Book picks similar to
Ceramics by Chris Lefteri
art-sculpture
design
material
work
Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day
Jake Knapp - 2018
Why? In a world where information refreshes endlessly and the workday feels like a race to react to other people's priorities faster, frazzled and distracted has become our default position. But what if the exhaustion of constant busyness wasn't mandatory? What if you could step off the hamster wheel and start taking control of your time and attention? That's what this book is about. As creators of Google Ventures' renowned "design sprint," Jake and John have helped hundreds of teams solve important problems by changing how they work. Building on the success of these sprints and their experience designing ubiquitous tech products from Gmail to YouTube, they spent years experimenting with their own habits and routines, looking for ways to help people optimize their energy, focus, and time. Now they've packaged the most effective tactics into a four-step daily framework that anyone can use to systematically design their days. Make Time is not a one-size-fits-all formula. Instead, it offers a customizable menu of bite-size tips and strategies that can be tailored to individual habits and lifestyles. Make Time isn't about productivity, or checking off more to-dos. Nor does it propose unrealistic solutions like throwing out your smartphone or swearing off social media. Making time isn't about radically overhauling your lifestyle; it's about making small shifts in your environment to liberate yourself from constant busyness and distraction. A must-read for anyone who has ever thought, If only there were more hours in the day..., Make Time will help you stop passively reacting to the demands of the modern world and start intentionally making time for the things that matter.
Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators: From Idea to Execution
Vijay Govindarajan - 2005
That's what makes emerging high-growth industries so attractive. With no proven formula for making a profit, these industries represent huge opportunities for the companies that are fast enough and smart enough to capture them first. But building tomorrow's businesses while simultaneously sustaining excellence in today's demands a delicate balance. It is a mandatory quest, but one that is fraught with contradiction and paradox. Until now, there has been little practical guidance. Based on an in-depth, multiyear research study of innovative initiatives at ten large corporations, Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble identify three central challenges: forgetting yesterday's successful processes and practices; borrowing selected resources from the core business; and learning how the new business can succeed.The authors make recommendations regarding staffing, leadership roles, reporting relationships, process design, planning, performance assessment, incentives, cultural norms, and much more. Breakthrough growth opportunities can make or break companies and careers. "Forget, Borrow, Learn" is every leader's guide to execution in unexplored territory.
Make: Analog Synthesizers
Ray Wilson - 2013
If you’re a musician or a hobbyist with experience in building electronic projects from kits or schematics, this do-it-yourself guide will walk you through the parts and schematics you need, and how to tailor them for your needs. Author Ray Wilson shares his decades of experience in synth-DIY, including the popular Music From Outer Space (MFOS) website and analog synth community.At the end of the book, you’ll apply everything you’ve learned by building an analog synthesizer, using the MFOS Noise Toaster kit. You’ll also learn what it takes to create synth-DIY electronic music studio. Get started in the fun and engaging hobby of synth-DIY without delay.With this book, you’ll learn:The differences between analog and digital synthesizersAnalog synthesizer building blocks, including VCOs, VCFs, VCAs, and LFOsHow to tool up for synth-DIY, including electronic instruments and suggestions for home-made equipmentFoundational circuits for amplification, biasing, and signal mixingHow to work with the MFOS Noise Toaster kitSetting up a synth-DIY electronic music studio on a budget
Do You Matter?: How Great Design Will Make People Love Your Company
Robert J. Brunner - 2006
Think like a customer for a moment. We’re talking about design as a total concept—not just about how a product looks, but how the product operates, how it sounds, and how it feels. Also included in this idea of design is the quality of your purchase experience, of what happens when you actually open up the box, how you start to feel, and what all this communicates to you. And of course, there is the chain of events through which you became aware of the product. This is part of the design connection too—what all those touch points mean to you as a customer.The stark reality is that very few companies actually understand how to create great design, and even fewer know how to use design as a complete strategy starting with the ideal customer experience, and then building an internal supply chain to deliver in a way that exceeds expectations. When you do this, you will create products, services, and experiences that truly matter to your customers’ lives and thereby drive powerful, sustainable improvements in business performance.Delivering great design takes awareness, creativity, diligence and determination. The secret to doing it: build a truly design-driven business from top to bottom, in which design is central to everything you do.Do You Matter? shows how to do precisely this. Renowned industrial designer Robert Brunner (Former Apple Industrial Design Director) and corporate consultant Stewart Emery (Success Built to Last) begin by making an incontrovertible case for the power of design in making emotional connections, deepening relationships, and strengthening brands. You’ll learn what it really means to be “design-driven” and how that translates into action at companies like Nike, Apple, BMW, IKEA and many others. You’ll learn techniques for managing your entire experience supply chain; how to define effective design strategies; and learn how to manage design from the top, encouraging “risky” design innovations that lead to creating entirely new markets.The authors show how (and how not) to use research; how to extend design values into marketing, manufacturing, and beyond; and how to keep building on your progress, truly "baking" design into all your processes and culture.Read this book and put the principles to work. Do this and you will be able to not only play the game, you’ll be able change the game, your company, your life and make a difference in the lives of others—really!Even if you are not in the business of creating products and services per se, this is a book everyone can enjoy (even your mother). It is a great read filled with stories of triumph, serendipity and missed opportunities. In addition to expanding the way you think about the role of design in your life, it will help you to be a delighted consumer.
