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Awaken* newsletter

September 12, 2024

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In the half-year I’ve been writing this newsletter I have only interviewed established founders. This article is my first deviation from the pattern and I couldn’t have asked for a better guest. Emily Luk–though a first-time founder–is not new to startups, having joined Stripe as a founding member of their growth team back when the company was around ~150 employees.

Now, she is building Plenty, an investment platform for modern couples. Talking to Emily has convinced me of two things, first–that this is a very large and important problem, second–that Emily is probably the right person to build it. I’m excited to share my conversation with her.

TLDR; Key Takeaways

If you only have a few moments, here are a few golden nuggets from my conversation with Emily:

  • An exercise to find your calling: Write down everything that makes you happy, ~100 words. Keep cutting the list in half until you have five words. What’s the grounding/theme that goes through all five? That’s a good starting point to find your calling.
  • Address opportunity costs before starting a company: Running a successful startup is a long journey, the average time to IPO is 7-10 years. If possible, do the things you’d regret missing out on before embarking on your journey.
  • Aspiring founders should focus on developing taste: As a founder, you don’t need to do everything personally yourself, but you need to know what great looks like. Working alongside great talent can help you develop this intuition.
  • Being relatable is a core part of business: People are much more likely to do business with you if they can relate to you. Put in some effort to learn about common interests of the type of people you want to do business with.
  • We are in the middle of a generational shift: 33% of millennials got married or entered a long-term partnership in the past five years. This is the first generation where dual-income families are normal.
  • Financial products for couples need an update: Many financial products used today were built for single-income households and aren’t adapted for dual-income families.

Tell me about your journey, how did you end up in the Bay Area/tech?

It goes pretty far back. My grandfather started two companies. One he ran for 20 years, and the other for 25 years. Then my parents emigrated to Canada, started this company, and ran it for 18 years. Growing up, I thought most people started companies. It wasn’t until my grade seven careers class, where they walked you through all the different careers and had a chart about the percentage of people in each career, that I realized entrepreneurs are less than 10% of the population. I thought it was a much higher percentage because everyone around my parents was an entrepreneur. I have always been interested in starting businesses. I was that stereotypical kid who kept running side hustles.

I read that your first entrepreneurial endeavor was a fundraiser for UNICEF.

Yeah, it was grade one, and the teacher decided to have a competition to raise money for UNICEF. The idea was to go trick-or-treating using those orange UNICEF boxes to collect donations. I lived in Edmonton at the time, which is the most populated city that far north, so winter was basically already here by Halloween. We had this competition in class to see how much money people could raise, but my parents were really worried my brother and I would get sick if we went trick-or-treating outside when there was already a foot of snow on the ground. I really wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to lose in the UNICEF competition, so instead, I decided to take a bunch of origami, fold it into different shapes like planes and boats, and sell it during recess to the teachers. All the money went to UNICEF. This was my way of being like, “Okay, great, I can do this all the time during recess for a month,” and then raise enough money instead of going trick-or-treating as a workaround for that.

Let’s go back to your story.

I’d already started my own company in high school and had been really involved with startups in university, running a student-run venture fund that organized pitch nights. Because of these experiences, I had the chance to work at the largest VC fund in Canada when I graduated.  It was an incredible experience because we got to see a large breadth of startups during that vintage. Some of the companies I personally worked on included Sonder in their pre-seed stage and Hopper in the earlier days. About two years into my time in a venture, my younger brother told me he was thinking of moving to the Bay Area when he graduated from Waterloo. We’re very close, and I wanted to be in the same city as him. Around the same time, I was thinking about applying for jobs. My brother wasn’t going to graduate yet, but I figured I would start looking for a job there. And so I started applying for some jobs and just started talking to more people and getting more involved in the Bay Area. 

Right around the same time, Stripe ended up reaching out to me. I had met members of their team, and this was back when the company was like 150 people. The company was much smaller; they had just hired a COO and were just starting to build up their business and growth teams. We chatted about whether I would be interested in joining the stuff they were doing on the growth side. Around the same time, I had gotten connected to Gold House founder Bing Chen. I went to Bing for career advice because I had a couple of other opportunities that were also in the Bay which I was considering. I was 22 years old, trying to figure out what to do with these opportunities in front of me. On top of that, I was potentially moving to another country on the other side of the continent. I don’t even know if Bing will remember this, but it left such a mark on me. He walked me through an exercise he did when he was in university. It was something he found really helpful to understand your own values and what brings you joy. 

The exercise he walked me through was to start with an empty piece of paper and write down, in free form, everything that makes you happy. Anything that brings you joy—it can be an item, an exercise, or an activity. I jotted down like 100 different words. Then he said, “Now start to cut it down. Cut it in half. Take the ones that don’t matter. Now you have 50. Now cut it down to 25.” This is when it starts to get really hard. “Now cut it down to 10. Now cut it down to 5.” With the last five words, is there a grounding or a theme that goes through all of it? If those are the things that really bring you joy after you’ve processed this and wondered, that’s probably a very good starting point to think about what you dedicate your time to.

So what were your last five words?

For me, I remember really thinking about how I loved making and empowering. That was one of the words that came out. It was empowering, teaching. I really believed in it. At the time, I had done my CPA and CFA when I was in venture, and I really understood and saw how in the world of finance, things were so opaque. I had also thought a lot about family and friends, and I started thinking about how those words could formulate into almost like my North Star. Big credit to Bing; after I went through that exercise, the answer was very obvious to me. What was so exciting about joining Stripe back in 2015 was that we were really focused on helping SMBs and startups in this opaque world of finance. At the time, payment companies were used to dealing with massive enterprises, so if you were a startup or an SMB, you basically didn’t matter. The products were terrible, it was hard to integrate, and the process of using the product was terrible. For many entrepreneurs, being able to accept money for your product or service is a critical part of running your business. If you don’t have revenue, nothing else works.

