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Last year, the anticipation of a turn of a new decade provided lots of predictions and expectations for what 2020 would bring as well.

2020 was unexpected to say the least: Australian wildfires; a global pandemic; massive social unrest and the call to end systemic racism; a neck-to-neck U.S. presidential election. 

But there are some silver linings in this test of time: time to connect with family, flexibility to work remote, demand for unthought of solutions to name a few. 

For UXBeginner, here’s what we’ve been able to put out in 2020, thanks to your support:

• 💌 41 newsletters
• 💼 296 curated remote jobs
• 📚 22 recommended books
• 🛠 50+ recommended design tools
• 🌅 66 Instagram posts since July! 
• 🤓 6 new guides to UX courses, including Top UX bootcamp reviews, a comparison between UX Books vs UX Courses vs UX Bootcamps and platforms reviews for Interaction Design Foundation, Skillshare and LinkedIn!

Note from Oz: thank you Kim for consistently crafting a year of UX newsletters! 

Here are some of our other reflections that we’re taking into 2021:

UXB Social Media Apprenticeship

In June, we posted about the Social Media UX Apprenticeship and launched it in July. 

Thanks to the collaboration with Aaron, Andra, Claudia, Rachel and Sionen, we’ve crossed over 1,000 followers on Instagram. That might not sound like much, but it’s a big step for a self-admitted social media grandpa (Oz). 

Don’t follow us on Instagram (yet)? Here’s our most popular post thus far: 3 tips to instantly improve design feedback.

We’ll have announcements for 1-2 apprentice positions starting next year. 

Follow @uxbeginner to stay tuned!

2020 Design Tools Survey

I looked forward to seeing the data in the survey and comparing it to last year’s info because the trends have changed. As expected, Figma has climbed its way to the top across the board with UI design, prototyping, managing design systems, versioning, and developer hand-off. Of the leading trio – Sketch, Adobe XD, and Figma, collaboration and all-in-one that Figma offers has really made it stand out, especially working while remote. I think it’s fair to say if you’re new to UX, Figma is a great tool to learn with and if you’ve already got your go-to design tool, exploring Figma to understand the basic usage might be a pro for you toolkit!

How not to do remote collaboration

Speaking of collaboration tools, Miro is also absolutely killing it on the market this year. Not only are designers using Miro collaboratively for brainstorming and ideation, higher ed institutions are also incorporating it into synchronous class to better engage students with hands-on discussions. Not to mention that Miro also hosted a 3-day completely free Distributed 2020 that brought together so many individuals excited to learn and share ideas. 

Making Online Learning Work

Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, shares some effective teaching strategies for remote learning and how parents can support their children learning online. One of the things he mentions is how to engage students and build a sense of community because students are no longer able to interact between classes or after school like before. 

We close out 2020 with grateful hearts and optimism for the new year. 

What are you looking forward to in 2021 in terms of the UX industry and your personal design goals?

Wishing you safety, joy and happy holidays,

Kim and Oz from UXBeginner.com.