Category: Log book

I always felt learning was like riding a bike. You might have needed some time years ago to learn how to do it finally. The more you practice, the better and freer you get. At times, you might not have the chance to do it for a sustained period of time. But the skill is here and always available to start again whenever you are ready. I have had a great chance to learn new skills and knowledge constantly. This is clearly one of the key factors in all the professional moves I have made. I remember having shared that with a recruiter, who seemed slightly unpleased. I quickly found out why. That company was pushing people to comply with strict, predefined parameters. There was no room for personal growth. You have to fit in a box and never leave. I left in a few months and learned to be…

There is a hidden story to the tools we use and what they permit or forbid. A few years ago, I felt the need for a blog. I used to blog heavily over a decade ago, when I was a freelance designer and copywriter. But I had to quit everything abruptly while I was battling some disease for a couple of years. All that work disappeared, but I didn’t care that much as, somehow, I was given the chance of a new beginning. I continued my professional career as an employee and not an entrepreneur anymore. The need to have my voice heard was less critical and more of a quiet hobby. I did what most of us do in such situations. I went for WordPress, a not-too-crappy theme for which I might have even paid a few bucks, and cheap hosting. The recommended way to fetch WordPress is to…

In a previous professional life, so many moons ago, I was a shadow in the political world. I was doing some public interest design, and one thing led to another, I was doing various works from political campaign websites, speech writing, and even developing a platform for online voting within some political groups. I’m still amazed by the energy I used to have and the absolute conviction that journeys towards greater good existed and could be built. I’m a bit more skeptical today, but I still have faith in humanity despite the daily reminders that we might well deserve the mass extinction we created and faced ourselves. Ways and Means is the name of a United States House of Representatives committee focusing on taxation, tariffs, and other revenue-raising policies. This committee, as well as its equivalent in other countries, is a strategic yet kind of obscure, fundamental, and somehow boring…

It has been a long time since I haven’t written a post on my blog. I have long grappled with severe impostor syndrome and the crippling feeling that things must be perfect and parts of a bigger plan. The issue is that I don’t really have a plan. I’m not letting myself float in a vacuum, either. I do my best to navigate that strange world to the best of my ability and build a place as comfortable as possible. So, why restart again? Why blogging again? A personal experiment might be part of the answer. I want to experiment more and learn how to document the projects I’m starting. I might even finish some of those. Who knows? 😉 I’ll expand more on my struggles and hopes in the upcoming installments. But for now, it might end up in a catchy summary: “Do stuff and tell stories.”.I sometimes explore…

We rarely have the occasion to witness History unfolding before our eyes. We may realize afterwards that something extraordinary happened. Or someone. Last week, on January the 20th, the inauguration of the Biden-Harris administration took place. This day marked the end of four years of chaos and insanity. This only can be seen as an historic event, even if eventually nothing comes out this presidency. We reached a point that low that common decency is remarkable. But something absolutely unexpected, and beautiful, happened. We witnessed the birth of a giant. It is remarkable, for me as an European, to discover that poetry is still cool in the US. And there is an inaugural poet picked to recite poetry for the occasion. So amazingly refreshing to see. I truly envy this smart elegance. The great Amanda Gorman delivered “The hill we climb“, a poetry written for the occasion and adapted after…

Earlier this week, I sent my resignation and I am feeling a bit dizzy. If I am exciting for this new adventure to come, a part of me cannot help but thinking of all the cool things of this last chapter of my work life. And I am also worried because we never know what can happen next. I will start by this. The very same day I had to give a call to warn I was about to resign, we learned that a dear friend passed away of cancer, our son’s best friend has been tested positive with COVID-19 and there has been a reshuffle of the board of my partner’s company. That’s quite a lot a bad signs. The day was not going to be the best one. Was it really a good time to resign and add even a bit more uncertainty to that? Or could there…

I am one of those people haunted by all the mistakes they made, however big or small. I cannot stop thinking of that stupid thing I said 15 years ago at 3AM in that kitchen. You get the idea. Yet, I am getting more and more used to the way American people are considering failures. You either win or learn. And this is quite a cultural shift from the French way of life. However, going back to the design core principles can be really helpful to help us thrive while failing. The work of a designer is never done. It’s a never ending iterating process having you collect data, explore and implement solutions, monitoring them, then collecting even more data … and improving them a bit more each time until they fit perfectly. There are so many things I really love about this slow and passionate way of working. Above…

It may just have been a way too long and harsh winter. All of this. The pandemic, the buffoons elected here and there, this crazy habit of denying facts and making up alternative truths. As it turns out, the stronger the winter, the more beautiful the plants will grow in the spring. I am glad this may come to an end. It’s time to rise and shine, again. Let’s try to do everything we can to bring a bit of light to this healing world. I also went through a bit of internal turmoil, feeling the conflicts and the cognitive dissonances. My vow, as a designer, is to bring beauty to the world. And how long since I did anything creative? I have been stuck by quite an imposter syndrome. I am a designer with no academic training in design. I came to design from the mechanical engineering. And I…