Blogging and all that Malarkey

I’ve made videos before, including a few series for New Riders—back in the day—and an Art Direction for the Web companion series for Skillshare. For ages, I wanted to make more videos and publish them on YouTube. Now, I’ve made a start.

I don’t check my analytics terribly often, but I did this week, and there was something strange in there: referrals from a domain I didn’t recognise that was using my website’s favicon. Curious, I went to the URL and saw something familiar—my design.

When I wrote recently about the design work I’d like to do in the year ahead, I neglected to mention one important area that I’d like to concentrate on. That’s mentoring designers and helping them improve their skills and develop their careers in design.

While debating the greatest guitar solos ever with Alex and Sue last week, I suggested that the absolute best is Prince’s one-off live performance of While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Prince played alongside George Harrison’s son Dhani, ELO’s Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, and more. This set me down a rabbit hole to find the best-ever version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

The General Election might be over, but Count Binface hasn’t abandoned us earthlings. Instead, he’s embarking on a comedy tour and this week invaded Sky News’ Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge.

Whether you’re a designer, developer, or another type of web professional, successful client projects all begin with a killer proposal. While web design project proposals have no set format, effective proposals all outline the brief, deliverables and scope, timelines, and costs.

Since I launched Contract Killer, I’ve lost track of the number of times people have asked me to make a proposal template for web designers and developers. I’m not sure why it took me so damn long, but today I’m launching “ Killer Proposals.”

When I first shared my Contract Killer in 2008, I had no idea so many people would use it. It became the most visited page on my website. After being free for thirteen years, in 2021 Contract Killer became a paid-for template. Now, there’s an update, the biggest since 2008.

This time last year, I wrapped up my Director of Product Design contract at Nozomi Networks. That was a big change but also an opportunity to evaluate what I’d enjoyed about the role and what I missed from more varied design projects.

It’s UK General Election time and the chaps have gathered to discuss it, but without mentioning politics. What would their top policies be if they were running for office? What do they think of novelty candidates like Count Binface? Plus, why are political party websites so terrible? Andy tells his story about being in the audience for BBC Question Time and the strange tale of designing for an intergalactic space warrior.