In this episode, Ryo Lu, former designer at Notion, shares insights on the Notion design process, user research for AI, feedback sourcing, design system, portfolio expectations, and operating outside the traditional design role.
Read more
AI Summary
AI Chapters
Episode notes
auto_awesome
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
Notion's design team prioritizes building systems and concepts over designing specific solutions, ensuring flexibility and adaptability.
Notion embraces a collaborative design process, valuing open communication and aligning design and engineering efforts.
Deep dives
Designing with Flexibility and Problem-solving in Mind
At Notion, the design team prioritizes a flexible and adaptable approach to problem-solving. They focus on building systems and concepts rather than designing specific solutions for isolated problems. By creating a generalizable system, Notion ensures that their product can cater to a wide range of users while still maintaining simplicity and ease of use. The design team also leverages the power of AI as a middle layer to enhance the capabilities of the product and provide users with personalized and customizable features. User research plays a crucial role in understanding user needs and priorities and helps guide the design process.
Collaborative Design Process
Notion embraces a collaborative design process where designers, engineers, and other stakeholders work closely together. The design team at Notion values open communication and encourages everyone to contribute ideas to create the best possible solutions. The team uses various tools and methods, including in-person crit sessions, asynchronous documentation, and real-time whiteboarding, to facilitate collaboration efficiently. The team also focuses on aligning design and engineering efforts, ensuring that the design system in Figma reflects the codebase and design decisions are consistent across the product.
Craftsmanship, Simplicity, and Iteration
Notion's design culture places a strong emphasis on craftsmanship, simplicity, and iteration. Designers strive to make software that combines German camera-like craftsmanship, Japanese toy-like playfulness, and the mass appeal of Coca-Cola. They focus on creating smooth and delightful user experiences while maintaining a user-friendly and cohesive design system. Notion's design team values continuous improvement and iteration, using user feedback and internal collaboration to polish and refine their designs before release.
In this episode we get to hear from Ryo Lu who was one of the very first designers at Notion. This conversation is an inside look at the Notion design process, how they think about product, and a lot more:
- How Notion approached the user research process for AI
- Strategies for improving your systems thinking
- How design at Notion sources feedback on meaty problems
- How Notion thinks about their design system
- What Ryo is looking for in your portfolio
- How to operate outside the traditional “design” role
Dive is where the best designers never stop learning