Monthly Journal:#
A month of moving and busy work
This month I moved again. I've been in Beijing for five years and have moved 7 or 8 times, with my two cats also experiencing the upheaval. Additionally, the work at my company is deep into project mode, making it hard to find the energy to read interesting industry and product-related information outside of work, so this month's content is relatively sparse. Please understand.
Reading Buddhism
Recently, I've developed quite an interest in stocks and have been reading some related information. Mid-month, I gained a lot from an investor's podcast, where I also heard some book recommendations, so I started listening to A Comprehensive History of Buddhism. Interestingly, this is something I wouldn't have been interested in during my school days; it seemed like some ethereal concepts. I don't know if it's due to aging or increased experience, but I find myself wanting to explore these grander, more systematic perspectives through psychology or philosophy to alleviate the conflicting emotions I face in life's difficulties. Also, due to some recent unmentionable matters, certain aspects of Buddhism have prompted me to consider how to view the current events from another angle. Although mainstream Buddhism today is Mahayana, I prefer the original reasons for the Buddha's self-cultivation, which are more philosophical. In addition to Buddhism, that investor also recommended Laozi's Tao Te Ching, which I am also beginning to read. It's quite interesting, and I have gained an understanding of the concepts of morality, benevolence, and propriety, realizing how deeply these elements of Chinese culture influence the Chinese language. For instance, the term "morality" comes from the Tao Te Ching, while "infatuation" derives from the concept of ignorance in the Buddhist Twelve Links of Dependent Origination.
Monthly Record#
1. Efficiency Tools#
Mac Tool: Mac Menubar Apps
🔗: https://macmenubar.app/
A selection of Mac menubar software, with many interesting product introductions and screenshots.
Design Practice: Kern Type
🔗: https://type.method.ac/#
An online game that practices whether the spacing between letters in words is balanced, reminding me of a similar exercise I did when I first learned design on the Pen Tool online site.
Artificial Intelligence: elevenlabs
🔗: https://elevenlabs.io/music
This is probably the highest quality music generation AI model currently available (though I don't use it often).
Translation Tool: Grabcube
🔗: https://www.grabcube.ai/zh-CN
A video and audio translation software from Trancy, with a visually appealing interface.
Podcast Tool: Scripod
🔗: https://scripod.com/
AI converts podcast content into timestamped transcripts, with a nice interface.
2. Text Gains#
Breaking Out of the Designer's Time Trap: Starting a Compound Life
"The design industry is essentially a 'time-intensive' profession."
3. Design Related#
verysize-app
Preview how a webpage displays across various device sizes, which may be helpful for designers and UI developers.
Nucleo – The Ultimate Icon Bundle
A local icon management tool that solves the problem of searching for icons across various websites; now there's a local app for that.
Compsych • Design Guidelines
A beautifully crafted Compsych brand guideline displayed on a webpage, with a smooth browsing experience.
Draw your own conclusion - Hubertus Design Hubertus Design
Reference for book and magazine layout design.
12 Principles of Animation
Examples of the application of the twelve principles of animation in UI products.
4. Other Interesting Finds#
- The Complete Pokemon Dataset This dataset contains detailed information about 802 Pokémon from all seven generations, including base stats, types, abilities, and more.
- macOS Icon History — Basic Apple Guy The evolution of macOS system icons over the past few decades, including icons for system preferences, folders, notes, reminders, messages, calculators, and more.
That's all. Thank you for reading. This is my rss and newsletter. Also, my WeChat is guonlin and my email.