Tech Culture

Running an agency

The Death of the Agency Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

If I lived and worked in San Fransisco, the current "death of the agency" debate may have slightly more poignancy than it does in the UK. San Francisco and the wider Bay Area is undoubtedly living through a huge tech bubble, and has been for some time. The slew of new tech businesses quickly hoovered up the local talent, before starting to ship them in from around the country and the rest of the world. This includes dozens of Brits I know who have left these shores for a better life in California.

Tech Culture

My Concerns about Value Pricing

While I think the argument for value pricing has a logical constancy, and sounds great in theory, I worry how it will end up being applied in practice. My main concern is the effect this approach will have on the practice of design and our relationship with clients, although I have a number of practical concerns as well.

Tech Culture

Does TfL deliberately profit from user error?

Today I got a £20 penalty fine from TfL (Transport for London) because it turned out that I didn't have enough credit on my Oyster card. I typically use the underground so when this happens you're stopped at the barriers, giving you clear feedback and preventing you from making a costly error.

Tech Culture

Should Programming be Taught at Schools?

There's a lot of buzz around technology education at the moment. The old ICT courses which taught children to be passive consumers are being overturned as schools in the UK are encouraged to set up their own curricula with programming at it's core. At the same time after-schools clubs are growing in popularity with projects like Code Club operating in nearly a thousand British schools.

Tech Culture

The Post-digital Renaissance

We first saw it with food. People getting back to nature and growing their own veggies, or hitting the kitchen to bake their own sour dough. We then saw it with the the rise of the craft movement, inspiring a generation of knitters, potters and jewellery makers take back the skills their great grandparents once owned but were lost in the rush to convenience.

Tech Culture

It's All Academic

Considering the World Wide Web was created to facilitate the sharing of academic research, I've always been surprised by how little of this I see online. In the early days of the Web, most of the sharing seemed to be done by amateurs and hobbyists. However as businesses discovered the value of the Web, these amateurs turned professional and the discipline of Web Design was born.