2026-03-16 02:35:51
I started reading Tomi Adeyemi's "Children of Blood and Bone" this week and I'm really enjoying it. I'll save a more detailed analysis for a proper review when I'm finished but, amongst other things, I'm really appreciating the world building.
Another busy week at work.
Organising epics into stories and discussing design system implementation within the existing ecosystem.
It feels like I spent more time talking about work than actually doing it 🤣
Quite pleased that we've identified a lot of technical improvements that can be done ahead of the new design launch. Hopefully we'll get the foundations shipshape and purring like a kitten before a new lick of paint gilds that lily (to mix a few metaphors).
My wife shared a lovely article on clever Japanese stationery design with me and now I've mentally spent hundreds of pounds. I probably will buy the Stálogy Editor’s Series 365-day Notebook (A6) at Christmas because it looks lovely and, even though it's expensive on the surface, it works out at only 7p a day!
I posted two rolls of film at the start of the week but not heard they've been received yet which is worrying. The developers are usually really responsive so I'm sure the fault is with Royal Mail. I'll be gutted if they've gone forever.
He wants to believe that playing by the monarchy's rules will keep us safe, but nothing can protect us when those rules are rooted in hate.
Tomi Adeyemi, "Children of Blood and Bone"
2026-03-11 23:23:25
For as long as she can remember, James's connection with her twin has gone beyond intuition - she can feel what he feels. So when Johnny is killed in a tragic accident, James knows before her phone even rings that she's alone - truly alone - for the first time in her life.
I knew I liked this book when I realised I was half way through and virtually nothing had happened. A slow burn, small rural town pace. Glacial; like the very landscape.
Speaking of; the descriptions of the northern Californian forests felt Twilight af (affectionate).
I love the "is it supernatural or not" vibe; feels very intentional and cleverly written.
The big hook for this story is at the heart it's a juicy mystery! His sister James and his best friend, Micah, try and piece together his final moments to work out if Johnny's death was an accident or not. Firmly in the solving crimes without cops sub-genre of crime thrillers I love love love.
This is all rounded off with a twist I did not see coming!
I would recommend this to fans of interesting mysteries, crime thrillers without explosions and car chases, or anyone who wants to lose themselves in the dark, damp forests of the Pacific Northwest.
2026-03-09 17:54:25
A bout of bacterial tonsillitis recently necessitated a course of antibiotics. I had to take them 4 times a day at regular intervals. I did some maths and settled on 06:30, 11:30, 16:30, and 21:30.
I have a terrible habit of ignoring Todoist notifications and I didn't want to clutter the family task list with my personal medication reminders. So, I had a quick look around for a medication reminders application.
I had an alternative motive as well; at work, we make a lot of patient support apps that, inevitably, include medication reminders and I was curious what functionality a dedicated tool might have.
TakeYourPills looked like what I wanted; free, simple, no account needed.
The app has had a fairly standard Material Design™ feel to it. There are a handful of sensible settings customise reminders.
I chose the "Guest" profile and didn't have to provide any information. Multiple profiles seem like a good idea for, say, carers who have their own medication needs — if I needed to give my kids meds as well as myself, having one app with multiple users is much better than several apps!
Again, simplicity wins out here — Name, Description, and Shape. I love the Shape option; a handful of icons depicting tablets, capsules, needles, inhalers, creams, and liquids. A really simple mechanism but so useful if you have multiple medications to take — comorbidities being something very common with chronic illnesses.
You are given a couple of options; "at specific times" or "every x hours". I feel it was lacking the specific "4 times a day starting at" option that I really wanted but, as I said, I worked out the times myself and used "at specific times" without any issues.
There's also a schedule for when the medication should be taken; "every day", "on specific days", or "every x days". This feels like it covers most bases.
I left this alone and manually ended the course but, again, I can see utility.
Being able to set dosing warnings ("maximum dose in 24 hours" and/or "minimum interval between doses") is a nice addition for more complex medications or those with more serious side effects. I didn't feel I needed to set this either.
Push notifications from the app allow the user to mark that dose as skipped or taken which is great. It also logs the exact time you skipped or took the medication.
I wouldn't exactly say I enjoyed using this app. It's fairly utilitarian; short on delighters or "gameification" but, honestly, that suits me. I don't think I would have enjoyed "Yay! You're crushing it!" vibes but YMMV.
TakeYourPills did exactly what I needed it to, the in-app ads were unobtrusive, and I'm glad I didn't have to create an account.
2026-03-08 22:42:07
Especially for those not familiar with the process of design, it can be tempting to see things like discovery and wireframing as obstacles to be cleared before you get to the fun part, designing the visual identity. Unfortunately, many designers are also guilty of this!
Nic Chan
Nic's article makes an important point about the value of user experience; a value I'm seeing eroded by the prodigious use of LLMs.
Tools like Google Stitch will wireframe your app for you from a prompt allowing anyone who can describe a website in words to bypass years of experience.
But this is a box ticking exercise; a step on an ideal process that, in many minds, stands between you and "delivering value".
The purpose of wireframing is to uncover complexity early. To do that you need to interrogate your designs, understand the trade offs, and defend your decisions.
If AI did it for you, you can't do any of those things. If you rush the wireframe phase or the architecture diagrams or the technical spec, you don't understand your product.
2026-03-08 20:44:05
Happy International Women's Day to all women
I sat down next to a woman who was reading on the train and pulled out my own Kindle. She glanced at it, said "snap!", and clinked hers against mine like wine glasses.
blossom-against-blue-sky season – where everyone takes the same hopeful shot and offers it like proof we’ve made it through winter.
DW, walknotes
We had clients in the office this week for a workshop. This is a novelty because we usually travel to meet them for this sort of thing.
Lovely clients, relaxed atmosphere, great workshop. I always feel one of the most important aspects of a workshop like this is getting the participants relaxed and having a good time; create a safe space and get honest answers.
Honesty is often the only way to affect real change.
I logged four new "lifers" in Merlin this week; birds I haven't heard before.
The baritone caw of a rook, a mistle thrush, a greylag goose, and the staccato drumming of a spotted woodpecker over in the wood.
As the mornings get lighter, the more voices in the dawn chorus.
Women who did what they liked instead of what other people wished were often accused of witchcraft because only a witch would be so defiant
Christina Henry, _The Mermaid
2026-03-06 05:42:06
Once there was a mermaid called Amelia who could never be content in the sea, a mermaid who longed to know all the world and all its wonders, and so she came to live on land.
Once there was a man called P. T. Barnum, a man who longed to make his fortune by selling the wondrous and miraculous, and there is nothing more miraculous than a real mermaid.
I am not familiar with the true story of PT Barnum and the Feejee Mermaid but, from the little I know of Barnum, this fictitious retelling of the story from the point of view of the mermaid herself feels highly accurate.
Like previous books by Henry that I've read such as "The Lost Boy", it seems Henry has a knack for putting a believable yet fantastical slant on a story so it blends seamlessly with reality.
I felt so much for Amelia; I was rooting for her as she tried to navigate a world so alien. Much of human society was observed as ridiculous through her eyes and, honestly?, hard agree on all of it!
If you've enjoyed any of Henry's other books, there's no reason to not pick this one up too.