A cross-team design system can only flourish if people from outside the systems team are properly equipped to participate and contribute to the system. These contributions can take different formats: suggestions, feedback, bug reports, proposals for new components, etc. — and you should be ready for them as soon as you kickstart your design system.…… Continue reading Be ready to accept design system help
My secret to remembering my achievements — write them down
Since starting 5th Grade in Portugal in the 90s, I dread self-evaluations. To this day, every time, I feel I minimise (or just forget!) my achievements—and never guess what “bad stuff” I did (I’ve heard everything, from the classic “be less aggressive” to “eat lunch with your mates” and “learn to let go”). Blogging and…… Continue reading My secret to remembering my achievements — write them down
My notes on Rachel Andrew’s “The New CSS Layout”
“The New CSS Layout” was released when I was about to embark on the challenge of refactoring an old site to be responsive and have grid support and support for old browsers. Yikes! I wasn’t looking forward to the faff that I assumed this kind of challenge involved, so I was more than pleased to…… Continue reading My notes on Rachel Andrew’s “The New CSS Layout”
My notes from UX London 2018
I had the pleasure to attend UX London for the second time last week, and, as with any other Clearleft event, it didn’t disappoint. The speakers, the workshops, the food, and the coffee: ???????? My notes are a bit scattered, as I tried to pay attention to what was being said, and sometimes I forgot…… Continue reading My notes from UX London 2018
Why side projects aren’t a good idea
It’s common knowledge that your side projects and open source contributions can be the key to landing your next job. But when hiring for diversity, this can be a problem. I was watching Brenna O’Brien’s video The myth of the “Real JavaScript Developer” when she said something that piqued my interest: the fact that we…… Continue reading Why side projects aren’t a good idea
Designer interview tests: should designers write?
Knowing whether a candidate is right for a role isn’t straight forward. Jobs are different, teams work differently, and assessing someone’s ability to adapt to a different set of circumstances can feel like an impossible task. I’m not particularly fond of design exercises. They can easily feel like spec work, especially when the recruiter’s expectations…… Continue reading Designer interview tests: should designers write?
Technically Wrong: the book I needed to start the year
Those who know me know I’m not a fan of surprises—I choose my Christmas and birthday presents. And this year was not an exception. But nevertheless, my husband, as the risk-seeker that he is, took the bold step of gifting me something I hadn’t previously approved, but that he sensed would be just my cup…… Continue reading Technically Wrong: the book I needed to start the year
What’s in a name?
As I consider a move away from having my blog separate from my namesake domain, something dawned on me: my blog is called Web Designer Notebook, but is that name still accurate? How many of us still call ourselves web designers? Recently I advised a friend looking for a new job to not only search…… Continue reading What’s in a name?
Book review: “White Hat UX”
When Trine told me she’d been writing a book for the past year I knew it would be good. I’ve had the pleasure of speaking at a couple of the same events as her in the last few years and have since followed her work. Her talks gave me a great insight on designing for…… Continue reading Book review: “White Hat UX”
I swore I wouldn’t write another book
I wrote a book. Another one. Even though I had sworn off ever doing it again, I somehow convinced myself that it wasn’t going to be too hard since this book was going to be much smaller, and I already had a lot of the content anyway. Cue me being proven wrong. I didn’t tell…… Continue reading I swore I wouldn’t write another book