Stream
Reference-grade resources in video, podcast, and editorial formats
Event
Human After All at ATÖLYE with Guest Speaker Volkan Ölmez
Human After All is an event series hosted by ATÖLYE and Design Disciplin, exploring the present state and future visions for human-computer interaction, interaction design, and experience design with digital materials. Human After All brings an international cohort of experts and pioneers into ATÖLYE's IRL space in Istanbul, with opportunities to engage and participate in meaningful dialogues. The second convening of Human After All focuses on web design, UI design, and digital branding with
May 23, 2023
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Conversation
On Design Systems with Özlem Gürsoy-Bozkurt
Call me a digital nomad. This week, I'm working remotely, from a location I won't disclose yet. (If you're curious, you should follow our YouTube channel for the reveal.) As digital nomads, we get to immerse in diverse cultures, and that's great. But even better is how we get to hang out and collaborate with different people. This week, I've had the pleasure of co-living with a couple of my closest friends, who also happen to be in the design
Mar 25, 2023
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Concept
The Secret to Great Design
IDEO cofounder Bill Moggridge – known for coining the term "interaction design" – once said that "the only way to experience an experience is to experience it." On that note, I feel like the topic of today is best suited for a face-to-face discussion. I'll let you find out over at YouTube, or perhaps the podcast. Enjoy. Books That Inspired This Episode * The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin * Articulating Design Decisions by Tom Greever * Build: An Unorthodox Guide
Mar 14, 2023
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Meta
Platform Update: March 2023
Our regular readers may have noticed, what drew me into the world of design was a love for objects. From my interview with Anthony Hobday: Finally, when I was in high school, my parents bought our first home. With the new home, came new furniture. Some of this furniture was more interesting. It was more expensive. It received more care. I was instructed to be careful with it... I remember asking my mom, “Why is this stuff more important?” She
Mar 4, 2023
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Masterclass
Reviewing the Cosmos Landing Page
Our second Masterclass reviews the landing page of Cosmos, a "Pinterest alternative" for creatives. Starting from how I first encountered Cosmos on the website of another designer, we journey through the experience of visiting their landing page. Cosmos' website offers us many lessons in layout, typography, animation, and interaction design on the web. Highlights * "Cosmic Design" – painting with light on a black canvas * First impression of a new startup – how we discover new design tool
Feb 20, 2023
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Concept
How to Design Like Visualize Value
Jack Butcher's design tools explained
Feb 13, 2023
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Meta
How To Find Your Way as a Designer
Introducing Design Navigator
Feb 3, 2023
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Meta
Platform Update: January 2023
We're back to our regular posting schedule, after a brief intermission to take in the new year. Even though we haven't released any new articles, videos, or podcast episodes, we have been busy during the last few weeks. We just launched our new collection of Offerings: a set of products and services by designers, for designers, to upgrade your creative work and navigate your future with ease. We previously offered an Advisory Service where we helped students, creatives, and innovators
Jan 27, 2023
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Event
Human After All at ATÖLYE with Guest Speaker Timmy Ghiurau
Human After All is a new event series hosted by ATÖLYE and Design Disciplin. The series explores the present state of the art as well as visions for the future around human-computer interaction, interaction design, and experience design with digital materials. Human After All brings an international cohort of experts and pioneers into ATÖLYE's IRL space in Istanbul, creating opportunities to engage and participate in meaningful dialogues. The first convening of Human After All focuses on the
Jan 3, 2023
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Roundup
Editor's Choice: Profound Books I Read in 2022
I believe I'm extremely fortunate, because every morning I spend at least half an hour reading books. Every morning, one chapter, and I start the day feeling blessed – because I have the time and space to do this, and because I can afford to own books. As you might imagine, I end up reading a lot of books this way. I don't keep track of it very well, but this year I must have finished at least 20, and abandoned
