Big Ideas
Resources
I collect ideas that stick around, the kind that refuse to leave your brain even when you’re working on something else. Some are obvious. Others are obscure enough that I’m still not sure who else has noticed them. The bet is that all of them solve a real problem the way I want problems solved: with directness and a little bit of craft.
A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design
An exceptionally furious, clarifying argument that our glass rectangles waste the human hand and body. Read it before you call anything intuitive.
About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design
Alan Cooper’s classic text on goal-directed design is still the gold standard, and it’s the book I recommend to new designers. Cooper’s principles on the basics keep designers grounded in real human needs.
Abstract: The Art of Design
Your mom still doesn’t understand what you do? This docuseries is the most accessible on-ramp to how great designers think, across disciplines. Good to share with your non-designer friends and partners.
Agentation: Visual Feedback for Agents
Who came first? Did this pattern emerge from Claude Design? Does it matter? Agentation seems like the right way to talk to AI about visual design tweaks.
Art and Fear
My main takeaway from this book is that creating more makes you better at creating. It is the act of the work that produces the masterpiece. It’s the clearest path to overcoming the blank canvas.
Articulating Design Decisions (Second Edition)
I recommend Tom Greever’s treatise on aligning with stakeholders more than any other book. As technical complexity rises, a designer’s ability to clearly communicate the why behind an interface choice remains their most irreplaceable skill.
As We May Think
The 1945 essay that dreamed the associative, augmenting machine we are finally building. Every AI copilot pitch is a footnote to it.
Badass: Making Users Awesome
Stop marketing the tool; help users get demonstrably better at their craft. The most underrated product book of the last decade.
Conductor
Conductor has become the efficiency unlock for me when I build prototypes and apps. I built this site using Conductor, with typically 3-4 agent sessions running at once. The workspace approach just makes so much sense.
Creative Selection
A firsthand account of Apple’s demo-driven, taste-led process. The best description I know of how real craft decisions get made.
Designing Interfaces (Third Edition)
Third edition of the classic design textbook. A pattern language for interaction design that still pays rent — especially the chapters on showing system state.
DialKit
Live-tune any interface parameter — springs, easing, spacing, etc. against the running UI, then copy the values out and feed it to your coding agent. Design in the real material, not a static mock. Works with React.