A lot of the client illustration work I’ve done this year has been for Lenny’s newsletter, which is “a weekly advice column about product, growth, working with humans, and anything else that stresses you out at the office” with over 65,000 subscribers by Lenny Rachitsky. It’s been a lot of fun to work on.

Getting to draw as part of my research work always feels like a treat. Using visuals to tell a story, gather insights and share information is my happy place.

But it’s easy to forget to bring illustration into my research practice when the common standard is to focus facilitation and documentation around written work. So, I’ve put together a non-exhaustive list of ways that research can be visual.

I’ve enjoyed seeing all of the 2009/2019 side by sides people have been posting on Twitter as a way to welcome in the new year, and the new decade. But, I’m pretty camera shy. So instead, I wanted to try to flex by visual storytelling muscles and try to do my own illustrated versions of a side by side and some of the things I’ve learned in the in between.

I want to try to articulate that love of making and create something of a manifesto for making to try and get more people relearning how to use their hands with me.

Here’s a little story about a dog, inspired by Blair Braverman’s storytimes that are sometimes the distractions that get me through the day. Plus who doesn’t love a pup and a pep talk?

Barbara Hepworth is one of my favourite artists of all time. I’ve visited her sculptures up and down the country and there’s always something so present and grounding about them, that they make me feel better no matter how discombobulated I might feel.

I’ve always been a bit suspicious of chatbots and conversational interfaces. There’s something about them I find unsettling, particularly those that learn as they are exposed to more conversation. So when I saw UAL’s Creative Computing Institute was offering an online course inspired by their Feminist Chatbot work through Future Learn, I leapt on the chance to learn more.

For the last year and a little bit I’ve been a member of ENGINE UK’s shadow board. ENGINE is a full stack agency which covers creative, communications, media and transformation, essentially it’s like a creative marketing and comms powerhouse that works hand in hand with data and consultancy know how. The shadow board was an opportunity for 9 of us from across the business to come together and shape the future of where we work, support our executive team and ultimately see what it means to be a leader in a different context.