Mel Choyce
@melchoyce.bsky.social
Designerd. Civic tech enthusiast. "Looks like [s]he stepped off the set of 'The Sandlot'," according to some alt-right weirdo.
Reposted by Mel Choyce
📢 New post: I wrote about improving at designing type in fits and starts while working on a lowercase for my font Citywide. Progress isn’t always quick, but I’m really enjoying the make mistakes 🔁 get a little better loop.
jasonsantamaria.com/blog/learnin...
jasonsantamaria.com/blog/learnin...
Learning Curves — jasonsantamaria.com
Assorted thoughts on slowly improving at designing type while working on a lowercase addition to Citywide.
jasonsantamaria.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:00 PM
📢 New post: I wrote about improving at designing type in fits and starts while working on a lowercase for my font Citywide. Progress isn’t always quick, but I’m really enjoying the make mistakes 🔁 get a little better loop.
jasonsantamaria.com/blog/learnin...
jasonsantamaria.com/blog/learnin...
Reposted by Mel Choyce
The Social Security Administration used to have an incredible communications arm, including even a film unit. This was crucial in helping people understand the program, and how it would work. From 1936, 1939.
www.ssa.gov/history/puba...
www.ssa.gov/history/puba...
November 6, 2025 at 2:13 PM
The Social Security Administration used to have an incredible communications arm, including even a film unit. This was crucial in helping people understand the program, and how it would work. From 1936, 1939.
www.ssa.gov/history/puba...
www.ssa.gov/history/puba...
Reposted by Mel Choyce
The administration has pulled the plug on IRS Direct File, a tool that helped eligible taxpayers file for free. This decision comes despite Direct File’s immense popularity with its users.
Direct File won’t happen in 2026, IRS tells states
The free service that allowed taxpayers to file online directly with the IRS was used by hundreds of thousands of taxpayers in 2024 and 2025, who gave it high marks — although tax prep companies and R...
www.nextgov.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:04 PM
The administration has pulled the plug on IRS Direct File, a tool that helped eligible taxpayers file for free. This decision comes despite Direct File’s immense popularity with its users.
Reposted by Mel Choyce
So basically, “If you want us to feed you, you have to let us take away your healthcare.”
BASH: Even Hawley says you should move money around to feed people. Why not consider it?
JOHNSON: Because if you deviate from the goal of reopening the entire govt, Schumer & the radicals will continue to play games. If you do just part of this, it will reduce the pressure for them to do all of it
JOHNSON: Because if you deviate from the goal of reopening the entire govt, Schumer & the radicals will continue to play games. If you do just part of this, it will reduce the pressure for them to do all of it
October 30, 2025 at 7:09 PM
So basically, “If you want us to feed you, you have to let us take away your healthcare.”
Reposted by Mel Choyce
A new .gov domain was registered yesterday: techforce.gov. It resolves to an auth page that identifies it as part of the National Design Studio.
Trump and Musk eliminated 18F and destroyed USDS, and now the feds are scrambling to rebuild the capacity that they destroyed.
Trump and Musk eliminated 18F and destroyed USDS, and now the feds are scrambling to rebuild the capacity that they destroyed.
October 30, 2025 at 3:58 PM
A new .gov domain was registered yesterday: techforce.gov. It resolves to an auth page that identifies it as part of the National Design Studio.
Trump and Musk eliminated 18F and destroyed USDS, and now the feds are scrambling to rebuild the capacity that they destroyed.
Trump and Musk eliminated 18F and destroyed USDS, and now the feds are scrambling to rebuild the capacity that they destroyed.
Reposted by Mel Choyce
Reposted by Mel Choyce
Designer friends: I'm working on some content around using statistics and data analysis for design work, but I need to get some more information and out of my own brain.
So I've made a survey, I'd be grateful if you took it: forms.fillout.com/t/iW9aNFoLrTus
So I've made a survey, I'd be grateful if you took it: forms.fillout.com/t/iW9aNFoLrTus
Designers: What do you know about data analysis and statistics?
Made with Fillout, the best way to make forms, surveys and quizzes your audience will answer.
forms.fillout.com
September 1, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Designer friends: I'm working on some content around using statistics and data analysis for design work, but I need to get some more information and out of my own brain.
