Steve Hickey – Fresh Tilled Soil: Recent Episodes
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Fresh Tilled Soil is a Boston-based user interface and experience design firm focused on human centered digital design
For the last year or so I’ve been transitioning my role within the company and the industry, from a product designer and front-end developer to a UX strategist. This move has not come without some growing pains. It’s accompanied a shift in…
The post Understanding UX Strategy appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
A few years ago we posted the reading list for AUX, our UX apprenticeship program. A lot has changed since then, and with our latest update to the curriculum it seemed like a good opportunity to talk about the reading list again.…
The post AUX Reading List, Version 2 appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Today on The Dirt: how to actually make a plan for your career and then follow through with it. You know, the way you’re supposed to with your projects but never even thought about applying to yourself. Listen as Kate Matsudaira gives…
The post Designing Your Career, pt 2: Planning Your Career with Kate Matsudaira appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
This week on The Dirt, we sat down with the large man of tall tales, Mr. Aaron Draplin himself. Aaron reveals how to transform the passion that feeds your soul into a passion that feeds your… stomach… Brought to you by three…
The post Designing Your Career, pt 1: Turning Passion Into Profit with Aaron Draplin appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
This week we take a look at the particular challenges of an oft-ignored audience: users with literacy issues. Listen in to find out how you can improve the usability of your site for your entire audience by focusing on the challenges of…
The post Designing for Literacy Challenges appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
One of the discussions we’ve had over and over with our clients involves the choice of a web font service or platform for them. Because it’s such a frequent and important topic, I’d like to see if I can answer some of…
The post Web Fonts: A Primer for Clients appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
On today’s episode of The Dirt we sit down with Nathan Ford, Product Manager at Monotype and original conspirator behind Gridset. We take a look at the mysteries of content-out layout, the complications inherent to building great grids, and why all those…
The post Design Pillars pt. 3: Layout with Nathan Ford of Monotype appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Today on The Dirt join us for an interview with Dave Crossland, instructor at Crafting Type and consultant to Google Fonts. Join us as we discuss Dave’s background and his move to creating typefaces, his open source motivations, and the reasoning behind…
The post Design Pillars pt. 2: Typography with Dave Crossland of Crafting Type appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Today on The Dirt we sit down with Dave Alonzo, Senior Experience Designer at Adobe and member of the Adobe Color CC team. We discuss the Color app for mobile, its evolution from the old days when it was named Kuler, and…
The post Design Pillars pt. 1: Color Theory with Dave Alonzo of Adobe appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Today on The Dirt, we finally wrangle the gentleman hosts of BizCraft into the studio. Tune in for a discussion of the death of originality in web design, commoditization of the low end of our market, the actual starting time of beer…
The post BizCraft Crossover: The Death of Original Design with Carl Smith and Gene Crawford appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
On The Dirt today, please welcome Jenn Schiffer of Bocoup. We talk about the details of contributing to and maintaining open source projects, including: setting maintenance expectations; guidelines for being a good contributor; and how to ignite Jenn’s ire by nitpicking her…
The post Open Source pt.1: Maintaining Open Source Projects with Jenn Schiffer appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
This week on The Dirt we sit down with web designer, best-selling author & gentleman of adventure Paul Jarvis. Paul gives us the background on his career and how he got into writing and educating as part of his professional offering. Follow…
The post Educating the Web pt. 4 with Paul Jarvis appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
This week on The Dirt we welcome Dudley Storey, instructor at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, to defend the world of higher education in our ongoing series on education in the web profession. Join us as Dudley fills us in on…
The post Educating the Web pt. 3 with Dudley Storey appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Today on the show we take a look at our internal methods of professional development at Fresh Tilled Soil. Join us as we discuss our apprenticeship program, the now defunct FTS Labs program, designer/developer knowledge sharing, and the UXPert program. Follow The…
The post Educating the Web pt. 2: Professional Development appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Today on The Dirt we take a look at universal design, the idea of designing and building everything to be accessible to the broadest audience possible regardless of ability, means of access or other constraints that we as designers don’t control. Join…
The post Good UX Through Universal Design appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Today on The Dirt we take a look at the act of authentication and the ability (or complete inability) to balance security and identification needs with a great user experience. Follow The Dirt on Twitter Listen to the Show Download the MP3…
