The 99 Percent – This amazing blog was part of our Weekly Blogs lineup last week, and it scored the most visits. That is why it was promoted to a Weekly Fave position. Presented as Behance’s ‘think tank,’ 99% is an implementation source for ideas in the creative world. According to 99% here’s what they offer: “Our profiles of proven idea makers, action-oriented tips, best-practices sessions, and annual conference are all designed to help you transform ideas from vision to reality.”
A mere visit to 99% will tickle your creativity nerve ends and overwhelm you with inspiration. The site is fabulously designed, the posts cover a range of topics and effective idea how to’s. After reading a couple of posts you’ll see for yourself that the 99% team screams professionalism, great taste and creative know-how. Explore 99% articles, tips, videos, conference and speakers, sessions (by Behance) and check out their book, Making Ideas Happen. I’ve RSS-ed to 99% and even if you’re not working in the creative world you have much to gain from visiting this site on a regular basis. The inspiration is simply pouring out. I especially enjoyed reading The Cure for Creative Block? Leave Your Desk and seeing Ji Lee’s lecture on The Transformative Power of Personal Projects. The video is below.
Startup Quotes – Aphoristic quotes go a long way. Startup Quotes is an ingenious, inspiring and fun site where each post is a short tip, insight or concept, quoted from founders and co-founders of today’s major companies (mostly of the tech and communication fields). Learn what Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos’ tip for startups is (“Build yourself a great story”), and take Dropbox Co-founder Drew Houston’s advice on learning (“Learn early, learn often”). Each post is a beautifully presented startup tip non-entrepreneurs will benefit from just as much. For the finish, in light of the Apple iPhone 4 hitch that’s been buzzing around in recent weeks, see Steve Jobs’ tip for startups below. If you feel like sharing your tip, submit it here.
Historypin – A cool collaboration between the social movement We Are What We Do and Google has produced this amazing project focused on an innovative documentation of our collective history. Combining Google Maps (both standard and street views) with your grandparents’ historic photograph and personal story, Historypin brings the young and old generations closer. According to their About page, “Historypin virtually requires you to spend time with someone from a different generation: young people need older people for the photos, and older people need young people to explain when to click and when to double click.”
The Historypin scene as the meeting point of generations is spectacular. The superb interface, the ease of the documentation process and the existing database of other users’ documented photos (over 10,000 entries!) make Historypin a first of its kind in terms of both concept and execution. See the photo of Sydney’s Queen Victoria Markets (posted by Rebekah), dated 1885-1915, with the site’s current appearance in the background. Absolutely amazing. Add your photos and tell your story so the young generation in your family will learn your family’s history. You will need a Google account to sign up and contribute to Historypin.
Gimundo – If you’re interested in disconnecting from the violence, stuttering economy and the environmental damage we read about each morning, Gimundo is here to give you a daily dose of good news. According to their About page, Gimundo’s mission is “to bring you the most inspiring news, stories, and videos that we can find.” After exploring their wonderful, beautifully designed website, I can safely say creators Kathryn and Jeff Hawkins certainly keep their promise.
So what kind of content will you find at Gimundo? Kathryn and Jeff have done a great job at offering an array of optimistic, insightful stories for you to discover, including news posts, videos, their take on the ‘best of the web’ and links they liked and wanted to share with their readers. Although most of the videos are taken from other news companies, Gimundo is an absolute must RSS for you reader – you won’t regret it. I especially enjoyed reading about the Tree Life Box and viewing the video of the cutest puppies in America.
Hands Symphony – This ingenious website by the American Heart Association has come up with an uber-cool way of advertising hands-only CPR. Soon as you enter the site you will see thumbnails of different hand actions, each producing a unique sound or rhythm. Called the Hand Symphony, this low tech music mixing platform lets you create cool tracks by choosing any combination of the hand sounds. Choose between the Dance, Hip-Hop and Latin effects on the right to get a nice background tone that suits your mixed creation.
So what’s the point of having this Heart Association site, showing the wonderful sounds made by human hands? Well, if you think about, another wonderful thing hands can do is Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation or CPR. It’s a great way to raise awareness of helping out by learning a simple life saving procedure, using no other tool than both of your hands. Here’s how.
The Hero – Use your picture or that of someone you know, or use your webcam to become the star of this original and funny movie. Staged like an actual news story, the picture you picked will be presented in various instances throughout the movie. This is a great deal of fun, and it was especially hilarious this time around for me, because I used the photo of my personal hero from this favorite cartoon show. See the screen shot below to guess just who it is… If you haven’t figured it out by now, the whole point of this customized film is to stress the importance of a certain social issue. It’s certainly an original way of making a point.
