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Category: design

The Amazing Invention of Braille

Posted on January 4, 2013January 4, 2021 in Creative Thinking, design, Design Makes The World, Innovationby Scott Berkun

While studying to write the Myths of Innovation I read hundreds of accounts of how world changing inventions were…

How to Thank a Customer

Posted on December 13, 2012January 7, 2013 in designby Scott Berkun

Some people just give good thanks. I bought a t-shirt online awhile ago from Sean McCabe, an artist who…

What I learned going back to UX school

Posted on December 10, 2012January 7, 2013 in design, usabilityby Scott Berkun

Last week I was on an expert panel, giving feedback to final project presentations at the HCDE 518 User…

Quote of the day

Posted on October 16, 2012October 16, 2012 in architecture (real), designby Scott Berkun

The Brooklyn Bridge is one of my favorite buildings. I’ve studied its history and the story of how it…

News: I’m working on a UX book with Jackson Fish

Posted on September 25, 2012 in Books, designby Scott Berkun

When my friends Hillel Cooperman and Jenny Lam started their UX company JacksonFish, I thought, how awesome. Every designer…

Lessons on Failure From the Jetpack Joyride game

Posted on April 12, 2012November 30, 2020 in designby Scott Berkun

At Failcon 2012 Luke Muscat, the designer of the game Jetpack Joyride, talked about learning from failure. His thoughts…

The top mistakes UX designers make

Posted on January 31, 2012February 23, 2021 in design, usabilityby Scott Berkun

Last week I spoke at the Puget Sound SIGCHI meeting. Since it’s a group of designers and user researchers,…

How WordPress.com is made

Posted on December 22, 2011 in design, Software/Web developmentby Scott Berkun

Some of you know, in addition to my writing and speaking work, I work as a team lead for…

Usability issue for Kindle on Amazon.com

Posted on December 6, 2011 in Books, design, ui review, usabilityby Scott Berkun

Noticed a small usability issue with how Amazon.com promotes Kindle editions of print books. This is what’s known as…

Feedback without frustration (video)

Posted on November 2, 2011March 21, 2017 in Creative Thinking, designby Scott Berkun

Last month I spoke at Hive, an event for developers and designers hosted by AIGA and Microsoft here in…

Are PMs worth more than game designers?

Posted on July 19, 2011 in design, Managementby Scott Berkun

It’s daft to put faith in any single study, especially ones that make you and your profession look good.…

5 Dangerous Ideas for Designers

Posted on June 22, 2011November 18, 2024 in best-of-design, designby Scott Berkun

I recently spoke at the Design Management Institute’s Make it Happen event. As an experiment, with the permission of the…

Comment of the week

Posted on May 11, 2011 in Culture, design, x of the yby Scott Berkun

A privilege of  having a popular blog is sometimes smart people come by and calmly, warmly, without a hint of snark,…

How to ruin a design: the 9/11 Memorial

Posted on May 10, 2011 in Creative Thinking, design, Managementby Scott Berkun

Update:  After a great comment, I changed my opinion about this. I rarely use the word requirement – it’s…

How To Fix Email: A Radical Proposal

Posted on May 3, 2011 in Culture, designby Scott Berkun

Professor Beth Kollo has an interesting idea about our email dominated culture, in a post called Recreating Email. What…

The attack of the design weenie

Posted on April 11, 2011November 13, 2012 in Creative Thinking, designby Scott Berkun

Zeldman wrote, in an excellent post on Vocabulary vs. Storytelling: AFTER ALL THESE YEARS designing websites and applications, I…

Thinking in Desire Paths

Posted on February 15, 2011January 5, 2015 in Creative Thinking, designby Scott Berkun

A failing in all design thinking is faith you can perfectly predict human behavior. Often a wiser strategy is…

Can you Redesign a Chocolate Bar?

Posted on November 17, 2010February 4, 2020 in designby Scott Berkun

Over on designmind, David Sherwin, author of the upcoming book Creative Workshop, is sharing some of the design challenges…

Design for now or for later?

Posted on November 15, 2010 in designby Scott Berkun

“If you need people to enjoy it right away, that might mean you’re not going to probe very deep”…

‘UX professional’ isn’t a real job?

Posted on September 7, 2010August 12, 2014 in design, usabilityby Scott Berkun

Lots of fun was stirred up by this recent post, ‘UX professional’ isn’t a real job.  Which I think…

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Scott Berkun is the author of nine popular books on creativity, design, leadership and public speaking. You can hire him to speak or follow him on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Latest Book: Why Design Is Hard

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Scott's Awesome Books

Why Design Is Hard

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4_5 Stars

"Concise, breezy, yet filled with excellent strategies for succeeding when the world is tilted against you.” Michael McWatters, VP Product Design for Max/HBO

How Design Makes The World

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4_5 Stars

“Nobody’s better at explaining how the world really works than Scott Berkun.” – Jeffrey Zeldman, co-founder of A List Apart

The Dance of the Possible

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5 Stars

"You'll find a lot to steal from this short, inspiring guide to being creative. Made me want to get up and make stuff!" - Austin Kleon, author of How To Steal Like An Artist

The Ghost of My Father

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4_5 Stars

“Thought-provoking read, and highly recommended…” – Thomas Duff

The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com & the Future of Work

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4_5 Stars

“If you want to think differently about entrepreneurship, management, or life in general, read this book.” — Tim Ferriss

Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds

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4_5 Stars

“The ideas contained in the essays are persuasive and it’s a fun, well focused read. ” — Simon Moore

Confessions of a Public Speaker

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4_5 Stars

“Berkun tells it like it is… you’ll gain insights to take your skills to the next level.” — Tony Hsieh, CEO Zappos.com

The Myths of Innovation

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“Berkun sets us free to try and change the world.” — Guy Kawasaki

Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management

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“Highly recommended for CEOs, project managers, and hackers alike.” — Matt Mullenweg, Founder WordPress.org

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About Scott

Scott Berkun is the author of eight popular books on creativity, leadership, philosophy and speaking (more about Scott's background).

You can hire him to speak, ask him a question or follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

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