Formally Specifying UIs • Hillel Wayne
Good UI is necessary to making correct software. If people have trouble using the product, they’re more likely to do the wrong thing. Personally, though, I can’t stand UI work. I don’t think it’s “beneath me” or anything, it just doesn’t quite mesh with my brain. Visuals and interfaces give me anxiety. Mad respect for the people who can handle it. I love formal methods. Recently my friend Kevin Lynagh released Sketch.systems, a new tool to bring formal specification to UI designers.1 Can my love of formal methods beat my fear of UI? Let’s find out.

Sketch.systems
Sketch.systems helps software designers think about complex product behavior. Sketch out states, add prototypes, and clarify questions quickly.

The secret lives of Facebook moderators in America – The Verge
It’s a place where, in stark contrast to the perks lavished on Facebook employees, team leaders micromanage content moderators’ every bathroom and prayer break; where employees, desperate for a dopamine rush amid the misery, have been found having sex inside stairwells and a room reserved for lactating mothers; where people develop severe anxiety while still in training, and continue to struggle with trauma symptoms long after they leave; and where the counseling that Cognizant offers them ends the moment they quit — or are simply let go.

Knak: A Case Study – Vehikl News – Medium
Working closely with the Knak team throughout this project helped give insight into the customers and their perspectives while using the product. The research I gathered provided knowledge that drove the interface updates, enabled me to consider their context while building interactions, and highlighted the problems they had that the product was designed to solve.

[Essay] The Story of Storytelling | Harper’s Magazine
What the hidden relationships of ancient folktales reveal about their evolution—and our own