business
process
Ship Faster by Building Design Systems Slower
Successful design systems can and should move more slowly than the products they support—but a deliberate pace doesn’t have to create bottlenecks. Josh Clark shows how to reconcile the needs and speeds of product versus design system.
podcast
ShopTalk: Brad Frost on a Global Design System
On the TalkShop podcast, Big Medium’s Brad Frost answers questions like: What is a global design system? Are two design systems ever the same? How would this slot inside atomic design? What has been the response from the web community to global design system as an idea? And what’s Frostapalooza?
leadership
Do More with Less: Digital Leadership in Lean Times
Josh Clark shares nine principles to guide high-performing teams to deliver faster/better/cheaper in an era of shrinking budgets.
podcast
Scaling Digital Strategy in Complex Organizations
On The Design Systems Podcast, Big Medium’s Josh Clark shares why complex organizations struggle to scale digital design and delivery—and why solving that is more important than ever in a period of economic uncertainty.
mindfulness
The Damaging Fiction of the Wellness Industrial Complex™
The unlikely pairing of capitalism and wellness has insidious effects, Liza Kindred writes. There are parallels for UX here, too.
dotdash
How Dotdash, Formerly About.com, Is Taking over the Internet
This may be the most successful design- and business-turnaround story Big Medium has been involved with. Fast Company tells the tale of Dotdash, the network formerly known as About.com.
facebook
Facebook Gives Workers a Chatbot to Appease That Prying Uncle
Facebook sent employees home for the holidays with robot talking points for their families.
culture
If Software Is Eating the World, What Will Come Out the Other End?
“So far, it’s mostly shit,” wrotes John Battelle.
mindfulness
How to have a healthy relationship with tech
At Well+Good, Liza Kindred describes how to make personal technology serve you, instead of the reverse.
business
“Trigger for a rant”
Nat Torkington has something to say about innovation poseurs—in the mattress industry.
business
Do You Have “Advantage Blindness”?
Harvard Business Review considers the responsibility of those advantaged by race or gender to acknowledge that advantage—and use it to help others.
ai
In a Few Years, No Investors Are Going To Be Looking for AI Startups
VC Frank Chen writes that machine learning and artificial intelligence will be the humdrum norm in short order.
algorithms
How Germany’s Otto Uses Artificial Intelligence
Machine learning is trying to one-up just-in-time inventory with what can only be called before-it’s-time inventory.
business
Dan Mall on Freelance.tv
My pal and collaborator Dan Mall shares the goods on what it takes to be a world-class indie designer.
stats
Web Performance Optimization Stats
WPO Stats collects stats that demonstrate the business value of faster websites.
mobile
Your Traffic Went Mobile; Why Hasn’t Your Design Process?
The mobile audience is now twice as big as desktop. Does your organization’s design process reflect that mobile is now your primary platform?
business
Belly Flop: Retailers Dive into Mobile Ecommerce
A measly 12 percent of the top 500 US online retailers have mobile websites. Many who do have mobile sites are fumbling with misguided attempts to create lite versions of the “real” website.
business
Mobile Web vs Native App: Give It a Rest
This isn’t a matchup at all. Providing a great experience almost certainly means that you’ll build both web and native-app solutions. We’re all in this together, friends.