Tips on giving and receiving helpful feedback — Most designers know the feeling of walking into a presentation feeling confident and expecting sign off on their work, only to walk away with a mountain of edits. Even worse is the realization that we missed the mark and will need go back to the drawing board. But the truth…

Why designers should leverage data to inform and not dictate design decisions — As designers, we know that data is key to understanding user behavior. It is powerful information that increases the effectiveness of our work when it’s leveraged in the right places. Data can also be problematic if it is misinterpreted or teams become over-reliant on it. …

A look at what designers can learn from Pulp Fiction’s Winston Wolfe — Fictional characters can sometimes inspire us professionally. Few have had more of an influence on me than Winston ‘The Wolf’ Wolfe, the charismatic fixer in Quentin Tarantino’s classic film Pulp Fiction. Played by Harvey Keitel, The Wolf is called upon to fix a messy situation in a hurry. He not…

Ten years of design is a milestone, so I’d like to take the opportunity to reflect a bit. During my short career as a designer, there’s been occasions where I’ve learned something that you just aren’t taught in school. Some of these lessons are common-sense, while others are very specific…

How a classic problem-solving principle can help improve our designs — Complicating the simple is commonplace in web design — even the experienced designer will find themselves reaching for an overly complex solution from time-to-time. It’s easy to get carried away with details that we assume will enhance the user’s experience, when in reality they have the potential to distract and…

How to maintain consistency without compromising innovation — Consistency is a core principle of good design. In UX and UI design, it is paramount to a good user experience because it provides familiarity, strengthens the intuition of the user, and establishes the identity of the brand. …

What designers need to know about these transformational layout tools. — CSS has come a long way since its introduction in 1996, but the tools we have available for layout haven’t changed much. Table layouts were incredibly too rigid, float-based layouts were basically a hack, positioning-based layouts were not adaptable, and none could handle a great deal of complexity in an…

A behind the scenes look at King of Soul, a website to commemorate the musical legacy of Otis Redding. — Fifty years ago, the world lost musical legend Otis Redding. The power he brought to soul music transcends the genre, and his influence can still be heard today. …

A look behind the scenes on why I created a space devoted to storytelling on the Web. — Storytelling is core to the human experience. We use stories to elicit an emotional response, to learn, or simply to make sense of the world around us. It’s an effective communication methodology that is fundamental to how we express thoughts, feelings, and experiences with others. When combined with the ubiquity…