Our Blog

Five Things Every CEO Needs to Know about Software Design

There is an old adage, “Design is thinking made visible.” This is an absolute truth in the digital age. As a CEO it is mission critical that you understand the design process and how it affects your business.

At Designing Interactive (D-I), our mission is to make the world intuitive. The following five design truths are at the core of our philosophy. Design is the epicenter that drives the strategies we have used to create user interfaces for millions of people across the globe.

Our new office in Colorado Springs

D-I is deeply invested in Cleveland, OH. Our team is all from here and for the last 10 years we’ve been located in the same office in the suburb of Rocky River. We’ve been a long standing member of the community and are passionate about continuing to create jobs here in Cleveland.

Debunking the Parable of the Product Roadmap

Last year I went on a speaking tour across the United States. During that time, I attended many Agile conferences, meetup groups and private company meetings. At these events, I kept hearing the same parable over and over. I heard it so much that I believed it, and since then, I’ve been spreading that story myself. It’s a shame, since I now believe it’s actually more harmful than it is productive.

Build a better product by spending less time planning.

I’m a morning person. I enjoy rising early to plan my day and anticipate what I’ll accomplish. This routine provides clarity of thought and a hunger to act. It challenges me to be alert, prepared, and persistent toward the day’s priorities. Ultimately, it provides an energy and momentum that nourishes me throughout the day, and that—through my action—helps to nourish my team and the software projects we’re responsible for.

Why your developers should think more like a designer

Software exists to create an experience for a user, be it solving a problem or some other business value. Any development process that loses sight of that experience, even for a second, will miss opportunities to create something great.

Agile and Lean practices are crucial to creating products with great experiences. They put the customer at the center of the process and encourage team collaboration.

How we designed our Codemash t-shirts

We presented an idea to the Codemash Conference for a new t-shirt design this year. They decided not to print t-shirts this year, so this design was just for our own enjoyment.

Even though this design doesn't work on the apparel the conference selected, we wanted to share the process we went through to design it.