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Design with Chris

Hi, I'm Chris! Strategic UX designer running her own business, Design with Chris. I help product teams and designers take a strategy-first approach and make smarter design decisions. Subscribe if you want to work strategically in your UX practice.

Featured Post

How do you present your UX results?

Hi UX buddy My sales experiment is still ongoing, and a big topic for me has been "how to showcase my results." I called them "sellable achievements" in the last newsletter. They fall into two categories: Quantitative = how did you deliver on metrics? Qualitative = feedback from people you have worked with. Here's my problem... I don't work with customer-facing applications. I work with internal IT for employees mostly. And my work takes place early in the project, meaning that I'm not there...

Selling UX

Hi UX friend It's Friday, yeah! And while I drink my coffee and eat my poorly baked cinnamon roll, it's time to share my early learnings from my UX sales experiment. It has been a huge eye-opener. I really thought that I had my "niche" and "service" nailed... NOT! The comment from my sales mentor: "This could be anything. I have no idea what you are doing and for whom." ¡Ay, caramba! And here I am, thinking that I have put my "fluffy UX days" behind me, and now I'm right back where people...

Own your UX process

Hi UX friend It's time for a story... It was my first full-time job as a UX consultant after uni. I remember sitting in a client meeting with my boss (and mentor). We were meeting with a new client to discuss the right approach for our upcoming project. There was no list of questions or a predefined plan. It was “just a talk.” My boss was asking the questions, and I remember looking at her, thinking: How do you know what to ask? Do you have a checklist in your head? What’s your plan? I never...

UX strategy

Hi, UX friend If you’ve ever wondered, “Why are we making ANOTHER button?” this one’s for you. Strategic UX is the difference between designing screens and designing real impact. Since I started my own business, I’ve called myself a “strategic UX designer.” But what does that actually mean? Let me show you how I think about it—and the two strategic actions I always start with on any project. 1. Start with strategy When I work on projects, the first thing I do is to align on the strategy with...

UX in recession

Hello, dear UX friend It's been a while! In fact, you haven't heard from me since December 2022. And to be honest, I feel a bit embarrassed. I was all like, "Come to my webinar, buy my course," and then I vanished. Well, life happened. I bought a house with my husband, moved to the countryside, and we had a baby. Boom! Not only did life happen, it also changed dramatically. I felt pretty confident coming back from maternity leave, back in March. I was ready to take on the UX world (again)....