Can “not having the answers” actually be your greatest asset? I was building the plane while it was flying. It wasn’t always pretty, but we didn’t crash. I was in over my head. Big time. Standing in front of Packback’s engineering team, I tried to look semi-composed while I explained that our Head of Engineering… Continue reading I am a product designer that became an engineering manager overnight
2 Ways to Protect Your HTML Email Links (and Prevent SPAM)
In this tutorial we’ll describe two straightforward techniques for protecting HTML email links from being scraped by spammers. Although these techniques cannot guarantee full success, they’ll give you an extra layer of protection. Email Templates on Envato Elements Before we dive in, don’t forget that you can download unlimited email templates with your Envato Elements… Continue reading 2 Ways to Protect Your HTML Email Links (and Prevent SPAM)
10+ Best Themes for Shopify Automotive Stores 2022
If you wish to create an automotive shop online, there are several factors you need to consider before you begin. For starters, you need to think about the types of products you want to sell and how you wish to present them to your customers. You also need to think about the features you want… Continue reading 10+ Best Themes for Shopify Automotive Stores 2022
How to Customize the WooCommerce Checkout Page
The checkout page is one of the most important pages on any eCommerce website. All the effort that you put into your website content, design and marketing will amount to nothing if your customers keep abandoning their carts and never complete the checkout process. Some statistics show that cart abandonment rate can vary in range… Continue reading How to Customize the WooCommerce Checkout Page
How to Kern a Font in Cricut Design Space
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to kern in Cricut Design Space. You may be asking yourself, “What is a kerned font in Cricut?” Often, fonts have incorrect or uneven spacing when you type a word out, and these fonts don’t have kerning, so we have to do it manually. I will cover everything you… Continue reading How to Kern a Font in Cricut Design Space
7 Basic Rules for Using Icons in UI Design
Icons are tiny pictograms that you’ll find in almost any app. They help us save screen space, communicate efficiently, and make interaction with a product more fun. But despite their size, creating and using icons in UI design isn’t easy. Since icons directly impact feature discoverability and the number of errors users make when they… Continue reading 7 Basic Rules for Using Icons in UI Design
How to Outline Letters in Cricut Design Space
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to outline a font in Cricut Design Space. I will cover everything you need to know about outlining text in Cricut Design Space—even if you have never used the software before! How to Outline a Word in Cricut Design Space Let’s see how to outline letters in Cricut. With… Continue reading How to Outline Letters in Cricut Design Space
33 Best WooCommerce Plugins (Free and Paid)
What is a WooCommerce Plugin? WooCommerce plugins are software packages that add entirely new functionality to your WooCommerce store or its existing core features. If you’re not entirely sure what WooCommerce is or whether you should use it, scroll to the bottom for an explanation and more learning resources. In this article we’ll look at the… Continue reading 33 Best WooCommerce Plugins (Free and Paid)
How to increase the UX maturity of Scrum teams
Investing in the UX skills of a Scrum Team delivers a huge return. Learn how. In this article you will learn: Why enabling Scrum Teams with UX Design capabilities is important. Why introducing UX capabilities to Scrum team is frequently hard. What is the job of an UX Leader in a product development organization. How to use… Continue reading How to increase the UX maturity of Scrum teams
The Barry Lyndon poster is a design classic, not designed by Saul Bass
The very mention of Barry Lyndon will either elicit a groan you get from an over stimulated teenager forced to trudge through economics class or silent reverence in a middle-aged man who bought the Criterion Collection edition, and delicately wipes it down every month. It is Kubrick’s overlooked masterpiece, sandwiched between the higher profile A… Continue reading The Barry Lyndon poster is a design classic, not designed by Saul Bass
Side Hustles for Web Design Professionals: How to Make Some Extra Cash
A career as a web designer can be extremely lucrative. The average web designer in the US makes around $50-55,000 per year, equating to an hourly rate of around $25. Of course, not every designer will automatically get a full-time, high-paying job as soon as they earn their web design credentials. Sometimes, you might need… Continue reading Side Hustles for Web Design Professionals: How to Make Some Extra Cash
How to Create a Brochure Mockup in Photoshop
If you’re looking to present your latest design project or establish a portfolio of your work, a good square trifold brochure mockup is a fantastic start! You’ll learn everything you need to know in this easy-to-follow square brochure mockup tutorial and will walk away with design skills that you can apply straight away. In this… Continue reading How to Create a Brochure Mockup in Photoshop
How to Make the Background Transparent in Photoshop
