March 26, 2020

November Til Februar: Digest & Bookmarks

When my girlfriend and I went for a walk in December, this view extended to the left of the road towards Murchin.

It’s been a while since I took care of my blog. Time to change that: I’d like to write more, let “much going on” to be an excuse and especially publish this draft (which hasn’t been touched for over a month). My experiences and link list are piling up...

Time Flies — but Why?

According to one theory among many, our perception of time is based on how many new things are stored in our memory. We only consciously perceive time as such, so to speak, when we have stored something new. Because less new experiences tend to be added with age, this time is perceived as compressed and thus seems to have virtually “evaporated”. Experiencing something new should therefore lead to a slower passing time.

According to this approach, my perception of time had been stretched since November and I had accumulated few new things. Which was simply not the case. On the contrary, many new experiences have been made.

A Change of Work Is Exciting

In December I quit my job at Inter Medien Networks and started at KATAPULT-Magazin, also based in Greifswald, a magazine for cartography and social science. If this sounds boring now, you haven’t seen their magazine or social media posts yet. 😉

It was my first change of employment, so I was not yet familiar with the efforts and pains of preparation and transition. At Inter Medien there were still some projects to be completed and handed over, while at KATAPULT I was already initiating new ones. Admittedly, my departure from Inter Medien Networks was bumpy, which I want to learn from. I’m glad that I only worked part-time at both companies in December and that I have been working full-time at KATAPULT magazine since January. It is easier for me to concentrate on one job in my mind.

Arriving, Getting to Know Employees & Starting New Projects

From my next employer I had wished for a young, dynamic team. This is exactly what I found at KATAPULT. The same student spirit and the desire to change the world, although you are in a post-student phase of life.

The editorial staff gave me an open and warm welcome, which I am happy about. Right at the beginning, the first project for issue 17, which was still to be published in December, awaited me: a donation website. Since there was no frontend developer yet, there was no design system in place. While I was working on the website, I started to work on the KATAPULT Design System, which I have been maintaining ever since. Only the documentation is lacking.

Best part of the project was the freedom to choose technologies I considered suitable for frontend and backend. In the frontend modern JavaScript, CSS and HTML; in the backend Kirby. Mollie is used as payment provider.

KATAPULT plants a forest in 2020: katapult-wald.de

Starting Mid-January: Change of Office and More Autonomous Action

Already in mid-January I felt familiar with the people and could remember all their names. The agitation of the new job vanished, so that I “only” looked forward to work. Another project was for example katapult.link for Instagram - A Linktree Alternative from scratch. Since there are currently two websites, one for mobile devices and the other for desktop PCs, the Instagram bio could only feature one link, which in addition is cryptic. Developing a new website will be one of my main tasks. The current one is outdated, no eye-candy and difficult for editors to use.

This is what I love about my work: Being able to easily implement the idea for katapult.link. Autonomous working is encouraged and I accept it with thanks.

Since everything is always changing at KATAPULT, I didn’t stay long in the old office. Unfortunately there is a construction site next to the office, because of which we get a high visitor, but we have to move out soon.

The Centre for *Life Science and Plasma Technology* is being built outside our office window. Because of this construction site, fans stormed our office on February 2 — including this woman. She brought along a whole truck full of people. Here editor-in-chief Benjamin Fredrich shows her the first KATAPULT book.

Outlook

The desire to move to a new city still exists in me. However, a unique chance arose at the KATAPULT Magazine here in Greifswald, which I took with pleasure and will now enjoy.

Bookmarks since November

How Joker’s gritty logo was created with wood type letterpress by William Joel
Laughing On Line by Russell Goldenberg et al
Introducing a New Look for The Atlantic by Jeffrey Goldberg
Where to put buttons on forms by Adam Silver
A Guide to Recognising Font Styles by Matej Latin
Typographic Illusions by Hoefler&Co
Design Systems Book — Laying the Foundations by by Andrew Couldwell

5G Will Definitely Make the Web Slower, Maybe by Scott Jehl
Don't Call Yourself A Programmer, And Other Career Advice by Patrick McKenzie
My SaaS-Journey from 87 followers to first profit by Stefan Bauer
Design Patterns in JavaScript by Ankita Masand
GraphQL Crash Course (in 10 pics!) by Xiaoru Li
Old CSS, new CSS by Evelyn Woods
The CSS Cascade by Amelia Wattenberger
CSS Grid can be used to stack elements by Stefan Judis

Useful Resource

Screen Size Map — This is a list of everything Tregg Frank found useful in his journey of learning design and an ongoing list of things he thinks you should read. This is for budding UX, UI, Interaction, or whatever other title designers.