by Stephen Pulvirent There are a lot of new things going on at the New York Museum of Modern Art this May. A few new exhibitions, the 100th installation in the Projects series, an interactive studio café and even a new schedule all come into play. To keep you…
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“Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.” — Francis Bacon, Sr.
It’s no secret that writing things down is beneficial in several ways. A mind that’s not trying to remember tasks is better prepared for problem solving and focusing on the present. Good ideas are fleeting and need to be captured, irrespective of when they happen. It’s important to have written goals and lists that can remind you of what you need to do. There’s more, of course, but I’m going to address that last point.
I’ve been keeping a to-do list in my pocket for years. For most of that time, it was a simple list of things I needed to do. That’s great, but I found problems. Notably, I’d feel guilty about tasks I couldn’t complete because of my circumstance.
For example, I can’t make progress on “get pants hemmed at the tailor” while I’m stuck at my desk. I can’t pay the registration fee for the kids for soccer while I’m standing in line at the DMV. Likewise, I often don’t have the energy or time available for more demanding tasks when I’m reviewing my list at the end of the day.
Looking at items I couldn’t take acton on was stressful. It was time to re-think the simple to-do list. The following are several ways to sort, organize and prioritize the items on your to-do list for easy reference and guilt-free productivity on the go:
Step one was to sort by context. I know a lot of people dislike this idea, but hear me out on this. At the top of my to-do list, I’ll put a heading like “@phone.” Beneath it I list tasks that require a phone call. Next, I’ll put “@errands” and “@computer”. Appropriate tasks are listed under each one. That way, when I’m at my desk with some free time, I can look at “@phone” or “@computer” and hammer out those tasks. I don’t even see items listed under “@errands”, so I don’t feel guilty about not making progress on them. (David Allen refers to these location-based lists often in his writing.)
Of course, context isn’t the only way to decide what you can work on at any give time. It’s smart to also consider your time available and energy available. When your fresh first thing in the morning, tackle those jobs that require much physical and/or mental energy. Reserve something less taxing, like filing receipts, for the end of the day or after lunch when you might have a dip in focus. Likewise, I don’t always have the time to lay out the new flower bed. But a free Saturday afternoon lets me do just that.
A few weeks ago, I came across Word Notebooks. My notebook addiction is legendary, so I could not resist buying a pair. They’re similar in size and shape to the Field Notes brand notebooks that I love so much, but offer something different.
Each paperback notebook has a “use guide” that’s printed on the inside cover and in the margin of every page. You’ll find a small circle around an even smaller circle. The idea is to highlight the importance and completion state of each item with these circles. Here’s how it works.
It’s tidy and offers an at-a-glance overview of the status of your to-do list. Unlike the context system that I use or the energy-available strategy, the Word notebooks visually arrange action items by priority and state of completion. Pretty nice! Of course, you don’t have to buy a special notebook with pre-printed circles. You could roll your own solution.
My Internet buddy, author and all-around nice guy Patrick Rhone described a system that he devised for keeping careful track of the items on his to-do list. His system uses plusses, arrows, and geometric shapes to denote the status of an action item. It’s clear, simple, and doesn’t require a special notebook.
Now I’ll turn it over to you. Do you keep a plain list or have you adopted a system like these? Let me know in the comments.
Need help getting organized? Buy the DRM-free audiobook version of Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week today for only $8.99.
It’s 8:00am and you are wide awake from a speed boat ride that took you across the sapphire-colored waters surrounding Central America. When the boat stops, you are staring at an island so untouched by mankind that you wonder if this is a movie set. Your instructor tells you to put on your goggles because there a few thousand fish she would like you to meet. You dive in, expecting to be jarred by the cold, but are greeted instead with bathtub-warm water and underwater creatures you have never seen in your life. Class has just begun.
Next Friday, April 26, marks the last day to apply for the Biomimicry Professional Certification Program. The globally renowned program is a part-time, two-year, master’s-level course designed to empower change-agents who are passionate about a world mentored by life’s genius. Biomimicry 3.8 is doing what no other design, engineering, business, or sustainability program is offering: delivering a deeply immersive experience while learning from some of the most spectacular biomes across the planet. We are thrilled to share with you more information about the dramatic ecosystems you will visit as part of the Biomimicry Professional Certification Program. (“BProfessional”). It was designed for people like you, designers who are serious about learning and applying biomimicry to new products and services.
Over the two years you will travel from the mountains of North Carolina to African plains of Botswana to the bioluminescent waters of Vancouver, Canada, and three other locations (like Costa Rica). We hope to see your name among the applicants, and, more importantly, to meet you in Montana in the heart of the Rocky Mountains for our kick-off session this September.
To read about the program in full, see our website.
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Designed for the bedroom, based on the combination of two geometric elements, the parallelepiped and the cylinder, fused to create a perfectly balance..
The ground floor of Dezeen’s north London office The Surgery has been transformed into a walk-in watch shop by local studio Post-Office (+ slideshow).
What used to be the reception at the former doctor’s surgery is now an area for Dezeen Watch Store customers to come and look at, try and buy timepieces from the curated selection available at our online store.
Watches are caged behind black metal-mesh doors in back-lit plywood storage units, and peg board has been added to hang tools for packing and distributing products including our Dezeen Book of Ideas.
Post-Office founder Philippe Malouin and his team divided the waiting room with a patchwork of reclaimed windows, creating separate meeting and work spaces.
“It made immediate sense to create a wall of glass as a barrier,” Malouin told us. “We sourced most of the Victorian windows from eBay, but had to do a lot of research to find windows the right size that could be cut and pasted into the space.”
