“A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.” ~ Steve Jobs [Wired, February 1996]
Speaking Up
February 6, 2013 by 49 Comments
Two days ago, a prominent designer named Sarah Parmenter published a post titled Speaking Up, in which she revealed the horrific harassment she has endured as a public woman in technology. Sarah and I have spoken at the same conferences and share a lot of the same friends, and I have admired her ability to [Keep Reading...]
User Research War Stories: “Taking empathy to a whole new level”
August 3, 2012 by 4 Comments
My friend Steve Portigal, an esteemed customer research consultant in the Bay Area, has a series on his blog titled “War Stories” — anecdotes from ethnographic researchers about the craziest things that have happened to them in the field. One entry from Priya Sohoni is particularly striking. Titled “Taking empathy to a whole new level,” [Keep Reading...]
Netflix Recommends: Art & Design Documentaries
April 10, 2011 by 6 Comments
I’ve been watching a lot of Instant Netflix lately, ever since I canceled my cable and bought a Roku (another more in-depth post on that experience at some point). Netflix never ceases to amaze me. They’ve been learning my tastes from the films I watch, rate, and add to queue. At this point I think [Keep Reading...]
Samantha LeVan’s Lame Cancer
April 1, 2011 by 1 Comment
A year ago March 28, my close friend Samantha LeVan sent me a fairly routine email asking me if she could pass my info along to a young web designer looking for a mentor. It was so nondescript that I might have put it off for a few days, busy with other things. I’m glad [Keep Reading...]
10 best Twitterers to follow for your soul, not your career
March 19, 2011 by 7 Comments
I always see these “top Twitterer” lists of people with high follower counts touted by social climbing social media DBs. Those people bore me. Instead I’m inspired by people with a unique perspective on the world around them, unique voice and style, who make me smile or think differently or challenge me to be a [Keep Reading...]
The most accurate portrayal of User Experience Designers ever created
January 27, 2011 by 2 Comments
This is possibly my favorite 1 minute and 32 seconds in the history of moving images. I got shivers at the end. Please do yourself and everyone else a favor by taking the time to watch this now, then send it to everyone who has ever asked you what a user experience designer is. ILUVUXDESIGN [Keep Reading...]
