iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Experimented with ChatGPT's 'Pet' feature. Got it to create me a custom one. Question Hound felt the most fitting.

Various states of the question hound image sprite. Smiling, moving his head.

The 'pet' screenshotted sat above the text entry field.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Seems obvious but people often misunderstand what constitutes change/transformation.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Today's PSD inspired PostIt/Sticky note sketch.

Sketch of a man walking beyound a no entry sign

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

This slide didn't make the cut but it was fun to make. Working in the NHS you get to suggest that the problem you and your teams are working on, is indeed, one of the hardest. :)

Wicked problem final boss. Image of the final boss from Streets of Rage holding a gun.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

If AI image generation lent it self to anything, surely it is "Selleck, Waterfall , Sandwich"?

A tribute image of Tom Selleck, next to a waterfall with a Sandwich

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

I bought this book the week I started at the NHS. Only just getting to reading it. A Paul Downey recommendation.

How to Make Sense of Any Mess by Abby Covert on the tablet next to my cup of cappuccino

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Really enjoying the OHNO guide to Type Design.

Photo of the OHNO BOOK serious guide to irreverent type design.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Stop scrolling & post two characters who bring you happiness.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

The email I've been waiting over 20 years for. Openreach have rolled out their 'full fibre' to where I live. It's too little, too late. Profiteering sods have held me and this country back for decades. Addicted to metered copper lines they've had their knee on the throat of a vital service.

Full Fibre is here. Image of a happy man sat in front of a computer.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

Added a link to @vickytnz.bsky.social's 'Much loved' page (vickyteinaki.muchloved.com/Gallery/Thou...) next to the details she added to our Slack Channel. Found myself on the verge of tears and I hardly knew her. Off to hug my loved ones. See you next week.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

💔 Thank you for the chats. I enjoyed them down the years, most recently at the NHS where you helped make some of my work better.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Having a nostalgic day. Poolsuite FM today with retro mac NHS background I made as a desktop wallpaper.  🥰

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

The force of nature that is Steve Bellerby, sporting an Xmas jumper and bigging-up the excellent team I’m lucky to have joined this year. “We release improvements on average every 1.5 days, around 3 times per week” #111ShowAndTell

Steve Bellerby presenting to the NHS Show and Tell. “Over 161 releases to the live service. That's means we release improvements on average every 1.5 days, around 3 times per week”

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 17/10/2024

A slide from a Show & Tell I did at NHS in London this week. 😄#RandomSlide

Photo of a wooden pole. "The 10 foot pole I'm not touch the designer's who code debate with"

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 14/10/2024

Take that! overly zealous train heating. You’re not slow cooking me this time.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 12/10/2024

This content iteration made me chuckle.

Mobile phone chargers must not be used unless pat tested
BY THE NHS.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 18/09/2024

Kos was jolly nice. Thought about work stuff a little but mostly rest and sunshine.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 06/09/2024

For those like me, that often hate the official icons for MacOS apps. I found a little utility app that allows you to easily change them. It's not CandyBar (if you remember that) but it does the job. Pictogram pictogramapp.com. See nicer icons I downloaded from: macosicons.com

New Icons for Chrome, Edge, VSCode, Gitub, Outlook and Teams.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 19/08/2024

The girls making friends with the scary dog. “Bear” the XL Bully who lives at the farm near our house. They know never to climb over the fence but are now not scared witless by him.

Large XL Bully dog behind a fence greeting my girls who are smiling

Large XL Bully dog behind a fence greeting my girls who are smiling. They are stoking him.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 19/08/2024

Some of the best design ideas and moments of clarity, come when well away from one’s desk.

The rocky, craggy beach of Colwyn bay. A lone seagul sits on a man made concrete pipe duct. Dark skies over a calm sea.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 16/08/2024

I've had to start using Microsoft Edge on a Mac for work purposes. If you find yourself needing to. First thing to do is: Go to settings → Share, copy, and paste and changing it to 'Plain text'. - That was infuriating.

Screenshot of the settings screen showing the choice

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 15/08/2024

Yep. That's better. (Not near a printer at the moment to print).

