The Finer Things
The Fine Citizens recap their favorites of 2015 & share resolutions for the New Year
Phil Wilson
Founder, President & CEO
App: Nest, Mint, Trello, Slack and Dropbox
Song: Anything from Sia or Zero 7 lately
gif: There are WAY too many favorite gif responses to pick one
Movie: Really? You have to ask me? 2015 was all about Star Wars The Force Awakens. Period.
Podcast: Me don’t do podcasts
Netflix binger: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. / House of Cards
2016 resolution: To always avoid making new year resolutions
Emoji: any, every, all
Jen May
Director of Production
App: Fandango, it made picking out a movie, a time, seats and purchasing tickets before the movie so easy! Also Uber, didn’t use it a lot in 2015 but enjoyed how easy to use it is when I did use it.
Movie: Hunger Games — Mockingjay Part 2, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, and Insurgent
Netflix binger: Breaking Bad, I realize this is an older show but I just watched all of them for the first time in 2015, and loved it
Julianna Kuetemeyer
Marketing Coordinator
App: Blood Donor by the Red Cross or Chipotle (I ate a LOT of Chipotle in 2015)
gif: Pioneer Garet
Book (for business or pleasure): Pleasure, I read a lot of kids books with my 1 year old and have been pretty into Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae. Business, Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd by Youngme Moon
Movie: The Little Prince
Podcast: NPR Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me with and honorable mention for The Bookworms (https://soundcloud.com/thebookworms) which is 3 tween-age girls reviewing books. I love it.
Commercial/Advertisement: #LikeAGirl by Always
Netflix binger: Good question. Grace and Frankie OR Daredevil
2016 resolution: Sit and stand up straighter. My posture is horrible.
Justin Wolf
Director of User Experience
Website: http://www.theuselessweb.com/
Book (for business or pleasure): The Martian by Andy Weir
Movie: Mad Max: Fury Road (Star Wars: The Force Awakens a close second)
Jessica McManus
User Experience Designer
App: Square Cash, Snapchat, Instagram
Song: Never thought I’d say this but I liked the turn that Justin Bieber made this year…I also listened to the Porter Robinson Worlds (Remix) Album on repeat for about 3 months straight.
Movie: The Martian in which I rushed to read the book the week before.
Netflix binger: I’m sad to say that this was the year I finished all the seasons of “Pretty Little Liars.”
2016 resolution: To become more organized/simplify my life.
Emoji: 🙊 or 🐱
Andrew Fisher
Director of Design
App: Evernote
Website: InVision
Song: “The Cost of Living” (Don Henley, feat. Merle Haggard)
gif: /giphy
Industry related article/blog: http://www.fastcodesign.com/
Book (for business or pleasure): Oh Beautiful Beer
Movie: The Martian
Podcast: Serial
Netflix binger: House of Cards
Emoji: Mission
Kattie Baker
Senior Designer
App: Feedly and Evernote (I’m an extremely forgetful person)
Website: Dribbble (Finally got my account this year!)
Song: Stitches by Shawn Mendes was stuck in my head more often than I’d like to admit.
gif: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/romain-3.gif
Industry related article/blog: Not sure if it’s my favorite this year but it’s a more recent article I’ve read that sticks out in my mind over the past couple months: http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/22/the-most-overlooked-aspect-of-ux-design-could-be-the-most-important/#.qbdxt3:mQxS
Book (for business or pleasure): To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I somehow never ended up reading it in high school so I made it a point to finally read a few classics this year.
Movie: The Martian
Podcast: Invisibilia on NPR
Commercial/Advertisement: I only watched Netflix this year. Didn’t even watch the Super Bowl commercials.
Netflix binger: Downtown Abbey and Gilmore Girls #SlightlyEmbarassed #GuiltyPleasures
2016 resolution: Write a children’s book and dedicate to my dad (who’s still alive by the way).
Emoji: Prehistoric Tadpole
Garet Camella
Designer
App: Snapchat, Any.DO, Pocket, and Medium
Website: The DNA Project — the coolest interactive music/media art project I’ve ever experienced: http://jviewz.com/
Song: Sadly, almost every song Justin Bieber put out in 2015 (never thought I’d say that)
gif: oh man…there’s too many…
Industry related article/blog: This Invision Blog post from a design firm that created an interactive neighborhood guide called On the Grid. The process of building and growing this projects is super inspiring: http://blog.invisionapp.com/designers-neighborhood-guide/
Book (for business or pleasure): How to be a Graphic Designer without Losing Your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy
Movie: Ain’t nobody got time for dat ;]
Commercial/Advertisement: I’m gonna take a cynical approach to this and say my LEAST favorite ads of the year involve every time McDonald’s tried to sound hip and down-to-earth on Spotify.
Netflix binger: Bob’s Burgers. Hands down.
Emoji: I use the one of the dude surfing a lot. It can mean: Thank you / Hell yeah / Agreed / That’s Chill / etc…
2016 resolution: Laugh more + cry more + inspire/get inspired more
Radleigh Wakefield
Designer
App: Primer, He Reads Truth, Any.Do
Website: Dribbble
Song: Polaroid by Imagine Dragons
gif: http://giphy.com/gifs/do-not-want-frightened-Et99Kozvc7QAg
Book (for business or pleasure): Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Movie: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Russell Skaggs
Director of Development
App: Browser
Song: 2011 song, but Stars from Les Miserables sung by Earl Carpenter, Honorable mention, the Pioneer Song.
gif: http://giphy.com/gifs/star-wars-faith-disturbing-d2Zg6GunNw2eA08g
Industry related article/blog: Dear Design Student
Movie: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Podcast: Responsive Web Design.
Commercial/Advertisement: Tie between Campbell’s soup (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rZOMY2sOnE) and Kraft Mac and Cheese: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7roF7YNzAgs)
Netflix binger: The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
2016 resolution: Not make promises I can’t keep ;-)
Emoji: Slack Shipit Squirrel
John Spadafore
Senior Developer
Industry Blog: http://uxreactions.com/
Movie: Inside Out
Netflix Binger: Jessica Jones
Jamie Watson
Design Intern
App: Clear, Uber, Snapchat
Song: Paper Planes (wins every year) / Angel Olsen
gif: any cat gif (lettuce on cat head?)
Movie: Terminator 2
Podcast: Comedy Bang Bang, Spontaneanation, How Did This Get Made
Commercial/Advertisement: Hotels.com “I don’t need it right now”
Netflix binger: Wet Hot American Summer
2016 resolution: get better/do more drawing, be more imaginative, watch more movies
Emoji: upside down smiley face
