Saving
I’m not on most social media, so this is a good way for me to keep track of and share some of my favorite links that made me think
8/24
We had a great weekend of fly fishing, but toward the end we realized the fish were mostly biting on a caddis variation that were smaller than what I brought with me. Since I plan on fishing the same creek next weekend I came home and started tying a pattern to better match the hatch. It got me to thinking how similar good product design is to fly fishing since you’re always iterating - clocking what works and what doesn’t, thoughtfully changing tactics, dialing in visual patterns, making sure you’re casting into the right section of water, etc. - and lo and behold someone already made a solid writeup of what I’d have to say about it.
Saw LA LOM in concert and they were incredible - if they’re passing through your city definitely grab a couple tickets and prepare to have an excellent time dancing.
I’ve been taking Codecademy’s “Full Stack Engineer” course to get a better handle on all of the things that make designs come to life. I put at least an hour in every single day for the last 30 days and I’m still only 9% through - it’s fairly intensive and I genuinely feel like I’m learning heaps. Highly recommend.
6/24
I’m currently on a project with three fantastic researchers and they brought up this resource today - IDEO’s “Little Book of Design Research Ethics”
5/24
I recently started working with an organization aligned with public health, and as part of my orientation & discovery into the problem space I watched “The Invisible Shield”, an excellent four-part series on PBS
4/24
It’s a little groovy but I enjoyed this podcast episode on the position we can get in when we create stories about “how things are” - often based on narrow or limited information used to form those narratives. They also mention the book “The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigm for Sustainable Success” which I’m going to read immediately.
I fell asleep listening a playlist inspired by Mary Lattimore’s “Arrivederci” and was jolted awake at 4 am by “Green Glass” by Josiah Steinbrick which I’ve since fallen in love with - it’s off of an album that is my new go-to for reading at night with the windows open.
3/24
My friend Liz and I went to the Banff Film Festival screening last week and I definitely cried at “Earthside”, a beautiful movie about living life at full volume
This is my favorite piece of art at the Denver Art Museum
4/23
I recently revisited a couple podcast episodes I really loved: Leslie Witt of Headspace and Connie Liu of Project Invent respectively talking with the Re:Considering folks about designing mental health services and approaching education differently. Stephen Brackett of Youth on Record and The 87 Foundation talking with CityCast Denver about the importance of needing more diverse spaces oriented toward young people in the city.
1/23
In a meeting with a colleague today, I talked about how High Country News is consistently my favorite reading material and 5 minutes later we had both signed up for a print subscription ✨
7/22
This podcast about coaching / self-coaching was magnificent. I just got back from a week of in-person, immersive dialog with other colleagues. That, plus the podcast, inspired me to spend some time journaling and reflecting on how I can grow based on what I felt from those interactions.
6/22
Had my mind blown a little by this article: “How Animals See Themselves”
We’ve been watching this mesmerizing YouTube channel about fine art restoration
5/22
Loved this absolutely stellar podcast about navigating midlife. It’s timely as I approach the midpoint of my life (if I go by the average lifespan on my family tree) and simultaneously made me feel inspired and more relaxed.
12/21
Escaping the Trap of Efficiency: The Counterintuitive Antidote to the Time-Anxiety That Haunts and Hampers Our Search for Meaning. This was a very timely read during my least favorite two weeks of the year - the time between Christmas and New Year where I feel deeply unsettled and stuck between a sense of wanting to accomplish everything and simultaneously wanting to do absolutely nothing, and then feeling guilty about it.
Finished a book on data privacy and didn’t realize there’s a whole set of established Privacy by Design foundational principles
11/21
10/21
9/21
d.MBA: Guides - A helpful collection of business concepts geared toward leveling up design professionals (I really liked the one about economics)
8/21
It’s hard to be a moral person. Technology is making it harder. - Sigal Samuel
The Capacity for Wonder / Sunsets - The Anthropocene Reviewed
I’ve been absolutely entranced by Mary Lattimore’s Collected Pieces album especially Bold Rides and The Warm Shoulder
6/21
Experience Design; 4 Ways to Make Your Next Event Unforgettable. I miss hosting! There’s the work part of experience design that I like, but I also miss building a playlist, setting a table, arranging lighting, playing games and cooking a meal for friends and family.