Junior: Writing Your Way Ahead In Advertising
Thomas Kemeny - 2019
Thomas Kemeny made a career at some of the best ad agencies in America. In this book he shows how he got in, how he's stayed in, and how you can do it too. He breaks apart how to write fun, smart, and effective copy-everything from headlines to scripts to experiential activations-giving readers a lesson on a language we all thought we already knew.This book is not a retrospective from some ad legend. It's a book that should be instantly useful for people starting out. A guide for the first few years at a place you'd actually want to work.Traditionally, advertising books have been written by people with established careers, big offices and letters like VP in their titles. They have stories from the old days when people could start in the mailroom. They are talented. That's been done. Who wants another book filled with seasoned wisdom? This is a book written by somebody still getting his bearings. Someone who has made an extraordinary number of errors in a still short career. Someone who has managed to hang onto his job despite these shortcomings.
Pig Wrestling: Clean Your Thinking to Create the Change you Need
Pete Lindsay - 2017
Read it in under an hour, and you’ll be ready to tackle any type of sticky situation in work or life.Meet a stressed Young Manager, whose teams are at each other’s throats. At his local coffee bar he shares his frustrations with his barista – who turns out to be more than he seems. It’s the start of a journey into Pig Wrestling – a process that can be used to resolve any seemingly impossible problem. By reframing the issue we can all create change, whenever and wherever we need it most.Developed out of the authors’ work in elite sports and business – including Manchester City, Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill and the England Cricket team – this instantly memorable story will help you thrive in complex and messy times.
It's My Pleasure: The Impact of Extraordinary Talent and a Compelling Culture
Dee Ann Turner - 2015
Culture is created by the stories those relationships tell. Two of the most important differentiators of a business are its talent and its culture. Talent energized by a compelling culture will drive organizational success and provide innovative growth opportunities for both the business and the individual.Based on her more than thirty years at Chick-fil-A, most of which have been spent as Vice President, Corporate Talent, Dee Ann Turner shares how Chick-fil-A has built a devoted talent and fan base that spans generations. It's My Pleasure tells powerful stories and provides practical applications on how to develop extraordinary talent able to build and/or stimulate a company's culture.
Remote: Office Not Required
David Heinemeier Hansson - 2013
Moms in particular will welcome this trend. A full 60% wish they had a flexible work option. But companies see advantages too in the way remote work increases their talent pool, reduces turnover, lessens their real estate footprint, and improves the ability to conduct business across multiple time zones, to name just a few advantages. In Remote, inconoclastic authors Fried and Hansson will convince readers that letting all or part of work teams function remotely is a great idea--and they're going to show precisely how a remote work setup can be accomplished.
Future Ethics
Cennydd Bowles - 2018
Technology was never neutral; its social, political, and moral impacts have become painfully clear. But the stakes will only get higher as connected cameras will watch over the city, algorithms oversee society’s most critical decisions, and transport, jobs, and even war will become automated. The tech industry hasn’t yet earned the trust these technologies demand. Based on Cennydd’s years of research and consulting, Future Ethics transforms modern ethical theory into practical advice for designers, product managers, and software engineers alike. Cennydd uses the three lenses of modern ethics to focus on some of the tech industry’s biggest challenges: unintended consequences and algorithmic bias, the troubling power of persuasive technology, and the dystopias of surveillance, autonomous war, and a post-work future. Future Ethics is an intelligent, quietly provocative book that challenges technologists to stand up for change, and teaches essential ethical principles and methods for building a fairer future. Cennydd Bowles is a London-based designer and writer with fifteen years of experience and clients including Twitter, Ford, Cisco, and the BBC. His focus today is the ethics of emerging technology. He has lectured on the topic at Carnegie Mellon University, Google, and New York’s School of Visual Arts, and is a sought-after speaker at technology and design events worldwide.
