
Building a Traffic Heatmap with Google Analytics and R


One of the most repeated tasks in the build-out process is saving out an individual asset in the comp as a .png or .jpg. If you ever find yourself repeating the same sequence of actions over and over again in Photoshop, STAHP, and open up that dusty actions pallet.

Before we get into actions, lets compare two ways to do this manually...
What I find lovely, both times I've been to SXSW Interactive, about a conference so large and diverse is seeing the connections between wildly different sessions. This year one of the overwhelming themes was process. What I first heard in a panel about web typography was repeated in a panel that covered the early days of NASA. The same point made in a responsive design panel was echoed in a discussion about wearable devices. And so on...
On a recent project, the blockquote style that the designer put together seemed to be using a different typeface for the hanging quote mark, than for the text. The text below is set in Lato and you can clearly see the difference in the comp version on the left and the Lato quote mark on the right.

"You don't get stronger on your training days. You get stronger on your rest days."
I feel this adage holds true in many disciplines, especially the two that I'm most passionate about: designing and rock climbing. But make no mistake, resting can be the hardest thing to do. When you're passionate, driven, and experiencing adrenaline and success, stepping away seems like a setback. Add a looming deadline or an upcoming competition, factor in major stress, and rest can seem irresponsible. As creative professionals, we tend to engulf ourselves in our work, but we hamstring ourselves in debatably the most crucial part of the design process, stepping back and re-evaluating.