{"id":36790,"date":"2020-08-07T10:00:33","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T17:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=36790"},"modified":"2020-08-06T13:59:45","modified_gmt":"2020-08-06T20:59:45","slug":"jennifer-robbins-designer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/jennifer-robbins-designer\/","title":{"rendered":"Jennifer Robbins, Designer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Our guest this week is Jennifer Robbins. Jennifer is a designer who is best known for her work in web design. She has written thirteen books, including <a href=\"https:\/\/learningwebdesign.com\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Learning Web Design<\/a>, 5e (O\u2019Reilly) and she co-founded the <a href=\"https:\/\/artifactconf.com\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ARTIFACT Conference<\/a>. Currently, she\u2019s excited about the relaunch of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/cookingwithrockstars.com\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cooking with Rockstars<\/a>,\u201d her pre-YouTube video podcast in which she interviews indie rockers about food. You can find her on Twitter <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jenville\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@jenville<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/871488490%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-2N9AEmoxfnI&#038;color=%23ff5500&#038;auto_play=false&#038;hide_related=false&#038;show_comments=true&#038;show_user=true&#038;show_reposts=false&#038;show_teaser=true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/cool-tools\" title=\"Cool Tools\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\">Cool Tools<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/cool-tools\/238-jennifer-robbins\/s-2N9AEmoxfnI\" title=\"238: Jennifer Robbins\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\">238: Jennifer Robbins<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/cool-tools-show-and-tell\/id605920446?mt=2\">Subscribe to the Cool Tools Show on iTunes<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/feedpress.me\/cooltoolsshow\">RSS<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1aqJE8QIO16snyRnzfyQpNQJYJ3Fwc--q\/view?usp=sharing\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Transcript<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/tag\/cool-tools-show\/\">See all the Cool Tools Show posts on a single page<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Show notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2020\/08\/5yeardiary.jpg\" alt=\"5yeardiary\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-36792\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2020\/08\/5yeardiary.jpg 375w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2020\/08\/5yeardiary-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px\" \/><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/0977648133\/cooltoolsshow-20\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">5 Year Diary by Tamara Shopsin<\/a> ($25)<br \/>\nThe first pick that I have is a little 5-year diary, designed by Tamara Shopsin. I just write down what happened at each day, who I talked to, and I usually end up recording what food I cooked because I&#8217;m big into cooking. I have a log for almost every year of my life. But this is the first time I&#8217;ve really gotten into a five-year journal and I love it. I love this one in particular because it&#8217;s just very simply designed, it&#8217;s very classic. It&#8217;s small, and there&#8217;s just enough room to write a couple of sentences. It&#8217;s very easy to maintain every single day because there&#8217;s no big commitment. And I&#8217;m four years into this book now, so it&#8217;s really starting to pay off because when I write down what happened, then I can look back and see what happened on that day, three years back. And for me that&#8217;s really fun. I think it plays to my natural bent toward nostalgia.  I particularly like the clean and functional design of this journal. So many journals are over-designed.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2020\/08\/fiskarsrotary.jpg\" alt=\"fiskarsrotary\" width=\"500\" height=\"197\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-36793\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2020\/08\/fiskarsrotary.jpg 500w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2020\/08\/fiskarsrotary-300x118.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B00GHGT72S\/cooltoolsshow-20\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fiskars Titanium Rotary Cutter<\/a> ($20)<br \/>\nI have really gotten into sewing lately. I&#8217;ve always sewn, but just straight-edged things like curtains or a comforter cover. But in the last year I&#8217;ve really gotten into sewing clothing and much more adventurous items. And it&#8217;s cool to be in my mid 50s, learning a whole new world of skills and tools and trying more and more challenging patterns. And then I discovered the Fiskars rotary cutter and you use it along with a straight edge and it&#8217;s a game changer. It completely just changed the way I work. I&#8217;m a fairly precise person, so just the ability to cut patterns really precisely and cut things exactly to precise inches, which is really more of a challenge to