For me, it was so obvious that of all the opportunities I had been looking at, Stripe was clearly the best one. Ironically, now in hindsight, I can say this: the other thing that was really crazy was when I decided to join Stripe, I didn’t know my title. I actually forgot to ask what my title was until I received the offer letter. I didn’t even bother asking. I knew what I was going to work on, and I knew who I was going to work with. It was also by far the lowest salary package compared to all the other companies. Given how much Stripe has grown, it’s definitely turned into the best decision. At the time when I joined, it was so clear that it aligned with the things I cared about most. The other things like compensation or title just didn’t matter as much.

You took a sabbatical from work before starting Plenty in 2022. What inspired the sabbatical?

When my parents started their business, they ran it for 18 years. My grandparents ran their businesses for almost 20-25 years. So, I never thought of starting a company as a quick two to three-year journey. I thought it would be a very long journey, and I wanted to feel like I was ready to commit that kind of time and have that kind of endurance. That was one part that was really important. Travel is very important to me–being able to see the world. I knew that if I didn’t have this period of travel, I would always wonder if I missed out.

Part of how I thought about the mental preparation to become a founder is being able to think about how it might feel. One of the parts that helps with the mental endurance of it is being able to realize what might make it harder and, if possible, try to solve some of that earlier. The sabbatical year was basically that. If I didn’t have it, I would look back at the very hard moments when you need to keep going when you’re starting a company and think, “Oh man, maybe I should just stop. Maybe now I can have my travel year because I never had it. Was it worth the sacrifice?” I think it just makes it so much harder instead of getting ahead of it.

What made you feel that it was the right time to start your founder journey? 

I think of myself as a lifelong learner. When I experience anything in life, I immediately start to think about what I can learn, what I can do differently, what I would do in the future, and what might have changed the outcome. That is deeply ingrained in who I am. I realized I would probably always feel like there was more to learn and never feel ready.

My mother had a philosophy when she was running her company: you don’t need to do everything personally yourself, but you need to know what great looks like. You need to have enough exposure to know what great products, sales, and marketing look like and have that intuition. You don’t have to do every single thing personally, and frankly, you can’t. There was a point at which I realized I had been exposed to enough people who did their jobs great and did really great work. That shift in mindset was really valuable. I thought, “I might not ever feel ready, and that’s okay, but I’ve also had some experience, so maybe it is time to take a bet on myself.”

For young people who aspire to start their own business in the future, would you say that the function of what they are doing is secondary to who they are around?

Here’s how I approached it when I was at Stripe. I was really lucky because Stripe had an incredibly high talent bar. I was surrounded by so many people. I was also the youngest person on the business team, so I was surrounded by all these people who were 5, 10, 15 years ahead of me career-wise. They were at the top of their game at what they did, and I just tried to be as much of a sponge as possible. I also moved teams a couple of times, which helped with getting exposure to a lot of parts of the organization.

One of the things I’m most grateful for is that Stripe used to have this policy where every email that is sent across teams or externally, is copied to an email list so anyone in the company can read it. It’s complete email transparency. They don’t do this anymore, but for the entirety of the time that I was there, that’s what they did. Also, every single team had to send meeting notes at the end of every meeting to these email lists, and anyone in the company could read the meeting notes. Every one or two months, I would really focus on understanding what another team did. For example, when I was on the sales team, I’d really focus on what the partnership team did and read every single one of their meeting notes for two months. Then I would rotate to another team. I spent a month thinking about risk and compliance, a month reading everything in the world related to the legal side of things, and then I would rotate to what product is doing, what engineering is doing, and how infrastructure works.

It felt like I created my own mini-MBA because I got to see not just the theory but how all functions actually work in a company. I took being a sponge really seriously. It was honestly so fun for me. I know it was rare to have access to all of this knowledge, to have that quality of thought and quality of people around me that I could easily learn from.

Could that be replicated at larger companies?

It’s really only startups where you can get that level of access. Another thing that benefited my learning was that Stripe was growing rapidly while I was there. It grew from a couple hundred to a couple thousand people during my time there. Because it was growing so quickly, I saw many chapters of a startup during that time. There was such an emphasis on communication. Because the company was growing so quickly, documentation was especially critical so that work was not duplicated. That, I think, is one of the unique growth opportunities of being in a startup that is harder to get access to when you’re at a big company.

Given that you come from a family of entrepreneurs, do you find yourself asking your parents and grandparents for business advice?

I definitely talk to them about work a lot more after starting my company. Before I started Plenty, when I talked to them about work, it was sometimes a little frustrating because they’d say, “Why don’t you just ask for the promotion?” I’d be like, “Mom, it doesn’t work like that. You have to earn it and wait your time.” My mom, being an ultra-entrepreneur, thinks it’s exclusively merit-based. In reality, in a big organization, there are performance cycles, and you have to wait six months. You can’t just suddenly say, “I want to be promoted today,” and have a multi-hundred or multi-thousand-person organization just say yes. It doesn’t work like that. 

At that time, it was much harder to ask for career advice. But now, it’s really helpful because my parents deeply understand. It’s not even the practical business advice, frankly; it’s the emotional journey. It’s so hard to hire, support someone to perform, deal with a supplier not living up to expectations, or have a backup plan in case things don’t work out. These are all fairly generalizable pieces of advice that have been incredibly helpful. More than anything, starting a company is an extremely lonely experience. It’s been incredible to talk to my parents, not about the specifics like our cost per click, but about the emotional aspects. It’s hard to feel the pressure of needing to have all the answers and supporting your team’s families. They instinctively understand it on an emotional level, which doesn’t need to be explained.

What is the core problem that inspired you to start Plenty?

If you look at the two generations that are going to undergo the largest amounts of change in the next decade, it’s the baby boomers (who we are not optimistic about being able to sell software to), and then the millennial generation. The reality is that millennials are now turning 30, and this chapter from 30 to 40 years old is generally when you find a partner, buy a house, have kids, and get promoted. There’s so much change that happens. If you navigate your finances well during this chapter, you can set yourself up for the rest of your life.

