disambiguity - » Waterfall Bad, Washing Machine Good (IA Summit 07 Slides)

Open Lecture at CIID: “Keeping up with the Kardashevians” – Petafloptimism

A terrfic presentation from Matt Jones (with the best talk title ever). Pace layers, seamful design, solarpunk, and more.

Design Systems, Agile, and Industrialization | Brad Frost

Brad weighs in on what I wrote about design systems and automation. He rightly points out that the issue isn’t with any particular tool—and a design system is, after all, a tool—but rather with the culture and processes of the organisation.

Sure, design systems have the ability to dehumanize and that’s something to actively watch out for. But I’d also say to pay close attention to the processes and organizational culture we take part in and contribute to.

There’s a full-on rant here about the dehumanising effects of what’s called “agile” at scale:

I’ve come to the conclusion that “enterprise web development” is just regular web development, only stripped of any joy or creativity or autonomy. It’s plugging a bunch of smart people into the matrix and forcing them to crank out widgets and move the little cards to the right.

Designing for Inclusion with Media Queries

The slides and notes from a great presentation by Eric Bailey that takes a really thoughtful deep dive into media types, media queries, and inclusive design.

SmashingConf Oxford 2015: Richard Rutter on Don’t Give Them What They Want, Give Them What They Need

A great case study from Richard, walking through the process of redesigning the website for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Walls Come Tumbling Down presentation slides and transcript | For A Beautiful Web

Andy's excellent presentation from An Event Apart in Boston and @media in London. Required reading/viewing.