do with sheers where you&#8217;re lifting the fabric and it shifts around more. With this you&#8217;re pressing it down with a straight edge and just running that nice titanium blade along the edge of the straight edge and you get just perfect results. There are a number of other sewing tools I\u2019ve recently discovered and delight in, such as a dedicated <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B07CV7LD6F\/cooltoolsshow-20\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">invisible-zipper foot<\/a>, a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B072N2ZPGC\/cooltoolsshow-20\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">thread snip<\/a>, a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B000YZ8N46\/cooltoolsshow-20\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">seam gauge<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B000W5GFIO\/cooltoolsshow-20\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">pattern weights<\/a>, but the rotary cutters have had the biggest impact on my process.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2020\/08\/schaedlerrules.jpg\" alt=\"schaedlerrules\" width=\"500\" height=\"206\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-36794\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2020\/08\/schaedlerrules.jpg 500w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2020\/08\/schaedlerrules-300x124.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B005FSGUAG\/cooltoolsshow-20\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Schaedler Precision Rules<\/a> ($30)<br \/>\nI have had mine for 30 years. And if a ruler could be sexy, this one&#8217;s pretty sexy to me. It&#8217;s just what it sounds like. It&#8217;s a super precise ruler, and it&#8217;s printed on a very thin translucent plastic. I have a set of two of them, and the one I&#8217;m looking at now has inches along one edge down to one 64th of an inch. And it has metric down to half millimeters. And then there&#8217;s picas down the middle, for the first 12, every point is marked. I have another one that has picas along the edge. As a book designer, I am partial to the pica ruler, which has found steady use throughout my career.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2020\/08\/mopedcrossbody.jpg\" alt=\"mopedcrossbody\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-36795\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2020\/08\/mopedcrossbody.jpg 500w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2020\/08\/mopedcrossbody-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/files\/2020\/08\/mopedcrossbody-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.luglife.com\/collections\/crossbody\/products\/moped?variant=19058512920649\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Moped Crossbody Bag by Lug<\/a> ($70)<br \/>\nI have been using the Moped bag as my \u201ceveryday\u201d purse for at least 10 years. It\u2019s just the right size&#8211;big enough to hold everything I need for a day (even a light sweater) but not so big that everything is swimming in it. But it\u2019s the POCKETS that I love! So many pockets! There\u2019s a back pocket that fits my iPad perfectly, a handy front pocket for my phone, and a side pocket that I use for glasses, a water bottle, or a compact umbrella. I have a whole system. They come in a lot of different fabrics, but I like the simple gray heather. And it&#8217;s not fancy. I have fancy or evening purses, but I&#8217;m not a purse person. People pay a lot of money for purses. I&#8217;m shocked. This one&#8217;s very affordable.<\/p>\n<p>About <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cookingwithrockstars.com\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cooking with Rockstars<\/a><\/strong>:<br \/>\nYears ago, starting in 2002, I started doing video interviews with indie rock stars about food. It was called Cooking With Rockstars, and I had the site up from maybe 2002 to 2008. Then the site went offline and I just never came around to getting it started again. There was always something else to do and that was always lower priority. But recently, I was talking with Jeffrey Zeldman who works at Automattic and he gave me the assistance of a team at WordPress who built it for me and we revived it. So it&#8217;s back online. I&#8217;m able to rerelease all of the old videos. I have a whole bunch that were in the can that were never released. They&#8217;re old, but they&#8217;re newly released. And I might, after you can actually do things like visit people again, might do a few new interviews coming up. So I&#8217;m excited about that.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/withrockstars\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/withrockstars\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCPFW59oUYWsf-fIU0AET1fQ\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cool Tools Show 238: Jennifer Robbins<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13684,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[1559],"tags":[1555,1472],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36790"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36790"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36799,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36790\/revisions\/36799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}