🔗 🧠 #18.5 Cool Stuff for Inspiration

Last time I sent out “cool stuff for inspiration” it seemed to go over pretty well with folks. Sometimes the best way to learn is by looking at cool stuff until something clicks — so let’s dig into some inspiring links.

— Jake

YOU HAVE FREE WILL

Remember: You can really do whatever you want when it comes to building stuff. If you have an idea for something that’s unconventional and maybe doesn’t follow any standard patterns — there’s nothing from stopping you from bringing it to life anyways. This is a great piece of storytelling to remind us of that. And to remind us that maybe we need more of that kind of thinking in the world.

DESIGN SYSTEMS FOR EVERYONE

We know em’ we love em’, this is a neat little website that sums up zeroheight’s 2025 design systems report. Lots of cool visual and data viz inspo for your eyes. I’m sure I’ll do a deeper dive into the report itself in the near future, but for now have a look for yourself — if you’re into reading stuff.

GET MOVING

I’m a sucker for some good motion graphics. With modern tooling (Jitter and Spline to name a couple) — there’s a whole lot you can do in browsers to enhance experiences. This website is a great collection of how motion is being used to bring brands to life.

GAMES FOR LEARNING

How great would it have been if school was just about playing a bunch of games to learn? Probably would turn out awful, now that I’ve said it out loud. But there’s no reason we can’t have some fun while we’re learning specific concepts on the side. This is a fun example of how learning and gamification can work well together.

LET’S HAVE FUN

Remember when I said that you can do whatever you want when it comes to building stuff? I mean it. So does Scroll buddy.

THANKS FOR READING—SEE YOU NEXT WEEK

In the meantime:

1. Forward this email or share this link with your friends if you feel they need some links for thinks: https://www.linksforthinks.com/subscribe

2. Reach out with any suggestions or questions for the newsletter.

3. Send me some of your favorite links and takeaways.

Cheers, Jake