This week started with a bang!


Well, it started with shit weather and a leaky patio door, which is obviously a pain in the bum and a job on our to-do list. And by ‘fix,’ I mean completely demolish the back of the house and reconfigure how the house works. CAN’T WAIT FOR THE DUST!

But let’s not jump ahead of ourselves and get wet feet, last week was great. I spent a day working at Stocked in Horsforth in a co-working space alongside Emma’s Mastered class host, the ever brilliant Sophie, and it was just great to chat to creative folk working in a space that isn’t familiar to me - I heard chats around coaching, marketing, design, content writing and bagels!
I will certainly do co-working again, and the host of Stocked was wonderful - incredibly friendly and just a joy (and the attached shop is 1000% going to have my money soon!)

More recently,


I’ve been on the offensive, presenting the work to all who wish to hear and see what we’ve been doing as a team. It’s often a thing I push my team to do, instead of “pull” we also “push” communication back - invite the audience into our world and share what we’ve been doing and why.

My presentations tend to be quite structured and land (usually!), it looks something like:

  • Shape why you are here and what to expect from this presentation
    This sets the scene and checks that they even want to be here

  • This design is MVP AND a very relaxed presentation, nudge me if you want to ask a question, anytime, and I'll happily stop
    This lets everyone, we all own this, not just the designer and developers

  • User needs AND business needs, what are they, what did they say
    I show quotes, always with the quotes - it puts "real" to it!

  • Summarise the problems, what are we going to tackle (it's not everything)
    Set the scene for the next stage of the presentation..

  • Show the visuals, walk through journeys
    I use the 'jobs to be done' model to present this: no solo screens, but a reason why the user is doing a thing - usually from from login to submit. This helps the user 'feel in the design' - thanks to David Evans for that nudge!

  • Provide space for questions, it's a simple one, but I've seen so many presentations run the full 30 minutes or so, I always plan 10 minutes at least for next steps, and Q and A.

All the presentations have landed, they’ve ranged from the actual end users to very senior stakeholders - I often call these meetings “keeping the lights on”, and I think I’ve managed to get a new candle to the lanteen!

What’s happening elsewhere


Bobbin and Bumble is getting a facelift, and I’m dusting down my code chops once again, which is fun. Never did I think I’d be coding in Liquid again like the old days, but here we are (I’m building my design, it’s like the 2000s all over again!). The wave is real over there, and I love seeing Emma grow, appear on podcasts, and share her brilliant story.

Speaking of podcasts..


This week I was under the spotlight, which means.. the conversation was all about Contracting. It was fun being cornered by my two favourite designers (aside from you); listen to it and let me know how many times I swear (i reckon I didn’t hit double figures…).

🎧 Listen & follow:
→ Spotify
→ Amazon
→ Apple podcasts

Next week


I am unsure I can think straight - I’m currently writing this, watching my daughter swim, and it’s about 105 degrees, and I am starting to think it’s a great idea to jump off the diving board. Due to recent events, I tend to not plan - life’s been so unexpected at the moment that things change and take my emotions with it, but I do have a family birthday party to attend, Robyn is getting graded at swimming (which I hope she does well ‘cos shes brilliant) and I wonder how much pizza i’ll eat.

Thanks for reading. Catch you in the next one. ✌️