Notes

Question for @aarron after watching his presentation at UX London: how do we prevent storytelling from becoming propaganda? When does building an internal culture become indoctrination? Plenty of examples to suggest this is often the result.

Fantastically helpful and informative @guardianclasses with @wstorr; just the right amount of insight, inspiration and encouragement I was hoping for. I can do this!

Today, I dip my toes into the world of journalism, prompted by a little side-project I have in mind. Can’t wait to see where this journey takes me.

Presentations from some of my recent talks can now be found on @benotist. Excited about the service @drewm and @rachelandrew are building here; it has the potential to be a fantastic resource for speakers and conference organisers alike.

I came for the alternatives to Google Analytics, but stayed for the oblique comedic reference 😂

With a client project briefly on hiatus, I’ve been using my free time to think about a proper redesign of my website. Looking at the 404 page – priorities! – I thought it was probably time to bring back this guy. You’ve been missed, little fella.

The Beauty of Transport is such a compelling read. @danielhwright’s latest article goes into fantastic detail about the sadly short-lived identity for Rail express systems, a programme I distinctly remember poring over as a 12-year-old train livery geek. So, so good.

The Birmingham Design Festival is shaping up to be a great event. The Renew/Rebuild discussion is of particular interest; especially relevant when many of Birmingham’s brutalist buildings have been demolished in recent years. Such a shame I’ll be on holiday when it’s on.

Watched Isle of Dogs. A fun yet timely story. An inventive example of stop-motion animation. A beautiful piece of graphic design. A work of art. A visual feast – with dogs!

The slides and linked transcript from my talk at @CreateLeics are now available to read and digest at your leisure.

Having grown up just 50 miles away, somewhat embarrassed to admit that Leicester has been a bit of a revelation to me. This beautiful, historic and vibrant city has much to offer… and only an hour away from London on the train (like that should matter).

Thank-you @CreateLeics for being such a welcoming, friendly and engaged audience for my talk this evening. And a huge thanks also to the team at @bulbstudios for organising such a stellar event. Good things are happening in Leicester!

Finding Albert is a heartwarming family history research project, with the end result being a hand drawn graphic novel. I’m so happy @cole007 has met his funding target, but there are stretch goals. If you haven’t backed it yet, there are just a few days remaining; so go pledge!

Potential marketing slogan for this year’s Ampersand Conference:

Be there or be □

Get it?! I’m here all week, folks.

Finally – finally – watched The Grand Budapest Hotel. Layered, light-hearted and lavish; I enjoyed every choreographed second of it.

Headed back to Glasgow, via a highland winter wonderland. Stopping at Dalmally, the train is greeted by Angus, the station dog.

For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.

Robert Louis Stevenson captures my sentiments perfectly, as yet again, I find myself sat aboard the Caledonian Sleeper, and headed for Scotland.

A Guide to Modernism in Metro-Land – the essential guidebook to discovering the modernist treasures of London’s suburbs – is currently seeking crowdfunding on Unbound. Backed!

HISBE’s refill bar is such a great idea! Using this to replenish washing detergent and other cleaning fluids should go some way to helping me reduce my plastics consumption in 2018.

Events, dear boy, events

That was the answer I gave @qwertykate when she asked me why I thought Brexit might not happen. This was Harold Macmillan’s response when asked what he thought would most likely knock a government off course – although some dispute whether he ever actually said this.

At the time, I had wrongly attributed this to James Callaghan, having confused it with “A lie can be halfway round the world before the truth has got its boots on”, which he said in an address to the Commons. But variations of this phrase have been around since the 18th century.

Where’s a Winston Churchill quote when you need one.

Currently watching series two of The Crown. Claire Foy’s impersonation of the Queen is impeccable, matched only by Bertie Carvel’s embodiment of Robin Day. Both are genuinely believable – unlike HMY Britannia, whose CGI reminds me of that used in Titanic, twenty years ago.

Tickets booked for Richard Herring: Oh Frig, I’m 50! at The Old Market in March (or RHOFIFATOMIM, as all the cool kids are calling it).

Michael Lopp on how to write:

Randomly think of a thing. Let it bump around your head a bit. If the bumping gets too loud, start writing the words with the nearest writing device. See how far you get. The more words usually mean a higher degree of personal interest. Stop when it suits you.

Wait for time to pass and see if the bumping sound returns. Reread what you’ve written so far and find if it inspires you. Yes? Write as much as you can. No? Stop writing and wait for more bumping.

This perfectly articulates what I was trying to get across in my last post. This bumping sound can too often get drowned out by the sound of tweeting.

Today’s random act of kindness: submitted the icon for Micro.blog to Simple Icons, a repository of SVG icons for popular brands.

Not sure what to make of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Suspect it was unable to meet my heightened expectations – partly due to a trailer which focused on its comedic rather than dramatic aspects. Requires a second viewing.

Be it only by gluing various tools, technologies and services together with the digital equivalent of gaffer tape, with any luck, this note should be the first posted to my site via another, thanks to MicroPub.

A letter about Google AMP:

The Web is not Google, and should not be just Google.

Co-signed.

Lego, board games, playgrounds, hide and seek, digging holes, building sandcastles and bodyboarding… after a week in Brazil playing with my three wonderful nieces, returning to Britain (somewhat bitten and burnt) having rediscovered my inner child!

My favourite feature of Brazilian bathrooms is electrical sockets in showers. Mixing electricity and water? Está bem!

Finally watched The Trip to Spain on my flight over to São Paulo. Having already seen the first few episodes I thought this instalment lacked charm of the first two. Watching this feature-long edit only cemented those concerns.

This series has clearly run out of ideas, as evidenced by the weirdly drawn out conclusion. You should always leave the table a little hungry; I’m full.

The fine folk over at CSS-Tricks asked me to write about the accessibility improvements I made to 24 ways. As ever, happy to oblige! Added a few thoughts about celebrating the act of maintaining older projects, too.

Asked to pick a favourite memory from 2017, my trip to Galway and Connemara in May stands out. So glad I took the time to write about this experience, in what was an otherwise barren year for blogging.

The new icon for micro.blog makes a world of difference. With this change, I can finally move the app to my home screen!

When I was in Berlin last month, @sonniesedge pointed out that we were in the neighbourhood where Victoria was filmed. Tonight I finally got to see it. 2 hours and 18 minutes of drama in one single take. Just incredible.

Love that I can walk to the end of my street, and pop into the Duke of York’s to watch a film. I should do it more often!

Just seen Ink – a play about Rupert Murdoch and his purchase of The Sun – with his current wife sat just a few rows behind me. She’ll have approved, as Bertie Cavel depicts him in a remarkably good light. Less so the monsters he created.