sharanx (@sharan) • Hey
Product designer that can balance user needs, dev constraints and business goals. Fluent in design, code, finance. #UX #strategy #usercentric #startups #we
Publications
- “When money is abundant everything else is scarce and when money is scarce everything else is abundant.” - something from the bitcoin world. Makes sense, doesn’t it?
#btc #crypto
- The Tornado Cash program is running on chain and still there for everyone to use. So, if someone used it for illicit purposes tomorrow, does Alex Pertsev have to do more time in jail? Bad actors should be punished for bad deeds, sure. But it's insane to blame toolmakers! #crypto
- Why can’t I pinch out and expand images on @lens/orb? Is this in the works?
- Coordinating the brand's tone involves all communicating parts of the company. Adding a communication department could slow startups down. Simply sharing guidelines may not work. Any good solutions?
#communications #language #brand
- Recent studies have shown that animals have greater levels of intelligence than we had previously given them credit for. I guess it requires intelligence to recognise intelligence, or as they say, game recognises game.
#intelligence
- Anyone know how to leave a club using the Orb interface?
- Is mainstream adoption of AR just around the corner? I think it may needa few more iterations. The true indicator will be when the strap disappears and allows this device to be worn and used like regular glasses and not like ski masks.
#design #product #AR
- As the world admires Sora and its ability to create high-fidelity videos from text, I believe we are witnessing the dawn of the viewer-generated videos. The viewer keeps speaking, and the videos keep generating. They may never stop!
#AI #Sora
- #AI #subscriptions, especially annual ones, don't make sense to me as a consumer when the next big innovation is around the corner and probably not from my current service provider. Per-use #pricing like most have for API usage is a far better model in my opinion!
- Is it just me or does anyone else think that the phrase “All time high” should not be followed by “…since…”?
#headlines #btc
- Civilisation exists to minimise life's unpredictability. Therefore, it's no surprise that the most comfortable places to invest in are also the most predictable. #society #investing
- $ 4.5B trading volume on day one of the #BTC #ETF. This is a record breaking number! To contrast the gold ETF launched in 2004 took three days to hit $ 1B. Looks like BTC is here to stay!
- If you've seen my previous post analysing the AI Pin, you'll see that this Rabbit R1 has addressed a whole bunch of the problems and done it well! A detailed review to follow, but take a look at the demo: https://www.rabbit.tech/
#ai #assistant #hardware
- #Starlink got a seat at every government's table with their direct-to-cell service. Now, if any government wants to cut off mobile access to some citizens, they'll run it by Starlink? Starlink’s feet will be held to the fire but what if they had been #decentralised instead?
- Starlink, along with other companies offering direct-to-cell service, is both a cause for celebration and lamentation. We celebrate the fact that #speech is no longer dictated solely by those controlling geographical boundaries. But, it is now in the hands of corporations.
- The importance of #UX has increased over the past 5 years, but the average hourly #agency #rates have stayed the same or dropped significantly if you factor in inflation! More demand is being met with a greater supply of people and tech use. The industry commoditises. #trends
- The recent technological #breakthroughs are a hilarious paradox. Due to its requirement of immense computing resources #AI centralises power, while #crypto has been built from the ground up to #decentralise it.
- #UX #design #agencies' proposals often include lists of features that will be designed. However, design can creatively solve problems differently from client expectations and sometimes eliminate the need for certain features. Clients, take note - this is a feature, not a bug!
- With #AI #agents replacing search engines, you go from keyword based searches to concept based searches. You're not going to be looking for party hats, cakes and bands in your area anymore, you're planning a party instead. Businesses will vie to be the one recommended by the AI. AI will have to tread carefully to earn the trust of the user OR will play the user expertly knowing exactly what makes them tick.
- As a product designer, I've analyzed Humane's first product, the AI Pin. It faces critical challenges that need addressing. Here's my take on what should come next.
#review #product #ux #design
It seems to me that the primary purpose of the product was to replace the mobile phone. A screen-free design is the holy grail of the industry. But to get someone to dump their phone and use this, it needs a 10X better value proposition. Is that the always-on AI assistant's role?
But this is where the problems begin. If you choose to become a replacement for the mobile phone, you need the new device to do what the phone can, including calls and messages, social media, calendar management, navigation, photography, entertainment, running apps, etc.This device isn't anywhere close to being able to do that. So then, the value proposition is clearly the always available AI assistant that always knows the context of the user.
On that front, this product is constrained by the voice based input/ouput and a low resolution screen, neither of which are particularly as useful as a high resolution screen with touch inputs that can deliver a lot more information faster than voice and much more private.Also, the device needs to be activated with a tap.
