Dense Discovery – Issue 79 The Universe is under no obligation to make sense to you. – Neil de Grasse Tyson graphic ❏ Featured artist: link Rocio Egio Studio link graphic Dense Discovery table with 42 rows and 1 columns row 1 column 1 link graphic Dense Discovery row 2 row 3 heading Welcome to Issue 79! link View slash share online right arrow row 4 Our ability to filter, evaluate, and prioritise information is being put to the test and in many cases is reaching a natural limit. It’s important to acknowledge that there has probably never been more competition for our attention than right now. It’s totally OK and human to feel overwhelmed and exhausted. Spending excessive amounts of time online and following the news can be detrimental to our mental health at the best of times. Throw in a pandemic and our anxiety levels go through the roof. Please keep in mind that you’re not an irresponsible human being just because you missed the latest breaking news announcement about bars closing on the other side of the globe. You don’t need to know the latest number of infections or available ventilators in order to be a responsible, sensible citizen. In fact, you can be most helpful and win back some sense of agency by focusing more on your immediate environment: yourself, your family, your friends, and your neighbours. Leave the rest to the experts. I intentionally kept the bottom of this newsletter corona free, but – with the risk of being called a hypocrite – I do want to share just link this one article that offers some food for thought while we prepare for lock down mode: We should use the quiet of these suddenly uncrowded days to think a little about how much we’ve allowed social isolation to grow in our society, even without illness as an excuse. (...) If we pay attention, we may value more fully the moment we’re released from our detention, and we may even make some changes in our lives as a result. It will be a relief, above all, when we’re allowed to get back to caring for one another, which is what socially evolved primates do best. – link Kai Dense Discovery is currently read by around 20,000 subscribers. Support us by (1) link Sponsoring link an issue , (2) link Booking a classified ad , or (3) link Sharing this issue with friends and colleagues. row 5 row 6 heading Spreadsheet Nerds Unite link SPONSOR row 7 graphic ❏ heading link Tiller Money right arrow heading Personal finance spreadsheets without data entry Manage your money in a spreadsheet 10 times faster with Tiller Money, the only service that automatically updates Google Sheets with your daily spending, transactions, and balances. Start with a template or build your own. Financial simplicity and control, made for designers and developers. row 8 row 9 heading Apps and Sites row 10 heading link Opensource Builders right arrow heading Open source alternatives A searchable, growing directory of open source alternatives to popular commercial apps such as Google Analytics, Slack, Shopify, and more. row 11 heading link Jamm right arrow heading Lightweight’ video calls When you work remotely, casual conversations with team members rarely happen. It’s usually a scheduled video call or just text based messaging. Jamm wants you to engage in more spontaneous conversations: besides the standard range of video calling capabilities, specific features encourage casual catch ups between colleagues. row 12 heading link Markup right arrow heading Commenting on live sites Enter the URL of any website and Markup turns it into a live canvas that allows teams to add comments and discuss changes. A handy tool for websites in development. row 13 heading link Glyphfinder right arrow heading Easy glyph search For those working a lot with words and letters, Glyphfinder is a stand alone app (Mac and Windows) that makes finding and copying special characters fast and easy. row 14 row 15 heading Indie Mag of the Week row 16 graphic ❏ heading link Visions right arrow A science fiction magazine where writers, designers and researchers of the past and present come together to explore the future. – Latest Issue: link 2 – Frequency: 1 issue slash year – Formats: print – Origin: UK Every week we’re giving away five copies to randomly selected DD readers. Keep an eye on your inbox to find out if you’re among them! row 17 row 18 heading Books and Accessories link CONSUME RESPONSIBLY row 19 graphic ❏ heading link Against Creativity right arrow heading Everything you have been told about creativity is wrong From line managers, corporate CE Os, urban designers, teachers, politicians, mayors, advertisers and even our friends and family, the message is be creative’. Creativity is heralded as the driving force of our contemporary society, celebrated as agile, progressive and liberating. It is the spring of the knowledge economy and shapes the cities we inhabit. It even defines our politics. What could possibly be wrong