Modern Optimist

Watch Kevin Rose interview Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom where he talks about the path leading to creating my favorite iPhone app.

Instagram boasts more than 15 million users with a current signup rate of 2 people per second… all with a humble staff of just 10. Madness.

In the interview he tells us how with any startup you need to ask yourself “What 3 problems is my product solving for real people?”

In his case he says Instagram solves these 3:

1. We hate terrible photos taken on bad camera phones (Instagram developed great photo filters)
2. We need to share our photos easily (Instagram allows us to share across multiple networks, easily)
3. We need to share quickly, files take too long to upload (While filling in photo caption, Instagram is uploading already)

He ends with a simple, but great line that has resonated a lot with me lately; especially when people say they have bad luck:

You make your own luck by working really really hard and trying lots and lots of things.

Enjoy!

If you’re a designer, you would have definitely stumbled into The Dieline for packaging design inspiration.

Andrew Gibbs started the site in 2007 and talks about crazy stuff like walking into Target and physically taking photos of products to list on his blog. Now he gets exclusive pre-release submissions from advertising agencies.

He also talks about how he was at a cross roads when he got offered his dream job but chose the site.

Today The Dieline site features jobs, a designer directory and they even host their own packaging conference.

A great success story, enjoy:

I’m proud to announce a new site I’ve launched with D Rock showcasing designs and articles on the concept of minimalism. It’s a subject that really excites me so working on this has been a load of fun. The site is called mmminimal and we plan to release a free WordPress theme of the mmminimal design soon.

Visit mmminimal and follow on twitter here.

About 2 years ago I bought the domain designdosage.com with the idea of creating a daily online resource for designers. Unfortunately full commitment to another project gave me no time to do anything cool with it. 

So I put it up for grabs on the net and got some semi-decent offers. But once my mate, and very talented designer, D Rock said he was interested, it only took a bus ticket to Bristol and couple drinks until it was in his hands.

There is no one better to bring you what’s fresh in the design world, so enjoy the new designdosage.com

The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve.
Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity.
An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people.
As you grow, your associates will change.
Some of your friends will not want you to go on.
They will want you to stay where they are.
Friends that don’t help you climb will want you to crawl.
Your friends will stretch your vision or choke your dream.
Those that don’t increase you will eventually decrease you.
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