Yes, it’s a pen. — Designers and writers have something in common, and it’s not merely the creative nature of their work. What’s similar is the meticulous job they both embrace in defining relations and proportions between the atomic units of their systems, also known as languages. A writer’s vocabulary is made up of words…

Whether you are a gen-Z, millennial or a recently separated 40-something, chances are you have heard of or used Tinder enough to understand how brutal dating can be. How many times have you heard comments like “I wish dating would be more natural, more real.” The problem of dating apps…

Pick your worst user to design more efficient interfaces. — I love maps. The seemingly random lines and false colors render them aesthetically iconic, so much so that designers sometimes abuse of their visual power and use them even if they are the wrong interface for the job, especially in navigational applications. In fact, my problem is that a map…

The model, or the product essence, underlined in this brief essay is not meant to scare the reader with some abstract theories about product development, on the contrary, it’s conceived as a pragmatic framework that helps understand two popular design concepts: innovation and simplicity. A definition of product Let’s start with a mandatory definition…

We are surrounded by objects that have history, that span centuries — and sometimes we completely ignore it. — What is the first image you visualize in your head when you think about a calendar? Probably a table with numbers arranged in 7 columns and 5 rows (or 6 row depending on day 1) to display the full month ahead. We use it every day, whether on your phone…

There’s no logical reason why telephones and calculators use different numeric keypads. So why do we still follow the same convention? — Picture the keypad of a telephone and calculator side by side. Can you see the subtle difference between the two without resorting to your smartphone? Don’t worry if you can’t recall the design. Most of us are so used to accepting the common interfaces that we tend to overlook the…

Throughout my career at design agencies, I’ve been involved in one too many conversations about the design process. These conversations always end with the consensus to kill the waterfall process because it’s non-iterative, lengthy, it doesn’t respect the designers mindset, yadda yadda. As the matter of fact, all the new…

How bottom-up product design liberates designers and delights users. — We are on the cusp of a major shift in how product designers approach their jobs. The legacy method is to spend a lot of upfront time concocting a formal strategy and identifying “user needs” before getting to work building something, a top-down process that is time-consuming and costly. An…