Blog

Writing on critique, portfolios and the job — the same thinking the product is built on.

• Mindset

  Designers Hate AI. They're Also the Ones Who'll Dominate It.

  Claude Design launched last week, and the design internet lost its mind.

• Skills

  Creativity Is a Muscle. Here's How to Train It.

  Creativity isn't a talent. It's not something you're either born with or forever without. It's a skill, and more specifically, it's a practice of pattern-breaking.

• Skills

  How to Give Good Critique

  A lot of the thinking in this post was inspired by design director and ADPList mentor Guy Segal, who articulated this framework better than we've heard it put before.

• Career

  When the Client Says "Make It Like Apple"

  I've been in this meeting a hundred times. The client pulls up a mood board or points to a brand they love and says, "We want it to feel like Apple." Or Nike.

• Leadership

  You Want Your Creatives to Fail

  Here's the trap every creative leader falls into.

• Feedback

  The Ultimate Guide to Creative Feedback

  We've been deep in building Thriveful for a while now, and feedback is at the center of everything we're designing.

• Feedback

  You Can't Grow Without Real Feedback

  As a creative director, most of my day is providing feedback. I review work, I push teams to think harder, I challenge directions that feel safe.

• Career

  Should You Do Design Tests or Nah?

  From mentoring sessions over the past year, I'd say about 70% of the designers I talk to are now dealing with design tests as part of the hiring process. And almost all of them hate it.

• Career

  When There's No Invoice, They Waste Your Time

  I spent the first chunk of my career in agencies and freelancing, and one thing was always true: the relationship was transactional.

• Feedback

  Use the Force and Trust Your Gut

  There's a moment in Star Wars that I think about all the time. Luke Skywalker is flying down the trench toward the Death Star.

• Mindset

  Your Client is an Idiot (And Why It's Okay)

  I listen to How I Built This a lot. If you haven't heard it, it's a podcast where Guy Raz interviews founders about how they built their companies.

• Skills

  Why Your Goals Keep Failing and a Simpler System

  I used to try to set big goals at the start of every year. I'd write them all down, feel motivated for a few weeks, and then somewhere around February or March something would happen — a work crisis...

• Mindset

  Does Your Brand Look Great on Paper but Dead on Instagram?

  I've sat through enough brand strategy presentations to know exactly how this usually ends.

• Leadership

  The Skill Nobody Teaches Designers That CDs Use Every Day

  I get asked all the time what it actually takes to make the leap from Art Director to Creative Director.

• Leadership

  If You're a Creative Director Worried About AI, Read This

  We've all been watching the headlines lately and they're a bit of a shitshow for our industry.

• Career

  Your First Sentence Is Costing You Clients

  I've reviewed thousands of portfolios over the years, and there's a pattern that keeps showing up.

• Thriveful

  Welcome to Thriveful

  I started my career in advertising, and the thing I loved most about agency life was the war room.