Looking for book recommendations for 2020 that will inspire your creative life as a designer? In this episode of Unpacking Design, Mike shares five books that he has found to be inspirational at the end of 2019 for his life as a designer. He shares a brief overview of each book and the reasons why he recommends them to creative professionals.

How can pursuing personal speculative design projects and competitions be invigorating for designers’ passions? How can taking a masterclass motivate a designer to pursue their dreams? From self-improvement through design competitions and taking Masterclasses to traveling and planning to write a book in 2020, Mike and Tim share the latest in their lives as designers in this episode of Design Life.

What is the customer experience of purchasing a fully tailored outfit from a growing online retail brand like? How does it compare with existing tailored clothing companies out there today in terms of experience, quality, and price? In this episode, Tim shares his experience purchasing a tailored suit from Indochino.

If you had all the money in the world, what problems would you work to solve? From curing polio in Africa to attempting to eliminate deaths in 3rd world countries related to diarrhea due to waterborne illnesses from lack of bathroom facilities, the Gates Foundation has been focused on solving some of the biggest issues around the world. Learn more about the Netflix documentary, Inside Bill’s Brain in this episode of Unpacking Design.

Ever wonder how planning an upcoming year and coming up with goals looks like for a designer? From reflecting and learning through the experiences from the previous year to reviewing their person visions for 2020, Mike and Tim talk about their design goals for the upcoming year in this episode of Design Life.

After a fantastic year of sharing ideas through the Unpacking Design Podcast, Mike and Tim take a moment to reflect on the things that they feel went well for the podcast and their focus for the upcoming year. From different kinds of topics to a new perspective for the podcast, Mike and Tim talk about some exciting ideas that they want to focus on for the podcast in 2020.

Have you ever had trouble getting yourself to start a project that you really wanted to pursue? Or spending a lot of time on a project, but never finishing it? These are issues that many designers face for many reasons including lack of planning, time management, fear, doubts, and others. Learn more about Charlie Gilkey’s book, Start Finishing, and how it can help you develop a process for starting and completing projects in this episode of Unpacking Design!

From weekly travels to NYC and working on an architecture competition to playing video games and binge listening to podcasts, Mike and Tim share the latest in their lives as designers in this episode of Unpacking Design Life. They talk about the different times of the year where they feel extremely productive followed by times when they just need to take a break. Catch up with Mike and Tim’s lives as designers in this episode of Unpacking Design Life!

How does the user interface and experience of apps and their relationships to other devices influence the amount of time people spend on them? Do accurate algorithms based on personal preferences and recommended content from crowd sourced information make us more attentive? Learn more about how user interface and experience in relation to digital media companies influence the way that we engage and pay attention to their content in this episode of Unpacking Design!

Every design industry has different software and tools that vary significantly in price. There’s always a specific company that everyone knows provides the highest quality tools that comes at a price and vice versa. When is it time for a designer to invest in high quality and high priced tools for their personal projects? Learn more about how to determine if a quality tool is worth the price in this episode!