This Threaded Light Spectrum Exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in Washington DC by Gabriel Dawe makes me want to jump in my car and drive there pronto. The rainbow sculpture is made from 60 miles of thread. Absolutely stunning!
A sea sponge dipped into a shallow bath of all-natural vegetable-based glycerine soap. Lovely.
Big thanks to Squarespace for continuously supporting my blog and RSS Feed.
Dare to do what you love. Squarespace makes it easy for you to jumpstart a passion project or small business. Build a beautiful website, grab a domain name, create a striking logo, and so much more—all within one intuitive interface. Show the world what you love. Your 14-day trial is just a click away. Plus, take 10% off with the code SWISSMISS.
(Interested in sponsoring a week of my RSS feed, learn more here.)
A Tumblr full of cute animal GIFs. There goes my day. (via)
– Academia.edu is the largest social network for academics.
– We Need a United Nations of the World’s Religions
– Maker’s Row launched a Made in the US store.
– Boo! Check out these 16 Tattly inspired Halloween costumes? The illegal watch seller made me laugh!
– My friend Mans made an app for cats. It made me laugh. My cat is weirdly fascinated by it.
– Product Hunt launched a podcast channel.
– Cats have been ruling Instagram for a while. Get ready for Pumpkin the Raccoon.
– These design-y student residences in Berlin make me want to be a student again.
– An amusing compilation of some of the most memorable things Tom Waits said on Talk Shows
– This is so cool: Giant megaphones amplify the sounds of nature.
– 11 interesting questions to ask yourself. Especially this one: If you died tomorrow what would you want your legacy to be?
– Made me laugh: Scotch experts review cheap whiskey.
– Interesting: The cost of mobile ads on 50 news websites.
– Journalists and others are understandably concerned about Peeple, the “Yelp for People” app scheduled to launch in late November.
– I didn’t know this worked: Remove Odors from Your Entire Home by Simmering Vinegar
– What do non-English-speaking people say when it’s raining cats and dogs? France: “It’s raining like a pissing cow.”
– Apparently it’s harder to be thin than it was in the ’80s.
– Fascinating: Millions of Facebook users have no idea they’re using the internet. (via)
– Wow, awesome job alert! IDEO in Chicago is looking to hire a Senior Interaction Designer.
I spent the last three three days at a private mini conference organized by Simon Sinek and Bob Chapman. One of the many highlights was that I got to meet Aloe Blacc. What a remarkable, deep, thoughtful soul.
– From 2003, a 25-minute documentary on how Pixar made Finding Nemo
– Great read: On How to Disagree
– Bruce Lee on the power of repose and the strength of yielding – a beautiful philosophy of life.
– Sculptures that measure atmospheric conditions. Lovely.
– We use slack religiously in my teams. This article on “How do I reach Slack Zero?” made me re-think how I use Slack.
– Super useful travel app: Hopper. You plug in destination and dates and it tells you when to buy. (via)
– Looking for a female speaker for your conference in the creative industry? Check this!
– The fine folks of Big Think had me as a guest on their rather unusual podcast.
– The Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC is looking to hire a Graphic Designer.
– One Star National Park Reviews.
– What can you teach the world? What’s your hidden skill?
This very personal story by studiomate Michael Yates really touched me. He should totally give a TED talk on this story.
– “RBF is a face that, when at ease, is perceived as angry, irritated or simply … expressionless.” Totally part of the RBF club.
– I agree with Booooooom: Some fantastic visuals in this video for Awwz’s dreamy track Awake.
– Love how Frank Chimero shares his favorite books online.
– Practical: Contemporary minimalist wooden foldable coat stand
– How to write a condolence note.
– This Carry On Cocktail Kit made me laugh.
– This is the coolest, minimalist bunkbed I have seen in a long time.
– Price comparison for Airbnb x couchsurfing x hotels around the world. (via)
– What’s the best way to spend $20,000 to help the common good? (via)
– Collective Quarterly is a travel and design magazine about discovery. Each issue spotlights a single geographic location, focusing on the artisans, music, food, and natural wonders that make it special.
– This website lets you chat with your future self. (via)
– Black Cat Shower Curtain. Also available as a mug.
– How to spend time alone in NYC
– This is so weird it’s good. How to make unicorn poop cookies!
– I look like an engineer. Yes!
– This is one cool dad: Inventive Father Builds a 50 Meter Crazy Straw For His Daughter’s Fifth Birthday
– Still smiling and happy because of yesterday’s NYTimes Styles feature.
– Vox Media is looking to hire a Designer.
As someone who’s thesis consisted of a 200 book on the beauty of the ordinary, I appreciate this short called The Surrealism of The Mundane by Ace Norton.
(via Malcolm)
Rives has a contagious obsession with 4 a.m. At TED2007, the poet shared what was then a minor fixation with a time that kept popping up everywhere and turned into fourinthemorning.com.
(Thank you Emily)
A bit of history of the area I used to call home until I moved to NYC at the age of 26 (and where I am currently on vacation.)
– This Graffiti artist versus city pressure washer experiment made me chuckle.
– I would totally live in one of these. No problem.
