Let’s start off by saying the basket appears to be less full this week, but is in fact more full. I like to e-read, whenever possible, and my iPad Mini is my digital information hoard. There are quite a few good interests in Mini this week.
Sharing Code
I have been dipping into Pro Git, the excellent free ebook by Scott Chacon. Between this and the also-great videos on the Git how-to site, I managed to get a project set up, and a text file committed, all through my Terminal application which, and frankly, I impressed myself just a little. If this does not impress you, either because a) using the command line is like second nature to you or b) when I say “command line” or “Terminal” you have no idea what I mean, then this part of today’s blog post will likely not be very interesting. What I find intriguing about Git is that it seems like a much better way to share documents on projects than, say, Google docs, or Basecamp, both of which I do use daily. And this use of Git (version control) doesn’t even scratch the surface of the potential inherent in being able to share code with others who, if they are not me, are most probably much better programmers and who might be able to help with stuff. Yay Git, I say, and once there is actually something other than test.txt up on my hub, I will post a link. First project: a budget builder, so our clients can see what it takes to make a Youtube video, or a Commercial-quality video, from our Q Media website. Coming soon!!
Sharing Your Brand
I am also currently hoarding, in Mini, every pdf and ebook Hubspot has produced on email and social media marketing. We are working on our digital presence at Q Media and Hubspot is pretty great: just as the cobbler’s children are in bare feet, we do a lot of work with our clients to help them understand how to communicate their brand digitally, but we have neglected our own brand communications. And, as we would advise any client to do, we are also doing some deep thinking on who we are and who we want to be. Richard has us all reading Creative Confidence by Tom and David Kelley, the founders of IDEO. The design thinking process is something that I have had much success with and this looks like the perfect bible for us.
Knitting is like Coding
No matter how much we wish it was so, life is not only lived in the digital realm, and I continue to knit a pair of socks. I have now turned the heel and am deep into gusset shaping (for more information on what the heck shaping a gusset means, please consult ewetube. I’m serious.). Knitting is, in so many ways, similar to coding: it is binary (there are only 2 stitches, knit and purl). There is tons of math: designing a pair of socks is like doing a puzzle. And it is a real “flow” activity: when you get started time flies by and you don’t want to stop.
My “wireframe”
Finally I have my wireframes for this site’s homepage, in my notebook, in the basket, reminding me to do at least what I would do for any client and put them in Omnigraffle like any decent wireframe to code by. And, to help make it look good, Creative Workshop: 80 Challenges to Sharpen Your Design Skills by David Sherwin has stayed in the basket, held over from last week. My goal for the week: do at least one exercise from this book. And read Creative Confidence. And finish socks. And…