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 did 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)
Category: Internet of things
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
A year in
I joined TPXimpact a year ago this week which means I should probably look back and think about what I’ve learnt so far. Working with a hybrid team slows everything down because it slows down how you build trust. I made sure to visit all our various offices at least every few months to try… Continue reading A year in
10 questions we should all be asking designers
I’ve been hiring people for almost 20 years. These are some questions I think we should ask more often: What grinds your gears in the design industry? Tell me about a time when you had to give difficult feedback someone Tell me about a time when you encountered an ethically murky situation. What did you… Continue reading 10 questions we should all be asking designers
Sunday Scraps #66
Things aren’t alright in the world so my reading reflects that. Sorry. The six mistakes of man by Cicero is on point / Mr Bean’s house/bunker for cars / the 18thC communes of the Icarians / the Belisha beacon is awesome but most of the cars in my neck of the woods ignore them and… Continue reading Sunday Scraps #66
End of year Review
Thanks to Prof. Dr. Molly Steenson for initiating this habit. 1. What did you do in 2021 that you’d never done before? Prioritised my finances over how interesting or aligned my work was. 2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? We were in the middle of a… Continue reading End of year Review
Smart homes or smart paperwork?
It’s been almost 3 years since I wrote Smarter Homes but my interest in the historical role of the home in our communal and societal decision-making hasn’t stopped. After working as Head of Labs at Bulb and doing research for Overlay (by ING Labs) I got really interested in the more administrative side of homes.… Continue reading Smart homes or smart paperwork?
Repairable by design?
I’ve been a trustee of The Restart Project, a right to repair charity, for almost a year. They are focused on raising political awareness of the need for right to repair legislation in the UK and Europe and have been doing a fantastic job over the past 6 years. It’s an honour to meet with… Continue reading Repairable by design?
Sunday Scraps #41
The subversive art of Colette Justine / the stamps (or Haupstrom) of Joseph Beuys / Seed crystal / the feminisation of chocolate / How to Map Nothing or what we choose not to map / A podcast about the problems of power in Bristol’s food culture