Some of you may know that my better half Karla maintains a baby fashion blog featuring our wonderful son Marshall. It’s called The Tiny Sartorialist and she’s been running it for nearly a year now. The thing I love most about it is that she takes such incredible photos that really capture Marshall’s happy-go-lucky personality. The Tiny Sartorialist is a fantastic record of how joyous and delightful our family life is, and for that I’m really grateful. And today The Huffington Post recognised just how awesome Karla and Marshall are by featuring a gallery of photos of Marshall from The Tiny Sartorialist. You can check out the full gallery over on the Huffington Post Parents section. Really proud of Karla and really happy to be able to share the fun with more people.
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Some of you may know that my better half Karla maintains a baby fashion blog featuring our wonderful son Marshall. It’s called The Tiny Sartorialist and she’s been running it for nearly a year now.

The thing I love most about it is that she takes such incredible photos that really capture Marshall’s happy-go-lucky personality. The Tiny Sartorialist is a fantastic record of how joyous and delightful our family life is, and for that I’m really grateful.

And today The Huffington Post recognised just how awesome Karla and Marshall are by featuring a gallery of photos of Marshall from The Tiny Sartorialist. You can check out the full gallery over on the Huffington Post Parents section.

Really proud of Karla and really happy to be able to share the fun with more people.

Meet Faraday, one of three beautifully designed bicycles that came into being as a result of the Oregon Manifest Creative Collaborations.

Fittingly as I’ve been investigating service design of late, this is an IDEO x Rock Lobster collab joint.

Pretty much ticks all my boxes, and while I probably wouldn’t opt for an electric bicycle personally, this thing is a work of design genius.

Read more about this fantastic design over at IDEO, check out the website of the team that built it here, and read some reviews of the bike here and here.

Make sure you check out the other two Creative Collaborations entrants too, Fuseproject x SyCip Design’s The Local and Ziba Design x Signal Cycles’ The Fremont, both gnarly bicycle too.

Much of my time is taken up helping brands navigate the fast-changing world of social media. So the recent Facebook Marketing Conference has given anyone who works with social media plenty to think about. Alongside announcements about new advertising units, the biggest announcement was the launch of the Timeline page format for Brands. There are already a few great examples, but my favourite so far is the Fanta Facebook page. I like it because it’s one big game. The four Fanta characters are lost! Visitors to the page are tasked with scouring the decades to find each of the characters. When they find the characters they are then asked to Like the relevant status updates to return the characters to the Cover image.   I’m looking forward to seeing how other brands get creative with the new timeline format.
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Much of my time is taken up helping brands navigate the fast-changing world of social media. So the recent Facebook Marketing Conference has given anyone who works with social media plenty to think about.

Alongside announcements about new advertising units, the biggest announcement was the launch of the Timeline page format for Brands. There are already a few great examples, but my favourite so far is the Fanta Facebook page.

I like it because it’s one big game.

The four Fanta characters are lost! Visitors to the page are tasked with scouring the decades to find each of the characters. When they find the characters they are then asked to Like the relevant status updates to return the characters to the Cover image.

 

I’m looking forward to seeing how other brands get creative with the new timeline format.

3 ways the Global Service Jam changed my life Last weekend I took part in a service design jam in Sydney, one of many events taking place that weekend in 90 different cities all around the world as part of the Global Service Jam 2012 (GSJ12). Reflecting on the experience, I can already see 3 key ways that GSJ12 in Sydney has changed my life meaningfully for the better: 1. It helped me realise what matters most to me On Friday the global theme was announced that all Jammers across the world would be using as inspiration for the services they were to design. That theme was ‘Hidden Treasure’. Placed on the spot to think about a user-centric service that was worth designing I immediately thought about the problem of homelessness. I have been fascinated by the challenge of addressing homelessness my whole life but had never found a clear way to get more involved. The fact that it was such an easy decision to focus on homelessness showed me just how deeply held my belief is that this is a complex societal problem I care deeply about and want to work on. 2. It introduced me to new ways of thinking I signed up for GSJ12 because I have been interested in design thinking for some time but have not found a way to incorporate more learning about it or practicing of it into my life. Over the weekend we were mentored by a number of great facilitators. The were incredibly giving of their time and energy, and observing the way they operated opened my eyes to all sorts of new techniques and ways of thinking and acting. We created personas to brainstorm need states, we role played, and we mapped out the touch points in our core stakeholders’ days. I learned so much about what Dave Gray and others have usefully called Gamestorming and I have already started to incorporate some of that thinking into my daily work. 3. I met many wonderful people When you throw a bunch of strangers together and get them to collaborate on each others ideas over 48 hours, in that intense environment you learn lots about people very quickly. You also learn lots about yourself too. Working with Jakob, Ollie and Jarryd was amazing and I can’t wait to catch up with them all again soon. Ben’s interest in our project gave me confidence that I was working on something that mattered and his understanding of the subject area was a real help. Samuel, Christian, Jax, Alex and Michelle were all incredibly giving of their time, as were the totally amazing organisers. Meeting these and other people at the GSJ12 I already know has improved me as a human being and as a thinker and doer. Taking part in the GSJ12 is something I would recommend to anyone looking to challenge themselves. The experience helped me recognise and work on the things that matter most to me, learn all about service design through doing it, and meet and work with inspiring people. Can’t wait for next year!
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3 ways the Global Service Jam changed my life

Last weekend I took part in a service design jam in Sydney, one of many events taking place that weekend in 90 different cities all around the world as part of the Global Service Jam 2012 (GSJ12).

Reflecting on the experience, I can already see 3 key ways that GSJ12 in Sydney has changed my life meaningfully for the better:

1. It helped me realise what matters most to me

On Friday the global theme was announced that all Jammers across the world would be using as inspiration for the services they were to design. That theme was ‘Hidden Treasure’.

Placed on the spot to think about a user-centric service that was worth designing I immediately thought about the problem of homelessness. I have been fascinated by the challenge of addressing homelessness my whole life but had never found a clear way to get more involved.

The fact that it was such an easy decision to focus on homelessness showed me just how deeply held my belief is that this is a complex societal problem I care deeply about and want to work on.

2. It introduced me to new ways of thinking

I signed up for GSJ12 because I have been interested in design thinking for some time but have not found a way to incorporate more learning about it or practicing of it into my life.

Over the weekend we were mentored by a number of great facilitators. The were incredibly giving of their time and energy, and observing the way they operated opened my eyes to all sorts of new techniques and ways of thinking and acting.

We created personas to brainstorm need states, we role played, and we mapped out the touch points in our core stakeholders’ days. I learned so much about what Dave Gray and others have usefully called Gamestorming and I have already started to incorporate some of that thinking into my daily work.

3. I met many wonderful people

When you throw a bunch of strangers together and get them to collaborate on each others ideas over 48 hours, in that intense environment you learn lots about people very quickly. You also learn lots about yourself too.

Working with Jakob, Ollie and Jarryd was amazing and I can’t wait to catch up with them all again soon. Ben’s interest in our project gave me confidence that I was working on something that mattered and his understanding of the subject area was a real help.

Samuel, Christian, Jax, Alex and Michelle were all incredibly giving of their time, as were the totally amazing organisers. Meeting these and other people at the GSJ12 I already know has improved me as a human being and as a thinker and doer.

Taking part in the GSJ12 is something I would recommend to anyone looking to challenge themselves. The experience helped me recognise and work on the things that matter most to me, learn all about service design through doing it, and meet and work with inspiring people.

Can’t wait for next year!