We saw that it’s also the chapter where people want to take their finances more seriously. They’re actively looking for things to do, but if you’re building up to your first million dollars, there aren’t great products or services meant for that. Once you get over a million dollars, there are lots of financial advisors who are really good and can help you, but why would the best financial advisors want to work with clients with less capital? What we saw was that this industry doesn’t have the best people working with the people who arguably need the most help.

The other aspect of Plenty came from personal experience. When Channing and I got engaged, we couldn’t find any products that made it easy for us to manage our money together. We believe very deeply that the best decisions we make as a partnership are the ones we make together, and that financial decisions are very important in unlocking optionality down the road. If there aren’t great products that make it easy for you to work together, then you’re probably going to have a much harder time trying to figure out things in the future too, right? Those two things were the core motivations for starting Plenty.

Why do you think there is a gap in products to help couples manage their finances in tandem?

Nowadays, it’s normal to be dual-income because both people are educated and everything costs more. It’s more fulfilling to feel like you both have careers and jobs, and it might be necessary in order to support a family. At this point, about 80% of this generation are dual-income families and couples. 

This used to not be the case. In the two generations before us, the majority of people were single-income families. A lot of the financial products we use today were designed by people who were single-income household members of other single-income households. So it completely makes sense why they designed a lot of joint products the way they did because it used to make sense, but it doesn’t make sense anymore. 

One example of this is if you look at American Express or Chase, there is no concept of a joint credit card. You are both legally on the hook for paying the bill, but both of you don’t get to see what you’ve spent. That doesn’t make sense. So if you get a credit card with Chase and add your partner to it, your partner doesn’t even get a login. They can’t see anything, even though they have a credit card with their name on it. American Express is quirky in a different way. We have both of these cards and from personal experience, when you add your partner to an American Express card, they can only see what they spent on their card. They cannot see what you’ve spent on the main card, even though you both share the card. 

There are all these little bumps related to access or permission, but it dates back to a time when it was very normal for one person to earn an income, but it’s not very normal anymore. People and couples nowadays expect to have fairly equal access to understanding their money together. It’s not the same as, “Oh, if they know everything, that’s fine. I don’t need to know anything.” That’s just not nearly as common anymore. Nowadays, conversations around family finances are happening with both people being more equal than ever before. 

What we also noticed is that because people are getting married later than ever, they are already used to having their own financial accounts. Even after getting married, maybe they open up some things that they share. But it’s a journey towards sharing more of their finances. They still have things under each of our names. A lot of the financial system was built around the reality of the single-income family that had everything fully joined. But that’s just not the case anymore. That has changed especially quickly in the last five years. Five years ago 33% of this generation was married, and now almost 60-70% of this generation is married or in a long-term partnership.

How do you think being Asian has impacted your founder’s journey? 

For better or worse, I have been on the other end of bias, but not because I’m Asian. At least, I think not because I’m Asian. But for other reasons, like being part of a husband and wife team. I’ve even had a VC comment about how he would never report to his wife. I don’t think anyone has ever explicitly called out the fact that I was Asian, but it is something that I am aware of. And here’s the reason why. I feel like I have to work extra hard to be relatable, and frankly, there are assumptions that people have.

My husband is from Virginia and his family’s been in the US for a while. Lots of people are surprised when I mention that I’m the sports person in the relationship. I watch basketball, I watch football, I know the players, and he doesn’t watch any of it. Even when we’re in conversations with potential investors, they’re surprised by that. I don’t know why that might be the case, but I joke about it. I say, you probably wouldn’t have expected a short little Canadian Asian female to know this much about football, right? 

I do think what you like to talk about is important. When it comes to attracting business partners, of course, the way you think about business and strategy makes people want to work with you. But there’s another aspect to it. If someone feels like you have something in common with them, they think that you can be a friend. Whether or not they want to spend more time with you is actually really impactful for whether or not they want to back you.

I think I’ve always been aware that I have to work extra hard to be relatable, but I don’t try to spend too much time thinking about it beyond thinking of ways that I can support other Asian founders, because it’s not something I can change. Frankly, I just focus on what needs to be done. I’ve always enjoyed football, but I’ve definitely put in the effort to stay aware of what’s going on because I know it is something that is unexpected when I talk about it.

I’ve talked to a few female CEOs whose husbands are also part of the company. Can you comment on what that’s like?

I think it might be happening more frequently as we go along. I mean, it makes a lot of sense, right? There is no one else in your life that you respect, admire, and trust to that degree. Building a startup is not an easy or linear path. In those moments where you’re like, “Oh gosh, what should we do?” not needing to doubt if you’re building with the right person or if you can trust that person is actually so important. It helps stabilize you through the hard moments because you know they’re in it with you, you can trust them completely, and they care about you. That psychological trust is crucial.

–

Plenty is hiring! If you are interested in working with Emily to build financial tools for the modern couple, check out the available job listings here!

Emily has also graciously offered a 3-month free promo code for our readers. If you are interested in trying out Plenty, use code AHNCommunity to get 3 months free. Thank you Emily for joining us!

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How to use Midjourney AI in UI design

As AI increasingly makes its way into the UI designer’s toolkit, Midjourney is fast becoming one of the most popular image generators. 

With a simple text prompt, you can use Midjourney AI to create custom digital artworks, whip up an app screen, design individual UI elements, and generate colour palettes—all in a matter of seconds.

For UI designers, this can really accelerate the ideation process and help you expand your own creativity. 

So how does Midjourney AI work? And how can you leverage it in the UI design process? Let’s take a look. 

What is Midjourney AI and how does it work?

Midjourney is a generative AI tool created by Midjourney, Inc.—an independent research lab based in San Francisco.

Midjourney AI generates images and digital artworks based on text prompts. If you enter a prompt asking for an image of a mermaid swimming underwater surrounded by marine life, Midjourney will generate four versions for you to choose from. The more specific your prompts, the better—but we’ll get to the art of prompt-writing for Midjourney in a later section. 

