Design Thoughts

One of the greatest information processors we deal with in our everyday life cannot be seen or touched. It cannot be bought or sold as well as taken from other people; however, it can be developed and strengthened by many ways. It cannot be easily described but belongs to the most precious features of human life and determines perhaps any… Read More ￫

As individuals, and as designers, we are all looking for those special qualities in our jobs. It can sometimes be overwhelming stepping into the job market. We question: Will the role be challenging enough? What can I expect to work on? How do my own values match to that of the business? After a while the answers just become guess… Read More ￫

You are conducting user research — whether you know it or not As a UX designer, I have heard lots of reasons why not to conduct user research. Usually, I hear the classics, ‘we don’t have enough time’ and ‘we don’t have enough money’, but occasionally I’ll also get ‘users don’t know what they want’, or ‘you’re the UX expert —… Read More ￫

Coming from university or a UX career transition, you’ve spent time to perfect your portfolio and resume-what now? You scroll over job boards, take a look at openings from big tech companies, and gloss over a few design agencies you’ve come across at Behance. On the other hand, some of your friends are building a startup, and they need a… Read More ￫

See Part 1 (Introduction to UXD), Part 2 (Agile & Lean UX) or the full Table of Contents. “In design, you’re solving for user needs and business goals. In research, you’re solving for a lack of information.” — Erika Hall UX Research isn’t as scary or intimidating as it may sound at first — we’re not writing a PhD or… Read More ￫

In each entry in this “conversation” series, I talk to a designer/product manager/engineer on a topic. I want to make basic practical skills education transparent and free. Today I’m talking to Veronica Belmont, a product manager at Growbot. Growbot helps you appreciate your colleagues and is specifically for teams which use Slack and Microsoft teams for communication. She joined as… Read More ￫

Colors are one of the most important and powerful elements in design. Since design is an evolution, our perception of colors (and the ways we use them) is ever-changing. I’ve noticed that there is a new and fresh trend in design that involves a prominent use of gradients in UI, branding, illustration, typography and more. It seems like we got… Read More ￫

Designing for social good through volunteering opportunities and pro-bono work can be really rewarding. However, it isn’t always straight forward – before jumping in, it’s a good idea to get an understanding of the challenges involved with doing design work to help charities and non-profits. To help out, we spoke to a few people who have first-hand experience in the… Read More ￫

Welcome to Dear Developer’s entry seven. It’s the dawn of summer in London, providing bundles of vitamin D and some once in a blue moon smiling faces. Including my own. And what better to whack a smile on your face on top of the sunny weather than a little HTML hack? That’s what I thought. If you’ve been following this… Read More ￫

Concepts and Methodologies To Live By At the time I’m writing this post, I’ve been a full-time product designer for ~ 3 years, though my overall professional career is closer to ~ 8 years. Every couple of months I would sit down and braindump lessons learned and methodologies I’d absorbed from work, Meetups, articles, podcasts, etc. As a believer in paying… Read More ￫

We are all looking for self-expression and inspiration. We express ourselves through fashion, music, art, and through furniture. Houzz is an interior design app that has thousands of furniture inspirations for users to express their styles. After talking to friends and interviewing users I found that out of the people I talked to there were 3 main categories: New-movers furnishing… Read More ￫

7 design principles that help users perceive your work in a more effective manner