CategoryInspiration

June 3, 2025 — Designers love to craft, but polishing pixels before the problem is solved is a time-sink. This article pinpoints the five traps that lure us into premature detail — being afraid to show rough work, fixing symptoms instead of causes, solving the wrong problem, drowning in unactionable feedback, and plain fatigue — then hands you a four-step rescue plan to refocus on goals, ship faster, and keep your craft where it counts. Read more…

May 23, 2025 — Road-tripping along the line between engineering and spirituality, Robert M. Pirsig’s musings on the arts, sciences, and Quality ring as true now as they ever have. Read more…

May 15, 2025 — Remember that last team brainstorming session where you were supposed to generate a long list of brilliant ideas? How many of those ideas actually stuck? Did leadership act on any of those ideas? In this article, Eric Olive challenges the value of exercises like brainstorming and explores more effective methods for sparking creativity to improve design and enhance the user’s experience. Read more…

April 10, 2025 — “Gilding the lily” isn’t always bad. In design, a touch of metaphorical gold — a subtle animated transition, a hint of color, or added depth in a drop shadow — can help communicate a level of care and attention that builds trust. But first? You need a lily. Nail the fundamentals. Then, gild it carefully. Read more…

January 17, 2025 — A once-revered perk of some tech workplaces, the status of ‘side project time’ seems to have slipped in recent years. Frederick O’Brien believes it deserves a comeback. Read more…

January 10, 2025 — The best and worst thing about solo development is the “solo” part. There’s a lot of freedom in working alone, and that freedom can be inspiring, but it can also become a debilitating hindrance to productivity and progress. Victor Ayomipo shares his personal lessons on what it takes to navigate solo development and build the “right” app. Read more…

November 22, 2024 — Many talented professionals hold back from speaking at tech events, believing they need years of experience or expert status first. Drawing from her experience as a first-time speaker at WordPress Accessibility Day 2024, Victoria Nduka discusses how speaking at events benefits both individuals and the tech community. Read more…

June 21, 2024 — Balancing the age-old simplicity of words on paper with the myriad creative possibilities of the web is a tension as old as the web itself. Leaning into that overlap can bring new dimensions not just to the things we write but also to how we write them. Read more…

June 12, 2024 — Kristian Mikhel covers various practical applications of scents in product experience, from immersive entertainment to healing spaces and medical appliances, and how designers can drive innovation across spheres and disciplines. Read more…

May 30, 2024 — What does it mean to learn the “basics”, or fundamentals, of front-end web development? Is starting with HTML and CSS still the best entry point to learn how to make websites and apps when we have a seemingly endless supply of frameworks? Geoff Graham thinks so and discusses why you might consider going “back to basics” to start or move forward in your career. Read more…