Yikern Looi

Know when to take UX debt and when to invest. We love the way Mehekk Bassi breaks down the tradeoff between quick delivery and long-term UX value. She encourages designers to treat these choices like financial decisions by being intentional about when to borrow and when to invest. UX debt means taking shortcuts to deliver quickly, knowing there will be fixes later. It helps speed things up but can hurt the experience over time. UX investments take more effort upfront but lead to better long-term outcomes. Her advice is not to avoid UX debt entirely but to use it wisely and always have a plan to pay it back. Check out her article: https://lnkd.in/gCRqva3z Here are five big ideas: 1. UX debt is a strategic tool, not just a shortcut Taking on UX debt can be useful if done intentionally and with a plan to fix it later. 2. Design decisions mirror financial decisions Just like borrowing or investing money, designers must weigh short-term gains against long-term value. 3. Not all UX debt is bad It can help you move quickly in early stages, especially when validating ideas or meeting tight deadlines. 4. UX investments pay off over time Slower, thoughtful design improvements lead to better user experiences and fewer problems later. 5. Be deliberate about when and why you choose each Teams should track their UX debt, understand the cost, and know when to prioritize paying it down. 💬 We asked Mehekk why she wrote the post: “So, my thought behind writing this story was to highlight the fact that many design decisions are often taken without considering future implications of the product. Unknowingly many teams accumulate UX debt and by the time they realize the issues, it's often too late and the experience gets compromised. For us, as designers, thinking about debt becomes a non-negotiable while crafting any experience for the product, that's why the title says - financial mindset of a designer." This is prudent advice! Helio helps you spot when UX debt is slowing users down by measuring things like clarity, completion rates, and confidence. With quick tests using UX metrics, you can decide when to fix issues or move fast with purpose. #uxresearch #productdiscovery #marketresearch #productdesign

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Most people know me from my UX days. From running Canada’s first open UX-focused hackathon to being Executive Director of the Vancouver Design Community, I’ve spent years creating spaces for designers to grow, connect, and collaborate. I never saw myself as “the visual kind of designer.” I was more about systems, flows, experiences — the kind of design that impacts how people move, behave, and make decisions. Looking back now, I realize what I was really doing was building products in the form of communities.     •    I was building onboarding flows before I knew what they were.     •    I was managing community engagement like user retention.     •    I was designing events like feature launches — fast, feedback-driven, and people-first. That mindset has stayed with me as I’ve shifted from community-building to hands-on product-building. And now, in this new age of AI and low-code tools, I’m finding those same UX instincts are more important than ever — not just for making things work, but for making them matter. Today, I’m designing products like I used to design communities:     •    Start with empathy.     •    Find real needs.     •    Build lean.     •    Iterate fast.     •    Invite people in. If you’ve ever made something from scratch — whether it’s a tool, a brand, or a movement — you’re a builder. Even if you didn’t call yourself one yet. That’s the kind of energy I want to keep sharing here. Let’s keep building. #DesignThinking #CommunityBuilder #ProductMindset #TechCareer #BuildInPublic

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I wanted to double underline the sunk cost fallacy, just throwing things away, and vibe coding as a way to explore —and then throw it away! It's how a series of systems at Shopify are built * GSD (Get Shit Done): our product management system. The PROTOTYPE phase is for exploration, the artifacts (code) should be thrown away before the BUILD phase * Hackdays: you don't have to ship anything (you can!) but working with folks you don't usually get to work with and trying non-obvious avenues of attack * Subtraction: what if we don't need this tool/code/process/approach anymore? Can we make it simpler? All of these lean on LEARNING as the artifact 🔑 — not the design, process or existing code Vibe coding is super useful for all types of these explorations Here’s Tobias and Rousseau talking about it

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3+ million people use Wealthsimple today. And UX keeps being one of the biggest reasons they love our app. After 3 years here, these are 5 design learnings I keep coming back to: 1️⃣ Focus on one action at a time Every screen should have one clear priority. Once you think your design is simple, simplify it more. Then do it again. Making complex finances feel easy has taught me that clarity always wins. 2️⃣ Use people’s language Our voice & tone is a fundamental part of the brand. Clear content guidelines keep us consistent while building an approachable, fun personality in both English and French. Great content paired with great UX builds meaningful relationships with clients. 3️⃣ Systemize, then stretch Design systems are a great source of truth and a strong starting point. But they’re not the ceiling. The best work comes when you respect the system while still pushing patterns forward and raising the bar. 4️⃣ Prototype to persuade Wireframe-y prototypes open more doors than static decks. Record a walkthrough, share it widely, post it in channels with lots of eyeballs. You’ll be surprised who rallies behind new ideas. 5️⃣ Learn from the best around you Pick a skill you want to grow in the next 6 months and find the people who excel at it. Ask for jam sessions and review work together. Most people will say yes if you ask and you will learn sooo much. That has been my biggest growth hack. These lessons came from building, shipping, failing, and learning alongside some of the best designers I have ever worked with. To many more! 🥂 #uxdesign #productdesign #careerlessons #growth #wealthsimple

