All my wonderful imaginative kind thoughtful old friends who stopped making things as they moved in mgmt or had families or life took over or tech got un-fun are making and writing and sharing again, and it makes my heart sing

If you’re looking for a new TV show to watch, may I recommend Black Rabbit on Netflix.

Here's a video of my recent chat with Sam Stephenson, co-founder of AI note taking startup, Granola. In it we discuss the founding idea, launching into a saturated market. the challenges of fundraising as a designer, and their recent bold rebrand. Enjoy

Just had a last minute cancellation today so if you’re around Soho between 12-3 and fancy catching up, let me know.

"I’ve recently gained access to Dalle2 and have been investigating its potential [...] One interesting feature is the ability to upload images and mark sections for ‘inpainting‘ – effectively using the AI to imagine the missing parts of the painting."

Mornington Crescent: a rant. Or: how a goofy word game about train stations is the key to how devout causes can ruin people's ability to have a conversation. Stand clear of the closing doors, let's begin. 1/18

Just heard a podcast advert claiming that in an age of disinformation the Time san Sunday Times in an unbiased voice yoh can trust, and my immediate feeling was have you read either of these recently as they basically feel like they’re taking the fires of the culture war.

You know I’ve never been interested in these sorts of tourist spots. Remember accidentally walking past the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps on a visit to Rome, looking for 5 seconds, thinking “thats nice” and then carrying on.

A lovely animation of how Paris has grown over the last 2,000 years. substack.com/profile/2972...

Lacking the necessarily investment and left to crumble, the problem may now be too big and expensive to realistically solve. The question is am I talking about the Parliament building or the UK in general?

Anybody need design system work? Stuart’s your man.

Never liked these door handles. Assuming China has banned them mostly as a clever way to ban Tesla from their market. Would be nice to see the EU follow suit.

I’m genuinely surprised that this post didn’t get more traction. I mean this Chas&Dave and this Eminem.

Brilliant

Today I learnt that Chas & Dave played guitar and base on Eminem’s “My Name Is…”

In case you missed it, I launched my new Podcast—The Design VC—last week. In it I talk to a mix of founders, designers and investors about the intersection of creativity and capital. First three episodes are up, with lots more to come.

A quick PSA. It’s not a listening bar if you just have a slightly better than average sound system that all your guests continue to have shouted conversations over.

Not quite a basic income but back in the 90s Margaret Thatcher wanted to reduce the high unemployment figures so she basically bribed folks to start their own companies by giving them slightly more money for a year, on the proviso that they couldn't then re-register for unemployment after.

So my home town of Brighton has had the fastest growth in disposable income in the whole of the UK, since 2013. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

I just gave ChatGPT a few screenshots of my listening preferences and asked it to recommend upcoming gigs in Manchester. It was super interesting watching it extract my music tastes from the screenshots, check the main music venues and offer up suggestions.

Why is it that every time i take the train to London i’m sat in a carriage with somebody who is coughing, sniffling and really should be at home 😷

If I had a jazz band i’d call it The Mercator projection

I always say that playing Dungeons & Dragons teaches you all the skills to do Product Management

Share a photo of mountains that you’ve taken.

I’ve just launched my first podcast. It’s called The Design VC. It’s about the intersection of creativity + capital, and how design shapes early-stage startups (for better and worse). First episodes: Des Traynor (Intercom), Jake Knapp + John Zeratsky, Kate Aronowitz (GV).

Currently enjoying Fallout season 2

I’m not saying the man at the nudist colony enjoyed wine a bit too much, but it looked like he had a Sémillon.

I just heard somebidy say they could bench press more than a baby elephant. Now I‘m not sure how much a baby elephant can bench press, but the lack of opposable thumbs has got to make gripping the bar difficult. So it may not be a fair comparison ;)

An excellent content design leadership position at one of the most interesting tech projects in the UK: the not-for-profit genetics project Our Future Health. apply.workable.com/j/A2032FE81B...

UK trains be like… The 12.30 service from London will be calling at Cockhamstead, Shartwell, Mansplain Park, Little Pissington, Felching, Great Misanthrope, Bushy Mound, The Bastards, Bumstown, Bumstown Parkway, Dyke’s Crag, Beaver Bridge and Cockminster Haven (alight here for the Devil’s Bum Hole)

UK trains be like… The 12.30 service from London will be calling at Cockhamstead, Shartwell, Mansplain Park, Little Pissington, Felching, Great Misanthrope, Bushy Mound, The Bastards, Bumstown, Bumstown Parkway, Dyke’s Crag, Beaver Bridge and Cockminster Haven (alight here for the Devil’s Bum Hole)

Enjoyed my final trip to Hawkins. Glad I got to visit Starcourt Mall, before it got shut down.

This is about 90% of the counter point comments I get on any LinkedIn post that uses an analogy. Me “X is like Y in this very specific way” Them “X is nothing like Y because X is X and Y is Y”

Good read from Cory Doctorow doctorow.medium.com/https-plural...

post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, pearl jam, soundgarden, or alice in chains

I thought Knives Out was a genuinely good film. I thought The Glass Onion was a little silly but generally good fun. I was so bored by Wake up Dead Man that I gave up half way through.

Your podcasts will never be as cool as this.

StackOverflow taught a generation of programmers not to pay attention, even before LLM's appeared. People copypasting shit that very literally is not a solution to the problem they actually are trying to solve, but looks somewhat similar, etc.

Just caught the last half of “Spiderman’s European Vacation“ after seeing the first half a couple of times but always getting side tracked. Quite enjoyed it.

In 2025 MAGA taught us that the opposite of DEI isn’t merit, it’s mediocre people running institutions into the ground.

I’m always surprised how little spacial awareness people have. Walking through doors and letting them slam on people behind them. Abruptly stopping in the middle of the street. Walking 5 breast, forcing others into the riad to get round them. Looking one way and walking the other.

Since 2020 I think i’ve withdrawn cash from an ATM no more than 3 times.

”Your DHL delivery will arrive between 9:30 and 20:00” So I guess i’m waiting in the entire day then?

Heck yeah we A/B test all our designs: 𝗔sk stakeholders which idea they like 𝗕uild that one

Pub quiz question. What actor has played a US president the most times? Don’t look it up. * I’m counting TV series as one outing, but movie franchises as each movie.

Robin Ince reveals to last night’s audience at a recording of Infinite Monkey Cage that the BBC has forced him to resign over his support of trans people

This is my favorite stakeholder management technique. After I’ve presented my “as you attorney I’d advise you not to do this” and they decide against my advice I say, “ ok, so *you* are deciding to do this and I will support *your* decision.

It’s amazing how many men there are in the gym with such fragile egos that they need to be seen using weights that are far too heavy for them, forcing all the weight to their back rather than their arms.

These are not serious people.