Thinking

I've only recently started using LinkedIn actively since becoming self-employed.I see its potential as a valuable platform, almost a necessity.

However, there's a fundamental flaw with social media, LinkedIn included.

Algorithms struggle to recognize quality. Their primary goal isn't to highlight the best content but to drive interactions. This reality reflects a disheartening aspect of our society – where your worth and credibility hinge on numbers.

Regular posting and interaction can earn you extra visibility, regardless of the content's quality or the genuineness of your interactions.

Consistency and volume are what matter most.

Since most people don't have the time or energy to create high-quality posts daily, the platform becomes saturated with mediocre content.

I hope for a day when a platform will emerge that values genuine content over sheer volume. Perhaps we'll wake up to the realization that many of these numbers are fake.

Until that day, I'll continue posting on LinkedIn, going against the wave and hoping to spark change. If LinkedIn is not your cup of tea, I get it - I’ll start resharing some content on our Discord from tomorrow.

Doing

Exciting news to share: we've finally been invited to join the Figma community! This means we can now offer our resources on their marketplace as well, and I already started uploading some of them.

However, due to Figma's unified licensing approach for all products, we're offering our design system in a slightly different format and payment model on their platform.

On the Figma store, you'll have the option to purchase the base product and then add modules as needed. Our templates won't be available on the Figma community store, since they depend on other modules.

For those seeking the complete version of Once UI without the hassle of merging libraries, we recommend purchasing directly from our own store.

I’ve finally published The Design Dividend. Hoooray!!(The landing page looks a bit rough around the edges, but I’m working on it)

I opted not to send an email about our Product Hunt launch, as unfortunately, it wasn't featured for the second time. Those familiar with Product Hunt know how crucial being featured is for a launch's success.

However, I didn't let this setback affect my motivation. The wonderful feedback and responses I've received from many of you have been incredibly uplifting. Knowing that the long hours of writing and illustrating this book have resonated with you makes all the effort worthwhile.

As a final nudge, I'm sharing one last image from the book here. If you haven't grabbed your copy yet, I hope this will inspire you to do so. After this, I promise to give the topic a rest – I'm sure you've heard enough about it for now :)

Q&A

Every week I publish an answer to some interesting questions from the design community. Ask / Tag me on our Discord or Reddit, and it may get featured here.

“How often do you use base components when building a new design system?”

I didn’t stumble on too many interesting discussions this week, but this might be useful for some:

Since you can bulk select components with specific properties from the variant's properties panel, it’s kind of unnecessary in most cases. They may be convenient if you want to share styles across different components, for example an Input, a Textarea and a Select field. Though, you could do this with tokens as well.

There’s no right or wrong approach, just more efficient and less efficient.Creating a design system is not about design - it’s about optimization.

Creative Friday

We've experienced a rare snowfall recently, a sight that's become increasingly uncommon over the years, especially in such volume. It was a delightful experience while it lasted, and we were eager to make the most of it!

For this short GIF, we used two separate footages of ourselves making snow angels. Then, we expanded the scene with a vast background created using Photoshop's new generative AI. The final touches and camera movements were added in After Effects.

Sometimes, stepping away from Figma to explore something different is just what's needed... just for the joy of it.

Useful links

Join our DiscordI’m available for a few portfolio reviews (with public feedback).I may offer private portfolio reviews later on.Let me know if you’re interested.Connect on LinkedInI know there’s a lot of clutter on LinkedIn.I’ll try my best to share valuable content.Check out our productsThough *some* may claim a service like this doesn’t exist, it does:We offer 180-day money-back guarantee for individuals for Once UI.

Lastly,☕ Buy me a coffee - I really need one :)

Reply - let me know how you liked this, and forward it to your creative friends!Speak soon,Lorant

Click here if you don’t want to hear from me.