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        <title><![CDATA[Stories by Tobias van Schneider on Medium]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[Stories by Tobias van Schneider on Medium]]></description>
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            <title>Stories by Tobias van Schneider on Medium</title>
            <link>https://medium.com/@vanschneider?source=rss-7ee29b787e9------2</link>
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            <title><![CDATA[How to think for yourself]]></title>
            <link>https://vanschneider.medium.com/how-to-think-for-yourself-28dd46fa4615?source=rss-7ee29b787e9------2</link>
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            <category><![CDATA[psychology]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[design]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[social-media]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tobias van Schneider]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Fri, 08 Nov 2024 18:29:54 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2024-11-08T18:29:54.428Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A couple weeks ago we published <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpeuL-8aSDY&amp;ref=vanschneider.com">this video</a> for <a href="https://vanschneider.com/blog/r/c157a62d?m=1a613c8a-91e4-40dd-a3e0-8a42527f0f69">mymind</a>.</p><p>Watch it before you keep reading, it’s only a minute long.</p><figure><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpeuL-8aSDY"><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/0*9o7u2A6BZ8nORVue.png" /></a></figure><p>Alright, now that you have watched the video, here’s my take:</p><p><strong>Today’s professional world is a mess.</strong></p><p>We’ve been driven to such high levels of collaboration, there is almost no escape.</p><p>Cursors are following our every move. Comments, likes and reactions decorate every corner of our work, finished or not.</p><p>Open plan offices invite everyone to come to our desk and chat. A glance at your screen is just a turn of the head away.</p><p>Meeting invites, all-hands and morning stand ups fill our calendars, ensuring we don’t have a single waking minute alone to think or actually… do the work we’re talking about in the meetings.</p><p>Today, “working together” means something much different than it used to. It’s like we no longer trust our own brains to think autonomously. We need the comments, the reactions, the hand-holding, to feel like we’re accomplishing something.</p><p>But what are we actually accomplishing?</p><p>I believe this age of collaboration is lessening the quality of our work, along with our personal sense of creative capability and accomplishment. How can we possibly be doing our best work when we don’t have a minute of solitude in our day to actually think? To actually WORK?</p><p>This is not the creative process. This is not even collaboration. It’s a dance of cursors, a volley of words around the table, that amounts to not much at all.</p><p>Creativity requires time alone. Ask any writer, artist, designer who’s ever lived. They’ll tell you their best creative work happened in solitude. Where they could actually think. Where no voices were interrupting, no eyes were watching, no cursors hovering. Where the fragile embers of an idea could be stoked, get air and grow into a warm, burning fire.</p><p>Think of a theater performance, a true work of collaboration. The play didn’t start with everyone in a room tossing ideas around and critiquing each other’s work. It started with a solo writer with an idea. They wrote their script. They probably wrote a dozen scripts before they shared one with anyone else. A director sat with the script on their own before meeting with the writer to give feedback. The actors read the script, studied and memorized it, on their own as well. Only AFTER all of that did they meet in the same room and bring it all together. Only by the solo efforts of many, at the beginning, did they create their play and put it on a stage for others, together.</p><p>Solitude, solitude is where it should all begin.</p><p>You first have to spend time with yourself, with your own thoughts, to bring anything of value to the table with a team.</p><p>The natural desire to reach consensus inside a group tends to eliminate both bad and great ideas. It’s a filter for both the terribly bad, but also the incredibly good. Consensus likes to settle somewhere in the middle — something we like to call the mediocre. (Literally, the word comes from the Latin “mediocris,” which means “moderate” or “in the middle.”)</p><p>Don’t get me wrong, I do believe collaboration is necessary, to a degree. And it’s of course inevitable for most of us working in an agency or company setting. We do need meetings. We do need collaborative software. These things are necessary for one part of the creative journey. But we’ve put so much priority on them, we’ve left out another, very important part of that journey: YOU.</p><p>In my world, the design and tech community, I see the impact most with our software and tools. It started with helpful and much needed collaborative features, like comments or shared canvases, that allowed us to more easily hand off project phases and files to each other. These were meant to solve organizational problems (remember telling everyone you saved presentation_final_FINAL.pptx to the server with your additions, which would then become presentation_final_FINAL_reallyfinal and so on?).</p><p>Then it evolved to live collaboration features, where we could literally put a live view of our face inside our cursors, allow others to live-follow those cursors, and talk in real time while we worked. Then it turned into twelve cursors flying around a board working on the same project at the same time. Which again, isn’t all bad. I enjoy jumping in there having a jam session with my team now and then when we’ve reached a certain point of a project. But it’s certainly not where I begin.