By Nicholas Pagonis Intro The collaborative workshop approach used by the hot air balloon UX design approach is used to determine the factors that support or obstruct a product, service, or experience. By picturing progress as a hot air balloon ascending into the sky, teams can identify both positive factors (wind and lift) and negative…

By Nicholas Pagonis Stories are a favorite of product teams. We discuss intended workflows, personas, and user journeys. However, intent is a poor indication of how well real goods may be improved. The most important thing is to empirically measure how people utilize a product—by methodically observing, documenting, and analyzing how they truly interact with…

By Nicholas Pagonis Teams frequently have trouble making choices with clarity and alignment in the fields of product strategy and user experience (UX) design. What criteria do you use to determine the relative importance of different features? What are the most pressing requirements of the users? What are the most important problems? The 2×2 Matrix…

By Nicholas Pagonis Before You Scroll Past This You don’t need more content.You need better thinking. I just published a piece on Medium that explores how people actually read, process, and feel design — not in theory, but in practice. It’s about the quiet psychology behind attention, clarity, and why some messages land while others…

By Nicholas Pagonis Every day is made of tasks — endless, repeating, invisible. The work never stops, and neither does the world’s quiet beauty. Between the dishes, the emails, the errands, small joys wait for us: fleeting, ordinary, and completely life-saving. This is a story about noticing them, as well as about making the choice…

In her insightful essay, Jill Swenson highlights a crucial yet frequently overlooked difference in writing: the distinction between writing for readers and writing for listeners. Any writer who ever reads aloud, speaks into a microphone, or gives their work in person can benefit from her knowledge. The Core Distinction: Eye vs. Ear Swenson first outlines…

Although design is frequently defined as the intersection of creativity and problem-solving, it is now also the intersection of psychology, economics, and human behavior. Understanding why consumers select, click, purchase, or abandon a product is as important as knowing what they require, since products now compete on usability, motivation, and emotional resonance as well as…

The world we live in is experience-driven. The majority of items are now dependable, quick, and available; they no longer compete only on functionality. Not only what a company produces, but also how it makes us feel, distinguishes it from its competitors in the modern world. The essence of the experience economy, in which value…

Written, created, and designed by Nicholas Pagonis, without the use of AI Here’s a breakdown of the meaning and significance of the article Gary Vaynerchuk published titled “Content is King, But Context is God.” The article starts by acknowledging that in today’s digital world, brands and individuals are essentially media companies: producing and distributing content…

AI GENERATED The essay in a nutshell In January 1996, Bill Gates wrote an essay titled “Content Is King”, in which he argued that on the Internet, content—not the infrastructure itself—would become the primary business driver. He highlighted a few key ideas: The Internet allows anyone with a PC and modem to publish content globally…