Happy Fountain Pen Day

Today is Fountain Pen Day—an odd "holiday" for some, but for me, it now makes total sense. Over the last eighteen months, I've found myself spiraling down the stationery rabbit hole, with fountain pens in particular.

In May 2021, I hit a wall. I was frustrated with constantly switching apps, reading tech blogs, staring at my Apple Watch, and wondering if there was a better app or piece of software that I could use to make my work more efficient. After endless optimizing and tuning all the digital bits of my life, I became acutely aware of how intertwined my life had become with technology. This feeling of being chained to technology led me to press pause and go back to basics—in my case, pen and paper.

How I Got Started with Fountain Pens

I had heard about fountain pens and their better writing experience from, oddly enough, a productivity podcast. I did research into beginner fountain pens and ended up purchasing a Pilot Kakuno. Writing with a fountain pen is a uniquely different experience; it feels like using a metal paintbrush. You are applying the ink to paper using tines, which act like metal brushes. This Pilot Kakuno was unlike any Bic I had ever used—it was smooth and, dare I say, fun to use.

I had a Moleskine notebook laying around, but had read that they weren't the best notebooks to use with fountain pen ink. This led me to find a notebook that worked well with fountain pen ink, so I purchased a Leuchturm 1917 notebook. As I took my written notes and kept track of my to-do lists on paper, my mind began to slow down. Slowing down created space in my thoughts to move on to other places, like thinking about drawing and painting—something I had stopped doing as I lived my life inside of a computer. I started a morning journal where I penned all the trivial or interesting bits of my life.

Further Down the Rabbit Hole

There are many things that keep me actively collecting and using stationery, and in particular, fountain pens. Fountain pens have pulled me back into drawing and illustration—something I had stopped doing altogether as an adult. The stationery community is diverse and global, spanning all genders, ages, and areas of the world. I greatly appreciate this. There is a long history with fountain pens that tends to begin at the turn of the twentieth century. If you're into history and vintage collecting, there is a world here waiting for you.

If you have never used a fountain pen before and are even mildly curious, I would encourage you to pick one up and see what you think. I'm happy that I chased my curiosity and I'm building my home in the rabbit hole for now.

Barcamp Nashville 2015

Barcamp has been a near and dear event to my heart since I helped set up the second Barcamp Miami back in 2007. So I was happy to hear that Nashville put on an annual Barcamp.

I woke up this past Saturday morning and got a late start so I only made it for the second half of the day. My first impression upon arrival was that the event was well run. There was lots of signage and materials available to pick up and read. When I walked in there was someone at a table ready to greet me. I found out the event last minute so I wasn't able to register online. This didn't seem to be a problem. The greeter gave me a blank name tag and I registered right then and there on the spot. I noticed a small unique alphanumeric key on my name tag which allowed me to sign in to the site and vote on sessions. I thought was a nice touch and provided a better experience then I've had in the past.

This year a free lunch was available for all attendees which I thought was great. It's always nice to be able to stay in the venue and not have to leave to find a place to have lunch. It's especially nice for people who have driven in to the conference or are new to the area and might not know where to go.

Mailchimp, Nashville Software School and Assurion all had a presence this year. Mailchimp had some great swag to give away. I was impressed with the Mailchimp branded playing card decks they were giving way.

I was only able to hit one session "Sharing Economy, On-Demand, and the Future of Work" by Angus Nelson. The session provided an interesting look at data and statistics about the collaborative economy. After the session we had a healthy discussion about where things are going.

This was my first Barcamp Nashville so it's hard to say how it compared to previous versions. My impression was that it was well organized and run and there seemed to be strong sponsor support. The quality of the sessions were high and the venue spacious. I would definitely go again next year.

Why We're All Building Design Systems

Design systems have been making a lot of noise lately. Airbnb, Salesforce and GE are just a few of the notable companies that have built and discussed design systems publicly. 

 
Where I work today we've recognized our own need for a unified design language and have worked on our own system.

So why build a design system? Why invest the time and effort into building a design system for your team? For us we saw a few key benefits:

Consistency

Small, young engineering teams can often move at breakneck speeds. Moving fast is a great benefit of working inside a small team. But this benefit comes at a cost. A lot of companies start to see what can happen when everyone is heads down and focused on shipping. Some sort of design language may have been implemented early on but it doesn’t mean it was consistently and continuously enforced throughout each iteration of the product.

Companies moving fast need to get designers, developers and stakeholders on the same page. Building a design system and developing a process for it across your company will help to ensure your design will stay consistent across the entire experience. A more consistent experience will give your customers more confidence when they use your product.

Efficiency

Design systems are also great for increasing efficiency inside teams. Ultimately, they provide a source of truth. This source of truth helps your team to worry less about how things should look and gets them focusing more on how things should work. Design systems can also help lower your companies' need for the tedious process of consensus building. Knowing that a new iteration has adhered to the guidelines set in place your team can trust that the product's design integrity hasn't been compromised and a consistent customer experience continues.

Maintainability

As your team grows many of the maintenance issues that exist will only compound. Putting a plan and process now can minize this risk. 

At TrueAccord we're leaning heavily on the Atomic Design methodology to build our system. We're taking a modular-based approach and building small sets of components that can work together to form a cohesive look and feel for our product. Working this way we can worry less about the design as a whole and focus solely on smaller parts of the UI. 

So the next question you might ask yourself is whether your team should build their own design system?

Every team is different and needs may vary. But a team is never too small or too young to build their own system. Investing a little effort today to get something in place will provide a foundation for your team can build on for the future. I wish we would've started 2 years ago instead of today.

Linked mentions