On today’s show Liz welcomes the wonderful Christopher Murphy AKA Fehler.
Chris describes himself as a designer, writer and speaker. But he is so much more than that as any of his followers and students will testify to. He is a latter day polymath – sharing his extensive knowledge on all things from UI/UX, writing, product storytelling, and art – to mental health, the joys of not drinking, and running a marathon. As always Chris is his authentic self – open, engaging, vulnerable and inspiring – in this the final interview of season 2.
In this episode we discuss:
- Higher Education and alternative forms of learning
- Teaching and inspirational teachers
- Product storytelling
- Why designers should write
- Brand workshopping with clients
- Convincing clients to hire professionals
- Content marketing
- Being vulnerable online and with clients
- Company Culture as part of a brand
Discussion Links
- Notist: Mr Murphy
- Workshop: Let me tell you a story… (Slides + Notes)
- Paint a Product Picture (Slides + Notes)
- When things go wrong… (Slides + Notes)
- Forget Coding: Writing Is Design’s ‘Unicorn Skill’ – Katharine Shwab’s Fast Comapny article
- Design in Tech Report 2017 – John Maeda’s report. The relevant slide from the 2017 slidedeck is Slide 28, which explores the importance of: Verbal Design, Words as Material, and Why UX Design is a Lot Like Writing.
- Nicole Fenton’s Tiny Content Framework
- Chris’s ‘course in a book’ that he is writing for Adobe is called Building Beautiful UIs. The site is designed by Dan Gold
Books Chris mentioned
The first book Chris mentioned is:
There are two books:
- Part 1 deals with words at the service of brands;
- Part 2 deals with words at a user interface (UI) level.
Together both books cost £5, but Chris has kindly given us the code ‘onefree’, to use so you can get both books for the price of one.
The second book Chris mentioned was:
‘Start!’ is ‘a course in a book’ drawn from 15+ years of Chris’s teaching with a focus on helping others successfully start a profitable business. Use the code ‘voyager’ and the book, which normally costs £9, is free.
If you’d like the full course – which includes the book, the screencasts, the slide decks and the worksheets – use the code ‘atlas’ and the course, which normally costs £18 (which was already priced far too low!), is just £9.
Further recommended reading
- Nicely Said: Writing for the Web with Style and Purpose. Co-authored by Nicole Fenton and Kate Kiefer Lee
- Chris wrote Disrupting Design Education and
- The State of Education in which he shares his thoughts and frustrations on the limitations of formal education.
Chris on the web
- Mr Murphy (Under Construction)
- Mr Murphy (The content…)
- Chris also works with amazing Little Thunder
Chris wrote about coming on the podcast and expands on the show notes here.
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