akshan

There are a few things I like in this world more than the feeling of becoming completely engrossed and transported into a different world by a book.

3 PM Traits I Want Every Designer on My Team to Adopt What designers can learn from great PMs to become more effective and influential

I think we can learn a few things from our PM friends to become better designers and to increase our chances of seeing the amazing things we craft make it out into the world :)

open.substack.com/pub/akshan/p...

The Quiet Upgrade A Trojan Horse strategy to evolve visual design language, empower teams, and solving operational challenges

Wrote about how we pushed an update of our visual language at PowerUs by tying it to increasing operational efficiency and removing bottlenecks between Marketing and Engineering :)

open.substack.com/pub/akshan/p...

Zeldmam & Ethan Zuckerman come to mind

Indigenous logo by Ontario artist Luke Swinson to be featured at Toronto Raptors game tonight | CBC News Kitchener, Ont., resident Luke Swinson, a visual artist with Anishinaabe roots and a member of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation, created a logo the Toronto Raptors will use during their ...

Anishinaabe artist Luke Swinton created this logo for the #Raptors, which you might have seen during the team's annual Indigenous heritage game tonight. #nba

Steph Curry Fan T-shirt Bang Bang Heavy Cotton Tee, Streetwear Shirt, Basketball Lover Gift, Golden State Warriors, NBA Sports Apparel - Etsy This Gender-Neutral Adult T-shirts item is sold by Hoopkraft. Ships from United States. Listed on Jan 6, 2025

Warriors fans. I’ve got a bit of nostalgia for you. A little homage to the double ban against OKC back in 2016. We can all probably use some of that.

hoopkraft.etsy.com/listing/1840...

#warriors #nbahistory #nbasky

When the map doesn't match the terrain, ditch the map. Why context is king for design leadership—and why we need to be selective in the advice we take (including this newsletter)

Wrote something about operating as a design leader in different contexts, and why design maturity looks very different depending on your environment:

open.substack.com/pub/akshan/p...

You’re probably right. There’s probably also quite a bit of variability in how well designers can do that job too.

Most businesses out there are operational / workflow improvements. And if designers don’t up their game, it’s gonna be tough imo.

Partly because we’ve become obsessed with the pixels, and partly cuz we shy away from accountability.

It does feel like the wind is blowing that way. UX is just as important as before, and is also seen as business critical / must have in many places. But the responsibility to truly uphold it is moving from design to PM.

What do politics have to do with product design? Pretty much everything.

New year. New writing project.

open.substack.com/pub/akshan/p...

Visual Electric is so dope. Best image generator out there imo.

Back to today. Do check out the store, and let me know what you think. Happy to hear any suggestions & feedback! Thanks!

Hoopkraft.etsy.com

So on day 3 of Hoopkraft, I’m asking myself how much profit I’d have to make to generate enough funds to be able to renovate an old and dying outdoor basketball court at the local school & organize a 3x3 tournament in the summer of 2025. That’d be pretty dope! 🏀 I’m gonna call it Lakeside Hoops!

If things take off, I’ll venture into other product categories. This is an experiment in generating a second income stream through my passions, as well as a way to pick up some marketing & sales skills that I lack 😅

What I don’t lack are ideas and ”what ifs“. I’m great at those.

I started a side project during the holidays called Hoopkraft where I sell tastefully designed basketball themed phone cases. I’ve got about 8 NBA team themed cases up at the moment, 1 WNBA team, and the rest will follow.

Check it out here: Hoopkraft.etsy.com

An illustration of a basketball hoop in front of a decorated house on a snowy Christmas evening

Merry Christmas hoop heads! #nba #nbasky

This year, I stopped being "the design advocate" in the leadership team and started acting like a business owner who happens to have design as their superpower. Showing design's value isn't the goal - achieving business success is. Design is a lens and powerful tool I can wield in service of that.

We’ve been on a bit of a journey at work recently. It’s been a tough year. The market has been rough. We took a hard look at ourselves and asked what needs to happen for us to truly build something great. As a result, we made a few significant changes to how we work and what we value.

I sense a 🚀

The State of UX in 2025 From design tools, to our design process, to the user behaviors that will change the way we design — a list of what to expect for User Experience (UX) Design in the next year.

The state of UX report this year feels bleak, and articulates this growing feeling of design’s loss of control, loss of voice, and loss of influence in tech companies…

Do you all feel similarly? How are you processing and navigating the challenges laid out here?

trends.uxdesign.cc

We launched a new website at PowerUs.

The site puts the spotlight on the people we're building and the stories of how PowerUs has helped them make meaningful changes in their careers and lives.

Quite unreasonably proud of this work: powerus.de

Little A’s human. Here seen lunging for the entire cake.

Franz is gooood!

The dubs could have had him. Do you think he would have been a better fit over Kuminga?

I don’t have solutions for this but I’m hoping someone at the league is thinking about it.

I find myself consuming more of the post game content and podcasts rather than the games themselves because of the time delay. It’s not the same experience watching the game the next day when the outcome, storylines & highlights are already available.

One of the things holding back NBA viewership in Europe is the fact that games run when we’re asleep.

Despite being a league filled with European superstars, most fans based here don’t catch the live games unless you sacrifice sleep & health like I do to watch Steph be Steph

#nbasky

1 dataset. 100 visualizations. Wow.

(via @chrisglass.bsky.social)

100.datavizproject.com

But I’m feeling curious and optimistic about being here, and seeing where this takes us ✨

I joined Facebook & Twitter when I was still a dorky college kid who wrote rap lyrics in his physics notebook. But I had an incredible amount of energy to explore, express and engage then.

It feels different joining a new social platform in my mid 30s. That energy isn’t like what it used to be.