The women of Interaction 18

I posted this tweet the other day:

This is excellent, and tho I don’t normally listen to podcasts, I’ve instantly subscribed to @noyougoshow - because I need more kickass women in my life. https://t.co/nN1a3Mqm6D

— Ann McMeekin Carrier (@pixeldiva) February 14, 2018

and got this tweet in response, a day later.

"I need more kickass women in my life." has been my theme for 2018 and @noyougoshow is a great source. https://t.co/C6xCzO3wyP

— Sue (@SueMalomo) February 15, 2018

And I realised that I needed to just write the blog post that’s been uppermost in my mind since coming back from Lyon last week. 

And that is this.

I think it was part way through Day 2 when I realised, then tweeted this:

Y’know… one of the things I’m really enjoying about #ixda18 is not just the quality of the talks, but the number of women doing the talking.

Representation matters. And I have a raft of new role models now.

— Ann McMeekin Carrier (@pixeldiva) February 7, 2018

Because while there were also men who did amazing talks, and who I learned from, this is the first conference in my memory where there weren’t just one or two women. There were lots of women speaking. They weren’t all white. English wasn’t everyone’s first language. They came from far and wide, different backgrounds and had different skillsets and it was bloody _glorious_.

Representation matters. Seeing women up there, a lot of them, speaking and talking about the amazing work they’ve been doing gives other women (me included) hope that there really _are_ a galaxy of opportunities out there. To do amazing things. To have a big impact. To be seen. And heard. 

And that’s not nothing.

So here, without further ado, are some more kickass women, to add to your life. I make no apologies for the length of this post.

Holly Thorsen

Holly ran a workshop called Giving and Receiving Feedback, on the day before the conference. I learned a lot from this workshop and I’m still processing everything I’ve learned and how it fits in with the reading, thinking and learning I’ve been doing in this area over the last few months.

Cheryl Platz

Cheryl Platz - From Blank Page to World Stage on Vimeo

Cheryl had a tough job - to come on stage right after Alan Cooper’s barnstorming opening keynote. She kicked ass though, and I really enjoyed her talk.

Pauline Gourlet

Pauline Gourlet & Louis Eveillard - Design versioning: Perspectives on Situated Design on Vimeo

Along with Lous Eveillard, gave an interesting talk about designing in and for education.

Molly Lafferty

Molly Lafferty - TV is dead, long live TV! Crafting compelling living room experiences on Vimeo

Molly talked about the work that goes into crafting compelling living room experiences, and it was really interesting to see how the reality of various living rooms differed from their expectations.

Nina Lysbakken

Nina Lysbakken - The creative possibilities in designing for social media conversations on Vimeo

This was a really fascinating look into how changing the design of conversational spaces online could change the content of the conversations - something which I think will become increasingly important as organisations scrabble to correct the trolling/fake news/etc. state of public discourse online.

Joke Van Kerckhoven

Wouter Bridts & Joke Van Kerckhoven - Atypical user research for the Antwerp police force on Vimeo

I loved seeing how Joke (and her colleague Wouter) worked to figure out the best possible way of installing screens in Police patrol cars in Antwerp. This is the kind of research you always hope is done, but suspect is too expensive so isn’t done, leaving the people at the sharp end to come up with their own coping strategies.

Jessica Zhang

Jessica Zhang - Successfully delegating user research: Why, When and How on Vimeo

One of the most memorable posters to come out of GDS states that User Research is a team sport, and this talk gave some solid ways to try and level up non-researchers to increase the frequency, value and impact of user research across an organisation.

Tomomi Sasaki

Tomomi Sasaki & Milan Guenther - Design to Ignite — Design sprints for transformation at scale on Vimeo

I was really intrigued by this - ways to use design skills for even greater impact by designing the organisation, not just the product. Important, given the likelihood of organisations shipping their org chart.

