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I received an email earlier today titled: "Free Meal Offer for Fun Lunch Participants at CPK" This email is in regards to my children's participation in the "Fun Lunch" program at their school. Fun Lunch is the first Wednesday of every month, and the kids get a special lunch at school, either pizza, mac and cheese, (or salad, but come on, what kid is ordering that?).  As a parent of kids who have been in the school for a few years, I'm familiar with the program. But what I didn't understand was "CPK". Are kids eating their lunch at a place called CPK? Are some kids attending the school coming from a place called CPK?  The email continues: As a reminder for those of you who've ordered fun lunch before, and for those who are new to fun lunch, we wanted to make sure you knew this offer was available and ensure you understood how it works. As it's been in the past, please note that only 1 free meal is included as stipulated be...

I'm reading a book called "Getting More" by Stuart Diamond. He's a renowned negotiator, and instructor of a course on negotiation at Wharton Business School. I'm only part way through, but I'm connecting with a lot of his ideas, especially the idea that succeeding in a negotiation doesn't usually look like what we expect it to, or as it might play out in a movie scene. That an effective negotiation isn't usually won by brute force, and dominating the other side. On the contrary, to build sustaining, healthy "wins", vs. short-term, detrimental wins, you have to have empathy. You have to see the other side, and imagine the "pictures in their head" based on who they are and how they are feeling at the time of the negotiation. A win is rarely arrived at without making it "about them", and ensuring that they feel like they have gotten something from the deal. The first strategy he discusses is that "Goals Are Paramount...

First off--I didn't actually break my streak! To be clear, the last entry was written yesterday, but I apparently forgot to hit the Publish button. So there you have it. Streak intact! Recently a friend asked me to write a list of things I believe in. Here's what I came up with: It can always be better. Design is not just what you see. If it feels unnecessarily complicated, it probably is. Great visuals aren't everything, but they help. Effective design builds trust. Getting better doesn't mean doing great work--it means recognizing bad work faster. Feedback is paramount. Multitasking is a myth. Smarter is better than more. Listening is more important than talking. Listening is harder than talking. It's not about me. It's all about you. People should read. People don't read. Connecting is everything. Everyone can connect on something. Problems are better approached sideways. Most problems in the world are being worked at from the wrong end. Happiness is a ...

My son and husband were debating this morning about the best way to crack an egg. My son's preferred method is to crack it on the edge of a bowl, to create a large opening so he can quickly split open the shell and dump the contents into the bowl. My husbands preferred method is to hit it on a flat surface, like the counter, and then split the shell. He argues that doing it this way lessens the possibility of cracking shell bits into the egg. What they both agree on though, is that to crack the egg, you can't hold back in either method. You have to make the commitment, and follow through at the start. No half measures in egg cracking.

I have a large amount of jewelry I'm getting rid of. I've had it for many years, but the truth is that I'm accessory-challenged, so even though I may have myriad options for coordinating cool chunky necklaces with casual tops, I really only wear about 3 plain necklaces with small charms on them. It doesn't mean I don't like what I have. In fact, a lot of what's there seems like a real find to me. A delicate silver tube chain necklace with turquoise pieces, fabulous 80s-era hoops and bangles, bold beaded natural stone strings, are among the treasures. I invited some friends to come by and grab what they liked from the array. It reminded me of why you can't assume that you understand what someone else puts a value on. There was little clue as to why some pieces were picked, and some passed over. The pieces I thought would be surefire hits because their chunky boldness were left behind. Others that were made of higher quality materials were also ignored. Ea...

I'm still on my Kondo-ing kick, moving slowly through the proper stages--for the uninitiated, the stages are denial, anger, bargaining...wait, no, that's something else. The stages are clothes, books, papers, komono, and sentimental items. So far I've only done clothes and books, but already I can see how some of the rooms in our house have managed to stay clean for longer than a day, so something must be working. A premise of the KonMari method is that you should identify what you love, keep only those items, and create a home for each item. That way, you will always know where to put something back when you are cleaning up. It occurred to me that this is an effective solve for a persistent decluttering problem, and you can imagine it as a "How Might We" question. A "How Might We" (HMW) question helps spark ideas in a brainstorm. If you're met with a design challenge, it helps to ask HMW instead of, "We need something that does X. How do we...

