Mike Monteiro

The world is working exactly as designed. And it's not working very well. Which means we need to do a better job of designing it.

Ruined by Design

Design Is a Job

Austin Kleon

"Whether you're a designer or not, you make design decisions every day. Successful design projects require equal participation from both the client and the design team. Yet, for most people who buy design, the process remains a mystery. In his follow-up to Design Is a Job, Mike Monteiro demystifies the design process and helps you prepare for your role. Ensure you're asking the right questions, giving effective feedback, and hiring designers who will challenge you to make your product the best it can be." -- Back cover.

You are My Favorite Client

The world is working exactly as we designed it.
The combustion engine which is destroying our planet’s atmosphere and rapidly making it inhospitable is working exactly as we designed it. Guns, which lead to so much death, work exactly as they’re designed to work. And every time we “improve” their design, they get better at killing. Facebook’s privacy settings, which have outed gay teens to their conservative parents, are working exactly as designed. Their “real names” initiative, which makes it easier for stalkers to re-find their victims, is working exactly as designed. Twitter’s toxicity and lack of civil discourse is working exactly as it’s designed to work.

The world is working exactly as designed. And it’s not working very well. Which means we need to do a better job of designing it. Design is a craft with an amazing amount of power. The power to choose. The power to influence. As designers, we need to see ourselves as gatekeepers of what we are bringing into the world, and what we choose not to bring into the world. Design is a craft with responsibility. The responsibility to help create a better world for all.

How Designers Destroyed the World, and What We Can Do to Fix It

For ten years or so I've been putting down my thoughts on design, and technology, and ethics. Essays after essay. Some of those essays get turned into talks, some of them get blown out into books, but the essay has always been the native form for all these. I am, at heart, an essay writer. I love the form. It's long enough to be nuanced, and short enough to get it out immediately. All the essays here have already appeared somewhere. Some might be familiar. But I thought it'd be nice to get them all in one book. Cause man I love holding a book, and flipping through it, and writing notes in the margins. Also, I added a bunch of footnotes to the essays. So that's new. The book is broken up into three sections: the more recent stuff on ethics, responsibility, and race; a section where I throw rocks at Silicon Valley; and a more practical section about design basics, which is where this whole mess got started. I just wanted to help you get paid, remember that? Lordy, it's been a journey.

The Collected Angers: Essays About Design for an Unwilling Audience

Design Ethics

You ́re My Favorite Client

On ne s'improvise pas designer, il s'agit d'un métier à part entière. Voilà ce que nous démontre dans ce nouvel ouvrage de la collection A Book Apart, le designer Mike Monteiro, qui livre ici une multitude de conseils sur les aspects pratiques du métier de web designer : comment trouver des clients, comment les choisir puis les gérer, comment établir des devis, signer des contrats, vendre son travail, comment se faire payer et travailler en équipe. Un petit livre unique en son genre, qui décrit simplement et honnêtement la recette du succès ! Avec une préface de Erik Spiekermann.

Métier web designer

Take care of yourself as a working designer and use design as a tool for good.

The Necessary Second Edition

Get crystal clear insight into the process and business of design, and prepare to lead successful projects every time.

You're My Favorite Client

Le secret de réussite d’un design web réside dans uneimplication égale et un partenariat harmonieux entre l’équipe de design et son client. Pourtant, pour la plupart des gens qui font appel au service d’un web designer, le processus de création reste un mystère. Suite à son premier ouvrage Métier web designer, Mike Monteiro s’adresse cette fois à ses clients et démystifie pour eux le processus de design d’un site web afin de lespréparer à bien jouer leur rôle ; il leur apprend à poserles bonnes questions, à donner un feedback constructif et efficace et à embaucher l’agence ou le designer le plus adapté à leur produit. Une lecture indispensable pour devenir le client idéal de tous les web designers !

Mike Monteiro

Books

Your next favorite book is out there