I can’t believe I didn’t know Juan Mirò inspired Miro / an event about divination, prediction and AI / my friend Julie made sonic furniture / the fun film is based on Erik and Joan Erikson’s theories of psychosocial development / an article on how we’re spotting the shape of AI generated texts (article in… Continue reading Sunday Scraps #90
Category: Innovation & business
On hiring
I started my design career by hiring people back in 2007 so as an experienced hiring manager, here are some observations based on the last four months of my own job search (and supporting others in theirs). Nobody knows how to write a CV anymore. Almost all of the graduates I’ve spoken to think a… Continue reading On hiring
Use it or lose it (on Communities of Practice)
I’m in my last weeks at work at TPXimpact and I’ve worked with Heads of Practice (the equivalent of government Heads of Profession) during my tenure. It was my first time working in an environment where practice is not a personal journey but a group activity we specifically make space for as a consultancy which… Continue reading Use it or lose it (on Communities of Practice)
Playing the orchestra: thoughts on a cultural audit for remote design teams
I’m in my last 5 weeks at TPXimpact. It’s been so much fun and at its largest, the team was over 120 people. That’s the size of the orchestra required to play Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 ‘an expression of confidence in the eternal human spirit’. Fitting, except the orchestra is online and I played a… Continue reading Playing the orchestra: thoughts on a cultural audit for remote design teams
On making choices
My dayjob is largely operational but occasionally, I get deployed on client work. I’ve been working with a client whose design team is suffering from burnout, anxiety, and general malaise. I wish I could say it was all their fault but it isn’t. We’re in this interesting situation where everyone in the industry is trying… Continue reading On making choices
It’s just emotion (or how to have difficult conversations)
I studied design in the early 2000s, a time of brutal design feedback culture. These days, I have at least two to three conversations every week with designers who need some advice on how to share often negative feelings at work. Sometimes it’s because of a personality clash, other times it’s ‘constructive feedback’ based on… Continue reading It’s just emotion (or how to have difficult conversations)
On looking for work (when you’re a designer)
I’ve been reviewing CVs for free for 6 months and supporting a variety of designers looking for work for years now. In a sector that was always (and continues to be) fragile, here’s some things to consider in a job search. Nobody reads, people skim. Giles taught me that in a lecture he gave my… Continue reading On looking for work (when you’re a designer)
The end of the useful idiot
This recent piece in Fast Company was bothering me. I’ve been in work for almost 20 years soon and I’ve heard people talk about the lack of business acumen in design since I was a student. I posit that something else is happening as ‘design thinking as a service’ enters its mid life crisis. Design… Continue reading The end of the useful idiot
The case for a Digital Design Council
People have a better idea of how films get made than how [digital] design gets done I was listening to Peter Merholz talk to Andy Polaine (thanks Mathew) who, 35 minutes in, talk about the institutionalisation of Design and it got me thinking: do we need a Digital Design Council? I did a stint at… Continue reading The case for a Digital Design Council
What to expect (when you’re graduating)
So you’re graduating from a design course this summer? Well done you. Also, welcome to the madness. It’s been a quietly devastating recession and most of my very talented and employable friends are struggling to find work. All the non profits I work with have have suffered from months of funding rejections and unresponsive funders.… Continue reading What to expect (when you’re graduating)