I’ve been designing for the last ten years.

Here’s one lesson I can share from these years: making things is the best learning strategy I've found so far. Creating any artifact that works to make knowledge applicable and shareable is how I’ve been learning in my life-long designing journey.

A tactic I’m using more these days is creating toy projects: Tiny, One-week, studY projects.

They are for a side project what an atomic essay is for longer prose: good enough to ship, safe enough to experiment, and super effective as a data point to learning and getting feedback.

Some constraints I like to consider in my toy projects:

• Must be low risk and affordable
• Good enough to share with others
• Doable in one week using spare time
• Helpful to learn or practice a new skill
• Build upon resources and knowledge I have