This is a longish issue with lots of eclectic goodness - the kind you’ve come to expect of the DUp Newsletters. Plus we have reads and reflections from the good folks who’ve been part of DesignUp family for a long time.

You can also relieve the excitement and energy of DesignUp 2022 ellcatch more wrap-ups, ethereal and thought provoking websites, toolkits and more. Plus Soo’s special collection of eye-candy, with a conscience.

If the layoffs, the bells of “tech-winter” and an impending recession has been on your mind - there’s something for you too. Jay has just launched a brand new newsletter - an invitation to calm, an invitation to explore and reflect on our intertwined careers and life in the midst of large scale changes. Each letter has nudges for you to reflect, challenge or question. Oh, and it’s a letter, not a newsletter, he claims.

Reads and reflections from Team DesignUp

How are default choices designed in Indian apps? — newsletter.theindianotes.com

DesignUp veteran Dharmesh Ba does a deep dive on popular app defaults using the parameters of friction and visibility.

There’s only one Malika but who is Malika? — mostlikelytemporary.com

Kay Khoo, who generously helped us co-curate parts of DesignUpForACause, writes about the danger of blindly following trends without knowing where they came from.

"Wake me up when it's 2024" — fullempty.substack.com

As we go into a brand new year, into 2023, Jay finds "the sense of optimism wavering, flickering. In the midst of all these large scale changes which seem so hopelessly beyond our control, how do we make sense of our careers, of work and life? And a path forward?" This new newsletter is a weekly letter is an invitation to explore, reflect.

Reloads, WrapUps and more...

If you were part of the high energy DesignUp 2022 - it's time to relive that! If you were not, catch a glimpse of what made the reload that extra special

How Spotify’s Wrapped campaign for 2022 came together — www.itsnicethat.com

"It’s one of the most widely shared marketing campaigns globally. Here, we speak to the design team behind the visual identity to understand what it takes to grab the world’s attention."

Fade to gray — Why is color disappearing from the world? — wepresent.wetransfer.com

In our age of minimalism and monochrome, a neutral palette seems to have infiltrated all corners of design, from interiors and fashion to packaging. But why?

🧰 Your toolkit

Classic HCI demos

A side project by Jack Rusher, here's a curated collection of HCI demo videos from SIGCHI produced during the golden age from 1983-2002. Flatland: New Dimensions in Office Whiteboards is worth a view!

Daniel Dennett's Most Useful Critical Thinking Tools

Daniel Dennett has been at the forefront of cognitive science and evolutionary science for over 50 years. Here's a bag of mental tricks from his book Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Critical Thinking, to improve your ability to engage critically and rationally with the world.

Eye Candy

"What are the most beautiful (ethereal, thought-provoking) websites you’ve seen?" asks Laura Deming on Twitter — twitter.com

Scroll through this thread to discover some awesome visual gems recommended by the Twitterati. What would be your addition?

2022 Global Photo Contest Winners — www.nature.org

View the winners of The Nature Conservancy’s 2022 Global Photo Contest

The New World: Envisioning Life After Climate Change — www.nytimes.com

Scientists increasingly agree on how much warming the planet will experience. This is what it might look like.

🌿 Stay curious, stay inspired

@soosixty & @jdallcaps