On Listening and the dangers of Empathy

Listening is a skill that is disregarded too much in a modern society that thinks speaking is paramount. I ran a workshop at EuroIA18 on structured conversation and listening. The workshop changed radically in terms of content due to counselling training I received. The professional counsellor’s view on sympathy and listening was very different to […]

Emotional Design – abusive or sense-making language?

Emotion in design is mostly discussed in terms of inducing or guiding it to form a positive experience. How content is formatted is to drive towards a peak emotional state (normally happiness and joy with playful detours through fear and anxiety). Healthcare however, has different goals. Strong emotions are in play at the start. The […]

On the emotional design of doing the washing up

Emotional design is an issue in User Experience (UX) but is mostly framed by extremes. Design in terms of joy and delight or anger and disappointment. It’s hard to talk about design when it’s at these boundaries. Lately in sensory/emotional workshops I have been taking a different approach to emotional design. A lot of this […]

Talk Maker: a template for making your own talk

Structuring narratives A lot of conferences say they’re open to new speakers but having the confidence to speak depends on many factors. Trying to transfer your knowledge and experience into a structured talk is one barrier. This post is just about one way I write 15–30 minute talks for professional audiences, mostly in user experience […]

Autonomy and the problem of efficient living

Living in the future that stopped The Southgate Estate in Runcorn New Town (pictured above) was designed by James Stirling (the British excellence in architecture prize is named after him) and was finished in 1977. The estate was demolished in 1990–1992. The estate was filmed in the mid-1980’s for a pan-European TV series called “Architecture […]

Prototypes as gifts of trust : how one prototype helped Britain win World War 2

We met some old friends at Croome Park in Worcestershire lately. It is a National Trust property with a big mansion and a Capability Brown designed landscape. However, this property is not like the normal “aristocrats and cream teas” ideal of the National Trust. Croome Park was the centre of a Royal Air Force scientific […]

Design circles – a workshop design tool

Finding patterns in workshop activities This is a quick post on a small tool I use when designing workshops. It’s a tool to consider what any workshop activities are for and how they will affect participants. You can download a printable pdf of it from Dropbox. It’s on a Creative Commons 4.0 license so play […]

Learning From Dissent: ideas for hybrid workshop design

Generally, I facilitate experiential workshops on topics like senses and emotions in design for conferences and organisations. Being together, working closely is crucial. That all stopped suddenly in March 2020. I needed both some income and some idea of how to work in a future where in-person workshops were few and far apart (in all […]