Field Notes

Feedback. We all need it in order to improve. Growing up we had our families to provide feedback and help us course-correct and grow. It was normal and expected when your parents might have told you…

A year ago this week my wife and I took our kids out of school to travel most of the world. Over the course of 6 months we travelled to 10 countries across 3 continents. We unschooled our kids and…

As an agency leader, founder, manager or anyone who hires: employee loyalty is your ideal. Say it with me: no one on your team will be there forever. If you want high-performing teams who share your…

A long time ago I started a side project that died on the vine, called WIKN (What I know Now). The intention was to share warts-n-all advice to new designers, helping them navigate their careers,…

This is an introspective recap of my first year at ASquared: a Brighton-based, purpose-driven digital agency putting social and environmental issues at the heart of everything they do. As Design…

Compulsively using a note-taking app is a life-saver for those who juggle competing priorities, whether you’re in management or a practitioner. — Sometimes it’s handy to remember what was said in a meeti…

A couple weeks back the wonderful Aamna Hussain invited me to talk about agile and design (and other things) on her great Product podcast. I do love talking shop – especially around processes and how d…

It’s harder than it looks, and why film posters are a good start First, what are case studies for? It’s important to agree on what case studies are used for at your agency. Showcasing your skills and pro…

Moving from managing pixels to managing people isn’t a straightforward decision. Many of us underestimate the change in pace, scope and challenges that come with a design management or leadership p…

Any lack of updates is directly proportional to how busy life is at the moment. Everything is dialled up to 11, both at work and home. 🇺🇦 Note: It feels incredibly futile and privileged to write about…

It’s never a dull moment round here. Having had a month between jobs to lay low, I was itching to get back into the swing of things. The month rolled by rather uneventfully, barring some domestic and a…

9 years. Or 3,287 days. Or 78,894 hours. Almost a decade spent with one company in Brighton. I went from a fresh, wide-eyed and hungry, ambitious designer to a board member and design leader. I’ve m…

By all accounts the Kim Scott book ‘Radical Cando(u)r’ has become a bible in Silicon Valley and tech circles. And rightly so, as the need for honest and open feedback cannot be underestimated. For tho…

It felt like only a few months ago we wrapped up 2020 with a solid one-fingered salute as we passed to 2021. Similarly I feel the same this year, and truly hope that in a year’s time the overall s…

Ins The past few weeks (months?) have been spent interviewing for new hires at Clearleft. It’s not easy finding the right candidates of late. Due to Covid it seems the entire job market is all over t…

In my binging of recent podcast episodes there was another from the Design Better show that caught my eye 👁 / ear 👂. In the show with Scott Berkun I was reminded of the difference between fictional, specu…

I’m going to try and stick to week notes for a while. Bear with me 🐻. I’ve been making small, fiddly changes to this website, and found myself going down a nostalgia train, back to my early, other-…

Meet Sophie. A business leader at a large organisation, Sophie oversees multiple products. She works with both her in-house product and design teams, as well as external partners. One of the products…

Imposter Syndrome. That feeling when you doubt yourself, asking whether you’re deserving of your accomplishments. You can't help but feel it's only a matter of time until you’re exposed as a fraud. I suf…

I really like talking to people. Introvert or not, I’m curious by nature and enjoy understanding what people are up to, what they do, and how they do it. So at the tail end of the tumultuous year t…

What a year. This time last year a friend of ours passed away suddenly, leaving a wife and two young boys without a father. It put things into sharp perspective. I wrote a post to capture my feelings…

I find it second nature to question myself. Often I’ll reflect and analyse in an endless loop, eventually introducing doubt into my own decisions. If you’ve ever watched The Good Place, I often joke to …

When I spoke at the recent MUX London’s ‘Festival of UX & Design’ in September, I knew things would be different thanks to Covid-19. I just don’t think I realised how awkward it would be to hear your own voi…

I’m jumping back onto the weeknotes train. Incidentally I’m changing the name to ’ digests ’. This is to lessen my own anxiety over not posting every week and allows me to write when I can, and about what I …

The peak end rule suggests we remember experiences based on how we felt both at its peak (good or bad) and at its end. In the context of reflecting on 2019, an otherwise OK year will always be…