Plants now hang below the skylight in the meeting room and cacti are mounted on the wall.
“The main features in the space that caught our interest were the windows in the roof,” said Malouin. “They reminded us of a greenhouse, so we filled the space with live plants.”
A red sofa obtained at a local market sits below the cacti and a mix of old and new Stool 60s by Alvar Aalto for Artek stand among more foliage around a traditional Berber rug.
“We wanted to use vintage items to make the space less formal and more homely,” he said.
Molded plastic Eames chairs from Vitra and bespoke plywood tables furnish the workspace, along with a display of our heads that were scanned and 3D printed for our print-on-demand publication Print Shift.
Mounted on the walls in both spaces are Malouin’s LED lamps that emanate light through shutter-like slats, which he designed as one of last year’s W Hotels Designers of the Future award winners.
Outside, the facade has been given a fresh lick of white paint and a relief of our logo has been added above the letterbox.
When Post-Office originally designed the Dezeen office in 2011 they added a gold curtain, which has been replaced by light grey fabric, and kitted-out the space with Malouin’s Market Table and Hanger Chairs. An exhibition of new work by Malouin is currently on show at an exhibition in Milan.
Photography above is by Luke Hayes.
Dezeen is based at 100a Stoke Newington Church Street, London N16 0AP – stop by and take a look at our watches.
See more designs by Philippe Malouin »
See more office interior design »
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by Post-Office appeared first on Dezeen.
Christian Schmeer nous propose cette série photographique et sa vidéo « Malaise » s’intéressant à Beelitz-Heilstätten, un bâtiment construit en Allemagne en 1898 et qui a servi comme sanatorium, puis comme hôpital militaire durant le 20eme siècle. Aujourd’hui abandonné, ce lieu a été immortalisé par le photographe.
wants an Interactive Designer
in Stamford, CT
How would you like to shape the design of NBC Sports digital properties including brand, look and feel, and usability, with an overarching goal of providing an excellent user experience? On top of that, you’ll focus a good deal on making all that enjoyable on mobile platforms.
If this sounds like a dream job, click the link below, but only if you have what it takes to succeed in this role, which includes 2 years experience of web and mobile standards, a strong understanding of a variety of online marketing concepts, best practices and procedures, and the ability to apply creativity and consistency in a manner that strengthens the brand and end-user experience…. among other things you’ll find on the next page.
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in Milan appeared first on Dezeen.
News: Norman Foster is the only architect to appear on this year’s list of Britain’s 2000 wealthiest people, published by The Sunday Times.
Foster, whose buildings include 30 St Mary Axe – nicknamed the Gherkin – in London’s financial centre and the HSBC building in Hong Kong, was placed at 522 in the Rich List, down from his ranking of 501 last year, with a personal fortune estimated at £150 million.
The 77-year-old, who lives in Switzerland, earned £120 million in 2007 after selling 40% of his practice Foster + Partners. He still owns a 45% stake in the firm, where profits fell in 2011-12 to £5.6 million.
Elsewhere on the list, the owners of Scottish architectural practice RMJM were at 859 with a fortune of £80 million, while Irvine and James Sellar, the developers of Renzo Piano’s Shard skyscraper in central London, ranked 387 with £200 million.
Zaha Hadid, who last night was named Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year, appeared in last year’s list but was absent from the 2013 edition.
Foster + Partners hit the news recently when it was revealed that the new Cupertino campus the firm is designing for tech giant Apple is now nearly $2 billion over budget – see all architecture by Foster + Partners.
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on Britain’s rich list appeared first on Dezeen.
“After so many years of averting the border patrol between the disciplines of art and architecture, while inhabiting both yet claiming to be outsiders, this is the ultimate validation,” said Elizabeth Diller last Wednesday at the Plaza Hotel, as she joined partners Ricardo Scofidio and Charles Renfro in accepting the American Academy of Rome’s Centennial Medal for their exceptional contributions to the worlds of architecture and the visual arts. The trio spent the previous evening at the New York Public Library, where they discussed their interdisciplinary design studio’s renewal of Lincoln Center. We asked writer Nancy Lazarus to attend the event and harvest some memorable quotes. Learn more on May 10, when Diller and Scofidio will be joined by DS+R monograph author Edward Dimendberg for a book talk at the Center for Architecture.
Redesigning Lincoln Center was an epic undertaking that involved a prominent public landmark and a painstaking process that evolved over nearly ten years. Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the design studio behind most of the project, has chronicled their experiences in Lincoln Center Inside Out: An Architectural Account (Damiani). The three principals shared their views on the project and the book at a recent event hosted by New York Public Library and moderated by Barry Bergdoll, chief curator of architecture and design at MoMA. The DS+R trio is just as articulate as they are creative, so here are excerpts from that discussion.
On Lincoln Center’s design:
Diller: The old Lincoln Center was too elitist, solid, and turned its back on the neighborhood and community. We were drawn to the promenade levels where everyone pours out in the middle of events. We wanted to extend that social feeling to the rest of the project. We broke down the edges to enable events in the public spaces. There’s more symmetry now across the public and private spaces.
Scofidio: There were no photos of the old Lincoln Center except the main plaza with the fountain. Someone said that in the 1960s, plazas were designed to be desolate.
On how they approached the project:
Diller: To win the project we showed many ideas, since we tend to think in multiples, with different approaches and solutions. We demonstrated our affection for the place and showed how to take it to the next step. We felt we could do it justice and interpret it for contemporary culture. We wanted to transform Lincoln Center for the logic of our time.
Scofidio: We didn’t go in and say here are the problems we have to correct. We just said we can finish Lincoln Center.
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