Nancy Yi Liang - nyl.io (Page 2)

Are Brands Becoming Irrelevant?

Last Friday, somebody asked me, “what’s your favorite fashion brand?” This question caught me a bit off guard. It’s a perfectly reasonable question, especially since we were at a talk about fashion. And isn’t fashion a world carved out by empires

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Perfection is Arrogance

We’ve all worked with these people. Perfectionists. Exacting people who want things done a specific way. Their way. The perfect way. At least that’s what they hide behind. This idea that they have incredibly high standards, which explains why they are so

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Ownership to Accessibility

The world is shifting from valuing ownership to valuing accessibility. I use Rdio to access music. I own very few CDs. I use Kindle to access books. I trim down my bookshelf every year. I use Wikipedia to access knowledge. I have a bad

Good Design, Bad UX

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Good Design, Bad UX

This parking sign project popped up in my newsfeed a few times last week. LA is piloting this new signage design. The two problem with the sign? It’s not

Genuinely Curious

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Genuinely Curious

I once sat down at a lunch table with some strangers, and we started chit chatting. It was one of those situations where we talked to fill the silence, because

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The Space Around Us

This past weekend, a game developer (friend of a friend) showed me his workspace. It’s an environment like I’ve never seen before. The layout was open and the room was dark, apparently good for seeing graphics on a computer screen. No walls.

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The Green State

In 3D printing processes like Stainless Steel and Ceramics, there is a Green State during the production process. During this part, the model is very brittle and fragile. The part needs to be dug out of its powder bed before put into the kiln.

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Look at What People Do

I was in a discussion about interviewing strategies and the merits of behavioral questions versus hypothetical questions. Behavioral questions start with “Tell me about a time when…” Hypothetical questions start with “What would you do if…” Hypothetical questions frustrate me for three reasons: It’

How to Sketch Animations in Blender

How to Sketch Animations in Blender

In the last two Blender updates, the Grease Pencil tool got a major facelift. The Grease Pencil was traditionally used for annotating 3D drawings. Now, it can also be used

Carbon3D

Carbon3D unveiled last week at the TED conference. On stage, their demonstration unit that printed a meshy ball structure in about 6 minutes. This print would have taken my home

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Am I Talking to the Right Users?

For the past month or so, I’ve been playing around with the idea of developing a CAD add on for Blender. Blender is a free and open source tool for animators and game designers. You can make some very impressive 3D artwork with

Luck is Hard Work

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Luck is Hard Work

I once asked a successful entrepreneur what was the turning point of her company’s success. After thinking about it for a few seconds, she said that she was lucky

Play the Whole Concerto

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Play the Whole Concerto

I started working on the second movement of Chopin’s first piano concerto last year. When I learn a new piece, I go through a few lines at a time.

3D Printed Mixee Bag

3D Printed Mixee Bag

I wanted a new bag, so I 3D printed one! Here’s the first ever Mixee Bag. It’s a work in progress, but I think it’s a mighty

How I Started to Code

How I Started to Code

I get this question a lot: how did you learn to code? People seem perplexed that I can make software without a background in computer science. I’ve never taken

Life in Low Resolution

Life in Low Resolution

It seems like there are more and more designs in low resolution. Maybe I am just pay more attention to low resolution (or low poly) 3D objects because I work

Fixing My Laptop

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Fixing My Laptop

How expensive things can cost less. I bought my laptop in 2010. Before this computer, I’ve never owned a laptop that lasted more than 2 years. I’ve also

3D Printing, Changing the Game by Changing the Players

3D printing is changing the game. Rather, it is changing the players of the game. It used to be that we can bucket players into different segments—designers, shoppers, manufacturers. With 3D printing, these buckets are starting to leak. Going from ampersand to slash

Playing for Others

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Playing for Others

The difference between good and great pianists Good pianists focus on telling stories. Great pianists focus on how their audience hears their stories. Good pianists play for themselves. Great pianists

The most important lesson my dog has taught me

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The most important lesson my dog has taught me

Dogs don’t really remember things. You can train them to do things. But, it’s more like training them to develop a habit, like pulling our hands back when

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Dog Park Friends

I love the dog park. Sure, it smells a little funny, and you have to be wary of you step. But the happiness radiating from the dogs is contagious. The dog park brings together an interesting hodge podge of humans too. When I interned

Internet Dog Treat Dispenser (v2)

Internet Dog Treat Dispenser (v2)

A few weeks ago, Ajax our dog started having separation anxiety issues—-he would cry bloody murder when we left him alone in the apartment. We crate trained him when

Why I Use and Recommend Blender

Why I Use and Recommend Blender

When I need to model a 3d part or work with another designer’s files, I almost always turn to Blender. I use it in my spare time to design

Why 2048 is addicting

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Why 2048 is addicting

Yes… that is my phone. 2048! Over the past few weeks, a game called 2048 has hit the scene. In a short time, there’s been many spin offs and

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3D Printing as a Software Problem

A few weeks ago, two articles in 3d printing caught my eye. Both writers talked about how they wish their 3d printer was better. Upon closer read, I realized that a lot of their points were related to the software used to power 3d