The Joy of Product Design
A blog about the beautifully infuriating work of designing digital human interfaces.
Lost in Space: The UX Problems Plaguing Starfield
A detailed critique explores significant user interface issues in Starfield, highlighting problems like cumbersome inventory management and inconsistent menu designs that detract from the overall gaming experience.
Don’t let Advertising Ruin AI
AI experiences like DALL-E, ChatGPT, and more are the most exciting new technologies in nearly two decades. There are several reasons why these advances are so exciting, but perhaps the main one is that they reveal that search engines are being “hired” by users to solve problems. However, the economics of scale demand that we ask the question: who will pay for these experiences? The answer could undermine what makes AI most useful.
Glyph Design — Product Design Skill Recipe
Creating glyphs is, for me, one of the most joyful activities of Product Design. The activity distills so much of the craft into a tight series of constraints, making each piece a small puzzle to solve in software and graphic design. Each glyph telling a small story that creates signifiers and affordances — fancy words for labels and hints — to the users of your products.
Developing Big and Small Ideas
When you’re loving your users, and filled with inspiration, how do you turn the ideas you have into concepts you can share with your teammates, and leaders? I like combining writing my ideas down, and using a mental framework to transform ideas into tools to reach for and use as I plan and execute on projects.
Product Design Muscles
It’s natural for every person at the beginning of their product design journey to feel frustrated with their work. When our graphic communication muscles aren’t as strong as our thinking muscles, it’s easy to perceive that gap.
Must Love Humans
When swiping through potential partners on dating apps, it’s common to find people who self-report how important to them their relationship with man’s best friend is. So many of us keep a four-legged friend around, that a person looking for a partner that “must love dogs” is a cliché in the dating scene and the stuff of pop culture. And while various people from business and process methodologies have encouraged tech workers to love problems, not solutions, I would argue that the quality worth “swiping-right” on when considering a career in Product Design, or hiring a product designer is a love for humans.
Great Product Managers are like… Brain Fluid
Analogies are one of my favorite communication tools. When they’re good they help people understand a complicated idea, and I’d like to propose one for product teams to think about if they’re struggling to define the value of a product manager on their team.
Nord Sound Manager for iOS
I’m dying for a good Nord Sound manager app for iPad. So I decided to put together some vision mocks.