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…
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…
Can a robot turn a canvas into a beautiful masterpiece? In 2004, that question was a moment of cinematic skepticism. Fast forward to 2026, and the answer is no longer a matter of “if,” but “how well.” Today, we aren’t…
In a high-velocity product environment, whiteboarding is often mistaken for a simple brainstorming session. However, for design leaders, it is a critical operational tool used to visualize complex systems, map user journeys, and align cross-functional stakeholders before a single pixel…
On September 24, 2024, I was contacted by a U.S.-based recruitment agency regarding a remote Senior Service Designer contract for the Canadian public sector – Government of Alberta. The requirements were specific: quarterly in-person sessions, a six-month duration, and a…
Design Thinking is frequently misunderstood in the corporate world as a series of creative workshops or a collection of colourful sticky notes. For a Design Executive, however, Design Thinking is not an event – it is a rigorous strategic framework…