</p><p>When you use a tool that only you have access to, you’re naturally using it differently. A tool that doesn’t allow you to share or collaborate, naturally invites you to be more honest with it. To be more open, more free of judgement and societal norm.</p><blockquote><em>“The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude. Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind. Be alone — that is the secret of invention: be alone, that is when ideas are born.”</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>— Nikola Tesla</em></blockquote><p>The moment we invite people to our canvas, it turns into a performance. You’re now modifying your behavior for someone else. You’re consciously or subconsciously editing yourself, and overly aware of yourself, because you’re considering how others might perceive you. Your free thoughts and ideas are being edited in real time, by you.</p><p>While on the other hand, if you’re doing this alone, you’re be allowed to be weird. You can let your entire multi-dimensional personality flow into it. You can cast your net wide. There is no judgment, nobody to comment on your half-baked idea, nobody to put their emojis on your work.</p><p>And this brings me back to <a href="https://vanschneider.com/blog/r/714bd89d?m=1a613c8a-91e4-40dd-a3e0-8a42527f0f69">mymind</a>.</p><p>I like the idea of it being my sacred place. It’s one place where I don’t have to perform for anyone else. I do not need to curate it because no one ever sees it. And simply because of this, I’m saving more interesting things in there because they don’t need to adhere to my carefully crafted image online (which most of us have).</p><p><a href="https://vanschneider.com/blog/r/755fc623?m=1a613c8a-91e4-40dd-a3e0-8a42527f0f69">mymind</a> is my private oasis of ideas, notes and references. It’s the place where I can be weird, fun and serious at the same time. It’s a place for the many facets of my personality can come out to play, all in one place. As a designer, this is incredibly valuable because it contributes to a more well rounded ME.</p><p>And while this article may be partially about mymind (which inspired me to write this article), consider the contents of it to be universal. It doesn’t matter what tools you use. It doesn’t matter where you work or what systems your company has in place. We all have to carve out a space for our creative selves to run wild, in whatever form that means for us.</p><p>A place we can go back to, just by ourselves. A place where we can start with our creative journey, and when we’re ready, take those ideas to a more collaborative space.</p><p>———</p><p><em>Thank you for reading<br>Tobias</em></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=28dd46fa4615" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[The only deals we’ll do this year for mymind, Semplice & Carbonmade]]></title>
            <link>https://vanschneider.medium.com/the-only-deals-well-do-this-year-for-mymind-semplice-carbonmade-9ae2b06c9ed6?source=rss-7ee29b787e9------2</link>
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            <category><![CDATA[design]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[productivity]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[ux]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tobias van Schneider]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Tue, 28 Nov 2023 17:15:18 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2023-11-28T17:15:18.936Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3>Today, I’d like to focus entirely on the projects I’m working on and the special deals we prepared for only this week as a way to say THANK YOU to our community.</h3><p>We so rarely do discounts for our products that I thought it was worth publishing here, as many readers here often ask me for them.</p><p><strong>But before I get into it:</strong> Discounts and deals are very easy to do for large corporations or companies who are heavily subsidized by investment money. But they’re often hard or simply impossible for smaller and more independent companies who are already undercutting their prices on a daily basis just to keep up. So I want to take the chance here to say THANK YOU to all the small businesses out there who still try to offer discounts and deals to keep up with the big guys.</p><p>And thank you to everyone who supports any of my companies and products. Thank you from myself and the teams who are part of these products. It’s because of you that we can keep building, and that I can keep writing for DESK as well (which has been entirely free for 7+ years now).</p><h3>✦ 30% off the annual plan on <a href="https://mymind.com/?ref=vanschneider.com">mymind.com</a></h3><p>This is the very first time we’re doing this. Never before did we have a deal for mymind, but for the next couple days only, we’re offering 30% off the annual Mastermind plan (for the first year) for anyone who upgrades from the FREE plan to Mastermind.</p><p>For us this is a big deal and we hope it is for you as well. If you signed up to mymind and currently have a free plan, you should see the discount applied at the checkout (<a href="https://vanschneider.com/blog/r/304c0a1f?m=1a613c8a-91e4-40dd-a3e0-8a42527f0f69"><strong>click here</strong></a><strong> to upgrade your plan</strong>, <strong>if you are logged in</strong>)</p><p><em>PS: We’re working on MASSIVE updates to the mymind experience, both on desktop and mobile, which should all release over the next couple weeks. This product has become a big priority of myself and I’m proud to see how far we’ve come over the past 2–3 years.</em></p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*m49DHMQ_YEE2dIgT.jpg" /></figure><h3>✦ Up to 30% off on Semplice.com</h3><p>Semplice has already been around for more than 10 years now and CyberMonday is the ONLY time of the year we offer a deal. Both for existing as well as new members. If you’re a member of Semplice and want to upgrade to the latest and greatest V6, you get 30% off. If you’re a new member, you get 20% on a brand new license.