The Daily Routines of Creative People

Have you ever wondered how the most creative people fill their days? Well, now you don’t have you! Podio, a project management software, created an interactive grid covering the daily rituals of the world’s most famous artists, musicians, and authors. From morning until night, this visual depicts the research from Mason Currey’s ‘Daily Rituals’ book, published in 2013. If you’re curious whether Voltaire had dinner with his family, and how late Pablo Picasso slept in, dive into this graph and enjoy a peak into their lives.

Let’s see their schedules! 

Image Source: Personal screenshot from https://podio.com/site/creative-routines. 

Interactive Fluid Distortion Hover Effect

If you’re like me, and you probably are if you’re reading inspiring design blogs like this, you enjoy a good mouse effect. What am I talking about? You know – the dripping, slipping, cutting, blurring, smoking, and trailing as you scroll. The power of development today is truly unbelievable, but totally beautiful. Mouse effects add animation, character, and interest to any website or application. Want an example? Check out this interactive fluid distortion hover effect demo by Codrops, a web design and development blog. Man, look what code can do. Show me the demo now!

 

Image Source: Personal screenshot from Codrops.com 

WhatFont’s Font Analysis Tool

    • What is the easiest way to find out the fonts used in a webpage? Firebug or Webkit Inspector? No, that’s too complicated. It should be just a click away.

    Hence I wrote WhatFont, with which you can easily get font information about the text you are hovering on.

    To embrace the new web font era, WhatFont also detects services used for serving the font. Now supports Typekit and Google Font API.

    Color Palette Generator

    Are you working on a project and find yourself stuck on choosing a color scheme? Have no fear! The Color Palette Generator is here! Hosted by the Learn UI Website, this handy tool will give you an entire inspiring palette to work with, in addition to a single hue or divergent color. Users can choose from a white or dark background, giving you the ultimate experience in choosing a custom color array with the backdrop you love most. I loved playing around with this tool, try it out for yourself! Everyone will be green, or should I say #54B948, with envy!

     

    Image Source: Personal screenshot from https://learnui.design/tools/data-color-picker.html. 

    Tinkersynth Generative Art Machine

    While we all love having art in our homes, art that we make ourselves is all the more special. There is something uniquely wonderful about creating something we can display and share with others. Now, this can be done with water-color, acrylics, and the like. But it can also be done digitally – with software! Tinkersynth, a self-proclaimed “experimental art store” hosts a website application allowing users to “tinker” with values such as noise, shape, and height, to create fascinating slope designs. I love playing around with this tool and seeing all the variations I can come up with by turning knobs up and down. Best of all? You can download or purchase your designs as prints! Time for you to be tinker! Try it out today at https://tinkersynth.com/slopes.

     

    Image Source: Screenshot of https://tinkersynth.com/slopes.

    Sharpen Design Generator

    Do you ever feel like you’re stuck in a creative rut? Have no fear! Sharpen is an online design challenge generator offering millions of prompts for you to explore and enjoy. This tool, created by the team at Vault Labs, is a quirky way to get your creative juices flowing and freshen up your problem-solving skills. With branding, marketing, and product categories, there’s bound to be something for everyone. Feeling like a dull designer? Sharpen up today!

     

    Image Source: Personal screenshot from sharpen.design

    Google’s Smart Compose Feature

    Wow, Google’s Smart Compose Feature (while creepy) is super useful to complete emails faster. To use the suggest text (showed here greyed out) just click the tab button, and it fills in. Truely amazing.

    Here is some description from “The Verge” regarding the feature:

    Google unveiled Gmail’s new Smart Compose feature at its annual developer conference this week, and it’s now available to try out as an “experimental feature” on desktop. Smart Compose builds off the idea of Smart Reply, predicting what you’ll write next as you type in the body of an email.

    To turn on Smart Compose, make sure you’re using the new Gmail, then click on the Settings tab in the top right corner. Within this panel, click the box next to “enable experimental access,” and then save your changes at the bottom. Once turned on, you should see a prompt the next time you begin a new email that tells you about Smart Compose and prompts you to press the tab key whenever you see a prediction you’d like to accept.

    Check it out.

    Gallery Product Tags in Houzz

    If you’ve ever remodeled part of your home, you’re probably familiar with Houzz’s inspirational library of interior design photos. Most of the work is posted by professional architects and interior designers, but for DIYers or other designers, Houzz’s product tag feature is very helpful. Simply tap or mouse over one of the floating product tags, and you’ll be linked directly to product information. This direct connection between inspirational browsing, and purchasing is a good example of offering value while boosting sales.

    Check it out.

    Jason Davies Word Cloud Generator

    It is undeniably fun to mess with word cloud generators, especially ones that will run in a browser and export an SVG. Jason Davies offers several settings in his Word Cloud utility, which make it super fun to use.

    Check it out.

    Free People Style Guide

    The Free People Style Guide includes a mosaic gallery demonstrating appropriate style choices for a variety of occasions. The gallery design has the effect of making the user feel like wandering down the page, through the looks, and into the details, which are accessible through the image zoom feature. Beautifully executed and inspired.

    The Redesigned Melissa Joy Manning

    Melissa Joy Manning has always had beautiful jewelry. With the redesign of her website, you can really see it. The site is dominated by large, clear, clean images of her products. The detail view offers even more visual delight with further detail, and ability to edit settings such as metal and stone selection. When the product is all about looks, a website that can get out of the way, and let the product shine, is a beautiful thing.

    • The #AnthroStyle Community Shopping Experience

    Anthropologie is helping users tap into a larger shopping community with their #AnthroStyle section. Images from their lookbook, and end users tags show together in a gallery view. Shoppers can view images, and shop looks they find inspiring. For users looking for ideas, without a real sense of focus, this feature is amazing. It helps to show outfits in context with different looks, and on real bodies.

    Check it out.

    Oakley’s Lens-Demonstration Feature

    Oakley sells glasses. Expensive, prescription glasses. Their interactive feature demonstrating the impact of cycling lenses on the cycling experience is top notch, and accurate.

    Drag the circle left, or right to see the improvement in the viewing experience. Rose colored glasses, literally.

    Check it out.

    Houzz’s 3D “In Room” Feature

    Houzz’s 3D “In Room” features allows shoppers who use their mobile app to position furniture and decore within their personal space. This feature, which was shaped with feedback from Houzz users during early testing, is available for over 300,000 products sold on Houzz. To use it, download the app for iPhone or iPad.

    Check it out.