Last week I opened up Deliveroo and proceeded to order some dinner. Nothing too unusual, except this time I noticed a Pay with Klarna option. For those that aren't familiar Klarna is a buy now pay later service, offering the cost of a product to be split into 3 payments. Aside from merchant fees, Klarna makes money when customers opt to, or need to extend credit terms or miss a payment.
Deliveroo has questionable business practices at the best of times, and perhaps I expected too much from them, but there is something seriously fucked up about offering the option to spread payments for food on a platform like Klarna. Food insecurity is a major problem for many people. I hope there was some pushback within the product team as they considered the ethical implications of a buy now pay later option for something as basic as food.
One of the core principles guiding our product decisions at Tines is enabling builders to create amazing things with the platform. In the early days, the product was a little unforgiving. But over time, with features like copy/paste, undo/redo, version history and change management, we're building out a safety net that aids exploration and experimentation. As you progress, things you build in the product will inevitably break, and you'll learn from that. Most of these features are table stakes for products today, built on the convention afforded to us by modern computing. There are few things worse than hitting cmd-z and nothing happening.
That brings me to a similar tangent with our team. On the design team, we work knowing with confidence that we can try something out. Something that in all likelihood won't work, and that's fine. Because sometimes, just sometimes it will work or at the very least open a door to another approach we would never have discovered. We need to feel comfortable with being wrong. It's non-negotiable that the environment fosters risk-taking and
In an industry where KPIs, metrics and dogmatic processes dominate, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the nature of product development. Our team is supported and encouraged to take risks. Sometimes those risks will pay off, other times they won't, but regardless of the outcome it will lead to a better product, and I suspect happier designers.
As designers, our happy place is working on complex problems every day. Problems that require a great degree of domain knowledge. However, one of the greatest perspectives comes with distance. The unfamiliar have a curiosity that will pull threads on a basic premise or supposed truth. They can see a broader scope with more ease.
Consider letting a solution rest and coming back days later. Give yourself distance – get outside the details and you will likely critique your work more objectively.
I'm back from an amazing week with all the Tines team together in Chicago. As part of the preparation for this annual company offsite, it felt timely that these events should have their mini-identity. I worked with the team on a visual design language that sits alongside our core brand, feeling fresh yet familiar.
Borrowing from existing typographic styles, a series of shapes abstracted from in-product features were used and aligned at random on a grid pattern reminiscent of the Storyboard canvas within the Tines product.
Recently I've just completed my first Framer template. It's called 'Supernormal' and it's suited to designers, photographers, art directors, writers and illustrators. Perfect for that mix of a curated portfolio and blog. Responsive design, mobile and tablet friendly as standard.
If you haven't looked into Framer yet, check it out – it's a fantastic platform to create a website. Everything is so fast and responsive (it's powering this site you are viewing right now).
Check it out here, and it's available free.
Last week I opened up Deliveroo and proceeded to order some dinner. Nothing too unusual, except this time I noticed a Pay with Klarna option. For those that aren't familiar Klarna is a buy now pay later service, offering the cost of a product to be split into 3 payments. Aside from merchant fees, Klarna makes money when customers opt to, or need to extend credit terms or miss a payment.
Deliveroo has questionable business practices at the best of times, and perhaps I expected too much from them, but there is something seriously fucked up about offering the option to spread payments for food on a platform like Klarna. Food insecurity is a major problem for many people. I hope there was some pushback within the product team as they considered the ethical implications of a buy now pay later option for something as basic as food.
One of the core principles guiding our product decisions at Tines is enabling builders to create amazing things with the platform. In the early days, the product was a little unforgiving. But over time, with features like copy/paste, undo/redo, version history and change management, we're building out a safety net that aids exploration and experimentation. As you progress, things you build in the product will inevitably break, and you'll learn from that. Most of these features are table stakes for products today, built on the convention afforded to us by modern computing. There are few things worse than hitting cmd-z and nothing happening.
That brings me to a similar tangent with our team. On the design team, we work knowing with confidence that we can try something out. Something that in all likelihood won't work, and that's fine. Because sometimes, just sometimes it will work or at the very least open a door to another approach we would never have discovered. We need to feel comfortable with being wrong. It's non-negotiable that the environment fosters risk-taking and
In an industry where KPIs, metrics and dogmatic processes dominate, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the nature of product development. Our team is supported and encouraged to take risks. Sometimes those risks will pay off, other times they won't, but regardless of the outcome it will lead to a better product, and I suspect happier designers.
