You are reading Creativerly, the weekly digest about creativity and productivity-boosting tools and resources, combined with useful insight, articles, and learnings from the fields of design and tech. The newsletter built for the creative community.

Hey and welcome to issue 70 👋

It is always exciting to see when a new highly anticipated digital tool officially launches. I am pretty sure most of you read something about the hype around the new email service HEY by the awesome people from Basecamp. They launched on Monday, June 15th and Twitter went crazy when the first people received their invite and started to play around with it.

When I read about a new email service I always get excited because there is definitely the need for a privacy-first email service besides Google. I am only using Gmail for some very basic stuff. I moved my work and private email to Protonmail a while ago. It is a great product with a great community. Compared to other email services/clients they are lacking a bit feature-wise. Nevertheless, it feels way better to use an ethical email service that is based in Switzerland, do not sell any user data, place ads, or spy on their users.

I am still waiting for my invite to HEY (if anyone of you has one spare, I would really appreciate it if you could send me an invite code🥰) to try it out, play around with it, and maybe see if it could be a replacement for Protonmail for my use cases.

What email services or clients are you using and why?

If you have recommendations or feedback, drop me an email or a tweet. For now, enjoy the newsletter!  🥰

Apps, Software, Tools

Motion 2.0 →

Fastest way to get things done in the browser, Motion helps you stay in flow while working. Grouped tabs, one-click access to work tools on any page, customizing web pages, and more - Motion is a layer of productivity on top of Chrome.

ProtoPie 5.0 →

The future of interactive prototyping–ProtoPie 5.0! No more interaction spec decks! Just share interaction recipes with your engineers–much more than a handoff. Start creating your very own interaction design system with interaction libraries.

Relate →

Relate is a visual development environment for fast, live team collaboration. While you design, code is generated in the background and can be published anywhere.

HEY →

Email deserves a dust off. A renovation. Modernized for the way we email today. With HEY, we’ve done just that. It’s a redo, a rethink, a simplified, potent reintroduction of email. A fresh start, the way it should be.

Goods & Gadgets

iFi Aurora All-in-One Music System →

Crafted by a French designer, the iFi Aurora Wireless Bamboo Music System gets its look from Japanese architecture. Additionally, with a primarily bamboo exterior, the Aurora has metal accents. With a triangular aluminum frame, it has a somewhat vintage, mid-century modern look. Moreover, its PureEmotion amplifying technology, this wood music system engages you in the purest form of the music you love.

Bang & Olufsen Beoplay E8 Sport→

Get more out of your workouts with the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay E8 Sport Wireless Earbuds. These cool-looking workout earbuds are totally waterproof, so you can go on a run even when it’s pouring rain. Because sometimes you need that kind of exhilaration in your life. What’s more, you can sweat up a storm while wearing them because they’re IP57 sweat resistant, too.

Useful Resource

Kukla Kit→

Huge pack of 3D elements accessible directly from Figma. All elements fit together. Just grab what you like for your project and make your own scene in no time.

Mental Wealth

➢ Creative Exercises to Help You Through Your Anxiety – If you struggle with anxiety, you know how much it can take a toll on your everyday life. Whether you suffer from an anxiety disorder, or more occasional anxiety, feeling anxious isn’t exactly inspirational or motivational. In fact, when anxiety is in charge, you’re more likely to act out of fear, rather than out of love or fierce creativity. That said, there’s actually a fascinating connection between creativity and anxiety, one that may at first seem like a disadvantage to creatives who find themselves struggling with anxiety. However, if leveraged the right way, this connection can help creatives boost their creativity while helping them through their anxiety. It’s an ultimate win-win—if you know what you’re doing.

➢ How to Be More Confident – Even during halcyon times, confidence can be hard to hold on to. And these, unfortunately, are not halcyon times. As we collectively face unprecedented levels of uncertainty, the concept feels even slippier. And yet now might be an illuminating moment to stop and examine confidence—and its warped double, self-doubt—at their most elemental. Below, advice on how to use their interplay to your advantage, turning self-doubt into something that feeds your abilities rather than deflates them.

➢ Make It Count – A Guide to Measuring the User Experience – As designers, we want the products we build to be satisfying and easy to use, but how can we know that’s the case? We start by measuring the user experience with evidence rather than opinions. But can UX really be measured? Absolutely. By evaluating products with qualitative and quantitative methods, we gain access to a host of illuminating UX metrics. There’s nothing like completing a UX project. It takes an incredible amount of time, effort, and skill to travel from design problem to solution. Crossing the finish line is a great feeling, but seasoned UX designers know that there’s always more to be done.

➢ The 7 Habits of Exceptionally Creative People – The most commonly held belief about creativity is that it’s elusive, esoteric, and unique only to the anointed few. While we often think of creativity as an event or as a natural skill that some people have and some don’t, however, research actually suggests that both creativity and non-creativity are learned. We think that it’s only Beethoven, Picasso and Mozart who have creative genius. That’s not true! Today, we deconstruct and analyze even the most complicated processes. We come to understand that there are specific behaviors and mindsets which anyone can use to reach the desired result. Here are the seven behaviors of exceptionally creative people.

Typeface of the Week

Grand Slang is a display typeface designed by Nikolas Wrobel and published through his foundry Nikolas Type in 2019. The design was inspired by the calligraphy of Oscar Ogg and William Addison Dwiggins. The family is available in roman, italic and a b-side style, which features alternate forms and subtle serifs.

Twitter thoughts

Till next time! 👋

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