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.
I’m not good at going to bed. It got really bad a couple of months back. I’d sit on my couch scrolling social media on my phone or watching dumb stuff on Hulu right on through 11pm, midnight, 1am. It’s not like I have to get my nonexistent kids off to school at dawn or … continue
Chris Welch, writing for The Verge on iCloud storage limits: 5GB makes things way more difficult for those people than they should be. Fundamental tasks like backing up your device become cumbersome chores. If you never upgrade, you’re likely going to have a worse time using an iPhone. Full stop. It surprises me that Apple … continue
Been down in Arizona keeping my Mom company after a surgery. Went for a run this morning. It was just shy of 80 in Tucson. I don’t know anyone but family down here, and there’s hardly anyone around anyway, so I only wore my little running shorts. I wanted to feel as much sun on … continue
I used to do freelance videography for legal depositions. I’d set up a camera and microphones to record lawyers interviewing someone for a court case. One time, an old businessman was being deposed. The smug young lawyer hammered him with questions. Stuff about the history of the business and a partnership arrangement going back to … continue
Been trying to get better with Linea sketch. I much prefer the brushes available in Paper, but have found that app to be very glitchy and there’s not much in the way of workflow management. I used Paper to illustrate my deck for What Even is a Website and there was a lot of hoping … continue
I’m giving a workshop soon in Sioux Falls. It’s one I’ve done before, Build Your Digital Writing Toolbox. The most recent deck and materials, from Confab Higher Ed, were in pretty good shape. I cleaned up some typos and alignment issues, added presenter notes for things I was feeling rusty on, and — this is … continue
The main idea being that the pencil is always accessible. You wouldn’t have to take the sleeve out of your bag or pencil case to remove the pencil if you didn’t want to. Nothing to open or close, to seal or unseal, zip or unzip. Just a quick flip like I do with my iPad … continue
I run my primary website on Squarespace. It looks great, and I like the module approach to building out things like my speaking page. It’s been working well for me. So when I decided to start blogging again, I made my first few posts there, using the blog I’d initially set up many years ago. … continue
Things I’ve recently bought, downloaded, stolen or scavenged — and what I think about them. Priority Continuum Onyx bicycle My bike got stolen over the winter from the storage area in my apartment building. It was a whole thing. I bike a lot, especially in the summer, but I have a very utilitarian relationship to … continue
It’s not hard to just grab a bag and run out the door. But I’m me, so I have all kinds of routines associated with travel.
Or you will, if you subscribe. Personal dispatches from the desk of Scott Kubie, a designer who writes.