Author: Marlee
-
Feedback Is a Gift
Let’s be honest. Getting feedback on design work can be uncomfortable. You’ve invested time, thought, and care into a solution. You’ve considered color, flow, interaction, and accessibility. And then someone says, “I don’t get it,” or “This feels off.” It’s easy to feel defensive, even discouraged. But here’s the truth: in UX design, feedback is…
-
Vintage with a Twist
Design loves a throwback. And for a while now, we’ve been in a ‘70s remix: warm, earthy palettes, bulbous serif fonts, wavy patterns, and that unmistakable analog charm. But this isn’t just nostalgia. Designers are taking vintage elements and mashing them up with sleek tech, bold interfaces, and unexpected platforms. The result? A delightful collision…
-
The Blank Page Standoff
Every creative project begins with a lie we tell ourselves: This one will be easy.Then we open a fresh artboard or a notebook… and nothing happens. That blank page is more than empty. It’s a dare. It challenges you to fill it with something good, something clever, something that won’t make future-you cringe. And that…
-
Brainstorm Like Nobody’s Watching
Here’s a secret about good ideas: most of them start as bad ones in disguise.I’ve sat through enough brainstorms to know that brilliance doesn’t always walk in the door. It usually stumbles in wearing a joke hat and making a weird noise. The best sessions aren’t rigid or heavily structured. They’re playful, loose, and slightly…
-
Microcopy Needs Personality
Tiny bits of text—like error messages, tooltips, and empty states—are finally getting the attention they deserve. Microcopy is no longer an afterthought. It’s becoming a powerful design tool for infusing personality and guiding users through frustrating moments with a little more grace (and a lot less friction). Take the 404 Error page, for example. It’s…
-
Sparking Ideas with AI
AI tools are everywhere now—text, image, voice, even layout. It’s tempting to use them for everything, but what’s emerging isn’t just automation. It’s curation. Designers are beginning to treat AI like a collaborator: a way to generate sparks, not shortcuts. That nuance is becoming the new creative advantage. Last week, I used an AI tool…
-
Design for Every Mind
Neuro-Inclusion Is the New Creative Edge Designing for accessibility isn’t just something to check off a list. It’s a space for creativity and innovation. Our audiences are wonderfully diverse in their perspectives, thoughts, feelings, and understandings of the world around them. Neuro-inclusive design means creating experiences that work for more than just the so-called “typical”…
-
Burnout Isn’t Boring—It’s Data
Image by Michelle Urra from WePresent: By artists, with artists Let’s talk about creative burnout. The kind that feels like staring at a screen while your brain quietly backs out of the room. Creative work isn’t just about making things. It’s about making sense of things. That takes mental and emotional energy. And when that…
-
-
Design Is Kinky
(It’s Never a Straight Line) Design needs boundaries. It does its best work when there’s something to push against. Whether it’s the tension between function and beauty, message and medium, or simplicity and personality. Constraints aren’t roadblocks; they’re what give design its shape. They create the framework that ideas grow inside of. Total freedom? That’s…
-
I’m Back!
Happy New Year! 🎉 After a bit of time away, I’m finally back—and genuinely excited to bring some fresh energy to this space. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work in UX design, branding, and art direction, collaborating with some fantastic people to tackle creative challenges and build visual identities that truly resonate.…