So I've made a survey, I'd be grateful if you took it: forms.fillout.com/t/iW9aNFoLrTus
So I've made a survey, I'd be grateful if you took it: forms.fillout.com/t/iW9aNFoLrTus
Reposted by Mel Choyce
FORTUNATELY, for everyone we have a fun way to tell your House rep that you think Bobby Jr is a quack and has to go…
For $3 we will hand deliver (by a man in a duck costume) a rubber ducky with a message to “impeach the quack” to your rep!
QUACK-O-GRAMS!
act.standupforscience.net/fundraising/...
For $3 we will hand deliver (by a man in a duck costume) a rubber ducky with a message to “impeach the quack” to your rep!
QUACK-O-GRAMS!
act.standupforscience.net/fundraising/...
August 30, 2025 at 11:41 AM
FORTUNATELY, for everyone we have a fun way to tell your House rep that you think Bobby Jr is a quack and has to go…
For $3 we will hand deliver (by a man in a duck costume) a rubber ducky with a message to “impeach the quack” to your rep!
QUACK-O-GRAMS!
act.standupforscience.net/fundraising/...
For $3 we will hand deliver (by a man in a duck costume) a rubber ducky with a message to “impeach the quack” to your rep!
QUACK-O-GRAMS!
act.standupforscience.net/fundraising/...
Reposted by Mel Choyce
your civics education probably included very little about courts - this is a super useful article about systems you're most likely unfamiliar with!
State supreme courts are a battlefield for pressing issues, from abortion rights to ballot access. But do you know how your court works?
Our guide breaks down the structure and procedures of every single state’s highest court.
Our guide breaks down the structure and procedures of every single state’s highest court.
Your State-by-State Guide to Every State Supreme Court - Bolts
Bolts breaks down the structure, selection procedures, and functions of each state’s highest court.
boltsmag.org
August 30, 2025 at 4:02 PM
your civics education probably included very little about courts - this is a super useful article about systems you're most likely unfamiliar with!
Reposted by Mel Choyce
Reposted by Mel Choyce
I have never seen so many public servants protest the mismanagement of a government. Trumpists will point to this as proof of the deep state, but the reality is that these are professionals who are desperately trying to get the public to understand how bad things are.
AP live feed of the CDC walkout in Atlanta. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ7Q...
LIVE: CDC staff plan walkout at Atlanta HQ after Trump firings
YouTube video by Associated Press
www.youtube.com
August 28, 2025 at 7:09 PM
I have never seen so many public servants protest the mismanagement of a government. Trumpists will point to this as proof of the deep state, but the reality is that these are professionals who are desperately trying to get the public to understand how bad things are.
Reposted by Mel Choyce
I was the executive director of U.S. Open Data, a non-profit that I created at the behest of the Obama White House. I worked as one of the nation's leading experts in open data. Putting open data on the blockchain is a profoundly stupid idea that fails nearly every test of good open data.
The White House Is Going to Put Government Statistics on the Blockchain (Yeah, We Don't Know Why Either)
gizmodo.com
August 28, 2025 at 12:11 AM
I was the executive director of U.S. Open Data, a non-profit that I created at the behest of the Obama White House. I worked as one of the nation's leading experts in open data. Putting open data on the blockchain is a profoundly stupid idea that fails nearly every test of good open data.
Reposted by Mel Choyce
i find this image so fascinating. it is both a literal example of authoritarianism but also a second-hand reproduction of the aesthetics of other authoritarian states. it's like a simulacra of authoritarianism whose purpose is to attempt to make the simulacra real.
This is a real photograph of Washington, DC this week, where the United States president has ordered military occupation in peacetime, and ordered the display of colossal portraits of himself.
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
August 28, 2025 at 1:38 PM
i find this image so fascinating. it is both a literal example of authoritarianism but also a second-hand reproduction of the aesthetics of other authoritarian states. it's like a simulacra of authoritarianism whose purpose is to attempt to make the simulacra real.
Reposted by Mel Choyce
📹 Can't attend WordCamp US this year? No worries! You can still join the conversation online and watch many exciting presentations about WordPress. Catch the live streams here: www.youtube.com/WordPress/str...
#WordPress #WCUS
#WordPress #WCUS
August 27, 2025 at 5:00 PM
📹 Can't attend WordCamp US this year? No worries! You can still join the conversation online and watch many exciting presentations about WordPress. Catch the live streams here: www.youtube.com/WordPress/str...