Katja Forbes

Katja Forbes - You’re not a designer, you’re a coach on Vimeo

When Katja strode out on stage, I was reminded very strongly of Leisa Reichelt - in a really good way. This was a cracking, and highly relevant talk, which gave solid tools and techniques that can immediately be put into practice in daily work.

Anna Haverinen

Anna Haverinen, PhD - Tales from an anthropologist on Vimeo

Anna gave a fascinating look at how deep research influenced product development, and made me want to do way more research.

Yedan Qian

Yedan Qian - Embodied storytelling — Experiencing reality and empathy first-hand on Vimeo

Not particularly relevant to my day to day work, but this was absolutely fascinating anyway.

Kadambari Sahu

Charuvi Singhal & Kadambari Sahu - Sniffing out the differences on Vimeo

A literal sensory journey, via scent (we were given tiny bottles of scent to open up as she spoke). Mind-opening.

Eilidh Dickson

Eilidh Dickson & John Lynch - Demystifying design in the 21st century on Vimeo

Eilidh and John presented the results of research done with a number of people on the state of design as a field, at the moment. Lots to learn from this.

Hertje Brodersen

Hertje Brodersen - A pattern library for teamwork on Vimeo

The first of a pair of incredibly useful and relevant talks on teamwork and collaboration. This talk is well worth a watch.

Luciana Terceiro

Luciana Terceiro - Creating and developing at a distance — Away from the office but close to the heart on Vimeo

And if you work with distributed or remote teams, watch this one too.

Haiyan Zhang

Haiyan Zhang - Innovating technology for a diverse world on Vimeo

I saw Haiyan talk at Canvas Conference in Birmingham last October, and wished I had more tissues on hand. Watch this, but make sure you have tissues ready. It’s genuinely emotional to see the sheer impact that good design can have on individuals.

Anab Jain

Anab Jain - More-Than-Human Centred Design on Vimeo

I don’t even know how to describe this, just watch it.

Venetia Tay

Venetia Tay - Designing for the conscious chooser on Vimeo

Watch this talk, and then go fix your privacy settings on everything.

Flora McAndrew

Fiona Mc Andrew - Designing for privacy & ethics on Vimeo

Also thought-provoking on the privacy and ethics front.

Jennifer Kumura

Jennifer Kumura - Parenting a mind on Vimeo

I’d really have liked this to be longer, and been able to go into more detail about how you even begin to train an AI.

Leyla Acaroglu

Leyla Acaroglu - Design ethics and systems change on Vimeo

Wow. What to say about Leyla. At the end of an incredibly intense conference experience, she exploded onto the stage with so much energy that it just lifted the entire audience. I’m so glad I got to see this talk live. It was brilliant to be part of the shared experience of being there for this.

… and many more

But this isn’t all the women of #IxD18. There were many more who spoke, whose talks I wasn't able to attend. Or who weren't presenting and who I spoke to in the breaks. Or even, as I was reminded, were on the organising committee. Or who volunteered their time and energy to help make the conference run as smoothly as it did.

A twitter list

Where I could find twitter accounts, I added them to a list called The women of ixd18. You should totally follow it, and every woman on this list. I’ll also be going through and adding the twitter accounts, where I can find them, of the women on the organising committee. Of whom there were many.

Talks on vimeo

It is also very worth going through the list of Interaction 18 talks on vimeo, and watching them all.

Baked Cauliflower Steak and Feta

There was a bit of an internet kerfuffle during the week over pre-packaged cauliflower steaks sold by M&S. I'm not going to get into the politics of pre-packaged food here. Mostly because Amy Jones does a far better job at The Pool, with her article Pre-prepared vegetables are a vital product, not a frivolous waste, which is absolutely worth a read.

Anyway. It was interesting timing, because a few days earlier I'd tried making roasted cauliflower for the first time (yes, I know). Having enjoyed that enough to buy a second cauliflower to roast, and read the inevitable Guardian article about making your own cauliflower steaks I thought I'd give cauliflower steaks a try.

