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You’ve been working in a creative job for a while now, and generally, you still enjoy doing it. But pumping out idea after idea becomes increasingly more difficult? Creative block might be just around the corner. After all, you’re a human, not a machine. Now, I could recommend tons of motivational articles, but I won’t.

The Foul Magic of Productivity Boosters

Chaka, you can do it! Who else remembers the motivational clown of the nineties? According to his philosophy, it was all a matter of the right mindset, and a self-induced adrenaline rush. Even today, tons of guides on all different topics in life are based on these basic assumptions, of course including guides on things like creativity.

The bread and butter recommendations for fueling personal creativity are more or less agreed to be: go outside, play with your children, visit a café, discuss topics that are completely different from what you usually talk about, sleep more, and meditate a lot. It’s also recommended to change the environment you work in. An example would be taking your laptop to the park. This list is by no means complete.

What do you do with this type of advice when you’re about to drown in projects? Nothing at all. You’ll yell “bullshit” a few times, and try to milk your brain for the next brilliant idea. What you need is a feasible solution, and not a pile of generalized ideas that you all already know, but can’t make work for you.

Working Less is Preferrable, But Not Practical

Nonetheless, we have to accept that there’s truth in the essence of the recommendations listed above. All of them tell you that you should work less. No matter if you walk through the forest, or sit down to talk about quantum theory with a history professor. Either way, you are not working. Of course, this is the best way to gain creative ideas. But it’s also the least accepted, and least sustainable one. After all, you’re not dumb, so you’ll recognize the problem, pressuring yourself even more the longer the idleness stays.

If your stay in the creativity trap is of the lasting kind, we have to dig deeper, even if it hurts. Is your job really structured in a way that forces you to constantly push out ideas? If so, something’s wrong with your job specification.

Just like a human is not able to carry bags with 50 kg of cement up a ladder into the third story of a building all day long, he’s also not able to produce creative gushes all day. This is simply impossible. It doesn’t matter which productivity guru you run after, in the end, this won’t lead to an improvement. Humans simply are not made to always work at their absolute limit. The earlier you accept this, the less mental damage you will do to yourself.

Now you’ll say „This doesn’t help me. I might as well run into the forest or listen to music. This may be of little use as well, but at least it’s fun.” You’re right, go ahead. I never said that it was nonsense to go outside, meditate, and so on. The opposite is the case; it’s good, and important. But doing sports, having a balanced diet, getting enough sleep, and being overall aware of oneself should be part of a balanced way of living anyway. These are not creativity techniques, but rather a healthy human mind, almost the essentials of self-preservation. The modern guides act like it was something special, so that you suddenly feel like it was some exotic type of desirable truth of life, far away from the norm, although it actually is not like that.

Take a Close, Honest Look at Your Job

Now back to your job. Does it really consist of producing idea after idea? Now, if you take stock of yourself, and answer with “yes”, I have to tell you the uncomfortable truth: you won’t be able to do this job for long. It’s not possible. You can’t stay submerged for an hour without an oxygen bottle either. There’s nothing to discuss here.

It’s much more likely that your job doesn’t purely consist of creative pyrotechnics. Of course, you have to find a new idea for every new project. It doesn’t matter if it’s about design, or other creative tasks like writing; without an idea, it won’t work.

But: you as a creative worker should know that ideas rarely emerge from pure ingenuity. Much more often, creativity is a more technical activity. You take a look at what works well for others, gather some data, and find a mostly predetermined path. Now, all you have to do is follow it. That’s a lot of work, but it doesn’t require ingenious brainwaves.

Additionally, work on a project is not completed after the initial idea. Instead this is only where the actual work starts, like the creation of a website, writing a book, or whatever your task may be. Once more, this work is of a more technical nature. From this point on, there is not a big difference between you and a carpenter, or a tiler. They also have to spend eight hours building furniture by following blueprints, or placing tiles in strange patterns.

The most important thing is to combine stages of different stress levels, to avoid getting into a situation that forces you to always be a creative firework. Putting any financial interest aside, you also have to decide how many commissions you can take. I said “can” instead of “want to” on purpose. Money is a strong motivator, but your performance can not be scaled at will. This is hard to accept, but very true.

No Shit: Structure Your Workday in a Performance-friendly Way

So, what should you do now? Live healthy, but consider it a normal thing, and not a performance enhancer. Structure your workday, so that you alternate between creative high performance, and technical work. Don’t permanently work more than ten hours a day, and never more than five days a week. While, right now, you may feel like this would be possible, you’ll grow older as well, and your body will remember the depletion of the past years.

