At that stage of middle age when I consider buying an eye mask / Mitterrand’s last meal / a lovely sounding supper club in London / can’t believe the House of St Barnabas closed / the most sampled African song / I should write something for Container magazine / the experimental instruments of Michel Waisvisz /… Continue reading Sunday Scraps #74
Sunday Scraps #73
(Picking this up after a year apparently, yikes.) Collective Ending is an art collective in South London / an open call for the latest issue of Branch magazine / a friend recommended the work of choreographer Crystal Pite and dancer Leo Walk / the work of Raymond Briggs is being exhibited at the Ditchling… Continue reading Sunday Scraps #73
What is a design consultant?
I’m Design Director in a digital transformation consultancy after having worked as a consultant for 10+ years and in-house since 2018. Being a designer in a consulting environment is pretty unique so I thought I’d try to describe it for others who are interested in moving into that industry. Sometimes, the user is your client.… Continue reading What is a design consultant?
On middle management in design
Middle management is the intermediate management level of a hierarchical organization that is subordinate to the executive management and responsible for “team leading” line managers and/or “specialist” line managers. Middle management is indirectly (through line management) responsible for junior staff performance and productivity. – Wikipedia After a few years reporting to the founders/CEO of organisations, I find myself in middle management for the… Continue reading On middle management in design
Organising Design (or why you need to care about spreadsheets)
About 10 years ago, I became an assessor for funding agencies. I have since worked for AHRC, Innovate UK, EIT and EU programmes to help them assess funding applications. As a result I spent a lot of time looking at other people’s (sometimes terrible) spreadsheets and it’s become a bit of an obsession. I’ve often… Continue reading Organising Design (or why you need to care about spreadsheets)
End of year review
Thanks to Prof. Dr. Molly Steenson for initiating this habit in 2005. What did you do in 2023 that you’d never done before? I started quiet quitting some bad habits. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I’ve given up on those I think. Did anyone close to… Continue reading End of year review
The Long Tail of Design Work
I started a new role 9 weeks ago at TPXimpact, a digital transformation consultancy born out of the merger of a mix of agencies that included FutureGov. My boss is Ben the Chief Designer and I’m Design Director. We work with 108 designers with a wide array of experiences and backgrounds across four practice areas:… Continue reading The Long Tail of Design Work
72 questions on digital human values
In 2020, the Human Values team at BBC R&D North Lab and I won some funding from NESTA to turn their Human Values work into practical tools for policy-making. Building on my experience shepherding the London Internet of Things community into developing the Better IoT assessment tool, I helped them develop a questionnaire for people… Continue reading 72 questions on digital human values
Notes on climate work
It was my last day at Design Council on Friday so I’m taking the opportunity to reflect on the past 5 years, taking on work across renewable energy, sustainable finance, circular economy, climate leadership in the world of design and running a summer residency. The administration of climate work matters. The minutiae and administration of… Continue reading Notes on climate work
Sunday Scraps #72
The importance of libraries to women / the privilege of men in STEM / the new MacGuffin is about chains / fragmented consumer research / I should do an Arvon retreat some time as I have been writing bad poetry during the pandemic / the book Esc looks nice / when you overdo it… Continue reading Sunday Scraps #72