Eagle's support for sketch files seems really interesting. Is anyone using that and, syncing across designers, for more than just capturing inspiration?

Are there any self-hosted solutions doing similar things to what Brand.ai is accomplishing?

The inability to sync symbols between files is definitly one of the hardest parts about collaborating with sketch.

Hype is fantastic. I don't know why it doesn't get as much attention as some of the others.

Having timeline based capabilities ( especially at the property level like AE) is a life saver for moving fast. You can still write as much javascript as you want and hook it into hype. I feel like it's a great medium between something like After Effects and Framer.js, lets you move back and forth on the spectrum during the prototyping exercise.

other great things about Hype:

• will watch assets and update them if you change it externally

• easy to embed in other html/css/js projects

• scene/page transitions are cake, super helpful for doing mobile flows

• in the end, you can "innerHTML" any object from inside Hype.

Having a subscription to ACM's Digital Library is usually a great resource. You'll be searching papers from all the big conferences at that point: CHI, CSCW, SIGGRAPH, along with plenty of good journals.

Thats usually where I start, and then the normal research paper dance of following up on authors.

this is great! thanks for sharing. Some good treasures in there. The Palette series looks awesome.

Ambient Commons

by Malcolm McCullough

Recently being back in the spring, but I do keep coming back to passages. Definitely on the academic side, but a great read on the 'architectures of attention'. If you have any interest in embodied/situated cognition or how we should be harnessing the context of the environment in design, it is an engaging reflection on the subject. Plus, McCullough, as always, is a great writer.

Thinking Fast and Slow

by Daniel Kahneman

Still the best book of the year. If you haven't read it do so now. All about what really goes into decision making, risk assessment, value biases, etc from the nobel prize winner who did the actual research. Given the subject matter, Incredibly easy to read too.

+1 to Susan Cain's book ( Quiet ). It is excellent. Worth a read for anyone, whether they consider themselves introverted or not. She does a great job not only of presenting the research through stories, but also diving into practical areas where the misaligned ideals are really causing problems, such as education.

Sticking with gel pen, the Uniball Signo line is great too, very similar to the Hi-Tec-C. 0.28 can be scratchy, but 0.38 is great, nice roll on all kinds of paper. http://www.jetpens.com/Uni-ball-Signo-UM-151-Gel-Ink-Pen-0.38-mm-Black/pd/306

As for ballpoint. OHTO makes some nice pens. The needle-point on jetpens writes almost like a velvety pencil. And, the size makes it super easy to carry everywhere. http://www.jetpens.com/Ohto-Needle-Point-Slim-Line-03-Ballpoint-Pen-0.3-mm-Black-Body/pd/6728

Then to round it off, you always need a good fineliner! http://www.jetpens.com/Uni-Pin-Pen-01-Pigment-Ink-0.28-mm-Black-Ink/pd/7281

this is going to evolve into everyone's favorite items on jetpens isn't it?

A few color pickers have been posted already, but I switched to Frank DeLoupe ( http://jumpzero.com/frank/ ) recently, and have not been happier. Simple and straight forward, great "loupe" overlay, nice history and color modes, and can jump right into photoshop or to the clipboard. The color preview in the eyedropper on the menu bar is the perfect little touch too.

Youtube live stream from the 4 amazing talk this morning at World IA Day. Some very relevant and thought provoking ideas for design of anykind. Peter Morvile on the Architecture of Information, Andrew Hintion on Context Design, Daniel Eizans on Designing with Distributed Content, and a lesson from ProQuest on Design Collaborating with Digital Analytics.