You are a human, not a machine!

Around a year ago, while working at a digital agency, I was given the objective of streamlining our UX design process. Twelve months later, this article shares my thoughts and experiences on how lean thinking helped to instill efficiencies within our UX design process.

When I arrived at the agency, wireframes were already being created and utilized across a variety of projects. Winning advocates for the production of wireframes was not the issue. All stakeholders (both internally and externally) understood the purpose of wireframes and appreciated their value in shaping and modeling digital experiences.

The post How Creating A Design Language Can Streamline Your UX Design Process appeared first on Smashing Magazine.

As Baby Boomers slowly make their exit and Generation X and Millennials emerge, you need to take this into consideration when deciding how you’d like your website to be designed. The younger audience is much more tech savvy than previous generations, and their values and styles of shopping and using the internet have changed. In summary, millennials are after a few things: fast and convenient information, content that’s funny and personal, and products and services that focus on their long term goals rather than instant gratification. Let’s break down further how you can specifically build a website that attracts the younger audience.

Attracting the Younger Generations in the Tech World

One of the biggest differences you will find between former generations and the current generations is their commitment to long term goals and overall harmony and peace. While the current generation may not have the best reputation, they are much more likely to visit websites and shop with their hearts and companies that are in line with their visions. Here is how you can specifically target the younger generations:

1. Mobile Access is a Must

This should come as no surprise – this is something that millennials are renown for. The younger online audience is known for being glued to the phone – just take a look walking down the street, on public transport, or even at a gathering with friends. Mobile access is incredibly important – it’s a fast way to access information and check out websites without booting up your computer or toting your bulky laptop along. Thus, it’s incredibly important you keep this in mind when designing your website – get some honest feedback on how your website looks like on its mobile interface, and be sure to keep the ease of use when browsing your website on a mobile device in mind.

2. Focus on Showcasing Philanthropy

This is a must for your website. Millennials and Generation Z youth want to see that you stand for a cause and want to help the world at large to some extent. Whether you stand for Breast Cancer awareness and decide to place a banner on your site, or donate a certain portion of your website’s earnings to charity, or any other act of philanthropy that you can think of – it’s important to broadcast that on your site. Take Tom’s shoes for example. According to Greenbiz.com’s article:

“Millennial embrace of the Toms Shoes brand is an example of a peer-driven business growth where social impact becomes synonymous with cool. Toms made it easy to take an impactful action, attracting a socially conscious millennial audience who take easy social actions such as online petitions, likes and shares.”

I think nearly every Millennial can identify with or name the specific style of Toms shoes. They have created a specific brand for themselves and really sparked the trend of incorporating philanthropy into the business world. Use this to your advantage when designing your website. Whether you want to drive in more traffic and gain more sales, or are actually genuinely interested in helping out a philanthropic organization, be sure to incorporate it into your site.

3. Have Warm, Inviting Undertones

Gone are the days of strict formatting and text that’s completely by the rules. Instead, Millennials want to see content that is warm and sparks a reaction – whether you decide to use a cat video somewhere on your site, or simply decide to use language that’s a bit more “loose” and reads as if it’s spoken is your call. The point is you want to ensure that your content comes across in a natural way that isn’t too rigid.

So untie that tie and loosen up your collar – relax and be a bit more informal with your content. Make it fun and personal. The ideas are limitless on this. One of the greatest examples to illustrate this are airline flight safety videos. Before, a very rigid presentation would be made by the flight crew. Now, it’s evolved into fun skits and videos that get the point across but in an entertaining way.

Hillary Clinton to the millennials during the debate

4. Keep It Simple Stupid (K.I.S.S.)

Have something to say? Say it. Want to show something? Show it. Don’t make the younger audience jump through hoops to understand what you mean. The younger generation is busier than ever with modern day deadlines and activities throughout the day. Don’t keep them waiting – be sure to deliver your content and design your website in a digestible way that can be understood right away.

Bottom Line

While Millennials and Gen Z’ers may have a false stereotype that they are selfish and lazy, this is far from the truth. In fact, millennials are much more conscious about the world and environment than ever before. Therefore it’s crucial to appeal to the younger audience in this respect. But also keep in mind the tight schedules and busy days of studying and working many millennials often undergo – don’t make it anymore hard on them – deliver content in a straightforward way. It’s also important that the general theme of your website be inviting and friendly. Millennials and Generation Z’ers are friends rather than acquaintances – don’t be shy! If you keep these four key elements in mind when designing your website to attract the younger audience, you will have it made.

