• Self-governance: 8 lessons I have learned

    It’s been almost two years since I have worked in a self-governing organization, and it seems like a good time to reflect on it. Here is what self-governance is: A hierarchy-free organization with autonomy and voluntary collaboration, democratic decision-making, no management, and no external control This concept has been around for centuries, but it has

  • Emotions and empathy in UX design (interview, polish)

    Emocje i empatia w projektowaniu UX Strefa Designu SWPS Empatia pozwala spojrzeć na świat z perspektywy drugiego człowieka. To może być jednak trudne dla projektanta. Przez wiele lat zajmuje się badaniami, ekspertyzami, tworzeniem person, a tu nagle musi porzucić swoją eksperckość i przyznać użytkownikowi, że ten wie lepiej? O roli empatii i emocji w procesie projektowym mówi Helena Ebert, projektantka.

  • Quotes on design

    But, in fact, we are all collective beings, let us place ourselves as we may. For how little have we, and are we, that we can strictly call our own property? We must all receive and learn both from those who were before us, and from those who are with us. Even the greatest genius

  • Art, design, pink gold with diamonds and aesthetic taste

    “When we come to cultural and artistic parallels [between our time and the Middle Ages] the scene proves far more complex. On the one hand we find a fairly perfect correspondence between two ages that, in different ways but with identical educational Utopias and with equal ideological camouflage of their paternalistic aim to control minds,

  • Presenting data to people

    Information is only useful if it can be understood. Since our ability to collect exponential amounts of data does not match our evolutionarily stable ability to process and reflect on it, we resort to data visualisations or infographics.

  • Notes on Design Process: Expectations

    Expectations are important. “Clients seem to get the advertising they deserve. The good ones, they’re risk takers. They’re willing to risk failures for extraordinary success. The bad clients? Fear dribbles down from the top. No one says so, in so many words, but you know no risks will be tolerated, no rules will be broken,

  • Notes on Design Process: Intent, not instruction

    Noam Chomsky divides ignorance into either problems or mysteries. “When we face a problem, we may not know the solution, but we have insight, increasing knowledge, and an inkling of what we are looking for.” We know how to find the solution, or at least where to look for it. However, when we are faced

  • The future is flexible

    Digital media has fundamentally reshaped the brand landscape, creating the opportunity to stretch the paradigm a bit further. The technical constraints that limited design for half a century have disappeared. Along with growing consumer awareness (compelling brand conversations, no logo movement, etc.), they have created the opportunity to think of identity as a vessel that expresses personality, not consistency.