Okay, so. Here’s the thing. Understanding your own bias is hard. All we know for sure is that, whatever it is, we probably don’t know what it is. Some kind of you can’t see it ’til you see it — it being your blindspot, standing cold and naked, exactly where…

I like to start most things by saying I have no idea what I’m doing, but John asked me for some quick tips about remote leadership and I accidentally sent him a novel, so turns out I have some opinions. Credentially speaking, I have led two teams remotely; reported into…

**Before I go any further, let me tell you who the “we” is in this story. Our incredible team of illustrators at Shopify include myself ; Ryan Coleman, Holly Schofield & Erin Moncrieff ; with occasional help from Blake Stevenson & Alek Doesnt-have-his-last-name-on-slack-im-not-a-detective-ok** As someone who previously credited a not…

Based on like actually just running one illustration team, so rly, what do I know? — 1. The copy will change. RIP anyone who is waiting on final copy. Solution: Always draw to the concept, never to the words. 2. Placeholders don’t work. No one hears you when you say like this but not this. All they see is an illustration that shouldn’t be there in an otherwise good design, and conclude illustration in general…

An introduction — Why to product illustration? The first thing you need to be perfectly clear on, before adding any illustration to your product, is why are you adding illustration to your product? Wait. Shut up for a second. I’ll go: communication (and definitely not decoration) (but you you were going to say that anyway, right? Right)…

(👏Cut👏To👏The👏Chase👏) Giving feedback is hard. It’s hard when you actually know what you’re talking about (and know you know what you’re talking about). But now your illustration ready and it’s not quite right. You’re critiquing work that is totally outside your skill set; ill-equipped with the language of the industry—and…

Okay, cool. So we’re doing this. You need an illustration; I need a project. This is really for sure definitely happening. Everyone comes in bright and shiny: armed with the experience of all the other times that projects were less than room-temperature-butter smooth; and an unbending determination that this one…

So here’s a question I’ve been answering a lot lately: “What do you look for when you’re hiring an illustrator?” My answer: Use of metaphor. Nope, not having a unique style. Nope, not a variety of styles. Nope, not your impressive client list or places your work has been featured…

My very first ever client/boss/charity-case-worker used to always say I should write about how to work with an illustrator. I was like — wat? You mean, like, other than what we’re doing right now? And does this mean I have to get wordpress? Because I am so not down with…