2024 is officially underway and this week I wanted to share some finds that you can add to your calendars to keep things excited and always keep you inspired. I'm also keeping it real this week with you in my one lesson so make sure to check that out 👇
Creative Juice is a weekly newsletter published every Monday morning so you can start your week feeling inspired creatively to make cool sh\*t and get paid for it. Every Monday I share something gorgeous, a portfolio of the week, three creative finds, one amazing post from social media, and one lesson I learned recently.
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TL:DR
- SOMETHING GORGEOUS: Bodycams for Everyone!
- PORTFOLIO OF THE WEEK: A Super Clear + Honest Approach to a Design Portfolio Website
- Forget New Year Resolutions, it's Public Domain Day
- Festival Season but For Creatives
- Throw Some Butcher Knives at Mad Cows and Pool Sharks
- One Gram: Motion Experiments to Inspire Your 2024
- ONE LESSON: Making More Space for 2024 and Running Low on Funds
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Something Gorgeous
Bodycams for Everyone!
Phonecam by Slimdesign
I don't know if this is cool and horrifying but I will say it is pretty gorgeous considering you can now have your own bodycam that is powered by Ai for the low price of $60. While I may be a little skeptical on the idea that our civilization is moving towards this normal of recording everything, every moment, all the time. I won't let that get in the way of my appreciation for good design and innovation.
Slimdesign is a product design and development studio that recently won the 2024 CES Innovation Award for it's miniaturized body camera. The PhoneCam is only $60! and features 4G/5G connectivity, Ai video resolution enhancement, and 1080p HD recording all in a small tiny pill shaped camera smaller than a BIC lighter.
I can absolutely see the problem they are trying to solve as they mention on their site that recording situations with a phone can sometimes escalate the situation even further. And I do think this will truly help a lot of folks in those situations. At the same time, it seems like Black Mirror from Netflix is becoming a reality...is that the world we want to live in?
I'm not one to put up much resistance when it comes to stuff like this, and if I've learned anything, you might as well just accept and learn to adjust but still...that small a$$ camera is pretty cute.
Portfolio of the Week
A Super Clear + Honest Approach to a Design Portfolio Website
Rose Kuan
Rose Kuan is a Taiwanese designer born in Vancouver and currently based in New York where she attends Columbia Business School while also working as a Product Designer at Coinbase. You can very CLEARLY learn this by taking a look at her experience section on her about page.
I like Rose's design portfolio website for a multiple reasons but mostly because while I was reading through her portfolio website and case studies, Rose does a great job of outlining all of the nitty gritty jobs and tasks she did while interning at various companies and organizations. For example, take a look at her case study for her internship at Tenten. In the section labeled 'TRANSLATING WEB TO MOBILE' she included a blurb of copy mentioning how she worked collaboratively with the design, product, and engineering teams in a more quality assurance capacity to ensure designs were up to standard across all screens and devices.
Like this is the stuff you don't see enough of on design portfolio websites but, man that is gold. I'm going to be real with you as I always am but this is EXACTLY what I did a majority of the time in my first role as a product designer. I reviewed so many designs for QA to make sure everything was perfect for the engineering team and you know what? I truly believe this is what has contributed to my very high attention to detail to this very day. If I saw that little bit on any designer's portfolio, I would immediately hit them up for an interview.
If you are a young designer starting off and working in roles where you're doing less design and more 'assistance of design' then make sure you check out Rose's design portfolio website. I get it, we all want to sound like big, bad, experienced designers but it doesn't have to be like that. You can be very clear and honest as Rose has done and still win out. If you don't believe me, check out Rose's experience page, which I also want to say, well done Rose! She had 4 internships in the year of 2020! Like helloooooooooo!
Rose's design portfolio website and experience is a stunning of example of how hard work and perseverance can take you far as a designer or creative.
