Field notes, essays, and running research on care ethics, motherhood, systems design, women’s health, and the invisible labour most products refuse to account for.
Concepts from Portuguese and Indigenous frameworks that do not map cleanly into English product vocabulary. Listed A to Z as running entries: headword, sense, then how they show up in interface work.
Button color system
Two action colours, two jobs.
Primary action
Yellow
Use for high-intent actions: book, buy, visit live, subscribe, follow, or any CTA that moves someone forward.
.btn-primary-yellow
Structural action
Dark green
Use for navigation, filters, selected states, secondary CTAs, and controls that organize the page.
.btn-secondary-green
Ayni
Quechua (Andean)
Pronunciation: /EYE-nee/
DefinitionCosmic reciprocity. The principle that every exchange must balance. When one side extracts without returning, the system is in violation. Applied to data collection, care labour, user attention.
Gambiarra
Brazilian Portuguese
Pronunciation: /gam-bee-AH-ha/
DefinitionImprovised repair with whatever is available. Duct tape engineering. The thing users build when your product doesn't account for their constraints.
Jeitinho
Brazilian Portuguese
Pronunciation: /zhay-CHEEN-yo/
DefinitionThe creative workaround when systems fail you. Every mother does this. Every user in a broken system does this. When the interface doesn't account for your reality, you find a way anyway.
Malandragem
Brazilian Portuguese
Pronunciation: /ma-lan-DRAH-zhem/
DefinitionStreet intelligence. The ability to read a system, find its gaps, and navigate them with grace. Not dishonesty. Survival intelligence in environments not designed for you.
Saudade
Portuguese
Pronunciation: /sow-DAH-djee/
DefinitionA deep longing for something that may not return. Not nostalgia. A structural absence you carry. Relevant to identity loss in caregiving, to return-to-work systems that assume you come back the same person.