Your product or service is awesome! Sez who? Hopefully someone who is reputable and relevant to your audience. And someone you can put a finer point on than - Company Owner - Partner at Major Law Firm or - Current Patient Getting a quote from an identifiable and credible source is a great way to prove that your solution has made a difference for someone, and they've been pleased enough to talk about it. To tie it all together, here are some steps to follow that should help to build an effective piece of communication: Phase 1: Simplify Identify your content Who is this for? Even if you have multiple audiences, pick only one for this exercise. What do they value? Identify their top 1-3 needs that your product fulfills. What is it worth to them? Place a measurable value on what your product can do for them (ie., amount of $ saved, amount of time saved per month, etc. This can be conjecture for now.) Write a value statement based on steps 1-3. How does it work? Outline ...

Yesterday, we identified building blocks that can build your opening value statement.  Hopefully you have something that grabs the people you want to help, and lets them know how you can help them.  If they choose to read on, and you bombard them with paragraphs of supporting evidence, further details, endless descriptions, you may see a glaze fall over their eyes right before they make their speedy exit (probably without your handout). Be kind to your reader. They are dealing with a lot of input, and the last thing you should do is overload them. Help them understand how your product or service integrates with their workflow. Current research says that the human mind can only hold about 4 things in it at once, so see if you can break your explanation into 3-5 steps. This gives it the best chance of being quickly digestible by a distracted brain. Try to describe each step with a minimum of content. Remember, you're trying to give just enough information to get the reader t...

Let's return to our chaotic conference. Rows of booths. Lots of noise. A limited amount of time. In this scenario, an attendee isn't looking to hear more about other companies. They want to know specifically how any of these products or services relate to them. A handout that starts with why your company is awesome will fall on deaf ears. Your opener should clearly state what problem you can solve for someone else. If your audience has that problem, they may read on. So the first question you'll need to answer is: Who is this for? Even if you have multiple audiences, who is most likely to be attending this event?  What do they value? Put yourself in their shoes, and try to figure out what problems they have, and how your product or service might solve those problems. Try to identify their top 1 - 3 challenges. Measure what they value. Look at those 1 - 3 challenges. Any idea how much your audience would benefit if you could solve them?  Once you have your ans...

Conferences are overwhelming. You are surrounded by people, graphics, and noise, all trying their darndest to feel relevant to you. Who do you talk to? Which booth do you visit? Where do you put all these damn handouts and tchotchkes? (Wait, you haven't been given a tote yet?!). Throw in some networking anxiety and a couple cocktails, and its hard to tell how any of this will be productive. There's a lot going on at a conference booth--signage, giveaways, and most important, the people who are there to talk to you. To give them a hand, I'd like to make a case for the hardworking, if often overlooked, single-page handout. Done right, it may be the fastest way to communicate why someone should spend any time learning about your product or service. I've wondered if there is a repeatable system for creating basic design and content building blocks that will ensure that your point gets across, and give it the best chance of standing out in the crush of brochures and takeaw...

Last year, my son made his first real effort to sell popcorn for the Cub Scouts. The year before that he kind of phoned it in, selling maybe a handful of orders. Last year, though. he really got into it. He went all over our neighborhood, and sold over $1,000 worth of popcorn. He had his pitch down. He was super polite, excited to talk to everyone, gracious even if there was no sale. I couldn't have been more proud. When it was time to deliver everything however, it was anything but smooth. Most people decided they'd pay when the goods arrived. That meant my son had to go out multiple times, because he couldn't drop anything off unless the people were home and could pay him at that time. It was a long few weeks. This time, we streamlined. Our updated system included: A map of the area. We marked which sides of the street we'd visited to keep track of where we'd already been, and tried to keep the blocks we chose in more or less of a group. A double-check of ...

Have you ever seen this? It's the notice you get when you've forced a restart on your mac. And it drives me bananas. Why, you ask? It doesn't help that when you see this notice, you are already cranky because you've just had to force a restart on your computer. It's usually when you are very busy, and were running a bunch of apps on your machine, so most likely you're also ticked off that you've lost some work, and there's a good chance that you're stressed because of a looming deadline. And now you've been given cryptic instructions and a time constraint. Lovely. You've been given 46 seconds to parse a message that seems shoehorned in because the buttons themselves can't do their job. "You shut down your computer because of a problem." Thanks, news. "If you want to open the applications that were open when you shut down, click Open." Umm...let me read that again. "If you do nothing, the computer wi...

