“For all the talk about being human-centered, one very human factor often gets overlooked — a basic understanding of how power operates in relationships between people.”
— George Aye, “Design Education’s Big Gap: Understanding the Role of Power”
How am I contributing to the world—good or bad—as a designer? Who am I? Where do I draw my power? George Aye, co-founder of the Greater Good Studio, posed these questions and many others.
The Service Design Network New York Chapter hosted George for a (virtual) Meetup on “Understanding Power and Privilege.” …
Lessons and Reflections on Writing Daily during a Pandemic
On February 7, I purchased the domain writemarch.com (not yet in service). When I decided to launch a personal challenge to write every day in March, I had no idea we’d find ourselves in an “unprecedented” global pandemic. If I had known, I wouldn’t have pursued the project.
Today is the final day of March. It’s fitting to reflect on where I started and what I learned. I began the challenge to help me get out of my head. I wanted to overcome a fear reflex that sometimes prevents me from putting words to paper or pixels.
A Variation on a Core Design Sprint Tool
Crazy Eights, or Crazy 8’s, is an ideation activity made popular by the Google Ventures Design Sprint. It’s simple, fun, and based on the premise that if you can push to about 8 ideas, you’ll generate more innovative ones.
Starting with a Not-Recipe for Fried Rice
Some may dread putting takeout containers in the fridge. Those packages of possibility have the opposite effect on me. I’m often imagining what the next day’s meal will look like.
I refer to this process as leftovers recombination, the magical transformation of last night’s dishes into entirely new meals. Over the years, my kitchen creativity has led to the following examples of tasty alchemy:
- Bo ssäm ➜ breakfast bao: pork butt + egg + cucumber + scallion ginger sauce stuffed into buns topped with melted butter and everything seasoning
- Injera + various meats/vegetables ➜ chilaquiles: chopped leftovers + eggs
- Pasta…
P.S. Single People Should Receive More Support and Respect
If I had been in a long-term, healthy and supportive relationship in my 20's, I’m sure my life would be better professionally, psychologically, socially, and financially.
This article points to 9 health benefits of being in a relationship based on several studies. A healthy partnership has a positive effect on happiness, longevity, aging, stress, mental health, pain, sleep, healing, and even heart health.
Even without digging into the research around the benefits of partnership, I know these things to be personally true after being in a relationship for nearly 7 years:
- A supportive partner could have helped me navigate my…
A story from early childhood still makes me smile
Sitting in a circle, cross-legged on the floor, I listened to the shouts:
“Red!”
“Blue!”
“Blue’s mine, too!”
“Yellow!”
“Pink!”
“Purple!”
“Blue!”
When the kindergarten teacher turned for my response, I confidently stated, “the rainbow!” I found the loophole to claim all of the colors I loved.
This post is part of my WriteMarch series, a commitment to write daily for a month.
Close Connections through Remote Work
Days blend into nights. Weekdays blend into weekends. With social distancing, the lines blur more and more.
Zoom. Google Hangouts. Videoconferencing apps feel the same.
That’s until Icebreaker made its hot early release. The group chat + 1:1 video conversation game makes online communication joyful. It’s more powerful when paired with Zoom, like delicious hot fudge and colored sprinkles topping vanilla ice cream.
I’ve used Icebreaker several times this week, as a guest and host. Are you ready to spice up your team meetings and company culture?
Over the past week, I’ve done two calls using Icebreaker, a fun group chat plus 1:1 conversation game platform. When the call kicked off with Beyoncé’s “Love on Top” music video, I knew the experience was going to be different from all of the meetings, coworking, and happy hours on Zoom I’d experienced.
Armed with a host account, I’m testing the platform with one of my teams at work tomorrow. Since I loved the idea of playing a music video while all attendees arrive, I searched for and brainstormed a few songs besides “Love on Top,” which is already an…
19+ Fun Events and Things to Do Virtually Together at Home
I’ve been putting off writing this because I’ve seen a large number of social gatherings online that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to comprehensively catalog.
We may be stuck in our homes, if our jobs and employers allow us the privilege of working from home, but that doesn’t mean we can’t continue to connect with our friends, families, strangers, and communities. I’ll share a few personal examples before I list the broad ranges of activities I’ve seen move online, from dance parties and workouts to movies and museums.
Friends and family: For this bucket, I’ve been mostly traditional using…
In these times, it’s hard to write. It’s difficult to focus. Simply put, it’s not a good time.
To overcome writer’s block, I reviewed several prompts including one suggesting to use Wikipedia’s Random Article feature to spark ideas. When I click the “random article” link in Wikipedia’s sidebar, I decide it will be more entertaining to show the wild breadth of topics instead. These ten entries appear in order:
- Maisach station
- 2018–19 CSA 4-Day Franchise Series
- Shagun Chowdhary
- Gemmotheres
- MLS Cup 1998
- Instrumentals (Mouse on Mars album)
- Blackfoot Mountains
- Yalpara Conservation Park
- Empire State Development Corporation
- Odonatoptera
I can see…
