Setting the Table by Danny Meyer, famed restauranteur. It's an excellent treatise on the mindset of hospitality, which I believe has a hell of a lot in common with good design.

Notes on the Synthesis of Form by Christopher Alexander. Kind of a design book, but early enough and conceptual enough that I think it counts. A brilliant and cerebral exploration of what the mind of a designer must engage with and accomplish.

Someone else already mentioned Daniel Kahneman, but also pick up the books by Dan Ariely, another smart cookie in the world of cognition and behavior, and while we're on the subject Cognition and Reality by the "father of cognitive psychology", Ulrich Neisser, is totally worth your time. It lays out the basics of cognitive psych and makes the case for evaluating and measuring cognition in "ecologically valid" scenarios (prototyping with real users/data, anyone?).

Daring Greatly by shame researcher Brene Brown is an accessible and compassionate book describing the power of vulnerability and shame. This one can seem a little self-helpy from the outside, but I promise it's worth engaging with your ability to be vulnerable and be resilient in the face of shame if you're in or want a creative career.

That's all for now!

Location: Seattle

Remote: No

Relocate: Sure!

Skills: Interaction Design, User Research, Data Visualization, Front End Devjust graduated with a masters in HCI+Design

Portfolio: bwstudwell.co

Email: bwstudwell@gmail.com

whatfont, google scholar, clearly, full page screen cap, wunderlist, pocket, noisli, newsbot, pinterest, dragdis, onetab, kimono

If you liked that, I would also check out, "Cognition and Reality", by Ulric Neisser. He's kind of the papa-bear of many things cognitive.

This book is absolutely brilliant. Great recommendation. It's good for anybody who is trying to think about thinking (which I feel is important for designers of any discipline). Kahneman has enjoyed a long and storied career, and translates his accumulated wisdom very effectively. Beware, ye children of the list-icle age, this is some longform shit. If you panic when you have to read something longer than the viewport, tread lightly here. That being said, it's so, so worth it.

Mapbox is rad!

The way you're responding to the feedback you're getting here tells me you're on the right track. Keep it up! One thing I'd like to add is that you should take everything anyone tells you with a grain of salt. No one knows the truths of your life like you do. You can collect all the critique and advice you want, from all the brilliant people in the world, but ultimately you are the one who gets to decide whether or not to listen to it. The people who seem older and wiser than you may have a few experiences you don't, but everyone you know is, for the most part, figuring it out as they go along. You just get better at hiding after a while.

I would first like to say that you clearly have a sensitivity to visual design. I appreciate the tone you're working towards with your portfolio. Now, the irony of the situation is that men at the age of 18 don't tend to take the advice that comes their way. They learn things the hard way. It's the natural order. I'm now 27 and I possess a substantial and ever growing list of things-not-to-do. I recommend to you a healthy dose of humility. The phrase, "through my extensive experience in the business world", screams, "I am full of shit". Much of your writing conveys a similar bravado. Be humble. Be proud of your work, but let it speak for itself. Your portfolio, while demonstrating some of your undeniable talent, feels like the travel blog of a rich kid with more free time than is good for him.

Oh, you know, Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology, Computer Science, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, Fine Art, Art History, Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Interaction Design, Advertising, Creative Writing, Regular Writing, Photography, Motion Design, Animation, Genre Theory, Political Science, Behavioral Economics, any relevant History, Linguistics, Philosophy, Affective Science, Applied Research, Ubiquitous Computing, Data Visualization, Human-Computer Interaction and more. To start.

Some nice mechanics here, but whoever decided to try and push the hyper-masculine "ULTRA-MEGA-PERFORMANCE", angle for what appears to be... you know... a scooter... is taking some serious liberties.

It all feels very misleading. Their copy screams about speed, but their 4.2 second stat is for 0-50kmh, which is 30mph. Probably totally acceptable for a go-about-town vehicle. The motor callout is thick with meaningless claims and jargon. Their, "first off the line", visualization compares the Gogoro to an anonymous 125cc... something? This thing's electric, so it doesn't have cylinders, so does that mean it's comparable to a 125cc engine? Or not? There are lawn mowers with 125cc engines.

I could go on, but I think you get the idea. Talented people have clearly put a tremendous amount of effort into what, to me, comes of as a ridiculously hyperbolic piece of work.