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Being Brave
This post is from a talk given as part of the JS for WP conference and is the transcript presented. You can find the full slides here. The word ‘brave’, means different things to different people. What comes into your mind when you think of being brave? Is it of someone saving someone? Is it…
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Thinking back to the role of design in enabling community
As 2019 begins and the noise of social networks rings in our ears, I can’t but help reflect on the state of communities online. Can anything be salvaged from this current state of noise? What can design bring to the table in enabling communities. Back in 2013, I was lucky enough in May of that year…
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Speaking when you are not made for speaking
This weekend I spoke at WordCamp Manchester and again feel privileged for every chance I get to have space for my voice. This isn’t a talk where I share my slides and notes though, this is a little more personal. Speaking for me often seems something every part of me isn’t made for. This isn’t…
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Gutenberg design basics
Have you ever wondered what something is called within Gutenberg? This guide is meant to help by giving the names and the expected behaviour of some of the basic design elements. If you want to build blocks and extend Gutenberg, knowing what to use or not is important. This is meant as a starting point,…
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Gutenberg inspired redesign
I set myself a little holiday project this year, to consolidate and create a theme to use across a few of my sites. With this move I merged my two writing blogs into one and began a long needed update to my portfolio. I wanted to do this using Gutenberg and the Gutenberg theme as a…
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The importance of triage practice
Every designer at Automattic is writing a monthly design post, this month my post was about triage practice. For me the process is an integral part of being a designer. Triage for me is a constant part of my journey within Automattic and in the wider WordPress community. It continues to be really important to me…
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Back to Qwerty
A few months ago I began a journey to learn Colemak. Yesterday I switched back to Qwerty. There were a number of reasons I stepped off my adventure into Colemak, but perhaps its better to start at the why I began that journey. The luxury of trying In my job I have the luxury of…
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A reading list
It seems over the past few months I’ve got asked a lot about what books I’d recommend. Passing on good book recommendations is always something I enjoy and it’s a pleasure to be asked. It got me thinking of how I could put up a list across a range of topics and share that. I…
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The user is the casualty of our modern building process
It seems like not a day, even hour, goes past without some new amazing framework or outstanding technique that you just have to try. Posts stream past social media on this break through, that amazing new hotness and ‘oh my wow this just changes everything’! In all this excitement, all this wonder, haven’t we forgotten…
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Selling to the herd
One of the things about humans is we are whether we like it or not a herd animal. We have an instinct to move as a group and our primitive brain responds just like a herding animal. When creating interaction paths even in digital purchasing, you can use this aspect of human nature. Supermarkets are…