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DUp 186 🎉 🍭 🥳 3 Burning Questions At The End Of The Year
DesignUp Conf
December 30, 2024
Hello readers! It’s the last Monday of 2024, and in our final edition of 2024, we reflect on this tumultuous year that was, with 3 burning questions and a wealth of advice from our design leaders’ community -
3 Burning Questions
💬 What is your 2024 Word Of The Year? Why?
gif by Mat Voyce
Rasagy says, “When we asked our community to give us a word that best described this year, we got a wide variety of responses. Several words were focused on the big worldview, such as
Change. This is what has been happening around the world. Political changes. Technology changes. And a big change about how we will continue to view design.
Drawing by Soo Basu
💬 Change & Transitions (political, technological, design careers & layoffs),
💬 Conversation & Alignment (Across communities, stakeholders, community) - “not the visual kind, but the art of getting people on the same page,” added Sunit Singh
💬 Enshittification (gradual deterioration of systems surrounding us, that now lack originality & human thought).
💬 AI also featured along with thoughts on a new faux identity & the "dilemma" of embracing it or not. Shiva Viswanathan coined “Aidentity - which is AI trying to find its own place in human lives and reaching a faux sentient state. To embrace or not to, is called a dailemma - much like Dalai Lama 😀”.
💬 Amidst all these thoughts on change & new technology, some advised on how to tackle Uncertainty (AI, geopolitical tensions, career shifts) with Equanimity & Perseverance, and Unconditional Positive Regard to share kindness with everyone.”
And, as Jay writes, “Trusting. Believing. Surrendering to the here and now.” Read more -
💎 The most valuable skill you learned in 2024?
To the question, What’s the most valuable skill you learned in 2024, and what advice would you give to someone who wants to learn it too? the answers were insightful:
🧰 Understandably, many have started upskilling in the new AI tools and also Blockchain, and “Make sure you go deep”, said Navneet Nair. Though, said Sharan Grandigae, “Skills will matter less and less over time, and imagination and creativity will be more sought after. We're at the beginning of the phase where if we can dream it, we can build it.”
📤 Sharing knowledge with others, be they your mentees, students, clients, and stakeholders - or even in general settings came up, as a theme as we are finding a need to enlighten others about the practice of design.
The biggest skill I’ve developed this year is a deep empathy for founders and product folks. As designers, we often expect a lot from them without investing enough effort in creating awareness about how design truly works.
My advice to designers: don’t just expect others to understand design—invest the time to educate and build awareness. Approach founders and product teams with empathy, recognising their challenges, and work collaboratively to bridge the gap.
Surbhi Bindlish said, “Help other people find their answers. The difference between mentoring and coaching is that in the former you give advice based on your life experiences and in the latter, you ask questions with an intent to enable the other person to find their answers.” Kay Khoo advised, “Benchmark against the best, but know your place, find your niche”, while Shiva shared, “I learned to share knowledge and eminence in a structured framework using Diane Laurillard’s conversation framework.”
🕹️ As designers, we often have an innate urge to control outcomes and outputs, but letting go of control, and learning to accept that, was another skill many leaders needed this year. “I was forced to learn that I am not in control of anything”, shared Abhishek Ghate. “The sooner one learns it, the more relaxed and focused one can become.”
Similar thoughts around their most valuable skill of 2024 were echoed by Ripul Kumar, Arin Bhowmick, and Rasagy:
Drawing by Soo Basu
Rasagy’s most valuable skill in 2024 - Drawing by Soo Basu
🫀 Essential cognitive design skills are becoming more important (if they weren’t already!), like critical thinking, imagination, and creativity, as Sharan mentioned earlier, as is the need for fundamental human virtues like “patience and optimism/faith in this time of uncertainty”, advises Narendra Ghate. “To master these, we need to examine not just the environment, but also our own thoughts”, said Sridhar Dhulipala.
Sridhar’s most valuable skill in 2024Ra - Drawing by Soo Basu
On a personal note, Ruchika Jajodia-Mitchell shared, “Learning to land an aeroplane safely (training to be a pilot as a hobby). There is no age to learn, and don’t let others define your capabilities or your ceiling.” Nishita Mohta shares: “Pitching my work (and myself) to others - so scary, and so important at the same time!
Start by getting clarity on what you enjoy & where you add value, and this process doesn't happen in isolation. It happens by opening yourself to feedback and not taking the feedback personally. Let the feedback guide you on gaining clarity.
Then start articulating it and sharing it with others. All the rules of communication design come into play, along with all the reminders I keep giving people about self-confidence.”
🔗 Diane Laurillard’s Conversational Framework via Shiva Viswanathan • Julian Rotter’s Locus of Control via Rasagy Sharma • Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations via Rasagy Sharma
✨ What's your top AI tool of 2024?
Of course, the answer to this question was not surprising:
ChatGPT. I use it as a sparring partner for clarifying thoughts, or for practicing the Socratic method or questioning.
We categorized the responses into General purpose, Productivity, Code, and Visuals.
✨ While ChatGPT of course dominated the General purposes category, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity were significantly behind.
✨ In the Productivity category, people recommended - Flux, Sider, Llama, NotebookLM, MayaMaya, and V0.
✨ While in Code, Github Copilot was the most common, along with Windsurf.
✨ And in Visuals, Midjourney was the most used this year.
💌 But let’s hear from everyone, which AI tools should we know about? And most curiously - how has AI and AI tools changed the way you work? Respond with your answers to these burning questions to Jay or Soo.
Stay in Touch
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📨 Came across a cool link? Share your recommendations with @soosixty or @jdallcaps - we love to hear from you!
🎄 And finally to all the readers who made it to the end - of this newsletter as well as with us this year, thank you! You’ve made this year truly special.
gif by Mat Voyce
🎄Have a super new year,