Category: Design
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The state of things
At the end of therapy this morning, I felt like the lone Samurai at the end of a Japanese movie. His warlord has betrayed him, his fellow Samurai have fallen into dishonor, and the rice…
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Grateful X 2
Sometimes you are reminded how just how incredibly lucky you are to know and work with passionate, talented people.
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The Cult of the Complex
“IN AN INDUSTRY that extols innovation over customer satisfaction, and prefers algorithm to human judgement (forgetting that every algorithm has human bias in its DNA), perhaps it should not surprise us that toolchains have replaced…
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For your pleasure
For your listening pleasure, I have prepared a 15-minute playlist composed of ten short songs. Before I share the URL, here are the requirements: You must have Spotify. (Sorry.) To enjoy, in Spotify Settings: Advanced,…
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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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We need design that is faster and design that is slower.
During a recent conversation with David Sleight, Design Director at ProPublica, I found myself realizing and saying “we need design that is faster and design that is slower.” Who are we and what is this thing…
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Beyond Engagement: the content performance quotient
Recently, Josh Clark, Gerry McGovern and I have been questioning our industry’s pursuit of “engagement.” Engagement is what all our clients want all the time. It’s the ? 1 goal cited in kickoff meetings, the…
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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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Pulled Over (My Glamorous Life)
MOST mornings my daughter Ava and I easily navigate the path across and down Manhattan to her middle school. This morning was not most mornings. There was the bus driver who chose to block 35th…
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Advice for designers
Start by asking questions. Sketch, share your sketches, ask more questions. Don’t be precious with your work. Don’t hurry to finish.
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Why don’t nonprofit sites convert?
Living in New York and working in media, I talk to nonprofit organizations a lot. Big or small, they all say the same. No matter how much work they put into their apps and websites,…
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Medium to pay writers; program similar to Readability
INTERESTING. Medium will now pay writers. The revenue to pay writers will derive, not from advertising—Medium scorns it—but from member contributions. How Medium will pay writers Medium now publishes two kinds of content: public content,…
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It’s just lunch.
I HADN’T heard from her in years. Suddenly, there she was in my in-box. Tentatively proposing coffee. Maybe lunch. A dam broke inside me, releasing a flood of warm memories. Our first, tentative contact ten…
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Big Web Show ? 159: If You Can’t Stand the Heatmaps, Stay Out of the Conversion, with @nickd
NICK Disabato (@nickd) and I discuss heat maps, conversion rates, design specialization, writing for the web, Jakob Nielsen, and the early days of blogging in Episode ? 159 of The Big Web Show – “everything web that…
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Buy a piece of studio.zeldman
We’ve got some exciting news to share. Web and interaction design studio.zeldman is moving, from our digs at 148 Madison Avenue to a new location on Fifth Avenue. As of June 1, we’ll be designing,…