Category: Career
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The Whims
One of my first professional jobs was at a tiny startup ad agency in Washington, DC. The owner was new to the business and made the mistake of hiring a college buddy as his creative…
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Design Kickoff Meetings
Posted here for posterity: Design kickoff meetings are like first dates that prepare you for an exciting relationship with a person who doesn’t exist.
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Design is a (hard) job.
DESIGN WAS so much easier before I had clients. I assigned myself projects with no requirements, no schedule, no budget, no constraints. By most definitions, what I did wasn’t even design—except that it ended up…
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You got this.
I’M LEARNING new tech and it’s hard. Maybe you’re in the same boat. Through the rosy lens of memory, learning HTML and Photoshop back in the day was a breeze. It wasn’t, really. And CSS,…
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On Teaching (plus Monday links)
TEACHING is a great way to find out what you know, and to connect with other human beings around a shared passion. It’s an energy exchange as well as an information one, and the energy…
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On practice
Over the decades I’ve used computers, my drawing skill has all but vanished—along with my ability to do calligraphy or even write legibly. Which is why I’ve started forcing myself to sketch again every day.…
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A beginning consultant brings skills, an experienced consultant brings value.
A beginning consultant brings skills, an experienced consultant brings value. Early in a good career, you establish that you write the best code on your team, have the deftest touch in UI design, produce more…
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Ten Years Ago on the Web
2006 DOESN’T seem forever ago until I remember that we were tracking IE7 bugs, worrying about the RSS feed validator, and viewing Drupal as an accessibility-and-web-standards-positive platform, at the time. Pundits were claiming bad design was good for the web…
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Speaking Most Clearly When Not Speaking At All
Writing brain and speaking brain verbalize differently for me, I have found. I’m considered a passable conference speaker, and, from friendly conversations to client meetings, I’m rarely at a loss for words. But the ideas…
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Job Hunting For Web Designers
When, why, and how to quit your web design or web development job.
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A List Apart ? 421 Gets Personal
THERE’S GREAT reading for people who make websites in Issue No. 421 of A List Apart: Resetting Agency Culture by Justin Dauer Forget Air Hockey, Zen Gardens, and sleep pods: a true “dream” company invests…
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The Arc of a Design Career: Khoi Vinh on The Big Web Show ? 128
KHOI VINH IS my guest in Episode ? 128 of The Big Web Show (“Everything Web That Matters”). Khoi is a web and graphic designer, blogger, and former design director for The New York Times, where…
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Big Web Show ? 127: Those Who Can Teach with Jared Spool
IN EPISODE ? 127 of The Big Web Show, Jared Spool of User Interface Engineering and I discuss the goals and workings of Center Centre, a new school Jared cofounded with Dr Leslie Jensen Inman…
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Unexamined Privilege is the real source of cruelty in Facebook’s “Your Year in Review”
UNEXAMINED PRIVILEGE is the real source of cruelty in Facebook’s “Your Year in Review”—a feature conceived and designed by a group to whom nothing terrible has happened yet. A brilliant upper-middle-class student at an elite…
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Design Is A Relationship
MIKE MONTEIRO is a man on a mission. He wants to improve design by fixing the core of it, which is the relationship between designer and client. Too many of us fear our clients—the people…