Lean B2B: Build Products Businesses Want
Étienne Garbugli - 2014
It's the kind of book you don't read once, you go back to it on a regular basis. » - Carmen Gerea, CEO & Co-founder, UsabilityChefsLean B2B helps entrepreneurs and innovators quickly find traction in the enterprise.Used by thousands around the world and packed with more than 20 case studies, Lean B2B consolidates the best thinking around Business- to-Business (B2B) customer development to help entrepreneurs and innovators focus on the right things each step of the way, leaving as little as possible to luck.The book helps:• Assess the market potential of opportunities to find the right opportunity for your team• Find early adopters, quickly establish credibility and convince business stakeholders to work with you• Find and prioritize business problems in corporations and identify the stakeholders with the power to influence a purchase decision• Create a minimum viable product and a compelling offer, validate a solution and evaluate whether your team has found product-market fit• Identify and avoid common challenges faced by entrepreneurs and learn ninja techniques to speed up product-market validation« The book will pay itself off in the first couple of pages! » - Ben Sardella, Co-Founder, Datanyze« Treat this book like a map to show you where you are and a compass to show you the direction. I wish I could have read it 2 or 3 years ago. » – Jonathan Gebauer, Founder, exploreB2B« Lean B2B is filled with rock-solid advice for technology entrepreneurs who want a rapid-growth trajectory. Read it to increase your certainty and your success rate. » - Jill Konrath, Author of AGILE SELLING and Selling to Big Companies« Probably the most slept on book in the Lean startup market right now.... There is no sugarcoating here. Garbugli tells you exactly what needs to happen and how to make it happen... literally holds your hand and spells it out. I was really impressed with the overall depth and advice presented. » - AJ, B2B Entrepreneur« The book I read of which I have learned the most. » - Etienne Thouin, Founder and CTO, SQLNext Software« This book is essential reading for would-be entrepreneurs who face the daunting task of entering B2B markets. » – Paul Gillin, Co-Author, Social Marketing to the Business Customer
Design Thinking Workshop: The 12 Indispensable Elements for a Design Thinking Workshop
Pauline Tonhauser - 2016
In this e-book you will learn what exactly is needed to run a successful Design Thinking Workshop which is fun and at the same time generates great results. In this e-book Pauline Tonhauser, founder of designthinkingcoach.de, shares her best practices.
A Project Guide to UX Design: For User Experience Designers in the Field or in the Making
Russ Unger - 2009
If you are an organization that really needs to start grokking UX this book is also for you. " -- Chris Bernard, User Experience Evangelist, Microsoft User experience design is the discipline of creating a useful and usable Web site or application--one that's easily navigated and meets the needs of both the site owner and its users. But there's a lot more to successful UX design than knowing the latest Web technologies or design trends: It takes diplomacy, project management skills, and business savvy. That's where this book comes in. Authors Russ Unger and Carolyn Chandler show you how to integrate UX principles into your project from start to finish. - Understand the various roles in UX design, identify stakeholders, and enlist their support- Obtain consensus from your team on project objectives- Define the scope of your project and avoid mission creep- Conduct user research and document your findings- Understand and communicate user behavior with personas- Design and prototype your application or site- Make your product findable with search engine optimization- Plan for development, product rollout, and ongoing quality assurance
The Elements of Typographic Style
Robert Bringhurst - 1992
Combining practical, theoretical, and historical, this book is a must for graphic artists, editors, or anyone working with the printed page using digital or traditional methods.Having established itself as a standard in its field The Elements of Typographic Style is house manual at most American university presses, a standard university text, and a reference work in studios of designers around the world. It has been translated into italian and greek, and dutch.
Big, Hot to Cold: An Odyssey of Architectural Adaptation
Bjarke Ingels - 2015