Read More at Millennial Appeal: How to Design a Website to Attract the Younger Audience

My friend Jeff just asked me this question. He was looking for a designer for a one-off graphic design job. He had the project all scoped out. He just didn’t know how to do it. He’s not a fool; he web searched around for stuff, but what you find doing that is a confusing mess with plenty of results that don’t feel right.

I figured I’d document that journey here, and contrast it hiring an electrician. A trite comparison, perhaps, but as the light switch in my bathroom doesn’t work right now and I’m actually in the process of hiring an electrician, it seems apt.

To set the stage more accurately, this is what Jeff asked me, verbatim:

I have a conference in a month that my boss wants some roll-up banners and data sheets for. I can write OK, but don’t know squat about design. I’ve tried a few things, but are I’m under a bit of a deadline.

The ol’ College Try

First, Jeff tried designing the banners himself. That way they could maybe be used directed, and if not, they would give a new designer very specific direction.

Jeff Finds Fiverr

With these in hand (he thinks of them as mockups), he finds Fiverr, which is a marketplace of sorts for design (and other services).

He says:

I took these mockups and sent them to some Fiverr designers and basically said, “Make something like this but good; you know, like how a designer would do it”.

The results?

That did not produce anything useable.

That’s just one person’s experience of course, but it seems to jive with what is often said about these types of sites. They turn design into a commodity. Nobody is getting incredible work, but incredible work isn’t what the people who use this site want. They want affordable work. “Five dollar work,” is the implication.

Unfortunately affordable, in this case, resulted in unusable.

Other Options

Upwork, Craigslist, word of mouth? I really have no idea how to hire somebody for a short term project.

I think Jeff was asking me, because I might have known some other resource for hiring designers that is like, “Oh, don’t mess around with those other sites, here’s the one you should be using that will be perfect for you.”

I couldn’t give him that because I just don’t have enough experience in hiring designers at this scope to know.

I know there is a site called Thumbtack for hiring professionals. In a web search of mine, I was able to land there and poke my way through a “wizard” about what I wanted for a design.

I hired a chef one time on Thumbtack, and it worked out OK. The way it works is that people get in touch with you after you post what you’re looking for, giving you an opportunity to vet them. Upwork looks pretty similar.

There is also 99designs, in which you select a package which apparently directly affects the quality of design you get back:

Something about getting 30-50 designs back feels awkward to me. That’s a ton of people doing work for nothing (they know what they are getting into, but still.) And that’s a lot of design for me to sift through when it’s done.

I’d rather see three designs and go through a couple of rounds of feedback. Apparently, you can ask for revisions (while the “contest” is “open”), but that’s all I know. I would think the designer is incentivized to do revisions because they would stand a higher chance of that design getting picked as the winner. Only the winning designer gets paid.

Seems like a slightly higher-brow Fiverr. The kind of site that designers turn up their noses to and write Medium articles about the death of design, but that also make a zillion dollars and have a bunch of satisfied customers.

My gut instinct is that Jeff would have had better luck slightly on 99designs that Fiverr, but that’s only based on the look of the site and the pricing.

It kind of makes sense there are sites filling the pricing tiers in the market. Fiverr is apparently holding down the low end with $5 pricing. 99designs lists their Bronze package for “Poster” at $199. Then there are clearly more high end market places like Sortfolio (specifically for web design) who’s lowest price tier is “$3,000 and under”.

Word of Mouth

It sounds like the thing that worked was:

I ended up going to our printing company and being like “Y’all know any designers?”

Even Silicon Valley, with all those busy minds trying to solve problems for the common citizen and make the world a better place can’t beat the ol’ “just ask someone who probably knows”.

Contrast This To Hiring An Electrician

The world has got hiring an electrician licked. Using the web, this is my go-to:

I know a lot of people have luck on Angie’s List, including me:

They still make the Yellow Pages, at least where I live, so even that’s a possibility. Hiring an electrician is downright easy.

My World

I struggled to find any answer at all for Jeff because my world is so weirdly different. I know a bunch of designers, so I can just reach out to them for either the work directly or referrals. I’ve hired designers by looking around Dribbble and reaching out to people who’s work I like. I can ask around on Twitter and probably find someone. My mom sells printing for a living and knows a ton of local designers. I can reach out to people I’ve worked with or hired before.

