — to try and construct a definition from first principles (the pervasiveness of branding today makes this task quite a challenge). If you find yourself gasping at the same straws, I hope today’s essay is helpful.

Hi again. It’s me, Matt.

Every year or so, I sit down to wrestle with the topic of design feedback. It’s the metronome that designers live by. Good feedback, delivered well, is like a steady breeze at your back. Bad feedback, delivered poorly, makes design feel like running head-first into a wind tunnel.

I’ve written a few essays on feedback. Five years ago, an attempt at a standard vocabulary for feedback. Three years ago, .

Hi there, it's me, Matt.

Before I dive into the essay, some personal news: today is my first day as director of design at Simple Health. Simple Health is a direct-to-consumer health company focused on affordable and accessible products. I'm really excited to my put time and energy into an important mission.

Designers need to take a hard look at our relationship with metrics. Are we measuring the right thing? What happens when we measure the wrong thing? In this essay, some thoughts on the latter question.

As usual, you can also read on my website.

Hi again, it’s me, Matt.

I’ve never heard the word ‘alignment’ more than I have in the last year at Bitly. As the company streamlines its strategy and mission, alignment is the holy grail, the golden fleece, the Mjölnir.

But what is alignment? Depending on who I ask, I get different answers. So I wrote this essay to clarify my own thoughts on the different kinds of alignment. Sometimes, it’s important to have complete alignment; but don’t let the pursuit of alignment create a monoculture.

Let’s start with a song. Zoot Simms is such a cool character; he was a peerless saxophonist, spanning the eras of big band, bop, and cool jazz. He paired up with German pianist Jutta Hipp for a Blue Note record in 1956; is an older Sinatra tune from that record.

Hi there, it’s me, Matt.

Doug Bowman was the first designer at Google. When he quit in 2009, he wrote a searing blog post condemning Google’s data-driven approach to design:

With every new design decision, critics cry foul. Without conviction, doubt creeps in. Instincts fail. “Is this the right move?” When a company is filled with engineers, it turns to engineering to solve problems. Reduce each decision to a simple logic problem. Remove all subjectivity and just look at the data. Data in your favor? Ok, launch it. Data shows negative effects? Back to the drawing board. And that data eventually becomes a crutch for every decision, paralyzing the company and preventing it from making any daring design decisions.

Hi again, Matt here.

I read 25 books in 2019. Looking back, I missed out on a lot of good fiction in favor of business-flavored non-fiction. What was your favorite fiction of the last year? Anything exciting coming out next year?

I wrote up a short review of all the books I've read this year, and you can read the whole list over on my website. I'll share a few of my favorites at the end of this email.

But first, a song. Well, not just a single song, but a whole live show by the inimitably funky Vulfpeck. One of their performances at Madison Square Garden is on Youtube. It's such an infectiously joyful performance, and would make great holiday watching. Check it out here.

Hi there, Matt here.

I could write about design systems forever. From who they're for to when they hide in plain sight, there's no shortage of topics. But there's so much interesting territory at right angles to design systems — today's essay, for example, is more about products in general. Even if you're not working on a design system, I hope you find it interesting.

Before we dive in, let's put on some music. Today, our song is BOA by Sam Grendel and Sam Wilkes. It's a funky tune, meticulously constructed and full of texture.

Now, on to the essay. As always, you can read it on my website if you prefer.

Hello again, Matt here.

Often the most interesting ideas are the ones that are easiest to summarize. Case in point: two weeks ago I wrote a 6-word tweet about the next evolution of design systems.

Hello again, Matt here.

Beneath the buzzwords “machine learning” and “AI” are really fascinating ideas. But it’s easy to get wrapped up in the hype and forget that sometimes AI is just 1,000,000 if-statements in a trench coat.

In today’s essay, I look through the mystique of machine learning and explore how designers can benefit from the rising tide of ML.

Hi again. It’s me, Matt.

One of the best pieces of public speaking advice I’ve received is deceptively simple: listen. At first blush, listening seems to be the opposite of speaking, right? But that’s the point. Listening — really, really listening — helps you understand how others hear you. The better you are at listening, the better you can be at speaking.

Hello again! It's me, Matt.

Today, just about every field relies on data to make strategic and tactical decisions. Unless you're extremely data-savvy, you're probably constantly pushed to trust someone else's spreadsheets and dashboards. But what about your own intuition?

I think there are times that intuition-based decision making can be faster, cheaper, and more accurate. That's what today's essay is all about.

But first, here's a song for you. Irish shoegaze quintet Just Mustard has been on heavy rotation for me recently; I hope you like them too! Here's Deaf, by Just Mustard.

Hello again! It's me, Matt.

Nearly 21 years ago to the day, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Scott Hassan launched Google.com as a simple search page.

Today, things don't look much different. Google.com is still a simple search page. But behind that page is an unfathomably product, one that powers billions of searches every day.

50 years ago today, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins splashed down in the North Pacific, concluding an 8 day trip to the moon and back. While only Aldrin and Armstrong's footprints were left on the lunar surface, thousands of others were critical to the mission's success. I recently heard a story that perfectly captured the amazing efficiency of NASA's administration in making split-second decisions; I think we can learn a lot from their example.

As usual, here's a song for you: Ponta de Lança Africano, by Jorge Ben, from the seminal África Brasil.

Now, on to the essay!

tap tap is this thing on? Welcome to the first email edition of matthewstrom.com. Thanks for joining me in this weird experiment in publishing and distribution.

This essay was inspired by Richard Feynman's concept of "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out." I'd highly recommend reading Feynman's writing on science (not the autobiographical stuff) if you're interested in asking better questions .

Before, after, and/or while reading this, please put on Stereolab's "Freestyle Dumpling." It's a newly-reissued outtake from their 1996 album Emperor Tomato Ketchup.

And now, on with the essay.