This is a reprise of an earlier post, an explanation of why is  here . A problem to solve About a week ago, we made a poor parenting decision and let our son have a look at the Michael Jackson "Thriller" video. He's 9, a mature and collected dude, and planning to go as a zombie for Halloween, so it just seemed to make sense. A couple minutes in, we realized our mistake. The King of Pop gets taken over by an evil invisible force, crouches down, and lurches forward suddenly with glowing yellow eyes and giant teeth. Game over. My son fled the room and freaked out. In that moment, my instincts told me to appeal to his logical side. "Listen. This is just a video. Like special effects in a movie! If we could back the camera up, you'd see a crew of people attending to Michael's makeup and lighting, and it wouldn't be scary at all. Trust me!" Well, no soap. He was convinced that he'd never be able to sleep again without having terrible nightmare...

Dear Reader, First off--thank you for reading my blog! You are most likely one of a handful of people I've given the link to, so I probably know you (Hi, you!), and I really appreciate you taking the time to check it out. I wanted to explain a bit about why I'm publishing here. I see this as a holding pen for ideas. I've made a commitment to write something each day, with the goal of having it be relevant (to varying degrees) to design, process, empathy, user experience, way-finding, and anything else that has to do with how we make our way through the world. I'm hoping these eventually percolate into longer-form (and better written) articles. So occasionally, you may see a repeat, where I take an older entry and rework it into something more involved. Hopefully it will all make sense, so bear with me! If you ever get the notion, please don't hesitate to comment on whatever you see here. I think you need to "follow" this blog or something to be abl...

We have a "flip up" spout on our balsamic vinegar. It was a surprise innovation to the usual bottle top. At first all appeared normal, but when we opened the bottle, shazam! Up popped the spout. Neat! Almost like those fancy balsamic bottles they have in the restaurants when you have bread and olive oil at the table. Except...its really hard to get the top back on. I almost cut my hand every time I try to close it, because it has the same old aluminum cap with the perforated bottom, and to push the spout back down and turn, I risk hand lacerations every time, unless I use a dishtowel to screw it shut. At what point in the development of this feature did someone notice this? Did the arguments to upgrade the quality of the cap to accommodate the new spout fall on deaf ears? Or did the flaw go unnoticed until the bottles were in production? Or was everyone so taken with the wizzy new spout that no one, even today, has yet to mention it? Like some kind of kitchen-bound naked em...

I'm friends with a stand up comedian. When you have friends who do stand up, you often see the same material performed multiple times. It's a great way to watch how someone hones their craft, and it gives you a whole new level of respect for how hard it is. When the bit is new, I've seen my friend take the stage and "wing it". This has occasionally resulted in some pretty uncomfortable stage time. Then I've seen the same material worked at multiple shows, until its absolutely routine. At that point, when she goes up, she seems completely relaxed, her set almost unrehearsed. And it usually kills. But that's the set that looks like it took no effort — like she was "winging it". One of the more vexing things about craftsmanship is that sometimes, to get it to the level you are striving for, there's almost no perception of the work it took to get there.

Our children switched to a new school three years ago. It's a lot bigger than anything they've been in before, and has some very specific rules and systems. The difficult part hasn't been the rules, so much as not knowing what you don't know. For instance, no one tells you that at the school open house, there's a sign up sheet for parent-teacher conferences in the gym. (there is one paragraph about it, buried deep in a handout that you may or may not notice in your child's bag). Seasoned parents know to line up by the doors, so they can rush in to grab the good time slots. I happened upon this system by chance, and felt lucky that I did. They also have a PTO website that you can purchase membership to. What new parents may not realize is that if you don't purchase membership, your contact info won't be listed anywhere, and you won't have access to your child's classmates' contact info, which gets difficult when you're trying to plan a b...

Today I signed a contract. It was after a lot of reading, and re-reading of legal jargon. Legal jargon is expected with any contract or terms of service. A recent study of them revealed that they are written at levels that most people would be unable to completely understand, even if they were interested in reading them. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/12/opinion/facebook-google-privacy-policies.html As with bizarrely difficult interfaces (see yesterday's post), why make something confusing on purpose? I can only guess that it's... - To obscure its purpose. - To make the user feel unsure. - To control user behavior. - To get a user to make a snap decision. - To exhaust someone into complacency. But why? Could it be... - To get a user to buy without thinking too much. - To implement a gating system. - To hide flaws. - To create an inside track. - To compel actions that are different from what appears to be the point. My guesses still don't help...