– Colors!
– How people respond to life-changing inventions
– SpreadTHAT! Advanced Butter Knife is an ingenious, award-winning design that uses the warmth of your hand to make short work of cold butter.
– Ha, these nametags made me laugh.
– Chicken Drumstick Pillow. Made me chuckle.
– Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson talks about inaccurate perceptions, and how we view ourselves is often not how we come across to others. Halvorson’s latest book is No One Understands You and What to Do About It (via)
– “People are magnets. When you’re grateful for what you have, you will attract more of the positive and good. Gratitude is contagious.” 8 Things Every Person Should Do Before 8 A.M. <-- annoying title, great read. - Wow this is some seriously cool, futuristic clothing for kids.
– Lovely: Strangers drawing strangers.
– Who knew you could use coffee grounds to produce dyes for screen printing.
– Esther Perel shares some interesting thoughts on relationships and intimacy.
– Mule in SF is looking for a Senior Designer.
I completely forgot about the existence of Carpet Beaters.
Cone backpack by Doug Johnston. Beautiful.
Stumbled upon this lovely site called cloudreporter. It features cloudy sky photos from around the world. If you want to join and be part of the cloud reporter movement, get in touch here. Lovely.
Thanks again to Squarespace, a long-time supporter of my blog. Really excited about highlighting the wonderful integration with Getty Images:
Squarespace is integrated with Getty Images, the largest archive of stunning creative and editorial photography in the world. When you build a website with Squarespace, you get the combined force of Squarespace’s design, your content, and the most beautiful images anywhere.
Discover what you can create today. Swiss Miss readers get 10% off with the code SWISSMISS: Squarespace.com
(Interested in sponsoring a week of my RSS feed, learn more here.)
Michael Bierut interview at Design Indaba.
(via Quipsologies)
Here’s a question for you. What subscription based, cloud software do you use and love? I made a list of services I use personally or subscribe to with my companies CreativeMornings and Tattly. I was surprised to see how long the list is:
Freshbooks for all my invoicing needs (also does time tracking but I don’t need that at this point in my career)
Squarespace for my co-working space website and smaller CreativeMornings related project sites.
Helpscout is what we use for all of our Tattly support.
Dropbox is where we store all of our files. I would not be able to sleep without it.
Mailchimp is our service of choice to maintain our mailing lists and sending our newsletters.
Shutterstock is our stock photography service of choice.
JustworksHR takes care of our CreativeMornings payroll, benefits and HR related services.
Trinet takes care of our Tattly payroll, insurance needs and HR Management.
Netsuite helps us keep track of our Tattly inventory, our financials and we use it as our CRM. It’s a beast.
Shopify is what powers our Tattly e-commerce site.
Typekit makes sure we look good on the web with designy fonts.
Mediatemple hosts our CreativeMornings website
Contactually helps me organize and keep on top of all my contacts.
Sanebox is the best $5 I spend every month. It filters out non-important email.
Brandboom is our wholesale e-commerce platform for Tattly.
Slack is a chat app on steroids. It has completely revolutionized how I communicate with my teams, cutting down on emails we are sending each other.
Basecamp keeps track of our custom projects at Tattly and allows conversations for our CreativeMornings hosts around the world.
Tinyletter is the simplest and most pleasant way to send small, personal newsletters. I use it for my co-working space.
Authenticjobs is where we post all of our job listings
Trello is keeping us on track with internal projects and bugs we need to fix.
1Password keeps me sane. Not sure what I would do without it. The team functionality is pure gold.
Flickr hosts all of our CreativeMornings photos.
Teuxdeux is how I keep track of my daily to-dos. (it’s my own app)
Simplenote is where I keep all of my notes, combined with Notational Velocity on the computer.
rdio is my music library in the cloud.
Feedly is where I keep all my bookmarks organized.
Netflix is what I use to watch shows.
What about you? Do you love and use certain services that we don’t know about? Share in a comment!
In case you’ve never seen Playtime, you should.
– This 4-Port Sliding Smart Hub instantly adds four extra USB ports where there once was one.
– First the Floyd Table, now the Floyd Shelf.
– Seriously touching: Woman Photoshops Herself Into Her Mom’s Childhood Pictures For Touching Photo Series
– What a bummer! United Pixelworkers is closing shop.
– I think I know what I am getting G for the holidays: The Access Case.
– It’s a mitten, it’s a flask. It made me laugh!
– Making cupcakes that look like ice cream cones
– Six stretches for people who sit at desks
– I am dreaming of driving a snazzy stick shift on these windy roads.
– I just discovered The Sweet Home and
The Wire Cutter. What rock did I hide under?
– Storest – a seriously adorable app for kids to play store.
– Love the look of this Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay A2 Bluetooth speaker.
– SurgeProtector helps you call an Uber to the nearest location without surge pricing.
– I love this Cardboard Mushroom.
– This lake cabin! A dream!
– The Language of Lying: Animated Primer on How to Detect Deception
– The 3 Most Valuable Leadership Traits according to Simon Sinek
– Microscopic photo of vinyl record grooves
– NeoCover is a standard light switch cover that has super-strong rare earth neodymium magnets inside, and that allows you to hang your keys, favorite pen, or even tools from it.
