The starts and finishes of a project seem to get all the headlines and press, but they don’t adequately reflect the extreme swings that occur during the middle section of a journey. In his new book, The Messy Middle, 99U Founder Scott Belsky shares lessons in entrepreneurship around the crucial, but overlooked part of a creative endeavor.
Designers Dani Balenson and Indhira Rojas spoke about redefining the language of mental health, growing into their illnesses, and developing communities around their work.
Illness is the subject that underpins all of HTML Flowers's visual and musical work. He takes a combination of 30 pills a day for digestion, gene alteration, vitamin supplements, and antibiotics, supplemented with four inhaled medications administered with a nebulizer. He’s drawing a lot, too, making headway with the second in a series of hospital diaries that chronicle various bouts of illness and hospitalization.
John Maeda speaks with 99U about a life-changing fall that ultimately motivated him to focus the most recent chapter of his career on inclusive design.
James Freeman started Blue Bottle Coffee as a side hustle and the company has grown from a single espresso cart to 40 locations around the world today. In this interview, he discusses how he used negative space to create a signature design aesthetic, how Blue Bottle carved out its own space in a crowded industry, and how his previous career as a musician influenced his approach to business.
From a hobby blogger to the head of storytelling at Microsoft, Steve Clayton charts his unlikely career rise and shares how stories about people can bring real value to a company.
