The power of archives
I love archives; they connect with our past and help us understand our present and future.
Investigating design
Adopt a detective's perspective to unravel the complexities of your design challenge
Reactive vs Proactive work
Balance is essential. You don’t need to control everything, but you do want control over some aspects of what you do. Doing proactive work can help you achieve this balance.
My books of 2023
Change is the one constant in life; it’s also the key theme in some of my favorite books from this year.
Give as few orders as possible
The subtle skill of helping people level up the skills they already have without micro-managing the process.
Feeding my subconscious
You may not be in control of what your subconscious does. But you are in control of what you feed your subconscious.
Are you directing or acting?
We all have a role in the creative process, and knowing which role you are playing is essential to allowing creativity to move beyond a single imagination.
Efficiency is overrated
A new series on how slowing down supports creativity, quality, and joy.
Designing the inevitable sequence
Good design is often a matter of sequencing experiences to result in an inevitably great outcome. Arrangement not reinvention can lead to the most satisfying of experiences.
Design is murder
If the “means/motive/opportunity” framework is crucial in fictional (and even real) detection, in design it can crack the case of both defining the problem and developing solutions.
Experience First
“You’ve got to start with the customer experience, and work backwards to the technology” - Steve Jobs
Intent driven design
Focusing on a user’s intent allows you as a designer to look into the future and predict what the user will need and when.
Design Proofreading
I have created a framework I call “design proofreading,” to allow people to navigate this new world of mass media and object production.
Tools That Shape Us
There seem to be many tools to make your life easier, but very few to help you get smarter and learn more.
Design first
The current human-centered design process is essential: research, ideate, solution, test, and repeat. This is the wrong order. How can you research if you don't have a well-defined question?
The Problem-First Design Process
What are we building?
Why are we building it?
Who are we building it for?
Work Culture
Focus, Culture, and Space help us think about how to build more sustainable creative workspaces which lead to more innovation, better products, healthier and more profitable businesses, and happier people.
Creative Culture
Guiding principles to shape the creation of more sustainable design culture. It focuses on defining the problem, shaping product culture and creating a transparent process.
Visual Thinking
Making a sketch is often the first step towards thinking about a design problem.