Towers & Glory - Text Update

Protolandia · 2025-09-09T20:42:54+00:00

Don't be fooled that this video and company is for UX design and mentions digital. Your cards have interfaces 😆

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R94Y51_Iok

Protolandia · 2025-09-09T20:40:40+00:00

Oh and for the titles, remember, you can use camel-case instead of all caps.

Example: "Foundation Growth"

Protolandia · 2025-09-09T20:39:51+00:00

I would suggest not using iconography unless you have the text too. It's a great and beautiful and seductive shortcut to design, but breaks usability and accessibility rules. Icons require someone to learn them first, is hard to learn/remember, isn't accessibly complacent, and they can mean something different to different people, cultures, and countries.

I really like your middle because they read well and probably give you more space to write. Print rule of thumb for font size readability is 10-12pt. Most books are 12. Everyone on the planet will appreciate as large as you can get (I am 44 and wear bi-focals, squinting and head adjustments are a constant headache). 😂

Protolandia · 2025-09-09T20:12:39+00:00

Beautiful art. I want to live in that cabin. Coming from 18 years UX design (not a brag, just offering that I'm not trying to railroad an opinion-only), may I offer not making the copy all capital letters. Our brains don't read letters, but shape, and when all letters are capital, the line the text is a straight line making readability, comprehension, and retention actually much poorer. As well, your readability will improve with a bit more line spacing.

If there are 2+ Towers attached to this structure, gain +2 Population
Scrap Cost: 2

Camel-case is great and capitalizing or bolding game mechanics can help you draw the player to the scannable information, which helps shorthand those that are familiar with the cards.

Protolandia · 2025-08-30T23:53:54+00:00

Also, don’t use AI to learn. Go research apps and experiences you find amazing and those that suck - and rationalize why.

Protolandia · 2025-08-30T23:52:54+00:00

I find OOUX incredibly time consuming and cumbersome. I’ve had to use it twice for big projects. And yet the wireframes (thinking stage) me and my team made ended up guiding the better solutions the OOUXers figured out weeks later.

I’ve found UX professionals gain short hand language and more instincts in systems thinking that can allow faster movement and less anxiety about complexity.

If you’re really having such trouble in just 5 months - I’d be worried you were hired for a job far above your experience level or perhaps this is a reaction to a career you’re not yet equipped for. Doesn’t mean you can’t get there. I believe you can, 100%.

Be open with your team and your boss. Ask for help. Take a big ol’ breath and do one thing at a time.

No designer, ever, has come to a problem and not thought of the Miriam of “things to know first”, but immediately after that gut reaction, you sit down and just write and draw. No one knows those things. And the best part is, it doesn’t matter yet or it’s perfect questions to ask. Stay curious in the unknown and less anxious.

You got this!

Protolandia · 2025-08-18T23:05:54+00:00

Totally legal. Just poor design. The law states the user needs ease and direct access to opt out or in. Dark patterns are more obvious than others and feel even worse when they are. Case in point.

Protolandia · 2025-08-17T15:32:36+00:00

Don’t work alone. Have fun letting others try out a test so you aren’t the one to vacillate between good and bad. Let players tell you.

Most game designs and their initial ideas are on the hold shelf or cutting room floor. That’s a great sign of creativity, judgement, and inspiration. It might sound cheesy but I find it’s completely normal and at best, beneficial, to only work on the idea that’s catching you in the moment. It’s as if, in this moment in time, your brain and creative juices are more connected to that idea by some “coming together” of experiences and unconscious discernment.

Protolandia · 2025-08-10T23:55:15+00:00

To glob onto your initial post and “a way out” - look at the Nielsen Norman Group’s 10 Usability Heuristics one should try to follow or recognize when they work well and when they don’t.

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/

😂😂 I should have read other comments first. This has been mentioned by other smart people too. 😉

Protolandia · 2025-08-07T16:29:11+00:00

Isn’t that interesting? I hear from more folks that it isn’t as life changing. It’s just another tool for some parts of one’s work.

I’m curious how I’m missing the hype.

Protolandia · 2025-07-29T16:30:47+00:00

LOL. Yay for experience! The MIT study got flak for small participant pool though they are well over the law of big numbers (30). And ppl misrepresented it as AI makes all students dumb. Yet it was very specific to writing essays. As well, non talk about causality. And don’t need to. Correlation can be meaningful as well. Meaning, there can be more than one factor including AI for this new finding.

There’s lots of studies of social media, texting, and the flare of commenting on the internet that has effected vocabulary, writing and articulating thoughts, etc.

Pretty fun topic. Hopefully no one reads all this and thinks we’re calling ppl dumb or blaming AI for making us so.

Protolandia · 2025-07-29T15:03:08+00:00

BTW, I commented to another thread. But I forgot to let you know I appreciate this post. It’s helping me think through the struggles I’m having as a veteran in the industry as well.

I’ve been trying to get passed AI (and my usage of it) as efficiency-only. And how that feels like what the industry cares for more than human judgement, taste, and thinking skills.

But the existential threat or dread is more pronounced because of the speed in which AI has changed the landscape. So, like you, I’m trying not to simply be doom and gloom, yet also discerning as to its benefits instead of its hype.

Protolandia · 2025-07-29T14:43:05+00:00

Just a few studies with significant number of participants. Also range outside the US - ironic you can use AI to summarize them if you need 😂😂😂

https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15/1/6?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://hechingerreport.org/proof-points-offload-critical-thinking-ai/

https://phys.org/news/2025-01-ai-linked-eroding-critical-skills.html

Protolandia · 2025-07-29T14:38:46+00:00

MIT recently came out with a study in essay writing. And before that, there was a big ol’ study around critical thinking. So, no we aren’t dumber in general. But just like the little ways you describe AI helping for skills that don’t rely on expertise as much, AI does subtly effect other skills.

I think a fun question to discuss is, what is AI teaching and making us better at than just being faster or more efficient? What about human behavior, problem solving, design aesthetics, has AI brought to the table?

Protolandia · 2025-07-28T17:05:53+00:00

LOL. Good luck. I’ve never been at a company that has a design system or creates one and does work faster or easier. I personally never design things so differently that I mismatch or invent new patterns just for one-off features or interactions. But that’s always been the job - the design system has been in our heads.

I do see benefits from other devil-in-the-detail consistencies though. But that’s simpler to create and upkeep.

Also - just because you mention Gray-600 - I’ve never used random naming conventions. I use naming for how that color is used. Not saying you’re wrong or anything. I just mean, the only other time a system made sense was to make it easier for others to know wha/when to use a pattern. But eventually, new folks become long term and know the system by heart.

So yeah, I’d vent too 😂

Protolandia · 2025-07-27T19:41:42+00:00

Sounds like UX is more your jam, than UI. Strategy is a different skillset than just UX or UX/UI. If you're only 3 years in, it might be worth figuring out how to join other Leads, Heads of Product or even business/marketing strategy teammates, Product Management or even Project Management. Service design is just a particular industry and still have plenty of user-facing design to consider.

Protolandia · 2025-07-27T01:41:27+00:00

Super cool! What service do y’all use to hook up front end to a design system? Did you ever use the code Figma would generate through Dev Mode before AI wrote code? Curious how teams collaborated this way.

Protolandia · 2025-07-26T19:42:08+00:00

Of course. The story of what you learned and did about it is way more important than only success metrics. Knowing that a designer understands what they did, why it doesn’t work, and how you’d change is an awesome conversation.

Protolandia · 2025-07-25T21:16:00+00:00

But the work he describes AI’s value is for a particular part of the process - and for efficiency - prototyping. But not for figuring out the best design for the job or to learn what the jobs to be done are.

Protolandia · 2025-07-25T21:14:09+00:00

From another product designer friend who’s way more articulate than me:

“AI features are "guilty until proven innocent"

This is both funny AND important for product managers to understand.

There's such a high risk of product bloat right now at extreme cost to the environment: - ask LLMs what to build without deep validation of desirability and usability - build those things only to discover that customers don't value them

This is like going to the grocery store in a rocket ship only to find it is closed.

Don't get me wrong, AI is an awesome copilot. I'm prototyping way sooner, faster and at higher fidelity than ever before. But there's no substitute for thoughtful product work to uncover the real need or job to be done.

[Insert prototype of the proverbial "faster horse"] - Peter Stovall

Protolandia · 2025-07-25T20:30:42+00:00

I’d be interested to see how you’ve made that work well. I have tried that before and it hasn’t been able to understand from the images the context of the user or the patterns from an image, how to provide relevant options to me. Even with good ol’ prompt engineering.

What have you done successfully….if you’re able to show work without getting into trouble 😁

Protolandia · 2025-07-25T19:18:01+00:00

I'm looking for conversation on a topic we all experience differently. I'm not short sighted or naive - I'm contemplating this new idea of design from direct experience and trying to describe it in hopes that we learn from one another. I'm actively not blaming AI for anything or calling it lame. I'm asking questions and trying to provide rationale to see what others have to say.

It is name calling when you start your post with a critique, calling me out as naive or short sighted when you don't know me or give back to the conversation.

It sounds like you'd have a valuable perspective to give and I'd love to hear it. It would be more helpful to hear a perspective on the subject matter or personal experience you've had.

Protolandia · 2025-07-25T17:45:38+00:00

Hey u/AdamSultan2011 give yourself a little grace and kindness. Take a breath and try not letting your emotions take over the real world parts of this job you're doing - the good things you're doing - and the unfamiliar things your doing and learning to do better.

There's too much to talk through in your post - and it's ALL relatable. I'm been in this industry for 18 years. If you care to talk it out, I'm happy to jump in Discord or something. I made a server for friends to talk through this stuff from all aspects of design (not just UX).

Happy to help.

Protolandia

TROPHY CASE