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Adam Silver

@adamsilverhq.bsky.social

380 followers 29 following 420 posts

Designer with engineering background. I talk about designing products that are intuitive, accessible and delightful to use. Design newsletter: https://adamsilver.io/newsletter Good Design Crash Course (free): https://adamsilver.io/gdcc

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Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · Nov 24

Yo I’m new here so let me introduce myself...

I’m Adam Silver and I’m a designer (and former frontend engineer).

I talk about how to design products that are effortless to use (for everyone).

If you fancy it, here’s my backstory:

adamsilver.io/bio/

Me holding a sign saying “Here’s my designer origin story!”

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Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 18h

But the key takeaway is that prototyping changes how you think about design. Because it forces you to embrace the right constraints.

Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 18h

6. Nudges designers to use the standard components in the Design System and learn how they can and cannot flex.

7. Easier to keep up to date, and reuse patterns/components. Code is usually more powerful that way.

But there is one downside:

You need to learn it.

Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 18h

...keyboard, mobile, etc.

4. It’s easier to show how something really works to designers, content designers, PMs, and developers. No need to imagine and make incorrect assumptions.

5. Nudges designers to think of the important stuff (a11y, responsiveness, real data, long data, short data, no data)

Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 18h

2. Testing with something that behaves like the real thing gives drastically better user feedback.

3. Further to (2) this is because users don't interact with pictures of software. And they don't use your UI in the same way. Some use small screens, big screens, screen readers...

Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 18h

Just in a workshop discussing the pros and cons of using the GOV Prototype Kit over something like Figma.

Here’s the advantages:

1. Once you know the basics, you can build and iterate much quicker than in Figma - especially for complex journeys.

Screenshot of a tutorial from the GOV.UK Prototype Kit.

Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 2d

→ ‘use a tooltip’

If a hint is useful, why hide it behind a hard-to-use, inaccessible interaction?

→ ‘for a cleaner design’

Design is about clarity, not cleanliness.

I think we designers are going to survive just fine without AI.

What do you reckon?

Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 2d

I asked ChatGPT “How do you add hint text to radio buttons?"

It suggested:

“If you want the hint to appear when the user hovers on the radio button, use a tooltip for a cleaner design”

Let’s break this down:

→ ‘If you want’

Design is not about what you want. It’s about what users need.

ChatGPT prompt on how you add hint text to radio buttons

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Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 3d

p.s. illustration taken from Remix

Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 3d

Enterprise products are often prone to spinnageddon.

This is where each component “loads itself” async with a spinner.

This is a slow, inaccessible experience that's totally unnecessary.

Instead, render on the server.

You’ll get the standard, accessible, browser loading indicator for free.

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Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 10d

adamsilver.io/gdcc/

Good Design Crash Course

Adam Silver – interaction designer - London, UK

adamsilver.io

Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 10d

1. It’s accessible (so it works for everyone)
2. It’s obvious (so you don’t have to think)
3. It puts users in control (so we don't restrict users)
4. It’s lightweight (so you don’t spend time looking at loading spinners)

If you’re keen, you can get it for free at the link below:

Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 10d

Over 1,500 UI/UX designers have watched the Good Design Crash Course.

In the course, I explain what design actually is (hint: it’s not just about aesthetics).

And I reveal the 4 principles I use every day as a designer to make sure that what I design is actually good.

That is:

Good design crash course video lesson 1 still

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Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 15d

Yesterday, I ran a live design feedback session for my Form Design Mastery members.

First thing I did – on camera remember – was take a sip of water.

But I missed my mouth and it spilt all down my grey t-shirt.

I might do that again in future.

It’s a great ice-breaker.

Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 16d

Yep!

Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 16d

100%

Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 16d

UI/UX designers and frontend devs — what’s your go-to input mask library?

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Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 17d

But it does show you that users don’t care half as much about pixels as most designers do.

This is why you should spend less time pushing pixels, and more time solving deeper problems that actually cause problems for users.

Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 17d

But that sloppiness has probably caused exactly zero issues for users.

Does it mean, that sloppiness is good?

No.

Does it mean, you should leave it misaligned?

No.

It takes longer to discuss it with your product manager than actually just fixing the thing, so definitely just fix it and move on.

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Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 17d

Last week, designer Anthony Hobday noticed WhatsApp’s button is misaligned.

You can see in the screenshot that there’s more margin above the button than below it - something most designers would say is sloppy.

And perhaps it is.

Screenshot of Whatsapp button being misaligned with Anthony Hobday saying “My god, this button isn't aligned properly in WhatsApp. TWO TRILLION DOLLAR COMPANY BY THE WAY.”

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Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 17d

Hi Peter - I bought your original version of this, do I get access to this version or do I need to request access still?

Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 18d

Yesterday, I shared my response to each comment to 9,389 newsletter subscribers because they each have a design takeaway.

If you missed it:

adamsilver.io/blog/my-res...

My response to Hacker News comments

Adam Silver – interaction designer - London, UK

adamsilver.io

Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 18d

3. “Capitalisation fixes this. ‘Go to My Account’ is clear to me.

4. “As a support engineer in enterprise software, I would word it and mentor agents to say ‘Go to “my cases” at the top’”

Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 18d

✅ Use “My” when the user is communicating to us

I read through the comments and noted down 4 highlights:

1. “It should be a checkbox labelled ‘Share your profile photo’ to fit more on screen.”

2. “I’m glad I don’t work in UX. All of this seems so boring and futile.”

Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 18d

Last Tuesday, my article about using “Your” and “My” in user interfaces went viral on Hacker News.

Hacker News (if you don’t know) is a site where people discuss and upvote ideas in tech/design.

The gist of my article was:

✅ Use “Your” when communicating to the user

And:

Navigation labels example: Wrong — 'My cases | All cases'; Right — 'Your cases | All cases'.

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Adam Silver @adamsilverhq.bsky.social · 23d

Such a good article haha