UX Foundations – Personas
A detailed review of how to host user persona workshops and create a user centric culture in software and interactive design.
Words
Articles on creative leadership, industry insights and creative process from someone with close to 20 years of hands on global and national marketing, technology and design experience.
UX Foundations – Planning & Mapping
Learn the foundational aspects of user experience (UX) planning and research including forms of user journey mapping and UX architecture.. Over the course of over two decades creating interactive experiences and balancing creative thinking I have spent a lot of time on understanding how things interact with people. In the early days of website design we ignored a lot of the disciplines software developers used in exchange for quick wins and fast track creations.
5 points from 5 years of managing Creative Teams in a SaaS Tech Firm.
When I started to lead a creative team as Chief Creative Officer in Tech (SaaS) I had a LOT of preconceived notions about what my job was. I was mostly wrong most of the time. But I also learned a LOT over these past 5 years.
When a creative director puts out a job opening out for a copywriter…and gets a LOT of ‘other’ resumes.
After the last few days of combing through initial applications for our latest job posting for a copywriter It was necessary to provide some key pointers to any applicants before you consider applying. This may also help other creatives understand how a Creative Director or an HR may treat your application.
One Eye Open: Creative directing without being an overlord.
With this article I wanted to specifically focus on examples and tips for ways to give direction without micromanaging the processes.
Blue Monday is fake. But not the Winter Blues….have a heart.
There is no ignoring for many people including the creative minded struggle through the coldest, dark days of winter. Here are 7 tips on how to cope.
The REAL you is infinitely more interesting.
A few years ago I took a few professional presentation courses and was told that I should lean into my natural insecurity against talking loudly or being aggressive and instead focus on being the calm, collected voice of reason in the boardroom. Here are some things I’ve learned along the way on how to find my own comfort zone…
The creative long game SUCKS. But you can overcome it with these quick habit changes.
As creatives, playing the long game can be excruciating. Your head is almost always going a million miles a minute and new ideas are kicking out old ones constantly. Our built in need to create and produce things is in our nature. So, when it slows down to a snail’s pace of revisions, concept rounds, strike outs or delays in a project it can really kill your motivation…
Fast-To-Prototype: are too many rules and rigid structure killing your output?
“I bet many of you share all your steps in pretty infographics and overly large typography on your sites and in your pitch decks to show your clients and prospects how hard you work. How much you are worth…how much they will be involved…how much you safe check and control every penny and step for them.”
3 Don’ts and 6 Does for Creative Directors. As well as any one who leads a creative team.
“It comes with experience that gives you a weird sort of future sight – you can practically see into the future and visualize the end work. But telling someone specifically what pixel to push or line to write is a sign of a bad CD and one of the best ways to have your team leave. No one wants to feel like a robot.”
Wireframes are not a bible.
Originally published on Linkedin. They are a discovery tool. You can always burn them. This happened today – a small reminder to not get stuck in your own process or tools. We have spent the last month looking at what to do with our website at Vicimus. What we have is fine, but a bit …
ARTICLE: Abstraphic – Theory in Abstract Design
AbstraphicPart 1: The Source Discussing the concept of abstract thinking for design and how unseen forces can affect the resulting work. Part one in a series. Introduction Where does a good idea come from? I’ve sat in countless brainstorms on so many subjects I will often forget if I’ve thought about an idea in a …
ARTICLE: Make An Attempt To Care Less
Originally Posted on LinkedIN. I’ve written multiple articles and had long discussions on having empathy for your client and your customer. It’s your understanding and ability to live in their shoes, fear their fears, feel their joys and try to get an idea of what they truly want that is the invaluable secret sauce you …
ARTICLE: Creative Career Advice
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON LINKEDIN. Creative Career Advice: Working in a creative department is a shared experience – you are part of a team. Like it or not. Working in a creative department is a shared experience – and as employee or employer. Entering in to a creative department as you begin your career can often …
ARTICLE: Lack of empathy is holding you back.
Originally published on LinkedIN. I have felt for much of the past decade that the difference between your career advancing is empathy. Or rather – a lack of it. I am a firm believer that a lack of Empathy will ultimately inflict upon us a bitter resentment for the same people we were meant to …
ARTICLE: User Flow Addicts Anonymous
My Name is Todd and it’s been 1 hour since my last flow. Are you part of UFAA? (“User Flow Addicts Anonymous.”) I base everything on flow. I mean everything. I think in flow charts, concept out in flow charts, document ideas in flow charts, make lists in flow charts. I even take notes in …
ARTICLE: Art Direction Lipstick
Advice I gave today: “Sometimes the idea can be simple and the art direction direct. Too often good art directors bury good ideas with lipstick.” Lipstick on a pig. A saying that has been tracked back in written form as early as 1940’s when in a book by English Author Stella Gibbons Westwood. Though the idea …
ARTICLE: The Dawn of the Full Stack Employee
There once was an employee to said “It wasn’t their job.” So someone took their place. In the digital marketing space you often have a team of specialists when it comes to the tech team. You were a flash developer (until a few years ago), a front-end coder, an HTML master, a WordPress’r or a back-end …
ARTICLE: Dealer & Designer
Originally written and published in Strategy Mob Magazine, October 2015 – Issue 01 and also featured on their website. Your focus is on moving metal. A good relationship with your creative team will help you sell more. You have a great dealership. Good deals, too. But something is stopping people from coming through your doors. I’m …
ARTICLE: Strategy Magazine – Next Big Thing Contribution
Originally written and published in Strategy Magazine, September 2015 “Next Big Things” issue and also featured on their website. Automated creativity is changing a digital creative’s role. Universally accessible big data, app development and faster cross-platform server-side coding platforms have allowed us to work with more automated processes in real-time. Early systems are already letting …
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ARTICLE: Beautiful Mistakes
You want to launch with imperfections Are we trained to fear failure? As we grow up we are often taught failure is bad. We learn how to lie. We learn how to hide. We learn ways to avoid shame. We covet encouragement from those who raise and educate us. And we work hard to find …
ARTICLE: Become a force to be reckoned with.
Idiom. Force to be reckoned with Fig. someone or something that is important and powerful and must not be ignored. There is much that can be said for how you gain a reputation in your industry. Whether it’s in a niche area like automotive retail or in a mass area like general advertising or even in …
ARTICLE: UI Design: Eat it grid
But Google said so?!?!?? With the recent announcement from Google that sites with inaccessible mobile content will soon find themselves being effectively delisted in search – old mistakes are coming back to haunt us in the digital design.