Commencement speech for UC Berkeley MDes
My commencement speech to the graduating cohort of students in the MDes program at UC Berkeley Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation
Rethinking the canonical design process diagram, and a call for beauty
I’ve been reflecting on the canonical multi-hexagon diagram that illustrates the design thinking process.
Design and the Self
We need good design in the world, not because we want to be extravagant or superfluous, not to get people to buy more stuff, but because good design helps us to be the best version of ourselves.
The Architecture of Creative Collaboration
The first time I spoke at the 99U conference was in 2014. While I was in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, my husband was at the Santa Clara County courthouse bidding in the auction for the probate sale of our next door neighbor’s house.
DESIGN is…
I joined Khosla Ventures as an operating partner two weeks ago, focusing on design for the portfolio companies. At the annual KV Summit this week, I had the opportunity to share my thoughts on design with the CEOs in our portfolio companies.
UX Is a Canary in a Coal Mine
The morale of a UX team is a canary in a coal mine because everything a company does and is impacts the end user experience — the strategy, scope, process, and talent all manifest in the design.
How to choose which job to take
“Which job offer should I take?” is among the questions I get asked the most these days.
UX book recommendations
I frequently get asked for recommendations for books on UX. Here is my short list of favorites.
"In the End"
In the end
you won’t be known
for the things you did,
or what you built,
or what you said.
How to start practicing yoga
As a yoga teacher I’m often asked for advice on how to start a yoga practice. Here are a few tips.
Handling jealousy
I got an interesting question from someone this week:
How you handle jealousy?
There is only this one person that makes me jealous.
DESIGN is... (What CEOs Should Know About Design)
Today, design is as important as technology. I was meeting with a startup last week when the principal architect asked me why is design more important now than ever before?
Love doodles to a stepfather
I just rediscovered doodles my 11 year old daughter made late last year on a notepad Bradley received from the All Things D conference. She never mentioned anything to us about the doodles, just quietly did them over a short period of time.
I'm joining Khosla Ventures!
I’m thrilled to be joining Khosla Ventures as an Operating Partner!
Tales from the trenches: Lessons learned from Netscape, Yahoo!, and Google
I get asked a lot by people for career advice. A lot of the questions center around getting to some destination, such as “How do I get promoted to the next level?” or “What kinds of career paths are available for designers?” In other words,
“Where am I going, and how do I level up?”
Hiring and Retaining Women in Tech
The same day UX Magazine published a QuickPanel on Women in Tech, featuring comments from Indi Young, Christina Wodtke, and Brenda Laurel, and me, I had dinner with a high ranking executive at a large well-known tech company. When the topic about women in tech came up, he declared, “I would love to hire women, if only I could find ones who are qualified.”
New design manager seeking advice
A former colleague, an amazing designer who now finds himself running a team of 18, writes me with questions about managing a design team. These questions might be relevant to many new to design management -- and there are a growing number of them now that more companies are investing in design talent.
Want a job? Act as if you already have the job.
An acquaintance of mine reached out to me about landing an internship for her daughter in product design.
Redefining "Advanced yoga"
“I’d like to get into yoga, but I just wish I were better at it.” The notion that one can be “good” or “bad” at yoga is misguided; with yoga there is no beginning, middle, or end.