What our product design team did to keep collaborating from the comfort of our homes. — The IDAGIO team officially started working remotely this week. The same week I was supposed to run brainstorming sessions, in-person, with people who don’t usually “do brainstorming.” I spoke to the design team the day before the first session to ask, “Can we do this? Is it going to be…

What our product design team did to keep collaborating from the comfort of our homes. — The IDAGIO team officially started working remotely this week. The same week I was supposed to run brainstorming sessions, in-person, with people who don’t usually “do brainstorming.” I spoke to the design team the day before the first session to ask, “Can we do this? Is it going to be…

Six months ago, it was a struggle to get internal buy-in to do usability testing. People thought research took too long and that it stalled the development process. Product Design would go into a room and run sessions for a full day. Then we would have a long meeting to…

Six months ago, it was a struggle to get internal buy-in to do usability testing. People thought research took too long and that it stalled the development process. Product Design would go into a room and run sessions for a full day. Then we would have a long meeting to…

In novels, in movies, in anthologies, in film festivals, in all the stories we tell: where are all the apps? — There is technology, of course. People talk about fixing it, using it, destroying it. They build ships and watch holograms. Technology is described as a means to an end. The way we tell stories is representative of how we view the world. The details we share are the details that…

Or: a reminder that what we know is always changing — There’s something compelling about a question with no immediate answer. It’s like a block of marble. You know there’s something inside, yearning to make itself known. You chip away at it through conversations, field visits, surveys, and all the other tools we carry in our work. Then, when you’ve chipped…

Get rid of infinite scrolling and focus on creating intentional, not accidental, value. — There’s a rising call for more intentional use of the web. As consumers, we’re more aware than ever of how much time we sink into our devices. As consumers who also work on product teams, we’re coming to terms with our responsibility in that space. Jim Forrest’s piece — “Internet…

When you activate VoiceOver on your phone, it doesn’t give you the experience of a user with low vision. It gives you a different experience of using your phone. Those 5 minutes or 5 hours of struggle gave you but a glimpse of some of the details of what one…

Screen sharing: arguably the most common “visual aid” used in product team meetings. One lucky person is selected — or volunteers — to share their laptop screen on a larger screen. Everyone has a single point of focus, and idea generation and iteration can happen in real time. But there’s…