A little something I wrote about Ryan Haney's #SDinGov talk on designing for dignity: medium.com/@niacampbell...

Institutions are vast but were contained to impressive buildings or brown envelopes. It was easy to spot them & know if you trusted them Now an institution has same digital presence as a gaming app or social media platform It is hard to know if that site, that app, that email is trustworthy

ERP system replacements are some of the most difficult and complex projects we see organisations undertake. We’ve seen example after example go wrong. Late delivery. Blown budgets. Toxic environments. People left in misery afterwards.

Short 🧵 At long last, wee have a physical copy of the book we've spent all summer writing! The 2026 election in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 will bring a bigger Senedd, a fresh mandate, and – if we choose it – a chance to break free from decades of short-term fixes and broken promises.

Today is an exciting day! Give us a follow over @transform.wales. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Cyffrous!

The contact form for 10 Downing street (contact.no10.gov.uk) doesn't recognise Senedd email addresses as valid. Genuinely curious: why is this? (Cc: @cjforms.bsky.social - thought you'd be interested!) Via @willhaycardiff.bsky.social: willhaywardwales.substack.com/p/wales-watc...

Yes Giles! “Stop promising what you’ll deliver, start promising what you’ll discover”

Many orgs drown in strategy documents. They can't find alignment because they've said too many things in too many documents. Their way of fixing it is paying someone to go in and create one document to rule all documents. Let's listen to Giles and stop creating more strategy documents! 🙌

Existential crisis in full swing this morning. "We can't be sure your face is real," the computer tells me, after taking a photo of my face to verify my age for Bluesky. 🥲

I'm giving away the last few copies of my book, from the early print runs in 2021/22. Email me if you'd like one! Details here: gilest.org/notes/free-b...

What makes content accessible? A personal blog post from me on: - structures - senses - complexity, ‘noise’ and maintaining a sense of place - fast, shallow tests in production - testing with disabled people - hiring disabled people onto design teams medium.com/@jack.garfin...

*Dear England* We’ve already done this in Wales.

Am genuinely delighted to inform you that the Central Bedfordshire recycling bin lorry outside our house this morning is called "Mission Bin Possible" #MadeMyDay #NewToMe

Hard relate. Sigh.

Can someone fast forward to Friday, pls?

Wanted to get people's thoughts on this role: careers.ceredigion.gov.uk/jobs/req1061... It's pretty standard in Wales that there's little mention of UCD, and that these types of jobs sit under IT. You need a degree in computer science, information tech, or related field. It's always tech first.🫠

The lovely @adrianortega.bsky.social gifted me a Switch for my birthday. 💕 Any game recommendations? My favourite games seem to include high stress work environments or animals on quests. 😅

I’ve been busy working on a few opportunities for work...but it’s all taking longer than expected. Frustrating for me, but an opportunity for you to bring me in for a few months instead! I’m available 3 days a week (asap!), hybrid to do 3 things: con't

Is it too early in the year to watch Elf? Asking for @adrianortega.bsky.social 😘

Happy Monday again! Some weeknotes on: - Farewells - Chasing ghosts - MIT Media Lab principles - A Moving Castle Here you go → bit.ly/45cHw7v

Happy Monday again! Some quick weeknotes on: - Guidance on designing user-centred services - Early Service Manual content on agile delivery and good technology - Service patterns and user testing - Content Conversations and quiet change Here you go! bit.ly/3GY6HRO

This was a special week, and a special night thanks to @niacampbell.bsky.social and @contentdesign.london team for giving me a place to share our journey. I talked about the quiet power of content design in transforming public services (if you have the conditions for it)

WeTransfer wetransfer.com/blog/story/w... digging itself out of hole it dug Quick reminder of old Information Architecture slides - ambiguity and clarity.

#CampDigital was such a good reminder that I work in a tiny bubble, and the world outside is full of wonderful people and ideas. 🥹

In sudden news, I’m speaking at #CampDigital about #PostNormal Design tomorrow www.nexerdigital.com/campdigital/.... Some history and some ideas about diversity and divergence in projects. Just filling a gap left by a family emergency

I'm running Cardiff Half to remember my nephew Emrys and raise money for Sands. Please donate or share if you can cardiffhalf25.enthuse.com/pf/benjy-sta...

