One year ago, Drew and I set out to give a voice to the creative community. We created The Industry with the intent of “covering design focused startups and people.” 366 days later, we’ve grown into a well-respected blog and podcast.

We’ve built a strong diverse team, reported on the latest, reviewed great products, interviewed the folks behind these tools, written about design, and had deep discussions with creatives.

We’re a community of believers. A collective group of individuals who believe in man’s innate ability to create, shape, and mold the world around us. To fill it with meaningful things that will benefit us now and in the future, whether they be physical or digital.

So in honor of the one year, we’re doing a birthday/holiday giveaway. We’ve teamed up with companies like Squarespace, Ugmonk, Etsy, and Offscreen to give away x prizes to x people for 12 days. (think 12 Days...

When was the last time you cut something out from your design?

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

– Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I love this quote. It’s partially on the money. Yes, we cut, a lot. But as designers, we don’t set out to reach perfection in our interfaces because it’s non-attainable. If it were, we’d be unemployed swiftly.

Instead, we set out with the goal of making our designs better communicate their messages with every push of a pixel. In doing so, we’re on the hunt for obstructions, clashes, and noise. In doing so, we become Grim Reapers.

We glide through our designs and relentlessly cut down, destroy, and delete the unnecessary. Then we do it again and again. To be honest, it’s pretty fun.

So I’ll modify the quote a bit.

Good design is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but...

No, it’s much more.

We’ve all heard it at least once in our careers. You’re busy coding away at the newest tenant to the World Wide Web. You’re stuck on the choice of fonts, color scheme, or whether or not to keep the navigation pinned to the top. Then out of no where, you hear the words “dude, relax. It’s just a website.”

And no, they’re not talking about this.

Oh, but they’re so, so wrong

You see, as designers (or creatives, as I call us), it’s our duty to create things that solve problems. The problem could be that the current layout of a site just doesn’t fit the intended message. It could be that the choice of fonts clash. It could be that there are too many levels of navigation to get to a vital setting. Or, it could simply be that a site that should exist, doesn’t.

Regardless of what we’re solving, solving is what we’ve set out to do. And our ability to design, whether it...

I’ve started a new project. It’s called Evomail and it’s gonna be awesome.

Slogan: Email, evolved.

Purpose: Email sucks. Organizing and dealing with its overload sucks, too.

People: Jonathan, Dave, and I.

Platform: iPad (post-PC era and all)

Design: Dribbbln’ it

Release: Fall 2012 (yes, fall)

Details: Soon.

Build things worth covering, and cover things worth building.

First, back this.

I’m 18 and I create things. So that makes me a young creative, right? I have the daily opportunity to work, advise, and collaborate with numerous amazing designers, developers, and creatives alike. I, along with Drew, also co-founded an online publication called The Industry that’s dedicated to covering the creative community.

However

There are many like me (young) who are making amazing products, apps, and tools without any coverage or spotlight in sight. Simply because they don’t have 25K+ followers on Twitter, or a familiar name. Funny thing is, there are some who fit both bills, but still can’t manage to make anything sustainable from $41 million besides a shopping list full of patents.

But I digress.

The point is, young people are the leaders, innovators, and creators of tomorrow. It just so happens that they tend to start today. So when [they] do, well, they...

Tim Cook, to be exact. He’s similar, yet different in many of ways from his predecessor, Steve Jobs.

While the two shared the same vision for Apple, it’s becoming more and more apparent that their ways of getting there were a bit different. For one, unlike Jobs, Cook didn’t think the iPhone needed to remain at 3.5" 4:3 forever (as made plain with the iPhone 5). People wanted bigger screens and 16:9 sounded nice, so he made the switch.

Not to mention, his letter to the public apologizing for Apple’s terrible Map app was something out of a new playbook. He wasn’t even afraid to have it plastered on the homepage.

Now, if there’s one thing we know, Steve Jobs wasn’t often one to apologize. And although he was a fearless leader and an amazing entrepreneur, Apple did make some blunders while under him. Remember Antennagate? Jobs told the world that they were holding their iPhone’s...

It’s a language

And what’s the benefit of learning a language? Or at least having some understanding of one? Breaking down barriers of communication and understanding. Whether they be physical or mental.

I’m sure 95% of you who are reading this know what “hola” or “adios” means, right? It’s Spanish for hello and goodbye, respectively. Now although you may have these two words down packed in your international vocabulary, I’m sure most of you aren’t fluent in the latin tongue. But for those of you who are bilingual or are fluent in more than two languages, can’t you testify that having some understanding of another language is a good thing?

I think that’s the same approach we need to use when it comes to code. Everyone should have a basic understanding of what it is, what it entails, and what it can do (a lot). After all, it’s behind most of the things we interact with on a daily...

Today’s my 18th birthday.

I’ve contemplated keeping my age a secret until I was old enough to buy someone a drink. Or at least until my age didn’t end with “teen.” That way, people would “take me seriously.” But I’ve gotten over it.

It really amazes me how much the world focuses on one’s age and degree(s). Even more so than skill and personality, the most important factors. But today, for my birthday, I’ll try to debunk the silly notion of age > skill. I’ll tell you a little story about me, who helped me grow as a writer, designer and leader, and my advice to young creatives.

I wrote extensively on the subject. Check it out!

A week or so ago, I wrote a piece entitled, “Show People Kindness.” In it, I ranted about how the web is filled with negative posts, but I also explained my intention to, once a week (hopefully), try and mention a few products, services, and/or people that I would recommend to others. And, I’d say thanks to them for their hard work.

Today I’ll begin.

1. Kippt

2. BreakTime app

3. Offscreen Magazine

Kippt

This is a service by Jori and Karri. These two guys from Finland are doing something amazing. They’re making the sharing of links on the web fun again.

The startup, a YC ‘12 backed grad, is growing fast with new features added every month. However, one thing I respect them for, amongst others, is the fact that they think features through in their entirety before adding them. Something I wish other products and services would mirror. You see, most companies “dump, then cleanup.” Or...