Writing
Sure, I’m super proud of the 20 years of design experience and 10 years of being a successful freelancer I have under my belt—sounds pretty legit, right?—but the truth is those years of experience came with tons of mistakes and setbacks.
The books below are handy collections of tips, hard-won wisdom, and general guidelines for what I’ve found works (and doesn’t work) in design and in freelancing. I hope they’ll be a guide for those taking their first steps into these areas and help budding designers and freelancers take a shortcut to success, with fewer tears and ramen meals.
User Experiences that Matter
User Experiences that Matter gives you an introduction to creating these great user experiences by focusing on the human being using the product.
Mastering Freelance
What are you offering? Who are your clients? How do you find your clients? Mastering Freelance is here to help you discover those answers and find success faster.
All posts
Good reads this weekMay 24, 2019
Simple is expensiveMay 23, 2019
The next iPhoneMay 20, 2019
Whose problem are you solving?May 20, 2019
What “intuitive” really meansMay 13, 2019
Hey Google, stop trying to redefine privacyMay 11, 2019
There’s no crazy like soccer crazyMay 10, 2019
Running my own company for ten yearsMay 05, 2019
Scapegoating User Experience DesignApril 29, 2019
Clip sharing with OvercastApril 29, 2019
Why don’t we just use Material Design?April 24, 2019
Accenture sued $32m+ over website redesign for HertzApril 24, 2019
What’s a UX Strategy?April 23, 2019
The elegance of nothingApril 16, 2019
Amazon Workers Are Listening to What You Tell AlexaApril 11, 2019
Working as a UX-leadApril 08, 2019
Gumroadday: Get my books at -17% discountApril 03, 2019
Working as a UX designerMarch 25, 2019
Meet Q: The First Genderless VoiceMarch 20, 2019
It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at WorkMarch 20, 2019
How Notion pulled itself back from the brink of failureMarch 11, 2019
What’s the meaning of work?March 11, 2019
Neurodiversity and the Digital Divide: how our neurological differences shape the way we experience the webMarch 06, 2019
Accessibility, a powerful design toolMarch 06, 2019
What is worth waiting for?February 25, 2019
Leadership or managementFebruary 22, 2019
Top 10 Application-Design MistakesFebruary 22, 2019
Everyone should own a dogFebruary 18, 2019
Silence is goldFebruary 15, 2019
Voice assistants - are they really the future?February 11, 2019
Cameras that understandFebruary 07, 2019
Humans, not usersJanuary 29, 2019
Writing as part of the UX processJanuary 28, 2019
Keeping AI HonestJanuary 23, 2019
Imagine a world without ads targeted by personal informationJanuary 22, 2019
Right to privacyJanuary 18, 2019
Prescribed Technological Therapy: Is this our future?January 14, 2019
Why we need to slow time and scale downJanuary 03, 2019
2018 in reviewDecember 28, 2018
What We Talk About When We Talk About Design EthicsDecember 20, 2018
If you like what we build, pay us. Otherwise, do not.December 20, 2018
What’s my location?December 17, 2018
The State of UX in 2019December 13, 2018
We need the right kind of growthDecember 11, 2018
Seth Godin: A lesson in good content creationDecember 03, 2018
Why scrap scrappy?November 29, 2018
Why do we feel so busy? It’s all our hidden ‘shadow work’November 22, 2018
How Playing Games Helped Me Succeed at BusinessNovember 19, 2018
Smartphones are our ever-present computersOctober 29, 2018
Time travel through words with Merriam-WebsterOctober 29, 2018
I’m taking a breakOctober 22, 2018
Morgan Knutson on Working as a Designer on Google+October 16, 2018
Organized for browsingOctober 12, 2018
Tim Cook talks to VICE News Tonight about privacyOctober 08, 2018
Stay humble, stay eagerOctober 08, 2018
What about ’my’ responsibilities?September 24, 2018
Tesla, software and disruptionSeptember 18, 2018
Forget the new iPhones - Apple’s best product is now privacySeptember 16, 2018
The iPhone FranchiseSeptember 13, 2018
The Long Goodbye (To Facebook)September 12, 2018
Automation, Unemployment, and Universal IncomeSeptember 12, 2018
Serving your customer, valuing yourselfSeptember 10, 2018
Living among baby robotsAugust 30, 2018
How I kicked my email compulsionAugust 28, 2018
Voice Input’s Effect on Social NormsAugust 28, 2018
Facebook's struggle to moderate itselfAugust 24, 2018
The Secret to Ant Efficiency Is IdlenessAugust 21, 2018
Why Small Teams WinAugust 17, 2018
Back to Work!August 13, 2018
