How would you do useful design if you thought you were being seen as the “class antagonist” of the people you’re designing for?
That’s a question that comes up for me when I discuss design with normal people (to whom, it’s worth remembering, HCD and service design mean absolutely nothing).
I wrote (and drew) a piece for The Guardian about the Church of Scientology, and specifically its Ideal Orgs — over time, they’ve been replacing their standard “org” buildings with larger, fancier ones. I talked to Scientology critic Jeffrey Augustine about why this is happening, and explored why Los Angeles has been so important to…
The ACA’s annual conference/awards night (“The Stanleys”) happened over the weekend. This year I’m the ACA’s deputy president, so I was heavily involved in putting the conference part together. I’m really happy with how it all went. In a political/business environment where the arts is ignored, downgraded and generally considered to be not worth working…
Had a launch for my new book, What We Tell Them, at Readings Carlton this past week! What We Tell Them: A Storybook By Mr. Tony Abbott illuminates the words and actions of Australia’s most accidental PM and some of his lovable pals! It isn’t really a children’s book, unless you like your children sad….
Subscribers to my mailing list (you can join at right) just got an essay about the interesting stuff I got to do while taking part at NCS Fest. It included interviews and research for my next big comic. It was busy and fun. You just get the photos! Put together your own story about what…
My new comic can be read online now. It’s called Free Money, Please. I spent several months working on it — including a lot of interviews and transcription!
It’s similar style-wise to the story #takedown from a few years ago, in that it’s me meeting and speaking to people about a topic I don’t like much.
That time, I was talking to pickup artists about pickup artistry. This time, I’m talking to a few different people about bitcoin, wealth and passive income — and reflecting on my own relationship with money, which is probably similar to that of a lot of artists (“it’s complicated”).
People who’ve read it have compared the tone to a Louis Theroux doc, which I’m taking as a massive compliment as I’m a fan of his work.
You can read Free Money, Please two ways: at Medium or at zco.mx.
zco.mx is a brilliant platform for reading comics on any device, plus you can download an ebook from there, and even chuck me a couple bucks if you like the story.
Medium is a nice reading experience too, but all you can chuck me are “claps”. Please do that if it suits you.
Thanks to my interviewees for this story — Gregory Mowle, Kylie Hammond, and a few people who will go unnamed…