Hello internet friends,

It’s been 68 days since our last correspondence, and it’s been a busy one.

I’m diverging from past structure as…things have changed. I’ve been finding this is an “update” email on my curation practices, sharing what I’m reading, writing, and making.

Building

Here are three things I’ve built since:

• /library lists out books that have made a significant impact on my worldview and approach to labor. 44 books listed, filterable, and most with affiliate links to bookshop.org!

• /work/trailmarks is a new showcase piece of work I did this month, designing a pitch deck for an indie game developer for a geography-based travel quiz game! More full case study still in progress.

• /for-hire is a page talking about what I'm looking for in my next role; a reverse job posting.

Outside the garden

Yet, in the 9-weeks since last update, I’ve not been writing as diligently as life’s happened:

• went through an interview process for a Design Manager position; spend days making the third interview’s presentation and did the interview. Received a disappointingly unhelpful, “Nope.”

• was furloughed since the federal government shut down, so I stopped on my Space Force project. Thankfully, I was put on another project for the FDA—the United States’ Food and Drug Administration. FAR fewer hours, but fun project.

• had a chat with Piccalil.li’s designer as part of their brand research, as Set Studio wants to grow their indie CSS publication—super fun thing to do.

• put on the list as a volunteer for Active Voice’s Throughline Conference! So, my last days in January are booked—_very_ excited to support Sara & Jen, as well as learn from a FANTASTIC set of speakers.

That may not sound like much, but other life stuff happened that diverges from this newsletter’s purpose even more.

Pivoting into Practice

The biggest thing I’ve been working on, in the past few weeks, was the newest pivot & iteration of my company: Poet & Scribe.

We founded it back in 2022. It’s been a journey of trying to get things going since—haven’t quite hit the nail on the head in terms of offer.

Throughout my freelancing and consulting gigs, since, there’s been consistent threads of work: design systems and product strategy.

The through-lines span Dan Mall’s six definitions:

1. Brand identities/visual language as design systems

2. Tools as design systems

3. Products as design systems

4. Process as design system

5. Design system as a service

6. Design system as a practice

As I search for jobs, the contract work has been the one paying the bills for the past two years and I need to invest in that more.

So, I did.

Introducing Poet & Scribe 5.0!

• Our mission: Helping teams shape accessible web products, thoughtfully built to grow.

• What we do: We specialize in design systems and product strategy — whether you're establishing foundations, scaling what's working, or untangling what isn't.

• Our website: https://poetandscribe.com

I’m proud of how it’s turned out. It’s the most succinct and clear we’ve ever been on what we do.

This has been the test run of writing the announcement to post onto LinkedIn and various social networks.

Craft & Practice

Long story short, this newsletter has been focused a lot on the crafts, and practicing those crafts. But, it’s also guided focus away from building the actual Practice that ultimately pays the bills.

It’s been a needed shift of foci, that’s culminated in a much clearer offer and pitch on P&S’ website.

Thank you for taking the time to read and coming on this journey with me.

If you have any feedback, know anyone that’s needing design systems work or supporting their product strategy—please say hi back!

Would love to hear from you.

Until next time; be safe—take care,

Jonathan