Or is light mode the problem? — Debates around the pros and cons of dark mode have been going on for a while now. In fact, research done in the late 1980s by James L. Dannemiller and Benjamin R. Stephens indicated a preference in infants for dark content on light backgrounds. This, along with other studies outlined…

Résumés are not your chance to impress with Figma skills — A common pattern has emerged among the résumés of early-career designers. In their (understandable) desire to take every opportunity to showcase their design skills, their résumés end up looking like colorful messes. Full of brightly colored underlines and text, fonts that are unrecognizable, and iconography everywhere. The thing is, even…

Pursuing mindfulness while working in tech — I’ve been working in tech long enough to know that mindfulness and screens rarely (if ever) mix. I have tried a number of terrific apps designed to help with the practice of mindfulness. (The best two, imo, are Inner Garden and Oak.) However, I’ve had to face the reality that…

Finding problem-alignment as a designer — It’s a tale as old as time. PM (Product Manager) writes a ticket. The ticket goes something like this:

I remember learning at some point (I think in college, in the context of songwriting and music composition) that creatives are always switching between creator and editor. Oftentimes, creators in the modern economy are also their own marketers, social media managers, accountants, and more. The premise is simple — don’t…

Focusing on the right things at the right time — I’ve worked with many terrific designers. I’ve worked with some designers who are still improving. But the truly great designers all have one thing in common — they know what level of zoom to focus at for each stage of a project. Microscope 🔬, Glasses 👓, Telescope 🔭 For the sake of simplicity, I like thinking…

How to make your portfolio stand out — Many early-career designers put a tremendous amount of work into portfolios that fail to impress. This can be tremendously draining and emotionally taxing. When applying for jobs, there is little-to-no feedback for designers, so they often end up in a hellish loop of portfolio and résumé edits. …

The genius of Apple’s rings — Apple released fitness rings in September 2014. It’s a simple, yet effective tool, that hasn’t been changed for 9 years. There are three rings: Red — move goal, measured in calories Green — exercise goal, measured in “minutes of exercise time” Blue — stand goal, measured in number of hours…

Affordances, signifiers, hierarchy — A common example of affordance are “Norman doors.” The idea is, a door affords a certain action, such as opening, or closing. However, if the perceived affordance is different than the actual functionality, the user will be confused. More simply, if a door has a handle, it affords pulling. If…