Five tips to improve your efficiency and effectiveness — In the previous three articles in this key habits of highly productive product designers series, we talked about how designers can build strong relationships by externalizing their work, focusing on progress > perfection, and the importance of planning to drive impact. …

Giving away answers will level the playing field — It was 11 am on a Wednesday. Slumping on a kitchen chair at home staring out the window I couldn’t help but think — what just happened? Hours earlier the company I was with went through layoffs and I got cut. This was my third design job in a year…

How to manage your design projects by planning for the number one resource–yourself. — Planning often gets a bad rep. We often think of plans as rigid structures that fall apart as soon as the plan makes contact with reality. That’s not the type of planning we’ll be talking about here. I’d like to show you how you can use a lightweight form of…

Tips on how to navigate the job search and land your next gig — Over the last few months the design interview landscape has shifted. With many (if not all) companies going remote, the interview process is now fully remote as well. …

Increase your capacity to execute and develop your intuition through mini-feedback loops. — Early on in my career I had a bad case of imposter syndrome. I would delay showing my work until I thought it was perfect trying to cover all the possible use cases. Other times I would underestimate the project and start on it later — how difficult can it…

Move faster by revealing the process through sketches, whiteboards and by printing your work out — As designers, we have the superpower of making the future concrete. When we’re deep in the work mocking something up, it might not feel like we’re doing anything special, it’s just part of the job description. And yet, not everyone has this ability. By giving shape to ideas we can…

Be a better design partner and leader by incorporating these habits into your process — What does it take to be an effective designer? As a discipline, digital design is always flux. New technologies and new tools are coming on the scene all the time. It’s important to have the craft down and know your way around the latest tools. But that’s just the beginning. …

Using core design methods to solve problems on new platforms. — This is the last part of a two-part series of Designing for Google Glass. In this part I’ll go deep on the process I used to design a rating system for Glass. If you’re considering designing for new and emerging platforms—I hope this article inspires you to take the leap…

Lessons learned in augmented cognition, designing for healthcare and thinking beyond screens. — “Google Glass huh? Is that thing still around?” would be the typical response I would get when I said I design for Glass. When it was launched to the public Glass was universally panned. Things got so bad we got a new term, Glasshole. …