Maria M.

Here are the confirmed speakers for WUD Portugal 2025 so far 🎤 This year’s stage will bring together perspectives from across the UX spectrum, from research and accessibility to design systems and emerging practices, all with one goal: making products simpler, more human, and more impactful. Here are some of the voices you’ll hear in Lisbon this November: 🔹 Gavin Lew: “Beyond faster horses: Rethinking innovation through UX research”, bringing global expertise in UX research. 🔹 Andre Fangueiro: “Practical Use of AI in Design Workflows”, on the role of UX in inclusive design. 🔹 Joana Cerejo: “Estatisticamente correto. Humanamente errado.”, exploring how design shapes meaningful human connections. 🔹 Rui Coimbras: “Liberdades de escolha e autodeterminação com paralisia cerebral”, rethinking the “easiest path” in the journey toward true inclusion. 🔹 Ricardo Luiz: “From Idea to Prototype in Under 20 Minutes”, exploring AI as a partner in rapid prototyping and user-centered design. And there’s more to come. Stay tuned for additional speakers and sessions. Join us to learn, connect, and bring practical insights back to your work. 🗓 November 18-19 | Museu do Oriente, Lisbon 🎟 Tickets available now: https://wudportugal.com/ #WUDPortugal #WorldUsabilityDay #UXDesign #UserExperience

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What if we told you that one of the hardest parts of UX research isn’t the analysis or the presentation… it’s recruitment! Meet Unnati Senani, our Senior UX Researcher, who’s seen the good, the bad, and the flat-out bizarre while recruiting participants. In her latest blog, she spills what went wrong, why it matters, and how you can avoid falling into the same traps. It’s fun, insightful and a must-read for anyone in UX. 🍭 📚 Read here - https://lnkd.in/ggiCENDc #UserResearch #UXFails #ProductDesign #ResearchTips #UXresearch #recruitment #uxdesign #lollypopdesignstudio #blog #article

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At Clay, Figma is our daily workspace. We use it constantly, so we got curious and asked our team which plugins they rely on: https://lnkd.in/dzTNAg7d 20 favorite Figma plugins came up. Some are classics, some are hidden gems, but all help us move faster and design better. The right plugins aren’t just helpful. They’re essential. Here’s why they’ve become indispensable for modern teams: 🟣 Tools like Image Editor make it easy to adjust brightness, contrast, and levels right inside Figma, keeping your workflow fast and focused. 🟣 Plugins like Clean Document and Content Reel bring order and clarity to your files, helping teams work more efficiently and simplifying handoff. 🟣 From writing content to creating motion, tools like Figmotion and Writer expand what's possible by bringing intelligent, AI-driven features into your creative process. 💬 What’s your go-to Figma plugin? Drop your favorites in the comments. __ #webdesign #webdesigner #website #web #site #webdesigner #websitedesign #clayglobal #claydesignagency #designagency #designstudio #designcompany #design #sanfrancisco #figma #plugins #figmaplugin #uiux #ux

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Designers! Stop Donating Your Talent and Say NO! to Take-Home Tasks! I wrote a post looking at the shocking state of the design market 7 months ago. When it was clear that the market had fully switched to favouring employers. As a result: → Hiring processes got longer and more convoluted → Job ads got sillier → Application numbers soared → Waves of talent left the industry for good Months later, the situation has turned even seedier. Take-home tasks were initially dished out by inexperienced hiring managers. Now it's common to hear of 4-day design tasks deliberately set up to exploit and steal designers' work without compensation. There's a simple response to this: Say no! By rejecting 5-stage interviews and take-home tasks: → We stop validating broken hiring processes → We honour the value of our craft → We force employers to optimise their recruitment methods → We protect our sanity Desperation can be a powerful motivator, but consider this: If a company needs 5 rounds and free work to make a hiring decision, what does that reveal about their internal culture and how they'll value you after you're hired? The industry only gets better if we demand better!