Sort of related to that podcast: writing acrostics for guests at a dinner party
5/21
What Is Systems Design? How to Surface Opportunities for Change
The Middle Way of Sobriety - Matthew Ginden
A History of Authenticity, from Jesus to Self-help and Beyond - Alexander Stern
You Are a Network - Kathleen Wallace
2/21
Radiooooo - The Musical Time Machine
A great YouTube series on mushroom identification
The Hum. It’s real. I’ve heard it. Or maybe I have tinnitus.
Whenever I’m feeling blue, I watch some of the Crufts Freestyle competition and it always cheers me right up
12/20
Beatrix Potter (of Peter Rabbit) was a mycologist prior to becoming an author
Tap Dancing Sequence from White Christmas
Zoom and Gloom: How Empathy and Creativity can Re-Humanize Videoconferencing - Robert O’Toole
10/20
The Need to Touch - Laura Crucianelli
How Andrew Wyeth Made a Painting - The Nerdwriter
Designing the Ballot & Voter Experience with Dana Chisnell - Aurelius Podcast
09/20
The Domain of Spirit - Ram Dass (archived dharma talk)
Home Is Where You Park Your Minivan - Radio Diaries Podcast
Lockdown in Lockup - Radio Diaries Podcast
06/20
I’ve found it really interesting how different businesses and organizations are using wayfinding to set up social distancing guidelines. Over the last few weeks, I’ve seen custom-made signs, red arrows / green arrows, blue painters tape, sandwich boards, caution tape, etc.
04/20
Capitalism and the Age of Addiction - Sean Illing & David Courtwright
And related somewhat, this article about “Kind UIs: Creating Interfaces that Promote User Wellbeing.”
Last week I had some feelings about inflated language, so I was really happy to keep the gripe going with this article about garbage language.
I watched this documentary that talked about a hydroelectric dam they built in South America that was pretty much entirely created for the sole purpose of powering the nearest major city’s exponential use of electricity year over year. But in the process of building it, they had to take over indigenous farmland through eminent domain and tore apart the natural environment. It’s something I don’t think about a lot, but yeah, when you use your device, or charge it up, or check your media which is powered by a server somewhere, you’re making an environmental ripple effect through your actions.
02/20
The Side Effects of an Unfinished Internet - Neil Patil
Erika Hall continues to be awesome. Her quote: “Teach people those skills early in life, and start valuing conversation—particularly conversations where we feel the stakes are high, or we’re forced to talk about what we don’t know. What I’ve found in all my years of consulting is that if you go to any organization, everyone is terrified. They’re terrified of their colleagues, of the people who report to them, of the people above them. They’re terrified of looking like they don’t know what they’re doing. And it’s all because nobody has been taught to talk to people, or negotiate with people—despite the fact that these things are really learnable.”
If you consider yourself a designer but you're not routinely considering the architecture of the thing you’re designing, are you performing design or decoration?
07/19
How Our Brain Sculpts Experience in Line with Our Expectations - Daniel Yon
The Universal Page - 99% Invisible Podcast
What does pilgrimage mean in an age of instant communication and high-speed travel / “I Have a Small Heart” by Bajir Cannon
Inclusive Language Guidelines from WBGH, whose logo will always be etched into my mind from This Old House
Design Patterns for Mental Health exists, as does a Data Permissions Catalog. Jeez I love the internet sometimes.
I’ve been interviewing folks for some different positions at work, and I’ve been trying to keep a lot of these basics in mind.
06/19
The Interoceptive Turn - Noga Arikha
05/19
The Healing Power of Nature - Rebecca Lawton
Botanical Sexism Cultivates Home-Grown Allergies - Thomas Leo Ogren
04/19
How Culture Works with Evolution to Produce Human Cognition - Sally Davies
Build Confidence in Your Strategy - IDEO U Podcast
11/18
Meat World Matters - Zig Zag Podcast
02/16
What is Experience Strategy? - Foolproof Agency