Code as Design
How development can be learned through a design lens (and how I managed it) I've said it before, but I am primarily a designer. From an early age I was...
Design as Code
What learning Vue has taught me about the future of design. So let's start with some background; I've been tinkering with website code since the early 2000s...
Getting to yes
Why designers and developers should learn the basics of sales. It's easy to think that as a designer or developer, you're responsible for the functionality,...
Spatial Design
Product Design is a term we use broadly these days to define a designer who creates products. This is a term that was often super unclear in my early days as...
Designing in the open
What I've learnt about sharing constantly and live designing with my team Designers are precious people. Arguably, the vast majority of Creatives are...
The power of Cosmic
> Note: I work for Cosmic but this post is not directly affiliated with them and is my own set of opinions. I found Cosmic and starting using it before I...
Relative seniority
I recently saw a tweet from Brian Lovin that talked about salaries some of the Senior++ designers were being offered by startups he's been talking to lately....
‘Users’ are humans
Design is about people. Working in the healthcare sector, it’s sometimes hard to forget those people that you affect the most through the work you do. It can...
How music, design and code are all the same
I wouldn’t say I believe creativity is a gift we’re born with. I don’t believe my abilities are. But what I think I do have is a natural tendency towards...
Designing API-first
All good design processes start by understanding a business or customer problem and then working out the details until you get to a point of confidence...
From problem to plugin
Background As I've mentioned before, I've long had a passion for learning new skills and that's especially true when it comes to picking up new frontend...
Don’t let your role define you
This article started off life as an essay on my career. But as I wrote it I realised that as great as that was to me, it'd be more useful for me to provide...
What a cult taught me about 'limiting beliefs'
I've long been fascinated by cults from a psychological perspective. Knowing that particular individuals can be so convinced by someone that a set of beliefs...
Ten Principles for Good Design
A free minimal wallpaper of Ram's ten principles. I've long been a huge fan of Dieter Rams and his extensive portfolio of work at Braun and Vitsœ. When I...
What I've learnt over the past year
2020 — 2021 I didn't want to write a verbose blog post about the past year but the more I got to thinking, the more I felt it necessary to document (mostly...
Thinking in design-code
I've said before that I've built this personal site three times so far, and in all three cases it was without any design file in site. Now, as a designer...
Getting DRY with Figma plugins
There's a concept called DRY in development. It means Don't Repeat Yourself and is all about code reduction through declaring and reusing shared resources....
Why you should reply to automated emails
Picture this, it's an all too common scenario, you sign up to something to test it out and then forget about it completely. Weeks later you come back to it...
Rumination, iteration or procrastination
I recently saw a Tweet from Kyle Turman that prompted me to think about the role of ideation in the design process, and when that becomes procrastination...
Tempo: Designing a product that demands to not be used
> Disclaimer: This article is sponsored by Tempo, but all opinions are my own and not suggested, influenced or edited by anyone at Tempo. I've been using...
Why every designer should experience customer service
It's common when joining a new company to get thrown straight in at the deep end. Whilst not always true, often the reason for your employment is because the...
Polywork: LinkedIn without the Suits
> Disclaimer: This article is sponsored by Polywork but all opinions are my own and not suggested, influenced or edited by anyone at Polywork. What is...
How to make friends and influence designers
In my career, I've been used to being one of one or one of two designers on the team. It was always a pretty lonely experience but also empowering because I...
Strip your URLs to super simple domains
The hunt for better RegEx------------------------- Since I've been working with frontend code, RegEx (short for Regular Expression) has been a constant and...
On creativity as a process for catharsis
> This one is more about processing emotions and dealing with loss. If that triggers you or isn't interesting, feel free to skip it. The more I listen to our...
Design for handshakes not handovers
If you've followed me for any length of time, you'll know that I'm really bullish on the notion that practitioners of a craft should be able to understand...
AI as pair design
These days, there’s always a constant influx of new things to learn as a designer. We had the great “should designers code” debate; we also had accessible 3D...
On Digital Playgrounds
Building for fun, by solving problems you face I've always been a bit of a nightmare when it comes to trying to solve problems for myself. I can't help...
Shift gears and switch careers
I've talked about my history before, but I haven't provided explicit advice about how to make a career switch effectively. Over the past few months, I've...
The only difference between us is our tool of choice
Design, development, and product management are crucial elements in building successful solutions. While they feel like they’re very different and very...
Why I don’t charge for my side projects
The minute money exchanges hands, the relationship becomes one of customer and seller. And that implicit relationship makes a huge difference in what your...
The Spatial Interface
Following up on my 2021 post Spatial Design it’s clear to me that my hunch was right, and Apple were building these principles over the past two years to...
The Struggle between Urgency and Importance: Getting Your Priorities Right
As a designer or developer, you're no stranger to the constant struggle between urgency and importance. Deadlines and client demands often push you towards...
Design is Temporary
Product Design as artefact We need to get comfortable with the idea that product design is a temporary measure to get us from nothing to solution. I recently...
Creating a bookmarking utility with Raycast Extensions and Cosmic
A short one from me today, but just a cross-post of an article I wrote over on the Cosmic blog about how you can work with the Raycast Extensions API and the...
On the commercialisation and commoditisation of design
Design has become an increasingly accessible field in recent years, with more and more designers entering the market every day thanks to approachable design...
The Design Engineer
The unicorn is dead, long live the unicorn > Note: the tweet that started this off. Also note, I've been a Design Engineer across most organisations I've...
Farm to table design: our growing distance from software creation
The consequences of a disconnection from Production Farm to Table Food In today's fast-paced world, we often forget to stop and think about the origins of...
Ditching State for searchParams: The Future of Next 13
> This article was originally posted on the Cosmic.js Blog. Prerequisites In order to get the most out of this article, you'll need a few things. 1. To be...
The productivity trap
Here's a common predicament: being lured into the siren's song of the latest and greatest software tools, only to find yourself mastering that new...
Screw it, I’m also making a typeface
Prologue I recently undertook Elliot Jay Stocks’ typography course via Smashing Magazine and fell properly into the world of type and fonts. At that same...
Am I the Pragmatist or the Optimist?
In this one, we’re going to learn the difference between being a pragmatist and an optimist in the context of design engineering. In order to understand why...
Become a Design Engineer
> Are you interested in becoming a design engineer? Design engineers are the bridge between design and engineering teams, providing a crucial function in the...
On Hiring
In a recent tweet, Sahil shared thoughts on applying for a highly competitive remote job at Gumroad. He suggests watching public board meetings on YouTube,...
Finding creative space in a constrained place
Design systems are an essential aspect of any designer's toolkit, as they help ensure consistency and coherence across all products and services. But I’ve...
How to win arguments when data trumps intuition
Making decisions can be a daunting task, especially when data and intuition seem to be at odds. In today's world, data is king, and it's easy to get lost in...
You Aren’t That Important
As a designer or developer in the tech industry, it's easy to get immersed in our work to the point that we start considering it the axis on which the planet...
Ten Principles for Product Delight
It's common for companies to hunt for delight when they want to increase the amount of engagement a product has or improve retention through increased...
Managing Day Jobs and Side Projects
I’ve been asked by a lot of colleagues and friends about how I’m able to maintain a full time job whilst completing multiple side projects. Truthfully, I’d...
Disarming Conflict with “yes AND”
I’ve been using a cool technique lately to handle disagreements in the workplace. It’s called the “yes AND” approach, and it’s all about building on...