Words are hard
Thoughts on design, leadership, and making things.
- Side ProjectPinnedDesigning an invisible premium radio product for people who hate technologyWhen smart speakers aren't an option, you build something better.
- Side ProjectAn old Kindle now tells my wife when I'm in a meetingA shared calendar showing my meetings wasn't as useful as I thought so I turned an old Kindle into an e-ink display using TRMNL and mounted it next to my office door.
- Side ProjectFixing the AI writing problemAI is a tool. It should communicate like one. I created 3 skills to improve AI writing and a test suite to determine how much they help.
- Design InsightsWhat makes a good LinkedIn profile?I optimised my LinkedIn into oblivion (and back), then collated the research, built a tool to show what recruiters actually see, and packaged it as a skill.
- CareerDon't write your resume in FigmaWhile it might look beautiful, Figma's pdf export does not structure the document in a way that most ATS platforms can consume easily. I tested this by building a simple ATS scoring tool.
- Design InsightsGenerative interfaces and why software will own the UI againBuilding your own tools makes you the maintainer and sharing them with others makes it a full time job.
- Side ProjectA daily AI print of the birds singing in my gardenA BirdNET listener names the birds in my garden by their song, and each day's new species become a hand-coloured Audubon-style print generated by Gemini and pushed to my site.
- Design InsightsMost companies get AI integration backwardsIntegrating AI into a product has a hierarchy of needs, and most companies build it upside down. They bolt on a chat box, call it AI, and skip the foundational work needed. The only order that works starts from a real problem.
- Home AutomationForking a game-streaming host to avoid pressing a buttonI forked a game-streaming host to add an API key then rebuilt a home-automation flow, all to avoid pressing one button.
- Design OperationsDesigners should be able to fix the design bugs they findDescribing a design bug and handing it off takes more time than the fix itself so I built a 'bugbot' AI agent that lets you describe the bug in Slack then reproduces, diagnoses, fixes, and deploys, all while keeping you in the loop.
- Side ProjectI built my own CMS so I could write on my actual websiteAfter leaving Ghost, I built my own CMS that lets me edit posts inside the rendered page, not in a sidecar form. A few iterations in, it has a drawer, a save state and plans.
- Design OperationsOne-shot prototyping from PRDs and validating AI design tools before adoptionThe team that will use the tool needs to be the ones who evaluate it, and it needs to happen on a real project to pressure test it.
- Design InsightsThe next generation of AI design toolingToday's AI design tools are chat-driven single-preview pipelines. The next generation will collapse design and code onto an infinite canvas with no distinction between the two.
- Design OperationsPractical Designer Performance ReviewsA practical way to run designer performance reviews using a living document with clear keep/start/stop feedback, goal tracking, and AI tools to make you more efficient.
- LeadershipGive The Difficult FeedbackGiving tough feedback can be its own challenge, especially for new managers. Clear, constructive critique builds trust, drives growth, and strengthens teams.
- LeadershipYou Will Screw UpDon’t be afraid of making mistakes. Instead, develop the resilience to fail, own it, and respond with clarity.
- LeadershipThe Power of Side Quests to Level-up Your TeamWant to grow real leaders? Give them side quests. Small, intentional challenges that build the muscles titles don’t—conflict, boundaries, and trust.
- Design OperationsBetter Design Outcomes with Figma and AIFigma’s MCP server, paired with AI tools like Roo Code and Cursor, is transforming how design decisions reach production.
- CareerHow to Stand Out as a Senior Product Designer CandidateSearching for your next senior product design role? Find practical advice for how to approach resumes, portfolios, interviews, and walkthroughs.
- Design InsightsDesigning for the empty states (10 years later)In 2013 I wrote an article outlining an often overlooked part of design; the empty states. A lot has changed in the 10 years since and it's time to revisit the topic.
- PersonalMy first workshop buildDuring the pandemic I used the extra time to convert part of my one-car garage into a workshop to start exploring woodworking and building things.
- Side ProjectHow I accidentally built the official Pexels Figma pluginThere wasn't a Pexels plugin for Figma, so I built one. Pexels found it, made it official, and the plugin now has over 420,000 users.
- Side ProjectI learned to make Figma plugins in a weekI wrote two Figma plugins in a week having never created any before.
- Design InsightsSketch Symbol Override ConceptA design exploration of symbol overrides in Sketch and how they could be improved, with a focus on usability and visual consistency.
- Design InsightsThe best UI is no UI
- Design Insights:hover is Dead
