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Good Cop & Bad Cop: Laying Down the Law and Keeping People Happy As an Independent Business Owner

Earlier this week I met up for coffee with a client of mine. The two of us originally met when his employeer was my client and after leaving that job he hired me to customize his personal blog and we formed our own client/designer relationship. I was excited when he emailed me last week with the […]




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She’s Geeky: My First Unconference & Having Feels about Solidarity Between Women in Tech

This Friday I attended the first day of She’s Geeky here in Seattle. It was my first experience of the Unconference Format and I had no idea what to expect, but ended up having a GREAT TIME. Discussions that I joined in on throughout the day included subjects such as Impostor Syndrome, Diversity Groups, Side- […]




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Getting My Butt in Gear with Digital Strategy School!

I have been running CMD+Shift Design since 2008. In those 7 years I learned a lot, I made a lot of mistakes, found some amazing clients, did some really fun projects and made some good money. I’ve had ups and downs and these past 2 years have been tough… really tough. Part of it has […]




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My First Business Mentorship Meeting

Today was my very first one-on-one business mentorship meeting with Marie Poulin at Digital Strategy School. This was the first of what will be monthly 1 Hour sessions with Marie during the 6-month Digital Strategy School course and I can already tell these next 6 months are going to be a whirlwind! The course officially […]




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Let’s talk about how much I suck at business lately….

A couple weeks ago, I saw a tweet come through my Twitter timeline from my buddy Tim Smith, a designer and podcaster saying, “2014 was my worst year in freelance. My business revenue declined by ~10k.” I immediately related, but hesitated to reply. Who wants to talk about their failures? Business being slow is actually pretty […]




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Creating Choropleth Map Data Visualization Using JavaScript, on COVID-19 Stats

https://www.anychart.com/blog/2020/05/06/javascript-choropleth-map-tutorial/




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Making Dark Theme Switcher With PostCSS

https://css-tricks.com/making-dark-theme-switcher-with-postcss/




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WebAssembly Online Checker

https://wasm.joway.io/




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Microsoft bundled its beautiful Bing wallpapers into a free Android app

https://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2020/05/08/microsoft-bundled-its-beautiful-bing-wallpapers-into-a-free-android-app/




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Say Hello to Something Awesome

https://uxdesign.cc/saying-goodbye-to-yesterday-and-hello-to-something-awesome-636362789e84




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How To Build A Vue Survey App Using Firebase Authentication And Database

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2020/05/vue-survey-app-firebase-authentication-database/




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Building a Crossword Puzzle Generator with JavaScript

https://mitchum.blog/building-a-crossword-puzzle-generator-with-javascript/




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Neumorphism in Mobile Design Concepts

https://design4users.com/neuomorphism-mobile-design/




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Design Sprints Complete Guide

https://blog.useberry.com/design-sprints-complete-guide/




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Why Stealing Best Landing Pages Is a Bad Idea

https://hren.io/blog/stealing-best-landing-pages/




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10 Best Content Scheduling Tools for WordPress

https://line25.com/wordpress-plug-ins/content-scheduling-tools-for-wordpress




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OpenCV Directly in the Browser (WebAssembly and webworker)

https://aralroca.com/blog/opencv-in-the-web




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Check Out These Famous Logos Practicing Social Distancing – McDonald’s, Mercedes, and More

We all know about the new coronavirus that has been affecting hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. And while scientists, researchers, and doctors are all working tirelessly to find a cure for this terrible disease, one thing is for sure: staying home is saving lives. The greatest tool that we have right now to help […]

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Teamstack: Everything You Need, All in One Place

You know what sucks? Having to navigate through dozens of tools, all on separate dashboards, just to get one job done. Nowadays, there’s a tool for everything, and while that’s amazing, it’s very overwhelming sometimes. Oftentimes, some tools are forgotten about completely. How on earth do we tackle this situation? I mean, as time goes […]

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5 Incredible Free Tools For Designers That You Need To Try