</p><p>And don’t forget, Semplice is a ONE-TIME purchase. There is NO subscription. If you’re planning on building a website or portfolio in the coming year, it’s more than worth the investment.</p><p><a href="https://www.semplice.com/get-semplice?ref=vanschneider.com#upgrade"><strong>→ 30% off for existing members</strong></a></p><p><a href="https://www.semplice.com/get-semplice?ref=vanschneider.com"><strong>→ 20% off for new members</strong></a></p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*K_tKl-V9kZQ-x1dN.jpg" /></figure><h3><a href="https://carbonmade.com/cybermonday?ref=vanschneider.com">✦ 2 months free on Carbonmade PRO</a></h3><p>And lastly, we have Carbonmade. Around since 2005, it’s older than a couple of us and still going strong.</p><p>If Semplice is a bit too involved or complex for you, and you want something quick and easy to build your portfolio with (hosting included), then Carbonmade is the perfect choice. And only this week, we’re offering the first 2 months entirely for free on the PRO plan.</p><p>This means, if you sign up with this link, you can launch your portfolio right away, no credit card required. You can just go LIVE as soon as you want and enjoy the PRO features for 2 months as well.</p><p><a href="https://carbonmade.com/cybermonday?ref=vanschneider.com"><strong>→ Get the deal here</strong></a></p><p>PS: If you’re curious between the difference of Semplice and Carbonmade, <a href="https://vanschneider.com/blog/semplice-vs-carbonmade/">here is a good comparison.</a></p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*SrjsUw-U_iWCJhRp.jpg" /></figure><h3>✦ <a href="https://letsgoto.nyc/?ref=vanschneider.com">100% off my “Let’s go to NYC” ebook</a></h3><p>Yes, not a typo. Entirely free. If you’re interested in moving to New York, I once wrote a little ebook with tips &amp; tricks from my experience. If you use the discount code “<strong>ILOVENYC</strong>” at the checkout, you can download it entirely for free <em>(expires Wednesday this week)</em></p><p>Enjoy! (:</p><p>Thank you for reading and thank you again for being a supporter of my work, it means a lot to me and I hope you enjoy the little deals above.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=9ae2b06c9ed6" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[The difference between creative & uncreative people]]></title>
            <link>https://vanschneider.medium.com/the-difference-between-creative-uncreative-people-1f96d611eca1?source=rss-7ee29b787e9------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/1f96d611eca1</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[ux]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[productivity]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[design]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tobias van Schneider]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Thu, 19 Oct 2023 15:21:39 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2023-10-19T15:21:39.014Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*PepMc-G2lb0TwgMOQfZ1bg.png" /><figcaption>[This article was originally published on <a href="https://vanschneider.com/blog/">DESK</a>] — Sign up <a href="https://vanschneider.com/signup">here</a>.</figcaption></figure><h4>When witnessing something unusual or beautiful or otherwise striking today, our first instinct is to capture it, share it or both.<br>We might post it immediately to our Stories on Instagram.</h4><p>Or take a photo for ourselves, to remember the moment.</p><p>Or get a quick snapshot to send to a friend.</p><p>In doing so, we satisfy something specific and important in us.</p><p>You’ve felt it in those moments: that desire to internalize and extend what you’re experiencing. It’s this moment, sometimes even a fraction of a second, that drives artists to create. They process life this way, by wringing an experience for all its worth. They inspect it, digest it and turn it into something, be it a story, a painting or a song. But the truth is, we don’t need to be an artist or “creative person” to do so. We all have this instinct to give our experiences permanence and tangibility — it’s just that some people follow through on that inclination and others don’t. The ones who do, we call “creative.”</p><p>The rest of us, with our phones in hand, have a faster way of digesting our experiences. We snap a photo, or we post a blurb to social media, or we shoot off a text, and we release the moment. We’ve fulfilled that craving within us by hyper-processing it and sharing it with others. It’s like satisfying a deep hunger with cheap fast food (we literally call that online space our “feed”).</p><p>I wonder how many artists are doing this instead of painting. Or how many writers are taking what could be an essay, and reducing it to a group text. Or how many filmmakers are experiencing a spark that could fuel a movie, and instead putting it on TikTok. I wonder how many people could be artists and don’t know it, because they choose to parse out their lives for a distracted audience who’s barely registering it.</p><p>Susan Sontag wrote, in her essay “On Photography,”</p><p><em>“A way of certifying experience, taking photographs is also a way of refusing it — by limiting experience to a search for the photogenic, by converting experience into an image, a souvenir. Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs.”</em></p><p>Social media, like photography, is an attempt to “certify our experience.” By capturing a moment, we aim to validate it for ourselves and others. But we do so in a fleeting, empty way.</p><p>Meanwhile, we could be writing a poem. Or drawing a picture, choreographing a dance, composing a musical piece. Art is the other way to understand what we experience and share it with others. (And yes, art can certainly include photography, although Sontag disagrees.) Creating something with our experience is our best option for validating it, regardless of whether other people see what we create or not.