Human-Centered Interaction, Design, & Inspiration
In 2015 I had enough.
After nearly a dozen consecutive years in agency design leadership — and being privy (personally and second hand) to so many of the negative dynamics associated with that world — I wrote an article for A List Apart called “Resetting Agency Culture.” The impetus for the piece was that there was a better way — a humble, people-first way — to treat employees, and one another. I had experienced this notion in practice, I had cultivated it personally, and I needed to broadcast those means from the mountain tops.
The article garnered near immediate, passionate feedback from people across multiple forms of media: web, print, television, radio, and so on. I understood these cultural issues were wider than the lens I had given them: it was less about the agency connection, and more about the human one. So in 2017 I released Cultivating a Creative Culture, painting upon a broader canvas: offering insight on finding a new best-fit role, up through someone’s engaging first day in that role, to day-to-day empathetic interactions, and onward with longevity. …
The moment I first heard that piercing newborn shriek this past March, I knew I was in for a ride; another ride, to be accurate.
In a flash, my second child’s birth brought back all the hallmarks of baby life that were still lingering at the periphery from my first born’s arrival 5 years previous: unconditional love, the myriad of “firsts”, copious sleepless nights, and dirty diaper changing. So much poop… so much poop. *stares off in the distance*
You see, on the evangelism front, 2018 was a year full of dynamism: international travel for speaking engagements, my first opening keynote, new connections, new experiences. In fact, my wife was pregnant with the little fella when she sat in the audience at my Midwest UX opening keynote. …
I was invited to give the opening keynote at this year’s MidwestUX conference in Chicago, which was held last month. My talk, “Creative Culture: Human-Centered Interaction, Design, & Inspiration,” revolved around the human-centered connection being at the core of our design process as well as the cultural interactions at the office. From the event page:
Mobile First? In reality, it’s *humans* first. This same mentality, turned inward, forms the cornerstone of something amazing: a creative culture. And while our livelihoods exist within the digital realm, inspiration has no such contextual boundaries; there is an entire world of design and inspiration beyond the context the digital world affords us. …
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