Dec 30, 2022
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Conversation
On the Pursuit of Visual Design with Anthony Hobday
Usually on Design Disciplin, we ask the questions. This time, our guest is the interviewer. Designer Anthony Hobday asked the questions, and I answered. We spoke about the place of visual design in modern, technology-centered design education – UX and interaction design. Anthony is a generalist product designer, particularly interested in interaction and visual design. He is an explorer in the world of design, through his many side projects, blog posts, books, and tweets. You can find other
Dec 20, 2022
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Conversation
Ron Wakkary: Beyond Human-Centered Design
Ron Wakkary is a professor of design at Simon Fraser University’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology in Canada. He is also a professor, holding the Chair of Design for More Than Human-Centered Worlds, in the industrial design department at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. Ron is the founder of the design research studio Everyday Design Studio (EDS). At EDS, he works with Will Odom and an evolving cast of students to produce multi-disciplinary design research that
Dec 16, 2022
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Roundup
The Best Modern Books on Layouts and Grid Systems
Grid systems are a mainstay for all design disciplines – graphics, architecture, industrial products, UI, textiles, and more. It's no accident we find Josef Müller-Brockmann's classic book on the subject – the aptly titled Grid Systems in Graphic Design – in every designer's library. First published 1981, Müller-Brockmann's work was an innovative resource that taught a highly systematic approach to designers worldwide. A pinnacle of design learning in the 20th century, this is the fountain tha
Dec 9, 2022
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Roundup
Decentralized Design Business: 6 Companies Building the New Paradigm
To make a living as designers, we must do the "dirty work" of a service business: marketing, advertising, courting clients, devising proposals, contracts and accounting, chasing unpaid bills, keeping people happy even when we don't agree... So many famous designers – think Michael Bierut, Virgil Abloh, Dieter Rams, Jony Ive, Diane von Fürstenberg... – owe their success not to talent alone, but to mastering the business and social worlds around them. Designers who create fashion, cars, and arch
Dec 2, 2022
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş, Mohammed Yarroum
Roundup
Fonts, Ferrari, and Frameworks
The Design Disciplin Community Discord Server is home to our #inspiration channel with a constant torrent of cool things – tools, resources, and ideas shared by our team and members from all over the internet. Here's our selection of 5 of the coolest things for designers from the #inspiration board, all shared within the last couple of weeks. Join our Community to access the entire #inspiration channel and share your discoveries with us. Ferrari's Ex-Design Director Reviews the New Purosangu
Nov 25, 2022
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Concept
The UX Designer's Guide to NFTs
It seems that we have moved on from the massive hype around NFTs. We're ready to have a sober look at them from a UX design perspective. The NFT phenomenon reveals timeless and practical insights in culture, technology, and economics that we can leverage for all kinds of design work. Because of how they build on timeless human rituals, we believe that NFTs are here to stay, and ripe with fantastic opportunities for UX design. The "UX design perspective" means
Nov 22, 2022
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Masterclass
Lessons from Lazy's Landing Page and Brand
Our first Masterclass takes a look at Lazy, a new note-taking software startup. We analyze the entire UX flow of meeting the product for the first time and signing up. Highlights * How Lazy implemented classic graphic design knowledge to create a compelling modern landing page design * The 8 Typographic Systems and how they are used in web design * Good design for competitive advantage: effective information delivery * How Lazy uses animations keep attention * Where and how to use (and
Nov 13, 2022
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Meta
Platform Update
My first vision for Design Disciplin was a content play: a blog, podcast, and YouTube channel. It was meant to be a resource – to read, watch, and listen to. Today we reach 1,500 subscribers on YouTube, and 1,200 monthly website visitors. Though this volume is minuscule by internet standards, having come this far in a year is validating and encouraging. The time has come to think about the next level, and build the steps to take us there.