I did a bit of a google and found a ton of things, and then remembered the recipe for baked feta (from Thomasina Miers book: Wahaca - Mexican Food at Home) we tried on Hogmanay (which went down a storm) and decided to see what would happen if I used that as a base.

The result worked way better than I hoped. It was super tasty. The combination of the slightly sweet cauliflower, the slightly tart dressing and the slightly salty feta worked really well. So well I did it again a couple of days later with the rest of the cauliflower and feta.

It seems only fair to share. So here's what I did:

Turned the oven on to 180 degrees to heat up.

I found a vessel suitable for making a marinade/dressing/whatever the hell you call it, and into it I put the following:

• Some extra-virgin olive oil
• Some garlic puree
• A pinch of chilli flakes
• A wee shake of dried thyme and oregano
• The juice and zest of one lime 

Then I stirred it up and put it to one side while I prepared the cauliflower and feta.

Mixed-up dressing

Cauliflower prep was taking the leaves off, and cutting the stalk down until the cauliflower would sit on the table like a brain. Then I cut it into five slices.

Feta prep was cutting a block of feta in half and then cutting that half into cubes.

I took a ceramic rectangular baking dish out of the cupboard and added the cauliflower and feta to it, making sure that they were spread out and not overlapping. 

Dressed cauliflower steak and feta before the oven

By this time the oven was hot enough and I put it in for ten minutes. When the timer went off I took it out and flipped over the cauliflower steak and then put it back in for another ten minutes. When the timer went off after the second ten minutes I tested the cauli with a fork to see if it was done, and it was a little firm still, so I put it back in for five minutes.

The second time I did it I put the cauli steaks in the dish and microwaved them for 4 minutes before adding the feta and dressing. I then baked the whole thing for 20 minutes, turning half way through. The cauliflower was possibly borderline too soft, so if I was doing it again, I'd probably cut that down to 15 or 16 minutes.

After that, all that's left is to eat it. So we did.

Tasty noms

Colour swatches (+ free downloadable template)

I've had a few goes at doing colour swatches for my watercolours over the last couple of years. I think I got the idea from Jen Dixon. I was never really 100% happy with them, and they've never been particularly easy to use or refer back to, so a few months ago I started trying something a little different, to see if that would make things better. Then, life got in the way, as it does, and it never got any further than a bit more experimenting.

The other day, I spotted @wilfreeborn (who I found in an article in Artists & Illustrators magazine and who has been a massive source of inspiration since I started following him on instagram) swatching his 2018 palette on his instagram stories, and then found his post about it, and it reminded me of that thing I started to do some months ago and then never took any further.

Wil Freeborn's instagram swatches

I got my pencils and ruler out and made a bit of a chart, then went over it with my pigment fineliners, so the ink wouldn't wash away or spread when I put the paints and water over the top. I drew a bar a quarter of the way across the box so I could tell where each paint was on the opaque to transparent scale. Once I'd done that, I realised I wanted one sheet for each group of colours, and, since we had a shiny new multifunction printer, wondered if I could photocopy each sheet onto watercolour paper, so I wouldn't need to draw each one out by hand. Miraculously, it worked, and it turns out my printer comes with archival ink by default. Bonus!

My page of yellow colour swatches, surrounded by some of my watercolour palettes.

This morning, I found those photocopied sheets and decided to dig out all my paints and get started. I wrote the colour name at the top (in fancy calligraphy, because I felt like it) and set about swatching all the yellows I could find.

Then, when I was taking a picture of it to post online, I thought that if I found this useful, then others might, and so I wandered over to the computer and made a quick wee PDF.

Colour swatches PDF printed out on basic printer paper, double sided, and with one swatch on each side filled in.

Now, as I've mentioned above, I'm lucky in that I have a printer that can be fed heavier paper (up to and including 300gsm watercolour paper) and uses archival ink by default (so it doesn't go funny when I put water on it). You might not have the same, but if you're having trouble with the ink going funny when you print it, you could use the template as a guide and trace or copy from it using a pigment ink pen.

So without further ado, have at it!

