thought about how we are supposed to write dates in the English-speaking world and how far removed that is from how we speak I wrote this on August 7 - not 7th. Or how about the absurd amount of commas in Sunday, August 7, 2022
techy: fiddled around with a lot of CSS on both a macro and a micro scale I’m starting to develop an appreciation for some of the trials and tribulations involved in styling a website
wrote some microcopy for the footer Interesting how many different tones you can put into 5 or 6 words
This is like the third day (3 day) where I’m thinking ‘ok, I’m gonna announce this thing tomorrow’. (I have worked on this blog for a week but haven’t announced it yet.) But I can see now, even tho I’m doing progress, and I’ve ticked off several items from my list of essentials for launch today, I’ve also added several more. I think it’s good enough tho (and as I write this, something profoundly disagrees). It is tho. It’s gonna get published tomorrow, on a fresh monday.
Apart from that, I don’t know, I’m feeling morose. The work progresses, but it also consumes. I want some sunlight on my face.
Researched frameworks that would allow me to implement Material Design in the Vue JavaScript framework
Ok, I’ve been feeling morose today. Or maybe just sad. (Morose sounds cooler tho.) So what I did is to just do a little progress on my projects, tick off some boxes, without expecting any Herculean working-hours from myself. Did the sadness go away? No. Did I check off some boxes? Heck, yeah. I finally announced this blog, for one 😌.
I can’t really say why I’ve been feeling sad, but it seems like a big sort of feeling. A mood? Something being digested, maybe. A friend left me a voice message talking about how doing computer work leaves him feeling soulless and zombified - that struck a chord. I watched a Youtube video talking about Travis Bickle’s lack of purpose - that struck another chord.
And then I read this article that just… ehm… well, I’m kind of figuring this all out as I’m writing.
In short, it kind of opened a new perspective of looking at UX for me. It resonated deeply and touched on issues that I’ve had from the very start.
Let me share the quotes that spoke to me:
The implicit promise of UX for many of us was a burgeoning philosophy of management by inquiry and insight, in which new creative explorations would lead to new questions about human behavior, which in turn would drive the definition of new product and value opportunities.
The culture of UX also seemed to necessitate a degree of respect, compassion, and simple humility toward the people who use what we make, and the ways in which their lives and experiences may shape their behavior to look very different from our own.
I think this summary brings out some of the core of what fascinates and inspires me about UX.
The disgruntlement seems to go up the longer someone has been in the field: The more seasoned and experienced a UX person is, the more likely they are to be asking whether realizing user-centered values is even possible under capitalism.
And this idea just hit the heart of the matter and really touched the heart of my discomfort with doing design (or any sort of work) in the context of working for a for-profit company.
I’m kind of excited to learn that some ppl in the UX community are sharing this discomfort and asking these fundamental questions.
But I also feel very muddy and, hm, overwhelmed and stuck because I don’t see a way out of the system, or out of this discomfort. Do I really wanna be spending x hours a day helping some company sell a product? Do I wanna interview ppl so I can get a better understanding of their behavior, so that someone (maybe even me) can find a better ‘value opportunity’?
When I think about such things, after about 10 minutes I often feel the urge to leave my design/programming/technology-related ambitions and go live in a cave.
