There are few things more frustrating for a product designer than watching preventable problems ship. Every experienced designer has been there. You identify usability issues early, back them with research, present alternatives, and explain the long-term impact on the product.…

AI designers aren’t real designers. Before you disagree, hear me out. Over the last several months, I’ve been exploring AI design tools, prototyping workflows, and everything happening around the rapid evolution of product design. Tools like Figma Make and Claude…

I recently applied for a UX Designer position at Ontario Health (Job Posting RQ00639). The role seemed straightforward- design work for a Crown Corporation, funded by taxpayers, serving the public good.  Then I started asking questions. What I discovered was…

It starts with one designer. Then you hire a second, and your engineering team doubles. Suddenly, every new feature looks slightly different. This isn’t a “bad designer” problem—it’s a systems problem. What Is a Design System, Really? A design system…

CRA employees relied on four separate legacy platforms built in the early 2000s – each with its own navigation, language, and logic. Routine IT tasks required institutional knowledge or a helpdesk call, eroding productivity across the agency. “Employees were unable…

For the past few months, the design community has started to sound less like a group of strategic thinkers and more like a panicked coop of poultry. As Claude, “vibe coding,” and generative AI tools dominate the conversation, a specific…

For over a decade, I’ve been the person in the room pointing out the “Emperor’s New Clothes” of the design world. We’ve reached a point where “Product Designer” has become synonymous with “Figma Operator,” and frankly, the industry is suffering…

In the world of high-level design strategy, we often see a specific image recirculated: a glass Heinz bottle labeled “Design” and a plastic squeeze bottle labeled “User Experience.” The implication is that the plastic bottle is “better” because it is…

In the executive suite, the term “Minimum Viable Product” (MVP) is often used, but frequently misunderstood. An MVP is not a “lite” or broken version of a final product. Rather, it is the most lean version of a solution that…

In the design industry, titles often act as a shorthand for experience, but they rarely tell the full story of a professional’s impact. For leadership, seniority isn’t about years spent in a seat; it is about the complexity of the…