You're doing the lord's work, Joe. :bow:

Just wanted to +1 Principle. :)

You can find lots of examples/templates here, in case this is close to anyone's interests...

http://principletemplates.com/

So many pens, so little time... Don't even get me started on paper. :)

For quick sketches and general workhorse use, I love the Sharpie Ultra Fine Point retractable and cap'd versions in Red, Blue and Black. Pretty inexpensive and gets the job done.

For more detailed sketches that require more layers of definition, I use Staedtler Pigment Liners and Triplus Fineliner (in assorted greys, silvers, greens, blues, and reds). Plus side for the Staedtlers is the color selection. I can get colors real close to most of the "official" app colors that we have defined as part of our UI color system. They also have a neat system to store and display your pens for easy selection....

I avoid --Sakura Micron pens-- like the plague... every single one I've owned (had been using them since college) has exploded either in my pocket or all over my work during sketching. :(

Was recently gifted a Copic color marker, which I'm loving way more than my old Prismacolors. Great for quickly laying down a blanket light-grey modal layer. :)

Also very fond of Uni-ball Signos series gel pens in white and black... Used to sign and number posters with the white pen.

I'll... just stop here for now... :)

+1, love that book too!

Nice! Super shame they're using example charts with exactly what not to do. :(

chartjunk

If anyone is interested in reading a bit more on data viz best practices or want some practical "rules" for graphing data, I highly recommend "Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals." The first half of the book is a nice practical tldr of a lot of Tufte principles, but for the layperson.

http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1119002257.html

Yes, absolutely!

Sometimes it might even work out in your favor. Have a buddy who works at Uno. The staff (and their clients) really embraces their American and Latino cultures. http://unobranding.com/uno/23-2/

But the video does bring up a good point about barrier to entry: socio-economic pressures.

Primary Screen: Doing. Secondary Screen: Seeing.

Usually I fullscreen applications on my primary monitor (Axure, Illustrator, etc) and floating reference material (browser, live prototype, inspiration, data, information) on the second. I use this in combination with lots of dedicated "Spaces" or additional desktops. I'll have different applications fullscreened on each of the primary spaces, for example:

Space 1: Browser for email+Jira+Calendar.

Space 2: Illustrator.

Space 3: Axure.

Space 4: Chat clients.

This helps to keep everything nice and neat in my head since each of the programs consistently live in their own place. The same goes for my secondary screen so that I can dedicate spaces for various projects. Nice for when I want to fling some stuff to a specific project for reference later.

[edit: woah, wonky return formatting. :(]

Workiva, in addition to a multiple day onboarding process, follows the practice of assigning an official"First Friend" (usually someone who has been there a while) to new employees.

The First Friend's job is to help new hires feel comfortable and settled. This person will become a lifeline when new employees have any questions, get lost or just want to hang out and sip some coffee.

Very helpful for the first few weeks, especially when you're trying to remember names and conference room locations!

It's like Hipchat, but works smoother and has more features that make design collaboration easier. It's a lot less frustrating to share and comment on files with Slack. I also love Slack's fast search feature, which doesn't force you to log into a browser version like HC.

It's also no where near as buggy as Hipchat (which randomly decides to stop working or not notify us when we have @all/@username mentions). Sad panda. :(

I Love, love, LOVE Slack. The video is pretty much spot on!

The UX team at Workiva has been testing it for a while now. We see no real reason to ever switch back to HC/Skype, especially with Slack's ability to add custom Atlassian product integration.