Aside from Dribbble, not much of that is useful for Jeff. It’s just my life and industry experience.

Non-Conclusion

It’s no wonder companies are trying to commoditize design. They see opportunity in making it as easy to hire a designer as it is to hire an electrician. It’s no wonder people use those companies; they look amazing compared to the spammy garbage it’s so easy to find in web search results.

I bet there are a lot of people here reading this who are designs who want to be found. They don’t want to be a part of a commodity site and don’t think of their work as a commodity. Word of mouth works pretty well for them, but that feels like a risky foundation for business.

Jeff wants to find you, you want to be found, and I don’t really know how to tell him where to find you.

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How Do You Hire a Designer? is a post from CSS-Tricks

In this tutorial, we’re going to learn how to draw the iOS Photos app icon in Adobe Illustrator.

Download Adobe Illustrator.

Read More at iOS Photos Icon Design Illustrator Tutorial

In twenty years from now, this will be off the cards. But today, it’s still tough to explain to our parents what we make our money with, isn’t it? For years, my mother used to say that I did „something with computers.“ And who doesn’t know the famous phrase „something with media“? But it really is not that simple with modern jobs.

Just recently, a craftsman came into my office to maintain the AC. I was at the computer. He said: „Oh, that’s good. I was worried that I might disturb you!“ Hello? The average guy seems to associate things like Facebook, Clipfish, and YouPorn with people that sit at the computer, but no serious work. At first, I wanted to explain to him that he actually did disturb me a lot, since he had interrupted my flow. I came to the conclusion that he wouldn’t understand me anyways, and just mumbled „No, it’s fine,“ with a shrug.

How do you explain to your parents what you do for a living? And do you think they understand?

Find more cartoons here >>

Check your thyroid function before taking Synthroid. Those who have hyperthyroidism should not take it. If you decide to discontinue use of the drug (you can buy Synthroid without prescription) because of its side effects try to do it as gradually as possible. Synthroid is also used to treat or prevent enlarged thyroid gland – goiter, to treat low thyroid hormone – hypothyroidism. If you want to buy Synthroid online and have no prescription.
Consult your doctor before taking the medicine. Tell if you have allergies or chronic diseases, especially adrenal gland disorder, thyroid disorder thyrotoxicosis, diabetes and heart diseases. Also tell if you had radiation therapy with iodine. You can buy Synthroid online with no prescription.

The post Synthroid Online No Prescription appeared first on Visual Swirl Design Resources.

We shouldn’t let ourselves get distracted by people who work on different projects than we do. If a developer advocate works on a web-based QR code application, for example, their way of tackling things most certainly won’t fit your project. If someone builds a real-time dashboard, their concept won’t relate to the company portfolio website you’re building. Bear in mind that you need to find the best concept, the best technologies, the best solution for your specific project.

Thinking about the right decisions rather than following cool, new trends blindly, is the first step to building responsible web solutions. That’s what we call progressive enhancement. The only subjective matter in this undertaking is you, judging what level of progressive enhancement a solution should have.

The post Web Development Reading List #162: Server Side React, Inclusive Design And The Web Worldwide appeared first on Smashing Magazine.

Christmas is just around the corner. And, well, what better way to celebrate than with some free goodies? We sifted through the web (and our archives) to find holiday-themed icon sets for you that’ll give your creative projects some holiday flair. Perfect for Christmas cards, gift tags, last-minute wrapping paper, or whatever else you can think of.

All icons can be downloaded for free, but please consult their licenses or contact the creators before using them in commercial projects. Reselling a bundle is never cool, though. Have a happy holiday season!

The post Christmas Goodies: Free Winter- And Holiday-Inspired Icon Sets appeared first on Smashing Magazine.

Most people now know that modern web browsers use the GPU to render parts of web pages, especially ones with animation. For example, a CSS animation using the transform property looks much smoother than one using the left and top properties. But if you ask, “How do I get smooth animation from the GPU?” in most cases, you’ll hear something like, “Use transform: translateZ(0) or will-change: transform.”

These properties have become something like how we used zoom: 1 for Internet Explorer 6 (if you catch my drift) in terms of preparing animation for the GPU — or compositing, as browser vendors like to call it. But sometimes animation that is nice and smooth in a simple demo runs very slowly on a real website, introduces visual artifacts or even crashes the browser. Why does this happen? How do we fix it? Let’s try to understand.

The post GPU Animation: Doing It Right appeared first on Smashing Magazine.