One of the more fun developments in the Slackerverse is how companies and brands are opening up Slack groups for their customers and fans. These form a more exclusive platform for communication where you can message members directly or take part in larger channel discussions away from the wandering eyes of Twitter and really get into the nitty gritty of a subject.
Many of these are aimed squarely at designers. Some are aimed at broader digital marketers, but all could prove helpful for your UX development, whether at the research, development or testing stage.
BetterUX Community
To get the ball rolling, here’s a link to our very own BetterUX community where you can enjoy the following:
- Rub shoulders with the best and brightest in the UX community.
- Ask and answer questions in our UXChat channel
- Take part in exclusive AMAs
- Share your own experiences and seek advice from UX experts from around the world
See you there!
UX Slack communities
a11y
https://web-a11y.slack.com/
Official blurb: “A community-driven effort to make web accessibility easier.” The a11y Slack channel offers support to “help to make web accessibility easier for front end developers to implement.”
Application requirements: just an email address, and you get immediate approval.
Members: 3,295
Code Newbie
https://codenewbie.typeform.com/to/uwsWlZ
Official blurb: “CodeNewbie started as a weekly TwitterChat to connect people learning to code by Saron. Since then it’s grown into a supportive, international community of people learning to code.”
Application requirements: standard ‘request an invite’ via typeform, the invite arrives fairly quickly.
Content + UX
http://mjmetts.com/content-ux-slack/
Official blurb: As hosted by Michael J. Metts, “I host a Slack group for people who are interested in the user experience of content. If you care about words and want to build better experiences, we’d love for you to join us.”
Application requirements: request via online form, with approval needed from the host.
Creative Tribes
http://creativetribes.co/slack/
Official blurb: “Join 1,000+ folk — startup entrepreneurs, strategists, marketers, developers, designers, blockchain enthusiasts, writers, and other creatives — to share and discuss strategies, experiences, and resources.”
Application requirements: one-time sign-up fee of $25.
Extra details: has been running for 4.5 years, has 20 different channels.
Designer Hangout
https://www.designerhangout.co/
Official blurb: “Join 15,000+ UX designers and researchers from around the world to discuss user experience.”
Application requirements: standard ‘request an invite’ via typeform.
The Designership
Official blurb: “As a designer there are plenty of places to find inspiration, tools to improve work flow but there’s no trusted and active community of creatives to learn, share and grow with. That is where The Designership comes in!”
Application requirements: just an email address, and you get immediate approval.
Members: 6,300+
Mind the Product
mindtheproduct.com/product-management-slack-community/
Official blurb: “Sometimes you just need to ask a question or debate a solution. Sometimes you want a second opinion on something you’re building. Sometimes you just want to vent and get commiserations from fellow product managers. The Mind the Product Slack channel is an amazing tool for all of this and more – and we have thousands of product managers actively engaged every day.”
Application requirements: just an email address, and you get immediate approval.
Members: 10k+
Online Geniuses
Official blurb: “OG is the largest marketing Slack community. Join discussions with thousands of industry experts. With thousands of posts a day you can ask and answer questions around SEO, PPC, email marketing, Affiliate marketers and much more. Plus, we have special events like our weekly CRO teardowns and expert AMAs.”
Application requirements: it’s free to join, but they do vet all applications and may take a couple of weeks.
Members: 16,000 (including people from Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft)
Extra details: they host special events such as weekly CRO teardowns and expert AMAs.
Product Manager HQ
https://www.productmanagerhq.com/join-the-community/
Official blurb: “Connect, chat, and learn from the world’s largest Slack product community with thousands of product people around the world. In a few days, you’ll meet more product people in this community than you can in a life-time.”
Application requirements: one-off payment of $25.
UX Design Community
http://slack.uxdesigncommunity.com/
Official blurb: “UX Design Community is a platform for designers and researchers to share inspirations, resources and knowledge to help each other to grow.”
Members: 13k+
Application requirements: just an email address, and you get immediate approval.
UX Mastery
Official blurb: UX Mastery was started “to rid the world of confusing, hard-to-use interactions and interfaces through quality design education. We write articles, ebooks, newsletters, host podcasts, and teach in-person workshops that are fun, practical, and highly regarded by industry.”
Application requirements: just an email address, and you get immediate approval.
Members: 6.5k+
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