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Learn from games: the radial menu!
In the spirit of bringing a little more geek into this UX party, this is the beginning of a second series I’ll be cycling through on Sword & Sharpie - Learn from games! In each post in this series, I’m going to pick a UI pattern from games and take a quick look at...
My not so straight path to falling in love with lean + lean UX
You wouldn’t know it if you talked to me now, but I was a little late to the lean UX bandwagon. I was by no means an immediate convert. If you’re still wondering what the hub-bub is all about, maybe my not-so-straight journey can fill you in. Setting the stage When...
A free stakeholder analysis + discovery tool
Have you ever had a project or design thrown off at the last minute by someone you didn't even think was involved with your project? Have you ever been in a situation with so many cooks in the kitchen, you weren't even sure you could count them all? And how the heck...

The Better-Designer-Than-You-Are Type Developer: Dev Archetypes
Before we get to the meat of this post, I want to say a few words to kick off a new series of posts that I hope will be amusing as well as helpful: Developer Archetypes. Each post will cover a type of developer one might encounter and tips for better working together...

Earning It: On Respect and the Software Developer
A developer friend of mine told me a story once. He was approached by his product manager who asked him, “Why won’t you build what I want you to build?” I suppose we could give the PM credit for being direct, although we’ll see later that he’s not being as direct as...

Sword & Sharpie Mini-Manifesto
When you chose to become a designer, you answered a special and sacred calling somewhere within. Some might get distracted by the fact that you play with bright colors, grey boxes, fonts, or even actual crayons. But deep down, we have all heard the same call: the...