This past Tuesday (Sept 17, 2019), I attended a panel discussion on affordable housing in San Francisco. Afterwards, I wrote and edited a quick summary of my main takeaways from the panel and shared it on Instagram. Several friends commented that it was helpful to them, so I’m sharing it here on Medium in a more permanent location.
Background
The panel was hosted by Impact SF, a new chapter of an NYC organization which describes itself as “a non-profit and non-partisan organization dedicated to understanding today’s most pressing social and political issues and promoting viable actions for positive change”. …
Happy Pride! June is celebrated as LGBTQ Pride Month in the US. In cities across the country, activists and organizers host political rallies, parades, and other events to celebrate and promote the LGBTQ community. Why June? Pride commemorates the Stonewall Rebellion in June of 1969, the event which ignited the modern LGBTQ movement.
At Range, we believe people should be supported and affirmed at work regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity. Not only is it the right thing to do, but when each individual can bring their full self to work, teams operate at their best and organizations…
Why is it that some meetings feel immensely frustrating while others are exhilarating and fun? Even two meetings with the same attendees, the same environment, and similar topics can feel very different. What are the magic ingredients that make the difference?
At Range, we’re insatiably curious about best practices for the way we work. Since team meetings are a big part of how many teams operate, we recently built a tool to help facilitate those meetings. …
I just answered this question in a private group and figured I may as well share the (short) list in a public forum as well.
I didn’t read as many books as I wanted to in 2017 — my info diet was dominated by an epic battle between the news and social frivolities to distract me from the news — but here are my favorites from the books I did make time to read:
Fiction
- Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders — An incredibly clever and moving novel that’s really more like a collection of short stories stitched into…
A little over a year ago, I left the awesome team at Typekit and set out for the wilderness. The metaphorical career wilderness, that is. I’ve spent this past year exploring, learning, experimenting, reflecting, and thinking about what’s next.
A month ago, I emerged from that wilderness and joined the team at Intercom. I’m excited to work with a great group of people on a product that helps businesses communicate with their customers while I continue to pursue a hybrid role as a designer and engineer.
The past year has provided a lot of perspective, so I decided to take…
Part 2 — Building a Wedding Website
Just joining us for this episode of Designing a (Gay) Wedding? Check out Part 1 to learn about the creation of our design system.
When my husband Steve proposed, he surrounded us with reminders of our relationship. Our favorite song (Lisztomania by Phoenix) played in the background. The first movie we saw together (Pixar’s Up) rolled silently on a small screen. A slideshow of snapshots from our five years together played on a laptop. We’re both technology nerds, so of course technology was a part of the proposal.
It may sound strange, but one of the most touching parts of…
Part 1 — Creating a Style and Brand
At the end of a warm and cloudless late-summer day in San Francisco, my then-boyfriend Steve invited me up to our apartment’s small roof deck for dinner. It seemed oddly unexpected, but I went up anyway. Outside in the still evening air, I found a thoughtfully romantic setup: mementos of our relationship, our favorite pizza, a nice bottle of champagne, and Steve waiting with a proposal — would I marry him?
After the initial shock subsided, I responded with an enthusiastic “yes” and asked him the same question in return. He was also…
A different approach to defining one’s work
As someone who tries to keep my inbox empty by dealing with emails as they come in, I’m embarrassed to admit that, until recently, I’ve had ten old emails just moldering at the bottom of my inbox. Ten may not seem like a lot of email, but some of them have been sitting there for over two years!
Each email contained a link that somebody I respect thought I should read or watch. I didn’t have time to dedicate to them in the moment, so I stuck them someplace for later. Obviously, I should have stuck them somewhere better than…
In an ideal world, every company has a dedicated design team. There’s at least one expert in each of the many design disciplines that Braden previously outlined and the team works together to create a consistently excellent product.
Whoops, sorry! Daydreaming again.
The reality for most startups and small companies is quite different. Fewer people take on multiple roles to make the company work. The business-development person organizes marketing events; the engineer draws the illustration for the funny 404 page; the office manager runs the mailing list. …
