Masada Creative

Hi! I'm a Japanese-American bilingual creative solutions specialist, working in web development and business translation.

[ymasada]

Halloween 2018: Decorate Your Office With Super Mario

It’s October! It’s that time of year again! Have some fun at your office while cosplaying your favorite character or turn into something to spook your colleagues.

Here’s an idea from my 2017 set: Super Mario!

What’s included:

Blue working uniform (with attached cardboard cutouts)

Party mustache (trimmed to Mario’s shape)

Red sweatshirt (from a cheap clothing store)

Mickey Mouse gloves (they’re nice and big)

Super Mario prize hat (won at a prize game)

Mushroom (also won at a prize game)

Mario slippers (a gift)

Fake spider webs (bought at a party shop)

Handmade Donkey Kong hammer (made of cardboard)

Handmade brick and star bocks (made of cardboard)

Handmade stars and ghost decorations (made of cardboard)

Yep, that’s me. I would love to do more of it from scratch and give you some DIY insight, but let’s say this is one is for beginners who are short on time. This setup only takes about 6 hours to make and decorate and is in less than $50 dollars. If you skip making the boxes, it will probably be much faster.

It’s a great way to decorate your office corner and enjoy feeling awesome for a day. This year, maybe, I’ll work on something more spooky👻

Happy Halloween everyone!

[ymasada]

8bitsushi Blog #01: My Passion for Retro 8-Bit and Japanese Food

Hello! 8bitsushi Development Blog is a series of articles about my personal project that challenges different disciplines in graphic design, product design, and iOS app development. I hope to share the experience I had through this project and inspire others to develop some cool ideas!

The Origins of 8bitsushi

8bitsushi is a personal project I’ve been working on for years that involves releasing an iOS App called Sushidex by 8bitsushi, producing physical merchandise, and making all sorts of graphic design elements. It was a culmination of various things I wanted to do over time, and it was all inspired by a single piece of artwork I made in 2012. 

During a hot summer in 2012, I made a set of pixelated sushi drawings using the color palette of an 8-bit Famicom/Nintendo NES (albeit a few gray tones that were custom added). The plan was to create a poster to promote Japanese cuisine.

I was very into 8bit and chiptune at the time, and I was even running my own chiptune netlabel “Piko Piko Detroit”. All of this was done while having a full-time. Eventually, priorities were higher on producing music, events, and other products and I was never able to finish the pixelated sushi poster.

I did find a work in progress rotating sushi counter (that apparently serves only tuna sushi). It’s fun looking back and digging through old files.

Lost But Not Forgotten

The pixelated sushis were forgotten until 2015 when I began to find interest in making my own iOS Apps. It was the time when I realized I needed more technical skills for my career beyond being a Japanese/English bilingual graphic designer (more about that on different career-related posts).

In early 2015, I left my job to study Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan. I also started joining online lessons on Udemy for iOS programming using Swift 2 and other essential freelance related topics.

Have you ever thought “I wish I was in school with the brain I have today”? Well, I’m lucky, because a piece of that came true. Although not a full-fledged university course, I was back in (language) school with young and fresh minds.

The 20-years-ago-me would have never said this: It was really nice to be back in school. And this time, I wanted to make more out of it.

And I jumped at it.

I used Photoshop to mock up a complete animated 8-bit pixel art game interface with elements like a health bar, cash counter, and sushi selector. I went through dozens of character samples just to get one that I liked for the scene.

The goal was to teach people how to order and eat sushi in Japan like a native. I would consider myself a semi-native Japanese, but I still don’t understand the full unspoken etiquette of eating in casual/fine sushi diners. If I couldn’t do it, then there must be a demand.

I did all of this before learning a single line of code.

And as you may have guessed, I was going ahead of myself. I will soon find out that my basic training would not be enough to make any graphics-intensive applications. So, in the end, I would scratch my original game idea and move on to more beginner level iOS application ideas.

Waste of time? No, I don’t regret any of the work I put it in, because I learned new tools like Pixaki (for pixel art) and making full looping animations on Photoshop and that’s great. I even reused a lot of the assets I made.

But, I had to rethink how I would plan and execute. I had to fix my habit of starting badly planned idealistic projects and never finishing them.

The Real Beginning

The beginning for me was to know the ending. I became smarter about my decisions. I made sure I studied my tools and capabilities before I lined up my goals. From there, everything moved forward by putting my limited time into the right places.

The first thing I did was decide on my focus points. I wanted to challenge at least three skills through this project:

Make an application worth releasing on iTunes (app development)

Make designs for business and marketing materials (graphic design)

Make merchandise that’s sellable (product design)

In my future posts, I want to share how I completed each one. But first, I want to let you know that slowly but surely, I do achieve the goals:

Released Sushidex by 8bitsushi on iTunes - August 2016

Designed business cards and a landing page for 8bitsushi.com

Produced a collection of merchandise with Taiwan suppliers

(Sushidex by 8bitsushi iOS App)

(8bitsushi branding materials)

(First phase of 8bitsushi merchandise)

Looking back, I realize that having a plan would have never been enough. There was something more that drove me to achieve each goal.

