What I Read this Week (WIRTW): Around the Web + Self Care

After the rush of diving back into my tomes, it has been rewarding to check out a few quick reads. Even though online web articles sometimes get a bit of a bad wrap, I found that short articles became a great way to kick off discussions both inside and outside of the classroom.

Here are a few articles to get you going this week:
Manipulation and Dark Design Patterns:

• How Your Apps are Designed to Manipulate You

• https://www.darkpatterns.org/ is a great website which highlights some of the patterns negatively affecting user experiences across the web. I also recommend the book White Hat UX as another resource for combating some bad patterns.

• Stop calling these Dark Design Patterns or Dark UX — these are simply a**hole designs

The Power of a General Skill Set:

• Defining Design Generalists

Content Strategy and Composition:

• Content First Approach in Design: Collaborating with Content Strategists and UX Writers
  

If you are in need of some positive vibes:

• You’re Good Enough: How to be Okay with Being You

• Laziness Does Not Exist: But Unseen Barriers Do
  

What I Read this Week (WIRTW): Content Strategy Tips and Tricks + Instructional Design

One of the best parts about the summer, has been the opportunity to FINALLY work my way through the backlog of books and articles I have saved. The books below are just a few that you may find helpful, that I finished reading this week!

What I read this week: 

• Content Strategy for the Web - Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach 2012

• The Content Strategy Toolkit - Megan Casey 2015

• Leaving ADDIE for SAM: An Agile Model for Developing the Best Learning Experiences  - Michael Allen 2012

• The Accidental Instructional Designer: Learning Design for the Digital Age -Cammy Bean 2014

I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the lessons I have learned from Leaving ADDIE for SAM while updating my portfolio and thinking about my own personal design goals for the next year. First, it is a great book for ideas on how to get started on re-working your own course design methods to incorporate more AGILE, iterative design models. For my own course (which blended design thinking , 3d printing and the composition process), I found that modifying my 1 month units into 2-week sprints offered my students more time for constructive feedback sessions (both giving and receiving).

I will say that if you are creating experiences that aren’t quite as digital-focused, it may be a bit overwhelming, but that is the beauty of these models and frameworks. Do not feel as though you have to adhere to each phase, or that the framework will work for your needs in that moment.