Good morning, everyone! We hope your week is already off to a great start, and to make it more awesome, we would like to share things which inspired us in the past week. Wait, who are we? Jagriti (Service designer at Florida Blue) + Nitish (UX designer at Microsoft), are two inspired souls, who believe in the value of co-creating and moving forward together. Every Monday, we will be sharing our thoughts in the hope of beginning a conversation.
Seven interesting things
- Elle Luna works in her studio, where she paints, draws, and experiments. Prior to making art, she worked with incredible teams to design and build Mailbox’s iPhone app, redesign Uber’s iOS app, and scale the storytelling platform Medium. In her interview at Great Discontent she talks about following our calling and inspiring people throughout out journey.
- Little good comes from being distracted yet we seem incapable of focusing our attention. Among many qualities that suffer, recent research shows creativity takes a hit when you’re constantly busy. Being able to switch between focus and daydreaming is an important skill that’s reduced by insufferable busyness. Read more here: http://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/creativity-and-distraction
- Duolingo’s Gina on how A/B testing helps refine and stitch together user goal setting, notifications and streaks. The Tenets of A/B Testing from Duolingo’s Master Growth Hacker
- Now that mobile is maturing and its growth is slowing, everyone in tech turns to thinking about what the Next Big Thing will be. It’s easy to say that ‘machine learning is the new mobile’ (and everyone does), but there are other things going on too. See Ten Year Futures to find out more.
- Do you like seeing good emails? Explore the trends and find more about your taste: https://explore.reallygoodemails.com/2017-email-design-trends-5911f819e7b2
- It’s an old talk by Jennifer Daniel but I think it’s valid for every designer till today. She raises the concern on how designers are supporting capitalism by representing money through the products and companies they work for. How the focus has moved from the bigger picture of solving for the benefit of the community. When designers today say “I want to make a change”, the focus is more on the I then the change. Let’s not become delusional but grounded -https://creativemornings.com/talks/jennifer-daniel/1
- Visit a museum or find something to remind yourself how beautifully the thoughts can be brought to life in the form of art to stimulate and communicate meaning. Explore the work of two artist Carlos Cruz-Diez and Chiharu Shiota. Carlos Cruz-Diez is one of the great figures of kinetic-optic art. His research has brought art into a new way of understanding the phenomenon of color, significantly expanding its perceptual universe. Chiharu Shiota works infinite lines portrays the interconnectivity between one’s possessions and the stories they hold.
Podcast of the week
99% Invisible — Repackaging the pill
This podcast is about repackaging of birth controls pills. It throws light on how raising questions and concern helps shape the details of a product. The challenge faced by the pharmaceuticals companies was the conservative outlook of the predominantly male corps of doctors. So today, when you pick up a prescription — any prescription — that little typed sheet you get that lists every side effect, from the mild to the terrifying — you have birth control to thank for that too. A designer has to get out of the comfort and be an activist for every details of the solution to come in effect, and thats how we can keep moving towards an enduring innovation.
Place of the week
Jasper National Park, Canada is one of the most remarkable places on the earth, prodigious and diversified in both landscape and experiences. Make time to explore this place this summer.
In the end, we leave you with these words by Elle Luna-
“I love the idea that everyone has a gift to give. And I believe that the whole world is waiting for us to give that gift to them. What if we could empower everyone to operate out of that place, instead of out of job titles or money or security, even? Imagine a world where everyone gives their truest, most authentic gifts.”
Have a remarkable week ahead,