Nov 5, 2022
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Conversation
Irmak Nur Sunal Lutkin
Born in Turkey and educated in the UK, Irmak Nur Sunal Lutkin is currently based in London, serving as Director of Digital Design at Reuters. She looks after a design team that contributes across Reuters News products and services. Previously she has worked with Atlantic Records, Sony Music, Puma, Adidas, CNN International, The Wall Street Journal, and XOXO Magazine. She cultivated more than 10 years of experience and insights in the design industry across the worlds of branded content, editori
Sep 5, 2022
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Concept
The Origin and Purpose of Research through Design
Research through Design is a way of producing "research" that comes with opportunities to practice the craft of design. It's a way of expressing and materializing knowledge and insights, acquired based on hands-on design work, packaged into a scientific format. Research through Design is something you might hear about if you study design at the graduate level. It's especially popular among interaction designers and human-computer interaction people. The appeal of it, if you're involved in acade
Jul 8, 2022
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Conversation
Carlos Calva and Timmy Ghiurau
Timmy Ghiurau is an innovation leader at Volvo Cars, and Carlos Calva is an AI and augmented reality entrepreneur. Both of them are experts in virtual reality, augmented reality, game engines, and other 3D interactive technologies, with experiences spanning design, engineering, and business. Timmy originates from the worlds music, fashion, and culture; while Carlos has been building projects for clients that include NASA and multiple branches of the US military. We had this conversation in fron
Mar 23, 2022
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Concept
Crash Course in Research through Design
On December 1, 2021, I gave a talk on Research through Design at a meetup organized by Got UX (IxDA Gothenburg Chapter), in collaboration with Design Disciplin and Recorded Future. The audience was mostly professional UX designers and researchers, and a few graduate students. This article has been adapted from the talk. Abstract: Research through Design is a way of materializing knowledge and insights based on hands-on design work. It’s an exciting world where designers can do scientific resear
Dec 8, 2021
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Conversation
OP.™ | Office of Possibilities
OP.™ – short for Office of Possibilities – is a multi-disciplinary design studio that creates objects and spaces based on well-informed strategic ideas. Their competences span architecture, art direction, exhibition design, industrial design, brand strategy, graphic design and innovation strategy. I've been following them since they moved into their Gothenburg studio, in the same building where I was living at the time. Since then, they have built a formidable portfolio of projects involving br
Nov 28, 2021
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Event
Meetup: Research through Design
Design Disciplin proudly presents: our first IRL event in collaboration with Got UX (IxDA Gothenburg Chapter), hosted by Recorded Future. Got UX meetups are a pillar of the design community in Sweden. In this edition, we'll be talking about "Research through Design" – a way of materializing knowledge based on design work. With Research through Design, designers can take part in scientific research and advanced education through creative work. This is the breeding ground for ideas and methods i
Nov 22, 2021
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Conversation
April Dunford
April Dunford spent 25 years running marketing, product, and sales teams as a startup executive. Creating a systematic way of positioning tech products and companies became her life's work, informing her consulting practice where she has advised 100+ companies. Her best-selling book Obviously Awesome offers a methodology that any leader or entrepreneur can follow. I found great value in April's positioning methodology as I figure out directions for my own projects, including Design Disciplin.
Oct 1, 2021
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Meta
Building Institutions for Design Innovation
Design Disciplin proudly presents: We proposed the Building Institutions for Design Innovation panel at SXSW 2022 to discuss experiences in creating and growing institutions – laboratories, companies, policy initiatives, research programs, and more – at the leading edge in design, innovation, technology and creativity. Vote for us: panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/116989 Panelists Mehmet Aydın Baytaş, Timmy Ghiurãu, Dan Hill, and Esranur Kaygın will compare experiences spanning university labs, start
Aug 10, 2021
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Concept
The Profession of Human-Computer Interaction
The philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas argues that everything has an essence or ideal at its core, as well as an existence – an appearance and manifestation in the real world. The only being whose essence and existence are identical, according to Aquinas, is God. For all other things – material things, and ideas too – discrepancies between what is essential and what is existential are unavoidable. In trying to make sense of complex topics – like entire fields of academic and scientific research – I
Jul 1, 2021
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Conversation
Martin Stellar
Martin Stellar is a coach and consultant for ethical sales and business growth, as well as a former monk, tailor, and copywriter. Martin has lived an incredibly rich life, with many creative and introspective adventures. He draws on his experiences and years of study in psychology and business, to provide guidance for professionals and entrepreneurs. I met Martin earlier this year as I took up his offer on a coaching call, curious to see how his experience and framework would
