“I don’t want to waste time doing user research because that will only give us something trivial.” That was one of the many reasons I heard from other designers about why we shouldn’t do user research. “Research” seems to be a dry word, something in stark contrast with the beautiful…

Bad designs have real consequences. I’ve lost my groceries and almost lost my bank card because of — well, bad designs. The Train Seats Living in Toronto, I rely on the TTC subway to travel around the city. After boarding the train, I always try to avoid Seat A and B next to…

It’ll be good for your self-esteem. — It took me almost 30 years and a lot of reading to learn this: keeping a highlight reel of ourselves is so important for fostering healthy self-esteem. People with healthy self-esteem are collected and nonreactive in the face of doubts, judgements or insults. Life is tough. When the outside world…

Many of us love Apple’s products because they are delightful to use. If we observe a bit carefully, it’s not hard to see how their designers think: They are constantly inspired by nature, which informs not just the visuals (i.e. skeuomorphism), but also interactions. When you enter a wrong passcode…

In art and design, the levels of details is closely related to the amount of visual interest in a piece. …

Changing careers can be scary, especially when you haven’t had a complete picture of the field you’re thinking about getting into. To help you cope with the overwhelm and avoid analysis paralysis, below are three quick tips. …

How creating 200 illustrations on a weekly basis has made me a better illustrator — I recently posted my 200th illustration on Instagram. As you may know, I started this project of creating 1 piece of illustration per week back in 2018. I first reflected on this journey in 2020 when I reached the 100 milestone. Now, after another 100 pieces, it’s about time for…

A complex software application often involves multiple personas, several user journeys, and complicated interactions between different user groups. Without a thoughtful design, these complexities can be overwhelming and frustrating: Users are forced to deal with a cluttered UI with overloaded features, or to search for an obscure button or command…

One of the most amazing things about colors is that they are relative. I learned this from one of my professors in university. It’s an optical illusion, and it can be used to our advantage to create the perception of the color we want without actually using that color. …