Posts in Essays

In January 2025, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence was fired after a disastrous app redesign wiped nearly $500 million from the company's market value. But calling it just a "redesign" misses the deeper story of how a beloved audio company lost its way. Through conversations with multiple former employees who worked directly on the project, I discovered that what happened at Sonos wasn't simply a botched app update—it was the culmination of strategic missteps, organizational dysfunction, and forgotten values that had been building for years.

My wife and I are big movie lovers. Every year, between January and March, we race to see all the Oscar-nominated films. We watched _A Complete Unknown_ last night and _The Brutalist_ a couple of weeks ago. The latter far outshines the former as a movie, but both share a common theme: the creative obsession. …

For my mental health, I've been purposely avoiding the news since the 2024 presidential election. But as I slowly dip my toe back into the news cycle through occasional glimpses of headlines and social media, I'm struck by the disturbing parallels between Trump's first two weeks in office and Hitler's systematic dismantling of German democracy in 1933.

Remember the Subservient Chicken? That quirky Burger King website where you could type commands to make a guy in a chicken suit do stuff? Two decades later, we're still typing commands into boxes—but now we're talking to AI. As designers grapple with a web increasingly built for machines rather than humans, we're facing a familiar challenge: how to create delightful experiences within new technical constraints. From Flash microsites to AI-readable interfaces, web design is evolving once again.

After spending four frigid days in Toronto with my design team, I've been thinking about what makes in-person collaboration truly valuable—and what doesn't. While tech companies debate return-to-office mandates, I found myself in a conference room with three designers and a whiteboard, tackling a pressing feature deadline. What emerged wasn't just a solution to our immediate challenge, but a deeper understanding of when being together matters and when it doesn't.

Scary words for the UX profession: “Digital systems, not people, will do much of the craft of (screen-level) interaction design.” But here’s the truth—this isn’t the first time we’ve faced a shift like this. Just as we adapted from print to digital, and from CD-ROMs to the web, designers will evolve again. The tools may change, but the purpose of design remains constant. And that’s what makes our craft enduring.

Just as casual dating helps you figure out what you want in a relationship, working at agencies early in your design career lets you explore different styles, clients, and problems before settling down in-house. Drawing from my nearly three decades of experience on both sides, I've learned there's real value in starting broad before going deep.

Under immense pressure, under the highest of expectations, Kamala Harris outperformed in her acceptance speech at the DNC, delivering way beyond what anyone anticipated. Her biography is what makes her relatable. It illustrates her values. And her story is the American story.

As a former VR startup founder who tried to revolutionize real estate tours in the mid-2010s, I've seen the challenges of virtual reality firsthand. When Apple unveiled their Vision Pro headset, it felt like a pivotal moment for the technology I once bet my career on. Here's my perspective on how Apple is tackling VR's biggest hurdles.

After decades away from print newspapers, I rediscovered the tactile joy of reading the San Francisco Chronicle over breakfast. The crisp pages, inky scent, and familiar sections brought back memories of Sunday mornings in North Beach cafes—reminding me that sometimes the medium truly is part of the message.