Crafting your origin story
My first salary job out of university was working as an Accounts Receivable manager. I somehow managed to get companies across Canada to pay their overdue invoices for my employer: ... Read it →
May 18th, 2018
A collection of articles, posts and thoughts since I began writing on the web.
My first salary job out of university was working as an Accounts Receivable manager. I somehow managed to get companies across Canada to pay their overdue invoices for my employer: ... Read it →
May 18th, 2018
As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. The same has to be said for leaving an agency that felt more like family than a job ... Read it →
May 3rd, 2018
Back in 2013 I visited NYC to attend the wonderful Brooklyn Beta conference. It was Autumn. There was a slight nip in the air, the leaves were turning, and the weather ... Read it →
October 19th, 2017
I’m all for design systems. I’ve designed and created many, and they’re a great way of unifying patterns, usage and language. They reduce time, save on costs and pr... Read it →
July 7th, 2017
Are designers evolving from just UX designers or just visual designers into multi-disciplinary generalists? There seems to be higher-quality design all-rounders coming back into vogue. Jack-of-all-trades When I was a ... Read it →
August 9th, 2016
As a visual designer working on agile projects, I’ve said before how it’s easy to lose sight of the larger visual language in agile sprints. When you’re tackli... Read it →
March 9th, 2016
A few years ago when Mark wrote his article on performance budgets, we were working together on a redesign for a luxury travel holiday website. The use of large images ... Read it →
February 29th, 2016
A decade or more ago, digital marketing was more of a blunt instrument. It was like the first stone axe - crude, but it got the job done. I started ... Read it →
February 27th, 2016
A look into my use of Strava and how it's positively affected my behaviour over time. My name is Jon, and I'm a Strava user. I never thought I could ... Read it →
December 23rd, 2015
When designing a site, app or digital product, all of the elements on screen need to work together. They need to sing together, harmonise with one another and form something ... Read it →
December 15th, 2015
Climbing 13,000 feet and riding 100 miles on a mountain bike... in a day. The South Downs Way is a long distance footpath and bridleway running along the South Downs in southern ... Read it →
July 17th, 2015
Always nice getting a shout-out on a podcast, this time regarding the Code for America work and element collages. Read it →
May 25th, 2015
This article was originally posted on the Clearleft blog. Most Hack Farm projects start as someone's itch that needs scratching. Last year's TinyPlanner was Boxman's need for a backwards to-do ... Read it →
February 10th, 2015
This article was originally posted on the Clearleft blog Arguably the key deliverable we hand over to our clients is our pattern portfolio, comprised of two main components: The component ... Read it →
April 9th, 2013
Better late than never, right? In retrospect, my 2012 was pretty huge, both professionally and personally. On new additions In the early summer we welcomed another Aizlewood into the world - ... Read it →
January 17th, 2013
... absolutely nothin'! (Say it again, y'all) A short while back, I pitched for a project that I ultimately lost. After putting together a comprehensive proposal and fielding numerous questions (which ... Read it →
January 5th, 2012
Creating the content for your website can be a difficult task. You have to gather information, consult experts, write thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of words, source images and get ... Read it →
November 23rd, 2011
In early November, Quality English were kind enough to Eurostar me down to Paris to present to their member schools on digital marketing. The presentation, entitled 'The demise of the ... Read it →
November 9th, 2011
It's finally happened. After almost a year of waiting, a team of web designers, web developers, an agency and many talented others have been working with a well-known newspaper to ... Read it →
September 20th, 2011
Should websites be built around the content, or should content be created to fit the design? Here’s an argument for creating content first – or at least thinking about content firs... Read it →
September 15th, 2011
I'm currently attending the Brighton SEO conference at the Corn Exchange. Huge turnout, and clearly this industry continues to thrive. But, I'll admit it. Over the years my view on ... Read it →
September 9th, 2011
As I type this, I'm currently on a break from attending the Brighton Digital Marketing Festival here in sunny Brighton. On Monday I was fortunate enough to attend the surprisingly ... Read it →
September 8th, 2011
Things have been pretty busy lately, hence the lack of posts. However, one piece of news worth sharing: CarbonGraffiti was selected to design and build the website for the inaugural ... Read it →
August 3rd, 2011
It’s been a crazy start to 2011. In fact, the last few months have been an absolute whirlwind. Here are some noteworthy the projects we’ve been working on, with serv... Read it →
March 4th, 2011
On January 27th I gave an hour-long talk on 'The Future of Digital Marketing', speaking specifically to the ELT (English Language Training) industry. The conference was put on by EnglishUK ... Read it →
February 3rd, 2011
Let's work together. For project inquiries, drop me a line.