Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, “Outliers”, and the 10,000 hour rule (Michael Nielsen) I stumbled into this article because I was wondering whether I would have enough hours in one lifetime to get good at all the things I wanted to get good at. Turns out, if I do it methodically enough, I can get to…

The Tipping of Jefferson Avenue (New York Magazine) I was curious about gentrification, specifically the consequences for original residents. This article manages to do some justice to what it’s like to get priced out of a neighborhood, while also giving some insight into how the character of neighborhoods change as new people move in. Here’s…

Design Criticism and the Creative Process (A List Apart) This is a very thorough and sensitive guide to making the most out of design criticism. I personally have had my good days and my bad when taking criticism. Sometimes I can actually pull off acting like a mature adult and do the author of this…

Absolute Powerpoint (New Yorker) “Can a software package edit our thoughts?” Turns out, it can. Somehow, a piece of software designed, fifteen years ago, to meet a simple business need has become a way of organizing thought at kindergarten show-and-tells. “Oh, Lord,” one of the early developers said to me. “What have we done?” I…

An Important Time for Design (A List Apart) I thought I was going to hate this article because it would turn out to be a self-congratulatory article about how great designers are and the rest of the world doesn’t understand and whine whine whine. Well, it wasn’t. It’s a call to action. Nothing new, but…

How to start a movement (TED Talk) Happy New Year! Let’s start movements and dance our butts off on 2012