THRSSMRRS - UX & Product Designer

Learned this evening that another former Unity colleague passed away recently. Such terribly sad news. my time at Unity was spent predominantly with 2 people, travelling the world (literally) and giving talks on Unity. I learned so much from them, mostly about how to be a good human. Gutted, again.

I've become increasingly interested in keyboards (computery ones) recently - the amount of hours I've spent watching YouTube reviews by people I don't know talking about topics I have little knowledge in, is worrying, but enjoyable.

I think it's the lovely combination of tech, aesthetics and asmr

Figma is really versatile, but I think a lot of people just jump striaght in to it and make it their own thing - which isn't great in the long-term.

There are tools and capabilities of the software that exist for a reason - and it's better for everyone to take the time to learn and utilise them!

Some designers use Figma as just a tool to enter PNGs and hook up prototypes - others just draw lines between screens.

Some designers used it as their design tool, creating graphics and images directly in Figma itself.

Some made components, others (most) didn't.

Been living in Figma a lot recently, really getting to know and understand the software.

I've used Figma a bunch over the years, but mainly from a developer perspective as a way to receive designs and flows from designers.

Let me just say that the way these designs were done varied significantly

I’m getting to the end of my planned period of ‘transition’ away from games and in to UX and product design.

It’s really exciting, but the imposter syndrome multiplied by the anxiety with a sprinkling of fear is a really lovely combination of feelings to overcome!

how much time have you put in to it now?

The Grand Appeal are such a small, but incredibly passionate team. I know how much effort they've put in to the trail, the exhibition and the auction - they should be so so proud to have delivered something that means a huge amount to the people of Bristol.

The Gromit Unleashed 3 trail officially came to a close last night, culminating in the auction.

In total the auction raised £1.9m, which is a staggering amount of money.

I only played a small part by helping bring the app to life, but I'm really proud to have been able to contribute.

Don 'Zeus' Norman.

Part of my UX...ermm *journey* (urgh) is about learning some of the historical changes and moments that have ocurred. I'm having such a great time picking through the history and changes that have taken place. It's like reading Homer's Odyssey or Iliad but with a product design twist

What Brad Frost calls 'Atomic Design' isn't (and even in 2015) new or revolutionary - people are quick to call him out on that, but what is important is the sharing of knowledge. Particularly at that time. When the process and client expectations were so rigid back then, things neeed to change.

It's a big reason why tools like Figma have become so popular - really lowering the technical barriers for designers and creatives to show and interact with their work, to get a better understanding of it.

Whilst you don't NEED to be technical to get great creative results, being able to manipulate the process to help iteration and expand and share your ideas effectively is incredibly useful.

When deciding to switch from game development to UX and product design, I thought hard about a lot of the skills I would bring with me. One of the main ones I think is how a technical understanding of building...*things* can really positively impact the creative output.

Really enjoyed this (albeit 10 year old) video from Brad Frost about Atomic Design. It's really interesting switching to a new industry and hearing stories of people in a similar boat to me - straddling the line between technical and creative.

"oh, so you code. Sit with the Ruby folks over there"

Yeah, I've been processing the stats recently.
Number 9 was the love actually one, so let Berny know if you see her around!

Hey Gav, a little stat for you. Gnarlybot was the 10th most found sculpture on the trail!

*GIF of all the thunderbirds laughing*

Ah, finally got to the end of a frustrating and stressful situation with a client not paying invoices.

Trust your instincts.

Also, pay people that you owe money to and don’t ghost them for months.

YouTube video by PhoebeBridgersVEVO Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness (Official Video)

I fell in love with this song 8 years ago within the first 10 seconds of hearing it.

Sometimes you hear a song or album that just speaks to something inside you. It can be the sound of the instruments, the lyrics, the voice, the production.

Sometimes it's everything.

I compromised by re-formatting my external SSD and re-structuring the partitions.

My wife asked me what my plan was for this morning and I replied "making sure my iPod is up to date".

She replied with :

"So you're procrastinating, what should you be doing?"

Fair.

Absolutely would love a cricket game with a Dan Marshall twist

Been in such a funk this week. Things out of my control have really impacted my mental state have really derailed what I planned to get done.

I gave up trying yesterday and just leaning in to it knowing that I’ll come through it and be okay shortly.

A job listing on LinkedIn for a Vibe Coder at Adaptify SEO.

An actual job listing, on LinkedIn.

oh I missed this - happy birthday for yesterday xx

AXYZ on N64?!

a girl in a school uniform is standing next to a woman in a red shirt ALT: a girl in a school uniform is standing next to a woman in a red shirt

So proud of my girl Rory.