There are several different ways to make a background transparent in Photoshop. And when multiple different tools do the same thing, it can be a pain to figure out which to use and when. Follow along as we go through four of the easiest ways you can quickly remove a background in Photoshop. In a… Continue reading How to Make the Background Transparent in Photoshop
The humanity of Blockchain, Wordle UX, web3 painpoints, free UI loaders
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers. “In Agile, discovery is assumed. At a minimum, you need a rough spec and some goals to get started. But is the spec validated against business goals or user needs? Is this the best solution? If so, when does that discovery work happen? Not during Agile development.” Is Agile… Continue reading The humanity of Blockchain, Wordle UX, web3 painpoints, free UI loaders
11 steps to keep Figma clean
We all probably already know how it is to receive a project from someone else. Not everyone works the same way, it’s what makes our field so varied. We need to spend some time focusing on adapting. In this article, I will go over 11 steps that may help you and your teammates in organizing… Continue reading 11 steps to keep Figma clean
Choosing a WordPress Website Builder and Why You Should Use One
There are a lot of tools and services for creating websites today. However, none of them are as popular as WordPress. In fact, WordPress powers around 43% of all websites: that include hobby sites, official government websites, and the biggest news websites. Some examples of websites built with WordPress are The White House, Rolling Stone,… Continue reading Choosing a WordPress Website Builder and Why You Should Use One
Whatsapp Communities — Much needed or a bad move?
Whatsapp Communities — Much needed or a bad move? A few days back WhatsApp announced that it is launching Communities, one of its most anticipated features in recent times very soon. But is this really a good move by Meta? Here’s a brief post around it. That’s how Zuckerberg started his 452-word-long Facebook post announcing the launch of the… Continue reading Whatsapp Communities — Much needed or a bad move?
Reframing streaks on Duolingo: 5 ideas for healthier language learning
The following article looks at healthy and flexible approaches to streaks in Duolingo and examines how users can still be consistent with language learning without having to worry about their streak number. Photo by Jan Antonin Kolar on Unsplash When I was living in Singapore last year, I used Duolingo to (try to!) learn Chinese.… Continue reading Reframing streaks on Duolingo: 5 ideas for healthier language learning
Wordle is a masterclass in product design simplicity
Some of the most fun I’ve had this year is playing Wordle with my friends and family. But I’m a product designer and a programmer, so as I played, I couldn’t help but notice some strange things about how it was constructed. I was right in the middle of making my own product School Morning Routine,… Continue reading Wordle is a masterclass in product design simplicity
Prototyping: you’re halfway there
The journey to great ideas passes through many steps in the design process. I recently gave a guest lecture on Prototyping in Scott Witthoft’s Furniture Experiments class at the University of Texas School of Design and Creative Technologies. I gathered together some of my past work to share stories of lessons I’ve learned (mostly the… Continue reading Prototyping: you’re halfway there
Web Design for Beginners (Epic Free Course!)
If you’re new to web design, this free course on web design for beginners will teach you everything you need to know. “How do I pick typefaces, how do I pick colors, what the heck is whitespace, and how do I position and size elements correctly?” These are exactly the kinds of questions… Continue reading Web Design for Beginners (Epic Free Course!)
UX fundamentals for web3, investing in design, automated UI variations
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers. “Crypto-natives have been living and breathing Web 3 for years. They populate an enormous echo chamber of people speaking a language that most tech people can’t even understand, to say nothing of the general public. The sense of wonder and empowerment that comes from knowing you are building the future… Continue reading UX fundamentals for web3, investing in design, automated UI variations
It’s 2022: PMs and designers should be talking about ambient computing
Source: Google Web3. Metaverse. Crypto. Elon Musk. You’ve probably heard all of these tech buzzwords already. Let’s add a new one to our repertoire: Ambient Computing. Ambient computing refers to “always-on” hardware and software technologies that allow users to consume digital content and services by interacting with their surroundings. We’re still at the beginning of… Continue reading It’s 2022: PMs and designers should be talking about ambient computing
How to Create a Sticky Toolbar With CSS and a Bit of JavaScript
In this new tutorial we’ll learn how to create a sticky (or fixed) toolbar—also referred to as a vertical navigation menu—with animated tooltips that you can use on your sites for all sorts of things. For example, if you are a store owner, you can use it to include a quick links feature for promoting… Continue reading How to Create a Sticky Toolbar With CSS and a Bit of JavaScript