Mary Mahling Carns – Medium

Mary Mahling Carns

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The Sunshine Eaters: a series on surviving multiple layoffs

Every morning, I log into Duolingo to practice my French. I always begin my daily lesson by working on my previous mistakes, because you…

Mar 15, 2022

If you become affected by a layoff, are you truly allowed to grow? Photo by Árpád Czapp on Unsplash

Mar 15, 2022

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Bootcamp

Careless People: a horror story, from a product pro’s perspective

I recently finished reading Careless People, the memoir from former Facebook executive Sarah Wynn-Williams that documents her perspective…

May 7

If you create digital products, especially social media apps, you shoulder a lot of responsibility for how those apps are used. Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash.

May 7

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Bootcamp

Target’s bias, a big strategy error, and the importance of user research

Among the many retail boycotts for many stores in 2025, few have fallen from retail grace as far as Target. Once the darling of hipsters…

Apr 16

It’s getting trickier to shop in a big box store without compromising your values. Target has not been helping lately. Photo by Caique Morais on Unsplash

Apr 16

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Bootcamp

FOMO, FOLS, and how it contributes to enshittification

Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one…

Mar 26

Photograph of a bubble in the Photo by Braedon McLeod on Unsplash

Mar 26

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Bootcamp

The enshittification of government: recognition matters

As a former contractor for several government agencies, I’ve been thinking a lot about the recent dismantling of several government…

Feb 13

Two recognition plaques from the U.S. Government. The one on the left is from 1965 and is made from wood and metal. The one on the right is from 2001 and is a printed sheet of paper in a plastic folder.

Feb 13

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Bootcamp

How to structure design systems to help users find their way

In my experience, designers are often not given a specific list of assignments to handle at the start of a project. This alone usually…

Jan 22

How to structure design systems to help users find their way

Jan 22

Published in
Bootcamp

The story of the Google Weather Frog and the price of ditching delight

I like cute animals. You like cute animals. It seems that Big Tech does not like cute animals, and maybe they should.

Jan 8

Screenshot of the Google Weather Frog, circa 2021–2022.

Jan 8

Published in
Bootcamp

Why asking “What‘s your pain point?” doesn’t work

Like many of you recently, I deactivated my X/Twitter account to use BlueSky. A couple of things struck me when I made the move:

Dec 10, 2024

Image of a deep sea diver. Designers need to dig deeper in order to uncover issues with products. Image credit: NEOM, Unsplash

Dec 10, 2024

Published in
Bootcamp

You need to learn more about Corita Kent right now

As a designer, I get inspired when I do deep dives into the works of other artists. As a former resident of Boston, Somerville MA, and…

Nov 21, 2024

“that they may have life”, serigraph, 1964. Transcribed text: ENRICHED BREAD It’s bad you don’t know what to do when you’ve got five children standing around crying for something to eat and you don’t know where to get it, and you don’t know which way to start to get it. I just get nervous or something. Kentucky miner’s wife There are so many hungry people that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread. Gandhi SOURCE: Corita.org

Nov 21, 2024

Published in
Bootcamp

You may want to learn more about The Polish Poster School right now

When I was a kid, back when Americans fought against fascism, my family would go to a place near my house called The Nut Tree. If you are…

Nov 8, 2024

“Cyrk” poster designed by Jan Mlodozeniec (1929–2000), Poland (1974) — Document courtesy of Contemporary Posters, New York — www.contemporaryposters.com

Nov 8, 2024

Mary Mahling Carns

Mary Mahling Carns

she/her

🌟 I draw & I write about design and how it can make apps and lives better, faster, stronger 💪 🔎 https://mary-mahling-carns-halftank-studio.kit.com/profile

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