The Daft Punk track Around the World performed on Tesla coils. Somehow this manages to be even more awesome than the summary, too (I still slightly think it's fake... somehow 😂):
Also, yes, Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger does sound just as great:
"RC5-01 this is RC5-01" 😂 There's nothing specifically science fiction about this short, and that's what makes it great. Simple animation, a timeless plot, and excellent voice acting. As io9 put it:
In space, no one can hear you be a complete buffoon
An excellent summary of why providing help with language like "just" or "simply" can be demeaning, rather than helpful:
“Just” makes me feel like an idiot. “Just” presumes I come from a specific background, studied certain courses in university, am fluent in certain technologies, and have read all the right books, articles, and resources. “Just” is a dangerous word.
It also contains this absolute gem of a far-too-relatable quote 😂
Now there’s a damn good chance I’m actually an idiot, but the self-respecting part of me wants to challenge that notion.
It's a few years old, but I was blown away by Astartes. Sure, the lore is a bit dense so I didn't fully know what was going on, but the story was well crafted enough that it kept me hooked (and all without any real dialogue). More importantly, the animation, VFX, SFX, and direction are all astonishing. As in, easily Hollywood level (and noticeably better than a lot of Hollywood sequences). And it's all been made by one person (mostly). I can see why Games Workshop have actually brought it into canon.
(Coincidentally, this is how you do brand control. Fan makes amazing thing, community embraces it, you embrace it. One day fan film takedowns will be a laughable joke of an ancient mindset 🙄)
Coolors are generally my first stop for palette design anyway, but now that I've discovered this quick WCAG contrast checker they've become invaluable. There are a few similar tools out there, but this one has two key features:
#2 is a bit overzealous, but it does provide a quick way to find some interesting pairings.
Very useful tool: just upload an SVG and it will attempt to output the file as a single path 👍 Fantastic for converting icon libraries for design systems.
UPDATE 23/07/21
Some additional tips if an uploaded SVG can't be recognised:
fill values to use black (#000000)clip-path layers, group layers, etc. until only one layer is left (should be a path layer, possibly nested within a blank layer called something like "Layer 1", if using Illustrator)If that doesn't work, despair... 😉
A beautiful new serif font from Simple Bits based on old nautical typography. There's something about the alternate ligatures and subtle roundness to the serifs that I utterly adore. Plus, the pricing scheme is both clear and very fair, and they give 1% of sales to environmental causes, so triple win 👏👏👏
I really like the concept of practical elegance that Seth argues for. It's effectively an argument for true UX: optimising the user's experience to make it as useful and memorable as possible. As he puts it:
Creating delight before it’s expected.
That's a lovely way to think about designing anything.
Practical elegance is something that is available to all of us. If we choose, it can become the cornerstone of our work.
On failing elegantly (graceful degradation, anyone 😉):
Practical elegance doesn’t mean that the canoe will never capsize. It means that the thing we built was worth building, and it left the user feeling better, not worse, about their choice.
Jeremy is a great writer. I therefore shouldn't be surprised that his advice on content editing is incredibly astute.
Still, for just over two years, my main job was to write. Before that, I worked at a variety of jobs where I was the primary writer and/or editor. And throughout that time, I've been writing for myself on a variety of platforms, including this website. I thought I was doing okay at this whole writing schtick. Now I can see I have a lot to improve 😂
On long sentences:
Not all long sentences are bad, but the longer a sentence gets, the more it runs the risk of overwhelming the reader.
On contractions:
Avoiding contractions seems to be more professional, but actually it makes the writing a bit too formal. There’s a danger of sounding like a legal contract. Or a Vulcan.
On cognitive load (this was the big 🤯 moment for me):
Sometimes a long sentence can’t be broken down into shorter sentences. In that case, I watch out for how much cognitive load the sentence is doling out to the reader.
On authorial voice (and why I'm giving myself a "get out of jail free card" for my lengthy sentences; that's just how I talk 😁):
But there’s one piece I’ve given to others that I try to stick to: write like you speak.
🤯 An absolutely brilliant tool for linking CSS filters with SVG colour matrices to create Instagram-like image overlays and adjustments.
I'm currently in the process of trying to get away from Instagram (eurgh, that new UI is atrocious) and the big missing piece is quick image filters. FEColorMatrix looks like a perfect fit, I just need to work out how to actually add it to a workflow 🤔
Squoosh looks like a great image compression tool. Either drag'n'drop or link into their CLI.
NFTs continue to get a lot of publicity and debate. Seth has some useful insight into the potential "bubble" of value they create:
It’s an unregulated, non-transparent hustle with ‘bubble’ written all over it.
On the environmental impact:
It’s an ongoing waste that creates little in ongoing value and gets less efficient and more expensive as time goes on. For most technological innovations the opposite is true.