Hey folks, I hope you’re having a great weekend.
As promised earlier in my last blog post about my job change, here’s my list of resources that made me what I’m today–a Product Designer.
Just before the Monday Blues hit you, here’s my rocking list to learn about product design, not necessarily in order of ranking,
1. Invision’s blog
I wouldn’t consider giving a second thought while saying that Invision’s blog has been my best buddy in learning about product and design, thanks a million, Invision. Invision’s blog started as a design blog by their in-house team and within no time was considered as one of the most sought out blog for design. Don’t believe me? Well, you don’t have to, see what Forbes has to say about them. Invision’s blog now also accepts guest posts from design bloggers all around the world. I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity of writing a blog post for them.
2. Tobias van Schneider’s Private Email List
Tobias was the lead designer of Spotify before he left his full-time job and started working independently. Tobias writes a Private Email List which appears in your inbox every Monday, sometimes Tuesday. Now, what makes this email list most interesting is that Tobias doesn’t always write about the design details, but about his experiences and how he approaches problems. Whether you’re a designer or not, you won’t find it any difficult to relate with what he has to say in his email. Tobias’ life stories and learning have been such a great influence on my design career. Are you listening, Tobias? You rock, literally!
3. Matt Olpinski’s Blog
Matt is a rockstar freelancer and he helps those who want to pursue freelancing as a career. His blog posts are very much straight to the point and explain the real problems and perks of the freelancer’s life. I’m a full-time Product Designer, but I often freelance when I’ve some extra time. Matt’s blog has been such a great resource for all my freelancing needs. One great thing about Matt’s newsletter is, you don’t have to contact him on his Twitter or separate email or something, whatever doubt you have, you can shoot right by hitting reply to the newsletter itself and he gets back to you on the same thread. Yes, he’s that approachable.
Also, I had like to make a little announcement here,
Matt has agreed to be a part of Conversations and he’s lined up next. You can even shoot your questions for Matt right down in the comments and I’ll make sure he answers them in the Conversation.
4. Speckyboy Design Magazine
Buoy, Speckyboy’s Design Magazine is one great source of inspiration and knowledge about design. Their newsletter covers some of their great design articles, freebies and design news from around the world. Oh yeah, I usually prefer reading stuff by clicking the links from the newsletters I receive in my inbox rather than actually surfing their sites. This is kinda time saving and gets you the direct access to the best of stuff.
5. Hacking UI
Hacking UI is a product design and front-end development newsletter and magazine founded by David Tintner and Sagi Shrieber. Aww, this people are good. You’ll receive the best of content in their newsletter. Hacking UI is very well connected to the design community and gets you the access to the best of content on design and development.
6. Smashing Magazine
Smashing Magazine is true to its name, their articles are simply a smash hit. A great resource for the professional designers and developers out there who’re attempting to make the web a better place. I personally find Smashing Magazine to be more of a developer’s guide to design. So yes, developers, this is your place to be.
7. 1stWebDesigner
1stWebDesigner is all about the secret sauce of freelancers, how they land up big budget projects, how they manager their time, how they hack their way of living and everything awesome. Also, 1stWebDesigner is the best blog to learn about WordPress hack. Yes, people do earn a fortune by WordPress hacking within a few days’ time.
8. Medium.com via UsePanda’s feed
It’s pretty clear that Medium.com is killing it. Currently, it’s the best to be for bloggers and their readers, of course. But, medium.com’s feed can be confusing and cluttered at times. This is where UsePanda comes into play. UsePanda is an extension for chrome by Panda Network that gets you the best news and inspiration from around 25+ channels including medium.com. It loads each time you open a new tab. I use it mostly for daily dose of design inspiration from Dribbble and Behance and awesome design related articles from medium.com.
I once had a pleasure of having a Conversation with Panda Network’s founder, Ahmet Sülek. He’s such an inspirational fellow. He’s almost unstoppable with this urge of creating products. He has already launched 24 products in just 2 years. Now, that’s something of an achievement.
9. Codrops Collective
Codrops is undoubtedly one of the best resource site for a front-end developer. Codrops also has this weekly newsletter what they call Codrops Collective. Collective is a collation of week’s best design articles, inspiration website, innovations in technology, creative projects by folks on the internet and of course, freebies. Codrops’ freebies are of premium quality and the best to get you kick-started with your design projects.
Darshan Gajara 