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Watch, listen & learn from the world’s best UX experts.

Expert: Nathan Curtis

Nathan Curtis has been swimming in the deep end of the UX pool since 1996, when he started focusing his creative energies on IA, ID, usability, and front-end development. He's also an entrepreneur at heart, having founded the renowned EightShapes in Washington, DC, where he continues to make a splash today.

Nathan, who authored Modular Web Design, has presented several UIE Virtual Seminars on prototyping and sketching, and led daylong workshops at our live conferences. His featured talk from UI17, Fearless Prototyping for Skeptics, is also available here in All You Can Learn.

Follow Nathan on Twitter (@nathanacurtis the person, @components the book, @8sunify the documentation system) and LinkedIn.

Want to hear more from Nathan? Check out his articles on "Team Models for Scaling a Design System" and "A Design System isn't a Project. It's a product, Serving Products."

Documenting Components

What You’ll Learn

Create documentation that serves specific audiences
Include descriptive content, such as an introduction, examples, design and code references
Equip teams to use components efficiently and effectively
Architect an effective component page

Design Documentation Components Design Process

November 13, 2018

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And You Thought Designing Buttons Was Easy

What You’ll Learn

Create a foundation of visual style to weave throughout the components you build and maintain
Develop an enduring design system by thoughtfully considering color, space, and typography
Propagate design decisions across a portfolio of products and platforms via tokens

Design Decisions Visual Design Design Systems Design Process

November 1, 2016

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Design Systems: From Project Done to Product Sustained

What You’ll Learn

Manage and support a sustainable design system
Align team interests across products
Inspire designers to share their work

Design Teams Experience Design Design Systems Design Process

December 10, 2015

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A Tour of Today’s Online Style Guides

What You’ll Learn

Why examples are important and the best places to find inspiration for your style guide
How to create style guides even when you don’t have time
How to see your style guide with a critical eye for the purpose of fine-tuning
How to understand what your organization needs from your style guide

Design Process Design Decisions Design Principles Visual Design Design Systems

November 3, 2015

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Cohesive Design Systems for Enterprise

What You’ll Learn

Inspire designers to unite and share their work
Unify your design community within your organization
Illustrate how products relate & work together

Prototyping Design Teams Design Decisions Experience Design Experience Visions Team Management Design Systems Enterprise Design Design Process

January 29, 2015

Sketching for Understanding

What You’ll Learn

Get started with sketching basics
Critique in a way that brings out the best in everyone’s sketches
Plan a collaborative Design Studio
Run a productive Design Studio

Critique Design Teams Sketching Discussing Design Interaction Design

January 27, 2013

Fearless Prototyping for Skeptics

What You’ll Learn

Sketch conscientiously
Get to code quicker
Use paired programming
Create modular designs

Prototyping Design Process Sketching

November 4, 2012

Start Full Screen: Organize, Communicate, & Annotate HTML Prototypes

What You’ll Learn

Build HTML prototypes and organize them systematically
Break designs into small, reusable components
Use an HTML prototype to communicate an entire experience
Annotate and collaborate using basic markup

Prototyping HTML5 Discussing Design Interaction Design

March 7, 2012

From PDFs to HTML Prototypes

What You’ll Learn

Understand how and when HTML prototypes can fit into your design process
Honestly assess your front-end coding skills and how you can progressively enrich your capabilities to make valuable contributions
Recognize what you really need to prototype, balance it against other artifacts you’re creating, and identify when you’re spinning out of control
Understand why in most successful projects, it’s not about the skills or deliverable, but about the process and collaboration with your teammates and stakeholders

Prototyping HTML5 Discussing Design Design Process

April 23, 2011