Midjourney works within the Discord platform. Discord is an instant messaging app, commonly used to create communities where users can chat via text, voice, and video. Discord essentially facilitates communication between the user and the Midjourney bot.

Midjourney uses two key machine learning technologies:

  • Large Language Models (LLM): this is how Midjourney understands and interprets the text prompts provided by the user.
  • Diffusion Models (DM): in very simple terms, this technology converts random visual noise into a meaningful image. You enter a text prompt, which sparks a field of visual noise. The AI then progressively removes that noise in incremental steps, eventually resulting in an image that resembles what you’ve asked for. 

Now we know what Midjourney is and how it works, let’s drill down to some key functions and features. 

What can Midjourney AI do? Key features

Midjourney’s core function is to convert text prompts into images. This allows you to generate unique digital artworks and graphics in a range of styles. 

You can guide the image generation process by applying custom parameters to your prompts. You might specify a certain aspect ratio, for example, or a particular style such as ‘watercolour’ or ‘flat design’. 

You can also customise the quality of your images by specifying, within your prompt, a value for the rendering quality. You might specify ‘q 1’ (that’s the default quality level) or request that images be rendered to a higher quality by specifying ‘q 2’ in your prompt. 

Once you’ve entered your prompt, Midjourney will give you four different image versions. You can choose to upscale a particular version, which will increase the size/dimensions of the image and also improve the quality. 

Beyond image generation, Midjourney serves as a great source of community and inspiration. You can share your creations and browse images created by others, allowing you to see what’s possible with Midjourney and sparking ideas for your own work. 

How to get set up on Midjourney AI

To use Midjourney AI, you’ll need to create both a Discord account and a Midjourney account. 

If you’re not already a member, first head over to the Discord platform and follow the instructions to create your account. Once you’re signed up, join the official Midjourney Discord server by clicking the ‘Accept invite’ button. 

You’ll then find yourself in the “Getting started” channel, where you can create your Midjourney account (if you haven’t already done so) by clicking “Get your Midjourney membership” (visible in the chat):

This will take you to a separate page, the Midjourney showcase, where you can click “Sign up” in the bottom left corner to create your Midjourney account. 

Once you’re signed up and logged in to Midjourney, you can navigate back to the Midjourney Discord server and enter one of the so-called “newbie” bot channels. You’ll find available newbie channels on the left-hand side.

You can then enter your own prompts into the chat box to start generating images. 

At the time of writing, Midjourney is no longer offering a free trial for new users. If you want to start prompting, you’ll need to sign up for a paid subscription. 

How much does Midjourney AI cost?

Midjourney offers four price tiers:

  • Basic Plan for $10 per month or $96 per year with an annual subscription (that’s around €9 per month / €89 per year)
  • Standard Plan for $30 per month or $288 per year with an annual subscription (that’s around €28 per month / €267 per year)
  • Pro Plan for $60 per month or $576 per year with an annual subscription (that’s around €55 per month / €533 per year)
  • Mega Plan for $120 per month or $1,152 per year with an annual subscription (that’s around €111 per month / €1,066 per year). 

For more information about each price tier and what’s included, visit the official Midjourney pricing page.

How to use Midjourney AI in UI design (with example prompts)

Midjourney can generate custom visuals in a matter of seconds—making it an incredibly interesting tool for UI designers. You can use Midjourney to quickly create screens and individual UI components, come up with themes, styles, and colour palettes, and generate unique digital artwork. 

Note, however, that the graphics you create with Midjourney won’t necessarily be directly usable—and working with Midjourney doesn’t eliminate the need to create your own screens and elements using the usual UI tools like Sketch and Figma. If you generate an app screen with Midjourney, for example, you’ll still need to actually create that screen from scratch yourself. 

Where Midjourney really comes in useful is helping you to explore different ideas and concepts and gather inspiration. You might use your AI-generated artwork to inspire mood boards, kick-start an ideation session, or serve as a guide for certain layouts or colour schemes. 

With that, let’s consider some examples of how to use Midjourney for UI design. 

Use Midjourney AI to generate app screens 

If you’re designing for mobile, Midjourney can help you ideate layouts and designs for various app screens. If you’re designing a dating app, for example, you might try the following Midjourney prompts:

  • /imagine a vibrant and fun login screen for a dating app, with an eye-catching background, username and password fields, and buttons for login and social media sign-ins
  • /imagine a user profile screen for a dating app, featuring a large profile picture at the top, user bio, interests, and match percentage displayed in a clean layout
  • /imagine a match screen for a dating app, showing potential matches with profile pictures, a brief bio, and buttons to like, dislike, or super like
  • /imagine a chat screen for a dating app with a clean interface, message bubbles, timestamps, and an input field at the bottom

Create UI components such as icons, buttons, and logos 

Perhaps you want inspiration for the finer details of your app or website. In that case, try using Midjourney AI to create individual UI components such as icons, buttons, and logos. Here are some prompt examples to guide you:

  • /imagine a set of modern buttons for a mobile app, including primary, secondary, and disabled states, using a black and white colour scheme
  • /imagine a collection of minimalist icons for a mobile app, including icons for home, search, messages, settings, and notifications
  • /imagine a sleek and modern logo for a dating app, incorporating elements of connection and love, with a vibrant colour scheme

Generate theme and style concepts 

In the early stages of the design process, you might focus on coming up with an overall visual style for your website or app—and Midjourney can help with this, too. Specify your vision or initial ideas and let Midjourney bring them to life. 

Consider the following prompt examples:

  • /imagine a light mode theme for a productivity app, featuring white backgrounds, soft grey UI elements, and navy blue highlights
  • /imagine a dark mode theme for a music app, with black backgrounds, dark grey UI elements, and neon pink highlights
  • /imagine a vibrant and colourful theme for a creative design app, with bold colours like orange, pink, and teal, playful typography, and dynamic UI elements

Create custom website imagery 

Imagery plays an important role in UI design, helping to reinforce brand identity and enhance the visual appeal of your website or app. 