</p><p>When we satisfy our desire to certify the moment with a Tweet, or a Story, or a text to a friend, or a TikTok video, we sell it short. We reduce the experience to a single, throwaway-able moment, swiped by in a second, and we set the moment free. Even worse, we leave our experience (just born, fragile and fresh) in the hands of others who may not treat it with respect. They might perceive it differently than we do, mock it, minimize it, skew it in our memories, compare it to their own experience, taint it, steal it, rob it of the feelings it initially gave to us in that first, pure moment.</p><p>What if, instead, we went home and journaled about it? Or attempted to capture it with watercolor? Or turned it into a short story? What if we did so only for us — not with any expectation or hope of others appreciating it or validating it externally?</p><p>It is then that we live a creative life.</p><p>By digging deeper into those small interactions, occurrences or passing thoughts, by forgoing the cheap “fast food” of capturing or sharing, we nourish our mind and soul. We may even create something that produces meaning for someone else, eventually. But if nothing else, we fully experienced the moment for ourselves.</p><p>As C.S. Lewis put it:</p><p><em>“We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words — to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.”</em></p><p>By refusing that initial instinct to share and move on, we allow ourselves to pass into the moment. Only then do we actually, fully “capture” it. We receive our experience, we become part of it, we live.</p><p>—————</p><p><strong>Thank you for reading!</strong><br>If you’d like to hear more of me, you can sign up to my personal newsletter (I promise no spam, I am too lazy for this anyway).</p><h4><strong>Join me here: </strong><a href="https://vanschneider.com/vip"><strong>vanschneider.com/vip</strong></a></h4><p>PS: And if you haven’t seen it, I launched a new product. It’s called <a href="https://mymind.com/">mymind.com</a> and I have a feeling you’d love it.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=1f96d611eca1" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[How to make a copywriting portfolio]]></title>
            <link>https://vanschneider.medium.com/how-to-make-a-copywriting-portfolio-b53b93dddb86?source=rss-7ee29b787e9------2</link>
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            <category><![CDATA[copywriting]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[portfolio]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tobias van Schneider]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Mon, 03 Oct 2022 15:13:07 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2022-10-03T15:13:07.734Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3>Talk to any creative person about building their portfolio and they’ll tell you: copy is the hardest part.</h3><p>Which means copywriters have a portfolio superpower.</p><p>That gives you a head start on your website. Copy can make even the ugliest portfolio beautiful, if you’re good at it. You already know how to write well. Now you just have to put your skills to work with your portfolio. Here’s how:</p><h3>1. Start with a strong headline</h3><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/600/0*hG0JSrlRv7V1oAsW" /></figure><p>You do the same when writing copy for a product. In this case, you are the product. Tell us what you offer in one clear, concise statement at the top of your portfolio. Bonus points if it’s also funny.</p><h3>2. Don’t stress over images</h3><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/600/0*eH9bJMbDrF438HJA" /></figure><p>As a copywriter, you may or may not have strong images that represent your work. It’s OK if you don’t.</p><p>Instead of stressing over visuals, lead with big, bold typography. Write compelling headlines and project summaries for your homepage, just like you would for a marketing page. Make us want to click.</p><p>✨ P.S. If you can access good visuals from a project you worked on, use them! As the copywriter, you are just entitled to do so as the designer or photographer would be.</p><h3>3. Give us context</h3><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/600/0*ro4B_vUQoEJnT3wh" /></figure><p>We may not understand your banner ad unless you tell us it’s targeting a niche audience of balding Norwegians. We may be confused by the tone of your email copy until you explain the brand voice is snarky. We won’t know your UX copy increased conversions by 200% unless you tell us.</p><p>You don’t have to pen a novel. Just write a few sentences setting the scene, just like you would with an article.</p><h3>4. Don’t overthink it</h3><p>Your portfolio’s about the work you’ve already done. So don’t try too hard. Focus on setting your existing work up well, giving us the context we need and letting the copy you’ve already written speak for the rest.</p><p><strong>Ready to get started? Thousands of copywriters use </strong><a href="https://carbonmade.com/"><strong>Carbonmade</strong></a><strong> for their portfolio. You can design a beautiful portfolio in minutes using Carbonmade, and you don’t need design skills to do it. Start by dragging our “Fullscreen cover” block onto your page and replacing the headline. Worry about the images later — or even delete them. We’re all here to read your beautiful copy.</strong></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=b53b93dddb86" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Dos and don’ts for creating a motion design portfolio]]></title>
