Learning Log, Apr 2022
My main side project lately is a world snacks review site, which I’m using to play around with Contentful as a headless CMS. Much of April was spent doing design-y things, and having far too much fun. Case in point, this cheese doodle footer:
- 🌿 Off the computer, weeds rule everything around me. Now that we are “furniture complete” in our new-ish house, I’ve turned my attentions to the planters, where the weeds have recently been allowed to thrive with abandon. We had a ton of rain and a bit of sun in April, so it seems each time I look at a weed I haven’t pulled yet, it’s grown taller. Good thing I love weeding…making slow and steady progress.
- 🤝 I discovered via an exercise in “Refuse to Choose” that community is actually pretty important to me when pursuing an interest. It’s not just about accountability, it’s sharing a purpose (however humble) and feeding into each other’s inspiration. I joke a lot about wanting “parallel play”, but I was still surprised by this revelation. Typically I see myself as an introvert who wants to go off and do her little projects. The trouble now is how to rebuild that community, during a pandemic, when everyone has Zoom fatigue.
- 📚 Also in books, I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump this year. Out of the first 18 books I’ve finished (i.e., not including those I abandoned), I thought all but one were “fine” at best. I may take the advice of some co-workers and re-read a “5 star” book as a palette cleanser…or take it as a sign that I’m less into books right now and just need a breather.
- 🌷 I am very picky about my lock screen vs home screen needs and made myself a couple wallpapers. You can grab them both (lock screen, home screen) if you like! The image ratios are optimized for an iPhone 11 Pro.
On the Internet
Reading
The web
- Food Businesses Lose Faith in Instagram After Algorithm Changes. Brute-forcing green KPI dashboards to stay relevant: not cute.
- Cache and Prizes
- The WebAIM Million – 2022 Update: the results continue to exhaust.
Product
- What is Good Product Strategy?
- RICE: Simple prioritization for product managers
- Guide to Product Planning: Three Feature Buckets
- The GLEe Model
Other interesting articles
- 6 ideas to fill your sketchbook
- Elemental Creativity: Choosing Artforms as Treatments
- This Cafe Won't Let Writers Leave Until They Hit Their Deadlines: via one of the buddies in my blog post writing group. A hint, perhaps? 😄
- Good ideas stick