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Do I need to specialize to survive in UX? It’s a question we’ve heard again and again, especially from early-career professionals trying to find their niche, and seasoned designers wondering how to evolve. The short answer: not necessarily. As AI reshapes our field, we're seeing an interesting shift: the return of the generalist 🦄. Not the overworked, do-it-all-without-support type—but a more sustainable, AI-supported version where being versatile is an advantage, not a vulnerability. With AI taking on some of the more repetitive, labor-intensive parts of UX work, individuals are now better equipped to span multiple roles. Research, writing, IA, interaction design +. It’s becoming more feasible for a single person to meaningfully contribute across disciplines, especially on smaller teams. Specialists still matter (a lot). But the pendulum is swinging toward flexibility, curiosity, and systems thinking. In this evolving landscape, being a generalist isn’t “falling behind”—it might just be what helps you leap ahead. Explore what this shift means and how to prepare in Sarah Gibbons’s and Evan Sunwall’s latest article: https://bit.ly/3FUrm8g #UXCareers #UXDesign #AIinUX #UXGeneralist #CareerGrowth #HumanCenteredDesign #FutureOfWork #UXRoles

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This article from Alexandra Rocha captures something many UX designers feel but struggle to express — the tension between ideal UCD and real-world constraints. A must-read on making UCD more flexible without losing its soul. https://lnkd.in/dH95C3J4

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Ever faced the daunting task of updating nearly 200 design tokens in Figma? Our UI/UX designer, Eduard, did and turned it into an opportunity for innovation. By combining Claude AI and Cursor AI, Eduard built a custom Figma plugin that automated the process, cutting the workload from 3-6 days to just a few hours. Curious about how he did it? Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/44MapaL #GreatPeople #GreatExpertise #Figma #AI #UIUX #SurroundYourselfWithOpportunities

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Dublin UX MEETUP TAKEAWAYS. It took place in the Workday office, which hosted around 200 people for the event. Interestingly, the same Workday office hosted a couple of other events at the same time. Some offices are quiet and empty, while others are full of energy, driven by a hunger for learning, innovation, and networking. 1️⃣ Humans must ultimately take ownership of the final output. AI can support, suggest, and accelerate, but the responsibility stays with us. Human judgment is the final step, not an optional layer. 2️⃣ To build trust, we must show the data’s path, not just the AI’s conclusion. Transparency is more than explainability. Let people see how the data flowed, what the model considered, and why the outcome makes sense. 3️⃣ AI challenges our established sense of self in the workplace. As AI takes on creative and strategic tasks, we’re all redefining what it means to contribute. That shift affects motivation and collaboration. 4️⃣ Use JTBD, mental model, and user type for research. If your research doesn’t reflect how people think and what they’re trying to achieve, your features will never feel intuitive. 5️⃣ If it causes friction, it’s UX That means you can improve it, so start looking for UX everywhere. 6️⃣ With AI amplifying data overload, we must architect clarity, not just deliver information. AI brings more signals than ever. Our job now is to architect clarity, not just push more information. 7️⃣ Reducing cognitive load is always important. If people have to stop and think, something’s wrong. Good design should feel obvious. 8️⃣ Inclusive design rests on accessibility, adaptability, and affinity. Can people access it? Can they shape it to their needs? Does it feel like it belongs to them? 9️⃣ Conversational interfaces lower barriers by making tech feel natural and easy to use. Natural language and human tone reduce intimidation. This matters for inclusion, especially in high stakes or unfamiliar contexts. 🔄 UX is a mindset, not a role. It’s how we see problems and how we choose to solve them. The best UX work often comes from unexpected places. Thanks to speakers Grace Hughes, John Conneely, Silvia Amaduzzi, Rachel Bradstreet. Thanks to Patrick M. and many more for the great job. #dublinux #workday #uxdesign #productdesign

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Let’s talk (design) portfolio tools. I see many designers asking and discussing what’s the best tool to build a portfolio. This summer, a friend of mine (not exactly a designer, but still) asked me to help with theirs. In one evening — literally about an hour — we got the first version up and running. Super basic, but already live. Then, over the next two evenings during the weekend — while camping, after some rock climbing 😅 — we spent maybe another hour each day polishing things and adding fun details. Like a before/after component to show the difference for 2 image. And guess what? That portfolio led to an interview, then to a test task, and finally to a job offer. 🎉 So if you’re still wondering what tool to use for your next portfolio — and you want to build it fast but still have it look great — I would recommend just use Framer. artpiece by Benjamin den Boer

