Explore My Notes

Fourth on the list is a simple article from Martian Craft outlining "The Importance of Routine". The post is aimed at remote works and is far from news to me, but it is a well-written example of how to apply this kind of thinking. I'm saving it here more to try and force myself into setting something like this up for my own free time.

Try not to build a schedule that’s too inflexible, but always have something in place each day.

Note: this was originally part of a full article titled "Stickers, Eclipses and Lighthouses" and the 36^th post in my New 52 challenge. That article also linked to a (then) new tool called Google Lighthouse, a blog post talking about a growing uneasiness with Google AMP, a design collection of achievement stickers for developers, and a critique of data visualisation of future solar eclipses.

Second is the article which led me to Lighthouse in the first place: AMPersand, by Ethan Marcotte. Not much to add to this one, just another voice adding weight to my uneasiness with the idea of AMP and similar projects. Well worth a read if you're interested in the open web.

Few corporations have done as much as Google to elevate the importance of page speed as a design issue, and the work done by the AMP team is no exception. But in my experience, the only voices promoting AMP’s performance benefits are coming from inside Google.

Note: this was originally part of a full article titled "Stickers, Eclipses and Lighthouses" and the 36^th post in my New 52 challenge. That article also linked to a (then) new tool called Google Lighthouse, a design collection of achievement stickers for developers, a look at time management, and a critique of data visualisation of future solar eclipses.

An interesting look at using padding only on the very lowest element within a hierarchy (as Samantha says, the atoms of your design) and therefore setting it globally. It's a logical approach, though I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who took one look and thought "surely margins would be a better approach". Still, a useful tool and clever way of thinking about object spacing that could make your CSS a lot more efficient.

Note: this was originally part of a full article titled "Thoughts from around the web" and the 13^th post in my New 52 challenge. That article also linked to a blog post on logo design and a critique of modern "culture-fit" hiring practices.

It may not surprise you to learn that people who have experienced and enjoy all the same things I do tend to look a whole lot like me.

There, in a single sentence, is the issue with the concept of 'culture fit', something that is incredibly prevalent in the modern workplace. Companies like Google and Apple bang on about their 'company culture' so much that it's led a lot of smaller businesses to head down the wrong path; plus, it is very hard to realise when you're thinking along these lines. A colleague of mine recently stated that a potential new hire "just didn't feel like he'd fit in" and how he didn't think they'd "get along". The problem is, you're not supposed to employ people to be your friend; you're supposed to employ people to be your colleague.

Yes, shared values and ideals are a core foundation for a team, but we have to question what those ideals are. It's okay to hire people who are, as Matt states, empathetic and hard-working; not so much to discount them because they don't like Star Wars (even if it means the world to you). Different perspectives, different upbringings and different cultures combine to increase creativity, productivity and, ultimately, profit. Just look at the natural world: diversity increases stability whilst monocultures tend to wilt and disappear at the slightest disturbance.

Note: this was originally part of a full article titled "Thoughts from around the web" and the 13^th post in my New 52 challenge. That article also linked to a blog post on logo design and an examination of modular design.

There isn't too much to add beyond the title. Ruta has put together an endearing infographic with a pretty decent list of key points to consider. Now, I'm not much of a logo designer myself, but the list seems well constructed and its appearance on TheLogoSmith is reason enough for me to believe it's fairly accurate. I do feel that the 'categories' of trending designs are a little broad-stroke (I'm not sure I could find any logos that wouldn't fit into at least one of them) but there are some pretty neat examples included – particularly the ombre pangolin! Makes me wonder if the time has come to finally dip my toes back into the logo design pond...

Note: this was originally part of a full article titled "Thoughts from around the web" and the 13^th post in my New 52 challenge. That article also linked to a blog post on modular design and a critique of modern "culture-fit" hiring practices. For posterity, the below paragraph has been kept here; it was originally the introduction to the article:

I'm not going to lie, I'm behind. I won't be getting March's MiM up any time soon (hopefully next week) but I've still spent all my free time this week trying to get it rounded off. Well, I'm happy I spent the time on that, but it's left me without any inspiration for what else to post. Still, post I must, and luckily I've recently found myself stumbling on to some very interesting, but not individual-post-worthy, articles. So here, in no particular order, are three things I enjoyed reading: