Here’s how my new book for founders was born.
A couple months ago I wrapped up my consulting practice. Entirely! The idea was in the air, but the final decision happened after traveling to Philadelphia and meeting Amy Hoy (and her awesome gang) in person. Our conversations were so inspiring! We talked through our long-term goals, and I finally felt in control over my future. I realized that it’s time to move on to doing my own things.
In my lucrative productized consulting, only sky was the limit. But it didn’t scale. The goal was to stop trading hours for dollars.
So I set out to build a product for SaaS founders. (more…)
Read moreUpdate: this book was ultimately launched by InVision as a free course called Fundamental UI Design. Great title!
Cosmetologists say, your skin cells love stress. It makes them work harder, breathe well, and renew. I say, working in high-stress can be beneficial to your career.
Sure, it can hurt you in the long run and damage your health. But it’s the only way you can obtain massive results in little time — while riding that momentum.
That’s exactly what I did in March 2015. I wrote my second book, The Principles of Amazing UI Design, in 3 weeks. (more…)
Read moreThe final layout of Mastering App Presentation includes about 24,500 words. I’m personally responsible for writing 18,000 words of body copy myself, and about 6,000 words came from amazing design experts who answered my questions in six interviews.
I started writing very early, right after the initial decision. I also did that secretively, just sharing the plan with my husband to get his support and approval. Before making any public declarations, I wanted to make sure I was indeed capable of producing quality content consistently and in large amounts. (more…)
Read moreSurprisingly, it didn’t take very long to decide what to write about.
For a UI/UX consultant, the most straightforward approach was writing some general guide on UI design, which is my primary expertise. Looking back, it was probably a better thing to do from a marketing perspective. Some catchy title like Little Black Book of UI Design might have done a better job of attracting a wider audience.
But it didn’t seem the right thing. I wanted to bring more value and provide specific, down-to-earth advice. It made more sense to fill a smaller niche. I decided to cover a topic that had obvious practical value, but wasn’t major enough to draw significant attention of other authors or bloggers. (more…)
Read moreNick Disabato wrote a great blog post on how he took a break in client work.
“So I did that. I’m beginning my third week of consulting for the most unforgivingly critical client I could ever hope to take on: me. And I’m treating myself like I’m actually a client.”
I’ve done the same thing twice this year (now being the second intermission), and the effect has been fantastic both times. Once in a blue moon every professional needs to take a remote look at his goals and positioning.
Each of my intermissions has started with devouring quite a few books. I so much enjoy taking time and immersing into self-development resources! There’s no venture that can do well without proper research. (more…)
Read moreI’d love to say that I decided to write a book in order to spread design wisdom and share my experience. That is, of course, true. But there’s no venture in the world that has only a single reason behind it.
I have more than nine years of UI design experience, three of which I worked as a creative director at a large digital agency. But my international career as a solo UI designer and consultant only started one year ago. This year has been fantastic in terms of new clients and exciting projects. I already had enough experience and courage to step up to the next level of authority. But something major was escaping my attention. (more…)
Read moreJoin 8,000 awesome people on my mailing list — SaaS founders, product managers, designers & developers who are business-driven and want to build better software.
