Design Thoughts / Resources

This reading list is for anyone who wants to learn or deepen their knowledge in the disciplines of User Research, Usability, Information Architecture, User-Interface Design, Interaction Design, Content Strategy or Experience Strategy. The list is broad and includes books that exemplify design thinking, processes, methods, principles and best practices. Some of the books on this list are over 20 years… Read More ￫

Last November, I decided to transition out of freelance user experience design. During my job hunt, I found myself needing to answer the same questions again and again. I collected my favorite questions and wrote thoughtful and exhaustive answers, creating a list of frequently asked questions. They served me in two ways: I linked to my FAQs in my cover… Read More ￫

If you’re new to Sketch then check out this epic free course from Learn UX has you covered with how to get up and running and turn your designs into a prototype using Marvel. The free course takes you through the basics of Sketch, such as artboards, typography, symbols and designing for different screen sizes. Once you’ve mastered that, you’ll… Read More ￫

I’m passionate about sketching because I’ve seen immeasurable benefits from it. Whether that’s professionally through the development of my communication, problem solving, storytelling and design skills, or personally in terms of relaxation, improved creativity, greater awareness of the world around me, as well as increased empathy towards the real people who use digital products and services. All of which are… Read More ￫

In the hope you’ll find some joy and inspiration as I have, I would like to share my favourite podcasts in design, UX, tech and general interest. Why Audio Podcasts? I have recently rediscovered a media format I had totally lost out of sight, and some might even consider old-fashioned: Audio Podcasts. While inspirational and educational video or written content… Read More ￫

Be yourself Be confident in your skills and ability. Work in your own style rather than following someone else’s. It’s crucial to carve out your own design journey and not be too sidetracked by what others are doing. “You can become a good designer following others, but you’ll become a great designer telling your own story.” Embrace feeling like an imposter After a… Read More ￫

True innovation — the journey of creating and distributing outstanding new-to-the-world customer value — is critical to the success of every modern business. In times of increasing disruptive threads, immensely decreasing company life spans and sped-up adoption rates, innovation activities have become a crucial precondition for survival. Simply put, if we don’t innovate, our business will become obsolete eventually. “Innovation… Read More ￫

Collaboration between designers and developers is essential for creating great products. Every company has different organizational structures for designers and developers. Some companies have designers and developers on two separate teams. Those development teams may also break up developers in sub-teams as well. For example, they may separate by front-end developers and back-end developers. In other companies, designers and developers… 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 ￫

Whether you’ve graduated from a short course or a degree, when you first enter the workplace you’ll learn 100 times more than you’d ever imagine. Sure, you’ll learn more techniques and practises, but the soft skills you’ll pick up are just as valuable. You’ll learn more about yourself, others and how to deal with certain situations (think office politics). “When… Read More ￫

We’ve hooked up with our friends at Swifticons to give away over 100 outlined avatar icons for free. The icons come in PNG, SVG, Sketch, EPS and AI formats. Great for all screen sizes! Want the full-set of 2264 icons? Head over to Swifticons and use the code MARV40 for a whopping 40% off! Download icons

There has been a monumental shift in the design atmosphere, where more and more designers are moving into freelance work. In the UK alone, freelancing has grown 14% in the past decade and 34% of the U.S workforce are now working as freelancers. It’s not hard to understand why, there are a bunch of appealing aspects to working freelance. From… Read More ￫