A few weeks ago I was laid off from the small-dollar fundraising platform ActBlue. I’d like to thank all my coworkers and my manager Mariam Khan for the many opportunities to learn and grow. Most recently a Senior User Researcher, I’m looking for UX design, UX research, or hybrid roles in civic, political, or nonprofit tech.
Having the right practices can feel like a good vacation: enough structure that you feel secure and know your options, but enough flexibility that you can be spontaneous and go with the flow.
I recently wrote a post about my struggle to describe simply an interdisciplinary, participatory design practice. I ended up with two words: deep design. In truth, deep design is just design as it should be, but the word “design” is so abused right now that it needs a modifier. Case in point…
When I left Quilted, a worker cooperative I co-founded and developed for 9 years, I promised myself I would only work with people within an hour by bike or public transit. I swore off remote work.
“What do you do?” It’s a simple enough question on the surface. And there are a lot of simple answers: “I make websites for nonprofits” or “I’m a user experience designer” or “I help run a co-working space focused on art and social justice.” These answers have a certain solidity. They give the asker something to grab onto. But they don’t feel right.