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UI is dying. And it’s happening faster than anyone expected. Yesterday, I was looking for a raincoat. So I asked ChatGPT to find me the best one for my budget. I didn’t leave the chat until I was ready to buy. It felt seamless, like the internet finally understood me. And it’s not a coincidence. ChatGPT now lets you chat inside apps like Booking, Instacart, Kayak, and Figma, all from one place. No tabs. No clicks. Just: “Book me a hotel in Lisbon for this weekend,” and it’s done. The era of dashboards, megamenus and scrolling is ending. People won’t navigate anymore, they’ll ask. The future of UX isn’t visual, it’s conversational. Designers will build experiences that live inside AI, not just on screens. We’ll need “Agentic Design,” or Agent Experience (AX), designing for AI agents with empathy. Because the human touch will always make the experience. Those who ignore UX and SEO will fall behind, while brands that adapt will own attention where users already are, in conversation. UI won’t vanish overnight, but it’s time to design for conversations, not decorations. Do you think we're ready to move from screens to conversations?

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From the archives: design is something that is always strengthened against the harsh weather that is constructive feedback, not weakened by it. When design is a closed process it doesn’t have a chance to grow or strengthen. When design is proactively shared it grows stronger, and the designers behind the work do too. How to create a culture of open design. https://lnkd.in/g_rp6MiH

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I spent 24+ hours on a ‘paid’ take-home design challenge—then got ghosted... Three intense days. Eight (sometimes nine) hours each day. Research, wireframes, prototypes, polish—done on time. The startup had promised payment for the assignment, so I leaned in, thinking: at least my time will be respected, even if I don’t get the role. Instead, I was met with… silence. Two weeks later, I finally heard back: “We’ve decided to move forward with other candidates.” No feedback. No payment. No reply to my follow-up email asking about the stipend they’d guaranteed. What I took away from the experience: ⭐️ My time has value—yours does too. Twenty-plus hours could have gone toward freelance work, portfolio updates, or rest. ⭐️ Process is culture. If a company ghosts candidates after unpaid (or “paid”) work, that tells you how they might treat employees. ⭐️ I now politely decline take-home challenges. A thorough portfolio review + conversation about my thinking should be enough. If it’s not, the fit probably isn’t the right fit for either of us. If you’re a hiring manager: ❗️Pay promptly if you promise payment. ❗️Offer tight, scoped exercises (or live whiteboarding) only when absolutely necessary. ❗️Feedback—even two lines—goes a long way. If you’re a candidate: ⭐️Set boundaries early. Ask how many hours they expect and when you’ll be paid or hear back. ⭐️Remember that “no” to an unreasonable request is a “yes” to protecting your energy. Has anyone else experienced a similar take-home ordeal? Let’s swap stories—and maybe push the industry forward—below. 🗣️👇 #UXDesign #ProductDesign #JobSearch #JobHunting #CareerGrowth

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I just finished another week of mentoring and I'm seeing concerning patterns. 100% of designers I speak with are afraid of the future, uncertain if UX is the right career, don't know how to find work, whether to shift focus to marketing or other disciplines, or if they should give up. These are all legitimate questions, but the problem I see is that 99% of them don't have the basics even to apply. What I see every day: 1️⃣ "Senior Designers" with horrible portfolios - a mishmash of text and images that answer no questions 2️⃣ Junior designers already afraid of the future after just a few weeks without finding work 3️⃣ CVs that are walls of meaningless text with unfindable portfolio links 4️⃣ Online portfolios made in Framer (because "at least it's animated") but explain nothing - four random pieces of information and photos of their hobbies And the KING 👑 The same old, infinitely recycled "design process" with proto-personas and post-its. You need to fix the basics. There are thousands of resources on how to set up a good portfolio - you don't need many projects, you need a few done well. Describing yourself as "UX Designer who creates intuitive interfaces" is the bare minimum, doesn't help, it's obvious. Want to try applying as "UX who creates NON-intuitive interfaces"? My advice: • Fix the basics, dedicate time to improving yourselves, your skills, and your portfolio. You don't get fit after 3 weeks at the gym - it's a marathon and you need to specialize. • For all of you lucky enough to be very young, in your twenties: don't worry too much. You can make mistakes for the next 15 years and still be young with all doors open. Enjoy the journey.

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