The post Designing Authentication appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Welcome to today’s episode of The Dirt. Join us as we discuss the latest government tech initiative, the U.S. Digital Services and their Playbook. Good idea, great idea, greatest idea (HA!)? Who knows!? Follow The Dirt on Twitter Listen to the Show…
The post The U.S. Digital Services Playbook appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Today on The Dirt we discuss the idea of experience over-reach, that
The post Experience Overreach appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Today on The Dirt, we sit down with Adam Sigel, Product Manager at Aereo. Join us for a serious discussion of the UX of media consumption, trolling recruiters by using pets, and the inevitable cinematic masterpiece that is ConAir 2 (ConSPACE!). Follow…
The post Outlaw UX with Adam Sigel of Aereo appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Today on The Dirt we discuss privacy on the web through the lens of a recent tracking technique known as canvas fingerprinting. If you’ve listened long enough you’ve probably got a good idea of where the opinions split on this topic between…
The post Canvas Fingerprinting and Privacy appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Today on The Dirt, we welcome Jason Pamental from H+W Design in Providence, RI. Jason recently wrote a book on responsive typography (called, appropriately enough, Responsive Typography) and we took the opportunity to grill him on the topic. Tune in to hear…
The post Responsive Typography with Jason Pamental of H+W Design appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
On the latest episode of The Dirt we discuss the impending layoffs at Microsoft and what they mean for the future of the company. We also take a look at the (frankly, stupid) controversy around the recent redesign/rebrand at Airbnb. Follow The…
The post Layoffs at Microsoft and the Airbnb Redesign appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Tune in to this episode of The Dirt for our interview with Moritz Plassnig, co-founder and CEO of Codeship! We take a look at the experience of products intended for developers and the future of the Codeship platform. Follow The Dirt on…
The post UX for Dev Products with Moritz Plassnig of Codeship appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Today on The Dirt we speak with Ian Murphy, Product Director for Future Insights. We discuss how Future Insights came to be, how conferences are organized and run, and how a good conference speaker is created. Tune in to learn the secrets…
The post Conferencing for Fun and Profit with Ian Murphy of Future Insights appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Another day, another Dirt! In today’s episode, we cover our favorite stories from the week’s experience design and technology news. Learn about Google’s plans to elevate Uber whilst burying URLs, and hear all about a handheld device that promises to redefine your…
The post The Dirt: SCiO Molecular Sensor, Uber in Google Maps, and URLs in Chrome appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
On this episode of The Dirt we take a look at the news for the week. Ridiculous topics include Nike abandoning wearables and the FuelBand hardware team, the Picturefill 2.0 polyfill, the total f**king betrayal of the American people at the hands…
The post The Dirt: Nike Abandons Wearables, Picturefill 2, the FCC Betrays Us, and Opera Introduces Coast appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
On this episode of The Dirt, we interview Kyle Fiedler from Thoughtbot on the “Jobs to be Done” framework and its role in UX and product design. Tune in to hear Tim fumble his attempt to get Kyle to call me the…
The post The Dirt: Kyle Fiedler on the “Jobs to be Done” Framework appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Building on our discussion of the Heartbleed bug, this episode of The Dirt delves into some thoughts on communicating technical issues to your users. We talk about the pitfalls of sending technical info to non-technical users, getting a bit friendlier with errors,…
The post The Dirt: Communicating Technical Issues appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
This week in news on The Dirt: we tackle the firing of Yahoo’s latest COO and his lovely golden parachute, Google’s improbable Project Ara (think of your phone as a collection of hi-tech legos), and the latest in Apple patents. Follow The…
The post The Dirt: Yahoo Fires Its COO, Google Shows Off Ara, and Apple Patents More Stuff appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
The Dirt steps back into recent history and takes a quick look at some updates to Macaw before talking about this week’s hot design news: the release of Sketch 3. We also compare it to some other recent tools and discuss the…
The post The Dirt: Visual Design Tools Redux appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
This week on The Dirt: you can expect non-expert and sensationalist analysis of the apocalyptic Heartbleed bug, our bitter hatred of non-compete agreements and what Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick personally promised us he’d do about them, and our opinions on Twitter’s lame…
The post The Dirt: Heartbleed, Non-Competes, and Twitter Being Lame appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
On this episode of The Dirt we’re joined by Erik Runyon, Director of Web Communications at University of Notre Dame. Spurred on by the recent controversies at Mozilla we take a look at how they operate, discuss the effect they’ve had on…
The post The Dirt: The Future of Mozilla with Erik Runyon appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
On this episode of The Dirt we discuss the new Android Wearables initiative from Google, Microsoft (and Google, Yahoo and Apple) creeping through your emails and Facebook buying VR company Oculus Rift. Stay tuned to see if our predictions of Farmville 3D…