Jun 15, 2021
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Conversation
Jofish Kaye
Jofish Kaye is a computer scientist who aligns design, data, and qualitative exploration for human-centered product innovation. His superb track record as a scholar includes more than 100 publications and affiliations with MIT, Cornell, and Microsoft Research. Surprisingly, his career has been in corporations: following stints at Nokia, Yahoo, and Mozilla, he is now a director of AI and UX at Anthem. I have been a fan of his work for many years – he is a brilliant research writer whose
Jun 1, 2021
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Concept
The Story of Design Thinking
Design Thinking is a religion with two core beliefs: 1. Design can solve all problems. It doesn't matter what your problem is – sales, education, science, global pandemic... Design will give you a solution. 2. Design can be done by all people. Skills, training, experience, talent – none of it matters. You just have to believe in Design Thinking, and you can become a designer today. Of course, these are not true. But they are dangerously close to the truth of how
May 15, 2021
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Conversation
Erik Stolterman
Erik Stolterman is Professor of Informatics at Indiana University Bloomington, as well as a professor at the Institute of Design at Umeå University, Sweden, where he originates. A prolific scholar of design theory and philosophy, he has co-authored 5 books and more than 150 academic publications with a focus on the design of digital and interactive systems. His work has been immensely useful to mine. In his writings, I find the words I need to articulate my ideas. He writes,
May 1, 2021
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Concept
The Three Faces of Design Research
I didn't know much about design research when I began doing it nearly 10 years ago. I began as a grad student, arriving as an engineer and web designer. I was able to build things. But I didn't fully understand the purpose of design research. I didn't know whom it creates value for, and what it should deliver. I didn't see the full spectrum of activities involved. The problem was that the books I read and the people I worked
Apr 15, 2021
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Conversation
Håkan Lidbo
Håkan Lidbo is a musician, artist, innovator, designer, and founder of the Rumtiden Idea Lab, an unconventional creative workspace in Stockholm. The work of Håkan and his collaborators stretches across music, art, installations, games, robots, software, public installations, and more. It's quite difficult to define exactly what they do, which is a testament to their vision: "bringing totally new ideas into the world that weren't here before." Håkan himself is wildly prolific (he has released m
Apr 1, 2021
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Meta
The Bookstore
Editor's Note: Since we published this meta-announcement, we have been iterating on our offerings. The Bookstore may or may not be available at the time of your reading. After a long period of planning, preparation, and design, I am proud to launch the Design Discipline Bookstore. Contents The Bookstore presents a collection of hand-picked must-haves for the library of any designer or design enthusiast. Every single title that appears in the Bookstore is either chosen by myself after a cove
Mar 30, 2021
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Concept
Strategy and Tactics in Design
"Design" means one thing to a graphic designer, another thing to an engineer, and something else to a business consultant. Even within the design discipline, a Silicon Valley manager and a Danish joiner are unlikely to be imagining the same thing as they both talk about design. As a scholar of design I spent a lot of time learning and thinking about what we might call "mental models" for design that apply regardless of specialization. The academic literature gave me
Mar 15, 2021
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Conversation
Carl-Johan Lindqvist
Carl-Johan Lindqvist is co-founder of the Gothenburg-based design studio Lundgren+Lindqvist. Lundgren+Lindqvist’s practice covers visual identity design, art direction, graphics, print, packaging, signage, and web development. In all of these domains, their work sets the bar in terms of taste and sophistication. L+L describe themselves as a studio with "purpose and precision," while Carl-Johan specializes as a developer who “utilizes code as a tool as natural to the design process as pen and p
Mar 1, 2021
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Meta
Episode Zero
Episode Zero of the Design Disciplin podcast and YouTube channel is now online. This is a "prototype" episode I made to explain a bit about what you'll find at Design Discipline, and to iterate on technicalities. Frames Design Discipline is a new publication that represents and promotes variety of perspectives on "design" in an inclusive fashion, and makes connections between them. These perspectives, which I also like to call "frames" around design, include viewpoints like business, crafts
Feb 15, 2021
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş
Meta
The Divide
Editor's Note: I wrote this "meta" essay to outline one of the reasons why I started Design Disciplin. There are other reasons, which should come to light over time. I’ve been immersed in the academic world for some years now, but in truth I’m fascinated by business. In college, I majored in economics alongside engineering. Almost half of my library is business books. My research and teaching happens at intersection of design and computer science, which is as
Feb 1, 2021
Mehmet Aydın Baytaş