Cap Watkins: Treat Your Life Like a User Experience Problem

Too often, the product design, product management, and engineering teams are thought of as three separate entities. This divide, according to Cap Watkins, the VP of Design at Buzzfeed, can lead designers to feel undervalued or even defensive when the product managers or engineers attempt to make suggestions to their work. Having realized this battle at Buzzfeed, Watkins proposed the question: “How do we create a culture of empowerment for design?”

In this 99u talk, Watkins provides a step-by-step process to blur the lines between the different product building teams in an effort to get feedback on not only the work being done, but also the process on how that work gets done. Change is complicated and creating the internal partnerships will adjust the way people work, ultimately for the better. “We have to realize that working together doesn’t mean we’re trying to take each others job,” says Watkins. “We’re just trying to be better collaborators.”

My Mutant Brain

I've been somewhat obsessed with this short film by Spike Jonze since the moment I saw it first making its way through social networks. From the music and dance, to the filmmaking behind it, to the fact that it is an ad for perfume in the most non-traditional way possible. Mostly I keep re-watching trying to recapture the moments of surprise I experienced the first few times I saw it. That moment when your brain registers what is actually happening as she runs up those steps and there are reflections everywhere, was, is, so satisfying. 

The film is a creative relative to Jonze's music video for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice." Both of those films make me wish for a collaboration between Jonze, Qualley and Walken.   

Client: Kenzo
Kenzo CD/EPs: Carol Lim and Humberto Leon
Written & Directed by: Spike Jonze
Actress: Margaret Qualley
VFX: Digital Domain
VFX supervisor: Janelle Croshaw
Costumes: Heidi Bivens
Song: Mutant Brain (feat. Assassin) by Sam Spiegel & Ape Drums
Production Design: KK Barrett
Director of Photography: Hoyte van Hoytema
Choreographer: Ryan Heffington

The Evolution of Stop-Motion

 Vugar Efendi:
With the release of Kubo and the Two Strings, it is a perfect moment to go back in time and see the evolution of stop-motion animation throughout the years.

The films included are:
- The Enchanted Drawing (1900)
-Fun at the Bakery Shop (1902)
-El Hotel Electrico (1905)
-Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906)
-The Cameraman's Revenge (1912)
-The Night before Christmas (1913)
-Häxan (1922)
-The Lost World (1925)
-The Tale of Fox (1930 version)
-King Kong (1933)
-The New Gulliver (1935)
-The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
-It Came Beneath The Sea (1955)
-Earth vs Flying Saucers (1956)
-The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
-Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
-Closed Mondays (1975)
-Star wars IV: A New Hope (1977)
-Star Wars V: Empire Strikes Back (1980)
-Clash of the Titans (1981)
-The Terminator (1984)
-Robocop (1987)
-Beetlejuice (1988)
-Wallace and Gromit: A grand day out (1990)
-The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (1993)
-The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
-James and the Giant Peach (1996)
-Chicken Run (2000)
-Corpse Bride (2005)
-Coraline (2009)
-Mary and Max (2009)
-Fantastic Mr.Fox (2009)
-The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (2012)
-Paranorman (2012)
-Frankenweenie (2012)
-Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
-The Little Prince (2015)
-Anomalisa (2015)
-Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

Jason Fried: Make “Creative Destruction” a Regular Part of Your Routine

While a common sentiment is to protect our creative routines, Basecamp CEO Jason Fried urges us to fall madly out of love with the ones we truly care about. “The easiest thing to do is become comfortable and complacent,” says Fried. And the more comfortable you become with a way of doing things, the more willing you are to protect it, even if it no longer is the most effective way to create something. 

In this 99u talk, Fried provides a blueprint to change our work habits. “When there’s a forced change in the way you work on a regular basis, you create moments to look at something fresh,” he says. “If you begin to do that, you will see it a little bit differently and you have a chance at making a change.”

Endless September (10 quick rules)

Seth Godin: 

Here are ten things to remember, feel free to share with those that are less experienced. Happy September:

Don't hit 'reply all' to an email unless you have a really good reason. And don't write, "take me off this list" to a listserv, because everyone on the list will probably get your note. That's been true for thirty years and it's still true. 

You may think you can recall a sent email, but you probably can't. Best to breathe three times before you hit send.

Don't type in all caps.

Don't buy anything on the phone (or by email) from a stranger, especially anything having to do with your small business, your computer, your Google listing or a charity. Just hang up.

Everything you click on or surf on or do online is being recorded somewhere. Act accordingly.

Backup your data, get tenant's insurance and turn on 'Find my iPhone' on your Mac.

When in doubt, restart your computer. If that doesn't work, visit duckduckgo and type in your question. You'll be amazed at how many people have had the problem you're having.

To become an expert in something, you're going to need to read more than the first link that comes up in a search. And before you forward something you're not an expert in, check Snopes.

Offer help on something you're good at to the community at least three times before you ask that community for help. Someone is always coming up behind you.

Don't believe everything you read online. In fact, don't believe most of it.

Bonus #11: Be kind. Thanks.