Hay fever


Let’s just cut to the chase: hay fever can F-OFF!

It’s been a blast in the sun, swimming pools are out, BBQs are on the go, and I forgot to put suncream on and got burnt - but what’s a quick summer without a red face?

Re-brand, usual drama


GOV.UK’s new branding caught the eye of many people, loads concentrating on “the dot”, which is a shame, usually as most re-brands go - it’s natural for people to discuss the cost, the work etc, but there is more to come “under the hood” and I do think it’s a pretty good re-brand.

The point, among many, is to be more modern, attract a younger audience to apps, services and become (I would imagine) more self-serving, similar to a project I worked on for NHS (absolute shameless plug) - people are, I believe, being led to owning their data more which I hope leads to better-designed services that are easier to use and less overwhelming.

Work-wise


I kick-started a prioritise work meeting to discuss what is next, what is left, and what I need to work through quicker than others - I love these meetings, and it’s great to ensure everyone is in the loop of my workload and their workload and if I can help anyone out in the team. This led to us finding work that was hidden away and needed to be done - which I’m more than happy to help out; this also included a “bucket” of Accessibility issues that were found during testing - this is my bread and butter, so delighted to fix/advise before launch!

I offered to support (and was accepted) the lead designer in my portfolio area (this means a group of teams in a collective) - there is a lot of work knocking around, and much of it isnt pushing pixels around, and whilst I am here, I always tell people to lean on me, I’ve been through a lot, managed a lot and got all the scars to prove it, also known as “send me in where you wouldn’t send a perm” - that’s the point, right?

Life, f’ing Etsy and KANBANNNNNNN


Jasper’s induction day at school; this blows my brain working out he’s not-so-little-anymore; I mean, he’s little, but not AS little anymore. Hold up, if he’s getting older, does that mean I am?

Bobbin and Bumble’s Etsy shop being the forever piece of shi..work i’m on - I found a helpful resource on YouTube with a different tact, so I am trying a new strategy, and this is the last thing i’ll speak on this (excluding the odd post here and there) as it’s annoying me never those that read this about my dreadful Etsy adventures

Bobbin and Bumble are again in a new chapter. As a pretty senior designer and giving more and more of my evenings and weekends to run the ever-growing business, we discussed how we manage workload to avoid duplication and ensure alignment, and, let’s say, it together - KANBAN.

We have gone for Trello. It’s easy, and this helps explain to Emma how we run the board. But the biggest worry I have is the overwhelming issue of the ever-growing backlog. Of course, I understand how it works, but I can imagine if you are used to just doing work, seeing it written down in smaller chunks (2-week rule) might be very disheartening, but it’ll be a good thing in the end when it works well.

Thanks for reading. Catch you in the next one. ✌️