Building a Better Us

A brief discussion about removing ego from our design process and decisions.

1. building a better us @JOSHHEMSLEY
3. my first speaking event
4. “i’m going to impress and be amazing”
5. is this how i design?
6. what an asshole i am
7. today is no bullshit day
8. hi. i’m josh hemsley
9. my journey here
10. started dating the girl of my dreams. (I was 12) 1997
11. drew band logos instead of listening in science class. 1999 but kept the GF — success!
12. tried to play college baseball and failed. 2003 but kept the GF — success!
13. dropped out of college and delivered pizzas. 2004 but kept the GF — success!
14. met this thing called myspace. learned html? 2005 but kept the GF — success!
15. girlfriend starts to worry... enrolls me in a design school. 2005 late
16. fell in love... with design. 2006 but kept the GF — success!
17. graduated from design school. 2007 and kept the GF — success!
18. got my first full- time design job. 2008
19. moved out of state 2008
20. bought my first house 2008
21. MARRIED THAT GIRLFRIEND! 2008
22. PHWW
23. lost my first design job. 2009 but kept the wife — success!
24. forced into freelance. also did some agency work 2009 mid
25. we had our first little human. 2009 late
26. got invited to dribbble 2010
27. got a full-time job at MyEnergy thanks to dribbble 2010 late
28. also started a small virtual agency. 2010 late
29. we had our 2nd little human 2011
30. hey look, i’m popular on dribbble 2012
31. holy job offers batman! but no thanks. 2012
32. sold MyEnergy. worked at Nest. then began something new. 2013
34. great for inspiration
35. great for community
36. great for finding talent
37. great for job leads
38. but like i said, no bullshit.
39. fuel for my ego
40. approval from peers makes me feel good
43. aren’t we lucky?
44. people crave design
45. story time
46. I assumed everything was wrong because it was ugly, so I changed it all.
47. it made everyone frustrated.
48. our team disappeared.
49. our team disappeared.
50. we were an engineering company
51. evolve design into everything
52. systematically aesthetically
53. we built a process
54. we learned how to communicate
55. we learned how to adapt
56. we learned how to simplify
57. we learned how to iterate
58. we learned how to solve problems
59. we built a foundation of design by building better relationships
60. people matter
61. the world now knows who the designers are
62. 600+ open engineers jobs
63. 2000+ other jobs not related to design
64. The Design Driven Company
65. The Design Driven Company
66. the best design happens away from photoshop when others can be involved
67. Some of the best designers don’t call themselves designers. Find them.
68. life/work/design all about interaction, communication and people.
69. Be proud of what you can do TOGETHER.
70. don’t be a jerk. say hello. THX