If you find this useful, let me know! I can be found as @pixeldiva on instagram and twitter.

A fresh start

I don’t remember what year I first went to the Lodge for Hogmanay. It might even have been 20 years ago. I went with my boyfriend of the time, and his family, and I was a little overwhelmed to be joining what was a family trip to stay with old friends. ​

One of the very few photos I have from that time. Of crockery and tea towels and Teachers and clementines.   

Theres a quote attributed to Maya Angelou that goes along the lines of

 “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 

I might not remember the precise date. But I do remember how I felt.  

Welcomed. 

Included.  

Warm. 

and very well fed. 

I remember a house filled with laughter, people and whisky. I remember wondering if the house was a TARDIS, because it seemed to expand to accommodate any and all comers. I remember singing and drinking and coal fired and the bells. And I remember the most enormous fry up the next morning. With slices of fried Christmas cake (sans icing and marzipan). I remember the steak pies. That were huge. And never ending. And there always being enough to feed everyone and more. It felt magical.

I remember those things so vividly. That sense of togetherness. Of family and friends and hospitality.  

And I remember, when that relationship ended, feeling deeply sad that New Years would no longer feel like that. 

And somewhere deep inside I decided that if and when I could, that I would try to recreate that feeling in my own life. That I would work to make my home a welcoming place to friends and family. And their partners or paramours or persons of interest. That as far as we were able, we would welcome folk with open arms, good food and drink, and a clean, comfy bed if they needed or wanted it.

And for the last few years, we’ve managed it. Through the year, but especially at the turn of the year.

We host a Hogmanay party. There is always too much food and booze. But it works out ok in the end. Fried breakfast is available in the morning for those that want or need it. The Scottish kind. With black pudding and tattie scones. And fried fruit cake if we have any. And for lunch on New Year’s Day, in honour of the Lodge, I make a gigantic steak pie, and others arrive as the day goes on, and we sit down to steak pie (and often apple crumble for dessert) and it’s brill.  

My kitchen looks like a disaster area for 48 hours and I fear the knock on the door signalling an intervention from concerned recycling collection operatives, but it is worth it.

For family, and friends who are pretty much family, and for being together.  

And also for this.

This year's steak pie

And so, for 2018, may the paths o'er which you wander be to you a joy each day…

and lang may yer lum reek! 

Neil Gaiman: Where to start

I posted the above photo of my new Locomocean cinema style lightbox with the words "Make Good Art" on it, and with the following quote from Neil Gaiman's Address to the University of the Arts Class of 2012:

“Life is sometimes hard. Things go wrong, in life and in love and in business and in friendship and in health and in all the other ways that life can go wrong. And when things get tough, this is what you should do.

Make good art.

I’m serious. Husband runs off with a politician? Make good art. Leg crushed and then eaten by mutated boa constrictor? Make good art. IRS on your trail? Make good art. Cat exploded? Make good art. Somebody on the Internet thinks what you do is stupid or evil or it’s all been done before? Make good art. Probably things will work out somehow, and eventually time will take the sting away, but that doesn’t matter. Do what only you do best. Make good art.

Make it on the good days too.”

— Neil Gaiman

These words have given me comfort and the strength to keep going with my #10minsbeforebed project throughout this year of "growth opportunity".

One of the commenters on that instagram post said she'd not heard of Neil before, and asked where to start, and given that instagram doesn't let you post URLs, and this is a question I love to be asked, I figured I'd go old-school, dust of this here blog and write a blog post about it.

So here goes - a quick quite to where to start with Neil Gaiman.

The 'Make Good Art' Speech

The video of the full address is below, and absolutely worth a watch, or if you're not somewhere you can watch a video, click through using the link below the video and you'll find a full transcript which you can read at your leisure. 

Neil Gaiman Addresses the University of the Arts Class of 2012 from The University of the Arts (Phl) on Vimeo.

The Day The Saucers Came

Author Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) reads his poem "The Day the Saucers Came" at Minnesota Public Radio's Wits.