To demonstrate the usefulness of the AI assistant, it absolutely needs the activation be super-fast and the responses be almost immediate. A tap-and-hold doesn't meet these expectations as it's slow and needs a hand to be free.
Their demos showed that the AI assistant took quite a while to go and fetch the information and then respond and I can imagine it can feel quite frustrating in daily usage.
So if I was a designer at Humane, I'd have asked the following questions. Actually, I know there are some great people working there so the questions may have been asked, so I would just love to know the answers to them.
1. Why build a phone replacement as the first version of the product? It would have been better to demonstrate the usefulness of an always-available AI assistant than to demonstrate a device's ability to replace the phone, which is an incredibly tall order. Meta RayBan did that.
2. Why use tap as a wake gesture and not a hot keyword or even a head turn towards the device? One could more easily look towards the AI Pin, making that not only faster and a hands-free operation, but also extremely natural.
3. What were the reasons for not pursuing a smartwatch with video capabilities? A watch is more familiar and offers clear activation gestures, such as raising to wake. It provides a screen for information delivery and touch inputs, which are much more private.
While a whole lot of people have been dumping on this project (including me for a bit to be honest), upon further consideration, this feels like a product that was rushed out to door to meet deadlines rather than one that espouses the vision of the company. There is a need for an always available AI assistant but the AI Pin isn't that, just yet. But with the feedback from the launch, the voices within the company that voted against this release and to hold off until the product's USP was more apparent may find more receptive ears.
- Watch this video for a comprehensive overview of Bitcoin network decentralization and the measures being taken. It's essential for anyone involved in the field, especially investors.
#decentralisation #Bitcoin #investments #crypto
https://youtu.be/jFfzsEj6z6c?si=JU5LpkgyWE_Z-Ll2
Key takeaways below.
1. Solo-mining isn't profitable. Pooled mining is the only way forward. This is detrimental to decentralisation as the number of pools have reduced over time to only about 12 unique entities in total.
2. There's a tremendous amount of intermediate steps that go into mining. This includes deciding which transactions get included in the next block as well as the type (block template), actually performing the hashing function and distributing rewards (and refunds) to name some.
3. Pool owners currently decide about a lot of these important aspects and and not the miners who provide the hashing function. The miners are only aware of what they've mined *after* the block has been mined and they know only then whether they spent their effort profitably.
4. The transaction fee based rewards system puts more trust into the hands of the pool owners as there's no way for miners to know how much they were supposed to be paid by the pool for the work they have done.
5. Pools will also have the new coins minted flow through them for distribution, so this makes things much worse for #decentralisation.
There has been a prevailing belief that #bitcoin, being the most decentralized system, is immune to control from any group. However, blind faith can be detrimental. Like any other system, it requires vigilance to identify and address problems that may arise from time to time.
- I can't believe I'm reposting and ad, but this one hit a nerve.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1730633199087161813
- “Geography is destiny my friend”, goes a memorable line from a movie that couldn’t be more true. Living in different parts of the world expanded my horizons and showed me there are multiple valid pursuits of life.
Have you moved between countries? What have been your insights?
#perspectives #lifegoals
- One thing that #crypto did first which was then put into motion by #AI is that it has made it necessary for countries to seek consensus with each other if only to attempt to ban these technologies. And seeing it taught me that countries are as different as people.
#lessons #tech
- My talk with Hemanth Sharma on his podcast about UX Design in Web3 got published recently. Please do take a look if this is your cup of tea! #ux #podcast #web3
https://youtu.be/b1EKFhTJfdk
- Stable Diffusion experiments with various prompts and models. I think I’m getting the hang of it.
#ai #art
- Have you started prototyping your ideas using ChatGPT as yet? If you always wanted to but needed a walk-through, check out this video I just made about this.
#ux #design #prototyping #chatgpt
https://youtu.be/XOg_iRfln6U
- "Infrastructure is the most efficient mechanism by which society stores and distributes value." - Clay Christensen
#business #systems #design
- If the argument is for protecting the rights of a minority in order to achieve equality with the majority, the opinions of the majority cannot hold sway. #samesexmarriage
- 🌐 Embrace empathy in UX design. Understand diverse perspectives to create experiences that resonate with users from all walks of life. #EmpathyInDesign #Diversity
https://sharanx.medium.com/eight-essential-rules-for-mastering-ethical-ux-design-611b1cef753e
- 🌟 Discover the power of ethical #UXDesign! Create digital spaces that are accessible, inclusive, and foster user trust. Make a difference today!
sharanx.medium.com/eight-essentia…
#DesignForGood #InclusiveDesign #ux #design #ethics #rules
- Reduce your carbon footprint and improve your bottom line with UX design. It takes ingenuity, but it's a win-win for your business and the environment! #ux #design
- The roll-out of the spam notifications filter is an issue that @stani.lens and team should pay closer attention to. The user experience on apps built on the protocol has been affected where the user gets a notification but clicking on it results in an empty page! This is unacceptable in the user layer, particularly in social apps. Launching a new feature like filters with the default setting being 'on' is not done. Users should have the option to opt-in to these new features, rather than being forced to opt out to maintain the UX they are used to. Hope this helps!
