Super8: Eight intriguing articles from May.

Well, we’re almost at the halfway mark for 2021 and if there is anything we’ve learnt from this time last year, it’s to continually reflect on the past and then grow from it.

This month, Leonardo Cantarelli has compiled eight articles filled with intrigue, inspiration and a variety of questions. You’ll ask: ‘how do we learn?’, ‘What is the role of design?’, ‘How often do you take slack time?’ and then, you’ll endeavour to seek the answers. Filled with tips, tricks, and learning of all kinds—this is Super8 in May.

1. Identify —and hire —lifelong learners.

• Read the full article here.
• Article by: Marc Zao-Sanders.
• Contributed by: Rachel Antoniadou.

No matter how old we are, we’re continually developing our learning skills throughout our lives, which is paramount in today’s world—especially in the workplace.

This article by Marc Zao-Sanders highlights that lifelong learning is considered to be a sustainable competitive advantage in the hiring game.

So, whether you’re the hirer or the to-be-hired, it’s imperative to continuously develop positive learning habits and constantly ask yourself: how do you learn?

2.Design is more than problem solving.

• Read the full article here.
• Article by: Dennis Hambeukers.
• Contributed by: Sam Donovan. 

What exactly is the role of design, and can it be simply reduced to one definition?

As a Designer, I know that design is more than just creating pretty things. It has the power to inspire, inform and, in essence, identify and solve problems.

For the past 20 years, design thinking techniques are consistently growing in popularity and adoption, as students and professionals use them to unveil the right questions and explore possible answers.

So, perhaps a when asking ‘what is the role of design?’ there is more than one answer. It’s a combination of questioning, problem solving, and finding solutions, so that we can continue to create an even more beautiful world.

3. How AI vendors can navigate the health care industry.

• Read the full article here.
• Article by:  Trishan Panch and Nikhil Bhojwani.  
• Contributed by: Bridget Noonan.

Artificial intelligence is considered by many to be the new frontier in human development. After all, it has the ability to expand our capabilities exponentially.

AI is not perfect. Especially when it comes to health care, where diseases are caused by interacting genetic, social, and behavioural factors, creating a challenging complexity that AI is faced with.

From access to significant data samples, ethics concerns, and the impact on changing established clinical workflows, this piece covers six challenges AI vendors have to overcome to turn their solutions into profitable businesses.

4. Damian Hall’s mental tips for ultramarathons.

• Read the full article here.
• Article by: Damian Hall
• Contributed by: Sarah El-Atm.

Ultramarathons are hard, I mean, really hard. To overcome the challenges faced during the race and cross the finish line, you need more than just a healthy body; you need a healthy mind.

In this article, ultra-marathoner Damian Hall shares his top mental tips that helped him complete more than 40 ultramarathon races.

So, lace up your running shoes and hit the track. Whether that be the running track, or the any kind of track in life, Hall’s tips can be applied to them all.

5. The memory models.

• Read the full article here.
• Article by: Stefania Simon
• Contributed by: Leonardo Cantarelli.

As studies in neuroscience continue to advance, we can start to better understand how it is our brains work, and more specifically, our memories.

Have you ever wondered why we remember some events better than others? Or pondered as to why you can’t recall what a friend said at dinner a few weeks ago?

The answer might just lie in your emotional state at the time or how repetitive things in your life are.

This article dives into the different types of memory models we have, how we should focus more on our feelings, and why our everyday interactions matter in the long run.

6. Tooltip guidelines.

• Read the full article here.
• Article by: Alita Joyce. 
• Contributed by: Thomas Graham.  

Tooltips are additional pieces of information nestled within graphical user interfaces. They come in the form of elements such as buttons, links, and icons, and they can tend to be poorly implemented on websites and applications.

When planning the information architecture of pages and screens, all the essential information for a user to complete a task should be visible, leaving only relevant (but not critical) information for the tooltip.

Although tooltips aren’t new to the web, it is not unusual to spot their misuse. They can often contribute to information pollution and increase of cognitive load for people.

This article helps to cover the basic uses of this fundamental element.

7. Efficiency is the enemy.

• Read the full article here.
• Article by: Shane Parrish. 
• Contributed by: Rowan Barnes.

How often do you take some of your precious time and just slack?  And by that, we mean do nothing for a couple of minutes, even hours?

If the answer is never, you might be too busy to realise the benefits of having some slack time in your routine.

You’re efficient when you do something with minimum waste. And you’re effective when you’re doing the right something.

A busy schedule, where every minute of the day is planned and filled with a task, leaves no room for creative thinking.

This kind of noise can drastically reduce the opportunities to improve how you, and your team, do the work—and do it well.

8. Email accessibility guide: best practices for marketers.

• Read the full article here.
• Article by: Elise Georgeson. 
• Contributed by: Timocles Copland.

Accessible websites and applications are more common nowadays, and that is a huge benefit for a large group of people with a need for assistive technology.

But what about the emails they receive?

There is often a missed opportunity to create accessible emails. Information can be hidden, images fail to have accompanying alt-text descriptions, and over-all, using a screen reader becomes a near impossible feat.

In this article, Elise Georgeson covers a comprehensive list of best practices to follow when creating accessible emails.