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Mal Ross 🌈

@malross.bsky.social

17 followers 30 following 110 posts

User experience person. Motorsport fan. Lover of hills and forests. Board gamer. AFOL. Humanist. Husband. Dad.

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Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · Jun 5

TL;DR: I'm looking for work as a #UX Designer or Interaction Designer, located in Newcastle upon Tyne (UK), preferably in a hybrid role.

Do you know of any opportunities that I might have missed? I'd love to hear about them.

Portfolio: uxfol.io/malross

Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · 18h

Ok, let's just call it now, as it's not exactly sticking my neck out: Max Verstappen WILL win the #F1 driver's title this year.

Wonder what pitiful odds I could get on that at the bookies... 🤔

Also: I'll repost this when the time comes and I'm proven righ^H^H^H^H wrong. 😉

Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · 20h

Awww. 😢

But at least you saved me some time there. 🤷

Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · 2d

Except it's clearly NOT okay. 😠 My point was that it was setting a bad example to pupils and parents, and normalising the behaviour of taking accessible spaces away from those who might need them.

Also, I happen to know that it's the headteacher's car, but they didn't admit that. For shame!

Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · 2d

Yesterday, I emailed my kid's school to raise the fact a staff member routinely parks in a #disabled space without having a blue badge. Today, I got an email from the headteacher justifying it by saying it's private property and the markings are "not legally enforceable". Guess that's okay then. 🤷‍♂️

Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · 5d

"There will be no vote between ideas, no contest of visions, no test of leadership. There will be only one candidate and that’s not democracy – that’s the illusion of democracy."

Amen. What a sad state of affairs. #F1 #democracy

www.racefans.net/2025/10/17/f...

FIA's presidential election is 'not democracy' says Mayer as he withdraws candidacy

FIA presidential candidate Tim Mayer has withdrawn his bid, saying he has been prevented from taking part in a fair election.

www.racefans.net

Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · 10d

Most amazing bird at Big Waters this afternoon, however, was this beauty. Same size as a mallard, but iridescent all over and with a black bill. Suspect it's a Black East Indian Duck i.e. a domestic duck now in the wild for whatever reason. Was beautiful. www.omlet.co.uk/breeds/ducks...

What appears to be a Black East Indian Duck swimming on the lake at Big Waters, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · 10d

Daughter the 2nd had challenged me to get 50 birds by the end of the year, with a reward of a packet of crisps if I made it. So now I'm tucking into a well earned pack of Barbecue Strikers. 😋

Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · 10d

Finally reached 50 different bird species on my Lifer List on the Merlin bird spotting app. #50 was a Whooper Swan. 🦢

Got the app on 23rd May on a recommendation from Vicki at the Soap Mine (excellent soap, btw).

A Whooper Swan, sitting on the water at Big Waters Nature Reserve, just outside Newcastle upon Tyne.

Reposted by Mal Ross 🌈

Craig Abbott @craigabbott.co.uk · 14d

Making America Inaccessible Again.

A sobering read by Terry DeYoung. Here is a thread of my summary and the key points I found interesting.

reformedjournal.com/2025/10/08/m...

#a11y #accessibility

Making America Inaccessible Again - Reformed Journal

Trump’s second term has included numerous orders threatening or nullifying advances of the Disability Rights Movement that have taken decades to achieve.

reformedjournal.com

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Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · 17d

Well, really enjoyed that. Nice interview! 👍

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Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · 18d

I imagine it's no worse than Tay-Tay's 70% explicit-content-warning new album. 🙄

Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · 18d

Oooh! Is it safe to stick on in the car with the kids? Assuming so. Might make a good podcast to listen to on the way home from the in-laws. Better than the latest Taylor Swift album, for sure. 😂

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Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · 19d

I'll bet you a lottery ticket you still haven't bought one.

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Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · 22d

Wow. This is an impressive choice of text colour and background combination in an email welcoming me to Notora's community. 🤦

#a11y

A welcome email from Notora, with light grey text on a light coloured, gradient background. Much of the text is almost impossible to read, even with good vision.

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Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · 27d

The perfect host! 😉

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Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · 28d

To be fair, Scotland's not lacking sun, especially its Eastern side. Some of my sunniest holidays have been in East Lothian. It's just the temperature it's sometimes lacking. 😄

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Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · Sep 22

I'm really keen to get into service design in government after many years in commercial product design, but finding so many of the advertised jobs require GDS service design experience. It seems quite hard to break into it.

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Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · Sep 22

Hi Clara. Couple of questions:
1. Is it only for people *already working* in government?
2. If not, do you have any discount available for people currently without an income?

Guess which group I'm in. :)

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Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · Sep 20

100% this. Bonkers.

Keith Collantine @keithcollantine.bsky.social · Sep 20

Incredibly lenient decision from the stewards to only give Roman Stanek two penalty points for his reckless and dangerous driving in yesterday's Formula 2 qualifying session.

Video: #F2

Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · Sep 20

Madness. Couldn't quite believe it when I saw the incident. 🤯

Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · Sep 19

Dead keen to bring this to Games Night sometime, @jacksonpope.bsky.social. Even if it's a night with more than 4 people, we could just have someone as a floating brain, contributing to strategy.

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Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · Sep 19

Oh dear. Looks like there's no such as society in the United States. 👀 Meanwhile, China is poor ecologically and the Majority World had poor infrastructure resilience. Has this been tuned to make Europeans feel superior or something? 😂

Wonder whether the game varies in other parts of the world...

A photograph of Daybreak's regional reference cards, which show starting conditions for 3 different types of resilience: social, ecological and infrastructure. Only Europe has resilience in all 3, while the USA is lacking social resilience.

Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · Sep 19

Grabbed the copy of #Daybreak at Newcastle Library to read its rules at lunch. Initially slightly aghast that it has 40 (FORTY) pages, but boy... it is beautifully laid out. 😍

Yes, there's still a lot of text in later pages, but the design is making me happy to read it. 👌

The contents page of the rule book, showing that the Reference section is on page 40.

A sample page, titled "Play cards in 3 ways" is laid out with plenty of whitespace and illustrative cards alongside minimal, clearly written textual guidance.

A sample page describing how to stack cards for powerful combinations. The right hand leaf is simply a lovely illustration of a weather balloon, making the booklet beautiful as well as functional.

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Reposted by Mal Ross 🌈

Jackson Pope // Eurydice Games @jacksonpope.bsky.social · Sep 17

It's #CraftWednesday! Do you have a game-related crafting project in progress? It could be a prototype, print and play, upgrading the components of a favourite game, making an accessory or even something larger like a table or games room. Share a picture and join in! Please RP!

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Mal Ross 🌈 @malross.bsky.social · Sep 16

But... the catch-up and slipstream mechanisms kept it fun and tight to the end. And the name of the game nicely suits the way you play it, pushing your car to the limit.

Will definitely play again before I return it to Newcastle City Library.