There’s nothing better than finding a new design tool that will make your life a million times easier. After all, we all want to get our work done as quickly and efficiently as possible, and if there’s a tool for that, then I want it. And I did find some tools that I absolutely love […]

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7 Biggest Mistakes Freelance Designers Make That Will Ruin Their Career

When you’re a freelancer and you start to work directly with your clients, there’s something crucial you need to know. Your design is not the one and only, most important aspect of the transaction. While presenting your client with an amazing design is the final goal, there are a lot of other things at stake […]

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10 Websites and Apps All Designers Should Be Using

As a designer, we’re overloaded with choices every day, but there are some apps that are absolutely worth your time and investment. Finding the best ones and most useful ones can be a difficult task, so we’re going to make things easy for you and give you our top 10 apps and websites we couldn’t […]

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The invisible injury: How concussions have changed our lives

'It can happen to you anywhere, at any moment, and just change your world'




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Concussion had made my life a mess. So I gave my brain injury a name

By turning 'Stella' into a punchline, laughter became my medicine and sharing my story became my therapy




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Reducing brain damage in sport without losing the thrills

When Olympic gold medallist Shona McCallin was hit on the side of her head by a seemingly innocuous shoulder challenge, she suffered what was originally thought to be a concussion.




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Invisible Disabilities: Break Down The Barriers

Many people think the word “disability” means people who require a wheelchair or walker. In reality, however, there is much more to disability than meets the eye. 




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Recovery From Mild Brain Trauma Takes Longer Than Expected: Study

"This study challenges current perceptions that most people with a sports-related mTBI recover within 10 to 14 days," said lead author Dr. Stephen Kara, from Axis Sports Medicine in Auckland, New Zealand.




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Trump officials say people with disabilities must not be denied lifesaving coronavirus care

Patients with disabilities must receive the same level of lifesaving medical treatment from hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic as able-bodied patients, the Trump administration said.




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Coronavirus pandemic could inflict emotional trauma and PTSD on an unprecedented scale, scientists warn

Researchers are warning that the coronavirus pandemic could inflict long-lasting emotional trauma on an unprecedented global scale. They say it could leave millions wrestling with debilitating psychological disorders while dashing hopes for a swift economic recovery.




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Emilia Clarke to Host Virtual Dinner With Donors Who Pledge Money for Coronavirus Relief

Today, the Game of Thrones star announced that 12 random people will get to win a virtual dinner with her. She’s asking people to donate money to her charity SameYou, which helps people heal from brain injuries and strokes. Pledges will be used to assist brain injury survivors in recuperating at home, who have been asked to leave hospitals to make room for coronavirus patients.




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What I learned from living a socially isolated life for the past two years

“It will get easier after you adjust."After receiving a traumatic brain injury from a car crash two years ago, the Los Angeles-based journalist Amanda Chicago Lewis has lived in social isolation. Because of stay-at-home orders to reduce the spread of COVID-19, more people are now living in similar circumstances. Below, Lewis shares how she’s adapted her apartment, her routine, and her habits to cope with being at home for extended periods of time.




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Treating PTSD Involves Science, Counseling, Group Support

In the years since he had returned from Vietnam, Elmer “Snubby” Burket was a self-described workaholic, raising a son, keeping up his house and always taking jobs where he could be by himself as he tried to put the war behind him.




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‘Giving Birth Left Me With PTSD’

Motherhood brought me one baby, one loss, and a lifetime of living with the trauma.




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What a trauma and PTSD psychologist tells us about dealing with the coronavirus pandemic

We’re all experiencing varying levels of trauma.




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The U.S. needs a nationwide registry for traumatic brain injury

The congressional Brain Injury Task Force, co-chaired by Reps. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.), spoke to hundreds of people gathered at the Rayburn House Office Building. One area of focus was the development of a national traumatic brain injury registry, a vital step for getting a handle on how best to manage this difficult-to-treat condition.