My Cubbie&Co. t-shirt arrived today and it's a beaut! 🤩

One of my besties is a queer illustrator, and has launched the most beautiful range of t-shirts for Pride! The latest design (Kitt on duty), honours Harvey Milk, and it's lovely. ♥️ Can we show them some love with a repost? cubbieandco.shop/shop

Always be washing up. 🥲

If I may? At a very low point, I had a short break with my youngest thanks to this charity. You pay for your own travel & there’s a flat fee of £30, but we had two days in a 3* hotel with breakfast - you could linger for hours - and use of pool and spa stuff. The staff were delightful to us too!

There is so much intersection. Another thing to note. My own personal and rather more anecdotal research over two runs of my #Curae prize for unpaid carers, showed the high number of carers who were disabled or managing chronic illness

It's Carer's week here in the UK. Research from last September showed that 1.2 million unpaid carers live in poverty. Yet they save the NHS millions each year. www.carersuk.org/reports/pove... If you want to do something to help, here are some ideas...

It’s been a while! Some month-ish notes on: - turning 40 in Japan - content critiques - conversations and appraisals - hellos and goodbyes - practical optimism Check’em out! bit.ly/45KF60c

Feel super lucky that I get to chat with Ann every other week about the state of digital in the Welsh public sector. I've learnt so much from her about strategy and navigating politics. This is a brilliant post about how Ann can support your team. 👇

First edition of this will go out ✉️next week ✉️ Sign up now if you want to be able to say you liked it before it was popular

This week's Posts from Awesome Folks is here hellotacit.beehiiv.com/p/posts-from... Enjoy and Happy Friday

Series 2 of Systems of Harm… things are happening 👀 If you have no idea what I’m talking about, series 1 is still available to listen to on all the main podcasting platforms. I talked to 6 brilliant guests about how design systems fit into wider systemic harm. open.spotify.com/show/5qXmICc...

Lucked out with the weather after a day of mist and drizzle. What a view! @adrianortega.bsky.social 🌞

A sunny afternoon with @adrianortega.bsky.social at the Ghibli museum in Mitaka. Stopped for Totoro pastries at Shiro-Hige’s Cream Puff Factory. 🌞

New blog post: The 4Ds Roles and Responsibilities Workshop emilywebber.co.uk/the-4ds-role...

🚨 We're delighted to announce Co-op as our headline partner for #CampDigital 2025! 🎉 The Co-op Digital content design team will also run a workshop, "Exploring modular content design with Co-op", showing how it boosts consistency and makes content more human. 🎟Book tickets at: tinyurl.com/mw4bcyb9

"Real people can't descope parts of their lived experience. The complexity of lived experiences still exists even if we don't research or design for it." @priyanca.bsky.social talked about how disabled people experience ambassador fatigue, and often have to "pick their favourite barrier".

Please stop calling your jobs Director of Digital when you really mean Head of IT. Digital and IT are not the same thing ffs.

Looking forward to speaking to Content Club folks about considering compounding barriers & intersectionality when we think about accessibility. Thank you @niacampbell.bsky.social @adrianortega.bsky.social @contentdesign.london for organising!

Buzzing from today's service patterns workshop. This is the energy, enthusiasm and passion Cymru's public sector needs! 🙌 Diolch i Liam, @adrianortega.bsky.social a @cdps.bsky.social am ddiwrnod grêt!

Excited for @cdps.bsky.social's service patterns workshop today, and hearing about the team's work and ideas so far. 🌟

What’s up Bluesky, I’m starting to look for my next professional opportunity. If you are looking for someone community, co-design or collaboration shaped, please get in touch 💬

I wrote about developing ideas in Service Design for @theschoolofgood.bsky.social and releasing a free set of cards for you to use to help you develop ideas for new and existing services. good.services/blog/develop...

One more terrific talk from the #UserNeedsFirst #GovDesign conference went up on YouTube: @richardpope.org’s closing keynote, “Beyond user needs: Why we need an expanded design philosophy for the digital public sector” with plenty of food for thought— youtu.be/0z3trE1RAlk