mattlumpkin – design

Writing

Memorial Day Stories: presence illuminated by absence

Today is the day that we remember people we loved who died on active duty serving their country. My dad is one of those people. He died in an…

personal, writing May 26, 2025June 8, 2025 7 min read

Phantom Crash Site

On October 6, 2024, my two brothers and I drove into the Ouachita National Forest. We were navigating to the best lead we’ve had in years on locating the…

blog, personal, writing December 27, 2024December 30, 2024 5 min read

On AI and the Human Element of Healing

Discussing which jobs will be replaced around the campfire Last fall, I went camping with several other families from my neighborhood. As we sat around the fire the conversation…

Design Thinking, Future, psychology June 5, 2024June 5, 2024 3 min read

Design Principles

A decade and a half into my practice designing products and software, some things keep coming up. I’ll keep up with them here. 1. Make the software explain itself…

blog, Creative Work, Design Thinking February 6, 2024August 23, 2024 2 min read

On October 7th and the overwhelming shadow of death

Like so many of us, I’ve been watching in horror since October 7th. I’ve felt paralyzed by not knowing what to do or say or how to understand how…

Creative Work, personal, writing November 9, 2023November 10, 2023 3 min read

Thinking Fast and Slow with the Brain Modules You’ve Got

Over and Under thinking On my walk this morning I was talking to my friend and linguist, Luke Wakefield, and I had an insight. For most of my life…

epistemology, psychology, writing October 8, 2023November 5, 2023 4 min read

Remembering Katie

Yesterday my friend Katie DiSimone died. I met Katie in an unsolicited direct message. She reached out to me after I had asked some questions in a facebook group she…

personal, writing March 2, 2023October 11, 2023 3 min read

Emotions as Interface to the Sub-conscious

Or, how remote work can trick you into feeling more stressed than you need to There is no trash can or recycling bin in your computer, just different ways…

Cyborg, Design Thinking, Future, psychology, writing December 31, 2022October 11, 2023 6 min read

Bubble Lights

When I was a boy, we used to visit my grandma Jodie’s house. Grandma Jodie was a short, quiet woman when I knew her. I only knew her after…

blog, writing December 7, 2022October 11, 2023 2 min read

Cameras Recs for Kids (or adults)

Every once in a while, friends whose kids are into photography ask for recommendations on what cameras they might buy for their developing photographers who want to move beyond…

Photography, writing December 2, 2022October 11, 2023 4 min read

Reading Balaji Srinivasan In This Gutenberg Moment

I discovered Balaji Srinivasan last march. He was on Tim Ferris’ podcast. He’s a biochemist by training and a serial entrepreneur most recently with Coinbase. I was struck by…

epistemology, Future, writing September 12, 2021October 11, 2023 3 min read

On Fading Photos and Surviving Memories

An orange shoebox of drugstore prints I remember discovering a glossy orange box of drug-store color prints, jammed overfull, stuffed with the condensed photos of my father’s life. They…

Uncategorized, writing December 28, 2020October 11, 2023 4 min read

Book Chapter

I wrote a thing that’s going to be in this book. “What Job is a Conspiracy Theory Doing? Why American Christians are Particularly Vulnerable to the Narratives of the…

epistemology, Future, pandemic, religion, writing October 11, 2020October 11, 2023 1 min read

What Job is a Conspiracy Theory Doing?

Saturday morning, I saw a post from my friend, Brandon, who lives in Manhattan, the early epicenter of the pandemic in the US. It showed a scrawled subway wall note…

epistemology, Future, pandemic, writing July 12, 2020October 11, 2023 2 min read

Do Americans need to see videos of COVID killing us before we take collective action?

Last week in California a 51 year old man died of COVID the day after expressing regret for attending a barbeque with friends. One person went who wasn’t showing symptoms and…

epistemology, Future, pandemic, writing June 12, 2020October 11, 2023 2 min read

Learning Design Principles From the First Cyborgs: People with Diabetes

‪My daughter has type 1 diabetes. To keep her alive we use a few wearable devices embedded in her body to sense her blood glucose and add the insulin…

Cyborg, Design Thinking, Future, writing May 8, 2019October 11, 2023 5 min read

How to Start Building Your App Idea Today

People regularly approach me to share ideas they have for new apps. This is great because I love to talk to people who are excited about some new thing…

Uncategorized, writing December 10, 2018October 11, 2023 5 min read

What Kinds of Emotions Arise from the Internet’s Body?

I recently attended a design conference where several presenters confidently asserted that since emotions are an inherently embodied experience they are thus not possible for artificial intelligences to experience…

Cyborg, writing October 26, 2018October 11, 2023 2 min read

Design, Science & Adaptation

If technology is the stand-in for biology in the evolutionary process (once it becomes managed by conscious minds Kelly, 2011), then design is the stand-in for adaptation, and an…

Design Thinking, writing September 21, 2017October 11, 2023 Comments 0 1 min read

What Tools Do I Need To Start Woodworking?

A couple of years ago I needed to furnish my new, but empty, office when I found an old wooden table by a dumpster and decided it would be…

Creative Work, Design Thinking, Woodworking July 22, 2017December 26, 2024 8 min read

Use the Scraps; or 9 ways to make art when you’re busy as hell

There's a fantasy floating around that if we could just get enough free time, we could do anything. If it weren't for work or school or family or any…

blog, Creative Work, Creativity, personal, writing May 15, 2012November 5, 2023 3 min read

Featured

Onboarding for Tidepool Loop

Diabetes, Human Factors, Instructional Design, Mobile App, Product Development

Tidepool Loop

#WeAreNotWaiting, Diabetes, Mobile App, Signature Projects

DIY Loop Onboarding

Diabetes, DIY, Open Source Design

screen capture showing the diagrams and project plan of HF testing

Remote Usability Testing

Human Factors, User Testing

DIY e-ink type-writer

DIY, Product Development, Prototyping

Mapping Designers

Design Leadership, Maps

For Patients by Patients

#WeAreNotWaiting, Design Leadership, Diabetes

Washington Post Profile

bgAWARE

Diabetes, Mobile App, Product Development

CharacterMe

Mobile App, Signature Projects

Cool Tools

#WeAreNotWaiting, Diabetes, DIY, Photography

The Quad

Signature Projects, web app

Fuller Library

On Rock Gardens

Aesthetics, Art Practice, Signature Projects, woodworking

Photography as Place-making

Art Practice, Photography

a small walnut box with brass bottom

Aesthetics of Medtech Wearables

Aesthetics, woodworking

Woodworking Practice

Aesthetics, Art Practice, DIY, Prototyping, woodworking