Links I liked: 2019 roundup
Earlier this year, I tried to get into the habit of blogging by sharing a link round up once a month. It worked for … four months. Instead of picking the monthly post back up, here’s a round up of my favorite things I read, watched, and listened to this year.
Books
This year I read 22 books, which is more books I’ve read in a year in … my entire life! Here are my favorites:
Resilient Management, Lara Hogan
Severance, Ling Ma
A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara
Educated, Tara Westover
Red, White, and Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston
Articles
1% Better, Robin Rendle.
Fixing Your Work Environment Will Not Fix Your Life, Megan Greenwell
How to own a big job at a young age, Colleen Murphy
How to offer challenges to your teammates, Lara Hogan
Please, Please Don’t A/B Test That, Tal Raviv
Here’s What I Learned During My First Year as a People Manager, Allison Krausman
TV Shows
You, Netflix
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Netflix
Dead to Me, Netflix
The Society, Netflix
When They See Us, Netflix
Grey’s Anatomy, Netflix. Since September, I’ve been almost exclusively rewatching Grey’s Anatomy. Highly recommend.
Podcasts
How the Measles Outbreak Started, The Daily
Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia. Content warning for stories of sexual assault, incest, and physical abuse
Binge Mode: Harry Potter, The Ringer
In addition to doing a lot of reading, watching, and listening to this year, I also wrote a few things and learned to make cakes.
Things I wrote
Beyond the px — BuzzFeed’s Kelsey Scherer. An interview I did. Click & scroll down to see a great photo of my dog, Ada.
Cakes I baked
Banana chocolate chip cake with peanut butter frosting. Technically I made this one on December 31, 2018.
Some kind of chocolate cake with strawberries on top 🤷♀️
Raspberry Ricotta Cake. I made this with frozen mixed berries instead of raspberries alone.
Links I Liked: September + October 2019
In an effort to clear out my tabs (and share more!), here are some things I’ve been reading, listening to, and watching recently.
Leadership
How to offer challenges to your teammates, Lara Hogan.
What great managers do: Prune, Claire Lew.
You Do You: How to Define and Achieve Success on Your Own Terms, Sara Konrad Baranowski.
🆒 Design links
The BuzzFeed Product Design Highlight Reel: Fall 2019, Allison Krausman. A roundup of what we’ve been up to at BuzzFeed.
Tips for Giving and Receiving Feedback. Shameless plug! I wrote about why feedback is so important and some tips for giving and accepting feedback. It’s grounded in design feedback, but really is applicable to almost any type of feedback.
I’m hiring four product designers to join the BuzzFeed design team.
Non-design links
Just Enough Research, Erika Hall. A Book Apart just released the second edition of this book. I haven’t finished it yet, but it’s already proven to be super valuable and full of actionable takeaways.
I answered some questions about how I got into design and what my job looks like today. You can read them here (and see a great photo of me and Ada).
Please, Please Don’t A/B Test That, Tal Raviv.
Links I Liked: August 2019
In an effort to clear out my tabs (and share more!), here are some things I’ve been reading, listening to, and watching recently.
Leadership
7 ways of giving feedback that encourage change, Claire Lew.
At Booking.com, Innovation Means Constant Failure, HBR. A really good reminder about the importance of experimentation, and a bit about how you need to build a culture of transparency and open communication in order to make that successful. And also a lot of your experiments will fail — that’s okay!
Microallyship, Neha Batra. Some quick tips for being a better ally.
This thread on management and burnout, Marco Rogers.
🆒 Design links
Publishers are changing page templates for shopping content pages, Digiday. Shameless plug! A new feature the BuzzFeed Commerce Tech team launched is showcased in this story.
I’m hiring designers and a manager to join the BuzzFeed design team.
Non-design links
How Apple’s Apps Topped Rivals in the App Store It Controls, The New York Times. I really liked how this story drops you directly into an infographic rather than the traditional headline/subhead of most stories.
BuzzFeed’s new MoodFeed recommends content based on how you’re feeling, Techcrunch. Another shameless plug — we built this as a fun experiment.
This month, I read Severance (highly recommend) and have been listening to Lover on repeat.
