Mailbox
15 March 2013
I’ve been using Mailbox app for just over a week now and I’m trying to decide whether I prefer it to regular old Gmail.
I don’t think I’ve ever been an inbox zero type of person, it makes me feel lonely. I like to keep certain ‘things to do’,‘people to reply to’ or ‘newsletters to read’ emails as unread. I’ve become quite accustomed to having that red circle with a 3 or a 4 in it on iOS, perhaps it makes me feel like I am busier than I really am or more important or even more wanted.
In saying that though, I generally wouldn’t get around to doing that ‘thing to do’ until I had to. I wouldn’t reply to the ‘people to reply to’ and at best I would skim the newsletters only for a fear of missing out and to bring my unread number back down to 3 or 4.
Mailbox is an unusual way to deal with email. Reading the email doesn’t do anything in the traditional sense of how we deal with email. You must decide on how you want to treat that mail; mark it as done (archive it), delete it, read it later. You can achieve inbox zero in quite a timely manner if you go at your inbox for a few minutes. But for me initially I was left cold by the congratulatory message once I hit inbox zero. I missed those unread newsletters, I felt like I had shunned those people who I hadn’t bothered to respond to, even though I knew they would all pop back up to greet me at a later stage.
Later that evening and Mailbox is back to having 4 messages for me to deal with. And perhaps it is at this point that I start to struggle with the concept. Previously, I could have wilfully ignored those emails until my inbox filled up a bit and the number of unread emails was too high for my brain to feel comfortable with. Now, I can fob off any email with a quick swipe on the beautiful UI, only for it to come back and haunt me after a period of time decided by myself. I’m just not sure if that is what I want from my mail client. I almost feel as if Mailbox is like a nagging personal assistant. The little red circle on the Gmail app was like a gentle reminder of my lack of organisation, the push messages from Mailbox are like mini attacks on my character (I’m being dramatic, but still).
So where does this leave me and Mailbox. I am going to soldier on with the belief that Mailbox will make me a better person by forcing me to organise myself. I do not possess the capacity to delete emails that I know I should deal with, so perhaps Mailbox is the panacea for my procrastination. We’ll see.
H Cup!
11 January 2013
Myself and the Heineken Cup :)
Monologue
26 October 2012
How not to do it:
How to do it:
Opportunity
22 June 2012
There often seems to be a paralysis that goes hand-in-hand with a direct opportunity to try something new and, in the process, add a new skill. We often perceive opportunity as a threat, as an invitation to fail. Our ability to protect ourselves from real opportunities cannot be underestimated. There is an element of calculated risk in most things, but none more so than an opportunity to commit to something you aren’t 100% sure you can deliver on.
I recall an interview from Computer Arts with twin design duo Identikal, in which they talk of tackling new disciplines whenever the opportunity presented itself. Fear is natural and failure is always a possibility, but the success at the end of it all feels all the more rewarding when you achieve it.
Lost & Found
11 June 2012
Recently I stumbled across a beautiful piece of storytelling and animation. Lost & Found, a book by Oliver Jeffers (which I was not aware of until I saw the movie), was brought to life by Studio AKA (who also do the Lloyds TSB ads on tv). The story is really quite touching and certainly brought a tear to my eye; I suppose we all read our own sub-text into these things, but I couldn’t help but feel it was about loss of a loved one and the loneliness and helplessness that comes with it.
The score by Max Richter is fantastic and quickly becomes as important as the familiar narration by Jim Broadbent. As for the animation itself, it just ticks all the boxes for me. The textures, lighting, camera placement, sound effects, just the overall attention to detail, draw you in from start to finish. The only negative I have, and it may be a bit harsh, is that the rough sea looks too fractal or programmed, it loses its organic feel in the storm scene. The movie was directed by Philip Hunt and all in all it really is a cracking job.
Oliver has some some process illustrations on his website, which really are fantastic. A great production all round and highly recommended for children and adults alike.
