Andrew

What is a ritual, practice, or routine in your life that is important for your psychological wellbeing and/or fulfillment? Why?

Jake

The practice that has the biggest impact on my psychological wellbeing is cycling. I do that a lot, but this could also be any physical exercise. It's one of the only things I do with friends these days, but enjoy riding alone too. My work is screen-based and it's sometimes hard to switch off – when cycling all of your physical body is used and you can't just stop and get your phone out, which I like, totally switching off.

I don't have many other routines or rituals that I'm consciously aware of – but my greatest sources of happiness and fulfillment are the simplest – hanging out with my children, walking in fields and cycling in the countryside or city.

My design approach is to challenge metrics-driven design that has become common, encouraging people to slow down.

Andrew

What is a human-made creation that brings out the best in you? Why?

Jake

Specifically, bikes. I love cycling, but importantly I also love bikes themselves. I have a number of bikes, each of which I've chosen components of, had repainted, and built myself – I've been doing that pretty much exactly the same amount of time that I've been building websites – since I was 13. I enjoy finding unique parts and assembling them, and then I enjoy riding them too. It also brings out the best in me by being present with my kids – most of the cycling I do is with them in the front of the cargo bike. With no distractions, it's the times we have the most enjoyable conversations.

I really believe that you should love your tools, and that by loving them it encourages you to connect with them and use them when you otherwise might not. Much of my motivation for cycling is to actually use this cool machine I've assembled. The reason I like bikes and cycling, I think, is because I have an aversion to authority and I've always seen bikes as facilitating freedom – there are minimal laws, no tracking and you can take them anywhere with you. When I was younger I'd dart around London on brakeless track bikes stopping for nothing – I really craved the freedom, and as a teenager I was heavily in to bike trials (essentially jumping on and off street furniture on a bike), which again, I enjoyed, as it felt like a way of challenging authority – the ultimate getaway vehicle is a bike.

I enjoy the mechanics of bikes, and the simplicity of their ability to amplify my human input, and fix them easily with no outside input when they go wrong. I spend the most money on the parts of the bike that are touch-points – the things I can feel when I'm cycling, like handlebars, saddle, pedals, tyres. I also enjoy the research, the community, and cyclings ability to transcend ages and social backgrounds.

I also miss the naivety of the old internet, people having their own space

Andrew

When do you cherish the slow or hard way of doing something? Why?

Jake

Often I use an app while driving made by Michelin called ViaMichelin. The reason I use it is that it has an option for 'scenic route' which I've never seen any other driving app have before. Instead of taking you along motorways and busy roads, it deliberately re-routes you via villages and mountains. It's much slower but you get to see a lot more and gives you time to think, and actually enjoy driving and encountering new stops along the way.

In my work I thrive on constraints. A successful project usually begins by putting up some guard rails on the sides of projects to give you some bounds to work within the timeframe, and I believe constraints breed creativity – though I'm usually then looking for ways to push those boundaries. It's part of the game. Parkinson's Law is the adage that "work will expand to fill the time allotted for its completion", which I'm a firm believer in too.

My design approach is to challenge metrics-driven design that has become common, encouraging people to slow down. Most of the projects I work on have high desktop browser viewing statistics – where I design an experience, knowing the user is sitting down in a chair, has a minute to spare, with a big screen in front of them. Mobile design tends to be the opposite.

I encourage the viewer to slow down, and interact, and don’t worry that we might lose them if the information they think they want isn’t immediately presented. I’ve realised the most successful sites I've made are the ones my children (5+3) enjoy playing with – and believe adults want the same fun interspersed in their day of closing cookie popups and browsing clickbait, it’s what they’ll remember.

In the programming code I do, I almost always build outcomes totally from scratch, even when there might be existing plugins or pre-developed code available, which is an uncommon approach these days. It's important to me that I understand everything that's going on in the code I'm writing, that I can totally control and customise the outcome, and that I'll be able to solve any issues that might appear in years to come.

Totally separately, one harder choice is I don't eat meat and try not to use animal products in clothing either. This means I don't use down in jackets or bedding, or leather shoes, even though the alternatives are just not as durable, efficient or comfortable.

Andrew

What is something you appreciate or long for from the past? Why?

Jake

A few things. I miss the old internet – meaning pre 2010 internet. Since then, it's been caged and broken apart by large social networks, all determined to enclose as much information as possible. I grew up on internet forums, learning about bikes, web design, cars, and other interests, and made friends from them along the way – now, many forums are dead, and have been replaced by Discord, Facebook Groups, and other private networks that are totally unindexed by search engines, meaning the information is lost.

I also miss the naivety of the old internet, people having their own space on the internet, whether that was MySpace or Tumblr, or other things where there were free bounds to express yourself and build communities. Much of what’s online today is stark and optimised for business and conversion.

I also miss lockdown... health implications aside. I'd just had my first child, and was able to spend a lot of time with him, as well as cycling and walking with nobody else around. It gave us a good time to bond and made me more aware of how fast the world is moving, constantly ("the only constant in life is change"). I also enjoyed the social cohesion this time brought, even though everybody was far apart. It accelerated my family's plans to leave London and move to rural countryside.

Perhaps I’m a luddite.