#35 / Recommend 4 books that I read during Christmas holiday
Hello my friend! 👋
Don’t have much to say today, as I spent most of my free time this week on playing video games. So, just recommend a few books that I read during the New Year holiday 📚
Designing a Healthy Home
The Happy Design Toolkit
Mid-Century Design
NPR’s Podcast Start Up Guide
A Designer’s Income Review & Strategy for 2024!
Designing a Healthy Home
Just cracked open this book “Designing a Healthy Home” and, honestly, it’s pretty eye-opening. I’m no expert in home design at all, but it turns out a lot of what it talks about actually makes sense in the bigger picture of design too.
So far, here’s what’s really hitting home for me:
Bringing Nature Indoors: The book talks about using stuff straight from nature in our designs. It’s like having a piece of the outside world right in your living room, which is pretty cool and, apparently, good for us too.
Natural Materials, Natural Roles: It’s all about not forcing natural materials to be something they’re not. Like, let’s say a piece of wood – using it in a way that shows off its real texture and color, instead of trying to make it look all synthetic and plastic-y.
Nature as More Than Just Decor: This is my favorite bit. The book suggests weaving in aspects of nature into our designs in a way that’s more than just about looks. It’s about making our spaces feel more in tune with the natural world, which I think is a pretty neat idea.
So yeah, it’s turning out to be quite the read. It’s making me see how we can blend nature into our spaces, not just to make things look pretty, but to create an environment that feels good too.
The Happy Design Toolkit
Planning to do a major tidy-up at home during the Christmas break, including my home workspace. So, I grabbed this book, “The Happy Design Toolkit: Architecture for Better Mental Well-being.” It’s pretty neat. The title says it all, right? Improving mental health through architectural design.
The book isn’t about big, lofty principles. It’s more about handy, practical tips you can actually use. Kinda reminds me of the old Chinese Feng Shui idea, like incorporating natural elements and going with the natural flow of things.
A lot of it talks about architectural stuff, which isn’t really my jam. But I’m more into the home design bits. Picked up a few cool tips, like putting potted plants on the kitchen windowsill or hanging plants around. Also, the suggestions for zoning out office spaces, plus their recommended lighting and furniture combos, are pretty solid.
After Christmas, I’m all set to get moving. Since I’m working from home so much, might as well make the place more comfortable, right?
But here’s the kicker: No matter how hard you try, with kids around, your home is never gonna be minimalist 🤣
Mid-Century Design
Lately, I’ve been drawn to books like these - the kind that’s more like a list or summary. They’re great because you don’t have to read them in order. Just jump straight to the bits that catch your eye, and you still get so much out of it.
This book, Mid-Century Modern: Icons of Design, dives into the iconic designs of the mid-20th century, focusing on stuff like furniture, tools, and appliances. It’s got all these classics like the Vespa scooter, the Panton chair, and some cool lighting. A lot of these designs from back in the day are still around, still kicking after seventy or eighty years, which is pretty mind-blowing. Some ideas even date back to the 1930s, before World War II, when metal was scarce and designers started playing around more with plastic. And the way people back then imagined the future really shaped these designs. Some items, like the Egg Chair, still look super futuristic even now.
The coolest thing for me? Sony’s portable TVs and radios from the 1950s! If we think they’re cutting-edge today, imagine the stir they caused back then. And here’s my takeaway: In this era of AI, it’s super helpful to broaden our knowledge base. Even just a quick look at these products' styles, names, designers, and so on can help us work better with AI, as long as we have a basic understanding of these design movements and their iconic works.
NPR’s Podcast Start Up Guide
Over the Christmas break, I finished reading “NPR’s Podcast Start Up Guide” by Claire Weldon from NPR. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to interview Yang Yi, the COO of JustPod, a podcast agency. We discussed podcast production stories, which led me to this book.
This book is a must-read for anyone serious about podcasting. It’s divided into four sections: imagining, planning, creating, and sharing. Unlike other technical podcasting guides, about 50%-60% of this book focuses on the questioning and preparation phases. Questions like what content you want to produce, how to deliver the most value, and identifying your audience are incredibly valuable.
The book also covers details often overlooked in traditional interview or roundtable podcasts, such as collecting ambient sounds, scene sounds, and editing techniques, all of which are fascinating. I particularly enjoyed the storytelling techniques and methods discussed. While audio content creation may not require as strict or specific narrative demands as literary works, the principles of storytelling are still crucial and, in some cases, universal.
Personally, even with years of experience in podcasting, I learned a lot about storytelling from this book. Highly recommended for anyone interested in podcasting.
A Designer’s Income Review & Strategy for 2024!
In this video, I review my financial income from last year as a designer and share my strategy for the next year. I discuss my primary and secondary income streams, as well as my investment income. I analyze the different categories of income and highlight the importance of balancing expenses, saving, and investing. If you’re interested in understanding your financial situation and planning for the future, this video is for you.
Have a great one and see you soon!
Bear Academy Newsletter
Non-crap tips and thoughts on design, product and technology ✨
🐻 Bear Who?
Hi there 👋, I’m Bear, a seasoned Product Designer with 15 years of overall design experience and six years in product design, transforming the user experiences for millions 📝
As an Apple Award-Winning Podcast Host at BearTalk and a Design Mentor at Springboard and CareerFoundry, I apply my self-taught design skills and science background to solve complicated problems and mentor budding designers 😃
In my downtime, you’ll find me reading, drawing, podcasting, and making videos about everything from tech to design and productivity 👨🎨
🤓 Work
💼 What I do:Product Designer at Xero
🌃 I also do:Design Mentor at Springboard and CareerFoundry / Founder at Bear Academy
🎤 Side hustle:Podcast host at Award-winning podcast BearTalk
💡 Goodies
Bear Academy - my courses around UX Design, AI, etc
Bear Academy Newsletter - my free newsletter, which you are reading now
Beartalking.com - all my posts, English and Chinese
Youtube.com/@Bearliu - A video is worth a thousand words
💬 Contact
https://twitter.com/bearbig - Majorly I post in Chinese
bear@beartalking.com - The old fashion email way
LinkedIn.com/in/bearliu - My professional life