emenel

My band has our first EP out today! We’re also playing...

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:20:07 -0500

My band has our first EP out today! We’re also playing tonight at The Silver Dollar in Toronto.

We recorded this ourselves with a very DIY setup and mixed it over the last couple weeks.

mmilan: Taken with Instagram at Normative Inc.

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:47:52 -0500

mmilan:

Taken with Instagram at Normative Inc.

Feynman's Radio: The value of passing through.

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:57:51 -0500

Feynman's Radio: The value of passing through.:

mmilan:

I’ve been thinking a lot about building teams recently. In a former job, I ran a large UX team, and one of the metrics I was judged on was employee retention. If people were sticking around, I was in good shape. If they were leaving, that was bad.

Starting and running my own design business has…

Updated Design Reading List | Normative - Design for Devices and the Web

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:28:46 -0500

Updated Design Reading List | Normative - Design for Devices and the Web

Bryce Johnson / brycej: "A quick Siri note" from Peter-Paul Koch of Quirksmode #a11y

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 09:28:37 -0500

Bryce Johnson / brycej: "A quick Siri note" from Peter-Paul Koch of Quirksmode #a11y:

thechickentest:

Quoted from http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2011/11/a_quick_siri_no.html

I’ve never actually played with Siri yet, so this example might be somewhat off the mark. And I made up the site. Still, it’s something we should keep in mind — especially accessibility specialists.
Me …

"Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use best judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules."

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:19:35 -0500

“Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use best judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.”

- Thanks to Dave Gray for pointing this out to me during a conversation about service. This is the best and most simple rule for any person in a service position. If the police, TSA, and others used a guideline like this we would all be much better off. It really relates to a great post by Lukas Neville about autonomy and being a decent human being…

Nordstrom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My issue with "Design Thinking" this morning

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:01:54 -0500

I occurred to me this morning that one of my issues with “design thinking” and the way that it has been adopted is that it’s turned into the ultimate post-modern device. It has an uncanny ability to claim credit for, or apply itself to, any type of creative or unusual thinking after the fact.

I’ve seen a number of conversations, including one on CBC radio this morning, about Occupy as a design movement, or a design thinking solution to a wicked problem. To me this feels like imposing a framework on something once it’s already happened… Occupy is what happens when people are pushed to their limits and are disenfranchised. We’ve seen this before and it will happen again. Just because the approach is different and people are thinking about how to stage a protest in a new way does not make it “design thinking.”

Is every innovation “design thinking” now? Let’s be fair to real design, and to the people who are doing interesting things that aren’t design, and not diminish their creativity by lumping it all under this new philosophical umbrella, that was intended as a business tool more than anything.

Post-cocious: Protest

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:42:48 -0500

Post-cocious: Protest:

My friend Anu from San Francisco wrote this great reflection on the Occupy protests.. one of the better personal reflection pieces I’ve read on this topic.

This song, which came out in the late 90’s, is true now...

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 09:21:10 -0400

This song, which came out in the late 90’s, is true now more than ever.

“Publicly subsidized! Privately profitable!”
The anthem of the upper-tier, puppeteer untouchable.
Focus a moment, nod in approval,
Bury our heads back in the bar-codes of these neo-colonials.

Our former nemesis, the romance of the nation state,
Now plays fundraiser for a new brand of power-concentrate.
Try again, but now we’re confused; what is “class war”?
Is this class war? Yes, this is class war.

And I’m just a kid.
I can’t believe I gotta worry about this kind of shit.
What a stupid world.

And it’s beautiful,
No regard for principle.
What a stupid world.

Born, hired, disposed.
Where that job lands, everybody knows.
You can tell by the smile on the CEO,
Environmental restraints are about to go.

You can bet laws will be set
To ensure the benefit
Of unrestricted labour laws,
Kept in place by displaced government death squads.

They own us.
They own us.
Produce us.
Consume us.

They own us.
They own us.
Produce us.
Consume us.

Can you fucking believe?
What a stupid world.

Fuck this bullshit display of class-loyalties.
The media and “our” leaders wrap it all up in a flag, shit-rag, hooray.

Propagandhi - Nation States (by TheBenji979)

Join us at Interaction12 | Normative - Design for Devices and the Web

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:50:00 -0400

Join us at Interaction12 | Normative - Design for Devices and the Web

Our lovely little nook of cookbooks in the kitchen at...

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:05:32 -0400

Our lovely little nook of cookbooks in the kitchen at home..

Cookbooks! (by emenel)

mmilan: #torontoculture (Taken with Instagram at Bathurst...

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 08:56:15 -0400

mmilan:

#torontoculture (Taken with Instagram at Bathurst Skatepark)

Punk rock might be for the young. But being punk rock is for...

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:23:22 -0400

Punk rock might be for the young. But being punk rock is for everyone. (via You and What Army: PUNX NOT DEAD)

Once again, Michael Azerrad sums up my feeling about music and life better than anybody else.

