Action Play
How to get started with GitHub as a designer
The developer ecosystem is a goldmine for designers. Here are six things you can do today to start using GitHub and open-source libraries in your workflow.
Prioritize what hurts most - for users and the business.
Action play: List all the pain points you've found from research, feedback, or testing. Then draw a simple pyramid with three levels:
- Top: Critical issues - high impact, high frequency.
- Middle: Frustrations - noticeable but not blockers.
- Bottom: Minor annoyances - low frequency or low cost.
Sort each issue into the right level.
Example: "Can't complete payment" goes at the top - critical. "Doesn't remember last search" lands in the middle. "Irregular use of colors" sits at the bottom. Once sorted, focus your next design cycle on the top layer only.
Why: Not all pain points are equal. Teams waste effort treating every issue the same. The pyramid gives clarity - fix what hurts most first. It aligns design work with both user impact and business value, turning chaos into focus.
This action play is from the full article: 3 ways to turn research into design decisions
Written by
Björn Rutholm
Founder of PixelPappa
Technical cofounder for hire. Product designer and developer helping teams build digital products that work.
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