Simon Li – Page 2 – Design and Code

Miscillaneous

Build a Highlight Reel of Yourself

It’ll be good for your self-esteem.

It took me almost 30 years and a lot of reading to learn this: keeping a highlight reel of ourselves is so important for fostering healthy self-esteem.

People with healthy self-esteem are collected and nonreactive in the face of doubts, judgements or insults. Life is tough. When the outside world doesn’t give us love or respect, healthy self-esteem is that thing that lifts us up, allows us to love ourselves, fends off whatever nonsense thrown at us and moves us forward.

Interaction Design

How Inspiration from Nature Makes for Better Designs

Many of us love Apple’s products because they are delightful to use. If we observe a bit carefully, it’s not hard to see how their designers think: They are constantly inspired by nature, which informs not just the visuals (i.e. skeuomorphism), but also interactions.

Visual Design

Microcontrast

In art and design, the levels of details is closely related to the amount of visual interest in a piece. Rich details can help us transform something bland and banal into something amazing, and one way to add details is through what I call microcontrast, which is the contrast within existing elements of your design.

Design Career

Wanna Transition into UX? Here Are 3 Actionable Tips

Changing careers can be scary, especially when you haven’t had a complete picture of the field you’re thinking about getting into. To help you cope with the overwhelm and avoid analysis paralysis, below are three quick tips. They should be helpful even if you’re not yet 100% committed to switching to UX.

Visual Design

Small Investment, Nice Return

How creating 200 illustrations on a weekly basis has made me a better illustrator

I recently posted my 200th illustration on Instagram. As you may know, I started this project of creating 1 piece of illustration per week back in 2018. I first reflected on this journey in 2020 when I reached the 100 milestone. Now, after another 100 pieces, it’s about time for me to look back again and share with you how 4 years of consistent practice, especially in the last two years, has shaped my illustration style, and I hope that this will give you inspiration in whatever goals you want to achieve.