Thoughts

Sometimes it’s very difficult to know if a digital product/service is well designed: one has to both have the context of the intended user, and be able to use it as intended by the task to be fulfilled. However, it is quite easy to know when some digital products/services are somehow poorly...

Conflict tends to arise when individuals/roles/teams/orgs are trying to achieve goals that point to different directions. The best way to avoid, manage, and solve conflict (and the one exercise that helps teams the most with the least effort) is to get those individuals/roles/teams/orgs aligned on...

The word design comes from Latin designo, same origin as designate: “To mark out and make known; to point out; to indicate; to show; to distinguish by marks or description”. It is about communicating an idea, not just composing it....

Recently I was asked by a junior designer the following: 'As I am looking for my next opportunity, I think about how should I plan my career path. Would you suggest a designer at the beginning of the career to dedicate to one domain, or, to try out different stuff?'. This question was circling...

These are my tenets, the ones by which I guide my design. Very high level, perhaps more guidelines than rules. ### 1. User Experience Design is about the user/customer User experience design is about understanding how users think and see the world, what they want to accomplish and how they would...

Short answer: not really. I’ve always disliked the word “should“. It takes out all the joy of reasoning, understanding and deciding on a subject. You see, I’d prefer to expose the advantages and shortcomings of the issue and let each one choose their paths. After all, I’ve had the privilege of...

Becoming a father has changed the way I see the learning process. Now that I have a son, I realise he might one day learn things as I did, by sheer curiosity and an avid exposure to the world of knowledge. And as I’ve seen around, he might run into popular, catchy and groupthink-based approaches...

Designing for any interactive medium is like writing a story. You choose your characters (target audience), try to describe them the best you can (personas), then imagine them doing many things around your product/service (user journeys), in many different orders and flows, living the product one...

Most of my work as UX designer happens within a team with lots of access to the processes, the research and even the users and their feedback. Most of the time I depend on and value feedback from my team regarding UI and process, as they help me see the pieces and parts I miss, and bring about...

A mode of response to In defence of the hamburger menu The problem with (the discussions about) the hamburger menu is that most people start talking about the menu but end up talking about the icon. They start talking...

Definitely so. If you really think about it, design can definitely change the world. The degree, the direction and the ethical value of that change might vary, so perhaps the accomplishment of what that phrase “change the world” usually means (as in “make a difference”) might not happen almost all...

I recently read The Hamburger Menu Doesn’t Work. I thought the article a very interesting one, hinging on a topic that can benefit from more discussion and thought. However, I found the title rather misleading. Here are my thoughts. I think the point is not...

The big problem with the case for or against everyone learning to code is the word “everyone”. “Many of us”, “most of those involved with design”, “an increasing amount of people”, “a growing number of the world population”, perhaps. Just not...

Machine writing will exist, sooner than we think. Algorithm-driven writerbots, clumping together predefined phrases (or dissected ones from previous writings) spiced with words that computer-driven testing and big data crunching have found to enhance “catchiness”, headed by titles that extensive...

Recently a friend asked: “Imagine a phone… Now tell me why does a phone icon still look like a landline headset?” I said: Icons as visual abstractions that refer to a specific concept, come from an old paradigm, that of the mechanical (mail envelope) and electronic (landline phone set) era, where...