A Few Good Links

I use Google Reader extensively, and star articles that I want to dive into but don’t have the time to read in the immediate. However, some articles stay on my starred list long after I’ve read them once, twice, or even several times. I thought I’d share just a few that have been sitting in my starred list for up to months now, and that others might find interesting as well.

• 1.0 Is the Loneliest Number – Great piece by Matt Mullenweg of WordPress fame, talking about the importance of getting a “version 1” of any product out, even if it is imperfect or not entirely feature-rich. “…If you’re not embarrassed when you ship your first version you waited too long.”
• Stop Designing Aesthetics, Start Designing Emotions – A breath of fresh air reminding me that design is not just about bevels, drop shadows, and beautiful gradients, but about the idea and feeling behind whatever you are trying to communicate. I need to take this into account more often.
• 5 Ways to Sell Your Expertise Online – I will come back to this one someday, but perhaps you will find it a boon sooner than I.
• Comic Sans Will Make You Smarter – &ldquop;Blasphemy!” I thought when I first read the headline. And blasphemy I still continued to call throughout the article. However, the logic makes sense, and (luckily) it does not apply only to Comic Sans. Interesting how humans work.
• Consumption: How Inspiration Killed, Then Ate, Creativity – The introductory paragraph does a fine job of explaining this absolutely fantastic and perceptive short article:
  

  “For creatives, the definition of the word “inspiration” has lost its meaning. It’s no longer a spark of intuition to solve the uniqueness in a problem, but a search for the current and complacent solutions created by others.”

• The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web – A little gem discussing typographic rules and recommendations, mostly drawn from the definitive book, “The Elements of Typographic Style.”

Enjoy, and feel free to share any other good finds you may have come across recently.