🔗 🧠 Links for Thinks #9: Joyful Websites

Happy holidays folks! This holiday season had me thinking about where we find joy in our lives—those unexpected moments that shake us out of our daily routines and remind us to pause, smile, and maybe say "wow."

For this edition, there won't be any actionable takeaways. Instead of diving deep into the psychology of joy, I just want to share a handful of websites that made me think "holy cow that was fun."

In hopes that you'll find a piece of joy, and maybe a spark of creative inspiration.

— Jake

TODAY'S EDITION

1. Unseen Studio® – Brand, Digital & Motion

2. ZOMBO

3. The Useless Web

4. pictureofhotdog.com

5. Art Basel Banana(s)

THE NEXT FRONTIER

We know what interaction patterns work, we've got our component libraries, and we can A/B test our way into a performance-obsessed frenzy.

But what if we took all that knowledge and, just sometimes, chose chaos? What if instead of asking "will this convert?" we asked "will this make someone smile? Will this make someone say 'wow'?"

Because between all our best practices and proven patterns, there's still that innate human desire to experience something unexpected and delightful.

YOU CAN DO ANYTHING AT ZOMBOCOM

Need I say more? Anything is possible. Who needs AI when you have Zombo.

EMBRACE THE CHAOS

Why waste time finding weird websites when this magical button will do it for you? It's like StumbleUpon for people who miss the strange corners of the old internet.

NICHEDOG

They say there's riches in niches—but what if your niche was just... a picture of a hotdog? Sometimes the best ideas are the ones that make absolutely no sense on paper.

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU BANANAS, PROFIT

A little shameless self-promotion to prove a point—the best creative projects often come from that weird intersection of "this is dumb" and "but what if..." Sometimes you just need to tape a banana to a wall and see what happens.

So go forth and create joy.

THANKS FOR READING—SEE YOU NEXT WEEK

In the meantime, feel free to:

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