Asynchronous Design Critique: Giving Feedback

Feedback, in whichever form it takes, and whatever it may be called, is one of the most effective soft skills that we have at our disposal to collaboratively get our designs to a better place while growing our own skills and perspectives. Feedback is also one of the most underestimated tools, and often by assuming that we’re already good at it,...

15h

That’s Not My Burnout

Are you like me, reading about people fading away as they burn out, and feeling unable to relate? Do you feel like your feelings are invisible to the world because you’re experiencing burnout differently? When burnout starts to push down on us, our core comes through more. Beautiful, peaceful souls get quieter and fade into that distant and distracted...

4w

Beware the Cut ‘n’ Paste Persona

This Person Does Not Exist is a website that generates human faces with a machine learning algorithm. It takes real portraits and recombines them into fake human faces. We recently scrolled past a LinkedIn post stating that this website could be useful “if you are developing a persona and looking for a photo.”  We agree: the computer-generated...

May 2021

Immersive Content Strategy

Beyond the severe toll of the coronavirus pandemic, perhaps no other disruption has transformed user experiences quite like how the tethers to our formerly web-biased era of content have frayed. We’re transitioning to a new world of remote work and digital content. We’re also experimenting with unprecedented content channels that, not too long ago,...

Apr 2021

Do You Need to Localize Your Website?

Global markets give you access to new customers. All you need to do is inform potential buyers about your product or service.  Your website is a good place to introduce your product or service outside your locale. Localizing your web content sounds like the right way to reach out to the global market. Localization will bridge the language...

Apr 2021

Human-Readable JavaScript: A Tale of Two Experts

Everyone wants to be an expert. But what does that even mean? Over the years I’ve seen two types of people who are referred to as “experts.” Expert 1 is someone who knows every tool in the language and makes sure to use every bit of it, whether it helps or not. Expert 2 also knows every piece of syntax, but they’re pickier about what they employ to...

Mar 2021

Now THAT’S What I Call Service Worker!

The Service Worker API is the Dremel of the web platform. It offers incredibly broad utility while also yielding resiliency and better performance. If you’ve not used Service Worker yet—and you couldn’t be blamed if so, as it hasn’t seen wide adoption as of 2020—it goes something like this: On the initial visit to a website, the browser registers...

Mar 2021

Keeping Your Design Mind New and Fresh

“Only a fool knows everything.”— African Proverb Since March 2020, most of us have been working from home, and the days blend into each other and look the same. This is not the first time I have experienced this type of feeling.  My commute — New York to New Jersey — is what folks in my area call the reverse commute.While going to the...

Mar 2021

How to Get a Dysfunctional Team Back on Track

Maybe you’ve been part of a team that you’ve seen slowly slide into a rut. You didn’t notice it happen, but you’re now not shipping anything, no one’s talking to each other, and the management’s Eye of Sauron has cast its gaze upon you. Maybe you’ve just joined a team that’s in the doldrums. Maybe the people who used to oil the wheels...

Mar 2021

The Future of Web Software Is HTML-over-WebSockets

The future of web-based software architectures is already taking form, and this time it’s server-rendered (again). Papa’s got a brand new bag: HTML-over-WebSockets and broadcast everything all the time. The dual approach of marrying a Single Page App with an API service has left many dev teams mired in endless JSON wrangling and state discrepancy...

Feb 2021