Co-Creation: When Users Become Co-Designers
Co-creation in design is like bringing in a co-pilot for your project. You and your team have spent a lot of time in the design process; walking a mile in the user’s shoes, talking and learning about […]
Refining A Concept Through Rapid Prototyping
What do you think of when you read the phrase Rapid Prototyping? Making something out of nothing really fast? Playing with models to see how they work? While the phrase might conjure up ideas of a Star Trek […]
Concept Development That Builds Strong Ideas
Concept development might seem pretty straight forward; you’ve completed the user journey, interviewed them to learn their perspectives and conducted detailed brainstorming sessions. Now you’re ready to select the best ideas and build them into winning solutions […]
Brainstorming Like A Creative Director
Do you ever wonder how creatives at ad agencies come up with new ideas on a daily basis? What type of brainstorming processes do they use to stay relevant to attract the viewers’ attention? At its heart, […]
Understanding Your Users Through Interviews
Talking is one of our most primal and basic functions, yet when presented with interviews or data on a computer screen, more and more people are choosing the impersonal interaction. User research has always held a high […]
How To Start Journey Mapping
Imagine being the proverbial fly on the wall watching your customer’s journey from recognition of your brand, through research to contact and ultimately purchase? What would that journey look like? What types of ‘a-ha’ moments would you […]
A founder is not a CEO
Some people are better at founding and starting companies than running them. In the startup world, there is an undeniable myth that founders make the best CEOs. This myth was probably started by founders looking to retain […]
Designers Should Be Writing
Designers are visual people, creating for the eyes and in-turn, the mind. With incredible skills developing colour pallets to fonts, tactile objects to expansive spaces, stunning images to coveted fashions, designers truly live in the now of […]
Why Your Marketing Isn’t Connecting
Demographics, a cornerstone of marketing, is quickly being replaced by Customer Personas. Marketing theory has traditionally said that customers all fit within prescribed demographics; age, gender, socio-economic status, education, profession, hobbies and more. While the traditional way […]
Why Founders Need To Invest In Their Startup
Founders are the first to place a bet on their company because founders are investors. These investments come in a few forms; seed capital, sweat equity, partnership or in-kind contributions. Regardless of the structure, one truth remains […]
10 Tips To Write An Effective Creative Brief
Think of all the great creative work we see on a daily basis. How the right image paired with the right words evoked reactions. How a new interface felt like a friendly piece of software that you […]
How to Stay Creative While Under Stress
The bags under your eyes betray the forced smile on your face. It takes twice as long to get ready in the morning, picking the right clothes feels like a monumental chore, and in the end, you’re […]
5 Ways to Keep Revisions & Their Costs Under Control
Nothing kills the good feeling of deploying a great looking product to your audience than receiving a bill far higher than you had anticipated. Sure, there were some revisions but the back and forth for those final […]
5 Habits Of Great Design Leaders
Being a designer is a dream for many. Full days creating beautiful pieces and stunning interactions. This is great for members of a design team, but it’s only the beginning for a design leader. We’ve all seen […]
5 Ways To Adopt Design Thinking
Design is in the C-Suite. So what happens now? The cheers can be heard from art school classrooms, from behind drawing tablets in design studios and in long forgotten cubicles occupied by internal creative teams living in […]
How To Avoid Picking The Wrong Investors
Many first-time founders don’t realize this, but it’s crucial to understand that an investment round is not only the investor choosing the startup to invest in but also the other way around. Choosing the wrong investor can […]
The Value of Design Leadership in Business
As all designers know, great design doesn’t start with specs, but with the user. How will they interact with their creation? What type of look, feel, emotion, response should the design evoke? While the final products that […]
What Entrepreneurs Look For In An Investor
Practically every startup founder has or is on the hunt for the right investor to seed their vision. While the wrong ones won’t necessarily ruin a company’s chances, the right ones can make your life as a […]
Spending Less on a Freelancer (is it worth it)?
“That seems like a lot for a freelancer, why don’t we find a cheaper junior option?” And with those words, the start of the project from hell came to be. Not because the project had crazy requirements, but […]
Agency vs. Freelancer? What Is Right For Your Business?
“We really need some design help on this! Should we get an agency, or does anyone know a good freelancer?” This phrase has been uttered one way or another in practically every startup’s office within their first […]
6 Tips for Effectively Dealing with Client Demands
We’ve all had that client. The one with a huge, last minute, complicated project and then try to play the role of ‘worst client ever’. They do things like neglecting to answer their phone or email, love […]
12 Types of Difficult Clients & How To Effectively Deal With Them
We’ve all dealt with difficult clients — every studio has them. You know the one, the client who frustrates you to no end, who seems to have no respect for your craft/business, monopolizes your time and makes […]
10 Things to Know About Fundraising
The moment you start fundraising, you begin running two product lines. The flagship product that you sell directly to customers (what most people know you for). AND Your company Investors are not clients of your product, they […]
Why Fonts & Type Matters
Type matters in an era of consolidating type foundry’s, digital design and Google Fonts, we’re seeing eroding emphasis on the importance of type. More and more, design is taking a ‘good enough’ approach versus taking the time […]
How RenderLife Failed
Update: Feb 2020 After five years, this was reposted on social media after spending time talking about the experience with the community. Below are my reflections over the past five years, and then the original post. Please […]