The Bullshit WebAugust 12, 2018
Nikhil Sonnad on the banal evil of FacebookAugust 01, 2018
Five questions UX employers should be askingJuly 23, 2018
Just keep at itJuly 20, 2018
High Fives, AI, and Connecting the Dots: MailChimp’s VP of Design on What Business can Learn from DesignJuly 18, 2018
Yes, Alan, There Is An ROI For UX DesignJuly 18, 2018
Rands Information PractisesJuly 16, 2018
The Race to a TrillionJuly 16, 2018
Cheap Shower CurtainsJuly 16, 2018
Tech Sector Values are Broken?July 02, 2018
Confirmation Bias in DesignJune 25, 2018
Good product writing is conversationalJune 21, 2018
Retail is Not Dying, But it Has to EvolveJune 21, 2018
The Netflix Binge FactoryJune 15, 2018
We are all trapped in the “Feed”June 14, 2018
The Tools I Use to Run My BusinessJune 14, 2018
From the Drawing Board to the Board RoomJune 13, 2018
Turn off your push notifications. All of them.June 13, 2018
Stop “feeding” your usersJune 13, 2018
Think inclusively at every stepJune 12, 2018
Designer Ethics & The Moral Implications of our AppsJune 11, 2018
Conversion optimization with A/B testsJune 04, 2018
AI Ethics - A New Skill for UX-DesignersMay 28, 2018
Let them eat cakeMay 24, 2018
Netflix CultureMay 21, 2018
SkypeMay 16, 2018
How do you learn UX?May 14, 2018
The New Google AssistantMay 09, 2018
What Happened to Apple’s Whimsy?May 08, 2018
UnfounderedMay 07, 2018
GDPR is ruining my lifeMay 05, 2018
What’s in a pattern nameMay 05, 2018
Apple Should Make an Instagram CloneApril 27, 2018
A Modest Guide to ProductivityApril 27, 2018
Google Debuts a Standalone To-Do App, Google TasksApril 27, 2018
Vanity MetricsApril 26, 2018
Tech is not NeutralApril 24, 2018
Design Systems: Better UX through Defined StandardsApril 16, 2018
ProductivityApril 16, 2018
Tim Cook - We care about the user experienceApril 12, 2018
Europe’s tough new data-protection lawApril 12, 2018
The Real Technology ProblemApril 11, 2018
Whose risk?April 09, 2018
Why Small Teams WinApril 09, 2018
Phone BoredApril 09, 2018
Karim RashidApril 09, 2018
Creative Class is openApril 09, 2018
Dieter RamsApril 03, 2018
What’s a ‘User Experience’ Anyways?April 02, 2018
Bleeding OutMarch 29, 2018
Fake News is spamMarch 29, 2018
Don't use the F word (freelancer)March 27, 2018
Conversational DesignMarch 27, 2018
DropboxMarch 27, 2018
How Tech Giants Design For Transgender Users–Or Don’tMarch 27, 2018
Everyone Is Going Through SomethingMarch 23, 2018
It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at WorkMarch 23, 2018
Flight Crews Don’t Decide Where To FlyMarch 21, 2018
New Tools Don’t Always Equal ProductivityMarch 20, 2018
Bye bye FacebookMarch 19, 2018
CubaMarch 19, 2018
The seat at the tableMarch 19, 2018
Why I hate your fake redesignMarch 16, 2018
Your competitors don’t matterMarch 15, 2018
Diversity in the design industryMarch 15, 2018
GivenchyMarch 15, 2018
Apple’s "Sound on the Go" StrategyMarch 13, 2018
Love letters to treesMarch 11, 2018
Amazon has a fix for Alexa’s creepy laughsMarch 09, 2018
Voice Input is the Next Big Thing - Or is It?March 04, 2018
Pricing PhilisophyFebruary 28, 2018
SpecializeFebruary 28, 2018
AMP for email is a terrible ideaFebruary 27, 2018
Is this Finnish school the perfect design?February 26, 2018
The #1 reason Facebook won’t ever changeFebruary 25, 2018
A Year of Learning and Leading UX at GoogleFebruary 22, 2018
C.A.R.E - A simple framework for user onboardingFebruary 22, 2018
A better user experience...or?February 19, 2018
Inside Facebook´s Hellish Two YearsFebruary 19, 2018
Everything Easy is Hard AgainFebruary 11, 2018
Reflections on working on an iPadFebruary 11, 2018
PersonasFebruary 11, 2018
How to succeed at freelancingFebruary 06, 2018
The iPhone X is Apple’s underrated masterpieceFebruary 02, 2018
Make me thinkFebruary 01, 2018
No Cutting Corners on the iPhone XJanuary 22, 2018
The Future of RetailJanuary 22, 2018
Hawaii Missile AlertJanuary 15, 2018
2017 reviewJanuary 08, 2018
Has Apple lost its design mojo?January 05, 2018
Why Design Systems failJanuary 05, 2018
What You BuildJanuary 05, 2018
Cindy Gallop - The Most Provocative Woman in the WorldJanuary 05, 2018
Measure your worth, know your motivationsDecember 12, 2017
The secret formula for great user experiencesNovember 27, 2017
Enjoyable UX vs. Usable UXNovember 14, 2017
Checkout for WinnersNovember 10, 2017
Living a Testing CultureNovember 10, 2017
What do you do?October 31, 2017
Calling bullshit on ‘Apple is really bad at design’October 16, 2017
