Cool Discovery of the Day

To buy these AWESOME laptop sleeves : http://twelvesouth.com/products/bookbook/

Why I believe a Mac will fulfill my life.

I desperately want a Mac laptop. I was converted earlier in the Fall but have yet to save up the resources necessary to purchase a beautiful Mac. (Crib, car seat, stroller, and diapers are consuming my savings)

Here are the reasons why I believe a Mac will fulfill my life:

• Its Powerpoint animation is to die for (my favourite is the "cube"). Sidenote: did you know that Apple created powerpoint and sold it to Microsoft?
  
• Every serious designer owns a Mac.
  
• Macs are built to last (unlike my stupid HP Tablet).
  
• Mac will not freeze on me (unlike my stupid HP Tablet).
  
• Mac offers original and outstanding templates.
  
• Just the look of a Mac causes inspiration.
  

There's always this argument with artists and creative people. Do the tools you use really help create inspiration?

I believe that the answer is: YES..... to a certain extent.

I'm a marketer.

It is my job to convince you to realize that the tools you use (ie. the products I'm selling) will change your life and THAT is why you should spend the money to buy it. Of course, this marketing proposition isn't always true. Some of the stuff really is useless.

I compare the tools you use to create your art to your settings. The environment that surrounds writers, painters, web designers, etc. is very important. Some writers need a peaceful getway, away from reality, to create their masterpieces. Some artists thrive on busy streets where commotion is their inspiration.

I need to have music on when I write. I tried to multi-task and listen to my talk-radio stations as I wrote. Couldn't concentrate. I write best when I'm in my bed, late at night. Or, I have to be sitting in my big armchair by my HUGE window with no one around me.

Just as the atmosphere is important, so are the tools used. On my desk, you'll find 10 different neon highlighters, multi-colored pens (both ball-point and gel), 4 different sized and colored post-it pads and a collection of STAEDTLER watercolor pencils heaping inside my metal desk organizer. Behind my massive inventory of writing utensils, you can see an equally massive stack of different notebooks, artbooks and folders.

Maybe it's just my obsession with organizing that I have all these different tools, but I really find that using certain objects help inspire creative thoughts.

And, of course, flipchart paper. Flipchart paper is THE BEST PURCHASE YOU'LL EVER MAKE. Nothing like a big piece of paper just waiting to be filled to spure you on.

Blog Design Usability

Jakob Nielsen is the guru of web design usability. His tips are the foundation to building a fantastic website.

The article I found particularly interesting was Weblog Usuability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes.

The reason I'm posting a blog about this is because:

1. I'm still working on the web design of my new blog and I found these tips immensely helpful
   
2. I'm tired of reading other people's blog that are horribly designed.
   

Here are the 6 tips I found most useful:

1. Links Don't Say Where They Go
   

   I hate going to blogs and seeing every other word underlined and linking to somewhere. I never click on the link unless I know what to expect. People are already time-poor. No one has time to click on these unknown links.
   

   Using link titles is one way to create good links. (Link titles should be less than 80 characters, and should only rarely go above 60 characters. Shorter link titles are better). Or, you can just clearly state what the link is linking to.
   

2. Classic Hits are Buried
   

   Don't assume that everyone who comes to you blog has been there from the beginning. Link to past entries in order to help the reader understand where you are coming from.
   

   An easy way to do this is to clearly state at the top of your entry
   

   "Read this first: (link 1) and (link 2)".
   

3. The Calendar is the Only Navigation
   

   By nature, blog are listed in a descending timeline. Correctly categorizing your blog posts helps readers find related topics, thereby increasing the likliehood that they will return to your blog.
   

   Good categories are sufficiently detailed but not too long. Having 10-20 categories is good. Too many are just overwhelming and readers will glaze past them.
   

4. Irregular Publishing Frequency
   

   What's that saying? Less is more.
   

   This definitely hold true to blogs (and tweets for that matter). You want readers to come running to your website and devour your latest update. If readers don't know when to expect your blog post, the less likely they will return to your site. If you're serious about blogging, set up a publication schedule. That's what I do. I write my articles the night before and then upload them at an opportune time the next day.
   

   The same with tweeting. You want people to take the time and read what you wrote. If you saturate your readers with meaningless post after post, people will start ignoring you. Their eyes will automatically skip over your writing. You don't want that!
   

   LESS IS MORE!
   

5. Forgetting That You Write for Your Future Boss
   

   Here's one of my constant dilemmas. Is what I'm writing going to bite me in the ass? There are TONS of topics about my personal life that I'd love to write about. But I hold back because the contents might be seen as inappropriately personal to a potential boss. Until I'm successful and so valuable that bosses don't care WHAT I SAY, then I'll write without any boundaries.
   

6. Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service
   

   This is why I'm going through all this effort to create my own website.
   

   Neilsen says, quote, "Having a weblog address ending in blogspot.com, typepad.com, etc. will soon be the equivalent of having an @aol.com email address or a Geocities website: the mark of a naïve beginner who shouldn't be taken too seriously".
   

The only audience that matters is you

I am exhausted to the core.

I spent the last hour on the computer trying to strum up some energy to write today's blog. Couldn't do it. So I promptly shut down my computer and decided to retire only to restart the computer 15 minutes later. The annoying thing about my writing is that I like to write in the moment. You know you've finally gotten the hang of blog writing with your thoughts come in blog articles.

I knew that if I waited until tomorrow morning to write, the result would not be the same as it would be right now.

Today was a decent day. It started off fine and just got more tiring from then on.

I did some yoga this morning in order to jump start the baby-fat burning. Ended up hurting my lower back.

Later, when the creative juices in my mind started flowing, my back prevented me from reaching my beloved post-it notes in time. Many thoughts and ideas were lost in the attempt. They will be truly missed.

The highlight of my day was when I watched Objectified, a documentary by Gary Hustwit.

The video is about the interaction between humans and the design of all the objects surrounding them. It was an excellent documentary. I would've preferred if it had some better background music to keep the video more upbeat. But still, a fantastic documentary. The video definitely made me think.

I love design. I wish I was a true designer; the kind with all the training and knowledge.

Instead, I'm just a designer at heart.

I think what differentiates a designer from everyone else in the world is their special "third eye". Everywhere you look, design surrounds you. True designers see this and not only acknowledge the design but think of what can be improved and how to make it better. Design can always be improved because technology is constantly changing the way we do things.

One industrial designer in Objectified said, "True designers want their products to look like no design was put into it. [It should feel so intuitively natural]".

I don't entirely agree with this statement. Yes, good design should make the product innately easy to use..... but a unique design is what makes objects stand out from other objects.

Take a chair. The functionality of a chair differs only slightly, but uniquely designed chairs (with funky chairs and colours) are purchased because of their screaming design and form.

Designers are the true innovators of tomorrow. I find something fascinating about how designers interact with the world THROUGH design. When you pay attention, it is overwhelming to see how design truly affects every part of your life. From the bench you sit on at the bus stop to the shape of your toothbrush. Imagine what it'd be like if SUPREME design was embedded into every object we encountered in our daily lives. I would imagine it'd be like living in Japan. They have such a forward design thinking and aren't afraid (or poor) to implement it everywhere.

I want beautiful design to touch my life at every point possible. I'm determined to only spend money on things that fit this criteria.

One of the speakers I liked the most in Objectified, Rob Walker, a write for the New York Times Magazine, said that the whole point of purchasing is to find a connection with a true item that truly reflect the true story of who you are because really.....

the only audience that matters is you.