Made me smile: 8-bit Zelda Fireplace Art.
Regret
“If we have goals and dreams and we want to do our best, and if we love people and we don’t want to hurt them or lose them, we should feel pain when things go wrong. The point isn’t to live without any regrets, the point is to not hate ourselves for having them… We need to learn to love the flawed, imperfect things that we create, and to forgive ourselves for creating them. Regret doesn’t remind us that we did badly — it reminds us that we know we can do better.”
– Kathryn Schulz
(via Brain Pickings)
Concrete Wallpaper
Not sure what to think of this concrete wallpaper by Dutch designer Piet Boon. I’d definitely would love to see it in person.
Selected Data Visualization Tools
The fine folks of data visualization.ch put together a selection of data visualization tools that they use the most and that they enjoy working with. It includes libraries for plotting data on maps, frameworks for creating charts, graphs and diagrams and tools to simplify the handling of data. Even if you’re not into programming, you’ll find applications that can be used without writing one single line of code. They will keep this list as a living repository and add / remove things as technology develops. YES!
12 year old explains national debt
In this video, 12-year old Victoria Grant explains why her homeland, Canada, and most of the world, is in debt.
(via explore)
Friday Link Pack
(via inspivids)
– Love these Anti Portraits
– Pretzel Pool Float. Yup.
– CardFlick makes Business Cards a thing of the past. Take them digital. YES!
– Tali Sharot: The Optimism Bias
– Pictory is showcasing the Phootcamp Application Self Portraits of the 2012 roster.
– Daily tips for modern manners by Bekka Palmer.
– Don’t have a green thumb? There’s hope: Koubachi gives your plants a voice.
– “The way you react to a situation or critique is just as memorable as your work.” Advice to Young Designers by Kim Knoll
– Ladybug Pins. Cute.
– If I was going on long bike rides I would totally get the QuadLock iPhone Mounting System.
– The New York Times is looking to hire a Web Designer.
– Nine-Year-Old’s Blog Takes A Frank Look At School Lunches.
Ideapaint CLEAR
I am quite giddy over the announcement of Ideapaint Clear: With CLEAR, you can turn any surface into an Ideapaint wall. The new transparent top coat delivers dry erase functionality to smooth surfaces of any color. Apply directly over painted walls, or even wood, to create a seamless think-space that matches any décor. With CLEAR, your walls won’t look different, but they’ll act different.
Your walls will become Magic. At least, that’s what my kids call it. We use ours at Studiomates daily.
Pickle Bottle Stopper
This Pickle Bottle Stopper made me smile. I believe in the world needing a good dose of silly.
Advice from Rob Giampietro
Advice by Rob Giampietro to designers getting ready to start their own studio:
1. An untended garden quickly becomes a field: plant what you want to grow.
2. Have partners, but don’t do the same things: make sure you both do something you enjoy.
3. Hire people for what they can teach you, not for what you can teach them.
4. Everyone should be able to take criticism: creative trust is built on critical honesty.
5. Design is only one part of the puzzle: savor the discussion, development, debate, and dissemination of your work just as much as the making of it.
6. Goals may be arbitrary, but not having them will be maddening when there’s no one else to tell you if you’re doing a good job: set 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year goals at the outset.
7. When you take your favorite clients out to lunch, it’s a good time to propose what you’d like to do together next.
8. Knowing more designers doesn’t necessarily translate into having good clients: spend your development time wisely.
9. Be known for something: it helps.
10. You will never work harder than when you’re building something: find balance. Sometimes the best way to solve a creative problem is to take a vacation or read a book.
(via One Skinnyj)
Jim Henson Tribute
The Muppets pay tribute to their creator, Jim Henson, who passed away 22 years ago this week.
(via explore)
Nourishing Habits for Nourishing Design
Wonderful talk by Craig Mod on how great design is born from nourishing habits.
The best designer is an aware designer. The best design solutions are found by deconstructing problems as they arise in our own lives. What habits can we as designers form to provide us with a more objective clarity in answering these problems? How can we apply these solutions to existing products? When is it time to build new products? There is an intersection between the cultivation of habit, personal experience and design application – it is nourishing and magic and something we should all strive to evoke.
Organized Wonder
Organized Wonder is a new way to share and discover the best talks, documentaries, interviews, short films and various other videos scattered across the web. Fantastic!
You can follow my collection here.
David Kelley: How to build your creative confidence
Absolutely wonderful TED talk by David Kelley, founder of IDEO, in which he is telling stories from his legendary design career and his own life, offering ways to build the confidence to create.
Brainwashed
“When exactly were you brainwashed into believing that the best way to earn a living is to have a job?”
– Seth Godin, Brainwashed
Sombrerou Dish
This Mexican sombrero looking snack dish cleverly solves the Olive pit problem…
Diamond Brooch
Diamond Brooch by LOTOCOHO. Gasp. #wishlisted
Blime Light
I had the pleasure to see Alvaro Soto demonstrate this beautiful lamp called Blime Light at last night’s Apartment Therapy Design Evening.
Blime Light is a DIY light fixture that ships in a teeny tiny box and then can be assembled at home. They are currently running a Kickstarter campaign and are offering a whopping 24 colors in card stock paper and a white version in 100% recycled and recyclable vellum. Totally backing this! Join me?
Three Loops Wide
Thumbs up for the sculptural quality of this multipurpose loop hanger. Now your scarves, belts, ties and necklaces have a stylish home.
Asparagus Tart
This Asparagus Tart caught my eye, and made my stomach growl. I found it over on The Forest Feast, a blog by Erin Gleeson, a NYC photographer who moved to the woods.
When asked…
When asked what he wished he would have known earlier, Seth Godin answered “It’s going to be ok.”
(via @rameadows)