Breakthroughs in the Blur: Why "Unclear" Thinking Sometimes Leads to Innovation
Maria Fakhruddin Maria Fakhruddin

Breakthroughs in the Blur: Why "Unclear" Thinking Sometimes Leads to Innovation

I've watched the same dynamic play out across countless organizations: Someone brilliant in a casual chat—the type who effortlessly connects user research to technical decisions to business strategy—sits in a meeting and turns into a buzzword generator.

"The conversion metrics indicate potential UX friction that may impact our strategic KPIs."

What they actually meant: "This feels like trying to order coffee from someone who's never had coffee."

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The Design System Identity Crisis
Maria Fakhruddin Maria Fakhruddin

The Design System Identity Crisis

Your design system has a secret: it's living a double life. While you've been busy perfecting components, it's caught in an existential tug-of-war that explains those 57 shades of blue multiplying across your organization. Here I reveal the unexpected plot twist that's been hiding in plain sight all along.

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Dashboard Blindspots: Measuring What Actually Matters
Maria Fakhruddin Maria Fakhruddin

Dashboard Blindspots: Measuring What Actually Matters

Dashboard Blindspots –Where I reveal why your metrics are like dating app photos: technically accurate but missing all the important context. My "friction index" methodology measures the eye rolls and the sighs your adoption rates conveniently ignore. Turns out #SystemsThinking and #QualitativeResearch reveal the future possibilities your backward-looking metrics completely miss.

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The Myth of Universal Design: Why your System needs to speak in tongues
Maria Fakhruddin Maria Fakhruddin

The Myth of Universal Design: Why your System needs to speak in tongues

Ah, Christopher Alexander. In the 1970s, before we cluttered our Figma files with auto-layout and bent our brains around component properties, he noticed something beautifully simple: good design patterns emerge like desire paths in a garden —worn into existence by repeated human use.

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