A designer who writes.
I have blogged intermittently since the mid 90s. Thankfully, much of the early teenage angst is lost to time. This collects my writings from this site, an earlier personal website, and some newsletter projects over the years, in mostly chronological order. I also publish new writing here. I publish somewhat more formal writing about content strategy and design careers at Content Career Accelerator.
Was delighted to find that Markdown formatting even works when sending things to Ulysses from other applications. Perhaps this is common for iPad apps but it was the first time I’ve noticed it. Many of my posts start from the camera roll. It’s great to be able to do some quick formatting and position the … continue
I tried Streaks (what an awful name) a while back but it didn’t stick, I think because I picked overly-ambitious things to track. The gang was talking about it recently on Do By Friday and I gave it another spin. It’s clicking this time. This is my current mix: I’ve been try to pick habits … continue
I like when designers solve problems with words in a straightforward and simple way. I nearly opened the wrong end of this carton of heavy cream. But then I saw the all-caps instructions to OPEN OTHER END. So I did. Not hard to imagine a designer using an illustration (which you’d probably decrypt right after … continue
What do you do with that shiny new content ecosystem map you’ve created? Here’s how to effectively put your map into practice.
There’s a lot to like here. Clear heading. Shows up immediately, full screen. The pre-selected path (to remove your email address) adds privacy and is user-focused. It explains what the email address is for in simple language, right there on the same screen without having to go anywhere else to read anything. Love it.
This sign delights me. Snapped this pic in Indianapolis last year during Confab Higher Ed and don’t think I ever shared it. I hope it delights you, too.
The boss had me as a guest on her new podcast about content strategy, The Content Strategy Podcast (great name). I can’t bear to listen to it but I hope you will. There’s a transcript, too. Behind-the-scenes: I went home to record from my apartment so we wouldn’t have to mess with a multi-mic set-up … continue
Been developing a new workshop to help orient practitioners to all of the various tools available for being user-centered in their content strategy work. It’s been interesting and maddening at the same time. There’s a good deal of semantic diffusion across the various tools and methodologies. And many were blatantly misnamed to begin with. In … continue
Replace “elves” with “developers” and “table” with “project” and these principles could work just as well on a design sprint.
Took a one-night class on letterpress at MCBA recently. There were about 10 people in the group. Ruby, the instructor, had us start by making exquisite corpse poems based on the loose theme of “circus”. We picked the best two, divided into teams, and got assigned words to pick out letters for from the trays. … continue
Or you will, if you subscribe. Personal dispatches from the desk of Scott Kubie, a designer who writes.