Escaping the Matrix

What if I told you there is one design tool that you REALLY need to know how to use?
And it’s not Figma.

Apps you use to drag rectangular shapes are just a small part of the equation and at some point we may go straight to coding the UIs in apps like Framer or Webflow and skip the disjointed design process.
Or AI may be able to move the rectangles for us.

Reinventing the wheel

What you should practice is using your brain and solving problems. Here’s one exercise to get you started.
Take a short, 5-screen flow from an existing app that you know is good. Things like Uber or AirBNB.

Then think of two ways to completely change this flow. Maybe imagine the whole interface as a chatbot.

Focus on just the entry point (I want to do X in the app) and the ending (X got done) and then reimagine the entire way in between.

This is training your brain and this skill will stay with you no matter what. It will be necessary and useful even if AI tools eventually replace manual rectangle moving.

Are you ready to take on that challenge?

Community Says

• prajwal.design: Like according to the Airbnb screen I want to book a villa so that is a whole one flow and now I have to think about the edge case and happy flow connected with business metrics. Right which helps us not just pixel pusher but thinking about the whole process. Right is I am getting right or not

• Michal Malewicz: Yes. But there are multiple ways to book a place in an app - just explore. They don't need to be great, just work and then you can compare a couple, make a case study out of that, and show a unique approach.

• phthatsall: What if we are not able to reimagine a better way to revamp the existing features then what do you suggest? I mean because honestly, I don't know how can Uber be actually made better and I really want to get better at this creative thinking.

• Michal Malewicz: Great question! The idea here is not to make a better Uber though. Just figure out a way that will still work but will be different. Can be "worse" of an experience, but just figuring out how to make it and then being able to compare it will give you tremendous insights! So it's more about just "making it work" in a different way. Something like that can also be an awesome exploratory case study and article for your portfolio.

• theravinds: Good point, also is there any source for finding good case studies of real products so that we can learn how the decision is made?

• Michal Malewicz: I'd say the best way is to just screenshot every part of the flow of an app you use and like and try to distill that. Analyse and find out WHY they did things a certain way.

• theravinds: Also is it a good practice to apply it or have to reinvent the wheel?

• Michal Malewicz: Reinventing the wheel is one of the best ways to learn.

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