I speak and air is pushed through my vocal chords and mouth, vibrating the air around me. A wave of pressure hits your eardrums and is transduced into electrochemical signals that propagate through the neurons of your brain, making you see pictures, have thoughts, and feel emotions. Reading words has…

I hate online presentations. I hate giving them and I hate watching them, especially yours. We can be pretty sure that even after the pandemic we will work online more than we used to. We will travel less, we will have more meetings online, and we will give more online…

I have hit on a formula for getting creative things done. It consists of two simple ideas and it has done wonders for getting things out of my notebooks and into the world. Most recently I used the formula to write a short book on creativity in about a week…

Our final participant for the day was struggling to use the device that we were testing. Everyone we had brought in for the test had hit the same conceptual hurdles. This participant, however, was visibly annoyed, more so than those before him. …

In creative workshops we are told to build on the ideas of others, but how do you actually do that? How do I take an idea, usually someone else’s, and summon forth a new one? Note: should you prefer, there is a video version of this piece on you YouTube. …

You are about to give a presentation. Do you know why you are presenting? Are you clear about your desired result? Have you decided what you want people to think and feel during your presentation, and, more importantly, what you want them to say and do afterwards? …

I love watching competent speakers talk enthusiastically about the things that engage them. But when I give my own talks I sometimes find it hard to find that enthusiasm, especially if it’s a talk I have to give repeatedly. Do you have a similar problem? …

The key to giving great design feedback, as well as receiving it and putting it to productive use, is your attitude. The right attitude will makes more of a difference than your choice of formal method or process. In this essay I describe ten ways of thinking about feedback that…

I am often asked to recommend books on creativity. Even when I’m not asked, I will recommend them. …