Learning Log, Oct 2020

Writing this month’s Learning Log is mostly an exercise in restraint, i.e. resisting the temptation to refresh a map of the United States…

I made a Bookshop! Mostly in service to a post on brevity. Sharing here honestly because the pixel banner I threw together gives me joy.

Other creative pursuits giving me joy:

• I’ve been slowly chipping away at a small soundboard project. Think CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) but with buttons!
• A few friends and I have been online monthly to write blog posts together. We chat for a half hour, sign off of the video call for a couple hours to work on our individual posts, then sign back on to discuss, ask for feedback, etc. This has been a really fun way to get accountability on posts, even though the one I’ve been working on most recently is still in progress…please shoot me an email if 1) you want to participate, 2) we’re mutual friends online/IRL, and 3) you’re local to the Seattle area. We intend to meet up in person whenever…that’s a thing again.
• On a truly meta level, Learning How to Learn. Lots of khaki and earnestness, but the instructors are delightful and I’m learning some neat stuff about the brain.

On the Internet

• Little scenes featuring pet snails!
• Track your books with GitHub Actions
• Neat little UX-improvement update to the Unsplash API
• Made in the Future: a fellowship run by Kristy Tillman & co, for underrepresented designers.
• Squircley: a “squircle” generator giving me joy
• Becky Margraf seems to be a fount of fun and clever ideas. Case in point, these little scrap buddies.

Reading

Web design and development

• Unobtrusive feedback: the animation could stand to be a little slower for better accessibility, but this is a neat little idea.
• Unexpected Learnings From Coding Artwork Every Day For Five Years
• 100 Days of 3D Design

And this quote from Elizabeth Gilbert:

A good-enough novel violently written now is better than a perfect novel meticulously written never.

Other interesting articles

• Your guide to making big decisions right now
• Traditional Japanese style tatami rooms: honestly, I looked this up for Animal Crossing-related research purposes. Found the details interesting.
• A Spread Worthy of Royalty
• Okra, the Vegetable of Survival
• This Hyper-Seasonal Eating Strategy Helps Prevent My Winter Colds
• Responding To The Grid: appreciate and co-sign this ode to the grid in tapestry weaving. Parallels here to web design.

More goodness from esteemed weaver, Annie Albers:

Being creative is not so much the desire to do something as the listening to that which wants to be done. The dictation of the materials.