kelly.blog

life, work, etc.

  • Inspiration board

    I made a Pinterest/Are.na style board on this site over the weekend. Check it out. It sources images, videos, gifs I’ve saved over the years on Twitter and my own blog. I realized I save stuff but then never look at it again.

    Doing this made me want an easier way to save stuff I find outside of Twitter and don’t want to do a whole write up of on my blog. So I also created a Chrome extension so I can add stuff anytime from anywhere. Github link if you are interested in making your own.

    I’ll probably make it so you can switch up the layout, search for things, and get cute with tagging.

  • Choose a comfortable measure

    I often think of this line from Bringhurst’s The Elements of Typographic Style. I bought the book maybe 20 years ago in design school and I just referenced it today at work when giving feedback to a designer. The tools we are creating with have all changed but fundamentals never go away. Also thanks to whoever converted the book into more linkable format! Grab the book if you can find it, though. Its worth having on your desk.

  • Donna Tartt

    Started reading The Secret History because of this tweet. So good. If you’re into audiobooks, the author narrates it, which makes it even better.

    Photo looks like its from yesterday, but it was taken in 1992.

  • H.E.R.E Journal

    H.E.R.E. This new magazine about the Hudson Valley looks really beautiful. Excited to see it in person.

  • Notes from Getting Real

    Read this book for work today. It’s from 2006, but a decent amount is still applicable. Some notes I took along the way:

    • the majority of your day should be working on things that excite you. (with tools that do too.) if not, find something that does. if you’re a lead, make sure your team is all working on things that excite them. otherwise, it’ll be obvious.
    • you don’t need more than ~3 people to make a first version of something. if you do, you have the wrong people or its too big of a scope. if you’re a lead: check in on your people, assign them to exciting work that helps them grow, don’t make them do a bunch of admin work, and make sure you have the right people on your team.
    • be personable and friendly. at work, on your site, in your product. write like a human! (write your own words!) enough with the ai slop and the marketing-speak. good writing is good design. blog.
    • sweat over the details, but not from day one. spiraling about tiny stuff too early in the process delays progress.
    • don’t plan so far ahead. only define a very slimmed down mvp to see if you gain traction. you might not need to expand past that.
    • consistency is good, but don’t let it come at the expense of context. what makes sense in one place doesn’t necessarily make sense in another.
    • try this out before launching a new product: share a teaser first, then a preview of features, then ship it. (not sure i’ve ever done this.)

  • Banff roadtrip

    Went on a big roadtrip with my niece last week. We drove over 1,350 miles in a week starting in Seattle and stopping along the way in North Cascades National Park, Winthrop, crossing the border to Revelstoke, Banff, Canmore, and a handful of Canadian National Parks before heading back to Seattle via Spokane. This was the second installment in “take my sisters’ kids on a trip the summer they turn 13” idea. It was super fun. We did a lot of hiking and she swam in every alpine lake we came across.

    I took the same picture of my niece as I did of my nephew two years ago when it was his turn. I might have to turn this into a series. (Hopefully everyone will want to start out at my house for their trip.)

  • Pocotopaug

  • dev/ai/nyc

    Last night, I hosted a fireside chat with Khyati Trehan for Automattic’s monthly talk series in our Noho Space.

    Khyati is a designer at Google Creative Lab who has a wonderful habit of turning her hobbies into designs. She uses a mix of traditional tools and generative ai tools to create experimental, fun designs as well as tools for others to create their own.

    We discussed some of these experimental projects, her iterative design process, curiosity, sharing, creating tools, the expanding role of design, and of course ai. The talk was recorded if you’d like to check it out.

  • Sturdy Enduro

    It was my 6th time racing in Sturdy Dirty, the local all-women Enduro mountain bike race. I look forward to it every year not only for the racing, but the rides leading up to it, and all the people I get to hang and ride with. I rode the expert category, which was 4 stages: 3,418 feet of climbing over 16.2 miles. At my favorite place to ride: Tiger Mountain. I didn’t crash, had a ton of fun, and PRed on all the segments. Placed 8th. Am sore, tired, and already looking forward to next year.

  • Strava MCP

    Strava announced an MCP a few weeks ago and I was excited to try it out. A few things I’ve been able to do with it so far:

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