I love this poem beyond the telling of it. I heard it before I read it, at the book tour for Fragile Things, one of several books of short stories and other groups of words, which is also a fine place to start if you want to dip your toe in the Gaiman water without the commitment that goes with reading a novel or long story.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

One of his more recent books, written for his wife, musician Amanda Palmer. Never intended to be published, but I'm very glad it did.

American Gods

About to become a TV Series, which is hugely exciting.

Coraline

Theoretically a kids story, but a good, short read. Made into a fabulous stop-motion animated film.

From Henry Selick, visionary director of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, and based on Neil Gaimans international best-selling book, comes a spectacular stop-motion animated adventure the first to be originally filmed in 3D! Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning) is bored in her new home until she finds a secret door and discovers an alternate version of her life on the other side.

Sandman

Where it all started, for me. The amazing graphic novel series, of which Preludes and Nocturnes is the beginning.

Books for Kids

He's also written a bunch of books for kids, so if you know small people, you can get them started early with:

Chu's Day

Blueberry Girl

The Wolves in the Walls

The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish

The Graveyard Book

Other Favourites

I could go on and on and on, because he's a) so good and b) so prolific, but I'll just list a few other favourites here, and then stop, because basically, the tl;dr is - start anywhere, then keep going.

Neverwhere - You'll never see London the same again. Was made into a BBC TV series.

Good Omens - Written with Terry Pratchett.

Stardust - Worth hunting down the illustrated version because Charles Vess's artwork is beautiful, but the novel is still good. Was made into a film.

Enjoy!

Crustless Mini Breakfast Quiches

I don't do well with cereal in the morning. I hate the stuff. Not a huge fan of milk. Toast doesn't do it for me and I end up eating way too much bread. So I struggle to find interesting, healthy, tasty things to eat in the mornings.  

I've read a few things on Pinterest about crustless mini quiches and when pottering around this morning decided to give them a go.

Here's what I did. 

I pre-heated the oven to about 180. Dug out the muffin tray, sprayed a bit of that 1 cal oil spray into each divot and set about seeing what we had in the fridge.  

I found some leftover ham, a couple of courgettes and some baby plum tomatoes, as well as some Double Gloucester cheese and 4 eggs.

I sliced the courgette quite thinly and then cut each slice into quarters and chucked 4 quarters into each divot. 

I then sliced the tomato into 4 slices and chucked them in too. 

Then I cut some small cubes of ham and added them too, getting slightly worried that I was over-filling each divot and leaving no room for egg.  

I cracked the eggs into one of my trusty Pyrex jugs, set about them with a fork and added some freshly ground black pepper before pouring the mixture into the each divot.  

Amazingly, 4 eggs was the perfect amount of egg for filling, and each divot was filled to just below the top.  

I grated 30g of Double Gloucester and added a pinch to the top of each mini quiche-to-be, like so.

12 Mini Quiches-to-be

I bunged them in the oven and set the timer for 10 minutes, hoping for the best, staying nearby so I could keep an eye on them in case they went up in flames or did the tango or something.

10 minutes later they came out of the oven looking fab and smelling great, and with a tiny bit of persuasion from a knife, were transferred to my plate.  

12 Mini Quiches

At which point Jnr came into the kitchen, looked at my plate and announced that he wanted a pizza. So I gave him a mini quiche and didn't bother correcting him, figuring it's no bad thing if he thinks these are pizzas.   

His eating of it went surprisingly well until he encountered unexpected tomato in the eating area, at which point the game was a bogey and his dad finished the rest of the quiche. 

Many way. Surprisingly easy, tasty and fun. No idea why I haven't tried this before. And in terms of what you chuck in the divots - the possibilities are endless. If you give these or something similar a go, I'd love to see/hear what you did, either in the comments or in Twitter.

And yes, I do like the word divot, why do you ask? 

Using a website as a screensaver in OS X

Being a blog post mostly written as a reminder so that I can remember how I do this when I change machine the next time.

