How slightly disappointing that today is the 23rd day of the month. Not the 22nd. Then I’d have been writing 22 things about 2022 on the 22nd — the sound of that brings me a lot of joy. But, here we are, on the 23rd!😂
This week I was feeling inspired by the Timeout 22 amazing things that happened in 2022 blog post I shared last week, plus a medium post our Head of Design shared with us a few weeks back; 52 things I learned in 2022, by Tom. I wanted to do my own version of this, but combine concepts from both.
22 things from 2022. The great, the mistakes, the learnings, the funny and all the things in between.
1: Barcelona and Service Design Days in Barcelona
Taking a trip to Barcelona this year for the SD Days and a little holiday was one of the highlights of the year. First time at a Service Design conference in person, first time abroad since my pre-pandemic backpacking. And just, a week with lovely company in lovely weather eating amazing food!
2. I’ve failed at internal dxw work this year
This year I’ve found it incredibly difficult to keep up with internal dxw work, alongside client work. I just don’t have the physical, mental or cognitive capacity to pick up some of that work. I was previously really invested in the dxw Earth work, our Mental Health Strategy team work and Design Community things. But I’ve had to step back from a lot of those recently. I want to change this next year, and find a better way to balance my time and energy so I can still be involved in these equally important bits of work.
3. Working my way up from Associate
An obvious big thing to happen this year was my promotion from Associate to Practitioner Service Designer at work. I’m so chuffed with the progress I made to get to that stage, but also, the progress I’m already making in moving to the next level. It’s been a rough and exhausting year at times, but seeing the progress I’m making in my practice really helps validate the rewards of working so hard.
4. Organising away days is fun and stressful
Early this year myself and Marianne organised a team away day for the whole design team in London. This was the first time, in a long while the design team had an away day, and definitely with all the new faces. Looking at the picture below, 9 of us there had been at dxw less than a year at this point. So it was a much needed and valued bit of team time.
It was quite stressful at times to organise this, primarily due to covid things still kicking around and having to prebook way in advance for things etc. But, it was such a fab time together and we’re thinking about our next one now!
5. Being on many, many interview panels
dxw is growing quite a lot right now, and with that comes lots of recruitment and the need for lots of people on interview panels. I’ve been on a lot recently! In fact, 15 across the last 6 weeks! Mainly across Delivery Leads, Product Managers, User Researchers, Service Designers. And although it can be quite taxing after a while, I’ve found it super valuable and I feel I’ve learnt a lot from being part of this process. Lots about my own next steps, what I’d look for from these roles and how to ask good follow up questions.
6. Becoming a kitten mum of two
This year I welcomed 2 new loves into my life, Dusty and Ash. They’ve been such a beautiful addition to have while I work from home. They are also absolute nightmares (as I type this I’ve just spent 20 minutes hunting for the remaining part of the smashed bauble I’ve just found next to their bed..). But I couldn’t imagine not having them at home now!
7: Amsterdam Febo…
Febo?! What a wonderful (and also kinda gross if you think too much into it) idea! This October I went to Amsterdam for the first time since I was about 5, and discovered the world of Febo, and particularly how great an idea it is if you’re needing a little late night/post pub snack..
Various vending machine cheese croquette type things.. For your entertainment, here is an amusing video from 2009 on the ‘Febo Experience’. What an excellent discovery though, game changer.
8. I still hate networking
To put it shortly. Networking is my worst nightmare. I despise it. This year I’ve had a few new opportunities to network, at conferences I’ve attended, events I’ve spoken at etc. And before each of these events, I’ve tried to tell myself ‘today is the day you kill the networking game’ — nope. I despise everything about it, and I’m coming to terms with that.
9. Avoiding burning out is hard
This year I’ve definitely hit burn out atleast twice. Things get busy, I’m not good at saying no, I continue to work full speed at work plus maintain the outside of work commitments I have. And I crash. This is something I really, really have to get better at!
10. Service assessments aren’t that scary — if you have the right amount of notice
I’ve been on two service assessments this year, and prior to those experiences I saw the idea of a Service Assesment as absolutely terrifying. Gave me school exam vibes. But, having done two now I actually kind of enjoy the experience, and don’t find them as scary! As long as you’ve got enough notice to prepare! The two experiences of service assessments this year were vastly different, primarily as the first one we had months and months of notice that we’d do one in March, so could prep, work with that in mind. Whereas with the second, it was quite literally 4 weeks notice.. and coincides with going into Private Beta. So was a much more stressful time. But the assessment itself still wasn’t scary at all!
11. Download 2022
Ahhhh Download! Another highlight of my personal life this year, heading back to Download, after 7 years away (due to uni and the pandemic!). It was a fantastic weekend, and just so nice to be able to do these things again!
12. I wasted some of my Learning and Development budget
At dxw we get £1000 a year for personal development, and within reason we can spend this money as we feel appropriate to our own development. I, along with a few others spent a chunk of our budget on a SuperHi unlimited membership last year, with the intent to learn some coding skills and web development etc.
