With automation hitting the industry and with the seeming rise of bots, governments should prepare themselves for figuring policies out so that they’re ready when there’s a sudden glut of unemployed workers. A way to deal with the likelihood that robots and automation will likely lead to many people losing their jobs is taxing the robots.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates argues that taxing worker robots would offset job losses by funding training for positions where humans are still needed, such as child and senior care. It could even slow automation to a more manageable rate, if necessary. Its a growing concern we need to think about.

Meanwhile, I compiled another reading list for you for the week. Please enjoy the read.

Graphic Design

The FedEx logo is legendary among designers. Nearly every design school professor and graphic designer with a blog has at some point focused on the FedEx logo to discuss the use of negative space. Mathew May shares the The Story Behind The Famous FedEx Logo, And Why It Works. Brian LaRossa offers some advice to young designers who are turning the first few pages of their careers to become readers, or writers. He argues that to become better designers one must throw himself/herself at language from every angle in Graphic Design Is A Literary Discipline. Niteesh Yadav created ‘ABC of Social Issues’ as part of Adobe’s ‘Project 1324’–an initiative that invites emerging artists to use their creativity to drive positive impact.

Picture Credit: Behance

UI Design

Component Based Design is often talked about in context of large, complex projects. In this post we’re making the case that it can also be very beneficial for smaller projects and teams. Lewis+Humphreys share How They Are Using Component Based Design for every project, big and small. The fact that hamburger menus are a bad choice is backed up by actual numbers and is proven by companies that make money on time spent in-app. Mobiscroll writes about how designers can make their navigation obvious and keep people engaged in Great Alternatives to Hamburger Menus. Words are a powerful weapon. They can bring both success and failure depending on how you put them together. They can motivate or confuse, strengthen or weaken, call or push away. Tubik Studio states why it’s vital to remember that high-quality copy is as essential as the details of visual performance in Tips on Applying Copy Content in User Interfaces.

Picture Credit: Medium

UX Design

Exposure to a stimulus influences behaviour in subsequent, possibly unrelated tasks. This is called priming; priming effects abound in usability and web design. Read more in Priming And User Interfaces. Yegor Tsynkevich & Vadim Slavin state that in the luxury field, human interaction within the digital experience is not an option, but rather an undeniably powerful tool that improves communication and increases loyalty. See more in The Realities Of User Experience Design Within The Luxury Industry. Caitlin Burke writes about how User-experience designers have traditionally accounted for cognitive science in how they design mobile and desktop interfaces. She also states that the user-experience of virtual reality is different because it does not prioritise function but instead prioritises displacement in Is There A Stranger Thing Than Your Brain On Virtual Reality?

Picture Credit: UXMag

News

For this new season of ‘Pixar In A Box’, the animation studio’s directors and story artists have partnered with Khan Academy Labs to share their tips on ‘The Art of Storytelling’. Snapchat is entering a different market. It is rumoured that the company’s next venture will be their very own phone — and because its concept design is so stylish, it will make you forget about the upcoming iPhone. Updated Material Design guidelines including new sections on best practices for platform adaptation, app shortcut icons, help and feedback for your users, plus updates to the bi-directionality and accessibility sections are now available.

Life and Beyond

Tom Manning explore the importance of discovering your goals and purpose, and why these don’t have to conflict with making money in How To Balance Money And Happiness As A Designer. The ability to make something that looks good matters, especially for visual designers. But the challenge is that great images say nothing about what it will be like to work with someone, or whether they’ll be consistently able to produce good work. Chad Thornton shares some tips on how to review portfolios in Hiring a Product Designer

Picture Credit: Medium

And with that, I will close for the week. Also Hey, if you like what you just read, please support me with a donation via Paypal.me or share this resource by hitting the green “Recommend” icon so that other people may also stumble upon this reading list.

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