            <link>https://vanschneider.medium.com/dos-and-donts-for-creating-a-motion-design-portfolio-332c5605b451?source=rss-7ee29b787e9------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/332c5605b451</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[design]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[motion-design]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[portfolio]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tobias van Schneider]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Thu, 29 Sep 2022 16:32:23 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2022-09-29T16:32:23.437Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3>For an animator or motion designer, a portfolio is a must.</h3><p>You can’t send a PDF or Dropbox link of videos to a potential employer. They need to see them in action — in an environment where you control the quality, timing and presentation of every piece.</p><p><a href="https://carbonmade.com/">Carbonmade</a> is made for animation &amp; motion work. Here’s how to make a portfolio that moves your audience:</p><h3>❌ DON’T embed videos from external platforms</h3><p>Your portfolio is about you — why have YouTube’s logo all over it? External embeds from somewhere like YouTube or Vimeo look cluttered, clunky and spammy on a website. Plus, they can be taken down from YouTube at any moment for licensing or other reasons, leaving you with an empty site.</p><h3>✅ DO upload high-res videos to your site</h3><p>In Carbonmade, you can drag &amp; drop video files from your computer straight into your portfolio. We support <a href="https://carbonmade.com/pro-video">4k video</a>, meaning your videos will be as fast, crisp and liquid smooth. And with auto-play, looping videos and customizable player controls, it’s going to look 10x better than those clunky video embeds.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/600/0*v0BU2-qlolHlLPlh.gif" /></figure><p>✨ <strong>PRO TIP:</strong> If you want to call attention to specific parts of a scene, cut the video or trailer into auto-playing GIFs. Take us through the story GIF by GIF, pointing out details with short captions.</p><h3>❌ DON’T leave anything to guesswork</h3><p>The video looks great, but where was it used? What was the goal of the campaign? What restrictions were you working within?</p><h3>✅ DO set the scene in short case studies</h3><p>This is your chance to show off: What should we know to fully appreciate the visuals we’re about to see? What special details would we miss if you didn’t point them out?</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/600/0*ckJZpgf4_dU1FRDp" /></figure><p>Set the scene with a short description of the project, your goals, and how you contributed (you can use the Description &amp; Info block in Carbonmade for that). Then, using the Experience &amp; Details block, list the client name, platform, results and any other important context for the project.</p><h3>❌ DON’T settle for a portfolio template</h3><p>Templates limit your possibilities and make it harder for your site to evolve. If you want to update your design or change your layout, you need to start from scratch with a new template. Which means most portfolios fall by the wayside and look dated quickly.</p><p>That’s not the case with Carbonmade.</p><h3>✅ DO use Carbonmade to build a site that evolves with you</h3><p>In <a href="https://carbonmade.com/">Carbonmade</a> you build your site with blocks, meaning it takes minutes to switch up your site anytime you want. No templates locking you in, no daunting redesigns.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/600/0*CR2dbhHqxd5bzZd7.gif" /></figure><p>Not feeling your homepage? Just change your portfolio grid style, or swap out your navigation. Sick of your site colors or typography? Update them in seconds.</p><p><em>All visuals here were created by Aran Quinn. You can </em><a href="https://aranquinn.com/"><em>see his full portfolio here,</em></a><em> made with </em><a href="https://carbonmade.com/"><em>Carbonmade</em></a><em>.</em></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=332c5605b451" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[An ancient, long-forgotten trick for doing good work]]></title>
            <link>https://vanschneider.medium.com/an-ancient-long-forgotten-trick-for-doing-good-work-450216d29405?source=rss-7ee29b787e9------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/450216d29405</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[productivity]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[design]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tobias van Schneider]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Tue, 26 Jul 2022 15:36:10 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2022-07-26T15:37:04.680Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3>In this industry, we live and breathe productivity. We tap our forearms and inject articles about optimization and efficiency into our veins.</h3><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*MJfzocfywhleDubyARybFQ.png" /></figure><p>We are rabid for hacks, tips, shortcuts, templates, tutorials that allow us to accomplish as much as possible, in as little time as possible. We praise the people who consistently ship new work.</p><p>We are conditioned this way. Rewarded for coming in under hours, under budget, ahead of the timeline. We are taught to create workflows and follow standards that allow us to function like Ford factories.</p><p>And all the time, we wonder: Are we doing good work? Can it be better? Are we proud of what we’re creating?</p><p>No matter the industry, we want the job to be done fast. Production increases, profit margin improves, money flows.</p><p>But the secret to truly great work — work that lasts, that is noticed, work that makes a difference — is taking the time it requires.</p><blockquote><em>“Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect.”</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>—Raymond Joseph Teller</em></blockquote><p>I pride myself on the ability to work fast and work well. But when I look back on some of my best work, the projects that changed my career, it wasn’t the work I knocked out under budget. It was the work I spent laborious, painstaking time on.</p><p>Sometimes, the secret to great work is simply time.</p><p>Time you didn’t scope for.</p><p>Time the client may not have budget for.</p><p>Time that doesn’t necessarily make you the most productive, efficient designer in the business, but does make you a better one.</p><p><em>Thank you for reading!<br></em><a href="https://vanschneider.com/"><em>Tobias</em></a></p><h4><strong>→ Join my private email list </strong><a href="https://vanschneider.com/signup"><strong>right here.</strong></a></h4><p>Support independent businesses 🖤</p><p><a href="http://semplice.com/">Semplice.com</a><br><a href="https://mymind.com/">mymind.com</a><br><a href="http://carbonmade.com/">Carbonmade.com</a></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=450216d29405" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Why we built an anti-social tool]]></title>
