Sasha's Digital Garden

Lazy dad, independent son

At one of the meetings with a psychotherapist, we discussed how to help a child become more independent. The main thing I understood from the conversation is that you need to allow the child to do what he wants and can by himself.

The psychotherapist suggested an interesting method – the ‘lazy dad’. This means that the adult participates verbally but gives all opportunities for action to the child. For example, if the child asks to make a sandwich, instead of doing everything themselves, the adult becomes ‘lazy’. They ask the child to get the products out of the fridge, cut the bread, and cheese. As a result, the child has their desired sandwich and the skill to prepare it.

I first consciously applied this approach during the summer when my finger was broken. We were on vacation at our country house, and Vlad wanted to take an inflatable mattress to the river. But the mattress was deflated, and I would have inflated it myself, but at that moment it was difficult for me to do so. Instead of refusing, I said: “If you want, inflate it yourself, the pump is in the car.” I only helped with words: explained how to connect the pump. Then my son did everything himself: connected the pump, started the car, inflated the mattress, turned off the pump and the car, returned everything as it was. And, feeling proud of himself, went swimming on the mattress in the river. And I was proud of myself because I taught him how to use the pump with such a simple method.

P. S. This approach also works with adults. You just need to step aside and give people the opportunity to show themselves.

100 Wishes and Design

There is an exercise where you need to write down 100 of your wishes. Coming up with the first 10 or 20 is easy. It gets harder after you’ve listed the obvious ones like a phone, a car, a house, and a yacht. What comes next? Next, you have to think harder and tap into your imagination.

In design, solving a problem works the same way. The first solutions are simple and obvious—they just warm up your brain. Things get more interesting after the first ten. That’s where ideas are born that wouldn’t come up otherwise.

Don’t hesitate to duplicate your artboard and think through another option. It will only work in your favor.

Don’t worry, today is another day

Every morning, my Apple Watch sends me a notification about my activity from the previous day. And when I haven’t closed my rings, they tell me: “Don’t worry, today is another day.”

It’s a great attitude towards everything you didn’t manage to do. Didn’t finish something yesterday? Don’t worry. Today is a new day, take action. The most important thing is to keep moving forward and not stop. This wording is much more motivating than if they scolded me every time I missed something.

Encourage yourself, don’t criticize. The key is to keep moving forward.

Design: Cultivating Taste and Perspective

We’re not just about creating design, but something deeper — education. It’s a challenging yet captivating process. Each of our projects is a form of education. Designers aim to educate not only their clients but the entire market audience.

We teach clients to develop their taste, broaden their horizons of perception, and see beauty in the smallest details. We involve them in the creation process, helping them develop their own style.

But it’s not just about clients. We also aim to educate the audience, inspire them with new ideas, and change their view of the world through design. We create not just products, but stories that reshape the concept of beauty and functionality.

Design is not just a tool to meet needs but a means to cultivate new perspectives and ideas.

🌿 Forms design principles

When interacting with forms, users often encounter errors and difficulty in understanding the required actions. This article presents best practices for form design that will help you create a user-friendly interface that promotes efficient user experience rather than causing difficulties for the user.

Labels

  1. Place the labels to the left of the fields. Do not place the labels inside the fields.
  2. Place the labels at the top of the fields on mobile devices. And align to the left with fields.
  3. Align the labels to the baseline of the first text line in the field.
  4. If the label is long, shorten it or move the text to a new line
  5. Align the labels to the left edge. It will be easier for a person to read and find the right field to fill in.
  6. Move the input focus to the field when you click on the label.

Fields

  1. Place the fields underneath each other. Do not put them on the same line.
This will make it easier for people to move around the form and check if all fields are filled in.
  2. The length of the field should tell you what size data can be entered into it.
A phone number consists of 10-12 characters. So the field should be no larger and no smaller than this size.
Equal width fields form a flat wall that makes the form look more complicated than it is. People think they have a lot of data to enter.
  3. Use a different type for each field. This will help the person enter a value of the correct type. Mobile devices will display a special keyboard for entering numbers; display symbols for quickly entering an e-mail address.
  4. The appearance of the element should tell you what you can do with it: enter data or click to select data.
  5. If the form consists of a large number of fields, group them according to their meaning. Such a form will feel smaller and easier to fill out.

Button

  1. Don’t block the form submit button. When the button is clicked, prompt which fields are not yet filled in.
  2. Highlight the submit button. If the form is large, separate the submit button with a separate background or make the button larger.
  3. For buttons, use the < button > tag rather than < div >. < button > based buttons are interactive form elements, support various attributes to control their behaviour, can be styled using CSS and provide better accessibility and SEO. They also work well with keyboard controls and can be used to send form data to the server.

Hint

  1. Place the prompts below the fields. Say why you are asking for this information. If there are restrictions on entering values, say so immediately, not after the person has entered incorrect values.
  2. Help a person fill out a form. Tell him why he should fill in this or that field. For example, for the phone number field you can write: Send an SMS with an activation code.

Errors

  1. Do not check the input field while the person is typing. Check it after the person has left the field and there is changed data in the field. If nothing has changed, then there is no error.
  2. Provide a place for displaying errors. It is best if this option is to the right of the fields.
  3. The text of the error should help the person to understand what happened and how to correct the error. If the person cannot correct the error on their own, suggest where they can go to resolve the problem.
  4. Do not mark necessarily fields with additional characters. Try to make all fields in the form mandatory. If this is not possible, write why you are requesting this information.
  5. Add an icon to show that there is an error in the field. Visually impaired people may not be able to distinguish the red box border. But they will notice the icon.

Keyboard navigation

  1. Set the input focus to the first field on the form.
  2. Set up a sequential transition between fields using the Tab key.

Common

  1. Enclose the form in the < form > tag. This will allow proper processing of the form and support native operation of the Enter key to submit the form.

The Importance of Expressing Ideas in Words

When we have an idea, it may seem so bright and clear in our mind. But to turn this idea into reality, it is necessary to clothe it in words.

Clarity. By clothing the idea in words, you make it more specific and understandable. This helps you better understand what you want to achieve and allows other people to more easily grasp your idea.

Communication. When you express your idea in words, you can share it with other people. This opens up opportunities for collaboration, feedback, and new ideas. You can also use words to create action plans and strategies.

Development. You analyze it and further develop it. You can identify weaknesses and find ways to address them. You can also come up with new ways to implement your idea.

Motivation. You make your idea more real and achievable. This can be a powerful source of motivation for you and other people who share your idea.

Evaluation: You can assess its effectiveness and results. This will help you determine which aspects need improvement or change.

Recording your ideas is an important step towards their realization. It helps make the idea more concrete, allows you to share it with other people, and motivates you for further development. Therefore, do not hesitate to express your thoughts in words and share them with the world.

Just like I did with this note!