Category: General

Thoughts, books, travels and personal ideas.

OCHA hosts UN Designers Group in Geneva

A few months back, I wrote about how Geneva is a melting pot of communication professionals with plenty of active groups meeting to exchange ideas, challenges, and solutions to a constantly evolving field of work. I’m proud that ITU brought together the UN (graphic) designers group late last year with an inaugural meeting in November. … Continue reading OCHA hosts UN Designers Group in Geneva

The oldest Chinatown in Europe is in Amsterdam

I started this blog in 2006 as a way to share my travels and perspectives with family and friends. Since then I’ve written over two hundred posts and there are always ones that are still a work-in-progress. Last week, I decided to do a bit of spring cleaning and found some tips I had collected … Continue reading The oldest Chinatown in Europe is in Amsterdam

Pamplona: the centre of infographics and pintxos

Last month I was in Pamplona, Spain where the world-famous running of the bulls takes place. While the bull running doesn’t show up until mid-July, the city becomes host to Malofiej, an infographics world gathering, in March. It wasn’t a surprise that infographics weren’t the first thing on the tip of people’s tongues when I … Continue reading Pamplona: the centre of infographics and pintxos

Show Don’t Tell – what I learned from Malofiej’s workshop

In March, I had to make a choice between going to Sendai, Japan for the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction or to Pamplona, Spain for the 23rd edition of Malofiej. It was a tough choice… Japan was something that I’ve been involved with and following for the past few years, while Spain … Continue reading Show Don’t Tell – what I learned from Malofiej’s workshop

There’s more to getting the job done than having the right tools.

Learning a new skill requires time, patience, and a genuine interest to do it well. This can go for languages, sports, art, cooking, etc. This goes the same for any kind of skill required for communications, whether it’s, writing, drawing, photography, videography, etc. In this day and age, you can do just about any of … Continue reading There’s more to getting the job done than having the right tools.

Visiting ‘TOM’ in Lausanne

Every four years one city/country hosts the spirit of the Olympics. Probably not as well known is the fact that the International Olympic Committee lives in Lausanne, Switzerland, and with it the Olympic Museum, probably one of the best museums I’ve visited in Switzerland. A visit to the museum had been on my wish list … Continue reading Visiting ‘TOM’ in Lausanne

Twitter and the changing landscape of communications

Normally thought of as something to do for fun or to keep for personal stuff, social platforms like Facebook and Twitter are now places not only to share photos and status updates, but to find information, news, and communication (dare I say, “engage”) with people. While “communication” was (or still is?) thought of as a … Continue reading Twitter and the changing landscape of communications

Data is good. Data is bad. Where’s the middle ground?

It’s amazing to see the use of technology to track, monitor, and collect information and data from things that we do, like sports, to help improve and enhance what we do. I think it’s called life-hacking and if you’re thinking of resolutions for the New Year, there’s a whole website about doing just that. Yet … Continue reading Data is good. Data is bad. Where’s the middle ground?

Are fathers really that incompetent?

It’s been an interesting six weeks following the birth of our daughter. Not only is it a life moment with this new little person in our lives, changing sleeping patterns, and that we seem to focus more on talking about poo and pee times, but that I’ve gotten the feeling that some people perceive caring … Continue reading Are fathers really that incompetent?