my prep for “cheating” in NaNoWriMo 2014

Time to read: 4 minutes I have participated in NaNoWriMo since first discovering it the early 2ks. I have managed to “win” (write 50’000 words in 30 days) ONCE. It is a daunting challenge of quantity over quality. And this year I am planning to cheat. I will write essays instead of a Novel, and below I share the topics […] continue reading »

Forget the jetpack. Where is my idea-to-blog app?

Time to read: 4 minutes Forget the jetpack. Where is my idea-to-blog app? Seriously. What does it take to note, write, edit, and publish in one place? And why is it so hard to write away from a computer? I don’t have the time to write anymore. And I think that tech is partially responsible for this, as I am […] continue reading »

I promise not to read…

Time to read: 2 minutes I read a lot. I am always reading. Street signs, menus, books on the tube, magazines with my coffee, newspaper headlines as i pass a newsstand. I am a reader.  My favourite escape and one of my favourite pastimes in life is to expose my brain to new experiences, information, emotions and ideas, using books. […] continue reading »

who are you calling “extrovert”? The (colourful) secret to faking it in a world gone loud.

Time to read: 4 minutes Before discovering the internet, I was the quiet child who didn’t ask a single question in 13 years of schooling. Ok. Maybe one or two questions. I dreaded being called to the board to solve things, despite being good at it. I just hated being in the spotlight. And now, I’m talking to you about […] continue reading »

Dinah Casson #talkingInteriors lecture at RCA – Notes #madewithpaper

Time to read: 2 minutes Last night, I went to a lecture by Dinah Casson, of Casson-Mann, given at the RCA in Kensington. The gist of it was “think about the users”, and “they come to relax, learn, be surprised, laugh, cry, and leave as changed people”. Casson Mann design museums and exhibitions. If you made it to the AMAZING […] continue reading »

can languages help you think and design better?

Time to read: 4 minutes Today is UNESCO International Mother Language Day. This year, we celebrate Turkish. My mother language is Greek, and oddly my mother and grandmother both spoke turkish as well. We’re not your typical Greeks. Consider most Europeans, for instance. As a vast majority, most of us are born and raised in a single country. Our education […] continue reading »

going off-topic in a blog post doesn’t have to be a problem. A (short) evernote story.

Time to read: 2 minutes Contracting is a busy life choice. Since I started, I have had significantly less time to write on my blog, and it makes me very sad. So whenever I have some quiet time when I am not drained, or when I’ve had an idea, I try to immediately write something that I could turn into […] continue reading »

in praise of mindmaps, for parties, requirements, and xmas

Time to read: 4 minutes When was the last time you were thinking (and thinking, and thinking) about a project that needed doing, and you had several ideas, things to progress, things to read up on, people to talk to about certain topics, and functions you wanted your system to perform… except… there was no rhyme or reason to how […] continue reading »

how I learnt to stop worrying and love talking to strangers

Time to read: 3 minutes Today I attended a conference run by Digital Doughnut. I knew they did digital, I knew they were related to marketing, and I did meet people who worked in the field. But what blew my mind was the stories, backgrounds and odd serendipities (is that a word?) that brought them to marketing in the first […] continue reading »