Screenshot of the design iteration. Shows the updated box as suggested and the update content to remove 'you should'

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 15/08/2024

Getting to do some print design for work that matters. A pilot of direct referral to breast diagnostic clinic from 111 Online. Potentially shaving a week off time to a patient being seen. Here checking legibility of a leaflet design when printed on typical black and white laser printers in the NHS.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 13/08/2024

Channelling my inner Paul Downey. Miss working with him.

Sticky notes on a wall. “Want to go fast. Go alone” “Want to go far. Go together”

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 18/06/2024

Still soaking up all I can about NHS Urgent and Emergency Care. Today at an event in Manchester.

Slide on the screen with 'Welcome to the NHS Pathways Training and Quality Forum 2024'

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 25/04/2024

Recreated one of my favourite Paul Downey sketches as a poster.

People make decisions, using information, provided by services, built on data, shaped by tools, defined by standards, designed from concerns.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 25/04/2024

Nice walk to work this morning. One of my last as a civil servant.

Houses of Parliament with Big Ben to the side

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 23/04/2024

Took the plunge. Getting a garden office built and they've just broken first ground. Will dedicate a little section of my revived weeknotes to documenting how it goes.

An elevated CCTV camera view of my backgarden with a conservatory to the left, a patio and the law which has fresh hole being dug in it with boards making out the plot for the base of the garden office.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 07/04/2024

Football on as the red sauce bubbles away til later.

Foot up in front of the tv which is showing the game between Manchester United and Liverpool. The fire is on beneath it.

A pot of mushed tomatoes, chunks of carrot and onion bubbling away.

A pot of mushed tomatoes, chunks of carrot and onion bubbling away. In the oven.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 05/04/2024

"Design for trust" is an interesting NHS Design principle. It says "People trust the NHS. Take care not to jeopardise that. Design things that are reliable and secure." - I see this as both "let's not lose people's trust" but also, cautionary because...

Screenshot of the principle. Design for Trust.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 27/03/2024

Significant number. Enjoying BlueSky not using it much but will be doing soon. Sorry Mastodon I wanted to like you.

Screenshot of my account stats. 111 Followers (highlighted). 141 Following with 70 Posts. Account says 'Lead Interaction Designer at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities'

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 20/03/2024

Nice example of content design from the company I lease a car from. Helping people to understand the process at end of their contract. Clear and not a huge block of text. Suspect this reduces a lot of calls to their contact centres.

A nice diagram explaining how it all works. The diagram is a decision tree to help people understand what might be the best option for them.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 14/03/2024

Finally! Google Meet has added something I've long said should be possible. The ability to switch device directly from the mic and camera buttons with new context menus.

The microphone and camera buttons in Google Meet now has in-context device switching options. Screenshot highlighting that.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 27/02/2024

This is still true in many organisations. I add to those options, “Go contract” which might not be possible for everybody and comes with a lot pitfalls.

2. NO CAREER PROGRESSION OPPORTUNITIES FOR EXPERIENCED INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTORS
In most organizations, the only career progression available for designers is to become a manager. Designers who want to grow into a more senior position while staying involved in products and not people only have these options:
• Move to a different (and normally bigger) company that has a career pathway toward staff or principal designer roles.
• Stay in limbo as a senior designer, which may lead to frustration, burn-out, and career stagnation.
• Force themselves into management. Over time, in design management, they will have less and less to do with design (what they enjoy doing) and more with people management.
The latter option only fuels the next issue.
3. LACK OF (STRONG) DESIGN LEADERSHIP

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 22/02/2024

I try to do something that represents the “event”. I first started doing it when at a large pharmacy doing service design.

Event cards with a visual representation of them, printed and stuck to a wall

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 22/02/2024

Quick boxes & arrows for maps are fine. 9 times out of 10 are perfectly suffice but for those "go-to" visualisations shared and pointed at often. Try to make them nice to look at, easy to read and easy to follow. I do a mini comic-strip for each stage/step.

Visual diagramming showing the life cycles of events within data programme at DLUHC.

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 19/01/2024

bulb.co.uk is now simply a GoDaddy parked domain page. Modern equivalent of a faded retail shop sign.

Physical retail shop sign for Woolworths' faded on the front of a building

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Paul Smith @paulmsmith.bsky.social · 18/01/2024

Did me a few posters this week for an internal event at DLUHC.

Posters on the wall. Faster local plans and The Vision.

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