In reflecting on the past year, the author shares key lessons learned from 2024, marked by achievements and setbacks. The importance of slowing down to prioritise tasks, trusting one's instincts in decision-making, and embracing uncertainty within a professional environment are valuable insights. Ultimately, the author views the year positively, recognising the growth and knowledge gained despite challenges.

How to leverage your UX skills to create a better portfolio

Being a Data-driven designer empowers you to identify problems and make informed decisions by leveraging user feedback, analytics, and cross-team insights. Venessa discusses how to become a data-driven designer.

Venessa discusses the importance of staying relevant in an ever-evolving design industry

Venessa discusses essential factors to consider before accepting a job offer, including the quality of management, career growth opportunities, alignment with personal values, and the company's commercial health. Venessa emphasises the importance of treating job interviews as a two-way process, where candidates evaluate the company as much as the company evaluates them.

Venessa emphasises the importance of showing your design process in case studies. Documenting each step, from sketches to final outcomes, helps to show hiring managers how you think.

Nessa’s knowledge bombs are a series of short bite-size bombs of advice that I have learned over my career.

Discover the top three things I've learned in three months since joining a legal-tech company.

I spoke with Penny de Valk last year, and we discussed her tendency to step outside of her comfort zone and how her tribe empowers her.

This year I ventured into the realm of public speaking. It was a big challenge for me, but it was something that I wanted to master. Here are my learnings after a year of speaking.

When speaking to other design leaders, the discussion often moves to the value of design. Reflecting on this, I asked myself why are we still having this discussion. In this article, I explore why that is and what designers can do about it.

I sat down with Louis Badcock as he was leaving Cazoo and about to join Runa. We discussed some of his learnings during his time at Cazoo and our thoughts on AI and the future of design.

Being able to timebox design is an essential skill to nail if you are a designer. It is a great way to deliver value fast and to demonstrate how design can be agile. At the heart of timeboxing design are communication and planning; they help to create a shared understanding amongst the team and stakeholders.

One observation I’ve made in my career is that some of the best designers are not necessarily the most talented but the ones that are great at communicating and making the right connections, in short the best hustlers.

Receiving negative feedback is not easy - here are my tips on how to deal with negative feedback.

I believe you can learn from every situation you go through. Here are my top learnings from 2022.