Figma Community File Rule of product design #7: Always show your work in prototype. Never make people look at your canvas. There reason to use a prototype is to curate the experience for your consumer which may include engineers, product managers, and even users/prospects. Having your designs be nearly high fidelity and realistic will get…
Figma just dropped a ton of new features. I have been trying them out (building a new design system) and I am mostly impressed. However, they are very different, so every designer out there should set aside a few hours to become familiar with them. Here is a quick review, but I suggest finding videos…
I would venture to say the Table/Grid is the most misunderstood and underdeveloped single UI control used today, especially in B2B applications. I thought it would be a good idea to detail it out. Warning: It’s thorough! Note: AG-Grid is an excellent React/Vue-friendly table system with all of these features. I would suggest using it…
Logitech (although their device names are Logi for some reason) has been delivering quality parts for many years. I just replaced my keyboard and decided to review all my Logi devices and software all at once. I use them for my mouse, keyboard, and webcam. All of these Logitech devices are admittedly expensive, but when…
I switched to the WordPress Twenty Twenty Two theme this week and have been working hard to get it functional. I waited until Twentig was compatible with it. To be honest, I could not have made it work without Twentig. This is by far, the most ambitious upgrade of WordPress that I have ever seen…
Follow-up to Rules for a Good Figma Design System Design system principle Make every component so the designer does not need to do anything “custom”. They just add and configure components off the shelf and change text. Make it impossible to mess up. Variants The key to a good system is to use variants liberally.…
What is HotJar? Hotjar is a service that records all of your website visitors and let’s you see exactly what they are doing. They produce videos per person like this: It’s a “freemium” service similar to Figma. You can have it for limited purposes for free, and they hope you buy it for work. They…
I have been mentoring for over 15 years. I find tremendous gratification in helping someone else succeed. Lately, I have been trying out some mentor platforms that help mentors and mentees connect. They are PlatoHQ and ADPList. For the mentees, PlatoHQ is a paid service and ADPList is free. Neither provide any incentives for the…
A Product Manager whom I mentor occasionally asked about getting a team in alignment about a product feature. I told him about story telling. Without further ado, here is how you tell a great PRD story: Examples of great stories Before we get started let’s look at two great stories. Lucas and Noah Meet brothers:…
I’ve been using WordPress since 2005. I used Blogger in 2004 and hand crafted before that. That’s 17 years on the same product for this blog. It’s an absolute miracle that a single product could sustain itself, modernize, and innovate for that long. And frankly, they have dominated website hosting for small businesses. WordPress powers 455…
Inbox Zero is a technique (coined by Merlin Mann) for managing your email account with ruthless efficiency. I have been maintaining this technique for about 5 years and can show you how to achieve it. Note: The technique is possible in other mail tools, but for the purposes of this post, we will only be…
Dada: a movement in art and literature based on deliberate irrationality and negation of traditional artistic values Merriam Webster Key dates: 1916-1924 Key regions: Switzerland, Paris, New York Keywords: Chance, luck, nonsense, anti-art, readymade Key artists: Hugo Ball, Marcel Duchamp, Hans (Jean) Arp, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Hannah Höch, Man Ray, Francois Picabia Key characteristics: Humoristic, tending towards the absurd, satirical attitude towards authority…
Adoption Marketing is a concept I have been working on for over 10 years, but for some reason never blogged about it. Warning: This is a long post because it’s a big topic. Sorry. Adoption Marketing is the effort to influence existing users to adopt the new features you design and develop. Glen Background At…
Figma (much to my sadness) has no built in UI components like a tree or a table. These are UI elements I use every day. So I have been experimenting with how to make these in the most efficient manner using auto-layout, and interactive components. . I just published my interactive tree component to the…