#01

Starting a blog in 2025

I guess now is as good a time as any.

A friend once suggested that before you get your first tattoo you should wait a year and if you’re still thinking about it, you know it’s something worth doing. That was over a year ago and I still haven’t built up the courage to get the tattoo (pathetic right).

BUT the thought of blogging has sat in the back of my head for years and I’m trying to listen to those things more and act on them with less judgement and more creativity. So in that spirit, welcome along.

I do have this feeling that by starting a blog in 2025 I’ve kind of missed the boat. It seems a bit 2010. I’ve well missed Twitter’s golden years of ideas exchange. I’m decades behind people who have long archive pages. It’s fairly clear at this point that online consumption habits don’t particularly favour the quiet written word. Do we need any more content? Are we short of opinion pieces? Obviously no.

But it depends why you’re writing.

I’ve been inspired by web folk who seem to blog less in the pursuit of engagement metrics and more as an outlet for their ideas, hopes and creativity (Dave Rupert, Chris Coyier, Brad Frost to name a few). I get the sense they’d be blogging even if nobody was reading. From over here it feels more like a form of public journaling and I think that’ll be a positive thing in my life.

Keeping my own site is also an antidote to the corporate toxicity of life on the modern internet. That’ll likely be a topic that keeps cropping up here but suffice to say, I believe in the importance of the self-expression and freedom that having your own space on the web affords.

So in that sense, I guess now is as good a time as any to start blogging.

Here’s a neat <li> of goals that I’m hoping keeping a blog will help me achieve…

  • A space to call my own #

    • I miss the early web where I first set background-color as a teenager, before the enclosure of the internet commons and its gradual enshittification. Reclaiming that spirit is the IndieWeb; “a people-focused alternative to the corporate web”. Self-ownership, autonomy, zero algorithm. Feels good.
  • Creative loosening #

    • Just the act of writing is creative and one that I’d like to improve. I’ve tried morning pages from The Artist’s Way several times and always gotten something out of it but struggled to keep it up.
    • The journey of having a post idea, releasing it to the world and then moving on is generally short and uncomplicated. When compared to building complex digital products that’s a breath of fresh air. I’m hoping that posting little and often will help me hold things less tightly, move a little quicker and free me from some creative blockers.
  • Formulate thoughts #

    • In “Writing to Learn”, William Zinsser says “Writing is thinking on paper. Anyone who thinks clearly should be able to write clearly - about any subject at all.” Well I have lots of thoughts, as you probably do, but not all of them are super clear. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could get those suckers straightened out and down on the page.
  • Hold myself to account #

    • Nothing like committing to something publicly to keep you on track. There are various goals I’d like to work towards (read more books, speak at an event etc) and I hope to go back and review how they’re going periodically.
    • I’m trying to be more intentional in general, so recording various decisions will make for some handy documentation.
  • Reflecting on progress #

    • I’m in an interesting little inflection point in my career and life right now and writing my way through this discovery period might be both helpful at the time and interesting on reflection. I generally don’t do much medium- to long-term reflecting on my professional stuff and that’ll be a healthy thing to start doing.

#So it’s been stated

Getting these written down in case anyone points them out in the future and then I can be all like yep got it.

  • My thoughts will probably change over time. In fact, you’d hope they would a bit. That’s a good thing.
  • Not all the posts will be that interesting to you. Obviously hopefully plenty will be, but this is also a space for me so if I enjoyed writing something then that hits at least the minimum success criteria.
  • Not all the posts will be that good. Meh, what you gonna do.
  • I’ll be wrong on some things. That’s ok. Let me know and I’ll listen and learn.
  • I currently have a 9 month old. So yeh I have limited time to write. Keeping in the mindet of write > release > repeat there’s a certain level of polish that’ll be ‘good enough’. You get it.

Until next time ✌️

Graphic illustration of Sim smiling in a red shirt on a purple background

It's me, Sim

Discovering and solving the most impactful user problems via design thinking and design doing. I care about the real world impact of the experiences we build.