Rafa Conde - Make your designs memorable
Summary
Design engineer Rafa Conde argues that selling ideas matters more than execution—don't just share mockups or prototypes, create an 'ad' that communicates emotional impact. Drawing from indie game design philosophy, he shows how intentional friction and delight can make software memorable by letting users feel the people behind the product.
Key Takeaways
- Don't present features as mockups or screen recordings—frame them as ads. Sell the idea by communicating the emotional intent and vision behind the feature to stakeholders and users.
- Chase emotional moments in software design. Rafa's formative experience was unboxing a MacBook with the starfield video—this 'wow' feeling should be the north star for all product design work.
- Embed personality and humanity into products like indie game developers do. Reference Metal Gear Solid's approach—put your name on it, take authorship, show users they can feel the people behind the creation.
- Strategic friction can enhance delight when purposeful. Metal Gear Solid's example of hiding caller frequency on the game box forced players to engage beyond the screen, creating memorable moments through intentional design puzzles.
- Video and narrative are essential communication tools in product design. Use them to share not just what a feature does, but why it matters and how it makes people feel.
Related topics
Transcript Excerpt
When you are working on something, you have the vision, like you know what you're trying to do. The goal is to communicate this idea as cleanly as you can to someone else. If I have this idea for a feature, don't just design the feature and share mock-ups. Don't just make a prototype and do a screen recording of you using the feature. Make an ad, right? Sell this idea. >> Welcome to Dive Club. My name is Rid and this is where designers never stop learning. [music] Today's episode is with Rafael Condo who you might remember as Rafa from the layout podcast that I used to listen to all the time. Well, today he's working as a design engineer at Retro, which is one of my favorite consumer [music] apps. So, the focus of this conversation is all about how do you create software that makes people …