(It’s Not About the Likes) — Have you ever looked up an old partner, potential boss, employer, or long lost friend on Google? Congratulations, you’re a voyeur. There exists an extremely powerful, borderline perverse, and highly profitable ‘feature’ in many of the social media applications we use. Companies make billions off this feature, and it’s a…

It’s Time to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone — Software applications don’t directly give you food, water, shelter, affection, or sex — the only thing they do is disseminate information that may lead to all these more basic human needs. Thus, graphic, UX, and software design is really about the selection and organization of information, through time. …

The Importance of Full-Sensory Experience and the Case Against Efficiency — Americans are experiencing the majority of their waking lives in 2D. According to a study by Neilson, the average U.S. citizen spends over 11 hours per day on their devices. Considering sleep, that means the average American spends more time looking at a screen than interacting with the full-spectrum universe…

Referrals are the Lifeblood of Any Business — Contrary to popular opinion, businesses are not successful because of their sales, marketing, human resources, advertising, brand, or sophisticated acquisition strategies—they are successful because their product or service is awesome, and the palpable experience it provides causes it to spread virally requiring a minimum investment in all of these former…

Designing experiences with a positive ending boosts user perception and referrals — What does a free toothbrush, the fastest sprinter in a relay race, and the sweetest dish on the menu all have in common? They all happen at the end of an experience. This article is about the bulletproof rule anyone can use to boost their service business and even quality…

This Activity Prepares You For Hardships — As a solo designer going through the inevitable hardships of opening and operating a business, I decided to reflect on what the activity has taught me along my journey. I’ve been skateboarding for over 15 years and although it is a physically demanding sport, I’m sure that if I’m still…

Four Critical Qualities that Nobody Talks About — With the unveiling of the new Slack logo which has caught a lot of buzz, I decided to expound on some of the qualities of a great logo that nobody talks about. Let me preface this by saying this isn’t another article about logo design. While any of these ‘rules’…

The fallacy that makes us bad at time estimates and how to fix it — There is one thing that all contractors (especially new ones) are very bad at. It’s one of the most challenging things to do properly, and the error is committed by both individuals and monolithic institutions — always and probably forever. …

On Aristotle and Rhetoric — I’ve spent most of my career trying to design great products. Over time I’ve come to realize that a good concept and product is only half the battle. In a world of information overload, things need to be seen, and that task is becoming more and more difficult every day…