Eric Stephan Moore

Now is a time to show your work

A case for more Post-It notes, napkin sketches, and process sharing.Show your work behind the facade. Source Pixabay.In Austin Kleon’s book Show Your Work!, he makes a case for letting others into your creative...

The chronicle of a design death foretold

How to spot signs your design project will perish before having started.Photo by Pedro da Silva on UnsplashOn the very first page of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s A Chronicle of a Death Foretold, it is revealed Santiago...

Cultivating seeds of institutional imagination

A call for free inquiry in the age of calamity and uncertainty.Photo by Noah Buscher on UnsplashDesperate to flee the chaos at Ground Zero on September 11, something trapped thousands in lower Manhattan. Many streets...

You are not a designer; you are a negotiator

Apply hostage negotiation tactics toward excellent design.Photo by jean wimmerlin on Unsplash“We’ve got your daughter. Give us one million dollars, or she dies.”Pause for a moment and imagine hearing those...

Designers, now is the time to rip the bandaid

Designers, now is the time to rip the band-aidHow transparency breeds confidence and trust during hard times.Photo by Joseph Gruenthal on UnsplashIn the design world, we emphasize the importance of empathy to achieve...

Let’s take the ‘I’ out of Design

A way to change your relationship with design for the better.Photo by Luis Galvez on UnsplashHow has your connection with Design changed during the pandemic? For me, Design has always been more like a friendship than...

Can we take it offline?

It is okay to set boundaries when working remotely.Illustration by Author.I can’t stop looking at my laptop or phone. But I’m not alone. A lot of us, who have the good fortune to work remotely, are having a hard...

Are you prepared for office politics in a remote workforce?

Design Thinking can help you manage workplace conflicts for your remote workforce.Conflicts are going online with the growing remote workforce. Are you prepared? Source — Pixabay.With more and more teams going...

The principled designer

Dismantling workplace silos with principles, not processes.The principled designer is comfortable with ambiguity. Photo by Liane Metzler on UnsplashLet’s start with a cautionary tale about The Ladders — an...

A WeWork Comeback in the Wake of a Pandemic.

How the fledgling shared-workspace company can make a triumphant comeback during a pandemic.Pre-screening and telemedicine may be the answer to saving the shared-space community. Illustration — Eric...

Will remote work and schooling break the internet?

COVID-19 pandemic forces millions online, placing stress on internet infrastructure.Fortnite and Call of Duty might break the internet during the time of social distancing. Illustration by Eric Stephan Moore.Italy...

Design Thinking vs. Design Sprints — what is the difference?

Design Thinking vs. Design Sprints — what is the difference?A simple analysis of two powerful problem-solving methods.Design Thinking versus Design Sprints. What’s the contrast? Illustration by Eric...

How a design thinking workshop sparked meaningful dialogue in workplace equality

International Women’s Day and Design Thinking.For International Women’s Day, good dialogue begins with a design thinking workshop. Illustration by Pablo Stanley and Eric Stephan Moore.Taking action for equality...

The Open Office Concept Is Hurting the Workplace

A case for redefining the modern workplace through an alternative world.Open offices, with their creature comforts, quickly blur the lines from work-life balance to work-life integration. Animation by Eric...

Yes, I have a time management problem — so what?!

Yes, I have a time management problem — so what?!Confessions of a designer, mother, and all-around busy professional.Author’s Note: Names have been changed. Illustrations by Eric Stephan MooreThe Time...

Design as if your life depends on it

Lessons from the Kon-Tiki expedition.Kon-Tiki crossing the Pacific Ocean, 1947. The Kon-Tiki Museum.A blood-spattered Herman Watzinger slowly walks atop the waterlogged Kon-Tiki raft. He loses his balance falling into...

Bad writing will destroy a designer’s reputation

Developing effective writing habits in support of your design work.PixabayThe barrage of articles reminding us what poor designers we are is seemingly endless. Either we do too much user research or make abhorrent...

What 4 years running remote Design Thinking sessions have taught me about managing remote designers

Design Thinking Isn’t Always About Design.Eric Stephan Moore, a design thinking facilitator, experiencing challenges during an in-person session. Source: AuthorNobel Prize winner and design pioneer Herb Simon said,...

Is your design undeniably biased?

The contrasts between biased designers and their austere counterparts don’t appear that extreme.Source: PixabayMost agree biases can manifest themselves into design decisions. In drop-down menus, the word Male...

Don’t be afraid to discover your creative second act before it is too late

Steps designers need to take to evolve like a successful business.Source: AuthorF. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote, “There are no second acts in American lives.” Fitzgerald was referring to the brevity of success in...

It’s 2020: should designers care about knowledge management?

A brief meditation and fresh look on the elusive process.Picture this: a physician starting her day at a major hospital. Before she even starts her rounds, she is faced with a big problem — How to absorb and...

Your online community sucks. Now what?

Online communities have increasingly become cacophonous cesspools of bloated opinions and self-promotion — driving loyal members away. So how can you lure them back?A healthy community does not require...

Design Thinking: you’re doing it wrong

But it is going to be O.K.Don’t get down on yourself or frustrated. Doing design thinking is hard. In this article I will tell you how to identify ways most people approach it incorrectly and provide ways to get you...

You don’t need creative freedom

What you need is creative order.I often hear the refrain “The client isn’t giving us creative freedom to do what we need…” or, “I need creative freedom to do my best work...” I admit to uttering these...

The digicratic oath and why you should pledge

In the hippocratic oath, doctors pledge “first do no harm”. While the Latin phrase “Primum non nocere” doesn’t show up in the original oath written by Hippocrates, the sentiment and guiding force behind the...