I Love 8-bit. I Love Sushi.

Taking on projects between work and life is not easy. A detailed plan will help, but in the end, you’re in charge of your own motivations. Just like all those other things on your bucket list, only you can make them happen.

The most important thing for me was passion.

A strong passion overrides excuses and priorities. If you have a passion for what you’re doing, you’ll eventually make it happen.

You won’t even have to tell yourself: “don’t give up.”

I love 8bit (pixel art and chiptune) and sushi (Japanese culture in general) and I have a passion to share what I love. That’s what drives me to challenge and achieve goals that I would have never been able to do otherwise.

I’ve learned so much through 8bitsushi, so I hope to put together some useful information and experiences for those who may be interested.

Please share and comment if you discovered some interesting points! Thank you!

Upcoming Topics

Sushidex iOS App Development

Planning your first mobile application

Learning iOS Programming

Creating data, graphics, and icons

8bitsushi Graphic Design

Designing a marketing landing page using Tumblr

Creating pixel art business cards on Photoshop and InDesign

Creating social media banners

8bitsushi Merchandise

Creating stickers, tape, clear files, coasters at a Taiwan print shop

Creating acrylic keychains in Taiwan

Using online on-demand merchandise websites 

[ymasada]

Design Thinking: Solve All Your Problems At Home Or At Work

(source: pexels.com)

Hello! I majored in graphic design and continued to work in the field of design related development fields. So naturally, I look at my surroundings and solve problems using design methodologies. Even when I make a simple purchase, I would research and analyze my objectives to achieve optimal solutions. I start asking myself, “What’s the cheapest method?”, “Is it a reasonable purchase?”, or “How is the usability?”. It’s a bit of a detour when you’re rushing for answers, but it feels good knowing your solutions have some logical backing to them.

What I’m using is a simplified process of “design thinking”. Instead of just relying on gut instincts, we do our best to fully utilize the tools that we have access to in order to solve our problems. In recent years, this thought process has become a buzzword in the form of “design thinking” so, I thought it would be a good time to research and share the more professional perspective of the process.

What is Design Thinking?

“Design thinking is the cognitive process from which design concepts (e.g. ideas for products) emerge.” (source: Wikipedia)

Simply said, it’s the process and methods to create designs.

When we say “design” we usually think of tasks that require tools like Adobe, CAD, or other creation tools. However, that’s just an action called, “using a design tool.” “Design thinking” is not the ability to create designs, but to have the thought process of a designer.

The History of Design Thinking

Design thinking exists from prehistoric times. In more modern times, it is an indispensable skill for people involved in design or development work, and during the 21st century, the process of design has become more popular for businesses and non-designer people thanks to the spread of standardized programs such as shared by Stanford’s d.school.

(source: trends.google.com)

As you can see in the Google Trends search for “design thinking”, the term has been on a high rise, especially in the past few years. It is said that the term “design thinking” (or the concept of design in general) became a part of global society during the 1960’s when technology, business, and creative societies began to cross-over. It was a time when problem solvers noticeably “solved problems by putting people first.” It’s a key principle of building civilizations, but also an important essence of producing useful services and products for society.

(source: Design thinking origin story plus some of the people who made it all happen)

If you are interested in a more deeper history of design thinking, there is a great Medium article about the origin of design thinking worth reading.

Design Thinking Can Make You Healthier

A well-known case of successfully applying design thinking is the Apple iPod. The iPod was a product that was successful because Apple exhaustively researched and analyzed what users wanted. It became to be an iconic product for a company for many years. Big success stories like these are good for inspiration, but does it does not quite fit everyone’s experience. But of course, there are more familiar examples that people may relate to, such as...

losing weight.

By applying the design thinking process that is taught at Stanford University, an editor of the New York Times was able to successfully go on a diet to lose 25 pounds.

(source: Design Thinking’ for a Better You)

Stanford University’s “Design Thinking Process” is composed of 5 steps.

Empathize

Define

Ideate

Prototype

Test

(source: d.school at Stanford University Design Thinking Bootleg)

The editor claims to have failed in virtually all kinds of weight loss methods but found success by successfully going through the 5 steps. However, the first step of understanding and empathizing with the problem did not happen immediately. It only occurred until the editor was invited to a reunion party with some old friends, but the editor declined the invitation. The editor declined because of a lack of confidence in physical appearance, and the editor finally realized how much of an impact the thought of “wanting to lose weight” was making on real-life decisions. It was then the editor began to ask the real question: what does it mean to lose weight?

The second step was to define the issues and set up realistic goals. The most important finding was that the goal wasn’t to lose weight. It was something more essential, such as “I want to feel better about myself”,“I want to be stronger”, or “I want to reconnect with old friends.”

The thirst step, the editor’s focus was to achieve the newly defined goals. These were fulfilled by becoming more social and sleeping more. Buying new clothes was also a technique to improve some problem-solving issues.

