Target brand markers, Rhodia

Also a Faber Castell gel stick that I think was sold at Michaels for like, five seconds

Found a stash of pre-pandemic markers the other day, and had to test them. Most held up pretty well! If Target still sells felt-tip thin markers in a plastic cylinder, go for it.

---

I’ve been taking lots and lots and lots of notes for UX and design classes over the last six months. Not surprisingly, I’m one of those people who takes notes mostly to learn the material, not so much to have something to study later.

¹

For the first class, I tried taking notes via keyboard and I failed just about every quiz along the way. Then I switched to using thin markers and paper for notetaking, and went immediately to straight As.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my fountain pens for journal and fiction writing for the speed, and sometimes just the feel of the nib on the page. But taking notes on stuff like color theory and building user journeys? It’s a very different kind of writing. Markers force me to hit pause on the webinar. They make me slow down, pay attention, think spatially.

Markers — and yeah, probably the design classes, too — have also led me to get out my other art supply stuff. I now keep a little notebook on my desk that’s only for doodling. Turns out doodling helps me think, and doodling helps when I’m anxious. I had a zillion notebooks on my desk already, but this one feels like an actual piece of my brain that’s outside of my skull. Squares and lines and phrases and squiggles and comic heads. I try drawing exercises sometimes — look at the tree, NO REALLY, LOOK AT IT! — but I lose interest pretty quickly. For me, using smaller pieces to make bigger ones in drawing doesn’t fire the same neurons as it does in writing.

I used to like making comic strips as a kid, mostly because it was a more socially acceptable way to be an asshole. For pretty much exactly that reason, I’ve been very tempted to start doing it again.

²

What’s stopped me, so far, is figuring out the best writing/drawing instrument for me now. My iPad’s screen protector is glossy — fine for fast handwriting, not so much for drawing. I press down hard with pencils, but I make too many mistakes that I want to fix with pens.

Comics are too recurring of a thought at this point for it not to happen, though. It will click into place for me, probably some Friday at 3am.

---

Over the last six months, I’ve read what can only be described as a mountain of books about UX research, UX design, content design, and every combination possible of those subjects. I’m not going to lie: it’s been an absolute delight. It’s become clear this was a missing piece in my thinking: the theory that supports the intuition.

³

Also, I’ve needed to get lost in something that wasn’t fiction reading/writing for a really long time.

I do have a novel that I will finish writing, but I think what’s next for me after that will be an actual, tangible, thing. I wrote my first book when I was five, and there was equal joy in the writing, the illustrating, the cutting, the stapling. I put out a paper zine in the 90s, and the joy was in those same places. I’d really like to find out what’s next down that particular path. Sure, it could be a comic book. But sometimes the universe surprises, and I’m open to that.

This past week, I bought the first writing guide (besides Matt Bell’s

⁴

) I’ve bought in probably at least five years, if not longer:

I’m about a third of the way through it. It’s like having the art teacher in grade school that I wish I’d had, who understood that I was trying, but was wired differently. (I also wish I’d had a gym teacher in grade school who understood that I was trying, but should have just been left to walk laps.) There are some drawing exercises, sure, but I’m a good sport.

1. Not surprisingly, I’m also one of those people take notes in meetings, and who other people think aren’t paying attention…until we’re asked about something that happened in the meeting, and they find out we were really paying attention.

2. My style of drawing people hasn’t changed since fifth grade, which also seems about right.

3. If you are looking for someone to do content design work — in the real world, or *waves hand* whatever you call all of this, let’s chat.

4. A wise purchase for reasons outside of the scope of this newsletter.