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UX Failures at Three Years' Experience: What Training a Designer Who Was Already Good Taught Me
The UX failures a designer ships at three years' experience have nothing to do with Figma. Four I watched Sarah ship, the roughly real numbers, and what fourteen weeks of training changed.
Contractors Don't Need a Pretty Website. They Need the Next Job.
It's 9:14 on a Tuesday night and a homeowner two towns over is standing in an inch of water, holding a phone in one hand and a shop-vac he hasn't figured out in the other.
UX Design Mistakes That Don't Show Up in Figma: Six Data Fingerprints
This article was originally written for external publication, yet ended up here instead. Enjoy!
UX Design 101: The Official Curriculum and the 2026 Translation
The first week of UX design 101, you learn about the double diamond. Research, define, ideate, prototype. Clean phases, logical sequence, satisfying diagram.
I Wrote a Book About AI Sycophancy. I Didn't Use AI to Write It.
Someone at an event, after I mentioned the book.
MVP Pricing UX: Why Your 'Free Trial First' Strategy Is Killing Activation
B2B analytics platform. Six months post-launch. 1,400 trial signups. 83 paying customers.
Every Design Agency in New York Claims They Specialize in SaaS. They're Lying.
December 2025. Video call.
Why SaaS UX Debt Costs More Than Technical Debt (And How to Fix It Before Series B)
I've been designing products for enterprise SaaS companies for eight years. Deutsche Telekom, IQVIA, D.E. Shaw Group. The kind of products where a bad UX decision costs millions and ruins someone's quarterly bonus.
UX Strategist: The Only Job Where Saying 'It Depends' Is Considered Expertise
The UX strategist's final deliverable was a 31-page PDF titled "Strategic UX Framework for Multi-Audience Dashboard Optimization." Page 8 had a Venn diagram with three circles: "User Needs," "Business Goals," "Technical Constraints."
Articles I've Written Elsewhere 📌
I write on this blog weekly. Nobody edits me. Nobody tells me to "soften the tone" or "add more tactical takeaways."
What MVP Really Means in UX Design (It's Not What You Learned in Product School)
I had a call last Tuesday with a founder who wanted help "improving activation."
Design System Adoption Metrics Lie: Measuring Installation ≠ Measuring Value
Last month a design lead showed me their adoption metrics dashboard. Figma library: 97% connected. Component usage tracked across 47 teams. Monthly reports with color-coded progress bars trending green like a very healthy plant.
Why Customer Success Software Doesn't Make Customers Successful (It Makes CS Teams Look Busy)
Last year, a SaaS company paid me to fix their onboarding. Churn was 23% monthly. Brutal.
Why Mixing Onboarding Patterns Destroys Activation (One Pattern Works, Five Don't)
Last month, a SaaS founder asked me to review their onboarding. "We implemented every best practice," they said. "But activation is terrible."
UI/UX Design Outsourcing: The Hidden Costs Nobody Calculates
When $50/hour ends up costing more than $150/hour – the math nobody wants you to see.
Using AI for UX Research: The Workflow I Actually Use
Here's what works when you use AI for UX research – and what almost made me design for the wrong problem.
AI Model Collapse and Design Tools: Why Your AI Tools Are Getting Worse
I was working on client team headshots in August 2025. Ran the first photo through my usual background removal tool – the same one I'd used reliably for two years. The edge looked chewed. Like someone attacked it with a chainsaw.
Social Media Marketing Essentials for Designers Who Hate Marketing
If you've been avoiding social media because it feels like a scam, the algorithms just caught up to your instincts.
Marketing Website Case Studies Lie - The Maths, the Mess, the Exit
When "make it pop" meets "increase conversions by 400%" – spoiler: math doesn't work that way either.
The Harsh Truth About UX Design in Education (and Why It Fails New Designers)
Your beautiful portfolio won't survive first contact with a real stakeholder meeting.