Toluu : LifeClever ;-) Tips for Design and Life

LifeClever ;-) Tips for Design and Life

Career Advice, Productivity Tips, and Life Hacks for Designers

Whatever’s Clever: The Grid SystemDecember 2 2008

Antonio Carusone’s got a new site dedicated to the ever wonderful grid. Aptly titled The Grid System, the site’s filled with articles, tools, books, and templates to help you design grid systems for both web and print. Perfect for the anal retentive designer.

Clearly inspired by Khoi Vinh’s Subtraction, the site’s design is clean and conforms to a strict grid. If you’re curious, you can even make the grid visible.

Antonio’s goal is to create “the ultimate resource in grid systems. So far, he’s off to great start.

Thanks to Sean for sending this my way!

Note: I’m still alive. I’m working through some emotional and personal issues right now. Thanks for bearing with me.

Digital Nomads: Date more to work lessNovember 4 2008

I’ve got a little post about dating on the Digital Nomads site. It’s not one of my usual topics, but it does relate to working better and more efficiently. Really. Check it out:

Date more to work less

Be sure to leave some juicy comments, so I can feel loved.

Jedi Mind Trick: How can we make this happen?October 29 2008

Instead of asking or demanding for what you want, simply state your goal and ask, “How can we make this happen?”

Here are some examples:

Instead of:

“Can you give me a raise?”

Ask this:

“I’d like a raise. How can we make this happen?”

Instead of:

“Can I be your boyfriend”

Ask this:

“I want to be your boyfriend. How can we make this happen?

Instead of:

“Can you sell it to me for less?”

Ask this:

“I’d like the price to be lower. How can we make this happen?”

Why the rephrasing? It lowers the chances of a flat-out rejection. At the same time, you increase the possibility of collaboration on reaching your stated goal; if the other person can’t give you want you want now, it’s easier to negotiate how you can get it later.

Asking “How can we make it happen?” shows guts and diplomacy without seeming demanding.

Try it the next time you want something from someone else.

Putting the “I” in blogOctober 28 2008

I’m going through a bit of a blog crisis, so I’ve been looking more closely at the About page on this site. The word “we” is all over the place. Which is weird, because I’ve been going solo for awhile.

I do wish I had a team of magic elves maintaining and pumping out content on this site. But since it’s just me, I’d be lying if I keep using “we”.

So it’s time to put the “I” back into this old blog. I know I’ve been inconsistent in the past, so I’m now making it my official position.

I’ll be posting a new About page this week—proudly written in the first person. There’ll be a few other changes, too. ;-)

If you own a solo blog, tell me: do you use “I” or “we” when writing?

I’m back!October 13 2008

I’m now rested (fairly so, at least) and back in the swing of things. I’m working on refocusing the site, and posts will now be more frequent.

Also, I now have a little stint on Dell’s Digital Nomads blog. Check out a few things I’ve written recently:

Thanks for your patience. ;-)