#WordPress #WCUS
#WordPress #WCUS
Reposted by Mel Choyce
Say it louder for the people in the back!! Beat reporting matters, and beat reporting on government agencies and implementation matters. That's why I love my job
This WaPo piece about the Airbnb/DOGE guy who is now the head of design in government ignores that:
*DOGE fired the actual talented design people in government, including Social Security!
*IRS had a beautifully designed tax filing system that DOGE killed
*USDS already did online passport renewals
*DOGE fired the actual talented design people in government, including Social Security!
*IRS had a beautifully designed tax filing system that DOGE killed
*USDS already did online passport renewals
August 26, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Say it louder for the people in the back!! Beat reporting matters, and beat reporting on government agencies and implementation matters. That's why I love my job
Have fun at WCUS y’all. Wish I was there 🥲
August 26, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Have fun at WCUS y’all. Wish I was there 🥲
Reposted by Mel Choyce
Our democracy is not a brand. Our country is not a retail store. At 18F, our inspiration was (and is) the American people.
August 26, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Our democracy is not a brand. Our country is not a retail store. At 18F, our inspiration was (and is) the American people.
Reposted by Mel Choyce
Reposted by Mel Choyce
Citizen Is Using AI to Generate Crime Alerts With No Human Review. It’s Making a Lot of Mistakes
🔗 www.404media.co/citizen-is-u...
🔗 www.404media.co/citizen-is-u...
Citizen Is Using AI to Generate Crime Alerts With No Human Review. It’s Making a Lot of Mistakes
Three sources described how AI is writing alerts for Citizen and broadcasting them without prior human review. In one case AI mistranslated “motor vehicle accident” to “murder vehicle accident.”
www.404media.co
August 25, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Citizen Is Using AI to Generate Crime Alerts With No Human Review. It’s Making a Lot of Mistakes
🔗 www.404media.co/citizen-is-u...
🔗 www.404media.co/citizen-is-u...
Reposted by Mel Choyce
We’re not seeing an empirical dispute of crime stats or a debate about what constitutes “crime under control. We’re seeing federal military occupation of US cities.
What the targets have in common is not crime rates, it’s voting against the president’s party.
Journalistic malpractice.
What the targets have in common is not crime rates, it’s voting against the president’s party.
Journalistic malpractice.
August 25, 2025 at 3:01 AM
We’re not seeing an empirical dispute of crime stats or a debate about what constitutes “crime under control. We’re seeing federal military occupation of US cities.
What the targets have in common is not crime rates, it’s voting against the president’s party.
Journalistic malpractice.
What the targets have in common is not crime rates, it’s voting against the president’s party.
Journalistic malpractice.
Reposted by Mel Choyce
“Improving our nation through better design” is certainly important work: we know this, because it’s exactly what we were doing when DOGE eliminated 18F entirely.
Improving Our Nation Through Better Design
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose and
www.whitehouse.gov
August 23, 2025 at 1:25 AM
“Improving our nation through better design” is certainly important work: we know this, because it’s exactly what we were doing when DOGE eliminated 18F entirely.
Reposted by Mel Choyce
"Website design is my passion." americabydesign.gov
August 25, 2025 at 1:01 AM
"Website design is my passion." americabydesign.gov
Reposted by Mel Choyce
On the left: Nate Cavanagh, a 28-year-old DOGE staffer and college dropout.
On the right: Mohammad Halimi, a 53-year-old exiled Afghan scholar.
This is the story of how DOGE targeted Halimi on social media.
Then the Taliban took his family. 🧵
On the right: Mohammad Halimi, a 53-year-old exiled Afghan scholar.
This is the story of how DOGE targeted Halimi on social media.
Then the Taliban took his family. 🧵
August 22, 2025 at 11:41 AM
On the left: Nate Cavanagh, a 28-year-old DOGE staffer and college dropout.
On the right: Mohammad Halimi, a 53-year-old exiled Afghan scholar.
This is the story of how DOGE targeted Halimi on social media.
Then the Taliban took his family. 🧵
On the right: Mohammad Halimi, a 53-year-old exiled Afghan scholar.
This is the story of how DOGE targeted Halimi on social media.
Then the Taliban took his family. 🧵