SuperHi is a great platform to learn from, and I was really excited to get stuck in. Although, I never did get stuck in. I soon realised I didn’t have the capacity to do these online courses, training modules and course work type bits of work. With all the best will in the world, I just couldn’t find the time for this. I’ve learnt from this though, and know that spending my budget on ongoing training courses, right now, doesn’t work well for me and my capacity.
13. I’m awful at keeping house plants alive (But I’m pretty good at growing veggies in the garden)
The time has come to accept I am awful at keeping house plants alive. I kill them all. Every time. Which I’ve struggled to accept, given I’m pretty dang good at growing veggies and fruit, and get an abundance of produce in the summer. But houseplants? I just can’t hack it. I think I overwater them.. I’m used to giving all my veggies loads of water and food, and can’t comprehend that houseplants don’t need that.. So, I’m buying myself a How to for houseplants book, I’m determined to fix my toxic trait of overwatering (or whatever it is I’m doing wrong)
14. The world can be a pretty sh*t place.
This year has seemingly felt particularly difficult to sit back and watch the state of the world. Whether it’s the political landscape in the UK, the cost of living crisis, the situation with Ukraine and Russian, so much happening in the USA. It’s been a particularly stressful, sad and infuriating year for the state of the world right now.
15. Public speaking is (terrifying) fun
I actually really enjoyed my public speaking opportunities this year! It was absolutely terrifying yes, but also really fun. One of the things I always doubt myself with public speaking was whether I had anything people would be interested enough to listen to. And this year’s experiences have helped me realise, that yes I do, and there will always be someone interested in hearing what I’m passionate about and wanting to share.
16. Having an exercise/movements routine is really hard to get into when working from home
Exercise has gone out of the window this year. Oops. I picked up a bit of running in the summer on my lunch break, and have occasionally gone to the gym. But, finding the motivation to do these things has very much not been there! Which is very bad of me aha, but I’m also not going to punish myself about that as it’s okay. But it is something I’ve reflected on since working from home, I find it harder to find the motivation to get up and moving after work! So I’m trying to do little and often, rather than 1 big gym visit or run every few days instead. We’ll see how I get on!
17. Volunteering my time has been one of the most rewarding and inspiring things I’ve done
A fair big chunk of this year has been taken up with volunteering or training to become a volunteer. And it’s most definitely had a big impact on me and how I see things. I’ve also found it so rewarding to give just a small fraction of my time back, to services that are so life saving for many, and were also important to me at times years back.
I do think you learn so much from these experiences, and I feel really fortunate that I’m able to give up 4–8 hours of my time a week to doing this.
18. Live music is one of the most incredible things in the world
Ugh god, it’s good to be back in the cramped and sweaty crowds of gigs hey. I’ve been to around 150 gigs in the last 12 ish years, and they’re one of my favourite things to do. So having two years away from live music for the pandemic was a real kicker for me. But jheez it is so good to be back, and this year I got straight back in with 9 gigs! Live music has definitely got more expensive in the last two years, but it’s an industry I will always invest my money into! And see this as a reminder or encouragement to also go ahead and support your local live music venues✨
19. Time to rethink my Illustration side hustle maybe
This year I’ve really let my illustration small business stuff slip. I’ve not been putting as much love into it as I’d have liked. I’m also feeling a little uninspired. I still absolutely loveeee doing illustration and really love the art fairs. But, it’s not something I’ve been putting time into this year. So, I’m having a little rethink about how I could respark some joy there. Right now I’m enjoying doing illustrations on more tangible objects, like plant pots, incense burners, pottery etc. So that might be a new venture..
20. I can beta, despite what I tell myself
I’ve spent basically the last year on beta projects now and I’ve been reflecting on that recently and how I feel about them. And you know what, I can beta! I’ve felt like a wasted person on projects, like I’m not adding any value, like I’ve not contributing enough at times. But, actually, I know now I am adding lots to projects. Also have to take the feedback I’m getting from team members as the truth, and believe I am an asset to the team.
21. Where am I going next — career and life
During 1:1’s with my line manager, and in my own time, I’ve been thinking and talking a lot about what next for me. What next for my career, my career at dxw, my life, my personal life. I’ve got lots of reflecting and goal setting to do. I know as a started, I’d like to bring in more of my personal passions/interests into my work at dxw. Things around wellbeing, community work, mental health etc. But still lots to work out what that looks like..
22. What a year!!
Finally, what a yearrrrr. So so much has happened this year. I’ve grown so much. Seen so much. Experienced some amazing things. Shared some amazing memories with great people. And I just feel very blessed to have had the year I’ve had, while also recognising some of those things aren’t a blessing — they’re due to how hard I’ve worked at some things. But, what a year!
Thank you to everyone who has been part of my world these last 12 months and hello & thank you to those who continue to read my weeknotes. I hope you all have a lovely and restful festive period. See you on the other side, in 2023. Take care all.
Still questioning where the heck 2022 actually went.. but here we are!