            <link>https://vanschneider.medium.com/why-we-built-an-anti-social-tool-a891e89149a5?source=rss-7ee29b787e9------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/a891e89149a5</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[design]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tobias van Schneider]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Mon, 11 Jul 2022 15:09:57 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2022-07-11T15:09:57.128Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Opening a social media app is like jumping into the sea in a raging storm. A wave of hot takes and political debates smacks you in the face. Notifications, requests and reminders blindside you from behind. The tide of negativity and sensationalism sweeps you under with a force too strong to resist. With quickly draining energy, you’re pulled to the shadowy depths.</p><p>We built <a href="https://mymind.com/">mymind.com</a> to be an island in the storm.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/870/0*Fk_Z7w7A1mhWyJA2" /></figure><p>It’s the one place on the internet where you can breathe. Nothing is required of you: You don’t have to share anything, engage with anyone, open notifications, respond to messages and comments, manage filters, report spam, mute or block. There’s no need to swim through other people’s overshares, political opinions, monologues or recycled jokes. You don’t have to perform or curate your life for others. You don’t even have to curate for yourself.</p><p>We’re often asked if we plan to release collaborative or social features for mymind. The lack of shared boards, feeds and public profiles is disorienting. They assume we just haven’t finished that feature yet. The reality is, we don’t support social features and we don’t plan to.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/870/0*q1AhgN-mDeDxBc3d" /></figure><p>mymind is a private app for a reason, and it’s a simple one: Our real minds need a break. Technology and social media today have sapped us of our energy and creativity. It’s time to get it back.</p><p>Every decision we make is made to support a more curious, introspective, inspired mind. That requires saying no more often than yes. It requires us to be extremely intentional about every new feature — even if it means growing slower than other apps do. We’re OK with that, because the benefit (even if only for our own minds) is much greater.</p><p>Give your <a href="https://mymind.com/">mymind.com</a> a chance, and we feel confident you’ll agree.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=a891e89149a5" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[A clean, peaceful place to read your articles without distractions.]]></title>
            <link>https://vanschneider.medium.com/a-clean-peaceful-place-to-read-your-articles-without-distractions-e3a82a7eabce?source=rss-7ee29b787e9------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/e3a82a7eabce</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[knowledge]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[reading]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[mindfulness]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tobias van Schneider]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Mon, 27 Jun 2022 15:06:13 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2022-06-27T15:06:13.328Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3>The people who use mymind typically have an intellectual side. They like to think, learn and challenge themselves on their own time. So we knew this brand new feature was not optional: Reader Mode.</h3><p>If you’re not already familiar, <a href="https://mymind.com/">mymind </a>is an AI-powered tool for saving and finding everything you want to remember. A lot of the time, that’s an article.</p><p>Often when you see an article that interests you, you don’t have time to read it in the moment. Usually, you keep the page open in a browser tab to come back to later — until you inevitably exit out and lose it forever. Or you save it a folder graveyard within your browser bookmarks. Or you add the link somewhere in a list app, notes app or message to yourself with an app.</p><p>Now, you keep it in your mind.</p><p>If you’re on <a href="https://mymind.com/pricing">our Mastermind plan</a>, you can now save and read entire articles within your mind — beautifully and minimally designed without distractions.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*bjNmmSqk_qR0S8rL.png" /></figure><h3>With our new Reading Mode:</h3><p><strong>– mymind strips all the ads and other clutter away. </strong>All the blinking ads, competing headlines, links and other chaos are removed. It’s a clean view of the article so you can read in peace, without distractions.</p><p><strong>– The article will be safe in your mind forever.</strong> If the publication decides to remove it later, or if the page is broken or lost, you’ll still have it in your mind.</p><p>– <strong>Everything want to read is within reach. </strong>You no longer have to rack your brain trying to remember which article it was you wanted to read, where it was published, who wrote it or where you saved it. Every article in mymind is automatically tagged with “read later.” Just search that tag, or any keyword you remember from the article, and your mind will find it. It’s better than Googling for it, because mymind is the Google for your own brain. It only shows you results that matter to you, nothing else.