A lot of people in the music industry talk about Google as evil. I don’t think they are evil. I think they, like other tech companies, are just idealistic in a way that works best for them. I think this because I used to be one of them (*4). The people who work at Google, Facebook, etc can’t imagine how everything they make is not, like, totally awesome. If it’s not awesome for you it’s because you just don’t understand it yet and you’ll come around. They can’t imagine scenarios outside their reality and that is how they inadvertently unleash things like the algorithmic cruelty of Facebook’s yearly review (which showed me a picture I had posted after a doctor told me my husband had 6-8 weeks to live).

If the user experience doesn't work, companies won't succeed.

Year three of consulting as a user experience designer and front-end developer has been really great, and also very busy. Here's a quick list of projects I was part of: * A conceptual iPad app for ordering food and drinks in restaurants * An iPad app used in schools by both teachers and students * A quoting tool for insurance agents * A conference website for an insurance company * An in-store touchscreen display for browsing beauty products * A social media display for the website of a fashion brand * Redesign of a utility ticketing system * Redesign of an online photo printing service * An iOS app for Cornify * Two real-time social media displays for events

I can only mention a few of the clients I've worked with, such as Pearson, ASOS, Nestle and NARS, but I can mention all the great agencies and friends I've worked with. I've now been working with Chad and Chris at Dive Creative for 3 years, and we've found a really good rhythm. Through them, I've had the chance to support Fino Consulting in New York with user experience design work. Also in New York, it's been great to reconnect and collaborate with the Made for Humans crew, old friends from agency times at Fi. There are several people I've talked to about projects that didn't pan out, but I'm hoping we can correct that in 2015.

Much of my time this year was eaten up by client work, so my own initiatives unfortunately suffered a little. The biggest things I got done were a redesign of Wookmark, updates to Capcam, the Cornify app and a redesign of GBKS. There's more in the works for each project.

The biggest challenge through the year has been to not just create functional interfaces, but to create interfaces that simply make sense to people and feel natural. Organizing information and figuring out how people should interact with it is at the core of user experience design. It is also an abstract task and will therefore remain difficult to perform at a high level. A lot of companies are realizing they have to become good at software, and they will need all the help they can. So both user experience design and front-end development are in high demand (which is amazing). A lot of great work is already being done, and with things like the Apple Watch and connected cars and homes on the horizon, I'm very excited about what will happen in 2015.

Since we first created Mario, people have compared him to Mickey Mouse. I've always said Mickey Mouse evolved with each evolution in animation. You saw Mickey Mouse each step of the way. From early on, I wanted Mario to be that character in the digital world, so that with each digital evolution, he was there to usher in the next era.

I like Erika Hall's approach to practical research. She wrote a book on it called "Just enough research", and below is her presentation on the topic. For me, it started to get interesting 23 minutes into the video.

We invite design entrepreneurs—those who pursue self-initiated projects, think for themselves, and channel personal passions into self-made careers—to share their perspectives. They are designers who dream big and burn the midnight oil to forge their own paths.

This looks interesting. I hope the interviews dig deep and stay away from the motivation top-level stuff you see at times. Fingers crossed.

As you watch Ive walk off, politely thanking people, you recall that he closed up his private presentation by asking you to listen closely to a watchband as it is pulled off and then reconnected. “You just press this button and it slides off, and that is just gorgeous,” he was saying. He encouraged you to pause. “But listen as it closes,” he said. “It makes this fantastic k-chit.” He was nearly whispering. And when he said the word fantastic, he said it softly and slowly—“fan-tas-tic!”—as if he never wanted it to end. This is perhaps Ive’s greatest achievement: not that we can get our email more readily, but that we can stop to notice a small, quiet connection.

See, the way these shady free-to-play games work... if we're honest, it kinda matches how Kickstarter plays out. Dramatic concept art. A beloved NPC in need. An XP bar to fill. Stretch goals to level up. Massive online multiplayer with social media tie ins, rally your friends.

I remember, a few years ago, when the big theme was that everything will be gamified. This was when Foursquare was all about getting badges for being mayor of your local coffee shop. Turns out that things got gamified in more surprising ways, such as this quote about Kickstarter.

I realized that Instapaper works for me because its design and features accomplish an obvious but arduous task: they make words by others feel like something I want to read rather than an obligation or an unread badge that needs to be taken care of.

Making the mundane feel special. Creating an experience out of a few paragraphs of text. That's good design.

Recently I sign up for a few design & tech related newsletters. I really enjoy the format of a weekly, summarized update. It lets you be confident that you get a nice, concise summary of interesting news in your Inbox. Now, these are newsletters by individuals who are experts in their fields, not newsletters by companies or magazines.

• Ben Evans on the mobile industry
• iOS Dev Weekly by Dave Verwer
• The Business of App Design by Dan Counsell