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Time-saving tools and products we’re really into rn.

Prep properly for your summer beach days, picnics, and dinner parties with Aplat’s Vin One Bottle Tote. Besides wine, the bag can fit cups, a cheeseboard, a baguette, and your bamboo cutlery.

Never find yourself wondering “What was that word?” again, by typing the descriptive words and phrases you can remember into OneLook.

Sometimes our employers make decisions we don’t exactly agree with, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we should run for the hills. Tune into HBR’s step-by-step guide on what to do if your employer behaves badly.

A head start on your hustle.

Today’s side hustle: UX designer

Average Compensation: Varies based on experience, responsibilities, and volume

Experience: Entry-level to ninja

Skills needed: User research, visual art, copywriting, technical writing, and (in some cases) programming.

Let’s face it, some web interfaces make you want to punch your screen (we’re looking at you, Hulu). But if you’re the kind of person who’s bursting with ideas on how to make the experience better, UX design might be the side hustle—or even a new career—for you. As a User Experience (UX) designer, you can compile research and determine which visual and text elements help people navigate apps and websites. To better understand what it takes, Sidekick spoke with two UX designers—Cameron Motameni and Tobias Komischke.

In case you saw “visual art” and thought it was time to stop reading, rest assured—you don’t need to be Picasso or Michelangelo to pursue UX design. You don’t even need a formal education. You should, however, choose a role within the field of UX you feel most comfortable with, Komischke advised. For instance, information architecture requires the “organization and labeling of the content you have in your system,” whereas interaction design is “how you allow a user to actually accomplish anything on your system.” Neither requires visual design expertise.

Once you settle on a focus, you can pick up skills such as prototyping and working with design systems like Figma and Balsamiq online, Komischke said. While Motameni told us you can take college courses, or online classes through Udemy or Coursera, he gained his skills from YouTube and his sister’s class notes. Other tips from our experts:

• Practice as much as possible. ​​Build skills with online courses and exercises, or offer discounted rates on platforms like Fiverr to gain experience. When you can proficiently design pages and systems, you can start to pitch your services to clients at higher rates. “In the beginning, your reputation is a lot more valuable than the money you’re receiving. My strategy was to make my prices really low to gain a small number of customers. [If] they came back for more screens, I would tell them I’m going to lock them in at the initial price [even if I raised my prices] just to keep that customer-client relationship,” Motameni shared.
• Create mock-ups. “[Produce] portfolio pieces to have something to show, to go after some freelancing jobs,” Komischke said. These can be prototypes for real companies or fake ones, but they should demonstrate designs for various screens and formats.
• Get familiar with other UX skills. That includes research. “This [is not] a black and white world where a researcher would never do anything like sampling design, or a designer would never talk to a user. It’s actually a blended world,” Komischke said.
• Focus on problem-solving. Practice soft skills before you get caught in the “design” part of the projects. “Talk to clients and see what their ideas are. You don’t want to be too pigeon-holed on one solution. You want to be able to see [the problem] with an open mind and a new perspective to prioritize what [the client] wants in an app,” Motameni explained.
• Sell what you’re good at. Visual design may not be your strong suit, but maybe copywriting or interaction design is. “There are so many talented artists out there who can draw or just have an eye for visual design that you see in apps, but that’s definitely not my skill set,” Motameni said. “[But] if you understand how elements can be laid out in an app, then that’s more valuable than your artistic skills.”—SS

Tech tips and tricks.

Google just gave Calendly a run for its money. I know you’re as tired as I am of having to email endlessly back and forth with colleagues in order to find a meeting time on each other’s calendars.

Now you can create an appointment calendar right in Google. Visit Google Calendar and click Create. Then select Appointment Calendar. Adjust appointment duration, your availability for the week, scheduling windows, and buffer time between meetings in the dropdown menu, then click Next. Give the calendar a title and adjust any conferencing information for your meetings, as well as reminder and confirmation email settings, and select Save. Open your booking page and share the link anytime you receive an appointment request. Your inbox will thank you.—SS

Burning questions of our time.

Your thoughts on stopping workplace drug testing in its tracks:

I’m an almost-daily THC user who works in veterinary medicine. I know my limits, and I pride myself on always being sober on the clock because of the nature of my job. My off time, however, is mine to dictate. Drug tests, random or otherwise, have the potential to cause the removal of otherwise excellent employees. For what? Because they smoke a joint on the weekends? I say do away with ’em, unless there’s an incident that indicates possible drug use as the cause.—Kelsey

As a quality manager in Aerospace, in the DOT program, I believe that drug and alcohol testing is still necessary in some fields. I fly in the airplanes that my company has parts in and performs overhauls on. I do not want the human factor of drug or alcohol use on the job to affect the quality of the parts that go in the planes that I, my loved ones, and strangers fly in. Recreational use can affect decisions, so I would prefer that it’s still watched over until they find a way to determine if you’re currently on a drug or it’s in your system and your ability to rationalize is not affected.—Dalayna

The age-old question:

While Gen Z’s been busy setting firm work-life boundaries and adding PTO requests to their team’s calendar, they may unknowingly have a target on their backs. While ageism is commonly associated with older generations, a recent study by the American Psychological Association surprisingly found that young employees experience higher levels of workplace ageism than their older counterparts. In practice, this can impact everything from hiring to who exactly receives promotions and raises.

While you can buy as many power suits as your heart desires, that may not change the way you’re perceived at work as a younger employee. Have you ever experienced reverse ageism at work? If so, how did you handle it? Share your experiences and thoughts by hitting Reply!—MW

Your punch list for when you punch out.

Read: In this recent NYT op-ed, 12 American millennials spill on the way they really feel about current work culture, including their thoughts on burnout, remote work, the Great Resignation, and more.

Watch: Enjoy Seth Rogen’s rebrand from full-time actor to part-time ceramicist and cannabis accessorist via this tour of his Houseplant brand’s HQ—which just so happens to be an LA bungalow.

Follow: Chef @kenapeay gives her followers a firsthand look at her nomadic lifestyle while traveling around the US. Come for the delicious recipes she makes everywhere from the forest to the beach, and stay for her infectious laugh and great jokes.

Learn: If you haven’t applied for Morning Brew Leadership (MB/L) yet, now’s the time! Why? Because the founding cohort gets $500 off the regular tuition price! This 8-week virtual program runs June 13 through August 5, and it will change the way you think about leadership. Download the syllabus now to learn more.

A tidy mind: Evernote combines note-taking, project planning, and “putting a pin in that” into a clean, intuitive platform that syncs with allllll your devices. Meet deadlines, maintain focus, and take control. Get started here.*

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