Fear is a motivator. But it’s often a motivator to do the wrong thing. Fearing your employees, your competitors, and even your own competency creates a posture of defensiveness which stifles the growth of all involved. Do you view yourself, others, and your business with a fixed mindset or a growth mindset? Maria Popovo has a great summary on her site, Brain Pickings, of Carol Dweck’s…

Leadership is a learned skill. It’s not a title and it’s not an ability some are born with and others are not. You don’t need the label leader to lead and just because you have the label leader doesn’t necessarily mean you’re leading. Strong leaders possess the skill of bringing…

How design systems thinking can change the way we design — The primary value of a design system is scalability. Where there was once crippling technical and design debt, design systems enabled teams to be agile. This is primarily done through building systems of reusable blocks called components that can be easily assembled to create any interface you desire. This reusability…

How we systematized and customized our ever-present icons — When an interface is made entirely of text, the amount of time and effort it takes to read and evaluate every word increases to the point of cognitive overload. Icons offer a form of “visual shorthand”, lowering cognitive load and better utilizing space. …

Technology companies are expected to move at an incredible pace, and building software is complex. Alex Schleifer, VP of Design at Airbnb, wrote those words in his article, The Way We Build. It’s a wonderful read of how Airbnb rethought their approach to design. At Etsy, we had a similar…

A few years ago I worked as the lead designer for the San Fran based start-up, Zaarly. I vividly remember one conversation I had with CEO, Bo Fishback. Bo and I discussed how to be influential and how we should make decisions as a team. He said we needed to…

Just because you’re a business owner doesn’t mean you know how to be a good boss. A little over two years ago, two friends and I set out to open a coffee shop. We’ve now been open for 18 months and we have 10 employees. The learning curve of running…

Michelle Suarez Don’t you love when something amazing happens when you least expect it? About six months ago I had a serendipitous event with my three year old daughter. I was putting her to bed in one room while my wife was rocking our other daughter to sleep in the…

Designers have been debating about concepts and techniques since the dawn of man. But in my design career, digital design, the debates have never been more heated. I believe this is fueled by how quickly technology and society have been shifting. The heart of the debate is rooted in the…