The Roundup: February

The roundup is back with a few shiny new graphics but the same collection of my favourite content on the web. I’ve collected up my favourite articles on art, design, creativity and productivity from the last month, plus a few bonus articles.

Short Reads

Angela Rizza conjure’s magic with The Princess Bride

Is there any better movie to go along with a discussion of storytelling than The Princess Bride? This video studio visit with Angela Rizza as she created the artwork for the Criterion Collection’s edition of the film is filled with fairytale wonder.

The interior design of the future will seem like magic

I have no idea what our homes will look like in the future. While I’m not sure I’m on board with walls that change colour in my personal space, the applications of some of this new interior design tech are boundless when it comes to shared and public spaces.

Want to cut your work hours in half? Create an A/B schedule

Coach Andrew Love explains how he plans his own days and encourages tells his clients they need to put on one hat–one role–at a time, and adopt an A/B schedule.

Instead of avoiding what I don’t want, I’m at peace with what I do want

“Most of us are obsessed with what we do not want. We focus on what we desperately must avoid. We are more in control that way, aren’t we?” Alex Mathers on why we need clarity and to lean into what we like rather than away from what we don’t.

Long Reads

Cover Stories

As a book cover lover I was super excited to see The New York Times bring back their Cover Stories series in which book designers discuss their work: concepts that didn’t make the final cut and the cover as published. I always find it fascinating to see the range of ideas that are created, and discarded, before covers hit our shelves or devices.

Stuff they don’t tell you: managing your time

We Transfer’s editorial series ‘Stuff They Don’t Tell You’ looks at all of the things that “creatives [have] to think about beyond having good ideas”. I this edition, James Cartwright considers how we might better manage our time with sensible advice and insights that aren’t wake up at 4am (unless you want to). It’s also worth mentioning that this article is beautifully illustrated by Haejin Park and wonderfully laid out.

In defence of emotional design: Timothy Goodman on his many many feelings

This interview with Timothy Goodman, best known for his Sharpie-style scrawlings of earnest catchphrases like, “Even my feelings have feelings,” discusses making incredibly personal work and sharing feelings as form of activism.

How Seasonal Affective Disorder Impacts Artists’ Productivity

As we hit that point in the winter where I think we’re all, no matter if you may like the colder months, longing for brighter days this article about the effects of seasonal affective disorder on art seemed apt to share. Artsy talks to Psychiatrist Dr. Norman Rosenthal, who worked with colleagues to first coin the term “SAD”, about historical artists and poets, like Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, and Vincent van Gogh, who all recognised “how the changing light affected their moods, and how that influenced their productivity” and what they created.

Reading in the Age of Constant Distraction

In this piece for The Paris Review, Mairead Small Staid reflects on Sven Birkerts’s The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age, 25 years after its publication.