Whether you want to create cartoon-style illustrations, abstract artwork, or realistic images of products, places, or people, Midjourney can generate custom imagery that reflects your brand and vision. 

Here are some examples of how you might prompt Midjourney to generate images for different use cases:

  • /imagine a stunning hero image for a tech startup website, featuring abstract technology elements and a modern cityscape in the background
  • /imagine a set of custom illustrations for a health and wellness website, featuring people doing yoga, eating healthy, and meditating
  • /imagine a unique background image for a creative agency website, with abstract shapes and vibrant colours

Generate colour palettes 

Perhaps you want help coming up with the perfect colour palette, or you’ve already got a colour scheme in mind and want to see how it looks in practice. Again, Midjourney is an excellent source of inspiration here. Simply specify the kind of look and feel you’re aiming for and Midjourney can generate multiple colour palettes accordingly.

Consider the following prompt examples to guide you:

  • /imagine a pastel colour palette for a wellness app, featuring soft shades of mint green, blush pink, lavender, and light grey
  • /imagine a bold, split-complementary colour palette for a fitness app, comprising three colours
  • /imagine a monochromatic colour palette for a finance app

How to write effective prompts for Midjourney AI

As with all generative AI tools, the quality of the output depends on the quality of the input. In other words, it’s up to you to tell the AI what you want—and to master the art of prompt-writing for the specific tool you’re using. 

Here are some tips to help you write effective prompts for Midjourney AI:

  • Start each prompt with the /imagine command, followed by a description of what you want the AI to create.
  • Keep it simple and specific. To quote the official Midjourney guidelines for prompt-writing: “The Midjourney Bot works best with simple short phrases that describe what you want to see. Avoid long lists of requests and instructions.”
  • Specify what you want the image to include, rather than what you don’t want it to include. Even if you specify “no flowers” in your prompt, the AI will likely only focus on the word “flowers” and therefore create an image that does indeed contain flowers. If you absolutely want to exclude something from the image, use the “no” parameter. For example: – – no flowers.
  • If necessary, specify your desired aspect ratio using the following parameter: – – ar [value]. If you wanted to generate an app screen, you could specify – – ar 16:9.
  • Use the stylize parameter to control the level of artistic flair that Midjourney injects into each image. If you imagine that the default level, 2500, gives you a medium level of stylization, you can dial it up or down by specifying values higher or lower than 2500. If you wanted to generate an image of a garden that’s more realistic than artistic, you might specify – – stylize 500. If you wanted to create an image of a garden that looks magical and fantastical, you might specify – – stylize 3500.
  • Use the quality parameter to adjust the level of quality and detail in the image. – – q 1 is the default, so work from that value to dial the quality up or down. 

Most importantly, be prepared to experiment. The more you use Midjourney, the more intuitive the art of prompt-writing will become. You’ll start to get a feel for what works and see how different words, phrases, and parameters influence the output. 

Ethical considerations when using Midjourney AI

If you’re using Midjourney AI (or indeed any AI tools) throughout the design process, you must take care to use it responsibly. Here are some of the most important ethical considerations to bear in mind.

Intellectual property and copyright

When generating images with AI, be careful about replicating existing images or artworks created by other artists or designers. You might use a famous logo for inspiration, for example, but you wouldn’t want to emulate the style too closely to the point of copying. 

Deceptive and misleading content

This is like the visual equivalent of fake news—creating image-based content that deliberately deceives, misleads, manipulates, or spreads misinformation. Don’t do it!

Stereotypes and bias

It’s well-documented that AI can and does perpetuate harmful stereotypes and biases. As a human user, you must be diligent about actively looking out for such biases and taking steps to mitigate them.

Strive to generate images that are inclusive and representative of diverse groups. If you generate an image that doesn’t feel inclusive or could potentially exclude or harm certain people, don’t use it. You can learn more about the importance of designing inclusive content in this guide. 

As a general rule: always review AI-generated content with a critical eye, and use your better judgement. As a human user, it’s your responsibility to consider the impact of any content you create—and to ultimately decide what makes it into the public domain. 

The takeaway

Midjourney AI can generate custom images in seconds, making it an excellent tool for gathering inspiration, sparking your own creativity, and ideating and exploring different design concepts, layouts, and styles. 

Whether you use it to generate fully-fledged app screens, individual UI elements, impressive artworks, or colour palettes: Midjourney AI is a powerful addition to your UI design toolkit. 

Ready to get started with Midjourney AI? Experiment with different prompts and use cases, explore other Midjourney users’ creations, and be mindful of the ethical considerations we’ve laid out in this guide. You’ll soon be generating images like a pro! 

  • 12 min read
What is UX

Design

What is UX design?

What does UX stand for? Learn more about what UX means, why it’s so important and what defines good UX.

“UX” stands for “user experience.” It describes the quality of the experience an end user has with a specific product, service, company or brand.

Although it’s often talked about in relation to digital products, like apps and websites, UX can relate to anything that an end user can interact with or encounter.

Take the example of going into your local bank to open a new account. If the process is quick and simple with clear instructions, easy-to-find information and friendly customer service, you’d come away feeling like you had a good user experience.

The same goes for ordering something online or using an app on your phone. If you’re able to accomplish your desired tasks with minimal effort, you’ll find the user experience to be a pleasant one.

UX doesn’t relate to one specific thing. It’s the sum of all the smaller parts that determines whether the overall encounter between the product/service and the user is a positive one. You can think of it as the impression the user leaves with and whether or not they’d be keen to repeat the experience. To learn more, keep reading.

What is user experience (UX) design?

If UX describes the quality of a user’s encounter with a particular product or service, UX design is the process of creating and shaping these experiences, with the goal of making them positive, pleasant and valuable for the end user.