👏👏👏
Score: 8.7/10
Built with: Squarespace
Creative Finds
Forget New Year Resolutions, it's Public Domain Day
January 1, 2024 is Public Domain Day
Most may think of January 1st as the day you write down all your goals and missions for the coming year but I'm actually more excited that thousands of historic films, sound recordings, and artworks are being released into the public domain for all to use, copy, share, and build upon, for free. This year features work including \*\Mickey Mouse \\*which has it's own drama around. You can read more specifically on that here. This will be a great resource to read through if you are looking for some free assets to use in your next project.
Festival Season but For Creatives
Design and Creativity Festivals List by Creative Boom
If you have some empty gaps in your 2024 big a$$ calendar then check out this list by Creative Boom including festivals about art, design, and creativity from all over the world.
Throw Some Butcher Knives at Mad Cows and Pool Sharks
Death Chef by Studiofreight
Studio Freight is a very very cool creative studio working on all kinds of projects. Death Chef is a game they have built to promote the restaurant software Lunchbox. Now I'm not entirely sure if SF owns Lunchbox or if they have just partnered on it, but by the looks of the domain, I think they have some sort of involvement in it outside of just the development of the project. It's a very cool game to play around with and this level of ideation, execution, and vision is something I hope to one day apply to a design studio of my own.
One Gram
Motion Experiments to Inspire Your 2024
Andreion de Castro
Are you looking to learn motion design in 2024? Well check out Andreion's instagram to really light a fire under your tuckus. Andreion has a ton of really cool experimentations using type, color, and motion. Makes me want to open After Effects right now 😅
One Lesson
Making More Space for 2024 and Running Low on Funds
Over the last ten days I have been traveling around a very small patch of the Philippines and WOW. This has been the first time I have felt completely empty or thoughtless when it has come to my design work. Truth be told I have been ignoring emails and the anxiety of having deadlines for the last couple of days. But I think this is the perfect moment to do so as I gear up for a very intentional and productive new year.
I know this isn't something everyone may have the liberty to do, where you just hop on a plane and fly away to a small island where the wifi is limited and the sea is endless. But I do want to stress that sometimes it is ok to let your mind be empty, because I believe that during those times, we are clearing out space to realign what is most important to us. That can take shapes in many forms and it is up to you how you do it. The important part is to give yourself that opportunity to do so if possible.
Now let me share with you the not so shiny and perfect side of my life...
Over the last couple of months of traveling, working, and living I have looked at my finances a few times and I can share with you some numbers that you may find interesting. In 2022, during tax season, I shared my financials in this Tiktok video. In 2022 I made around $95K and for 2023 I have made about half of that amount. That is for a few reasons...
First, I slowed down on client to focus on personal projects that I one day hope turn into more traditional businesses later. I like to think that at one point in my youth I was the type of person that could focus on more than one thing at a time...or at least it seemed like that. And now as I've grown and learned more about business, I have realized that just isn't possible for me. I need to keep my eye on one ball and one ball only to make any significant progress on these ideas.
Second, I wanted to try and find balance in my own life. I work a lot. Like a lot. And I am perfectly fine with that. I wake up everyday excited to work on anything related to design. Client projects, my own, automation, this newsletter, I love it. But I can honestly say that at times I have done more of that, then enjoyed the things, people, and places around me. 2023 was a year of learning how to do just that and I can tell you there is still so much I need to learn.
\*\Another thing...\\*I think I have just about reached the point where I have now started to dig into my savings. Yep I am now burning cash that I was hopefully saving for a rainy day, or to buy a house, or to invest and I'm telling myself that is OK! I swear I'm fine 😅 but seriously I have a little anxiety about it and I am learning how to face this. I know that in the end I will be ok. I will pick up more client work and instead of playing around with my ideas, I will sit down and really focus on them to push them forward. Don't feel sorry for me. I just to keep it real with you.
\*\The moral of the story, \\*life is not always daisies and butterflies. We will face adversity in some way shape or form. Some more than others. The important thing I believe is how you deal with them and never be afraid to bet on yourself.
PS. In the next few months I will sit down and make another detailed video of how much I made in 2023.
PPS. I have received a few emails about searching for jobs and I empathize with you. I know the market is tough but don't give up. If you are struggling you can always sign up for a portfolio review to see if we can change some things up. I will also be focusing on building a solution to this in 2024.
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