My husband's phone is synced to iCloud. It wasn't his choice, exactly. His phone ran out of room at some point, and it prompted him to start storing to the cloud. He, maybe in a moment of distraction, hit accept, and now his photos live up there, and on the phone. But...apparently if he deletes off of his phone, it disappears off of the cloud as well. And the images on his phone are automatically saved as lower-size versions, to conserve space. So, the only way to get the high resolution photos saved to his local drive is to methodically download groups of photos from the cloud to his computer. Because, there is no "download all" from iCloud. Why? It seems like such a basic function. I have to believe there's a reason for this, other than it never occurred to them. But what could it be? I see this with other Apple software. For instance, Pages. Why would you have a "duplicate" option, instead of a 'save as'? If you want to create something new fr...

Once you complete the Kondo process (note: I'm a looong way from finishing), the idea is that the remaining items in your life should truly speak to who you are as a person, right now. As my Kondo adventure continues, I'm excited to see the results. You get a snapshot of yourself through your belongings. Once the value has been given its space to shine, you can see what's truly there. And maybe it isn't what you expected. One note in the book talks about the choices you make regarding which books to keep. There is a Japanese idea that "words make our reality". That the actual spines of your books could take your life in a particular direction. And to be aware of whether the words surrounding you are negative, or counter to who you want to be. As a designer, I love this concept. The power that visual type has, and how the words you choose to keep near you either cheer you on, or hold you back.  Choices made when designing communications can work the same...

I've recently gotten onboard with the Kondo craze. For the uninitiated, its a supposedly foolproof method for decluttering and organizing your home. If you'd like a quick overview, go here:  https://shop.konmari.com/pages/about At the beginning of the process, its strongly suggested that you envision why you want to do this process to begin with. Of course, the answer seems obvious at first: "To not look like a messy slob?" But the instructions implore you to go deeper, to ask why a few times, and uncover the deeper meaning behind your need for an uncluttered life. While each persons' reasons will be unique, I think a shared reason would be the streamlining of your time. If I think about all the time I spend looking for things, wondering if I have a particular thing, buying a thing and then realizing I already have that thing...I would imagine its an enormous amount of time.  At its heart, I think "'Kondoing" is basically a design process. Wh...

Your project might be a series of design deliverables. Points along the project timeline marked by requirements. You spend a fixed amount of time, and deliver a specific item, as requested. Or, you can explore providing solutions. In this case, you are focused on the outcome. You can arrive at that outcome any way you please. Research? Interviews? Videos? Pasta art? If the work gets you to your goal, great. If the work gets you to your goal using less time and a unique approach, even better. The difficult part is committing to delivering a solution. To saying "I will solve this problem," vs. "I will deliver this item."  HT to Seth Godin. This entry is based on his recent blog post " Projects vs. Tasks" .

I try to shoehorn exercise into my schedule, at best 5 days a week. My exercise buddy is a series of DVDs, with 25 minute workouts on them. I do them first thing in the morning, so I get it out of the way. I'm a big fan of the instructor, as he gets detailed on how to do the exercises properly, and he has an upbeat attitude, which is crucial when you're facing this kind of activity at 5:15am. Something more subtle though, is that he's doing everything on the reverse side of what he's saying he is. So, when you are facing your tv, he'll be calling out "kick your right leg", but he's actually kicking his left leg. It took me a while to notice this, because its natural to think of the person facing you as using the same side you are (the origin of the phrase "no, your other left.") It would take some brain power to transpose your moves to the person on the screen (especially at 5:15am). So, he does the computation for you. He removes that ...

In time for Halloween, a detailed procedure for baking the most mind-blowingly delicious roasted pumpkin seeds you will ever eat (serious). Do you have something you are expert at doing or making? How would you explain it to someone who's never done it before? Equipment & Supplies 1+ large pumpkins. Look for “hull-less” varieties like Styrian and Kakai (pictured below in Note 1) Pro Tip: To get lots of seeds without buying lots of pumpkins, throw a carving party, and have each of your guests bring their own pumpkin. They probably won’t want their seeds, so (bam) you end up with many cups worth :) 1 large carving knife 3 large bowls 1+ large metal spoons 1 plastic tablecloth or newspapers rags or paper towels 1 Pyrex measuring cup Worcestershire sauce Unsalted butter Kosher salt Small pan Measuring spoons 1+ rimmed baking sheet Metal spatula 1+ large Tupperware container Prepare work area by putting down tablecloth or newspape...