The post The Dirt: Android Wearables, Microsoft Reads Your Emails, and Facebook Buys Oculus appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Today on The Dirt we discuss a particularly thorny issue: what if the audience for your project really is everyone? Listen in for our take on truly universal design and to see if you can hear the difference in Mark’s voice induced…
The post The Dirt: When Everyone Is Your Target Audience appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
This week in shit that makes us cranky: something about Microsoft Office, and the utterly ridiculous speculative bubble waiting to happen that is the IPO of King Digital Entertainment (the makers of the insufferable Candy Crush Saga). Also, the web is 25…
The post The Dirt: The Web Turns 25, Microsoft Office, and the Candy Crush IPO appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
This week we’re lucky to have Partner and Experience Director at Funsize, Anthony Armendariz as our guest. Listen in as we tackle the tricky topic of pricing design work and take an in depth look at Funsize’s approach to the issue. Follow…
The post Anthony Armendariz of Funsize appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Today on The Dirt we sit down with Fresh Tilled Soil’s Neal Corbett to talk about user experience design in cars. Tune in an for an in depth discussion of shitty touchscreen placement, modifying a vehicle’s max horsepower for fun and profit,…
The post The Dirt: Automotive Experience Design with Neal Corbett appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
This week on The Dirt: News edition we take a look at our friend the hamburger icon, mobile payments with Loop, and the acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook for $19 billion dollars. Wait. Does that say billion? With a B? Holy ****.…
The post The Dirt: Navicons, Loop, and WhatsApp appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
On this episode of The Dirt we speak with Carl Smith, Advisor to nGen Works and all around nicer human being than any of us can ever aspire to be. We take a look at company culture, the good and bad of…
The post The Dirt: Carl Smith from nGen Works appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
In an extra special episode of The Dirt your scrappy UX underdogs jump into the ring with David Heinemeier Hansson of Basecamp (formerly 37signals). We discuss the new solitary focus on Basecamp, the intricacies of changing a company name, and Tim’s failed…
The post The Dirt: David Heinemeier Hansson and Basecamp appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
This afternoon on The Dirt: your weary protagonists feebly discuss their picks for news this week. Tim tries to make awkward small talk throughout the episode, Mark rambles on with a complete lack of self-awareness, and Steve just… ah, screw it, Steve…
The post The Dirt: Microsoft CEO, Chromebox, and CVS appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
In the latest chapter of The Dirt, your morally-bankrupt UX hooligans tackle the biggest tech news of the week. Tim simultaneously abhors and salivates over the raw capitalistic nature of everything, Mark laments the Bermuda Triangle of talented designers that is Facebook,…
The post The Dirt: Motorala, Medium, and Facebook Paper appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
In this week’s episode, your indefatigable UX auteurs speak with former Fresh Tilled Soil apprentice and current WordPress Design Engineer Mel Choyce. We talk about the challenges of working on a distributed team, contributing to WordPress Core, and the perils of naming…
The post Mel Choyce of Automattic appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
In the latest episode of The Dirt, our three heroes of UX take on accessibility of buttons in web design! Mark exposes us to his deep mistrust of cyclists, while Tim fumbles around commonly pronounced words. Ever stalwart Steve puts the episode…
The post The Dirt: Button Accessibility appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
In this episode of The Dirt we wax philosophical about Apple’s latest product announcements. Mark is surprisingly calm considering the entire episode is about Apple, while Tim confesses his profound admiration for “Steve Cook.” As usual, Steve tries to hold the whole…
The post The Dirt: Apple Announcements for October 2013 appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
On Tuesday the folks at Future Insights were kind enough to take a chance and let me get up on the stage at the Rising Stars track of the Future of Web Design 2013 conference in New York City to talk for…
The post The Future of Web Design 2013 in Retrospect appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
On this week’s show, Tim is missing and Mark and I take the opportunity to talk about craftsmanship and how much we don’t miss Tim. Mark then chastises Steve for being a real bully. Follow The Dirt on Twitter Listen to the…
The post The Dirt: Craftsmanship appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
I’ve been fairly obsessed with the idea of optimizing my design and strategy process since about a year and a half ago. That was when I first became aware of just how abysmal it had become and that if I didn’t do…
The post The Principles of an Effective Process appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
This post is part of two responses from our team to the recent news of Adobe discontinuing its traditional licensing mode. You can read the other post with opposing opinion here. After nearly 10 years, yesterday Adobe announced that it will abandon…
The post Adobe Creative Cloud: I don’t like it, but I guess I don’t have to appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.
Ok, it would appear we’ve been a bit Yahoo! obsessed over the last couple of days, what with this and this making an appearance in quick succession on our blog to address our feelings on their redesign. Today, I’m presenting our reconstructed…
The post For A Few Yahoos More: The Yahoo! Redesign, Reconstructed appeared first on Fresh Tilled Soil.