Preparing to improvise

Recently I had the very cool opportunity of demo’ing some critical UI concepts to our company CEO (with assorted execs), as well as to high profile customers seeking a multi-million dollar product deal. Whew! No pressure, right?? Some fairly intense situations, no doubt. While the outcomes were gratefully very positive, with ample feedback for future […]

Designers and their tools

Earlier this year there was outrage and grief expressed over Adobe’s decision to no longer continue development for Fireworks. It is, in effect, being killed off. As a dedicated Fireworks user since 2006, I’m just as disappointed. For me, at least, it was a valuable design tool that let me express very quickly with high […]

Pushing pixels is a dialogue

Even as a principal designer, I sometimes go deep into the pixels, using Adobe Fireworks or Photoshop to precisely & vividly render a particular concept, or even prepare final comps with assets for delivery. While it seems I’m just staring at a screen and deftly moving my mouse hand, there’s actually quite a bit happening […]

Significance before validation

With the widespread adoption of Agile/Lean UX methods in software design, there’s been a steady, ceaseless drumbeat for “validation” of design outputs. It’s laudable and useful, although there is some nuance lost in this specific term, which I have previously discussed. Validation is important, no question, to help ensure creation of something of value for […]

Recent readings: The Connected Company and more!

In no particular order, here are some brief blurbs on design-related books that I’ve recently read and enjoyed (chronicling the past 3 months roughly)…   The Connected Company by Dave Gray & Thomas Vander Wal An excellent overview of how to evolve towards a “connected company” that is fundamentally a complex, adaptive system embodying the […]