Institutionalized

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:00:00 -0400

I was sitting in my room, and I was like staring at the walls thinking about everything but then again I was thinking about nothing, and then my mom came in and I didn't notice she was there and she calls my name and I didn't hear her and then she started screaming: Mike, Mike!
And I go: What, what's the matter?
She goes: What's the matter with you?
I say: Nothing mom.
She goes: Don't tell me nothing, you're on drugs!
I go: No mom, I'm not on drugs, I'm ok, I'm just thinking, you know, why don't you get me a Pepsi?
She goes: No, you're on drugs, you're crazy, normal people won't be acting that way!
I go: Mom, I'm all right, I'm just thinking, you know, so why don't you, like give me a Pepsi?
And she goes: No, you're crazy!
All I wanted was a Pepsi, just one Pepsi, and she wouldn't give it to me, just one Pepsi.

"We understand materials not by reading about them, or assuming what they can do, but by exploring..."

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:29:28 -0400

“We understand materials not by reading about them, or assuming what they can do, but by exploring them, playing with them, sketching with them. Ideally, that sketching happens in the final material, but perhaps, like a sculptor sketching on paper, it happens in abstractions such as paper-prototyping. What matters is that you find a way. Sketching is not just about building towards a final work; it’s about building familiarity with a medium itself, working it into one’s practice.”

- This is one of the best short pieces about art, design, technology, and material that I’ve read. It aligns perfectly with my own thoughts on the subject, and expresses them in a way I haven’t been able to.

I found this originally through Russell Davies at http://russelldavies.typepad.com/planning/2011/08/technology-as-a-material.html

Full Article: Infovore » Technology As A Material

Delicious mango jelly, tapioca, and red bean on shaved ice at...

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 12:24:23 -0400

Delicious mango jelly, tapioca, and red bean on shaved ice at the Toronto Downtown Night Market.

P1000949.jpg (by emenel)

Reality Check | Toronto's libraries are under threat of privatization. Tell city council to keep them public now.

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:20:23 -0400

Reality Check | Toronto's libraries are under threat of privatization. Tell city council to keep them public now.:

Thanks to John McArdle for the link.

My thoughts after reading @rhjr's controversial blog post

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:43:00 -0400

Update/Note:

Due to a few comments I’ve received after posting this I want to make something clear: My thoughts in this post are a reflection of what I’m reading in Robert’s post, not my thoughts on Whitney’s presentation. I didn’t see the presentation and have no grounds on which to comment on it. Reading Robert’s post and some other things going on have seeded some ideas, and that’s what’s here.

——-

So.. Robert Hoekman Jr wrote a post criticizing Whitney Hess. I think most people reading this already know that. I’m not going to write a response or critique of his post, that’s already happening in a big way on Twitter. What I want to write about is the valid point that’s buried in the controversy over his singling out Whitney.

Maybe this is just my existing feelings casting a glow over Robert’s words, but what I think really spurred on his reaction to Whitney’s presentation in Italy is a larger issue within our community. I think I’ve written about it before, but can’t seem to find the post.

Kyle Soucy responded to Robert on Twitter saying that his post “has [possibly] made UX newbies scared shitless to ever present and share their knowledge and experience with others.” While I understand what she’s saying, I honestly think that people should be a little more scared to share their experience in the very public forum of a conference presentation. We’ve fallen into a bad habit as a field - we conflate personal experience and story with valid professional thoughts and opinions. To present at a professional or academic conference there needs to be some level of rigor… we need to have a way of validating that what the person is saying is actually valuable to the people listening.

We too often pat each other on the back just because we got up and spoke out. This alone is not what will make our field great and respected. We see too many presentations full of old ideas or half-baked concepts presented as “expert leadership.”

There’s a place for sharing personal experience, inspirational stories, and all those half-baked ideas. That place is not on the main stage at a professional or academic conference. Maybe we need a different event for that.. I don’t know. All I know is that we need more rigor. If we present researched and well thought out ideas then we can all discuss and critique the ideas, not the people. If we present ill-researched ideas and personal experience we end up in a place where we’re criticizing people instead.

The other aspect of this is that many people in our community are friends, and we want to defend and encourage our friends. That’s great too, but we also need to be able to call our friends on bullshit. Otherwise we veer dangerously into clique territory and will invalidate our field.

Anyway.. I didn’t see Whitney’s presentation that Robert talked about, so I can’t comment on how that fits in or doesn’t fit in with my above stated rambling thoughts. This is just some stuff that I got thinking about when I read his post.

Your website is part of your product whether you like it or not. | Normative - Design for Devices and the Web

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 12:09:40 -0400

Your website is part of your product whether you like it or not. | Normative - Design for Devices and the Web:

My latest blog post for Normative about reframing your website as a product, not as marketing.

Interaction Criticism: How To Do It Handout « Interaction Culture

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 09:49:02 -0400

Interaction Criticism: How To Do It Handout « Interaction Culture:

A really interesting PDF document on how to do criticism of interaction design. This is a really great perspective, I’m planning to spend some time with this doc to see what I can pull into my own practice.