The Creative Independent is a resource of emotional and practical guidance for creative people. Published by Kickstarter. Love this.
(via Chris)
The Creative Independent
Email Charter
We would be all better off in our lives (and inboxes) if we all respected and followed these Email Charter rules.
(Yes, I wrote about this a LONG time ago!)
ConferCal
Ever think you want to attend a conference but you don’t know which one or you always find out after they are sold out or happened? The newly launched ConferCal can help!
George Heilmeier’s Method for Solving Research Challenges
Next time I have to break down a problem, I will remember George Heilmeier’s method for solving research challenges:
– What are you trying to do? Articulate your objectives using absolutely no jargon.
– How is it done today, and what are the limits of current practice?
– What is new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful?
– Who cares? If you are successful, what difference will it make?
– What are the risks?
– How much will it cost?
– How long will it take?
– What are the mid-term and final “exams” to check for success?
(via John Maeda)
Happy Birthday TeuxDeux!
8 years ago today, I launched TeuxDeux together with Cameron and his FictiveKin Crew. It has been keeping me organized ever since.
TeuxDeux is a simple list-app and the closest you can get to a paper to-do list, digitally. I keep my TeuxDeux as the browser landing page on my computer, which means, every time I open a browser window I am being reminded what I should be focusing on. Whatever you don’t check off today, will automatically roll over to the next day. It’s delightfully simple. And in the ‘someday section’ below I keep lists like shopping, movies I want to watch, gift ideas for the kids, etc
Try it for free! And if you do, do me a favor and enable the flying cat in the settings. You’ll see!
Threadless Customization
I haven’t visited Threadless in a while and am amazed at their custom one-off printing offerings. From T-Shirts and Apparel to Home Decor and Accessories. I had no idea! Check it out!
(via Chris)
Laser Cats Stickers
My friend sent me an animated laser cat sticker this morning and it made me laugh out loud. It scanned the entire text message with its laser eyes. Hilarious!
Fighting Off Telemarketers
Jolly Roger are artificially intelligent bots that keep telemarketers on the line for as long as possible. Listen to this example. OMG!
Critical Edit Checks Before You Hit Publish
This article by Barry Davret is helpful if you do editing work: 10 Unusual But Critical Edit Checks Before You Hit Publish
(via)
My Favorite Interview Questions
When I talk to my friends who run companies or are in hiring positions, I usually ask them for their favorite interview question. Here are some of mine that I collected over the years:
– What do you know about us?
– What did you like about your last job? Why did you leave?
– Tell me something about yourself that I can’t find out on Google!
– Who do you admire?
– What’s a reason why I should not hire you?
– What do you do when you’re not working?
– What’s something you’re bad at that you really wish you were good at.
– What’s your favorite part of your current or previous job?
– What’s your secret superpower?
– When was the last time you wore a costume? And what was it?
– What’s the shittiest job you’ve ever had?
– What are you learning right now?
– How do you organize your closet?
– What would the title of your autobiography be?
– Tell me about some people you’ve helped in your career.
– I’m going to give you 5 minutes. Teach me something new. Anything!
– If I was to ask your friends 3 words to describe you what would they be?
– When is the last time you went out of your way to do something nice for someone?
– What are the biggest values you think your parents taught you?
– When is it okay to break the rules?
– What is an article or book you read recently that changed your mind about something?
– If you had a magic wand, what would you like to be know for?
– Give me a single sentence to tell our CEO about you when I see her later today.
– If you weren’t getting paid for what you do, would you still be doing it?
– How does this position relate to what you really want to be doing?
– What do you dream of?
– What is the thing that breaks your heart?
– What are you pretending you don’t know?
– What do you want?
Do you remember being asked an interesting interview question? What was it?
UPDATE: Inc.com featured 10 of my favorite interview questions after seeing this post.
Panobook: A Notebook for Your Desk
Panobook Kickstarter Video from Studio Neat on Vimeo.
A panoramic notebook for your desk? And eventually, your shelf? Panobook looks fantastic!
Facebook Social Fixer
Social Fixer, a plugin for Facebook lets you hide sponsored posts, remove politics, make your feed chronological again and much more.
(thanks Manu)
This Contract!
“You give me money, I give you creative!” This contract is after my own heart.
A Mobile Phone Contract for Teenagers
13) Learn to overcome the uncomfortable feeling of striking up a conversation with those around you! Try not to use your phone as a means of avoiding others.
Love #13 in Cameron Moll’s phone contract for his teenage sons. Grown ups should have to sign something similar.
Pause Button For Email
INBOX PAUSE is a handy pause button for your inbox. It allows you to put new messages on hold, making it so they won’t appear in your Inbox until you are ready for them. If you choose, INBOX PAUSE can notify the people who email you to let them know that their message will not be delivered to your Inbox. When you unpause your Inbox, all of the messages that you received during the break will be moved to your Inbox, and new messages will arrive as before.
This is by the same folks that created Boomerang for Gmail.
Women Who Design
Women Who Design is a Twitter profile directory of inspiring women in the design industry. Go and nominate more women!
New Instagram Feature
There’s a NEW way to group your interests! Tap and hold the bookmark to save posts by collections. https://t.co/DYRCxbQGrv pic.twitter.com/zH235UCXk2
— Instagram (@instagram) April 17, 2017
You can now organize your saved bookmark on Instagram by tapping and holding the bookmark to save posts by collections. Getting all Pinterest-y on us!
Business Fundamentals Made Clear
I wish I would have access to these lessons in business fundamentals when I started out 11 years ago.
Essays on Design and Inclusion
50+ essays on Design and Inclusion curated by John Maeda and Mark Armstrong.
Flow state
I watched my coworker Emerline use Flowstate and it blew my mind. It is a writing tool designed to snowball a person’s primal focus into a serene state of creative flow. No overthinking what you wrote. No instant deleting, going back and editing. Just writing! How? You set a focus time, you start writing and when you pause, the app blurs out and makes everything you wrote disappear. The document only gets saved if you complete your timed-writing exercise. Terrifying and brilliant all at once. Try it: Flowstate.
Small Victories
Small Victories takes files in a Dropbox folder and turns them into a website. I just gave it a try with an photo folder that is sitting on my Dropbox but I am not doing anything with. It works like magic. Wheee!
NOPE Button
This Nope Button Chrome extension is just what the office world needs: A coworker drops by and wants to ‘pick your brain’? Press a button in your Chrome browser to send a call to your phone. Apologize sincerely as you pick it up. Then watch your co-worker walks away. Funny.