I just got a good chuckle out of this iphone app called AntiMosquito Fumigator. The app claims to keep mosquitos away as long as you keep it running in the background. It emits a high-pitched sound that humans don’t hear but mosquitos do and not appreciate. I’ll gladly give it a try this coming weekend, but I admit, I am not too hopeful.
(thank you sorella)
I am incredibly honored to be featured on The Brander, a fine Swiss online journal that features stories about brands and their creators, generated by renowned journalists and photographers. The independent publication is the creation of Zurich’s branding agency Branders and aims to portray big, small und exclusive brands from all over the world.
A big thank you to Roman Elsener for the article, Stefan Falke for the photography and Tessa Pfenninger for the translation.
Here’s the link to my feature: Tina Roth Eisenberg – a modern Swiss Miss
A big thank you to Herman Miller for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed.
You know their furniture designs; they set the tone for mid-century modern and next-century cool. That makes them right for nearly any space. Most recently, Herman Miller has turned its savvy to creating great offices for small businesses. The focus is called the Herman Miller S3 program. Think hybrid sports car. Easy on the wallet because it’s a select group of easy-to-own products. Fun because it’s fast (“from idea to installation in about 20 days”). Worth a test drive. hermanmiller.com/s3
(Interested in sponsoring a week of my RSS feed, learn more here.)
Takashi Kawada created an iphone app called Animal Font which lets you write out a message in animal shaped balloon typography and send it to friends via email.
(via spoon-tamago)
Here’s a refreshing approach to small space living: Nexo turns your dirty laundry into a stool cushion.
I just discovered this deck chair called Curt in my submissions folder. Interesting concept by Bernhard Burkard.
Swings is public art project by Jeff Waldman. What started last year as a conversation about the simplistic pleasures of swings has launched into a multi-city experiment in unexpected joy and cerebral happiness.
Jeff installed swings in San Francisco, in the Marshall Islands, Panama and across Los Angeles, thanks to a grant from The Awesome Foundation.
It’s a universal message. An appeal to celebrate the passions of our youth, to give in to simplistic urges, but mostly, to remind people of the difference a smile can make in their day and the infectious effect that a smile has on those they encounter.
Visit swingsetting.org to be a part of ther next swings project.
(via curiosity counts)
Agenda is a stunningly minimal looking alternative to the built in iPhone calendar app. And it obviously is meant to look similar to an old style paper desk calendar. I’ll give it a try!
(via minimal mac)
Email is on my mind, first the Email Charter, now Shortmail: Shortmail is a length-limited simple email service meant to make your email experience effective and efficient. All Shortmail messages must be less than 500 characters. Limiting messages to 500 characters puts the burden of conciseness onto senders. Blaise Pascal famously said, “If I had more time I would write a shorter letter.” Because the messages are so short, Shortmail is able to present them in a more conversational layout.
I am excited about this idea, but not necessarily about having to use someone elses service/platform. I wish it would work like a ‘layer that sits ontop of my own domain’. But nevertheless, this is most definitely a step in the right direction and I’ll give it a try.
Claim your Shortmail Address. It just launched yesterday, so chances are good you get what you’re hoping for. Quick!
I was sent one of these Genius MousePen Multimedia Tablets and since I am not a tablet user, I gave it to my studiomate Erica. We were just talking about it and she said she would totally recommend it if you’re someone that takes your tablet on the road. It’s wireless, and quite lightweight. There are two buttons on the pen, which you can set to right-click and toggle screens, as well as a row of shortcut buttons on the tablet. Favorite part: the pen stores in the top of the tablet for travel.
(I keep trying tablets and, believe it or not, I get ‘seasick’ using them. Silly, yes.)
A big thank you to Finch Paper for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed.
It’s no secret that paper comes in all types—standard office supply store-issue, slick & coated, FSC® certified, and touch-worthy uncoated stocks of every weight, Finch Paper falls into the latter two categories. People who love Finch Paper tend to be graphic designers who appreciate beauty, both in terms of paper quality and budget friendliness.
Posters, stationery, brochures, they all have their own personality, but with the right paper they become works of art.
Order samples today. And check out the Finch Paper Blog!
(Interested in sponsoring a week of my RSS feed, learn more here.)
Woven rainbow gift toppers? Yes, please!
My dad just pointed me to an app called Hey Tell that turns your iPhone or Android into a Walkie-Talkie. Totally going to give this a try.
Combine wooden blocks and perspective and what you’ll get is a fascinating Block Type Experiment.
(Thank you Maria)
These toilet paper owls made me chuckle. What an adorable kids crafty project. I am sure my owl-obsessed studiomate Meagan will approve.
