Author Archive

Success In Other Areas

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

There was a time when I would attend one conference a month, talking to people in my field and neighboring fields. While the conferences directly related to what I do were great for seeing friends from around the world and seeing recent progress in interesting projects, I tend to keep up to date through news [...]

The Sketchiness of Reality

Monday, September 7th, 2009

One of the most frequent questions I get asked by students and colleagues in the field is “What tools do you use?”. There is always an interesting assumption that software is the key to mind-blowing design, and if they find that latest Adobe beta or esoteric tool by some basement start-up, it will give them [...]

From Tangible To Intangible

Sunday, September 6th, 2009

Over the years, my work has begun taking on a new direction. I’m still theoretically working in Product Design, but I noticed a while back that my process began shifting. I had less time in front of documentation and more time in front of different groups of people. I’ve seen less and less of my [...]

Feature Explosion!

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007

There is a sea change taking place right now. People are becoming more aware of the poorly made electronic gadgets around them and realizing they can choose something better. This is a great shift in a new direction, making people stop blaming themselves and start rising up against the real problem. However, there is a [...]

The Culture of Customization

Tuesday, October 17th, 2006

In the beginning, if you wanted something, you had to make it. You would strap things together, whittle them down, and build your own personal widget that did precisely what you wanted. How well this thing actually performed its task depended entirely upon your skill level in creating it, and someone else may have come up with [...]

Sexier than Consumer Reports