Can there be one go-to formula for simplifying something? Probably not, but here's my attempt. Let's say you are faced with an overstuffed piece of communications, that has a kitchen sink of information, needs hierarchy, and is attempting to talk to multiple audiences. How could you quickly clarify? Try this two phase approach: Phase 1: Simplify Answer the questions below in a separate, empty document: Who is this for? Even if you have multiple audiences, pick only one for this exercise. What do they value? Identify their top 1-3 needs that your product fulfills. What is it worth to them? Place a measurable value on what your product can do for them (ie., amount of $ saved, amount of time saved per month, etc. This can be conjecture for now.) Write a value statement based on steps 1-3. How does it work? Outline a simple step-by-step to walk your audience through your product. Try to keep it to as few steps as possible (3-5). Identify a call to action--what do you wan...

My daughter is learning how to tell time on an analog clock. Our clock normally hangs over our fridge, way up high. She could see it from her seat at the kitchen table, but it was pretty far away. If she was most other places in the kitchen, she'd need a boost to get a peek at it. We've been trying different approaches to teach her, but the biggest game changer by far has been to move the clock. I took it down from above the fridge, and hammered it into the wall about 3 feet from the floor. A few things I learned from doing this: 1. Changing the proximity of a familiar object is jarring and intriguing. My daughter was immediately drawn to the clock. To be honest, I was as well. Now out of its normal, tucked away spot, you could really appreciate it's plain face, pleasingly readable numbers, and utilitarian appeal. 2. Being able to touch something helps you learn about it. Now, instead of pointing to the clock from a distance, my daughter can touch the front, pin...

Today I made the weekly family grocery trip. I like to take as little time as possible to do this, so I have a method. Our grocery store has two levels, and an attached parking garage. You can enter the grocery store on the first and third levels of the parking garage. Since I'm usually there on a jam-packed Saturday afternoon, I don't even bother looking for a space on the first level. I drive up to the 3rd level, park, and enter the grocery store on the 2nd floor. Then I walk down to the 1st floor, start my shopping there, and finish on the 2nd floor. I check out on the 2nd floor, and then walk right out to my car. However, there's one thing that foils my plan. Sometimes, the 2nd floor check out only has one lane open, with a long line. Then I have to take the gamble that they have more lanes open on the 1st floor (they usually do). I head downstairs, check out, and take the parking garage elevators to get back to my car. Then, I'm faced with this: I'v...

Image credit: Back to the Future, 1985. Today I went to a tech event here in Milwaukee. I attended a workshop, and listened to a presentation. They were from two different companies, on two different subjects, but they had one thing in common. They both were attempting to reframe a problem-solving approach by backing into it. The first was a modeling workshop. This was run by a firm that specializes in information architecture, and much of their work centers around building models around what problem you are trying to solve, so that you can see where things are falling short, check whether everyone is in agreement, and find opportunities for solutions. The definition of a model is wide, and could include anything from a list to a flow chart to an architectural model. They had a series of 14 double-sided cards that were organized into 4 sections, intended to help you conceptualize and build your model. While the use case for modeling was clear, actually sitting down to do one w...

I recently spoke with a designer who has created user experiences for large companies, including Amazon's Alexa. He spoke about the importance of empathy, and how, while we as designers talk about it often, we're not really engaging in it. He described a matrix of feelings, that looks something like this: If someone is fully attached to a situation, but only thinks about themselves, their reaction could be seen as Pity. "Oh, look at those poor people in that situation. I'm so different from them, and I feel so badly that they are stuck there." If they are completely focused on themselves, and utterly detached, their reaction could become Disdain. "I don't really care what happens to those people. I just can't relate. Whatever situation they are in, they probably brought it upon themselves." Being fully attached to a situation, and focused on others brings Compassion. Compassion requires action. "Look at those people! We have to ...

About a week ago, we made a poor parenting decision and let our son have a look at the Michael Jackson "Thriller" video. He's 9, a mature and collected dude, and planning to go as a zombie for Halloween, so it just seemed to make sense. A couple minutes in, we realized our mistake. The King of Pop gets taken over by an evil invisible force, crouches down, and lurches forward suddenly with glowing yellow eyes and giant teeth. Game over. My son fled the room and freaked out. In that moment, my instincts told me to appeal to his logical side. "Listen. This is just a video. Like special effects in a movie! If we could back the camera up, you'd see a crew of people attending to Michael's makeup and lighting, and it wouldn't be scary at all. Trust me!" Well, no soap. He was convinced that he'd never be able to sleep again without having terrible nightmares. My husband and I continued with a number of logical presentations that seemed to have no e...