Farming and Knitting
I don’t get Farmville either. Like you, I tried it out and found it painfully boring. I liked Cityville a lot. I didn’t know why, but I enjoyed coming back, collecting rent, and using it to add a library or…
A Syllabus for User Experience
When I agreed to teach a class on User experience Design at General Assembly, I had a very clear idea of what I would teach. And what I would not. I would not teach OMnigraffle or Photoshop. I was tired of classes that purported to teach…
Find Your North Star
I don’t think there is one of us today that doesn’t know of the north star, and that it will always point north. It’s in movies, cartoons, comics, and books. In a project, the north star is the goal you…
Design as Mangement
What gets measured, gets managed. –Peter Drucker Companies that identify, measure and manage key customer behaviors are the ones who succeed. While analytics and business analysis can solve the challenge of identifying and measuring, design is how you manage behavior….
A Mission for Design
I was invited to say a few off-the-cuff words at a design offsite for a Well Established Company where they were making a mission for their design team. I decided I was sick of ppt, and wrote out a few…
Designers Don’t Ask
This is the original article that became “Design Can’t be an Afterthought” on Women 2.0. I’ve left the original title, too. I was told no one would get the reference, to Women Don’t Ask so here, now you will. Historically, designers in technology companies often…
Words on Wireframes
Design is a Job should be required reading for anyone making a living doing Design. I will write more on that later. For now, since I have become the lady who complains about wireframes (so not the title I was…
Still one of the best resources for what research to do when
When Gabe and I researched, wrote and designed the Carbon IQ User Centered Design Methods Guide, I felt pretty proud. What surprises me is how often I still refer to it even today, some ten years later. Download Now
Tiny Process for Writing
First Draft: say everything quickly. race to the end! Second Draft: replace pronouns with nouns, explain vagaries. Third Draft: omit needless words. and often the first paragraph. Fourth Draft: get the music of the prose right.
Where you been at, Wodtke?
I’ve been in a five week culinary program. I’m in week three. Everything is starting to break down… read more: Fish Balls and Finger Condoms
Talking About Stuff