As a parent, I’ve noticed two things as my daughter gets older:

1. I’m in need of an endless stream of projects, games, and other amusements, and
2. I’ve forgotten most of the projects, games, and other amusements that amused me when I was a kid

For example, embarassingly enough, I recently attempted to fold a simple paper airplane (to demonstrate basic aerodynamics to my three year-old) and found that it took me several tries to get it right!

Thank goodness for Jim Cornish’s site, which links to all manner of paper airplane designs with idiot proof directions for folding and flying them.

Hat tip to Veronique and best of luck with the new site!

Almost all of us have thought about writing a book in our life time. In fact, according to the Blurberati Blog, “81% of the population feels they have a book in them.” The Blurberati Blog is part of the new site Blurb.com, mentioned in a NY Times article called “Basics; Technology Rewrites the Book” about new and easy to use self publishing software and websites. Even though I’m a writer, I, unfortunately, do not have book in me (a screenplay, perhaps, but not a book). But, if I did and Random House passed on my brilliance, I would most definitely turn to Blurb.com. Full Article »

As a mother-to-be (23 weeks and counting), I’ve recently wondered what it was like for my mother to be a new mother. Was she freaked out when she gave birth to twins (my younger brother and sister) when she was expecting just one? Of course I could just call her and ask her these things, but wouldn’t it be nice if I could record the conversation, maybe save it for my child? Learning about Storycorps.com, “a national project to instruct and inspire people to record each others’ stories in sound” has inspired me to do just that. Full Article »

One of our clients recently asked us to help them choose a font for their new visual design. We certainly have our opinions about this issue, but we thought it was important to refresh our understanding of the current research into the potential impact of font choices. So we did a little research into the matter and came back with some articles that offered surprising revelations of font legibility, readability, and users’ perception of them. Here’s a summary (with many thanks to David Chang, the newest member of the Catalyst team): Full Article »

I’m a big fan of Seth Godin’s blog — as is half the blogging universe. Although he tends to sound the same themes repeatedly, he always finds new ways to express his core beliefs in a manner that’s engaging, amusing, inspiring… I usually hold off on linking to Seth from CoFactors on the assumption that many of our readers are already quite familiar and regular readers of his as well.

But this time, I can’t resist. Full Article »