If you’re feeling overwhelmed by desktop clutter and you’re looking for a quick and easy method to tidy up your desktop and keep your digital environment tidy and organized, here’s a technique to get organized once and for all.

Maria João Valente has been using Workflow Desktop Icons to structure her digital workflow with a minimum of effort, for more than a year.

“Basically it allows me to keep files organized and an uncluttered desktop (both essential to my sanity).”

Workflow Desktop Icons

Everything revolves around three main folders, “Doing”, “To-do” and “Archive”. These can be accessed directly via the Dock on a Mac, and are regularly checked or re-organized according to the workflow. All other folders are out of sight and serve as permanent storage for further use.

Here’s a flow chart of Maria’s digital workflow.

• The Work Zone contains all the files or folders that are being used now (i.e. this week).
• The To-Do Zone has stuff to be reviewed as soon as I have the time. (Hint: most of the downloaded files get here, to be organized later. Another Hint: I use Hazel to keep this place organized by file type.)
• The Out Zone folder is where I place all files or folders that are going to be exported and stored off my computer, either on an external HD, a DVD or online.

Maintaining a peaceful and productive desktop is easy when you follow your workflow.

By sharing her process, Maria hopes to help you get you going organizing your digital stuff. (Or share with us the process you’re already using.)

Maria João Valente is an archaeologist, university professor and a passionate Mac user. She lives in Portugal and blogs about her interests at Mac ao Quadrado. You can read my interview with Maria here or follow her on Twitter.

Tags: customer story, digital environment, getting organized, how-to, inspiration, organized, overwhelm, productivity, simplicity, tutorials, workflow

iPhone photography: The hill with wild flowers

Summertime, and the living is easy. Simple pleasures. Strawberries for breakfast. Picking wild flowers in the meadows. Dining alfresco. Watercolours. Bare feet on the dewy grass. Slow life.

Tags: carpe diem, ease, flowers, iPhoneography, seize the day, simplicity, slow life, summer

I expected the iPad to be a revolutionary device and holding it in your hands, interacting with it, really is a revolutionary experience. It’s the computer of the future.

• It’s fast!
• It’s powerful!
• It’s intuitive, responsive, easy and inviting to use
• The iPad with its multi-touch screen and single tasking is the first computer that adapts to how humans work, while other computers expect us humans to adapt to how they work
• The iPad apps I’ve tested embrace the idea of simplicity, beauty, fun and ease. Just like the iPad itself
• The iPad is the first computer I’ve used where reading really feels inviting and user friendly
• This tablet computer is wonderful for a new kind of story telling! The iPad can blur the line between reading, watching films, gaming and I can see how people could invent new ways of telling stories where images, film, audio, text and interactive experiences all blend together into a new kind of multimedia story telling
• The digital environment on an iPad feels peaceful and focused
• The touch screen is crisp and sharp and the book-size feels user friendly
• The iPad lives up to its promise of long battery life
• You need a bag and/or a slip to protect your iPad
• You need a soft, lint-free cloth to remove marks left by your fingers

The iPad and iPhone are innovative devices that bring to mind Think Different, Apple’s advertising campaign from 1997

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

Now, what I’m really interested in, is how I can use this revolutionary tablet computer as a digital, portable, creative art studio! I’ll be back on Tuesday with my findings and hope to present a list of 20 outstanding creativity apps for the iPad.

Tags: apps, digital environment, ease, interface, iPad, simplicity, technology

Vintage Folder Icons Seaside is inspired by vintage textures, retro textiles and old films and bring a touch of nostalgia and the glamour of Technicolor film to your digital environment. Vintage Folder Icons go nicely together with the popular series, Luminous Folder Icons and help you get things done by color coding your projects.

This collection of folder icons is inspired by the seaside. In red, white and sand, Seaside folder icons bring the ocean, marine fashion and a minimalist vintage touch to your desktop.

Inspired by the seaside and the rich, saturated palette of Technicolor film, these folder icons help you create a personal desktop environment with a hint of nostalgia. Five folder icons in colours borrowed from the seaside, red, blue and sand or On the Beach, Ocean Liner, Powder Blue Cadillac, Warm Retro Red and Red Velvet Cinema.

Save Vintage Seaside Folder Icons to your computer.

Tags: color code, digital environment, ease, folder, grain, productivity, retro, Seaside, simplicity, vintage, Vintage Folder Icons

My new online store

I recently set up a new store for my art and icons at Big Cartel. In just a couple of hours, I’d set up my shop, customised it and launched it. The same day I was making my first sales!

Big Cartel is a simple and beautiful shopping cart for independent artists, designers, crafters, writers, jewelers and musicians. It offers an easy-to-use e-commerce solution that gives users a way to create a small shop and sell their products through their own domain or a unique URL within the Big Cartel site. You can easily customize your Big Cartel store to fit your web site and brand.

FEATURES:

• Quick and easy to set up and maintain
• Easy to customize to fit your brand by changing the colours and graphics in the themes, or by using custom code and your own URL to match your site
• A permanently free plan for up to five products (!)
• Keep track of your inventory and automatically mark products as “Sold Out” when they’re gone
• Coming soon: sell digital, downloadable products online, such as e-books, music, video, art, photography and software through Big Cartel’s equally beautiful and easy-to-use sister service Pulley
• You can turn on maintenance mode while you tinker with your store
• Friendly and fast support
• Customers can pay with a credit card or a PayPal account
• View your dashboard to get an instant overview of how your online store is doing
• You can reward loyal customers by creating discount codes to give them a percentage off their purchase

LIMITATIONS:

• There’s a limit of 100 products
• No affiliate programme

COSTS:

Big Cartel doesn’t take a percentage of your sales, instead there are three monthly plans. There’s a completely free plan as well as monthly paid plans with expanded features. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel your account at any time. For example, you could test the waters with the free plan, and upgrade when your hobby turns into a profession or simply when you feel ready for it. All you need to get started is a PayPal Business or Premier account. Here’s how you sign up for a PayPal account and here are the current PayPal fees.

THOUGHTS:

Big Cartel is such a simple and beautiful e-commerce solution that I feel I can spend my time making art and icons instead of pouring my time into fiddling with web stuff which can be so time consuming for a one person creative indie business like mine. Big Cartel is an online shopping cart system that makes it easy to sell in style.

Tags: business, e-commerce, ease, entrepreneur, independent, indie, productivity, resources, review, shop, shopping cart, simplicity