“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.”
Tag: Thoughts (page 2 of 14)
Ian Bogost’s Atlantic article I Wrote This on a 30-Year-Old Computer was written entirely on an 30 year old Macintosh SE and makes for a fascinating trip down memory lane and back to the future.
There’s much to think about in the article, but one line really stood out to me:
Computing was an accompaniment to life, rather than the sieve through which all ideas and activities must filter.
‘The sieve through which all ideas and activities must filter’ – what a phrase and what a thought.
Within my online ‘bubble’ there seems to be a growing movement away from social media and being ‘always on’ and towards Digital Minimalism – a phrase coined by Cal Newport in his latest book.
I wonder if we’ve made as much progress as we think we have over the last 35 years, or have we become shackled and beholden to the devices and services we’ve created?
Whilst talking about creating enduring beauty I wanted to share these fabulous videos from Equus Leather with you.
Equus Leather create bespoke, hand crafted leather items, and this video showing the creation of a handmade watch strap is absolutely captivating:
The Equus straps start at £160, but when you see the amount of handwork, care and attention that goes into their creation they begin to feel like good value. Especially when compared to £50 for a piece of mass-produced rubber from Apple.
Equus recently worked with other craftsmen to create a classic attache case:
I’ve always joked about taking up woodworking as a retirement hobby, but now I think leather working might be even more satisfying.
After a six year hiatus the fabulous New Adventures conference made a welcome return to Nottingham’s beautiful Albert Hall.
Six years, felt so much longer whilst we waited for a new adventure, but melted away as we arrived in Nottingham to meet with friends and faces from adventures past.
New Adventures has always been more about concepts than code, and 2019 was another perfectly curated collection of thought provoking talks. Highlights for me were Jeremy Keith’s opening talk which called on us to examine the building blocks and layers within the experiences we create. Helen Joy brought to life the importance of user and customer research, and I hope encouraged the audience to seriously and deeply consider and understand the end-users of their products and services. Ethan Marcotte closed the event with a rousing call to arms for web workers.
New Adventures 2019 felt like conferences used to feel – significant.
An occasion, a gathering, a happening where new ideas, big ideas, important ideas are shared.
Ideas that invigorate, enthuse and inspire us to new adventures – wherever they may take us.
I love this sketch from my friend Brendan Dawes – it conveys the creative process beautifully. I’ve seen Brendan use this in his talks, and as he says, it’s always met with a flurry of smartphone action, I may even have snapped it myself.
Brendan is now releasing it as a robot drawn print in a limited edition of just 100.
Treat yourself for Christmas or better still treat me :)
Tis a busy world. To have great ideas, you need to find 20 minutes in the morning for thinking of nothing.
Just 1.2% of your day.
You have to create a space for those ideas to come to you.