In 2006, I made a big decision: I resolved to throw everything I had into pursuing a career in software design. I'd been handcrafting GeoCities-like websites for myself and others since the late nineties, but now I wanted to get serious about it.

Ask yourself a simple question and create a product that people love. An elementary school teacher of mine once assigned us an exercise that seemed simple on the surface, but turned out to be surprisingly complex. It also wound up informing my entire philosophy on creating software.

When I was a kid, I saw an episode of Full House that in a small, weird way, helped make me the designer I am today. The episode involved D.J. going to middle school for the first time. She was...