People are all getting familiar with the “Human-centered” design process. It has become a common term especially in companies where customers always come first. But I wonder where did it all start? Who started it? What was the reason behind it? Doors. Confusing doors. Confusing doors are everywhere. They are also known as, ‘Norman Doors’. Why? Don Norman is: a… Read More ￫

“Golden Ratio” is of great importance in the design of architecture, appliances, logos and photos. I don’t want to write about it a lot, you can learn it in Wikipedia. I will say briefly: our consciousness tends to harmony and beauty, and the “golden ratio” is the elegant way to make a product more comfortable and nice for perception. Simply… Read More ￫

Every designer needs to set their own design principles. There, I’ve said it. In the very first line of my article. Now let’s get down to the details. Design principles are very common among large and well-established companies. Google, Atlassian, even British Government (just to name a few) have their own design rules. And that’s pretty cool. Why? Well, it… Read More ￫

After the overwhelmingly positive interest in my Designing Data-Driven Interfaces article, I decided to write about this related and equally important topic: managing complexity. You know that unsettling feeling when you’re half way through a project and you’re presenting design concepts? No major feedback, smiles across the table, heads nodding yes. Home run right? No, that feeling scares the shit… Read More ￫

This how-to article aims at providing designers, creative thinkers or even project managers with a tool to set up, frame, organise, structure, run or manage design challenges, and projects: The Double Diamond Process revamped. The Double Diamond Process revamped In order to do so, I have come up with an own and a revamped version of the Double Diamond process…. Read More ￫

Since placeholders came along, designers have adopted them as means of storing hints. Their appeal lies in their minimal aesthetic and the fact they save space. “Since placeholders came along, designers have adopted them as means of storing hints.” Some designers go one one step further, and replace labels with placeholders. Either way, the placeholder is an Inclusive Design anti-pattern… Read More ￫

You may have heard before that it’s easy to go from bad to good but difficult to go from good to great. Practicing design for many years across a range of industries in successful companies, I have identified some consistencies in design teams that lead to (or prevent) great design. I’ve boiled those factors down into 4 principals which I… Read More ￫

When I was a young Houstonian, learning algebra my freshman year at Elsik High school (cue the old jokes, or algebra jokes) I hated showing my work. I mean I loathed it! I thought showing my work was for chumps! I thought to myself, “I don’t need to do that, solving the problem and showing the answer is what’s important.”… Read More ￫

At the beginning of last year I had the privilege of leading a team of 14 newly hired, enthused and ambitious designers at IBM Studios Austin. This team was part of a much larger group of 56 Designers and 24 Associate Offering Managers — all starting their journey together as makers, thinkers, and innovators in one of the most significant companies in… Read More ￫

It’s the dawn of the new year and I can only imagine how many posts there are which are centered around the theme of learning to code. There are a few people who might think that New Year’s Resolutions are a total farce, I am not one of these people. In fact mine seem to be going pretty well this… Read More ￫

For the better part of the last 5 years, I’ve spent my time leading and building design teams (with Jet Cooper for the first 4.5 years, and more recently with Shopify). However, it wasn’t until the shift from co-founder to director of design (a role that enabled me to focus and double down on my craft), that I was really… Read More ￫

A well-designed site isn’t how easy it is to use or how elegant it looks. A site isn’t well-designed unless the user is satisfied with their experience. An overlooked aspect of this experience is performance. A slow, beautiful site will always be less satisfying to use than an inelegant fast site. It takes a user just three seconds to decide… Read More ￫