THE BEATNIK DESIGNER

Hey, Reader! I’m writing this from week three of an experiment I can’t stop thinking about. I’ve been working with a founder (a brilliant product strategist building something genuinely good for the world) who has the same problem nearly every founder has: she knows exactly what she wants to say, she just has no time to make it. Her strategy is sorted. Her content execution is quietly drowning her. So we’re building her a system. A custom Claude skill, trained on her brand voice, that...

Hey, Reader! I'm writing this completely wiped out! Yesterday I spent the whole day with 24 people from the digital media and comms team at a police force in the southwest and it was so much more than "post more reels." We went deep. Which platform actually suits which audience, and which kind of content belongs where. What needs sign-off, and at what level, before anything goes out. How to handle mis- and disinformation before it runs away from you. And how to hold steady through a flood of...

Hey, Reader! At the start of this year, I moved my newsletter day from Thursday to Tuesday. The logic seemed sound at the time, I’d start the week strong, the newsletter would be sorted early and everything would be flowing. Reader, it has not flowed. Five months of scrambling to get this to you on time. Five months of mild Sunday dread. Five months of quietly wishing I hadn't touched what wasn't broken. So. Effective this week: we're back on Thursdays. Where we've always belonged, I think. I...

Hey, Reader! The UK has actually produced proper summer weather this week. I know! I'm as shocked as you are! 🥵 I've been outside every spare moment I've had with my hands in soil, completely in my element, repotting the sunflowers I've been growing from seeds into their own individual pots. I grew them from nothing. And just a few weeks later, they're ready. So I've been lining them up and sending them off to friends and neighbours. Letting my babies go out into the world and grow. Whilst...

Hey Reader 13 years ago. May 19, 2013. I was bouncing on an exercise ball watching the Eurovision Song contest with Scout (my dog) watching me intently. She knew what was happening. By 4am I was listening to Bob Dylan, eating almonds, waiting for Miss Tilly to arrive. At 7:18am on the 20th, she came into the world eyes wide open and a cry that filled the room. 13 years on, she's still letting out belters that fill rooms, only this time on stage in front of hundreds, completely fearless. ✨ And...

Hey, Reader! Let me start by being honest with you about something... AI is making me feel behind in a way I've never felt before. Not behind on one thing, but behind on everything. Every week there's a new tool, a new workflow, a new way I'm apparently supposed to be working. Every time I think I've caught up, the goalpost moves. And, it's not just me. There's a whole clutch of designers, creatives and business owners on the bleeding edge of technology who are also feeling behind. And I...

Hey, Reader! There’s a green glue stick on my desk that is quietly changing my life and I'm loving it. Six months ago, I conducted a tiny experiment; ripping images out of magazines and gluing them into a sketchbook. I started in September. One page a day, for thirty days, as an experiment. What came out was colour and collage and something that felt surprisingly close to joy. I kept going. I couldn't stop. If you're someone who used to create things and stopped, you'll know the specific...

Hi Reader, A quick note to let you know I'm starting a new creative challenge on 1st May and I'd love you to join me. It's called the 31-day Joy Experiments Stamp Challenge. Every day in May, you cut one tiny stamp from a found image... a magazine, an old book, a scrap of wrapping paper... and stick it in a sketchbook. That's it. 15 minutes, maximum. It's simple. It's analogue. And it's surprisingly joyful. I'll be doing it every day and sharing as I go. If you want to join in, or just follow...

Hey, Reader! I've been subscribing to a ton of newsletters lately. Some for research, some for learning, some for shopping. I've been purposefully studying them and noticing the ones I open every single time, the ones I delete without reading, and the ones I skim and then promptly forget about. I've now got 3834 sitting in my inbox! It turns out the difference between them has almost nothing to do with design, frequency, or how big the list is. It comes down to three very small things that...

Hey, Reader! I spent the weekend in the garden. Clearing weeds. Cutting back the tulips and daffodils that are done for the season. Sewing the seeds. Getting everything ready to grow. And the whole time, I couldn't stop thinking: this is exactly what building a business looks like. It takes time. It takes a lot of experimentation. And it's so easy to give up just before the thing you've planted starts to bloom. Last week I shared the M-A-P framework with you… the three questions you need to...