Unforgettable on Creativity Hacker

WordFreäk

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 07:34:53 +0000

In order to split the cartoons into beginner and intermediate volumes, I need a way to classify the relative difficulty of the keywords. How am I going to solve that?

It's the cartoon, dummy!

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 04:27:19 +0000

I’ve been pulling my hair out trying to decide how to organize the data for this series. It all started as flashcards in the Anki system. Every day I would create a few new cards and study some of the older ones. It was great, because I could keep track of a cartoon image, a caption, and both the English and Norwegian headwords all in one place. But now I’m seeing some issues.

Closing in on 500

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 09:40:20 +0000

With much of my attention on WebSmith lately, Unforgettable has slowed a little but it hasn’t stalled. The more nouns I add, the harder it is to find the next one, but I keep finding them. And I keep reviewing and improving the ones I’ve got. Current tally is 472 cartoons, with only 22 in the “needs work” pile. At this rate, I hope to be finished the writing phase and get it off to an editor by the end of March.

Unforgettable Intro

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 15:44:40 +0000

Hi. My name is Ogg and I’m a caveman. Okay, well, I used to live in a cave. Sadly, it froze (long story) and I waited there for absolute ages until the science dudes finally thawed me out. But they had to tear open my cave to get me out, so now that they’re finished studying me, I don’t actually have a home anymore. Which is kind of why I’m writing this book.

Unforgettable

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 10:50:50 +0000

Traditional tools for learning foreign language vocabulary usually employ simple L1-to-L2 text translations (shoe = sko), and sometimes they’ll add an image to illustrate, but the way this material is commonly presented completely ignores how memory actually works. Fortunately, I’ve got an idea for how to change that…

Another Horse Gets Changed

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 05:34:29 +0000

Over in the web system project, I recently talked about deciding to change horses, in terms of the underlying tech I was selecting. And now I think I’m going to do the same thing here.

Cover Concepts

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 11:24:03 +0000

One of my favorite parts of any project is designing the “face.” Whether it’s the logo for an app, the thumbnail for a video, or the beauty shot to show off a 3D model, I love splashing elbows deep into the pool where concept and creative presentation collide. It’s my first chance to really think about how the public will encounter my project for the very first time and make sure they get a good first impression. No pressure.

What's In A Book

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 21:45:47 +0000

Designing the printed book has slowed down lately as I’ve wrestled with practical issues. How many pages? How many cartoons per page? How big should the pages be? Soft cover or hard? Full color or black and white? But I think I made progress today.

Why Good Enough Isn't

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 17:08:06 +0000

When I first started creating these cartoons, I was using them for my own learning and it didn’t matter if they were a bit rough around the edges. They worked, and that was good enough for me. But now that I’ve decided to actually publish them, everything has changed…

Vocabulary Titles

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 11:53:42 +0000

I’ve been working on my Norwegian noun cartoons for several months now, and I’ve amassed quite a few of them. 390 at present, and I’ll probably hit 500 before I run out of steam. So far, it’s just been me, sitting in my office, reviewing a few cartoons each day on my own, and maybe adding a few new ones when I trip over another noun I should probably know, but I had always planned to share them. Originally I was thinking in terms of flashcards, but then today I realized that the collection would make a great book.

Why Cartoons Are Memorable

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 11:09:18 +0000

There are four effects I think I’ve identified that make this system more effective than others I’ve tried. Let’s look at what they are and why I think they’re so effective.