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*qr3YggYSvptSTwBj.png" /></figure><p>This may seem like a simple feature, but there’s a lot going on behind the scenes to make it feel that way. The mymind AI not only has to recognize and differentiate articles from other types of content — it has to analyze the article, catalog the keywords so you can find it later, identify and strip away all the surrounding clutter from the original page, and store it inside your mind.</p><p>If you’re a Mastermind member of mymind, just save any article to your mind to try it out. Inside the article card in the lower left corner, you’ll see the Reader Mode icon, which will reveal your complete article in one clean view.</p><p>This is just a starting point. Eventually, you’ll be able to highlight text within an article in your mind, make annotations and more. Slowly but surely, we hope <a href="https://mymind.com/">mymind</a> can be a central place for you to save and find what’s important to you. Your bookmarking tool, moodboard creator, reading tool, notetaking tool, todo list and personal search engine, all in one beautiful mind.</p><h3>Thank you for reading,</h3><p><em>Tobias</em></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=e3a82a7eabce" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[The most advanced portfolio system yet: Semplice 6 is here]]></title>
            <link>https://vanschneider.medium.com/the-most-advanced-portfolio-system-yet-semplice-6-is-here-9d541564152b?source=rss-7ee29b787e9------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/9d541564152b</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[product-design]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[portfolio]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[design]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[case-study]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[ux-design]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tobias van Schneider]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Thu, 09 Jun 2022 14:58:07 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2022-06-09T14:58:07.644Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Ten years ago, my co-founder and I started working on a new product called <a href="https://www.semplice.com/">Semplice</a>.</p><p>A website builder by designers, for designers, based on WordPress. And today, I’m excited to announce that we’ve launched the 6th version of it!</p><p><a href="https://www.semplice.com/v6">Semplice V6 is finally live</a>. And not just that, we also re-launched our <a href="https://www.semplice.com/">brand new website.</a></p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*LkKBd_Ya8KmzzXEb.png" /></figure><p>It really is crazy to think that we’ve been working on this product for this long. And still to this day we’ve been self-funded, bootstrapped and entirely independent, which is something I’m quite proud of because you can’t see this very often in these days (most tech companies are VC funded).</p><p>Semplice has always been a bit different because we’re not like any other SaaS company selling subscriptions. Instead we’re operating like a software company in the old days. You buy Semplice as it is, the current version. Then you can use it until pretty much forever on your own hosting. Every two or so years, we launch a brand new version with major features, which you can then acquire as an upgrade. But of course you don’t have to. We like the flexibility it gives our members and it seems like many appreciate it as well.</p><p>This also gives us an incentive to keep making the product better, instead of just charging people monthly for a service (which is theoretically a better business model, of course — that’s why pretty much everyone else is doing subscription-based apps or services).</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*y-r5fVwC7dFGEs_i.png" /></figure><p>Our brand new website at <a href="http://semplice.com/">Semplice.com</a></p><p>After a decade of building it, I can confidently say that Semplice has become incredibly strong and well-rounded. I love using it every day, not just for my own website or portfolio, but also to build other websites with it such as <a href="https://memomi.com/">memomi.com</a>, <a href="https://mymind.com/">mymind.com</a>, and countless others. Many more examples can be found in our <a href="https://www.semplice.com/showcase">Showcase</a>.</p><p>If you’re using Semplice, thank you for your support. And if you’re considering using Semplice, I hope being around for 10 years shows you can put your trust in us. Perhaps Semplice <a href="https://www.semplice.com/v6">V6</a> is your time to join our little family.</p><p>If you’ve previously purchased Semplice, we’re offering a special family discount. You can upgrade from a previous version to the new one right <a href="https://new.semplice.com/get-semplice#upgrade">→ here</a>.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*GXFSDZDeXzHljhHk.png" /></figure><p>If you’re brand new to Semplice, just browse <a href="https://semplice.com/">Semplice.com</a> and see if it’s right for you. If you have questions, you can either ask me or shoot a quick email to <a href="/service/mailto:help@semplice.com">help@semplice.com</a></p><p>And if you’re not in the market for a new website builder tool right now, you may enjoy some of the additional resources we’re offering at our <a href="https://www.semplice.com/supply">Semplice Supply</a> shop.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=9d541564152b" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Is the folder dead?]]></title>
