Design articles

Design stuff, public discourse, and notes about things we love.

Curio

An argument for anger

ByHannah RhoslynMar 10, 2021
panels from Aubrey Hirsch's comic, "Anger"
Aubrey Hirsch’s comic blends simple, clear visuals with research data on women and expressions of anger.

That story worked like a lead balloon

ByPink Sheep DesignMar 8, 2021
A person holds their hands up on a hot air balloon.
Insights into story telling, building thrilling narratives, editing, and bringing your full self to science communication.

What are cookies?

ByHannah RhoslynMar 4, 2021
Tom Scott looks on annoyed as popups crowd his video
A Tom Scott video asks (and answers): What are cookies and we are we asked to accept them?”

Pronunciation guides for place names

ByPink Sheep DesignMar 2, 2021
Someone walks out onto a log jutting out over the rocks on Here are some helpful guides to pronunciation of lands: W̱SÁNEĆ and lək̓ʷəŋən land.
Here are some helpful guides to pronunciation of lands: W̱SÁNEĆ and lək̓ʷəŋən.

The Red Nation Podcast: Canada is Illegal with Karla Tait and Anne Spice

BySherwin ArnottFeb 11, 2021
The Red Nation Podcast.
Every episode of The Red Nation podcast looks epic. I’ve only listened to this one with Anne Spice and Dr. Karla Tait so far. I look forward to listening more.

Brand, marketing, and press guidelines in one spot

BySherwin ArnottJan 26, 2021
the who , what, when, where, why, and HOW brand primer, cover.
Mount Allison University is going through a website redesign at the moment so lots of these guidelines are going to get shuffled and rewritten, no doubt. But I love these old pages.

Our experience switching podcast hosting platforms from Captivate to Transistor

ByPink Sheep DesignJan 24, 2021
A microphone in front of a computer screen.
When you’re starting a podcast, one of the first decisions you’ll need to make is what podcast hosting platform to use. But this decision can be tricky.

Working with breadcrumbs tied to menus

BySherwin ArnottJan 23, 2021
dummy-img
Creating breadcrumbs from menus in WordPress can be very handy.

Big mouth

BySherwin ArnottJan 3, 2021
A giant eye in a giant flower.
Sometimes being truthful is not aligned with being nice.

Fixing some old media library folder problems in WordPress

ByPink Sheep DesignJan 3, 2021
dummy-img
One of the WordPress websites we manage had a legacy media library problem. There were thousands of files in the uploads folder and they weren’t…

Acceptance, love, and the power of postcards

ByPink Sheep DesignDec 7, 2020
Two people look at each other, accepting themselves, in a painting.
This is a beautiful story of two people with different ideas and how they learned to share them and be changed by them.

Childline – “Nobody is normal”

BySherwin ArnottDec 3, 2020
Beautiful puppet characters stand on stage, awkwardly.
This is the best. And it’s evergreen.

Language, attention, and some other thoughts on mainstreaming

BySherwin ArnottNov 28, 2020
Ilustration of a bearded grey haired dude, with the word, Mainstreaming, beside him.
From the plasticity of culture, to consolidating power, Ian Danskin does an interesting job presenting on mainstreaming in this short video.

Never take the bait

BySherwin ArnottNov 24, 2020
An illustration of Donal Trump and the words, control the conversation.
Rightwing antagonists abound in online communities. Here’s a good analysis of the challenge of playing their game.

Establish a presence for certain kinds of images

ByRebecca CoryNov 18, 2020
Establish a presence for certain kinds of images
Every sentence of this is so powerful. There’s profound truth in what he’s saying. “So there’s a difference between making paintings and changing the idea…