During the Holidays, we usually take some time off from work to enjoy friends, family and a break from the daily grind. So, our response time might be a little slower than usual until we’re back in the full swing of things on January 3.
If you have an emergency during that time, though, just shoot us an e-mail- we’ll do our best to get you taken care of as quickly as we can.
Happy Holidays!
Wearing many hats can be exhausting. And rewarding, and painstaking, and refreshing. Guess that’s what you get if you have all those hats on…
I’ve given it some thought, though, and I’ve decided how I feel about the whole blending interests and being pretty good at all of them vs focusing on one thing and mastering it conversation.
When it comes down to it, I think being able to do lots of things makes you more valuable. When you’re confidently strong in several areas, is it really necessary to then “master” one of them and forsake the rest? Keep Reading
College didn’t do me a damn bit of good.
That’s not to say I didn’t take advantage of the classes I took, or do my homework, or participate in group discussions… I did. I was actually a relatively good student. But still, here I am doing work that’s directly related to my degree (communications) and I feel like everything I’ve learned has been on the job. That’s right- on the job, not in the classroom.
It makes perfect sense that I feel this way, because it’s the world we live in. We’re a self-taught generation, no professors necessary. We learn from each other’s mistakes, successes, trials and tribulations. No no no, we don’t use self-help to reach our goals, but we are self-taught, and that’s a huge difference.
I’m not the only one who feels this way.
“With the amount of awesome tutorial blogs and design blogs out there, I don’t see any reason for a degree.” – Mike Smith
“I have worked with other programmers with and without degrees. Some were good and some not; having a degree didn’t seem to make any difference as to which pot they fell into.” – Stack Overflow
I think Peter Chang sums it up quite nicely.
“…before I went to college I was self-taught and after college I consider myself to be self-teaching all the time. Learning should never end.”
Love this whole exchange. http://www.marco.org/2011/05/14/instapaper-redesign-by-tim-van-damme
“Chris Rock says: ‘A lot of comedians have great jokes, and they’re like, ‘Why is this not working?’ It’s not working because the audience doesn’t understand the premise. If I set this premise up right, this joke will always work.’ The comics talk about ensuring the audience — so demanding, so easily distracted — is with them for every joke during the act. This doesn’t mean talking down or pandering. Rather, it’s good old-fashioned respect. I sometimes tell students that every design needs a welcome mat and a doorknob. The first helps a person realize, ‘Hey, this is for me.’ The second gives them a way into the design. Good design, like good comedy, is about surprise. But surprise can’t happen in a vacuum. It needs a context that establishes familiarity. If you respect your audience, you provide that context.’
http://observersroom.designobserver.com/oblog/post/seven-things-designers-can-learn-from-stand-up-comics/27038/
“The consequence of specialization and success is that it hurts you. It hurts you because it basically doesn’t aid in your development. The truth of the matter is that understanding development comes from failure.”
via Swiss Miss
It’s always nice to find other people who think like we do, and Trent Walton does. He shares our belief that it’s more about the overall experience we create for our users, rather than the bits and pieces we use to get there. Although we strain immensely over all of those bits, and pour tirelessly over each of the pieces, what brings us the most joy is someone telling us “your work really helped me today.”
And that is what we strive for, because the whole is greater than the sum of all its parts.
You can almost hear Dieter Rams reading this article in his thick accent.
“Good content is user-centered…
Publishing content that is self-absorbed in substance or style alienates readers. Most successful organizations have realized this, yet many sites are still built around internal org charts, clogged with mission statements designed for internal use, and beset by jargon and proprietary names for common ideas.
If you’re the only one offering a desirable product or service, you might not see the effects of narcissistic content right away, but someone will eventually come along and eat your lunch by offering the exact same thing in a user-centered way.”
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/a-checklist-for-content-work/
Ever wish you could get a little more organization inside your Moleskine? I mean, they’re already small, portable, and sleek looking- all great things. But our thoughts can be all over the place, and our note-taking shows it. We found ourselves drawing all over our notebooks in an attempt to become more organized… and ended up being the exact opposite.
We fixed our own problem… then decided it might be useful to other people, too!
We came up with an experiment to incorporate our todo lists into that same Moleskine pocket notebook we carry around all the time anyway. All you do is peel and stick the StickTo right onto the page, write your todos, and check ‘em off as you go. Instant organization. There’s even a tab that sticks out to remind you you’re not quite done with your list yet. No worries, though- when you are done, you can just rip off that tab and get on with it.
When most of our organization happens online, it’s nice to have a tangible reminder that our physical lives can be just as put together.