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China Second Impressions
I’ve been in China for 3 weeks now and I’m settling in. I thought I would share some interesting stories. Communicating is still slow going, but I’m able to talk minimally with strangers, waiters, taxi drivers etc. which opens up...
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China First Impressions
Finally made it to China! After over a year of studying Chinese and planning in New York, it’s rewarding to finally be here. I’m studying in a 10 million person city you’ve probably never heard of called Shijiazhuang. There are...
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The Story of a Children's Story
Back in 2013, a friend sent me a letter. It was something very simple and kind, and enclosed a hand drawn picture of a cactus, which is my favorite plant (and which I framed). I wanted to reciprocate, so I...
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Meural Production
I had the pleasure this past week of working on Meural’s production line. To me, the experience falls into the category of something that everybody should have to do once in their lives, akin to working at a restaurant or...
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When the Team Wins, You Win
Disagreements are important. They prove that people have conviction and care about decision that are made. When decisions are made taking multiple points of view into account, they are generally better decisions - think of a company’s executive team or...
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Vulnerability
I’ve always been interested in being more myself, I think that’s something that most people would say. But it’s hard, there are things that I feel ashamed of, things that I’m not comfortable sharing, certain things that feel as though...
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On Stream Of Consciousness
Writing should come freely, but all too often we prematurely analyze our writing and allow editing to hamper the mind’s natural mechanism for quickly outputing loosly related ideas, one of our race’s greatest assets and the driving force behind creativity....
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Tagging My Photos
Mobile phones make it easy to take a lot of photos, and I do. I document art, objects, receipts, contracts, shipping summaries, product defects, items for sale and much more with my phone. Those photos automatically sync with the cloud,...
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Plastic Poo
We buy plastic containers, bags, machinery, cables, coat hangers, furniture, bottles, and that list ends in places that we don’t see. After reading this post about the very giant amount of plastic in the ocean’s gyres, I became transfixed by...
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Searching For The Ux Holy Grail And Why I Prototype (rapidly)
I haven’t always gone through a formal wireframing phase with new projects. I have come to learn that this is a mistake, at least for me. At times, I thought that sketching could replace wireframing. Maybe for some it can,...
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Real Time Design In Taiwan
I recently travelled to Taiwan for the holidays, so I’ll be writing a bit about it. One of the most interesting things about Taiwan is how it mixes the developing and developed worlds. There are things about it that feel...
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What Can We Learn
Becca and I recently moved into our new apartment in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It’s a wonderful apartment with beautiful hardwood floors, huge closets, and a spacious kitchen. My excitement was quickly put out as I was woken each passing night by...
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Passive Customer Service - Kai D Case Study
Every relationship has two sides - one party takes, the other gives. In good relationships, the giving and taking equalizes over time. When it doesn’t, the relationship fizzles. This is what some people might refer to as karma, and the...
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Rapid Prototyping A Bar Of Soap
Last weekend, Becca and I set out to make some progress on the branding for her new soap company, Zao (‘morning’ in Mandarin). We had some fundamental questions to answer about her bar soaps: Having recently read an excellent article...
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The Right Tools For The Job
Relying on your existing knowledgebase can be dangerous to self growth. When a new project comes along, see it as an opportunity to add a new tool to your toolkit. As a designer, I work on a huge variety of...
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Skinnyfatties, "In The Studio"
Last night I was so pleased to attend the second ever live recording of the Skinnyfatties “In The Studio” podcast, co-hosted by Joshua Brueckner and Ian Phillips. The podcast is a concise dialog between the two hosts, with brief appearances...
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Sometimes, Things Take a While
Its taken almost 4 months to get a business credit card, something that should have taken 15 business days - Not because the application process is difficult or laborious, but because the world is full of people just like me...
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Taking Care Of Myself
I have a hard time taking care of myself. From the moment I wake up, my head thumping with ideas, until the moment I go to sleep, I’m constantly moving to get everything done. In the process, things start to...
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Greater Than Zero
As many user experience people have discovered through exposing fake products that cost $1, the difference between zero and any real number is infinite - multiply 0 by any number, you get 0. Each time I make a purchase, or...
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On Sharing
It’s taken me a long time to see the value of collaboration, and more generally, the value of communicating and sharing ideas. Perhaps I wasn’t ready in the past, or didn’t have enough to say, or maybe I was simply...