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What life is like now for 3 people with brain injuries — and their loved ones

Ken Rekowski, Shawn Hill and Jodi Graham are dealing with COVID-19 in different ways




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The return of language after brain trauma

Language sets humans apart in the animal world. Language allows us to communicate complex ideas and emotions.  But too often after brain injury be it stroke or trauma, language is lost. 




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Troops to receive Purple Hearts for injuries during Iranian missile barrage on al-Asad airbase in Iraq

There will be Purple Hearts awarded to troops injured during the Jan. 8 Iranian missile barrage on the al-Asad airbase in Iraq, a defense official told Military Times.




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Want to help the USPS and vets? Buy a 'Healing PTSD' stamp

Support two entities with the price of one.




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My PTSD can be a weight. But in this pandemic, it feels like a superpower.

For the first time, it seems, the entire world knows what it’s like to live inside my head.




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Video Tutorial: How to Turn Anything into Gold in Photoshop

In today’s Adobe Photoshop tutorial I’m going to show you how to turn anything into gold using this simple combination of Photoshop filters and tools. The effect smooths out the details of a regular image and adds an array of shiny reflections to mimic the appearance of a polished metal statue. A gradient overlay gives […]

The post Video Tutorial: How to Turn Anything into Gold in Photoshop appeared first on Spoon Graphics.




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Affinity Airbrush Shading Brushes for Premium Members

Access All Areas members have been requesting more Affinity Designer resources, so this week members can download this great set of Airbrush Shading Brushes made specifically for Affinity, courtesy of The Artifex Forge. Add organic texture shading to designs and illustrations with ease! This versatile shading brush pack contains a wide variety of textures – […]

The post Affinity Airbrush Shading Brushes for Premium Members appeared first on Spoon Graphics.




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All The Vintage Logo Template Designs You Could Ever Wish For!

Creating vintage style designs for company brands, T-shirts, packaging designs, book covers, window signs, and countless other graphic design project scenarios has never been easier with this huge bundle of 200 editable logo templates from Heritage Type Co. Logo Templates are ready-made designs that can be easily customised to quickly create stunning badges and emblems […]

The post All The Vintage Logo Template Designs You Could Ever Wish For! appeared first on Spoon Graphics.




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Video Tutorial: How to Create an Embroidered Patch Design in Illustrator

In today’s Adobe Illustrator tutorial I’m going to take you through the process of creating a colourful embroidered patch, based on the kinds of designs associated with National Parks. The artwork will incorporate a landscape scene at sunset, which helps to keep the design simple with a silhouette graphic and a warm colour palette. Stick […]

The post Video Tutorial: How to Create an Embroidered Patch Design in Illustrator appeared first on Spoon Graphics.




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20 Free Old Paper Textures with Creases, Folds and Stains

Old paper textures are one of my most commonly used design resources, as you may have noticed from my tutorials! I have always just downloaded whatever third-party assets I could find, so I thought it was about time I made a collection of my own old paper textures to keep handy in my digital toolbox. […]

The post 20 Free Old Paper Textures with Creases, Folds and Stains appeared first on Spoon Graphics.




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Video Tutorial: Vintage Letterpress Poster Design in Photoshop

In today’s Adobe Photoshop video tutorial I’m going to take you through my process of creating a vintage style advertisement poster with letterpress print effects. We’ll start by laying out the design with a selection of fonts inspired by the era of wood type, along with some hand-drawn graphic elements using a limited 3-colour palette. […]

The post Video Tutorial: Vintage Letterpress Poster Design in Photoshop appeared first on Spoon Graphics.




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The return of language after brain trauma

Language sets humans apart in the animal world. Language allows us to communicate complex ideas and emotions.  But too often after brain injury be it stroke or trauma, language is lost. 




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Support Communication During Conversation




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Troops to receive Purple Hearts for injuries during Iranian missile barrage on al-Asad airbase in Iraq

There will be Purple Hearts awarded to troops injured during the Jan. 8 Iranian missile barrage on the al-Asad airbase in Iraq, a defense official told Military Times.




in

Want to help the USPS and vets? Buy a 'Healing PTSD' stamp

Support two entities with the price of one.