2020

đź“·

The loss of creative people is complex. If we have nothing to do with a creator in person, then our grief is often more to do with the loss of potential future output—the books unwritten and songs unsung. But we are not our work. It is a part of us, but not the whole of us. Certainly no substitute for the love we give—or are unable to give—to our children. No shortcut to understanding our innermost selves, or what we meant to the people who loved us.

mornin'

Runners.

An evening walk, lots of crunchy leaves and some ghosts.

Don’t draw the UI, draw the priority instead meaning you should " … write a humble list of priorities for every project: most important info at the top -> least important info at the bottom. So instead of trying to figure out the order of the information in a component—like a card or a table or what have you, we should use this content audit to help define the visual priority of each bit."

Landsburg continued to photograph the eruption until the last possible moment, leaving himself enough time to wind up his film into its case, place his camera in its bag, place that bag into his backpack, and lay his body on top of the bag as the final protective layer against the shower of magma and ash. (source)

/via tecznts

Now, instead of finished plans, designers must create possibilities for others to design and make; designers must build flexible platforms, defined by patterns and rules for interaction and rules for changing the rules. Instead of making decisions about what and how, designers facilitate conversations about why and who.

— Hugh Dubberly

About Feeds hopes to ‘…become the default “Help! What is this?” link next to every web feed icon on the web.’

The Architecture of Information “collects examples of intriguing information structures from the web and beyond.” Always into anything Jorge Arango does.

Shadrach Radio on Spotify. A crunchy mix of 90s music (Ween, Beasties, Primus …) if that’s your thing, enjoy.

Typehut another super simple blog “… or newsletter, changelog, press page, devlog, announcements, events or anything else you can imagine.”

Analog is “a physical (paper + wood) companion for your digital tools that helps you prioritize and focus on your most important tasks.”

I wish there was a more peaceful feed reader. Something that doesn’t make keeping up with my favorite blogs feel like a chore.

So I made a little Figma prototype to illustrate the idea.

I call it MARKS and the concept is simple. A list of bookMARKS that lets you know when something is new plus gets you out into the wilds of the web to hopefully discover even more great sites.

Color Craft & Counterpoint: A Designer’s Life with Color Vision Deficiency is a detailed article about the life of a color blind person. I’m also color blind (red/green) and the block below about traffic lights spoke to me. I have problems when lights are blinking red or yellow late at night.

Think for a moment about ways that color is used to convey information in the world around you. One thing that comes to my mind would be traffic lights. Color is used to let drivers know how they should proceed. No additional information is provided in case a driver is color blind. Traffic lights also use two of the colors most commonly associated with color blindness: red and green. Thankfully, most traffic lights have a common form factor. The top light is red, the middle light is yellow, and the bottom light is green. Even if I couldn’t tell the color, as long as I can tell which light is lit, then I’m able to get the necessary information.

Small Seasons is a nice little website listing nature’s micro seasons. We are currently in the seeds and cereals. “Praying mantises hatch, fireflies come out. Time to seed the soil.” I saw my first fireflies of the summer on my walk last night.

Kicks Condor on blogging “But it’s still worth attempting - like any creative project that might flower into something. That might actually make life worth living.”

In the interest of trying to learn #Figma I started recreating those Lego Computer #UIs that made the rounds recently. If you’d like to have a go at it, here is the link.

Walkcar is a car you can carry around like a laptop PC.

Bear Blog is an extremely lightweight blogging tool.

Passive income for the soul “I now have several forms of passive income: writing, drawing, cooking, exercising, photography. Doing any of these things pays immediate dividends into my mind vault …”

Week 19.20: instrumentals, advice, stuff to love, and more

↑ 9-eyes.com

What is the job of a contact tracer?

I was reading my state’s Covid-19 recovery plan and was curious about the contact tracing part. Specifically, the job of contact tracing, so I looked up the job posting:

Are you a self-motivated, people person looking to make meaningful contributions through work that impacts the nation? NORC is hiring interviewers to serve as Contact Tracers for the Maryland COVID Link initiative. These Contact Tracers will play a key role in the state’s effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. This opportunity will allow interviewers to contribute to the fight against the disease while working from home as part of the Contact Tracing Call Team.

Roam is a super nerdy (I mean that in the best possible way) note taking tool that allows multiple ways to interconnect your thoughts

Week 15.20 - media diet, tiny offices, sea creatures, and more

↑ Current mood, photo by Patrick Joust

  • I just finished The Winter People, a creepy book that toggles between two families, one in 1908 and one in modern times, living in the same haunted/cursed farm house.

  • I just started Terriers on Hulu. It’s like a less psychedelic Big Lebowski meets 80s/90s detective show.

  • These little animated excercising stick figures are awesome, bonus points for an excercise regime you can do in a “postage-stamp flat”

MapLab: A Shrinking Mental Map

“Under quarantine, the map of my world has shrunk in distance, but if I try hard enough, maybe it doesn’t have to shrink in detail.” 

Trains in Motion is a series of photos by Aaron Durand. /via Present & Correct

Still Hiring lists companies with open positions for those job hunting in these tough times. Looks like everything from grocery stores to marketing agencies are listed.

The Short Story Club is like a book club, but for short stories. RSVP, read a short story, and join a live discussion with the author on Zoom. First up, a story from Cory Doctrow. Plus proceeds go towards getting masks to healthcare workers. In.

U.S. Digital Response is looking for volunteers to help State and Local governments with technical support for their COVID-19 response. Types of skills sought include: UX research/design, content strategy, front-end engineering and more.

Abandoned is a calm (to me) documentary series that “… explores abandoned places with the people who love them long after the lights have gone out.”