July 2017 | Don't settle for virtual nature
I wrote about this in February, but my obsession with time continues, so here’s the latest: That tiny, powerful computer in your pocket understands how to hijack your mind (and is improving its ability to do so). Tristan Harris is here to help you do what you want to do with your time. I love the concept of designing break-points into our apps. Let’s help people get what they need and then move on to other parts of their lives.
TED talk | WIRED article | Nonprofit
Related: Why our screens make us less happy
Related: Buy happiness: Spend money to save time
Related: Your fear and outrage are being exploited (duh)
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TIME WELL SPENT
During our last team meeting, we chatted about robots. Our adorable little Roombas have been mapping our homes so that iRobot can sell our floorplans (presumably to “help” us find new things to buy to fill said floorplans). But what happens when we begin to work with robots? On the plus side, they’ll help remove some of the drudgery of office work – things that can be automated will be automated. But, as with all things, those benefits will come with drawbacks: Those same robots will listen to (and store) everything we say, regardless of confidentiality.
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OUR ROBOT COWORKERS
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HEY, NATURE. LET’S GET TOGETHER IN VR
One of the fascinating fields of recent research points to the importance of getting out into nature. Some cultures have special terms for it – taking a bath in nature, for example – and spending time in nature is being recognized as a prescription against anxiety and depression. “In Finland, public health officials now recommend that citizens get 5 hours a month, minimum, in the woods, in order to stave off depression.” Even being exposed to nature on video and in pictures helps. In related news, I just changed my desktop backgrounds from grand vistas of Yosemite to green rice paddies. Better than nothing.
Read Shopify’s UX process for creating artistic empty-state pages. The writer walks us through her team’s creative and iterative process. I came across Shopify’s work via a post I almost didn’t include because there is a TYPO in the first sentence, and what kind of writer would I be if I went around recommending poorly written Internet rambles? If there’s a sure way to discredit your published work, it’s to include a typo right out of the gate (or should I say “gait”? Get it? I crack myself up.), but I appreciate his thesis that Matisse is everywhere, even at Shopify.
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MATISSE IS EVERYWHERE
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MS PAINT
Apparently, people were pretty cut up by the news that MS Paint was being sent to the software graveyard. If you count yourself among the Paint fanbase (and, honestly, it was a pretty handy program long ago), never fear. Microsoft is offering it in the Windows Store for free!