Design blog

Design stuff, public discourse, and things we love.

Curio

Research: trolls don’t just enjoy hurting others, they also feel good about themselves

ByEvita March, PhDMar 9, 2023
Illustration of a white radio host speaking hatefully into the microphone.
Results showed that gender, psychopathy, and sadism were all significant independent predictors of malevolent trolling. That is, if you are male, have high psychopathy, or high sadism, you are more likely to troll.

At Sea with the Marine Birds of the Raincoast: a review

ByRyan Elizabeth CopeMar 8, 2023
The cover art for the book, 'At Sea with the Marine Birds of the Raincoast' by Caroline Fox is overlaid on a photo of black Pacific cormorants and Glaucous-winged gulls standing on a rock.
Caroline Fox’s ‘At Sea with the Marine Birds of the Raincoast’ welcomes readers into the world of BC’s bird-filled, rugged coastline. But, her message almost gets lost in a sea of jargon.

Well designed scissors

BySherwin ArnottMar 7, 2023
Scissors, made and designed by Ernest Wright, lying in a pile before they're polished.
Sometimes things that look simple, just aren’t. It’s fascinating to me that there’s a team of putter togetherers. Learn more about Ernest Wright scissors.

How to be at home, by Andrea Dorfman

ByPink Sheep DesignMar 3, 2023
How to be at home, by Andrea Dorfman
Youtube | How To Be At Home Andrea Dorfman | provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Grief, destruction, and The Magnitude of All Things

ByPink Sheep DesignFeb 20, 2023
Grief, destruction, and The Magnitude of All Things
Lands are being changed. People were born on these lands. They live there and have families and ancestors there. These places are being destroyed. And…

Putting pages into a WordPress RSS feed

BySherwin ArnottFeb 20, 2023
An illustration of a wolf with a large full moon floating in the background.
Every once in a while I want to put pages into an RSS feed on a self-hosted WordPress site. When I do this, I prefer…

Ongoing study of microplastics in Okanagan Lake being conducted with community collaboration

ByRyan Elizabeth CopeJun 1, 2022
A research vessel skims a manta trawl through the waters of Okanagan Lake with the William R. Bennett bridge in the background on a smoky July day.
Several community partners and Okanagan College students have teamed up to determine if there are microplastics in Okanagan Lake and Kelowna’s municipal wastewater.

How to understand police violence

A crowd of protesters hold up signs calling for an end to police brutality.
After getting past the ideological trap of good versus bad cop, the next step is to ask two fundamental questions in terms of what the police are for. Whom do the police serve? What do they protect in a colonialist and capitalist social order?

You bought it, but do you own it?

ByPink Sheep DesignMar 1, 2022
Chris Lewis profile photo and text, how to fix the internet.
This discussion of ownership, values, and digital property is great.

Removing background noise in Audacity

BySherwin ArnottJan 27, 2022
How to remove Background Noise in Audacity.
I always forget how to do this! Select some sample noise Select Effect > Noise Reduction Click on Get Noise Profile Select all of the…

An ode to obsolescence

ByRyan Elizabeth CopeNov 22, 2021
A silver iPhone six laying face-down on the floor.
A smartphone rendered obsolete by the advancement of technology; an ode to the modern-day dilemma we all invariably face.

Looking for a new feed to post aggregator

BySherwin ArnottOct 26, 2021
Screenshot of the Pink Sheep Media hubsite.
For the last couple of years, we’ve been aggregating the dispatches from the people in our network. We do this so we can keep up…

Power and class remain hidden in Canada Reads discourse

ByAndrew McWhinneyOct 1, 2021
Three Canada Reads books hover in colour over top of a pile of black and white versions of the same, with a tree of knowledge hovering in the distance.
There’s not enough discussion of class in Canadian politics. How can looking at Canadian fiction and Canada Reads help shed light on how class is working today?

Can I change your mind?

ByJennifer KingsleySep 24, 2021
An illustration of two minds facing opposite directions.
Please note that the time codes referenced here are for the web version of the story and will differ slightly if you are listening to…

The use of narratives in research and design

BySherwin ArnottAug 6, 2021
Overview of a sheet of paper with notes from a narrative design research process.
These videos by Dr. Stan Ruecker and Dr. Milena Radzikowska are an excellent resource.

The unexpected life of design decisions

ByHannah RhoslynJul 2, 2021
screenshot of the edge of a Romanian town in Google streetview
The more Geoguessr I played, the more I notice how design permeates our world, and lets us know where we are in surprising ways.