Project Brief

I used to have a boss who would give a specific line of feedback that always intrigued me. “This doesn’t look designed enough.” What does it mean for something to be “designed enough”..?

I haven't quite landed on a solid definition myself. For now, it's one of those things where you know it when you feel it. 

The following are some examples of things in my life that didn’t feel quite designed enough, along with my attempts to give them the love they deserve.

Digital Giftcards

One year, our pup Ivy tore up Daria’s favorite Chaco sandals. For Christmas, I wanted to get her a gift card to replace them. When I received the “e-gift card”, it was essentially a plaintext 1-column email. This would not cut it as a gift.

So I thought why not make the perfect custom gift card for the occasion? Something that might make her laugh.

I landed on a design inspired by the torn-up straps of her sandals. I even printed the art and used poster boards to make a 3D card that I could wrap for the holidays!

Friendlier Chatbots?

At Zoom, I was tasked with making the “Virtual Agent” icon we would use for a new product. This would be a customer service chatbot icon that you click on in the corners of websites. Typically, these end up being little robot icons or some sort of generic chat bubble. They don’t really make me happy, they’re just buttons.

I wanted our chatbot to be familiar, using the DNA of chat bubbles, but I also wanted it to have some personality beyond robots. Maybe there was room for a moment of delight.

What if the chatbot could look excited to chat with you? And what if as you’re about to click it, the bot gets super excited?! After all, Zoom’s slogan has always been “delivering happiness”.

This interactivity made it into the final product, including after Zoom acquired Solvvy. Below is the original prototype icon.

Valentine’s Day for Remote Teams

Remember when we were in school and you’d get those cheap little printed Valentine’s cards? The excitement of writing names on them – giving the best ones to your friends? Or how about those dusty candy hearts with dorky little quips on them?

I wanted to have something like that for the folks I work with. The problem is, we all live all across the world! Sooooo I stayed up on February 13th one year and made my very own design ‘n tines for all the lovely folks in my professional life – complete with the dusty hearts, dorky quips, and cheap (digital) cards