One Cup a Day project is an experiment on creativity and rapid manufacturing, by ideating, designing, modeling and making available for production and purchase a coffee cup within 24 hours, everyday during one month.
(via ignant)
I am delighted about Chris Anderson’s launch of the Email Charter. We’re drowning in email. And the many hours we spend on it are generating ever more work for our friends and colleagues. We can reverse this spiral only by mutual agreement. Hence the charter:
10 Rules to Reverse the Email Spiral
1. Respect Recipients’ Time
This is the fundamental rule. As the message sender, the onus is on YOU to minimize the time your email will take to process. Even if it means taking more time at your end before sending.
2. Short or Slow is not Rude
Let’s mutually agree to cut each other some slack. Given the email load we’re all facing, it’s OK if replies take a while coming and if they don’t give detailed responses to all your questions. No one wants to come over as brusque, so please don’t take it personally. We just want our lives back!
3. Celebrate Clarity
Start with a subject line that clearly labels the topic, and maybe includes a status category [Info], [Action], [Time Sens] [Low Priority]. Use crisp, muddle-free sentences. If the email has to be longer than five sentences, make sure the first provides the basic reason for writing. Avoid strange fonts and colors.
4. Quash Open-Ended Questions
It is asking a lot to send someone an email with four long paragraphs of turgid text followed by “Thoughts?”. Even well-intended-but-open questions like “How can I help?” may not be that helpful. Email generosity requires simplifying, easy-to-answer questions. “Can I help best by a) calling b) visiting or c) staying right out of it?!”
5. Slash Surplus cc’s
cc’s are like mating bunnies. For every recipient you add, you are dramatically multiplying total response time. Not to be done lightly! When there are multiple recipients, please don’t default to ‘Reply All’. Maybe you only need to cc a couple of people on the original thread. Or none.
6. Tighten the Thread
Some emails depend for their meaning on context. Which means it’s usually right to include the thread being responded to. But it’s rare that a thread should extend to more than 3 emails. Before sending, cut what’s not relevant. Or consider making a phone call instead.
7. Attack Attachments
Don’t use graphics files as logos or signatures that appear as attachments. Time is wasted trying to see if there’s something to open. Even worse is sending text as an attachment when it could have been included in the body of the email.
8. Give these Gifts: EOM NNTR
If your email message can be expressed in half a dozen words, just put it in the subject line, followed by EOM (= End of Message). This saves the recipient having to actually open the message. Ending a note with “No need to respond” or NNTR, is a wonderful act of generosity. Many acronyms confuse as much as help, but these two are golden and deserve wide adoption.
9. Cut Contentless Responses
You don’t need to reply to every email, especially not those that are themselves clear responses. An email saying “Thanks for your note. I’m in.” does not need you to reply “Great.” That just cost someone another 30 seconds.
10. Disconnect!
If we all agreed to spend less time doing email, we’d all get less email! Consider calendaring half-days at work where you can’t go online. Or a commitment to email-free weekends. Or an ‘auto-response’ that references this charter. And don’t forget to smell the roses.
visit emailcharter.org
Manu Cornet drew these Org Charts of some of the biggest tech companies. Made me smile.
As if Mailchimp couldn’t make me love them any more, they keep doing it! Check out this Mailchimp Coloring Book drawn by @justinpervorse.
I was lucky enough to receive an actual printed copy of the coloring book and I can’t wait to show it to my daughter! Who wouldn’t want to color in a chimp?
When I thanked Ben, the founder of Mailchimp, he filled me in on why they made them to begin with. Apparently, the marketing team, without Ben’s say, added a small line at the bottom of their site that says “Love What You Do” which some people perceived as Mailchimp’s tagline. I, in fact, have noticed that line and pointed out to several people as I thought sending such a simple powerful message in something trivial as the footer was a fantastic idea.
So, when Ben read someone’s tweet mentioning their ‘tagline’, he was first confused, worried and then maybe a little angry that nobody had talked to him about it. He quickly realized that it was in fact spot on so he pretended to be angry and walked over to his design lab and marketing group. He figured he should get something in return for this ‘rogue action”… He walked in and told them that if they were going to come up with this sorta stuff without consulting with him, they now have to make me a coloring book, called “Love What You Do.”
The design lab staff looked at him in a weird, confused kinda way, but then they smiled and got to work.
And funny enough, they actually had *nothing* to do with this, as Ben found out later. He realized that it most probably was an idea by his UXTeam. So he reached out to Aaron Walter via chat, to clarify the situation:
You can read about it all over on theirMailchimp blog. I can’t help but think that working at Mailchimp must be quite a pleasurable experience.
(enter big smile here)
Do you have a little one? Then you should download the PDF of the coloring book.
