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The SUN – Staying Up To Date System For

Creatives

Skill Acquisition

Getting new skills or perfecting an existing one is a pillar of professional growth, that’s why you should always make time for learning.

Updates

Staying up to date with all industry changes is essential to your decision-making process and choosing the right path in your career.

Networking

Growth in isolation is slow and tiresome. Networking helps you overcome obstacles faster and offers incredible opportunities.

Best Practices

Schedule LEARNING Time

Each week reserve a few hours for learning. Treat this as client work, as a project. Never neglect its importance. If you want to expand your circle of influence, grow as an individual and as a professional, you must focus on those things that are important but not urgent.

Identify DEAD Time Moments

Take a moment and identify the moments where you are doing busy or mindless work and can easily add a layer of learning during that period. THis can be anything from waiting in line at the supermarket, at your dentist or during your commute.

Setup Google Alerts for RELEVANT Topics

Setup Google Alerts that you will receive daily or weekly with specific keywords that are relevant to your career and professional goals. If they are too generic, go more specific, if they are too specific and you get too few notifications, go broader. Make sure you keep adding new keywords, removing ineffective ones, otherwise you risk not using them.

Set GEO-TRIGGERED Alerts

The easiest way to remember of valuing your free time is by having reminders that trigger automatically when you are in a certain place. Get them when at the supermarket, when at the car-wash or at the dentist.

Resource Inventory

For Creatives

Blogs & News

Awwwards Blog

Awwwards is an organization that recognizes and promotes the talent and effort of the best developers, designers and web agencies in the world. Their blog is filled with valuable content for web designers and developers.


Six Revisions

Six Revisions publishes practical and useful articles for web developers and designers as well. Articles are published on a regular basis every 2-5 days.


Codrops

Codrops is a web design and development blog that publishes articles and tutorials about the latest web trends, techniques and new possibilities.

Envato Tuts

Keep up to date or learn a new skill with our graphic design and illustration content. Ranging from Adobe Photoshop to drawing theory, from vector illustration to print design, we’ve got all experience levels covered.


Ustwo

Ustwo is an award-winning digital product studio. The blog is filled with case studies, design thinking and process that makes digital products successful.


Webydo

Keep up with the newest feature releases, community news and trends in the web design industry with the Webydo blog!

UXPin Blog

UXPin is one of the leading UX design and prototyping tools out there. On their blog, you will find comprehensive guides, tutorials and long from articles on UX, user behaviour and digital design trends.


One extra Pixel

Onextrapixel (OXP) is a leading online magazine and resource site for designers and web developers. They are a digital playground for people who want to learn.


Web Resources Depot

Web Resources Depot is a site sharing and creating functional web design resources everyday.

Shopify Partners

Shopify Partners is a blog sharing reliable advice for freelancers focusing on all subjects needed to run a successful business including marketing, technology, design, marketing, trends and more.


Telepathy

High-quality blog curating comprehensive in-depth articles, tutorials and resources for designers and creative entrepreneurs.


Creative Market

Creative Market is a marketplace for digital design goods like icons, vectors, fonts and more. Their blog provides fresh design ideas and latest trends.

People to Follow

Ben Mauro

Senior Concept Designer and Art Director for the game, film, product and aerospace industries.


Jen Mussari

Busy illustrating, fine-arting, and horseplaying. Winner of the 2017 Beamish Museum Alpaca Competition.


Leta Sobierajski

Independent Graphic Designer & Art Director.


Kristian Hay

Vancouver freelance graphic designer with an interest in logo design, branding and identity, print design, web design, and art direction.


Jon Noorlander

Executive Creative Director @ Method Studios NY


Rodrigo Corral

Rodrigo Corral is an American graphic artist. He is currently the creative director at Farrar, Straus and Giroux.


Jason Santa Maria

Designer by day, designer by night.


Alex Donne-Johnson

Creative Director / Designer at Dazzle Ship™.


Neil_A_Stevens

Illustrator & printmaker fuelled by music and often excited by colour.


Mark Ford

Mark of Red Web Design has useful user experience and web design tips to share on his website.


Jennet Liaw

Freelancer designer based in NYC. Formerly worked at NIKE.


Ethan Marcotte

Independent designer.


Podcasts to Listen To

99% Invisible Podcast

99% invisible describes itself as a design podcast and it covers general design topics. Listen to this podcast if you’re looking for new content or just some new inspirations.


The Deeply Graphic Design Cast

The Web and Graphic Design Podcast that offers both practival and creative design advice you can use.

This Developer’s Life

If you’re thinking about getting into web development or if you’d call yourself a developer, this podcast will definitely give you some great insights.


A Life Well Wasted

The podcast describes itself as an internet radio show about video games and people who love them. It covers some interesting interviews with developers working on video games.

The Big Web Show

The award winning Big Web Show features special guests and topics like web publishing, art direction, content strategy, typography, web technology, and more.


Gamkedo.Community

Gamkedo.Community is an interviews podcast sharing stories and advice from game developers worldwide. Hosted by Chris DeLeon of gamkedo.com.

Conferences

Pause Fest

If you are a leader in your field, tech savant, digital manipulator, rule-breaker or troublemaker with a dangerous idea that will one day make a difference to the world, then we want to hear from you!


Adobe Max

Adobe Max – The Creativity Conference. GET INSPIRED. LEARN SKILLS. PLAY.

Altitude Summit

Web entrepreneur Paul Boag interviews 4 leading figures from four different disciplines: development, design, accesibility, and iOS design, giving conference-goers a broad and insightful view of the industry.


Revolve Conference

Where Design and Creativity meets Marketing and Strategy.

Smashing Conference

Our mission is to explore real-life web design problems and techniques that are relevant and applicable to your work straight away.


How Design Live

One of the largest annual gatherings of creative professionals in the world, HOW Design Live is a career-changing, life-altering experience.

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    Doru CatanaStaying Up To Date as a Creative