– I grew up with a ski lift in front of my door on the Swiss country side. I used to go night skiing as a kid, granted without LED lights. Oh, the memories.
– This phone case/stand made me giggle.
– Come work with me and team CreativeMornings: We are looking to hire a Content Curator and Community Coordinator.
A big thank you to Get It Right (GIR) for sponsoring this week of my RSS Feed.
Get It Right (GIR) makes kitchen tools with attitude. Their flagship unibody silicone spatula is the internet’s best-reviewed spat — and the internet never lies.
The folks at GIR are launching a Kickstarter campaign for a series of silicone lids to top any pot or turn any bowl into a storage container (seeing is believing). To get in on the action, check out their campaign here.
SwissMiss readers can also get their very own GIR Spatula for an excellent 20% off at productofgir.com with code HEARTSWISSMISS. But honestly, you have to see these Lids.
(Interested in sponsoring a week of my RSS feed, learn more here.)
StandStand is a portable standing desk, an invention by Luke Leafgreen. StandStand is super lightweight, sturdy and folds down in seconds. Brilliant! Want to get one? Support the Kickstarter, it ends in 7 days!
This Apple commercial parody to introduce IKEA’s new catalog made me laugh. Experience the power of a book book!
(via Daniel)
This little family is currently spending a week in the Northfork, enjoying the last week before school starts again. I’ve reconnected with my younger self and looked up some papier-mâché projects to do with my 8 year old, Ella. Here are some of my favorite finds:
Papier-Mâché Lollipop man (no instructions)
Papier-Mâché Face (no instructions)
Papier-Mâché Turtle with Step-by-step instructions
DIY Papier-Mâché Pencil Toppers (step-by-step instructions)
Papier-Mâché Bowls (with step-by-step instructions)
And then here, slightly creepy personalized DIY papier-mâché pinatas:
Don’t know how to make the ‘glue’? Here’s a round-up of various papier-mâché recipes. What are you going to make?
My studiomate Wesley Verhoeve launched a fantastic new project called One of Many. Over the next few months, Wesley will travel to 12 cities across the US and over the course of a week immerse himself in their creative communities. The results are beautiful essays with stunning portrait photography and personal stories. Check out Charleston.
Wesley, who is the most outgoing person I have ever met, can strike up a conversation with anyone. When visiting these cities, he will be seeking out designers, chefs, woodworkers, farmers, engineers, writers, coffee brewers and anyone else making something that moves people.
Wesley believes that being a small business owner or a creative independent is exhilarating, but it can also be quite lonely and stressful. With One of Many Wesley wants to remind us that we are not alone. We are part of a growing movement. We are one of many.
(Above photos are all by Wesley Verhoeve, part of the Charleston series but previously unpublished. From top to bottom: David Lee, Diego Castro Oliva and Kate Nevin, members of the Charleston community)
A big thank you to Brainbean for sponsoring this week of my RSS Feed.
Parents! Let your kids explore their creativity with Brainbean It’s a brand new, free iPad app with fun and colorful creative mini-games.
“The perfect game to inspire family-time creative play,” says Common Sense Media. “Educational but not necessarily just for kids,” wrote msn.com. Gizmodo described Brainbean as “a brain training app suitable for anyone from the ages of nine to 109. With eight games available, based on various scientific exercises, with the aim of challenging your brain to the full.” One teacher who uses the app in her classroom wrote: “Brainbean is a colorful, kid-friendly game that will boost your students’ critical thinking and problem solving skills.”
Download Brainbean for free from the iPad App Store.
(Interested in sponsoring a week of my RSS feed, learn more here.)
Broadway cast of ‘The Lion King’ takes over NYC subway, sings ‘Circle of Life’ I love this city. So much.
– 5 Hard-to-kill houseplants
– Couple Performs ‘You’re the One That I Want’ From ‘Grease’ in Sign Language While Driving
– OMG. This. Is. Hilarious: How to stop a baby from crying by Katy Perry Dark Horse
– What the heck is toothpaste anyway?
– “Google to collect data to create a full picture of what a healthy human being is.” (via)
– Uber keeps impressing me with how they push their service forward. Now, you can ‘car pool‘.
– Discover the saddest, most lonely tweets you ever tweeted. (Can it be that I had only one sad tweet out of 22.8k tweets total? I doubt it!)
– Here’s what Brooklyn Summer looked like in 1974
– Wow, Accurat does some seriously legit information design.
– The Art of Not Moving, with Laure Courtellemont. The latest installment of the urban dance video newsletter called Why Aren’t We Dancing by Yoko Ohama.
– Layer Tennis is back! I once participated in a global match. Most stressful 15 minutes of my life.
– Just re-watched this conversation between Gary Vaynerchuk and Chase Jarvis.
– Infographic: Porn Vs. Real Sex, Explained In Food
– Most spoken language by NYC neighborhood — aside from English or Spanish. (via)
– The fine folks over at Brooklyn based Hyperakt are looking to hire a front-end developer.
