Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
Summary
This month our DesignOps community was joined by Abby Covert, a founding member of the Design Operations community, and eMcee for DesignOps ‘18. Abby has two decades of making and teaching diagrams to other people. She is currently on a mission to rid the world of bad diagrams, one diagrammer at a time. And we think the DesignOps could learn a thing or five from her about how we could up our diagram game.
Key Insights
-
•
Diagrams can alleviate feelings of being stuck by providing visual representations of complex information.
-
•
The five superpowers of diagrams are stability in volatility, transparency in uncertainty, understanding in complexity, clarity in ambiguity, and kindness when feeling stuck.
-
•
Accessibility in diagramming is critical, especially for diverse audiences including those with visual or cognitive impairments.
-
•
Diagrams should offer both visual representation and alternative content to enhance understanding.
-
•
Not all diagrams work for every audience; context matters deeply in their effectiveness.
Notable Quotes
"Diagrams have been helping people feeling stuck for hundreds if not thousands of years."
"In times of volatility, we seek stability. Diagrams can be like a bridge over the chasm of volatility."
"Diagrams provide transparency when we face uncertainty."
"We can't understand the complexity of everything, and if we try to, we will much more likely fail to understand anything fully at all."
"Diagramming is this kindness that we give to ourselves to get our bearing on something that we're stuck on."
More Videos
"When I taught in California, I noticed issues were absent in the conversations that made me create the Critical Alphabet."
Jennifer Strickland Lesley-Ann NoelFireside Chat: How Design Addresses a World on Fire
March 18, 2022
"A design system is an agreement that creates consistency across UIs."
Jaime CreixemsBest Practices when Creating and Maintaining a Design System
June 7, 2023
"How do we ensure our research improves the lives of community folks?"
Uday Gajendar Rachael Dietkus, LCSW Dr. Dawn Emerick Dawn E. Shedrick, LCSWLeading through the long tail of trauma
July 13, 2022
"Start small with one clear testable hypothesis, focusing on answering the questions that matter most."
Katie HansenExperimental research: techniques for deep, psychology-driven insights
March 12, 2025
"I'm really jazzed off of the talk that Lisa just gave."
Dave MaloufTheme 3: Introduction and Provocation
January 8, 2024
"Organizational components should treat each other as service providers."
Jeff SussnaWhat DesignOps Can Learn From DevOps
November 6, 2017
"The practice of design doesn't neatly break up into compartmental units like code does."
Dave MaloufClosing Keynote: Amplify. Not Optimize.
October 24, 2019
"Participation is one way to minimize ingest control."
Sarah FathallahA Typology of Participation in Participatory Research
March 28, 2023
"We just can't accomplish these goals if we don't understand and appreciate the complexity of the people we're designing for"
Alba VillamilStereotyped by Design: Pitfalls in Cross-Cultural User Research
March 30, 2020
