The lessons designers should learn from popular TV shows
There’s no way to imagine life without the favorite TV shows that steal the years of our life. Whether they are fun or have drama in the first place, these shows tell us the stories.
Recently, I asked myself a question — can a designer not only spend a good time watching all the new series but also relate it to his work? And I got the answers, so here are my results.
Spoiler: it’s not that kind of serious research, you know. It’s about entertainment.
Game of Thrones
This lesson should be included in the most respectful UX/UI courses ever — check the contrast and visibility!
Remember the episode with the night battle in the last season? This is it, it was pretty hard to see lots of details. And while designers usually do not recreate battles in the app designs, we do like to play with the tiny-difference-colors-applied. I would say, it’s not that common mistake when it comes to popular nowadays dark mode. On the contrary, it’s more about the light mode.
Whether you’re sensitive about even a tiny color difference or you forgot not everyone has Macs with a perfect color mode, remember to check the contrast. Sometimes it might be better to increase hue to be sure everyone will notice the search bar.
The Marvelous Mrs.Maisel
Are you in love with charming and funny Midge? I am! And so I watched season 3 just in a few days.
There are situations where she’s on the stage in an unusual place—a different district of New York or even a city like LA. And turned out, the audience is different too! The same jokes might not work.
The same goes for design. Designers are used to their specific audience, whether it is the team they work with or the group of people they know and test the solutions with their help.
But what comes when the created design crosses the border and is used by people in a different place, will it work? The more detailed research is needed.
The Office
There’s no way not to love this show! The only question is, whom do you like more, Michael Scott or Dwight Schrute?
Here come the crucial rules:
Do not always rely on AI
The moment Michael followed the instructions of GPS that showed the road instead of a lake, and… his car appeared in the lake.
While AI is both present and future in technology, we, designers should still remember we create apps and websites for other people. So don’t forget about empathy in the first place.
Know the amount of work you can manage
It might be more relevant to freelancers, there are times when you have too many projects at the same time. It’s hard to control it for sure, but if you got once in such a situation, make a conclusion. Work-on-10-projects-at-the-same-time isn’t a synonym to high productivity in most cases.
Work on personas
Same family, different Jim. Same app, different users.
Animations do attract people attention
Remember this moment with “DVD never hits the corner”? I love how it shows our addiction to moving objects and expectations. The same methods work in games. At the same time, it’s not a secret that animated transitions make the app much more appealing.
Teamwork matters
Remote work considers being the future. And it has great benefits, you can visit so many different places in the world while still working. But there’s one important thing—work directly with the team being in one place altogether bring a different, more impactful cooperation. So, ideally, in between trips to Hawaii and Mexico, plan a week or two to work with teammates in one space.
Bonus
Not a TV show but a saga and a huge universe, Star Wars represent one crucial successful design approach that went through the decades—use neon, it always looks impressive.
In the following example, both UI and illustration have that neon style. Especially when it’s used on the dark background, it looks spectacularly and attracts people as the elements stand out.
After all, it’s been more than a century since neon was discovered, and all this time it doesn’t lose its popularity, right?
Do you want me to continue presenting the rules this way or you want to share some of your thoughts? Let me know!
