Video: Mind the Gap

For the past seven years, I've compiled an annual presentation on interesting topics, lessons learned, and data-informed insights in mobile and Web design at Google's Conversions event in Dublin. This year's video recording is now live. Despite good intentions, lots of user-centered design isn’t actually user-centered. Learn what drives these...

Nov 2019

An Event Apart: The New Design Material

In his The New Design Material presentation at An Event Apart in Denver, Josh Clark outlined how designers can integrate Machine Learning and other new technologies into their product designs. Here's my notes from his talk: Designers and front-end developers have a role to play in Machine Learning and new technologies overall. But how? Sometimes...

Oct 2019

An Event Apart: Third-Party Software

In his Third-Party Software and the Fate of the Web presentation at An Event Apart in Denver, Trent Walton talked through the impact of third party scripts on Web sites and how to ensure they don't degrade performance and user experience. Here's my notes from his talk: With most client work, no one is paying attention to the impact of third parties...

Oct 2019

An Event Apart: Slow Design for an Anxious World

In his Slow Design for an Anxious World presentation at An Event Apart in Denver, Jeffrey Zeldman espoused the benefits of design that aims to increase comprehension and intentional use. Here's my notes from his talk: We live in fast times and care a lot about making things faster for people. In this world, "slow" is often associated with friction....

Oct 2019

An Event Apart: Putting Design in Design Systems

In his Putting the 'Design' in Design Systems presentation at An Event Apart in Seattle, Dan Mall talked about the benefits of design systems for designers and how ensure they can be realized. Here's my notes from his talk: Most content in design systems are not for designers but for developers. This helps to scale design efforts when there's a lot...

Mar 2019

An Event Apart: Move Fast and Don’t Break Things

In his Move Fast and Don’t Break Things presentation at An Event Apart in Seattle, Scott Jehl shared a number of resilient patterns and tools to help us establish and maintain performant access to our Web sites. Here's my notes from his talk: For successful Web design, people used to suggest we move fast and break things. Today we've become more...

Mar 2019

The Reason for Micromobility

At the Micromobility conference in Richmond, CA Horace Dediu talked through why micromobility solutions need to exist and why they are set up to succeed today. Here’s my notes from his talk on The Reason for Micromobility: The wealthiest nations have always been those with the highest rates of urbanization. Across the World, urbanization continues...

Jan 2019

Conversions: PWAs, Payment Experiences and More

In her PWAs, Payment Experiences and More presentation at Google Conversions 2018 in Dublin Ireland, Jenny Gove talked through the new capabilities available on the Web to build fast and engaging products. Here's my notes from her talk: The Web was built for desktop devices, not mobile. Native apps, in contrast, were built from the ground up for...

Nov 2018

An Event Apart: Data Basics

In her Data Basics presentation at An Event Apart in Chicago, Laura Martini walked through common issues teams face when working with data and how to get around/work with them. Here's my notes from her talk: Today there's lots of data available to teams for making decisions but it can hard to know what to use and how. Data tools have gotten much...

Aug 2018

An Event Apart: Designing Progressive Web Apps

In his The Case for Progressive Web Apps presentation at An Event Apart in Chicago, Jason Grigsby walked through the process of building Progressive Web Apps for your Web experiences and how to go about it. Here's my notes from his talk: Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are getting a lot of attention and positive stories about their impact are coming...

Aug 2018