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What I love about the new product community, Product Therapy, is that they've found a different approach to solving product managers' challenges. So I asked Akos Tolnai, the Product Therapy Toronto Chapter Lead, a few questions about the community and product. You'll find the answers below and in the carousel: the first part is about the community, followed by rapid-fire questions about product. Probably the most unexpected answer is on product trends — check out the slide # 10! Would love to hear your thoughts on the interview and format. P.S. Which product community would you like to learn more about next? Let me know in the comments! 👇 1. Explain what Product Therapy is in one sentence. Product Therapy is a participant-led meetup where product managers engage in candid discussions about the challenges they face in their daily work. 2. What makes the Product Therapy community special? To create an open and honest environment for participants to discuss any product-related topics, membership is limited to acting product professionals. In short, it’s not a meetup for people interested in product management, but for people that work(ed) as POs, PM, directors of product, etc. Additionally, to foster a cozy and family atmosphere, the size of each event is limited to 30. 3. What was the feedback after the first Product Therapy event in Toronto at the end of 2024? Overwhelmingly positive. Just to cite two examples: “Product Therapy was unlike any networking event I've been to – it felt much more personal and meaningful. Great conversations all around!”
 “The small group setup made it easier to connect and have honest conversations. Each challenge that was shared in the group received high-quality feedback from others who had faced similar issues, creating a strong sense of understanding and support.” 4. What to expect from Product Therapy in Toronto in 2025? The response from the community has been terrific, and the format has shown to really help participants engage in meaningful conversations and foster deep connections. We expect the event to continue growing and become a mainstay of the Toronto product community. 5. What’s your North Star metric for the community? How do you measure its success? A frequent tagline for product therapy events is “no presentations, just meaningful conversations”. We want to make sure everyone benefits from attending and connecting with each other. So we measure success through community retention and attendance rate. As in, the attendance frequency and percentage of actual show-ups. Our goal is an 80% attendance rate and 50% of repeat participants. Secondary metrics are NPS and the number of new participants coming from referrals. See the rest of the interview in the comments or on the slides.

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As a designer, I recently built YieldWise demo — a tool-equipped AI chatbot using LLM, n8n, and Lovable to 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱𝘀, 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹-𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 & 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, and 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗶. It started as an idea we discussed at work but never realized — so I turned it into my AI Product Management Capstone hosted by Miqdad Jaffer and Moe Ali (highly recommend!), with great guidance from Paweł Huryn as well. Check it out: https://lnkd.in/gR4DHiw4 Key learnings I would like to share: -> ✍ 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀-𝗼𝗻. You don’t truly grasp LLM limits until you build. For example, feeding it structured data often causes hallucinations — asking it to write SQL works better. -> 👀 𝗔𝗜 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗮 𝗻𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲. It’s powerful, but you still need to tweak and align formats to get usable outputs. Evaluation is extremely important. -> 📣 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. As AI lowers barrier to execute, our value is defining the right problems and orchestrating the right tools. Excited to keep exploring how AI changes not just what we design, but how we think.

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🎙 Founding Product Designers — Read This Before Your Next Interview 🎙 Interviewing for a startup? Here’s how to nail your story and show up like the end-to-end design legend you are 👇 🚀 Lean into your founder energy Founding designer roles are about impact, ownership, and range. Make sure your examples hit on things like: 🔹 What did you build from 0→1? 🔹 Where did you own the whole design process (messy bits included)? 🔹 How did the product evolve while you were there—and how did you push it forward? 🧵 Tell your story like a product Make it structured, clear, and real. For each past role, hit on: 1️⃣ Why you joined What drew you in? Was it the mission, the team, the chaos? (No judgment—we love chaos) 2️⃣ What you owned + what happened Time to show your range. Talk systems, features, research, shipping, strategy, etc E.g. “I was hired at X to redesign their mobile app. I shipped a full v2, launched 3 new features, and built the groundwork for a design system” 3️⃣ Why you left You don’t have to share, but owning the “why” helps the hiring team understand your career arc and what you’re hungry for next E.g. “I joined to get 0→1 experience, which I got. But now I’m craving more ambiguity and impact—this founding designer role lines up perfectly” 🕵️‍♀️ Do your homework Founding roles are intimate. They want someone who’s in it with them. So before the call: ✅ Download the product ✅ Read recent press ✅ Know their mission + vision ✅ Check out the founding team ✅ Think about how you would make things better Be ready for: “Why us?” Your answer = signal that you’re thoughtful, curious, and intentional ❓ Ask 🔥 questions This is not the time to say “Nope, you covered it.” Ask things like: 💬 “What design challenges are you facing right now?” 💬 “How do you think about product/design collaboration at this stage?” 💬 “Where do you need the most help from design in the next 6 months?” Founding roles are rare and high-impact—interviews are your moment to show you’re not just a designer, you’re a builder #foundingdesigner #startuplife #productdesign #earlystage #foundingproductdesigner

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I've been working on this for the past few months, and excited to finally share! A new web-component library from Shopify that allows you to easily add Shopify to any site: https://lnkd.in/gjV6B64Q We essentially use web components as a templating language to dynamically generate a GraphQL query to Shopify. Then render the data as text nodes inside the web components. This is powerful because the components don't include shadow roots. So you can come with your own HTML and CSS. Most web component libraries are opinionated about design, and give you many CSS custom properties or CSS parts to customize. We tried really hard to invert that, and instead give you the design control. Most of our web components just produce a text node, with no shadow root! There's a few exceptions, like the cart for example, where it's easier to just have an out of the box component that does it all for you `<shopify-cart>`. Though...you can actually build the entire cart component with the lower level primitives! Checkout the playground! Let me know what you think! https://lnkd.in/gb_K6NtZ

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