Tips and tricks for running a smooth, successful workshop — Design sprints are all the rage but they need great facilitators. Sometimes that responsibility falls to you. This is a difficult role, made harder when the participants have never done this before. …

Designers! We’ve all had the experience of showing our work to someone — usually someone with more power and clout than we have— who looks at our work, shrugs, and says “I don’t like it.” It could be a client, or a manager, or a colleague. But it’s happened to…

Sing it with me: As a _user_ I want to _perform an action_ so I can _achieve an end result_. This is great in theory, but writing good user stories is harder than it sounds. I’ve seen well-meaning product, design, and engineering folks take this approach to user stories and…

Back in the early 2000s, I had the title “Web Developer/Designer.” I hated that term then, and I still do. I used to strongly suggest to clients that they hire three separate people with specific skillsets instead of one person who was expected to do concept, fit and finish, copywriting…

I live in a suburb of San Francisco. My town is safe and cozy. It’s known as a great place to raise a kid. Kids frequently walk or bike to school here. I’ve heard locals refer to it as “Mayberry-By-The-Sea.” It’s also mostly white. It borders Oakland, specifically an historically…

“You’ve got impostor syndrome bad,” my spouse said to me this weekend. “It’s not impostor syndrome,” I protested. “I just really don’t know what I’m doing.” Oh, wait. But I don’t have the usual kind of impostor syndrome, the kind that prevents forward movement, the kind that prevents growth. I…

Hey there, design job seekers. Here’s something I bet you haven’t heard yet: Include the goddamn cover letter. If it’s good, it will set you apart. And if you’re dealing with a hiring manager who doesn’t read cover letters, it doesn’t hurt anything to include one. What to write? Use…

As a job seeker, you might get advice to apply to jobs you’re not completely qualified for. It’s true that sometimes hiring managers list “nice-to-haves” as “requirements,” so why not apply? The hiring manager might make an exception for you because you present yourself so well. Sometimes, you’re right. But…