Creative ClassOctober 07, 2017
Tobias Ahlin: Where´d all the feelings go?October 03, 2017
UX-writer: A New term, a Big NeedOctober 03, 2017
How To Predict Your FutureSeptember 25, 2017
Stop Saying E-mail is BrokenSeptember 25, 2017
Carpe Diem UX-designersSeptember 11, 2017
What´s Good Design?September 04, 2017
Chasing GrowthAugust 29, 2017
GithubAugust 28, 2017
MediumAugust 25, 2017
Are Your Customers Flowers or Plants?August 21, 2017
What Would Augment Reality?August 16, 2017
A RedesignAugust 15, 2017
The One Ingredient All Great User Experiences ShareAugust 09, 2017
Being Freelance Podcast: Episode 100July 14, 2017
Design quotesJuly 10, 2017
EnoughJuly 07, 2017
True fans or just followers?July 05, 2017
Why?July 04, 2017
Groundwork for Creating Great User ExperiencesJune 30, 2017
4 Reasons Why Your Body Text Should be BiggerJune 30, 2017
No Share Buttons on Mobile SitesJune 30, 2017
ARKitJune 30, 2017
The Why before the WhyJune 30, 2017
Think like an artist to create better designsJune 20, 2017
Investing in businesses and productsJune 13, 2017
Become a better UX-designer with these three wordsJune 08, 2017
Vox Media Accessibility GuidelinesJune 06, 2017
Writing for UX: some practical tipsJune 05, 2017
The future of the UX-DesignerMay 30, 2017
How to attract top recruiting talentMay 28, 2017
Why Designers Need to WriteMay 25, 2017
You are the Alfred to BatmanMay 22, 2017
Understanding Great User ExperiencesMay 17, 2017
New isn’t always better, but it makes the old feel worseApril 05, 2017
Designing for MobileMarch 28, 2017
The Possibilities of Automated Personalized ContentMarch 20, 2017
Atomic Design – where science and design collideMarch 13, 2017
Is Less More?March 06, 2017
Designing for AccessibilityFebruary 21, 2017
Why Simple is HardFebruary 07, 2017
Becoming a Better DesignerJanuary 19, 2017
Without Struggle, There Isn’t SuccessJanuary 05, 2017
Email Marketing: High Returns, Low InvestmentDecember 10, 2016
Apple is User Hostile… Or is it?November 28, 2016
Pricing It PerfectlyNovember 22, 2016
Habits: Small Actions can have Big ResultsOctober 31, 2016
Product or Sales? Chicken or Egg?October 11, 2016
Failure, Reflect, RenewSeptember 28, 2016
From Idea to Market – Launching a ProductSeptember 12, 2016
What do Conversions Mean to You?August 23, 2016
User Experiences that Matter 2:nd EditionAugust 09, 2016
Trusting Your GutJune 27, 2016
What are Bots and Why are They Important?June 10, 2016
Change is Quick, Results Take TimeMay 30, 2016
Making Promises Your Clients Will FeelMay 17, 2016
Designing with Emotions in MindApril 30, 2016
UX Design as a Problem SolverApril 18, 2016
The Life of a Freelancer Shouldn’t be a Lonely OneApril 11, 2016
The Secret Feature that Everyone Knows AboutApril 04, 2016
No One Really Knows What They Want AnywayMarch 21, 2016
Built to lastMarch 07, 2016
Be the Butcher not the SupermarketFebruary 22, 2016
The Interactive Car DashboardFebruary 09, 2016
Simplicity – Be Your Own MVPJanuary 25, 2016
Why User Experiences MatterJanuary 12, 2016
An Eye on the FutureDecember 16, 2015
The Fundamentals of Good UXDecember 07, 2015
What is a Great User Experience?November 17, 2015
The Extra Effort for Great UXNovember 03, 2015
Everyone is a UX-designer and Why I Hate the TermOctober 19, 2015
Coming soon: User Experiences that Matter e-bookOctober 06, 2015
Increase conversions by removing social sharing buttonsSeptember 21, 2015
Time vs. Attention: Which is More Valuable?September 21, 2015
Growing Relationships by Understanding ValuesSeptember 03, 2015
UX is Much More than SoftwareAugust 24, 2015
Hey Siri, what’s the future of user interfaces?August 11, 2015
Understanding Pain Dream FixJuly 28, 2015
I am Professional Because I am PersonalJuly 13, 2015
How designers can earn a seat at the tableJune 26, 2015
The days are long but the decades are shortJune 23, 2015
GrowthJune 16, 2015
Working with UX-designers and getting results!June 16, 2015
What is the cost of ‘sharing’?June 03, 2015
The path of a successful appJune 02, 2015
Working with meMay 05, 2015
Planners and UX-DesignersApril 23, 2015
Kudos – Social Media frameworkApril 14, 2015
Understanding UI DesignApril 14, 2015
UX Design explainedApril 14, 2015
Look and Feel and FeelApril 13, 2015
Great user experienceApril 09, 2015
Naming your iconsApril 07, 2015
Golden Krishna on Our Job as DesignersApril 07, 2015
ConversationsNovember 13, 2014
Cost, pricing and perceived valueApril 09, 2013
