“Who controls the past controls the future.
Who controls the present controls the past.”
— George Orwell

The Racket

For most students’ first college-level Art History class, “Gardner’s Art Through the Ages” is the required textbook purchase, now in its 16th edition since first being published in 1926.

Re-editioning textbooks is a typical practice in the publishing industry, sending professors and students always searching for the most up-to-date edition before the start of a semester, providing the latest and greatest information available for coursework. …

A collection of resources for everyone from the art director to the student, meaning these resources range from basic to advanced while all being continuously useful beyond initially discovering them.

I creating this resource to help me centralize my collection of resources, so I have it bookmarked in my browser for quick referencing.

Books

Why Conduct UX Design Research?

UX (user experience) design research is the systematic discourse of studying target users and their needs. Each method provides a different approach resulting in data and insights. UX researchers must be capable of performing a diverse set of methods to strategically discover problems and opportunities throughout the design process.

Conducting UX Design Research earlier in the design process and integrating the insights will ensure time and resources are utilized efficiently. …

Theory

One of the guiding theories behind Competetive Strategy is was developed by Harvard Professor Michael E. Porter. For him, understanding the structure of an industry is primary, regardless of time or technology, so the design of a company is worthy of great attention and the design should evolve and adapt over time.

Industry structure drives competition and profitability, not whether an industry is emerging or mature, high tech or low tech, regulated or unregulated.

— Michael E. Porter, Professor at Harvard University

5 Competitive Force Model

by Michael E Porter

1. Competitive Rivalry
   (competition within a company’s industry)
2. Supplier Power
   (bargaining power of suppliers)
3. Buyer…

The case for building a holding company for Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and The Boring Company

The business model piece is we’re always talking about competing more effectively. If you’re starting a company or career you don’t want to compete. You want to create a monopoly. We want to invest in a company that has a good plan to create a monopoly.
— Peter Thiel

As of early 2021, Tesla, Inc. has two branches of its business:

Automotive branch

Develops automobiles and the supercharger network, which are both expanding to different continents in 2021.

Energy branch

Develops solar panels and storage systems using batteries for…

By studying military strategies and their connections to business strategies, businesses can capture markets, compete with rivals, and lead teams toward objectives.

United States Army Field Manual

In the United States, the essential military strategy concepts are distributed with the United States Army Field Manual. Within it, 9 concepts are outlines:

1. Objective
   (Direct every military operation towards a clearly defined, decisive, and attainable objective)
2. Offensive
   (Seize, retain, and exploit the initiative)
3. Mass
   (Concentrate combat power at the decisive place and time)
4. Economy of Force
   (Allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts)
5. Maneuver
   (Place the enemy in a disadvantageous position through the flexible application of…

“The strange thing about television is that it doesn’t tell you everything.”
― Walter Tevis, “The Man Who Fell to Earth”

In a year of quarantines for the better part of the year, chessboard sales have grown 1,048% in 2020, according to Mary Higbe, the director of marketing at Goliath Games.

Chess, a game that was once declared obsolete due to the conquering force of AlphaZero has not only gained traction but is picking up speed as a popular game in the United States:

Experts have a deep understanding; not only a competency to do something well. If there is not a deep understanding, solving complex problems will be difficult but if we focus too much on deep understanding, nothing will ever get done. Understanding expertise is essential.

1. Principles

To begin, develop a wide and thorough vocabulary. This enables a person to understand the core elements in a field, but more importantly: communicate with people about the field. This vocabulary in our memory helps us recognize elements at a fundamental level and later conceptually map how these elements relate to one another. …