UX design isn’t about how a product looks; that’s just one aspect of the overall user experience. It’s about ensuring that the product is logical, functional, easy to navigate and generally user-friendly.

There are 5 elements of UX design to consider:

  1. Strategy: Deciding which objectives the product should meet, including both end user goals and client/business stakeholder objectives.
  2. Scope: Fleshing out the details of the product, determining which features and functionality it should offer.
  3. Structure: Mapping out the structure of the product, considering how users will navigate from one point to the next and what information they’ll need to move around the product and accomplish their goals.
  4. Skeleton: Drilling down to the finer details of how each page should be structured and which elements (buttons, menus and other content) will go where.
  5. Surface: Considering the user’s sensory experience of the product, defining how the product will look in terms of colors, imagery, spacing, typography and so on. This is where UI design comes in.

Where does the term “UX” come from?

The term “UX” was invented by Donald Norman, a cognitive psychologist who started working at Apple in the early 1990s. He took on the role of User Experience Architect, making him the first (known) person in history to have UX in their job title.

Explaining the origins of UX, Donald Norman said:

“I invented the term because I thought human interface and usability were too narrow. I wanted to cover all aspects of the person’s experience with a system, including industrial design, graphics, the interface, the physical interaction and the manual.”

What is the difference between UX and UI?

If you’ve heard of UX, you’ve probably also heard of UI. The terms are often used together but it’s important to be clear on the difference between them.

UX is a much broader term, covering everything that influences how a user feels when they use a product or service. It’s a comprehensive discipline that involves research, analysis, and understanding user needs. 

UI stands for “user interface”, which is the point of interaction between an end user and a digital product. It’s a more narrow discipline that involves the visual design of the screens, buttons and other touchpoints you might use to navigate an app or a website. 

The way the user interface (UI) is designed has an impact on the overall user experience, so UI is an important part of UX.

UXUI
Stands for “user experience”Stands for “user interface”
A broad disciplineA narrow discipline
Involves the quality of the experience as a wholeInvolves the design of the user interface
Concerned with research, analysis, and understanding user needsConcerned with visual design

You can learn more about the difference between the two, as well as how they go hand-in-hand, in this guide to UX vs. UI.

Why is UX important?

UX is important for two reasons: business value and human value. Let’s look at both.

The business value of UX design

If you have a positive experience with a product or service, you’re more likely to use it again and become a loyal customer. You might even recommend it to friends and family. That’s great for the brand reputation, which ultimately determines whether or not the product or service is successful and profitable.

On the flip side, a negative user experience leaves a bad impression of the product, service or brand. If it’s less than satisfactory, you’ll be inclined to go elsewhere, like a competitor with better UX.

Wherever there are two similar products or services offering the same functionality, the one with the best UX will always win out. UX is therefore crucial for winning and keeping customers, developing a positive brand reputation and, ultimately, for driving profit and business growth.

In sum, the business value of UX design includes:

  • A competitive edge in the market
  • Increased sales and revenue
  • Higher conversion rates
  • Better word-of-mouth marketing
  • A strong brand reputation
  • Improved customer loyalty and retention

We compiled some interesting statistics about the business value of UX, like the fact that 66% of customers are willing to pay more for a great user experience. 

The human value of UX design

In addition to being valuable to businesses, end users also value good UX even if they don’t know it. UX influences whether we enjoy an experience or not and whether products and services are efficient and easy or frustrating and difficult. 

In addition, UX determines whether products are accessible and inclusive for as many users as possible. Whether they are disabled, come from a different place with different needs, or have different requirements, good UX make products and services accessible for all.

What defines good UX? The fundamental principles of UX design

Defining good UX can be tricky. It’s not down to one specific thing. There are seven principles of UX design that all designers should follow. They are:

  • User-centricity — Design products and services in a way that centres the user’s needs and helps to solve their problems.
  • Consistency — This can mean keeping your designs consistent across all pages, screens, and products within the same product family. It can also mean meeting the user’s expectations for the kind of product you’re designing.
  • Hierarchy — This includes putting more important elements in more prominent positions in both a site’s information architecture and in the visual hierarchy. 
  • Context — Consider the circumstances in which your products of services will be used and how that will effect the user experience.
  • User control — Give the user the right amount of control over their interactions with a product, such as being able to reverse or undo errors to a text message without throwing the whole user experience into disarray.
  • Accessibility — Ensure your product or service is accessible to as many users as possible, including people with disabilities or in other environments.
  • Usability — Usability relates to how easy a given product is to use and it’s influenced by things like:
    • Learnability – how easy it is for a user to learn how to use the product for the first time.
    • Efficiency – how quickly and seamlessly the user is able to complete their goals and tasks.
    • Memorability – how easy it is for the user to jump back into the product after not using it for a while.
    • Errors – how many errors does a user typically make when using the product.
    • Satisfaction – how pleasant or enjoyable is the product to use.

What is the UX design process?

The UX design process focuses on identifying and solving a problem for a specific target audience. It includes:

  • Conducting user research to understand who you’re designing the experience for and what problems they need solving.
  • Narrowing it down to one problem and coming up with potential solutions.
  • Designing the chosen solution.
  • Making prototypes to test and validate the design, i.e. to make sure it will actually solve the user’s problem.
  • Developing the prototypes into a fully-fledged product or service which people can use.
  • Continuously improving the product/service (and thus the user experience) based on continuous testing and feedback.
  • 8 min read
ROI

Development, Technologies

How WordPress Website Development Complements Digital Marketing for Better ROI

While dealing with the rapid tempo of today’s digital market, online presence has to be considered crucial for developing businesses. Companies seeking a higher ROI should focus on two key factors: effective website development and strategic digital marketing. WordPress, being one of the most popular content management systems in the world, plays an important role in improving both. The combination of WordPress website development with proper digital marketing strategy will do a manifold increase in ROI for the business.

