Product Management UX/UI & Interacion Blog — Frank derFrankie Neulichedl

Weekly Links June 10, 2011

Digest powered by RSS Digest

Using Podcasts to learn while working

I use podcasts to learn while I work. I listen to design talks, keynotes, interviews and news from science, culture and some entertainment. Especially during the tasks every designer can do without thinking (photo retouching, filling in content, corrections) are the ideal activities to up your game by staying in touch with the latest developments. Even though graphic and web design are visual media, the most important part in my opinion about design is not visual - the mindset and the different approaches behind design solutions. In the old days it was really difficult to get the inside view of designers because not many had the opportunity to publish books or discuss their point of view in a magazine. Design Blogs fill this space a little bit but mostly podcasts can give you the opportunity to hear what designers think in their own words.

For a selection of interesting Podcasts about design subscribe my Huffduffer Channel - available as RSS or Subscribe in iTunes

To give you a further starting point for the design podcasts I listen I publish here my Subscription list from Google Reader (if you want you can even subscribe to it) - this list will update itself automatically.

Photo by Melvin Gaal (Mindsharing.eu)

,

5 reasons a designer should graduate college

,

More and more I hear influential people talking about graduating college as a waste of time. There are even "scholarships" for not attending college. I think this is the wrong direction to go and here are my five reasons why a designer should graduate a college or university.

How to make a chart with 3d effects in Illustrator fast

Doing charts is a almost a daily business for any graphic designer. Most of them don't need to be super-fancy, but some spice can always help. Creating a 3D Effect is quickly done with the standard tools we all use - rectangles, lines and gradients. But if you have to do many charts (for an annual report) then this options can really slow you down. Unless.

Free alternative to shutting down Email Oracle

Email Oracle, a nice service and extension for Google Mail (Gmail) to track your emails. It's a great way to see if your recipient opens your email. Unfortunately the service is shutting down. So I've found an alternative. More after the break.

Generalist vs. Specialist

Who would you like to be, a Swiss army knife or a forged Japanese kitchen knife? Both have great "skill" sets and have been on the market a long time. In graphic design we have the same problem. Should a graphic designer become a generalist or a specialist? And as an agency who should hire?