            <link>https://vanschneider.medium.com/is-the-folder-dead-f83b764fd5a0?source=rss-7ee29b787e9------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/f83b764fd5a0</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[productivity]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[product-design]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[inspiration]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tobias van Schneider]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Mon, 06 Jun 2022 15:32:02 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2022-06-06T15:32:02.372Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Think about a real folder made of paper.</p><p><strong>Back in the day…</strong></p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*Ut8ljnGt_qrAqwdr.png" /></figure><p>We invented paper folders because we had limited space in the physical world to organize ourselves. We needed a way to group and sort our letters, documents and papers. If we had stacked up our files anywhere on the floor, we would have run out of room and never found anything we needed. Folders in drawers helped us store and find important information.</p><h3>Then we invented computers.</h3><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*UzOjeW1yNP6j1ZAu.png" /></figure><p>When computers were new, the visual concept of a folder helped us connect an intangible new world to our physical one. In reality, computers were not limited by physical space. They didn’t need a filing system to find what we needed. The metaphor of the folder just helped us make sense of this new digital world.</p><p>Today, computers are no longer new to us. We are just as invested in our digital world as we are in our physical world. In fact, the new generation may not even know what a paper folder is — the same way many don’t know what a floppy disc icon represents today. And in a way, you don’t even need to know that something like “saving” exists if things are automatically saved, or the concept of saving doesn’t even exist anymore.</p><h3>So why do we still use folders on our computers?</h3><p>We don’t need folders to understand our computers anymore. And our computers certainly don’t need folders to find what we need.</p><p>But we continue to follow this system because that’s the way it’s been for years. The metaphor we once used to make sense of things is now an artifact we accept because it’s always been there. It’s a primitive and self-imposed limitation we never stopped to question.</p><p><strong>But let’s continue using the metaphor, for a moment:</strong></p><p>Imagine just one big folder, with everything inside, that you can command at your will.</p><p>“Hey folder, show me shoes.” And shoes appear.</p><p>“Now show me only blue shoes.” Ok, here are only blue shoes.</p><p>Seems simple enough, right?</p><h3>You already think this way when you make a Google search.</h3><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*20HhJ8fnZcKqUFIR.png" /></figure><p>If you want to see cars, you’re not going to a folder called Cars in Google and searching for a website inside it. You’re simply typing the word “car,” and Google shows you every car that’s ever been catalogued on earth — including a few specific cars it thinks you might like. It’s just one huge database with everything dumped inside, surfacing what you need on command.</p><h3>Imagine your own personal Google — a database of everything you love.</h3><p>This is the purpose of <a href="https://mymind.com/">mymind</a>. A personal search engine for everything you care about, enhanced with artificial intelligence.</p><p>Search “sweaters” and you’ll see only the sweaters that fit your style, because you saved them there over time.</p><p>Search “sweaters,” press enter and add “brown,” and you’ll see only brown sweaters you love.</p><p>Search images from last month, then narrow that down to only images with wooden interiors. Or flowers. Or landscapes.</p><p>See what you’re doing?</p><p>You’re organizing without folders. You do it as you go along. You’re finding exactly what you need, with no filing system or categories. You’re filtering, but without the toggles, layers, tags and complicated UI. You’re curating, without manually organizing boards and groups. You’re making mood boards on the fly.</p><p>Even better, it’s more current and refined than anything you would organize manually — and more personalized than anything Google could show you.</p><blockquote><em>“When you’re not upholding the illusion of productivity, you can actually be productive.”</em></blockquote><p>Folders and drawers forced us to think in categories. To “save” something, we first had to think about which drawer or folder it belonged in. But our digital world is more fast-paced and flexible than ever. The way we consume and save information has become faster, more chaotic and more transient. Not everything fits into just one folder or drawer. Some things are more fluid. Sometimes there is no right folder for it, sometimes there are multiple correct folders, and sometimes you don’t need one at all. Self-imposed organization, just for the sake of it, limits our ability to stay in the flow.</p><h3>The folder is dead.</h3><p>How we work and think digitally is already changing. We are slowly realizing how outdated our old systems are, and how much time they waste. Technology has made organizing, filtering, tagging, grouping and categorizing obsolete. We cling to these old methods out of comfort and familiarity. They create a sense of productivity when all we’re really doing is moving data around to no end.</p><p>Of course I still believe folders make sense in some scenarios, perhaps when there is a shared structure for multiple collaborators, but even there I could think of many alternatives today that would work better with more potential than the traditional folder.</p><h3>What could you spend that time and energy on instead?</h3><p><a href="https://mymind.com/">mymind</a> is for those who no longer want to work for their tools. They know stopping to think about where to put something, or where to find it, wastes precious time they could use elsewhere. They would rather create, explore, think, write, read, dance and move forward.</p><p>When you’re not upholding the illusion of productivity, you can actually be productive.</p><p>What will you do with your new freedom and peace of mind?</p><h3><em>Thank you for reading,</em></h3><p><em>Tobias</em></p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=f83b764fd5a0" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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