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Productivity tool Notion nearly died in 2015 — but its unique design process helped save it. Here's the tactics they used.(figma.com)

over 4 years ago from Carmel DeAmicis

  • Andrew C, over 4 years ago

    I’m curious to know how they’re defining “best”? Notion has great brand design but if the goal here was endless permutations (in Figma! TM) that the CEO could shed to shreds it feels akin to design-by-committee or micromanagement. Maybe they’re lucky the CEO has style for example? Best needs defining.

    The article is also light on details. I would love to see the actual evolution of a feature that they drew out in Figma. But the screenshots provided look like flows or wireframes. Showing more would help us all learn.

    1 point
    • Giovanni HobbinsGiovanni Hobbins, over 4 years ago

      Agreed with this. Not really any tactics other than:

      “Our general philosophy is to go crazy with permutations,” he says. “If the taste is there, which you can grow by studying typography and the giants of industry, you can churn out versions until you find the best one.”

      Which fwiw, I whole-heartedly agree with. I even buy Figma is best suited to do this. But it's definitely more puff piece than resource despite the promising title. Still, though - enjoyed the short read.

      1 point
      • Andrew C, over 4 years ago

        I buy the approach to brand and general principles. My question is why mutli-user iteration is necessary. FWIW I also think Notion has a great brand presence to it that I personally really love.

        What I want is an example of a Notion feature that started out as v1, and what explosively and divergently iterated on until they got to vFinal. The result isn't as important to me as the process and leadership/mgmt style it took to get here with a piece like this.

        1 point
        • Carmel DeAmicis, over 4 years ago

          Hey Andrew, I'm the writer on this piece and I really appreciate yours and Giovanni's feedback. I'm trying to write more tactical design process stories on the Figma blog, and I want to get the details right so they're actually useful. Would you be game to hop on the phone with me for 15 minutes so I can get a little more color from you on what you would've liked to see in the story? If so, my email is carmel at figma dot com.

          1 point
      • Carmel DeAmicis, over 4 years ago

        Hey Giovanni, I'm the writer on this piece and I really appreciate yours and Andrew's feedback. I'm trying to write more tactical design process stories on the Figma blog, and I want to get the details right so they're actually useful. Would you be game to hop on the phone with me for 15 minutes so I can get a little more color from you on what you would've liked to see in the story? If so, my email is carmel at figma dot com.

        0 points