I'm very excited to announce that my band, Leap of Faith, has released our first album: The River Rises! It's available now on Spotify and Apple Music—coming soon to every other streaming platform out there. Please check it out and share widely.

“Human-centered” often faces away from disability, illness, and death, but this too is being human. How might we make welcome what we fear? Monday, July 17, 6-8pm CMU Collaborative Innovation Center Register: https://t.co/iXyYz9hdfG

IxDA Pittsburgh & @PittsburghPMI are facilitating a frank discussion digging into issues PMs and UX experience in product dev teams. We hope you’ll join us and invite your UX or PM counterpart. 6/22/23 6:00 - 8:00 pm Carnegie Library, Carnegie Register: https://t.co/MlIUfptiGV

Emerge from your winter cocoon and re-engage with your UX community at Round Corner Cantina. We've reserved the cabana. Monday, June 5th, 6pm. See you there!

I'm hiring in Seattle again! Mid-level UX designer, hybrid, good team, caring manager, and an org that is serious about maturing DesignOps. https://t.co/x09zoA7uix

J’accuse! One of the best things about @ixdconf = the naughty gems tweeted by anonymous account (& unofficial mascot) @drunkatixda each year. I did a rundown of who I think is behind the trolling—check out which @ixda members made my suspect list #IxD23

Pretty sure we saw @drunkatixda skinny dipping in Lake Zurich during the Local Leader boat cruise this afternoon. @ixdconf

Anew - Pre-pandemic, IxDA Pittsburgh was organizing around ten events a year like a well-oiled machine. In 2022, we held four. Our organizing committee dwindled to three members, and we’re all tired. Tonight, we held a planning meeting for...

Home Automation Pitfalls - Home automation is very convenient, but sometimes things don’t work the way they’re supposed to. Take our Nest thermostat, for example. The Nest is, by and large, a set and forget device. I rarely have to open the...

“Not everything is design. But design is about everything. So do yourself a favor: be ready for anything.” - Michael Bierut

In the Details: adding clicks - I’ve never heard a user say, “It takes too few clicks.” Certainly, there are times when adding a step to a task flow improves the experience, but generally speaking, the fewer clicks to accomplish a task, the...

Tips for Job Seekers: Differentiation - I’ve reviewed a lot of portfolios in the past few months, and it became very clear what the curriculum consisted of in Google’s UX certificate course. I saw a lot of cookie-cutter projects. Idea for a...

It’s Freezing In Here - You may recall that I backed Frosthaven, by Isaac Childres and Cephalofair Games, on Kickstarter back in March of 2020. The original plan was for it to fulfill one year later in March of 2021. Of course that Kickstarter...

“I would ask all the same questions. It was just this constant, ‘How does that work? How do they make that work?’ And from there, it’s just been this progression of… the problem keeps getting bigger, but the skills are the same. There’s no...”

Hey, Netflix UX - Yes, I’m talking to you. I know you have all the data. I realize that I’m just one of millions of users of your product, and while I’m an experienced designer myself, I’ve never worked in your industry. I have no expectation...

Interaction 23 Draws Nigh - I have my airfare to Zurich and my hotel booked. My wife is tagging along, and we’re heading out a few days early to allow time for sightseeing. I’ve made reservations for a day trip to Jungfraujoch in the Swiss...

Tips for Job Seekers: Energy - Show some interest in your work. Call me Captain Obvious, but you would be surprised by the number of people I’ve interviewed who don’t show any excitement about the projects they are sharing. The best designers...

“That’s it: design is the plan that gets us to our goal.” - Mike Monteiro

Service Wipeout - I schedule my annual auto inspection during the week I took off before Christmas. I scheduled it several weeks in advance and requested a loaner, as the dealership is just over 30 minutes down I-79. There was some scheduled...

Gaffi Sticks & Bantha Tracks - Many jokes and memes have been made over old Ben’s line, “…and these blast points, too accurate for sand people. Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise.” It’s funny to point out all the times they miss...