designswarm

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)

Nota Bene (a letter to my mother)

Marielle (I rarely called you mum to your face), I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye properly so I hope you’ll forgive me this very public letter. I wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done for me since 1998. I met you and your husband first, one afternoon. I sat with my hands… Continue reading Nota Bene (a letter to my mother)

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

Sunday Scraps #78

I did what I had to do. There could have been more work done. There are always so many interruptions. – David Lynch The David Lynch documentary was interesting / I watched It’s a Wonderful World for the first time (very late to the game I know) and it’s basically a film about a crowdfunding… Continue reading Sunday Scraps #78

The problem with design salaries

As a single person living in London, I suffer from the ‘single person tax‘ and I don’t think we talk about that enough in relation to design salaries. Let’s assume a junior designer role pays £35K (which incidentally is below the Skilled Worker Visa requirement). That’s £2,355.92 after tax. In Zone 3 where I live,… Continue reading The problem with design salaries

On socially distancing from microblogging

I decided to go cold turkey on micro-blogging. I’ve had a Twitter account since November 2006 and at some point owned 12 different accounts. I stopped last month. I don’t know for how long but I’ve gone back to ‘big writing’, ie. working on the second edition of Smarter Homes which I owe myself (and… Continue reading On socially distancing from microblogging

Sunday Scraps #77

Alessandro Baricco was interviewed (the English closed captioning works well) and he posits Western thought is about having just enough memory to keep building, changing, improving, innovating. I liked that. Some more tabs I had open below. Jazz music in Murakami’s novels as curated by NTS / Adding Casa Malaparte to my list of places… Continue reading Sunday Scraps #77

End of year review

Thanks to Prof. Dr. Molly Steenson for initiating this habit in 2005. What did you do in 2024 that you’d never done before? I prioritised holidays and therapy Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn’t make any. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes. Did anyone… Continue reading End of year review

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)