UI designer Matt D. Smith discusses course creation, common mistakes in UI design, securing a three-letter Twitter handle, the impact of family on productivity, saying no and prioritizing in design careers, building a custom tech stack, promoting an ebook, and managing multiple tasks.
Building a unified personal brand can help create a cohesive online identity.
Maintaining an email list is crucial for effective marketing and project success.
Balancing product creation and marketing requires prioritizing value delivery.
Deep dives
The Importance of Pushing Yourself Beyond Comfort
To grow and improve, it is essential to push yourself beyond your comfort zone. Just like in working out, where going beyond your limits leads to growth, taking action requires a little bit of discomfort.
Matt D Smith's Journey to Acquiring a Three-Letter Twitter Handle
Matt D Smith shares his experience of acquiring the three-letter Twitter handle 'MDS' by reaching out to a design director at Twitter who unlocked the account for him. He discusses the importance of personal branding and the decision to use his initials as his online identity.
The Value of Building a Personal Brand and Unified Social Media Handles
Matt D Smith discusses the value of building a unified, consistent personal brand across social media platforms. While acknowledging that different usernames on different networks are common, maintaining a unified handle can help build a cohesive personal brand.
The Power of Email Marketing and Building an Email List
Matt D Smith emphasizes the importance of building and maintaining an email list as an effective marketing tool. He shares how building his own email list over the years has contributed to the success of his design-related side projects and courses.
Balancing Product Creation and Marketing Efforts
Matt D Smith discusses the challenge of balancing product creation and marketing efforts. He acknowledges that while marketing efforts such as newsletters can be effective, he prioritizes focusing on product development and delivering value to his customers.
Matt D. Smith (@mds) is an exceptional UI designer with a prolific catalog of design-related side projects. His most recent offering is Shift Nudge, an online learning experience to master designing beautiful and accessible interfaces. We go deep into course creation, the top 3 mistakes new UI designers are making, how he got his 3-letter Twitter handle and where we draw the line between copying a design and drawing inspiration.
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