1. Use Alastair Tse's WebViewScreensaver (new window) because Gavin Brock's WebSaver (new window) doesn't come with any installation instructions and there isn't an obvious .saver file or similar to double click (and who needs a helping of feeling stupid when trying to just have a pretty screen saver appear.
2. Go into Security & Privacy in System Preferences to tell OS X that you really really do want to install the thing.
3. Add What colour is it? or Design Quotes Display to the URL list. Or whatever site is currently rocking your world.
4. Win.

Blogging Like It's 2000

Blogging in 2015 is a funny beast. When I began, in March 2000, there were an awful lot more personal blogs than any other kind. Nowadays, it's all about being a Lifestyle blog, or a Fashion blog or a M(o)ummy Blog or a whatever the hell blog. And I get it. Blogs are big business now, and how can you make money unless you're specific about your audience and what you offer them, but I miss the old personal blogs.

I miss writing a personal blog.

I miss writing.

I've tried so many times over the last few years to start blogging again, even creating separate blogs, but the truth is that I don't want to be limited by writing about just the one thing. I don't want a knitting blog, or a mummy blog, or a professional design blog, or a running blog, or a stationery blog, or a craft blog, or a nail blog. I just want a me blog.

So that's what I'm going to do. I'm just going to write. About whatever moves me, and not worry about audience or social media strategies or following any of what seem like the million rules that have sprung up about how to blog.

Why now? Well, I was a bit inspired by what Norm and Neil wrote this week about side projects, and accountability.

So here goes.

Things I didn't really understand before becoming a mum

Being up and awake before anyone else in the house is

I used to read these magazine or newspaper articles where some famous/successful/interesting woman would be interviewed and she'd say something along the lines of: 

"My favourite time of the day is first thing in the morning. I like to get up at [the crack of sparrowfart, or earlier] before everyone else gets up. It's so peaceful, and I can have that time to myself before the demands of the day kick in".

and I'd be thinking to myself how crazy she was, and that she could be sleeping!

Oh, how little I knew.

Since becoming a mother, I have a window of approximately 30 seconds in the morning, where, if all goes well, I can go back to sleep. Anything beyond that and it's too late. I'm up for the day. I didn't used to be like this. I sometimes really wish I wasn't like this.

But…

There is something kind of magical about the peace and quiet in those early hours. The gift they give of being able to come in to yourself slowly. With a cup of tea and a book, or some knitting, or the breakfast you want, when you want it, without a tiny human hanging off your legs. To sit on the toilet without someone actually sitting on you. The time to be you. Not mum, not wife, not host. No demands, no conversation, no noise.

Magic.

Hand cream

I knew about hand cream before I became a mum. And occasionally I bought some, thinking that I should really use it, but I never really did.

Then I became a mum and the hand-washing really started. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I was a dirty skank before. I washed my hands. I just didn't have the need to wash my hands quite so bloody much before.

Never mind washing that man right out of your hair - babies will make you wash that skin right offa your hands.

Hand cream. Bloody brilliant. Current fave: Neal's Yard Melissa Hand Cream.

Spa Days

Sure, they're nice and all, but you can get the same effect just having a bath and doing stuff at home, right?

That was before I knew that actually having the time to run a bath, get into it, have a soak, a read, a relax, uninterrupted for at least an hour, was likely to be rarer than hen's teeth.

Sometimes, I fantasise about running away to a Premier Inn for a night. Just so I can have a bloody bath and not have to sleep with one ear open, in case Junior needs me.

That you can't call in sick to being a mum

As I enter week 3 of the virus that keeps on giving, I'm reminded again that no matter what else is going on, I can't just retire to my bed with a box of Kleenex Balsam and all of netflix for days, until I feel better. That's not to say that MrP doesn't help - he does, but sometimes, only mummy will do. So unless I'm out of the house, I'm very very rarely entirely off duty.

I know this will get better as he gets older, but sometimes, when I'm feeling really really awful, I just want to hibernate and not have to deal with anyone else's needs.