The Role of WordPress in Modern Website Development

With over 40% of websites across the earth powered by WordPress, that fact should say it all. Its flexible, ease of use, and has power-rich features. All these make it a go-to platform for businesses seeking to establish or improve their digital presence. Now, let’s get into detail as to why WordPress is an essential tool in website development.

  • Custom Web Development with WordPress: Every business differs; so does each business and its needs while considering website development. WordPress makes it easier to develop custom websites for any business. Be it a blog, an e-commerce platform, or corporate website; there’s no limit in the areas of customization in WordPress. To this end, web design companies ensure that businesses leverage all benefits of using WordPress by providing them with customized websites that are functional, user-friendly, and visually appealing.
  • E-commerce Capability: The easy integrability of WordPress with e-commerce solutions such as WooCommerce makes it suitable for every business involved in the selling of products or services online. E-commerce WordPress websites are highly customizable and performance optimized. WooCommerce can hence be used to track sales, manage inventory, or even introduce a payment gateway from a single point.
  • SEO-Friendly Design: One of the important things with WordPress is that it has an SEO-friendly structure. Optimizing websites for search engines is done at an advantage through WordPress, where such SEO plugins as Yoast SEO and All in One SEO dictate guiding the user in optimizing their site for better visibility. The cutting-edge functionality of editing meta tags, titles, and descriptions may help businesses improve their places in search engine rankings and hence drive more organic traffic.
  • Mobile-Friendly and Responsive: With mobile traffic surpassing desktop traffic, it is crucial that your website be responsive. There are hundreds of WordPress themes and plugins that automatically optimize your website for mobile devices. Increased user experience, better SEO for your site, and not losing potential customers on mobile devices-this is what business gets from having a mobile-friendly website.
  • Secure and scalable: WordPress gets updated on a routine basis to meet industry standards with security updates. For scaling businesses, WordPress sites can adapt to increased traffic and be able to add new features without reduced performance, making it a very sustainable option for website development.

How WordPress Improves Digital Marketing Strategies

Digital marketing strategies are indispensable for the development of businesses, while at the heart of every successful marketing strategy is an optimized WordPress site. Here’s how WordPress can help to improve your digital marketing campaigns.

  • SEO-friendly Structure: WordPress has been coded in clean code, which enables search engines to crawl and index your site efficiently. SEO plugins like Yoast SEO actually provide actionable insights to help you optimize those pages and posts for better rankings. With features such as XML sitemaps, meta tags, and alt attributes, WordPress helps businesses with search engine optimization to ultimately drive more organic traffic to their websites.
  • Content Marketing Made Easy: Content is king when it comes to digital marketing. WordPress will enable users to publish their blog posts, products, and landing pages without requiring thorough coding skills. It provides the opportunity to create content on a regular basis and publish it for better search engine ranking and attracting targeted traffic.
  • Smooth Integration with Social Media: WordPress integrates seamlessly with social media. Plugins like Social Warfare allow showing social sharing buttons on business pages for easy visitor content sharing. Social media integration improves the capability of businesses to extend their visibility and reach out more effectively to their audience.
  • Conversion Optimization: WordPress supports multiple tools to improve conversion rates, starting from simple contact forms up to advanced solutions, which include heatmaps and A/B testing. Additionally, companies can efficiently track the interactions of users, improve their digital marketing skills, and work on leads and sales.
  • Analytics and Data Tracking: Amongst the rest of the plugins, integrating Google Analytics or some other data-tracking software into WordPress is fairly easy. Data analytics are very important for refining digital marketing tactics, candidly knowing the users’ behavioral mentality, and improving ROI. In WordPress, it is easy to set up campaign success; similarly, data-driven decisions are also easy to make.

How WordPress Website Development and Digital Marketing Work Together for Better ROI

A combination of WordPress website development along with digital marketing strategies helps a business return on a higher investment. Herein lies the reason why:

  • Improved Visibility: WordPress has an SEO-friendly design, which makes it easy to rank high in search engines. A website that’s optimized will help businesses raise visibility without the paid advertising, which in turn means more organic traffic and drives up ROI.
  • Increased Conversions: A friendly and attractive WordPress site means great user experience, which directly influences conversions. Whether it is to generate leads, sell more, or even build an email list, WordPress sites are designed in a way to move users along the conversion funnel.
  • Affordable Marketing: WordPress allows seamless integrations of different marketing tools, ranging from email marketing platforms to CRM systems, not excluding social media plugins. This reduces the need for other software, which might be costly, hence giving businesses a chance to run effective marketing campaigns without spending an arm and a leg.
  • Scalability for Changing Trends: WordPress websites are immensely adaptable and scalable. This will enable businesses to respond swiftly to ever-evolving digital marketing trends. New features and functionalities can easily be added in with plugins and hence you keep your site relevant and competitive.

Why Choose AHN Group for Your Business Needs?

The selection of the right web development company is very crucial for your digital marketing success. At AHN Group, we offer custom WordPress development designed to meet the unique needs of your business.

Why AHN Group stands out:

  • Expertise in Custom WordPress Development: With our team, you are assured of custom WordPress website development backed by years of experience in implementing your business goals. Whether one is looking for a simple blog or a fully-fledged e-commerce site, we will cover it.
  • Focus on SEO Optimization: We prioritize SEO in each website we build. From clean code to optimized meta tags, our WordPress websites are designed to rank higher on search engines and attract more visitors.
  • Responsive and User-Friendly Design: We value the importance attached to mobile-friendly design. All our WordPress websites are fully responsive, prioritizing, an excellent user experience across all devices.
  • Full Digital Marketing Integration: At AHN Group, it’s not about building just websites, but creating a well-integrated digital platform that will be useful in executing your digital marketing strategies. Our WordPress website designs cater to your SEO, social media, and email marketing needs among others.
  • Ongoing Support: We provide ongoing support in order to keep your WordPress website updated, secure, and optimized for performance continuously.

