I was just smacked in the face by a recent blog post by my dear friend Jeffrey Zeldman, Free advice: show up early, about the consequences of being late to client meetings. Why? Because it forced me to finally fess up to one of my major flaws: I’m always five minutes late. Sure, five minutes [Keep Reading…]
New to New York?
My new friend Dave Dawson recently graduated college and moved from Cambridge to NYC. While I was timid and intimidated when I first entered the working world, Dave is quite the opposite –– he is eager to put himself out there, meet lots of new people, and see what the city has to offer. Over [Keep Reading…]
U.S. Patent 7,587,349
I am thrilled to report that U.S. Patent 7,587,349 was granted on September 8, 2009, and I am named as a co-inventor! This has been more than 4 years in the making. My first job out of grad school in January 2005 was at Digitas as a Senior Interaction Designer, and one of my first [Keep Reading…]
IDEA 2009: Social and Experience Design – Day 2
This is a continuation of my coverage from the IDEA Conference in Toronto from September 15-16, 2009. My Day 1 roundup can be found here. Day 2 also had a great lineup of speakers: Tim Queenan Christian Crumlish and Erin Malone Matthew Milan Mari Luangrath Stephen Anderson My Twitter notes from the conference are below. [Keep Reading…]
IDEA 2009: Social and Experience Design – Day 1
I’m in Toronto this week for IDEA 2009, the conference run by the Information Architecture Institute. This year’s theme is Social and Experience Design. Speakers from a variety of backgrounds are helping us understand how to make informed and insightful design decisions based on the ever-changing landscape of the web caused in large part by [Keep Reading…]
Make sure that whatever you design is fitting a need in the world and has a purpose
I have officially made it. I was quoted by Catriona Cornett on inspireUX. “Differentiate yourself by fully understanding the problem before you attempt to solve it… Don’t just fall in love with a solution and go full-force on making it look great, but really make sure that whatever you design is fitting a need in [Keep Reading…]
If I could tell designers one thing
A few days ago I got an email from the lovely Liz Danzico asking if I’d participate in a video project she was putting together for the Galapagos Art Space’s Career Camp, “a low-cost, high-value, five-part lecture and networking series for professionals (employed or otherwise!) living in New York City.” On Tuesday Liz participated in [Keep Reading…]
My New Mexico Travelogue
Earlier this month I spent seven amazing days in New Mexico on a solo vacation to celebrate my 27th birthday. No computer. No email. No boyfriend. Just a rental car, my cameras and a few maps. It was a wondrous experience to be alone in the vast spaces of the West. I saw and did [Keep Reading…]
Awesome Email of the Day: Evangelizing Myself
Being able to help people change their lives for the better is worth more than any client check. I’m very fortunate to get amazingly kind emails from strangers around the world. I promptly add them to my Happy File to look back on when I’m feeling down and doubting myself. Here is a recent email [Keep Reading…]
Twitter as group therapy
I was in a foul mood last night. Independent consulting certainly has its perks (and it’s definitely the best decision I’ve made in my career), but sometimes having no one to pat you on the back, tell you when you screwed up, help you improve your designs, help you get out of a sticky situation, [Keep Reading…]
