Storyboard Notepad & Wireframe Graph Paper Notepad

Notepads

Michael Angeles, the mastermind behind konigi, pointed me to his ingenious two products for designers like:

The Storyboard Notepad is made for creatives who think about interactions over time, whether doing user interface or interaction design or planning video, film, and animation sequences. The notepad has 50 sheets at 8 1/2×11 inches on white 70# paper, glued on the left side. The ink is a non-photo blue (cyan) so that the grid lines and any sketch lines made in non-photo blue pencil can be knocked out when scanned and processed in graphics software.

The Wireframe Graph Paper Notepad is made for visual designers, interaction designers, and information architects designing for the screen. The notepad has 50 sheets at 8 1/2 x 11 inches on white 70# paper, glued on the left side. The ink is a non-photo blue (cyan) so that the grid lines and any sketch lines made in non-photo blue pencil can be knocked out when scanned and processed in graphics software.

Absolutely briliant! Can’t wait to use these for my next project!

Sizes May Vary | A Workbook for Graphic Design

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Sizes May Vary references the varying standardized formats and systems used within graphic design. Part sketchbook, part reference book and part notebook – it is a space for composing and visualizing layouts, sketching and developing ideas, taking reference and making note. Sizes May Vary | A Workbook for Graphic Design

(via coudal)

things | my new favorite to-do app

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John pointed me to Things a simple, intuitive task management application. I’ve used it for a few days now and give it a swissmiss thumbs up. How do you manage your to-do’s?

a question for my readers…

My wonderful G has been using a service called LogMeIn for a while now on his PC’s. It let’s him keep all of his computers synced at all times. It also allows him to gain access to his home or office PC from any computer with an Internet connection.

In my dreams, my iMac at work and my laptop at home would be completely mirrored at all times. I just saw that LogMeIn also has an Apple feature. Are you familiar with the Mac Version of this service and have used it? I am not sure a service like this would work for me as some of my project files are h-u-u-u-g-e!

Dear swissmiss readers, how do you keep your data on your multiple computers synced?

How to be a great boss

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How to be a great boss (PDF) by Number17.

How to be a good intern

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How to be a good intern (PDF). By Number17.

How to be a good client

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How to be a good client (PDF). By Number17.

Startup, Inc – What You Need To Know Before Starting A Company

Often people start a company without any clear idea of what a company is. Entrepreneurs closet themselves in the garage and start writing code. While the modern tech world could not exist without obsession, artistic inspiration and crazy engineers, there’s more to a startup than passion. Alex explores the basics behind corporate entities, stock, financing, and the key non-technical infrastructure every company should have.

Startup, Inc – What You Need To Know Before Starting A Company

Photoshop Shortcuts

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Interesting Collection of Photoshop Shortcuts.

The Economist Style Guide

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The Economist Style Guide: The guide book given to all journalists who write for The Economist. Fantastic resource.

(via north x east)

Improve your Grammar and Punctuation

40+ Tips to Improve your Grammar and Punctuation. Much needed. Thank you.

30 essential PDF documents every designer should download

30 essential PDF documents every designer should download. Thank you, Anthony Zinni, for this impressive list.

The World Clock Meeting Planner

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Need to make a call to someone far away? Need to arrange a videoconference, telephone- or net-based meeting with several people spread around the globe? This World Clock Meeting Planner should help.

web design dashboard

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This Web Design Dashboard is one fabulous resource.

(via xplane)

Focus on Results, Not Time

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We often assume that the number of hours spent at work are an indication of one’s effort, interest, and accomplishment. However, in reality, the greatest ideas and the execution of these ideas happen in spurts. The best ideas often do not require a lengthy conception, and the most productive days are seldom the longest.

Tip: Focus on Results, Not Time

The 10 Commandments of Web Design

1. Thou shalt not abuse Flash.
2. Thou shalt not hide content.
3. Thou shalt not clutter.
4. Thou shalt not overuse glassy reflections.
5. Thou shalt not name your Web 2.0 company with an unnecessary surplus or dearth of vowels.
6. Thou shalt worship at the altar of typography.
7. Thou shalt create immersive experiences.
8. Thou shalt be social.
9. Thou shalt embrace proven technologies.
10. Thou shalt make content king.

Part of a group of design experts, including John Maeda, Khoi Vinh, and Steven Heller, Jakob contributed to a BusinessWeek survey on what web design should look like in 2008. Check out the article by Matt Vella and watch a slideshow of the best and worst of the web.

(via trollback)

WM24 Sombrero™ Wire Manager

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We need these cool Wire Managers to tame our “cable salads” (as we call it in german).

(via unpluggd)

a tale of trying to ‘unsubscribe’

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Liz wrote an interesting post about her experience of unsubscribing to various email newsletters: It’s Not You; It’s Me.

Skype 4.0 Beta: It’s All About Video

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Skype is getting a major, much-needed upgrade: Skype 4.0. President Josh Silverman calls it the “biggest new release in Skype’s history.” The new software client, which which will be released here in beta today (for Windows only), takes up the whole screen. Video is front and center. Skype 4.0 Beta: It’s All About Video, by Erick Schonfeld

Why for windows only? WHY?

(thank you sean)

Lost in E-Mail, Tech Firms Face Self-Made Beast

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A typical information worker who sits at a computer all day turns to his e-mail program more than 50 times and uses instant messaging 77 times, according to one measure by RescueTime, a company that analyzes computer habits. The company, which draws its data from 40,000 people who have tracking software on their computers, found that on average the worker also stops at 40 Web sites over the course of the day.

Lost in E-Mail, Tech Firms Face Self-Made Beast, by Matt Richtel

Design Pattern Library from Yahoo

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Yahoo! Design Stencil Kit version 1.0 is available for OmniGraffle, Visio, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. Wheee! Download them here.

(viar alceste)

Plainview – a fabulous fullscreen browser

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Plainview is a fullscreen browser without any Chrome at all specially made for presentations. As Rick explains in the blog post about it, “How many times had we done presentations where we just wanted to show our work in a browser – screw powerpoint – but couldn’t do it because it would look lame with all that browser chrome? How many pointless Powerpoint presentations have we made of Quicktime movies of our sites, just so we could show them in full screen and look slick?”

The above is a screenshot of swissmiss fullscreen. I have discovered a whole new browser-window-less surfing pleasure. Wheee! Get Plainview.

(via noahbrier)

issuu – you publish

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Issuu is the place for online publications: Magazines, catalogs, documents, and stuff you’d normally find on print. It’s the place where YOU become the publisher: Upload a document, it’s fast, easy, and totally FREE. Find and comment on thousands of great publications. Join a living library, where anyone finds publications about anything and share them with friends.

This service is fantastic and completely making my day! Hoooray! What a fabulous way to present one’s portfolio?! It even let’s you embedd the code. The illustration portfolio above is from odavalle and what you’re seeing above is a screenshot of the ‘fullscreen’ view. Fantastic!

Also, I might have to upload my thesis book project.

the designer’s toolkit 1000 colors

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Made me look: The Designer’s Toolkit, 1000 Colors by Graham Davis. I can definitely see this coming in handy if I am looking for color-inspiration I must say though, that the ‘pretend’ layouts they are using are seriously painful. The book comes with a cd that includes thousands of ready-to-use swatches and palettes in multiple file formats for both print and digital applications.