Joel B. / Strategist
Just at the start of the pandemic, I picked up Creative Calling by Chase Jarvis. It’s a good companion to his YouTube content on creating a framework in your life for being more creative. It’s given me a reason to get up and go in the morning (besides coffee and 8:00AM virtual camps for my son).
Mary W. / Creative Director
It’s been an interesting time with current events to happen to be working on a healthcare project — the examples in Health Design Thinking by Bon Ku and Ellen Lupton helped shape my thinking outside what I thought I “knew” and to look at things from a more people-driven perspective. Although focused specifically on case studies from the health sector, this is a great read for general UX considerations like having empathy for the user, the importance of prototyping, and using visualization to help people understand data and patterns to gain actionable insights.
Joel L. / Motion Director
My daughter Sisu and I have been reading the Horatio Hornblower series by C.S. Forester in chronological order. We just finished reading book 8, Flying Colors. It’s the strongest entry in the Napoleonic wars high seas adventure series so far. Published in 1938. Sisu’s highlights: Hornblower betters his French while in hiding, the descriptions of British ship biscuit preparation, and the recapture of the Royal Navy’s cutter Witch of Endor.
Christina M. / Associate Creative Director
As a mother, I find myself re-learning lots of things with my kiddo. This summer and fall I will re-learn Economics, Grammar, and Punctuation. Oh yeah, and I am learning how to parent [teach] a first grader. I have a feeling everyone I work with will love my new attention to grammar.
Linda R. / Senior Creative Director
Since the library has been closed, I was left only with the old books on my shelf that I vowed to read someday. Someday has arrived! This is Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House by Eric Hodgins, illustrated by William Steig, 1946. It’s musty and goofy and proves that, equally, the dreams and pains of home construction never go out of style.
Tara L. / Senior Strategist
I’m a big fan of Audible – as much as I love an actual book, I have to be honest and say I don’t sit a lot so I don’t sit and read as much as I used to. I love to run, so Audible has helped me listen to the stories I want to hear! I’m currently listening to HorrorStör by Grady Hendrix. It’s a horror/comedy that occurs in an IKEA-like store. It’s fascinating and has a lot of good Ikea jokes.
Laura R. / Senior Designer
When I’m in need of some next-level escapism, I gravitate toward high fantasy. I’m currently reading the third of fourteen books in The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, which is set in a world where magic is real, time is cyclical, and the balance of nature is in peril. Pictured here is the first book in the series, The Eye of the World.
Amanda M. / Senior Designer
I don’t enjoy the stress of a movie that has me on the edge of my seat, but I do love a book that has a fantastic, twist ending I didn’t predict. The Wife Between Us was the first, book I read that was by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, but not the last. They have a unique way of writing a good story that makes you try to figure out what is going to happen, I have yet to make an accurate prediction.