Links I Liked: July 2019
In an effort to clear out my tabs (and share more!), here are some things I’ve been reading, listening to, and watching recently.
Leadership
How to own a big job at a young age, Colleen Murphy. An honest and open look at what it takes to be in a leadership position when most people around you (and even reporting to you!) are older than you.
What's different about being a senior manager?, Lara Hogan.
🆒 Design links
BuzzFeed’s Product Design Roles. Shameless plug. I updated our roles documentation this month. The two most notable updates: adding summaries to every level and moving from a rigid promotion system to a more flexible one. Like what you see? We’re hiring.
Why redesigns don’t make users happy, Vitaly Dulenko.
Users Don’t Hate Change. They Hate Our Design Choices., Jared M. Spool. On the design team at BuzzFeed, we’ve been thinking a lot about updates to our core experiences and products. I’ve been reading about how users react to “redesigns” and trying to get different perspectives. If you know of anything good, send it my way!
Non-design links
Working From Home? Here's How to Avoid Bingewatching a Whole Season of Stranger Things While You Do It, Girls Night In.
TBH I’ve spent most of my free time this month finishing re-reading Harry Potter — in July, I read Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows. If you like Harry Potter, you should listen to Binge Mode from The Ringer.
Links I Liked: June 2019
In an effort to clear out my tabs (and share more!), here are some things I’ve been reading, listening to, and watching recently.
Leadership
Resilient Management, Lara Hogan. This book is a quick read full of actionable advice, prompts for self reflection, and tons of reference material to dive deeper.
🆒 Design links
The BuzzFeed Product Design Highlight Reel. Shameless plug! I wrote about all the great things the Product Design team has shipped this year.
Drop caps & design systems, Ethan Marcotte.
1% Better, Robin Rendle. I love this quick read because it reminds me of what I’ve been telling the Design team at BuzzFeed for the last few months: if what you’re doing makes our products better tomorrow than they were yesterday (if even by a small amount), you’re on the right track.
Non-design links
Fixing Your Work Environment Will Not Fix Your Life, Megan Greenwell.
Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia. Content warning for stories of sexual assault, incest, and physical abuse.
Two of my favorite recent quizzes on BuzzFeed: How Far Can You Make It Through This "Sk8er Boi" Lyrics Quiz? and If You Still Remember All The Lyrics To "Super Bass" I'll Be Seriously Impressed
Links I Liked: May 2019
In an effort to clear out my tabs (and share more!), here are some things I’ve been reading, listening to, and watching recently.
Teaching design fundamentals
Earlier this month, I asked Twitter to recommend their favorite resources for teaching design fundamentals. Here’s what people suggested:
Classes on Skillshare and Canva
The Elements of Typographic Style, Robert Bringhurst
Inside Paragraphs, Cyrus Highsmith
The Non-Designer's Design Book, Robin Williams
Thinking with Type, Ellen Lupton
Grid systems, Josef Müller-Brockmann
Designing the Editorial Experience, Sue Apfelbaum. This wasn’t recommended in the thread, but it’s one I recommend to people working on media products.
Leadership
The BuzzFeed design team (like many design teams in media and tech) is often changing. This means we often have people at all levels learning and practicing new skills. Here are a few links I gathered about mentorship:
How to be a mentor, Aurora Klæboe Berg
Mentorship and Sponsorship, Lara Hogan. This one is mostly about sponsorship, but I really like the clear and concise definition of mentorship used here.
What does sponsorship look like?, Lara Hogan
🆒 Design links
Queer Design Club. In their own words, “Queer Design Club is a new project highlighting the work of LGBTQ+ designers in the field today and throughout history.”
Intercom launched their new brand, and shared a fantastic post and video about the process.
Non-design links
How the Measles Outbreak Started, The Daily
When Personal Becomes Professional: How I'm Managing My Anxiety at Work, Girls’ Night In
Not All Bosses Are Evil (Said a Boss, Nervously), The New York Times
The Society, Netflix. This show has all of my favorite ingredients for a great tv show: teens put in situations where they have to Grow Up Too Fast, a sci-fi edge, lots of drama that seems implausible but somehow keeps you on the edge of your seat.