Preaching what I try to practice
This page is just where I tell you about the values and practices I hold dear. I try to teach by modeling these attitudes and practices in how I work.
I have had to learn most of this… the hard way.
Good design starts before anyone draws.
If we don’t start by collaborating to understand the problem and shape the solution, none of the rest matters.
It can be beautiful, consistent, and even easy—but is it the right task? Does it fit into a thoughtful, connected journey? Does it truly empower the user to meet their goals?
Draw with developers.
Pictures get everyone on the same page fast. I like using Lovable or Builder.io too—they help people share ideas without feeling self-conscious and make the point quickly.
Asking your technical partners to draw how they’d build it before you design it often uncovers valuable details, constraints, and assumptions that might never come up in conversation.
Don’t make it pretty while you figure it out.
Start with messy. Get worse. Fail fast.
It won't matter if it's elegant if it's wrong.
The best experiences come from exploration, time with non-designers, and some first attempts that weren't quite right.
Listen to Customer Support.
I don’t just mean to use quantitative call-topic data (though you should).
If someone from customer service brings you an idea, listen.
It might not be the top priority or the perfect fix, but they usually understand the problems — and the root causes — better than anyone.
Don't mock user mistakes.
I cringe deeply when I hear designers (or product managers) say “You can’t fix stupid.”
A person's ability to navigate a system isn’t a measure of their intelligence—it’s a reflection of how well the system creators understood the user when designing it.
Do. Not. Blame. The. User.
It’s ok. Adjust. Do better. Keep learning.
Dream a little, but work a lot.
Friction between PM priorities and ideal design is real and frustrating when big ideas can’t be fully realized.
That’s your chance to be a true partner. Pragmatic execution now often makes ideal strategy possible later. There’s more magic in elbow grease than in pixie dust.
Don’t slow things down when conditions aren’t perfect timelines, budgets, and platforms rarely are. PMs usually aren’t ignoring good priorities; they’re managing trade-offs.
Help them make the best of what’s possible. Don’t cry about limitations, just act. Even if it goes unseen, steady, thoughtful progress always speaks loudest.
Something about AI
AI is a companion that helps me move faster, sparks ideas, challenges assumptions, and often saves me from myslef. Like Balsamiq sped up wireframes or Figma changed prototyping, AI will handle manual wireframing, rapid prototyping, and even lightweight A/B tests before a developer writes a line of code, while making design systems smarter and cutting busywork. AI can automate tasks and analyze patterns, but only humans feel empathy and turn struggles into solutions. We’ll still watch real people use our tools, learn by doing, and create with heart and mind. AI just lets us do it bigger, faster, and together—with less friction and more imagination.
Celebrate your dust pile.
A big pile of designs concepts that you didn’t use isn’t a pile of failures. It’s how you figured out what not to do because it was the wrong way to go, or the wrong thing to work on.
Be ok "killing your darlings."
It's dev-dollars you didn't spend. Good job.
