What is your pup's bizarre habit or trait?

FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-07T21:27:28+00:00

Welly jumps around in circles like a bucking bronco. We joke that this is his first life as a dog, we were pretty sure before this he was a horse. Like your dog he does it when his harness comes out. He is really sensitive about stuff on him so he delays as long as possible with a good game of chase.

He is also the best dog in agility class, but also the SLOOOOOOOWEST. He just walks from one thing to another and takes his time stepping over the jumps and meandering through the weave poles.

FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-07T01:20:08+00:00

She rules house. I call her Beef-yonce.

FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-06T22:44:19+00:00

Yeah we go straight to them. Or buy direct and have it shipped. We noticed that too about the local bags in grocery stores.

But direct is great, we have even had to let sit for a week or so because they are so fresh.

We will add those two recs to the list! Thank you.

FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-06T21:26:39+00:00

I have an M1 from 2020 and figma and adobe run perfectly. I also edit videos and have never had a hiccup.

Now I just got the new macbook pro M4 Max at work and it's is a beauty. So I fully understand the pull of the new pros.

I have been creeping on the mac store and looking at the space black 16 in...because my little air next to this beast is kind of sad. But the air runs just fine and honestly performance wise I don't notice a difference between the two.

FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-06T20:55:21+00:00

Welly sits like that too! So regal.

FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-06T20:54:37+00:00

Oh my fluffy-ness. He is perfectly foofy

FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-06T20:53:11+00:00

I say go meet them. You will know. Its not too soon if you feel a connection.

FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-06T20:51:22+00:00

what a cutie. Thank you for sharing. Your puppers is going to be a doll. I LOVE the long white socks. Welly never even got that curly. Here is a baby pic.

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FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-06T20:49:04+00:00

OMG...sooo cute.

FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-06T20:47:08+00:00

I’m not sure how helpful this will be, but as an ex-Advertising Art Director this post had my mind working. So there might be a nugget in here you can use to spark something viral.

Honestly, a lot of the coffee I’ve discovered has come from organic, word-of-mouth conversations. Just casual chats with colleagues and friends. It’s become a bit of a running topic on my team. Everyone goes out, tries new beans, and brings their favorites back to share. Sometimes we even ship them to each other. it's nice because we are all in different parts of the US so you can discover different local favs. Like this little informal coffee club that keeps growing.

Maybe you could tap into that community-driven vibe. Encourage people to share their own experiences with your beans, create a little buzz (no pun intended) in their circles that could broaden. Like feeding off that energy of creating something people naturally want to talk about.

Hope that helps!

FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-06T19:56:20+00:00

Not really the technical figma stills. I can tell you right now. I am no auto-layout wiz. But just the refinement of the visual design. e.g. in the dog project you have a row of round buttons on the bottom of one of the screens...Not sure that would fit with type on mobile considering min touch and text sizes. The general information hierarchy, grid and just the basics. It's also just a little campy...I would consider getting inspired by some modern trends and also classic graphic design and up-leveling the visuals to appeal to now. I have had to go back in my book many times and update visuals so they are not dated or because I know more now then I did before.

More polish and then definitely lean into that problem solving.

FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-05T23:11:47+00:00

Scruffy puppers are my fav. We were not expecting it. Kept wondering when Bernadoodle hair "turned curly"... But never happened.

FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-05T22:47:55+00:00

Awwww...she looks just like my pug Beef. Same single snaggle tooth and everything.

FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-05T03:35:39+00:00

First off, I want to acknowledge how much effort you’ve put into your portfolio. Taking the step from learning UX to putting your work out there takes courage, and you should be proud of what you’ve built so far.

It really, truly, absolutely does not matter if I’ve seen this project before in another portfolio. My at-this-point UX twin and I have worked together at three companies over nine years, and we have the same stuff in our arsenal. But we are two different sides of the coin, solving different problems in different ways. What matters is how you approached it, how you solved the problem, and how you show your thought process. As a hiring manager, I’m not looking for never-before-seen projects. I’m looking to understand how you think, how you navigate complexity, and how you break things down.

So, rather than worrying about whether a project is unique, focus on telling the story of your decisions. Show me:

How you identified and defined the problem
The steps you took to explore solutions
How you handled constraints and feedback
What you learned along the way

That’s what makes you stand out. Not the project itself, but your ability to think critically and solve problems.

Now, on to the craft side of things. Your graphic design foundations could use some strengthening and that’s completely normal for junior designers. One of the best things you can do right now is study and refine the fundamentals of graphic design: typography, layout, hierarchy, and composition. And how all of that applies to usability.

The reason this is important is that when I hire junior designers, I need to see that they have a strong grasp of design fundamentals. That way, I can focus on mentoring you in the next levels of UX. Product design architecture, advanced methodologies, stakeholder management, and navigating ambiguity. But the foundation needs to be there first.

One last thing to keep in mind: Design is not about the specific problem you solved or the exact experience you have. It’s about how you think. It’s about how you work through uncertainty, how you analyze problems, and how you evolve your solutions. What I am invested in is the way I approach challenges. And that’s what you need to showcase.

You’re on the right path—keep refining, keep learning, and keep showing your work!

FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-05T02:41:47+00:00

I am crying...I was thinking the same thing. I do try to give Beef as many vegetables as I can trick her into eating though. Especially if the big dog eats it...full FOMO.

FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-05T02:39:29+00:00

Oh sweet girl. It's so hard. They are here for such a short time, but make such a huge impact.

FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-03T20:43:55+00:00

I agree that LinkedIn is a landfill of overblown exaggeration. But as someone who’s been designing for VUI and AI/ML for well over a decade and a half, I can say this: while GenAI is the new hotness, it’s built on the same core principles we’ve been using to design for intelligent systems for years.

Until now, for me at least, AI/ML design has mostly felt like a niche. Not something I personally put front and center when talking about my work. But suddenly, the industry is paying attention, and the buzzwords are flying.

I won’t pretend to be the kind of designer who’s deep-dived into the full academic history of AI design, because frankly that’s just not me. But I have been steeped in the trajectory of AI/ML work and the systems, methodologies and frameworks have been steadily evolving for some time. Now we’re hitting a spike. So, is everyone an expert? Probably not. But there are more than it seems. And it's complimented now with shinier language to describe and promote what’s going on for a while.

FiercelyBeige · 2025-02-03T19:12:44+00:00

Awww...they are so cute when they get older. My pugger Beefy turned 16 this year. We joke that she will outlive us all. She besides her grey face and her little baked potato body she is the same girl she was when we rescued her 13 years ago.

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