with this? row 20 graphic ❏ heading link Ryan Putnam Prints right arrow heading Limited edition riso prints Illustrator and artist Ryan Putnam offers a huge range of limited edition riso prints that are right up my alley. And the prints are also extremely affordable at around $20 each. row 21 row 22 heading Overheard on Twitter row 23 If you’re going to call every new person of color or white woman a diversity hire’, then you also have to call every new white man a privilege hire’. Don’t blame me, those are just the rules. heading – heading link at celestelabedz row 24 row 25 heading Food For Thought row 26 heading link How to Stop Freaking Out and Tackle Climate Change right arrow heading Read One of the most helpful, yet concise advice pieces on climate change action that I’ve read, in line with my recent ruminations in this newsletter: a five point plan to manage the psychological toll of living with climate change and to become part of the solution. row 27 heading link Work Less, Gain More? The 4 Day Working Week right arrow heading Read A great summary of recent research and some real life case studies that support cutting the work week to four days: Over the course of an eight hour workday, the average employee works for about three hours – two hours and 53 minutes, to be more precise. The rest of the time, according to a 2016 survey of 1,989 UK office workers, people spend on a combination of reading the news, browsing social media, eating food, socialising about non work topics, taking smoke breaks, and searching for new jobs. row 28 heading link You Can’t Fix Unethical Design by Yourself right arrow heading Read Just like with climate change, individual action isn’t enough in the fight for ethical design and software: The various people who design and build cars, buildings, roads, and parks don’t need to worry about convincing their boss to make their product safe, because there are laws and regulations they have to follow to ensure safety that are non negotiable. Possible paywall row 29 row 30 heading Aesthetically Pleasing row 31 graphic ❏ graphic ❏ Love the intentions behind the link Overview project: Seeing the Earth from a great distance has been proven to stimulate awe, increase desire to collaborate, and foster long term thinking. We aim to inspire these feelings commonly referred to as the Overview Effect through our imagery, products, and collaborations. Seen here: The city of Milan (top) and glacial melting in Iceland (bottom). row 32 graphic ❏ graphic ❏ One of my escapist ways of dealing with reality: going back to link beeple’s dystopian, bizarre art. row 33 graphic ❏ graphic ❏ The design of this link cabin’ consists of three freestanding units: Between the two macrocarpa clad boxes is a sheltered semi outdoor kitchen, lockable storage, and a dining area. The completed cabins are a retreat from city life – providing the minimum level of shelter – somewhere beyond camping, but definitely not a holiday home. row 34 graphic ❏ graphic ❏ link Eklektyk (Polish for eclectic) is a quirky display typeface inspired by contemporary type design. Its stencil version is free for personal and commercial use. row 35 row 36 heading Classifieds row 37 Want to become more creative, more you? Quick tips, sparks and insights delivered free every day. link Creative Daily Class opens in 1 day! Learn a solid design process for UI slash UX design. link Check out the link Process Masterclass dot Taken by over 1000 designers. Want to put the perfect base in place for your remote career? Get link Remote Foundations , a free guide on how to set the stage and kickstart your independent creative journey. Shopping should be easy, fast... and fun. Get your early bird invite and browse link millions of discounted products available right at your fingertips. Classifieds are paid ads that support DD and are seen by our 20,000 plus subscribers each week. link Book link yours right arrow row 38 row 39 heading The Week in a GIF row 40 graphic ❏ Email us the URL to your favourite GIF and we might feature it here in a future issue. link new at densediscovery dot com row 41 row 42 out of table heading Enjoyed this issue? Share it: link www dot densediscovery dot com slash issues slash 79 link Share on Twitter right arrow link Forward via email right arrow Dense Discovery recognises that we’re in a link climate emergency dot We’re proudly supporting the work of environmental advocacy and action groups and encourage you to do the same link in your country dot Our office is located in Fitzroy, Melbourne, the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people. We acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded and pay our respects to elders past, present, and emerging. link Unsubscribe link Browse older issues link Sponsor an issue link Book a classified ad Published by: link Kai slash Offscreen Media 149a Brunswick St Fitzroy VIC 3065 Australia