I’m a passionate, practical and creative designer with a design-driven technology mindset.
I share advice about design career building and write about many areas of the discipline on my newsletter. I also publish my work, projects and things I'm learning on a regular basis.
Photo by Katie Carpenter of Ryn Creative
I've been mentoring a colleague of mine, and recently shared this list with her. Thought I'd post for anyone else's benefit although is it not exhaustive.
I spent time at this day long seminar to learn more about the role technology and design plays in planning spaces and communities of the future. It's a different lens on UX than I've so far seen through, but was no leap in concept.
I share some takeaways from the event that I thought would be helpful for those who could not attend.
Over time, I've learned that when I'm stuck it's always because I need more information. I won’t give up until I feel pulled in direction, indicating that I’ve enough information to keep moving in the current phase.
While the benefits of accessibility eclipse its difficulty to implement, using WCAG 2.0 - approved color contrast ratios can be considered limiting. Many designers feel that there are only so many combinations available.
Even teams who work to balance smart technology practices with user and business needs run the risk of a maintenance nightmare. A change in how you think about it can go a long way in staying ahead.
Implementing a new technique into our workflow seems daunting because we have proven ways of producing results. Spending more time to complete something we know how to do already doesn’t come naturally. Only a conscious effort of practice will result in new habits.
There will always be a need to communicate specifics about designs or elements, whether you’re manually noting documents or prototyping with code.
A major but often overlooked part of project planning is measurement. Often, we talk about our goals and use the word success, but we rarely write down what we will actually do to: a) measure our progress, b) revisit, and c) adjust the measurements themselves.
Stop trying to convince clients on theories and design techniques. They don’t care, and they shouldn't have to.
Perception is at the heart of user experience. At the end of the day, what matters is how a user identifies with a product or service.
The past couple of years I have really taken the time to design custom icons to the exact size that I need. This has made a dramatic effect in quality. I realized it was always worth the time to design a set at scale.
This week, I’m sharing some tips on making your design system emerge into the lives of people who will benefit from your work.
Last week, I explained what design systems are. This week, I discuss their importance before I dive into detail on how to design them next week.
If you have ever visited my website, you may have read that I design systems to help people interact with the web. I talk a lot about how I work. This week begins a series describing design systems and why this all matters.
I hear time and time again that mentors are hard to find in the crowd. While I do agree that often it’s difficult to hear back from busy professionals, there are other ways to think about this dilemma.
I recently attended a live webinar interview about Jeffrey Zeldman's decision to join the mentorship of this project. He had some helpful advice for careers and his decision to mentor and give back to the community.
This is a common situation I have not only found myself in, but am asked about often. I suggest a few possible approaches.
She recently decided it was time for her to do something new, and explored options with her existing skills. Here’s what Amy has to say about her journey so far.
Creative work is different than other types of business. It’s not something you do 8-5 and get results from.
The conversation about specializing versus being a generalist is less about right or wrong. I'd like to share some considerations to help think it through.
You may have an all-remote team, some people in an office, or consult with clients on a regular basis. Whatever your situation, these tips can help you think about what works for you.
Multi tasking is super important. Most days it’s a necessity, and I try to keep others moving when I’m holding them up with a question I need to answer. But there are times where we all need to Snooze Slack, close Outlook, and just create.
If you’re developing an app but don’t yet have graphic resources, here’s what to take into consideration when hiring someone.
I think that at times it becomes intimidating to think about adding yet another piece into our workflow, but that is overcome with understanding of a simple process.
While others focus on market and business needs, our team is able to contribute by performing research that pairs nicely.
Photography by Katie Carpenter of Ryn Creative
One thing that can be a hold up is deciding where to start. As a designer, I can’t start a project without a clear goal and problem to solve. I mean honestly, who really needs my handwriting as a font?
While on my long commute earlier this month, I listened to Design Details podcast 85: Lettering Liaison (feat. Tobias Frere-Jones). http://spec.fm/podcasts/design-details/21957. I’ve experienced many interviews about creating typefaces but I found this one to be the most practical so far.
Last Christmas, we boxed up some gifts for families in need. It felt great to gather up the items, but before we could seal them up it felt like something was missing. We chose to be anonymous in each, but it felt like such a missed opportunity to say something. Should we include a card?
I've been finding a lot of simple, yet valuable tools online lately. They each work in their own way to get the finer details into focus for designing websites, app or even typefaces. Some, for details that are often missed.
As any type of creative, practicing your craft is the only way to constantly improve. When you are striving toward mastering a skill, spending time creating can be fun. You can do it whenever you have time, and get better over time.
There are a few tips that will help you get better faster that aren’t always obvious. Even if you’ve been practicing for some time, make sure you’re getting the most out of your exercises.
Having many interests that benefit from having a computer nearby has resulted in my office becoming a cluttered mess. Lately it’s been driving me crazy as I go from designing, researching, blogging, learning, sewing or lettering.
Between historical buildings, small shops and services, and some cute eateries the small mileage offers quite a bit of signage and charm to share.
I've been moving right along in the LearnLettering.com starter class for a few days now and decided to create a printable for each typeface I want to use in my deliberate practice. So far, I'm starting with the typefaces suggested in the lessons so I figured it might be helpful to share the PDF for others using this technique.
A while back I posted my progress on my first official Hand Lettering class on Skillshare. I thought it might be valuable to share an update on the final steps.
I have been needing a better solution for tracing for lettering practice and so in doing research I learned that there are light up tracing pads in addition to the typical light box I was picturing. They are less expensive and potable. I knew this was the way I wanted to go since I move my creative space all the time. I then learned the Crayola has a tracing pad that many professional artists recommended as a viable solution. I decided to try it out and ordered one on Amazon for $23.