Reading
The Unnecessary Fragmentation of Design Jobs by Jonas Downey. He writes about how the process of research > wireframes > high fidelity designs > front-end code > research – with different people at each of those steps – is pretty loco. I appreciate this is slightly at odds with one of the links I posted last week about the difficulty of combining distinct skills into 1 role, but I do agree with what he’s saying. What we (what I) do should encompass all those things, and it can totally work. It’s much more inline with what I used to do in my last job, and to be honest, I do miss elements of it. It also reminds me of way back when I started making web things, and I was more than happy labelling myself as a web designer. (Are people web designers any more(?) They should be). The UX, the UI, the visuals, the build, that was all me and it was all “Design” for the web. And it was fun.
It Was All a Dream; one of those Players Tribune pieces, this one by Raheem Sterling. The targeting of Sterling by The S*n and the rest is vile, so I’m more than happy to try to give numbers to a piece about him which is actually worthwhile. What really strikes you after reading these interviews is just how much of an impact being good at football has had on their lives. So much work and background and struggle to get to the point of playing at an elite level and having lots of money… yes, sometimes it sounds like crazy money, but after reading these you couldn’t begrudge them getting what they get.
Listening to
99% Invisible 311: The Barney Design. The mid 90s was when my interest in the NBA peaked (thanks to Channel 4 getting the rights to show games) so this episode on the shirts prevalent in that era made me happy. The focus is on the Toronto Raptors shirt with a dribbling velociraptor (awesome) but also generally about the shift in design styles of NBA shirts from classic to gaudy (and quite quickly back to classic). It was a perfect storm of the 90’s + new printing methods + a booming market for replica shirts, and the outcome was glorious. I always liked the Supersonics and Rockets ones personally… though in retrospect, I’m glad I never owned one.