Building a Visual Language

I found it interesting that Airbnb had to think about their visual language through a global lens because it is an international product. Many people would assume, including myself, that iconography is already part of a global language when in fact that too has to be translated so that more people can understand. The author also stated that the design should be an “evolving ecosystem” if it were static, there would often be outdated parts that serve to harm Airbnb’s image. I think explaining the outcome at the end was also interesting. He spoke about how much the system had expedited the process of designing because now they have set guidelines. So each time they design they can focus on UI/UX versus the fine details such as color and font. They not only shared their accomplishments but noted some things that could be improved such as their grid system. He noted that they didn’t define the grid system as well as he had hoped leaving some inconsistency. In the end they found the project successful which makes total sense because the designers can now focus their energy on more important and meaningful details of the user’s experiences.