Originally published on my blog.

This might be harsh for some to hear, and there’s no easy way to say it, so here it goes: I don’t think you should hire junior designers.

Awkward silence. Does he mean that? Did he say what I think he said? Is he forgetting once he was a junior too?

Well, yeah… I don’t really mean don’t hire junior designers at all. I mean don’t hire them if you’re not prepared. Don’t hire them if you haven’t got a proper support system in place and a desire and time to hone raw talent.

So…

Cross-posting with my blog.

Let me start off by saying the title is not clickbait. Product design doesn’t have to be expensive, despite the rumour going around saying otherwise; not even great product design work. Yup, I’ve said it — great work can be cheap. But like with anything else that sounds too good to be true, there’s a catch: it’s called the Theory of the Unattainable Triangle.

Everyone understands these three components: cost, quality of work, and speed of delivery. Ideally, we want to pay as little as possible for great work delivered fast. …

Originally published on my blog.

They say a good friend listens closely — and I believe successful businesses do too. One of the keys to building a successful business in the first place is to have loyal customers. Easier said than done. But there’s something you can start doing today to work on that: be proactive about seeking customer feedback.

You might think that waiting for people to tell you what you’re doing right or wrong is the better strategy. But waiting and hoping for the best is not a strategy. It’s laziness. And it’s tempting to assume that a…

I often talk about how visual design will never make or break a business. Despite our inclination towards aesthetically-pleasing interfaces, visual design is not that important. But those who have been successful growing tech companies can tell you that once you’ve established a solid foundation, adding good visual design into the mix can make a difference.

Good visual design alone rarely results in business success, but there’s something to say about the drawbacks of not investing in it. …

In every designer’s career, there will be a client who asks for a website like Apple. Everyone aspires to have a strong digital presence, so it’s no surprise that we find refuge under the umbrella of those who do it best.

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying simple, flat, and minimal design. But simple, flat, and minimal is not the answer to every question in the universe.

Apple, Google, and the other successful tech companies have given us a manual of best practices — a hierarchy of information, clear and organised navigation, high-quality photography, and a call to action fenced in…

Originally posted on my blog.

The pandemic has brought some of the tech industry to its knees, so many people are losing their jobs. While it may be a tough time for the industry, those hiring designers must be in heaven, since all these brilliant individuals are now on the market.

If you’re hiring designers and you notice that people from big companies like Airbnb, Uber, and Lyft are getting laid off, pause for a moment. Though it’s tempting to say, “Let’s get one of those people,” I encourage you to think twice. …

The article was first published on my blog.

—

I don’t make it a secret that meetings are not my favourite way of spending my work day. I can’t tell how often I sit in one and reconsider my life choices. I can’t tell you in how many I almost fell asleep, dreaming of a world where I’d get to do the work that I’m actually paid for; dreaming of a workplace where I could design, not sit around a table to make others feel important.

But the title of this article is a bit misleading, since I do believe…

Originally posted on my blog

I’ve recently given a talk to a company who’s moved from working from home once in a blue moon to doing it every day. Their transition to remote work has been hectic, since it happened so rapidly; from one day to another they’ve changed their ways of working, how they communicated with each other, and their routines. Plus now they’ve got screaming kids in the background, and although I haven’t got any myself, I somehow get this feeling that they don’t make life easier.

In my talk I’ve tried to debunk some myths about remote…