When I start a new project, I immediately go into research mode. I spend hours looking at other sites, products, and apps to see if the purpose of the product is clear.
How To Move From Imitation To Innovation
Designing Anticipatory Experiences & Why Designers Need To Be Business Literate
The start of any year is a great time to think about the direction UX might be going. UX is an ever changing area and one that can be different one week to the next. Here I share some of my thoughts on where I think UX might be steering towards in the coming year.
Mobile UX Design For People In Developing Countries
Recently someone asked me what they should consider when creating a mobile UX design for people in developing countries.
Honestly, I hadn’t though about it. Obvious things came to mind such as what device they might be using, what connectivity speeds were like, and what the literacy of the audience was. But, I became curious and after doing some research I discovered some great resources to consider when designing a user experience for people in developing countries.Continue reading
Innovation, Ideas, & How To Go From Zero to One
A lot of people ask my when I’m going to create my own product. I haven’t for two reasons.
First, it scares me. In 10 seconds I’ve talked myself out of it by overthinking hiring, insurance, money, etc. But second, and more importantly, I haven’t had an idea that I’m passionate about to go down the path of actually bringing it to life. I wrote more about this in an article over on Medium called The Product Of You.
This week I listened to a great interview on NPR that Peter Theil (@peterthiel) gave. Incase you aren’t familiar with Theil, he was the first outside investor in Facebook, founder of PayPal, and a partner at the investment firm FoundersFund.Continue reading
Video of the Week: The Mink Makeup Printer
At TechCrunch Disrupt, an amazing company called Mink gave a demo of their desktop makeup printer that will let you print makeup …. yes, makeup!
Grace Choi, came up with the idea while she was at Harvard Business School. People don’t normally associate the beauty industry with tech, but Grace is definitely going to change that.
Turns out, that cosmetics are all made of the same basic raw materials, the most important being color. Color is where the cosmetic companies make all their money.Continue reading
Loss of a True Thought Leader: RIP Marc Gobé
Yesterday I was sad to learn that Marc Gobé passed away due to a brain tumor. I didn’t know Marc personally, but his work greatly influenced me early in my career.
I think I was only in my first year of college when I read his book Emotional Branding. At that time, I was just learning about web design and was pursuing a degree in Business & Marketing. Something about the book just made sense to me. I think it showed me the power of design. Design isn’t just about making beautiful things. Design should be purposeful. Design should be personal. And above all, design should provoke a connection between corporations (or products) and consumers.
Marc was a leader in brand building and founded Desgrippes Gobé in 1985 which he grew to be one of the top 10 global branding firms. Perhaps his most influential work was the creation of the concept “Emotional Branding”. From his website:Continue reading
Product I’m Loving: Poshmark
People often ask me what products I’m really loving. The truth is, I try out a lot of products but I have only have a handful that I really engage with on a regular basis.
My new favorite product of the moment is something called Poshmark.
Poshmark is a way for me to sell clothes that I don’t want anymore and buy clothing from other people. What I love most about Poshmark is that they took a very analog experience and applied technology to enhance it.
Prior to Poshmark, if I was trying to declutter my closet I had a few options. I could give the clothing to friends, donate the clothing, or throw it out. Donating the clothing is the ideal option, especially because of the tax receipt. But, the process of donating clothing is very full of friction — especially if you don’t have a car. When I purge my closet, I end up with large bags of clothing, shoes and accessories to donate. Then, I have to carry all those bags to a donation center and more than once had to make two trips or hire a taxi because I couldn’t take it all on the subway. Continue reading
User Experience: Looking & Thinking Beyond The Screen
A few weeks ago, I went to an event at Google where they introduced the new Solve For X project and their initiative to encourage and connect people working on Moonshot Ideas.
At the event, the makers of the Invisible Helmet spoke about their experience in making the helmet. After the speakers told us about their projects, the attendees broke up into groups to discuss how to take these Moonshot Ideas even further.Continue reading
The People Are The Product
This week I was fortunate to attend a talk that Jason Goldberg (@betashop) gave about the story of Fab.com. It’s a story of ideas, failing, and doing what you love. Here’s what I learned.Continue reading
The Power Of Introverts
When I was in school, in the comments section of every report card, the teacher always wrote that I needed to talk more and contribute to class discussions. I never really understood those comments because it made me think that I needed to change something about my self.