Conclusion

WordPress website development and digital marketing prove to be indispensable means of business growth in today’s competitive market. By leveraging the power of WordPress and integrating smart digital marketing strategies, businesses can increase their return on investments. With AHN Group, one can design a custom WordPress website for the company that looks great but also drives real results. Working with AHN Group on WordPress website development is the right step toward digital success for businesses that want to increase their online presence and maximize ROI.

Still concerned about your business needs? Don’t wait any longer—contact us today and experience the magic for yourself by partnering with us as your digital guide!

  • 7 min read
How CMS Development Services Can Save You Time and Money

Development

How CMS Development Services Can Save You Time and Money?


Are you finding it hard to balance growing your business while managing your website? When you’re focused on scaling, the task of maintaining an up-to-date website can quickly become overwhelming. From marketing campaigns to team management and customer satisfaction, your plate is full. On top of that, your website—a core part of your digital presence—requires constant updates and attention. This is where CMS development services come in. They simplify website management, saving you time and cutting costs. Think of a Content Management System (CMS) as your virtual assistant, helping you organize, edit, and scale your website effortlessly without needing a developer at every turn.

By partnering with experts like AHN Group, you can ensure your CMS is tailored to your unique business needs. In this blog, we’ll explore how CMS development services streamline your processes, reduce expenses, and set your business up for long-term success.

What Are CMS Development Services?

CMS development services are focused on creating and customizing a Content Management System to meet the specific needs of your business. These services typically include:

Platform Selection: Choosing the right CMS (e.g., WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal) based on your goals.

Designing a User-Friendly Interface: Ensuring that the CMS is intuitive and easy to navigate.

Integrating Plugins & Tools: Adding necessary functionalities, such as SEO, social media sharing, or e-commerce.

Security & Scalability: Making sure your CMS is secure and can grow with your business.

By partnering with a professional web development company like AHN Group, you can create a CMS solution that is efficient and user-friendly for your team.

The Practical Benefits of CMS Development Services

Now that we’ve explored what CMS development services are, let’s dive into the specific benefits they offer your business. Each of these advantages helps save time, cut costs, and streamline your website management.

    1. Streamlined Content Management

    A CMS makes website updates simple, even for non-technical users. Whether adding a blog post, updating product descriptions, or changing images, you can do it all in just a few clicks.  

    Key Benefits:  

    • Instant Updates: Add or edit content whenever needed.  
    • Lower Costs: Reduce reliance on developers for routine changes.  
    • Ease of Use: Intuitive design makes it accessible for everyone.  

    With the right services, your platform will be tailored for efficiency, allowing you to focus on growing your business instead of worrying about website maintenance.  

      2. Improved Team Collaboration

      A CMS fosters teamwork by enabling multiple users to work on the website simultaneously. Departments can have distinct roles—marketing can post blogs while sales updates pricing—all without stepping on each other’s toes.  

      How It Helps:

      • Assign roles and permissions for better workflow.  
      • Reduce miscommunication between teams.  
      • Save time by centralizing content updates.  

      By using a professionally developed CMS, you ensure a smooth, collaborative process for all teams.

        3. Built-In SEO Features for Visibility

        Most CMS platforms come equipped with SEO tools to improve your website’s search rankings. From optimizing keywords to managing meta descriptions, these features are essential for driving organic traffic.  

        With CMS Development Services, You Can:

        • Automate key SEO tasks like creating XML sitemaps.  
        • Optimize for mobile responsiveness.  
        • Ensure page speed and performance are up to standards.  

        A web development company like AHN Group can fine-tune these features, helping you attract more visitors without spending heavily on paid ads.  

          4. Scalability for Business Growth

          Your business is evolving, and your website should keep up. A CMS lets you easily add new features, pages, or integrations as needed.  

          Why It Matters:

          • Avoid expensive website overhauls.  
          • Seamlessly add e-commerce or customer support portals.  
          • Stay competitive with the latest tools and trends.  

          With a scalable CMS, your website can grow alongside your business, saving you both time and future expenses.  

            5. Robust Security Features

            Cybersecurity is a top priority in the competitive digital market. CMS platforms offer built-in features to protect your website from potential threats.  

            Key Security Features Include:  

            • Automatic software updates.  
            • Two-factor authentication for added protection.  
            • Regular backups to safeguard your data.  

            When you partner with a web development company, they ensure these features are properly configured, giving you peace of mind without additional costs.  

              6. Cost-Effective Maintenance and Support

              Maintaining a website doesn’t have to drain your resources. A CMS automates many routine tasks, such as updates and security patches, reducing the need for constant technical support.  

              How CMS Saves on Maintenance:  

              • Handle basic updates yourself.  
              • Reduce dependency on external developers.  
              • Ensure smooth operation with automated processes.  

                7. Faster Content and Feature Deployment

                In a fast-moving digital world, agility is key. A CMS allows you to quickly adapt to market trends, deploy new content, and introduce features without delay.  

                Advantages: 

                • Speedy response to customer demands.  
                • Stay ahead of competitors by implementing updates faster.  
                • Save time by automating repetitive tasks.  

                This agility enables you to stay relevant and cost-effective in your industry.

                Why Choose AHN Group For Your CMS Needs?

                At AHN Group, we specialize in delivering tailored CMS development services that save you time and money. Our team works closely with you to:  

                • Understand your unique business needs.  
                • Develop a CMS that’s secure, scalable, and easy to use.  
                • Provide ongoing support to ensure optimal performance.  

                When you choose us, you’re not just getting a CMS—you’re gaining a partner dedicated to your success.  

                Conclusion

                If you want a website that feels like a trusted partner, AHN Group is here to help. We don’t just offer CMS development services—we provide tailored solutions designed to meet your business goals. As a leading web development company, we ensure your CMS is not only efficient and user-friendly but also a powerful tool for sustainable growth.

                It’s time to take the stress out of website management and focus on what matters most: scaling your business.

                Contact AHN Group today, and let’s create a website that works as hard as you do!

                • 6 min read