I spent a lot of time over the past year and a half writing evaluations based on existing designs. I try to use each review as a teaching opportunity and am sure to take the experience of reading the review into account. I enjoy these; I’m proud of them and believe they speak to my high level thought process as a designer.

My son is four and a half. He has an iPad and is able to use it like a pro. It truly seems instinctual. Earlier this year I had taught him how to dial 911 with my iPhone. He did well considering he cannot read yet but I was always bothered by how wildly difficult the entire thing was; young children needing to gain access to emergency services does not appear to have been a concern during the design process.

Last night I was one of three women on a panel all about transitioning into tech. The panel was hosted by Girl Develop It Wilmington and it was lovely to get out of the house and socialize. I absolutely hate to iron clothes (I suspect this is a side effect of working from home for so many years and only ironing the front of shirts for video calls) but it was totally worth ironing the front and back of a shirt for this event.

So I’ve been reading a lot of UX books again recently and have been thoroughly enjoying myself for the most part. I find that more and more my focus is shifting back to strategy and research (much like when I was a grant writer—full circle) over visual design with each project I’m on.

Style guides are very challenging to build, though the initial idea of creating one always sounds like a total dream.

Since the spring I have been working with an amazing group of women to bring ELA Conf, a conference all about empowering women to be leaders in tech, to life.