As designers, our happy place is working on complex problems every day. Problems that require a great degree of domain knowledge. However, one of the greatest perspectives comes with distance. The unfamiliar have a curiosity that will pull threads on a basic premise or supposed truth. They can see a broader scope with more ease.
Consider letting a solution rest and coming back days later. Give yourself distance – get outside the details and you will likely critique your work more objectively.
I'm back from an amazing week with all the Tines team together in Chicago. As part of the preparation for this annual company offsite, it felt timely that these events should have their mini-identity. I worked with the team on a visual design language that sits alongside our core brand, feeling fresh yet familiar.
Borrowing from existing typographic styles, a series of shapes abstracted from in-product features were used and aligned at random on a grid pattern reminiscent of the Storyboard canvas within the Tines product.
Recently I've just completed my first Framer template. It's called 'Supernormal' and it's suited to designers, photographers, art directors, writers and illustrators. Perfect for that mix of a curated portfolio and blog. Responsive design, mobile and tablet friendly as standard.
If you haven't looked into Framer yet, check it out – it's a fantastic platform to create a website. Everything is so fast and responsive (it's powering this site you are viewing right now).
Check it out here, and it's available free.
Last week I opened up Deliveroo and proceeded to order some dinner. Nothing too unusual, except this time I noticed a Pay with Klarna option. For those that aren't familiar Klarna is a buy now pay later service, offering the cost of a product to be split into 3 payments. Aside from merchant fees, Klarna makes money when customers opt to, or need to extend credit terms or miss a payment.
Deliveroo has questionable business practices at the best of times, and perhaps I expected too much from them, but there is something seriously fucked up about offering the option to spread payments for food on a platform like Klarna. Food insecurity is a major problem for many people. I hope there was some pushback within the product team as they considered the ethical implications of a buy now pay later option for something as basic as food.
One of the core principles guiding our product decisions at Tines is enabling builders to create amazing things with the platform. In the early days, the product was a little unforgiving. But over time, with features like copy/paste, undo/redo, version history and change management, we're building out a safety net that aids exploration and experimentation. As you progress, things you build in the product will inevitably break, and you'll learn from that. Most of these features are table stakes for products today, built on the convention afforded to us by modern computing. There are few things worse than hitting cmd-z and nothing happening.
That brings me to a similar tangent with our team. On the design team, we work knowing with confidence that we can try something out. Something that in all likelihood won't work, and that's fine. Because sometimes, just sometimes it will work or at the very least open a door to another approach we would never have discovered. We need to feel comfortable with being wrong. It's non-negotiable that the environment fosters risk-taking and
In an industry where KPIs, metrics and dogmatic processes dominate, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the nature of product development. Our team is supported and encouraged to take risks. Sometimes those risks will pay off, other times they won't, but regardless of the outcome it will lead to a better product, and I suspect happier designers.
As designers, our happy place is working on complex problems every day. Problems that require a great degree of domain knowledge. However, one of the greatest perspectives comes with distance. The unfamiliar have a curiosity that will pull threads on a basic premise or supposed truth. They can see a broader scope with more ease.
Consider letting a solution rest and coming back days later. Give yourself distance – get outside the details and you will likely critique your work more objectively.
I'm back from an amazing week with all the Tines team together in Chicago. As part of the preparation for this annual company offsite, it felt timely that these events should have their mini-identity. I worked with the team on a visual design language that sits alongside our core brand, feeling fresh yet familiar.
Borrowing from existing typographic styles, a series of shapes abstracted from in-product features were used and aligned at random on a grid pattern reminiscent of the Storyboard canvas within the Tines product.
Recently I've just completed my first Framer template. It's called 'Supernormal' and it's suited to designers, photographers, art directors, writers and illustrators. Perfect for that mix of a curated portfolio and blog. Responsive design, mobile and tablet friendly as standard.
If you haven't looked into Framer yet, check it out – it's a fantastic platform to create a website. Everything is so fast and responsive (it's powering this site you are viewing right now).
Check it out here, and it's available free.