#ux #design
- Logging into Lens everyday now to see some notification, but click it and there's nothing new! What's going on?!
- If you're a product company thinking of setting up a design team, now is the time! Small teams can deliver big agency value, especially when paired with AI tools. Anyone thinking of starting a design agency in '23, think again as macro trends aren't favourable! #design #business
- Good design is the result of a well debated conversation, not an authoritative statement of fact. The final outcome is always richer than what any of the participants could produce in isolation. #design #process #ux #productdesign
- When designing for rapidly evolving spaces like #crypto or #AI, anchor the user's understanding to real-world concepts rather than others competing within the space. For example, when building a wallet, anchor it to "bank accounts" instead of other wallets. #ux #design #adoption
- As designers, it's important to develop the ability to notice things that aren't quite right so as to find a better solution. But once you get good at it, you'll notice problems everywhere! Don't get overwhelmed; instead, thank your lucky stars for job safety! #design #ux
- The RESTRICT Act will certainly restrict the innovation in the US. This is how the decline begins.
#freespeech #nooversight
- I played the game of "How will AI make my job irrelevant?" It sounds like a downer, but the insights I got were definitely interesting and will help me adapt. If you're a designer (at least for now) I recommend you grab a strong brew and play it yourself!
#ai #ux #design
1. What will the role of a designer be when taste and skill are separated? Today, good design is the domain of the skilled *and* the tasteful. When skill becomes irrelevant, taste is everything. Curation wins, influencers gain more influence, trends rise and fall faster.
2. Would owning a design team be easier than hiring an agency? Building in-house teams is expensive, but many companies want to do it as it is essential for well designed products. Soon, three AI-savvy designers might be enough to satisfy the needs of ten product teams!
3. Will models just be pretty people you see on the street? With no potential for law suits, no badly behaved talent, no expensive equipment and access to every kind of photograph at the end of a prompt, models, agents and photographers will be anachronistic in the age of AI.
4. Will UX designers be different from app developers? Design tools replace designers, but Co-pilot has been exhibiting abilities to significantly reduce the hurdles to programming as well. The line of distinction between designers and developers will continue to fade.
5. Will trends be more frequent when the effort to produce is reduced? Someone creates something and others who are inspired by it will chase the idea until every variant of it is consumed by the population. And then the next trend starts.
6. Will the line between producers and consumers blur? While producers may produce, consumers will also have the ability to apply customisations. Think, "Show me websites, but make them blue!" and it will be done. Now, go further down that rabbit hole!
Despite all the doom and gloom, the one thing AI does is increase our ability to create. So, create we must!
- "Hey ChatGPT, write a poem about being a user experience designer who has to deal with some really mind-numbing requests from clients. But make this funny."
"Could you redo that poem as something that one could rap about to the rhythm of 'The Fresh Prince of Bel Air'"
What do you think? Does it flow?
#ai #funny #chatgpt #ux #design
- Graffiti has got to be one of the highest forms of art! Look at this incredible work from people around the world! If you're one of those that made any of this, I want to say thanks!
#graffiti #art
- It's incredible how one part of the world prioritises enjoying a day out in the sun while another part of the world that's forced to maximise its time cannot imagine doing so!
#lifestyle #ratrace
- #Graffiti
- #public #art
- “Wallets” are the most poorly named concept in all of crypto!
#crypto #wallets #web3
- One of the most important UX design principles I’ve learnt is “Follow the money.” Companies embellish, obfuscate and distract but money is like a sieve that’s separates fact from fiction and lays the truth bare. If you want to understand the true workings of a system, follow the money. Then, you can improve upon the design. #ux #design
- Adopting an experimental mindset in startup increases your odds of success to 66% as two of the three possible outcomes of the experiment (an affirmation or a refutation) are equally valuable.
#startups #experimentalmindset
- At the intersection of AI and decentralisation lie new opportunities to developing solutions to the age old problem of censorship. I'd love to hear your feedback on the article I've written about this here:
https://mirror.xyz/sharanx.eth/EUz_i2aUBZ_GYuCgen1Gh44tqh_VXUcArfvOoTt2MuQ
#ux #design
- I just contributed to the 🕯️ KZG Ceremony 🕯️ to help scale Ethereum
↓ Add your own randomness ↓ ceremony.ethereum.org