That time of the year
I've prepared some gifts for you that will help you learn and grow in 2023
It is that time of the year. For some it is a religious celebration for others it is a change from the old to the new year.
In any case December is a special time. It is a time people get together, exchange gifts, talk about the past year and set goals for the year to come.
I too would like to give you all something to help you learn and grow in 2023!
I’d like to give you free access to subscription services: Scribd, Skillshare and Readwise!
Please read on to see how these can benefit you and how you can redeem the offer.
Scribd: 60 days of reading
Scribd is a subscription service for ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, and podcasts. Kind of like Amazon Kindle and Audible combined. They have millions of titles both fiction and non-fiction.
Most importantly they have design books that you’d have to pay a hefty amount for otherwise.
With this link you can use the service for free for 60 days.
How I’d use these 60 days:
I’d read as many Rosenfeld Media books as I could.
Rosenfeld books are very expensive to buy (most are around $40 for an ebook!), and are not widely available outside of Rosenfeld Media universe.
There are many good title written by well-known industry veterans, so here are some recommendations (in no particular order):
The User Experience Team of One: A Research and Design Survival Guide by Leah Buley
Web Form Design by Luke Wroblewski
Build Better Products by Laura Klein
Mental Models and Practical Empathy both by Indi Young
Surveys That Work by Caroline Jarrett and Steve Krug
Validating Product Ideas by Tomer Sharon
And there are many more design book you can explore.
Skillshare: 1 month of great courses
Skillshare is one of many online video course platforms. But there are couple things that makes Skillshare different.
For one, the classes they offer tend to be short: just around 1 hour. That means you can watch the whole thing in one sitting.
Also they produce so called Original series: these are professionally produced classes with industry leaders on a variety of topics including UI/UX design.
Skillshare requires a subscription to view the courses. They do have a 7 day trial, but I am giving you 1 month for free.
How I’d use this 1 month:
Watch Original and Staff Picks courses on UI/UX design
I’d also explore classes on Graphic Design and Productivity.
Here are some classes I’d recommend you look into
Figma UI UX Design Essentials with Daniel Scott
UX Design Process and Theory with Lindsay Marsh
Atomic Design with Brad Frost
Mastering Productivity with Thomas Frank
And of course there are hundreds of other classes to explore.
Readwise: 1 month to learn better
How many times have you read a book or an article to find that you don’t remember much of what you read just several days after? It happened to me all the time before I discovered Readwise.
Readwise is an app for saving highlights and notes from books, and articles you read. With Readwise you can:
Save highlights from any Web page (via browser extension)
Save highlights from physical books. Just take a pic of the page and select text to save! Works like a charm!
You can also:
Save Twitter threads
Organize highlights with tags
Review highlights on regular basis
Auto-sync with Kindle, iBooks, Medium, Pocket
I am giving you a free month to try Readwise Premium.
How I’d use this month:
I’d use it to develop a habit of saving passages that you find valuable and reviewing them periodically
I’d use the app or the web app to browse saved highlights to review what I’ve learned. You can add notes to highlights, and organize them with tags.
Also you can set up Readwise to send you daily, every-other-day or weekly emails with select highlights.
Ever since I started using Readwise regularly I became much more attentive to what I read. I also became much more intentional when saving highlights and reviewing them, which in turn leads me to remember and consider more of what I read.
Best past is you get to use core features of the app even when trial is over.
Hope you enjoy these gifts. And most of all, hope you have wonderful holidays and a happy new year!