Dear young fragile designer self, Critiques are the most rewarding part in the whole design process, so take a deep breath. Now take 10 more, you will learn to love them. Ready to jump in? You have poured your heart and soul into whatever project you are working on. But…

By many accounts Facebook’s unbundled Messenger App is great. I just never made it past the Google Play Store screen. Why? Because now I can no longer access my messages from the original app or through the mobile site, I need to download the new Messenger app to do what…

I really love me some good data visualizations. While researching what makes a data visualization “bad”, I came across some differing points of view. My first article was “The 27 Worst Charts of All Time” published in 2013. Scrolling through, I realized that not all were not as bad as…

Filed under: Being Human — Ideally as a designer you do not want to be your own researcher. That being said, we do not live in an ideal world. And frankly, you might really like conducting research. Because qualitative research is descriptive, the researcher chooses what or what not to include. All the data is…

It is the ultimate positive User Experience. — This has been a particularly tough week, there have been many demands in my life — family, work, school. Staying positive while doing the best work possible gets tough these sleep deprived days. Nothing helps boost that positivity than a well-timed compliment on your work from random people. AND of…

A review of: A Closer Look At Personas: What They Are And How They Work (Part 1) — Right upfront, I love Personas. They are in the sweet spot of my interests: data, people, and storytelling. The first experiences I had were with what I consider beta personas, mostly identified by marketing segmentation. They started mostly as data points about customers with the highest spend. Without the storytelling…

The good and the bad of turning our primitive brain on itself. Diving deeper into the Daily UX Crash Course — User Psychology: 19 of 31 — What is Cognitive Bias? It is the reason philosophy and reasoning should be taught in elementary school. We think we are rational beings but in reality, nature gets the best of us. Think of it as, we are bombarded by tons of information everyday and our brain has developed tricks…

Learning to Recognize Conflicting Needs. — Winter was bitter this year. Walking in and out of the sliding doors at John Hopkins Bayview, rotating between stinging cold and pushy warm blasts. Gliding in an awkward dance between those who keep the halls humming and those stuck in surreal circumstances and all the stories in between. So…

A review of Design, White Lies & Ethics by Dan Turner — I am a huge fan of Happy Cog along with A List Apart family. This article delivers on my expectations for thought-provoking topics and relevant guidance from professionals I admire. Another thing, I’m pretty gullible. Did you know the close door button in an elevator does NOTHING? …