Writing

Twenty-odd years of building products leaves you with opinions. These are the ones I've written down: on product and engineering process, on founding and funding companies, on UX and performance, and on the mental side of performing under pressure. Opinionated, evidence-backed, and allergic to press-release prose.

AI-native development · 15 September 2025 · Glitch Ads blog

Building a High-Converting SaaS Website in Under a Week

How we built a complete, conversion-optimised SaaS marketing site from scratch in five days using Claude: bespoke design, copy, SEO and audience-specific landing pages, at a fraction of the usual cost.

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Product leadership

Building Exceptional Digital Products

The product, project and software development processes that have brought value to the teams I have worked with over the last 20 years. Strong beliefs, loosely held.

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Design & marketing · 13 March 2018

Brand Design 101 for Startup Founders

How to research, define and build a brand that communicates one clear message, from customer research and values through logo, colour, type and voice.

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UX research · 14 August 2017

Cyberpsychology and UX: What Motivates Your Users?

Self-determination theory applied to product design: how relatedness, competence and autonomy drive engagement, and how to design for all three.

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Product & engineering · 15 February 2016

Designing Faster Web Apps

Slow UIs kill digital products. Six areas, half technical and half perceptual, that make a web or mobile app blazingly fast.

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Mobile design · 17 September 2015

Mobile Design 101: Pixels, Points and Resolutions

The six numbers behind every mobile screen, what they mean for your designs, and how to convert between pixels, points and DPs without guessing.

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From the Fluid UI blog

UX, design and founder pieces written while running FluidUI.com. Links open the originals.

Startup Fundraising: The Right MindsetFeb 2019
The Computer Brain Interface: products of today and tomorrowFeb 2019
Cyberpsychology and UX 3: Preventing cognitive overloadFeb 2018
Outsourcing software development (for non-technical founders)Apr 2017
Successful software projects: using "one pagers"Mar 2017
How I failed the company I founded last weekMar 2016
21 perfect examples of waste in Lean Product DevelopmentSep 2016
The UX of Pokémon GOJul 2016
The irreverent history of designJul 2016
Why visual design should be more waterfall than agileMay 2016
8 tips for a happy development teamMay 2016
How to hire your next designerApr 2016
A 5 step framework for validating product ideasApr 2016
Reacting to the UX growth crisisFeb 2016
The laws of emotion in designFeb 2016

Full archive: blog.fluidui.com/author/dave-kearney

Elsewhere

Guest pieces and other publications.

Deciding what customer feedback is important (and what isn't)Startup Grind
4 Leading Techniques for Designing Personalized AppsVWO blog · May 2019
A Guide to App Prototyping for BeginnersG2 Learn · Jun 2019
8 Tips for Making the Best Use of Your App PrototypeG2 Learn
11 Examples of Innovative Mobile UX DesignG2 Learn
3 Prototyping Tools Compared: InVision, Marvel & JustinmindSitePoint · Jun 2015
How to Increase User Retention: 10 UX TipsAppFollow · Jun 2019

Sport and performance psychology

Mental-skills training for athletes and coaches, written alongside Champion's Mind. Full catalogue at sportspsychology.medium.com.

Want to talk product?

Talk shop, swap notes or explore working together. WhatsApp or email me and I'll be back to you as soon as I can.

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