In the fourth and fifth steps, the editor would continuously re-examine the elements of empathy and creatively solve each problem that would arise. The editor would realize that “taking too many carbs during lunch would result in a tiring afternoon,” so eating habits were improved. By pointing the issue to “real issues of life” instead of “losing weight” the editor would eventually succeed in losing 25 pounds.

The author of the book “The Achievement Habit”, which the editor was inspired by, is Bernard Roth, a Stanford University professor in the field of engineering. During an interview on Stanford University’s official website saying, Dr. Roth answers to the question, “What stands between people and achievement?” saying, “I, Bernie Roth, am in the way of Bernie Roth having a better achievement in his life — no one else, really.” And later continues to emphasize, “Most of us don’t want to do more. We have pipe dreams. [...] you have to have the intention to do it — not just the pipe dream. It’s not going to happen magically, you have to give it some attention — take some time or whatever it takes to have it happen, and then it will happen.”

(source: The Achievement Habit: An Interview with Bernie Roth)

What I’ve learned is that you don’t have to become a designer to make innovation. If you always think about people at the center of your ideas, someday a revolutionary idea might be born.

Not just designers, but as thinkers, we need to go back the foundations of the design thinking to make better choices. The good thing is that you don’t have to go to Stanford to get started. Design thinking resources are abundant so a quick search on Google will get you to websites like Stanford University’s where they share their educational documentation for free.

(source: Stanford d.school Design Thinking Virtual Crash Course Video)

If you’re really serious about learning and apply design thinking to challenging problems, see what they offer at Stanford, Ideo U, or other practical workshops that are hosted around the world.

(source: Ideo U - Design Thinking)

Solve All Your Problems Through Design Thinking!

With design thinking, maybe…

Your business will succeed? Your designs may improve? Your life will become richer?

If you’ve learned or had first-hand experience with design thinking, please share in the comments below!

[ymasada]

Project Management 2018: 16 Mobile & Web Apps to Optimize Your Teams Part 3/3

(Source: pexels.com)

Previously: Project Management 2018: 16 Mobile & Web Apps to Optimize Your Teams Part 2/3

Overview

Looking for tools to improve and support your work processes? There are great web apps (web-based tools) that can compliment or enhance your workflows to make task management and collaboration much easier and faster.

Previously, we introduced 6 Project Management tools. And in Part 3, we introduce the remaining tools and include a complete comparison chart for you to download.

Smartsheet

Website: https://www.smartsheet.com

Smartsheet is a web app to plan, track, automate, and report your projects with collaboration features. Used by companies such as Netflix, Hilton Hotels, HP, and more.

(Source: smartsheet.com)

Pricing

Individual: $14 USD Per User/Month

Up to 10 Smartsheets

Reports View/Edit Only

Dashboards View Only

Business: $25 USD Per User/Month

Up to 100 Users

Unlimited Reports

Automated Actions

Activity Logs

Single Sign on

Custom Color and Logos

iOS App

Click here to find on Apple App Store! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/smartsheet/id568421135?at=1001lMyZ

Targetprocess

Website:

https://www.targetprocess.com

Targetpractice is a visual project planning web app with support for Kanban, Scrum, and SAFe methods. Used by companies such as Infineon, Vaio, Vodafone, and more.

(Source: targetprocess.com)

Pricing

Free for basic teams

1000 entities

Basic support

Hosted in the cloud

Premium: Packages start from $20 USD Per User/Month

Unlimited entities

Standard support

Hosted in the cloud

Single sign-on

Teamwork.com

Website:

http://teamwork.com

Project planning and management web app that is produced in parallel with their customer support and chat tools. Similar to the scope of JIRA and its other web apps. Used by companies such as Paypal, Disney, Forbes, and more.

(Source: teamwork.com)

Pricing

Free for starters

100MB file space

Up to 5 users

2 active projects

Limited task boards

Basic project management

Subtasks

Color themes

Premium: Packages start from $9 USD Per User/Month (Annual billing is 20% more cheaper)

100GB file space

Up to 50 users

5 User Minimum

300 projects

Task boards

Instant file editing

Webhooks

Google Drive, Box.com, OneDrive Personal & Dropbox integrations

Trello

Website: https://trello.com/

Trello is a collaboration web app developed by Atlassian that has boards, lists, and cards to organize and prioritize projects. Used by companies such as Redhat, Fender, Adobe, Google, and more.

(Source: trello.com)

Pricing

Free for basic service

Unlimited boards, lists, cards, members, checklists, and attachments.

Attach files up to 10MB

Premium: Packages start from $9.99 USD Per User/Month

Unlimited Power-Ups

User Access

Restricted Memberships

Customize board designs

Priority email support

And more for better packages

iOS App

Click here to find on Apple App Store! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trello/id461504587?at=1001lMyZ

Workzone

Website: https://www.workzone.com

Workzone is a project management web app and service focused on supporting their customers to improve project management. Used by companies such as Sephora, Verizon, Well Fargos, DKNY, and more.

(Source: workzone.com)

Pricing

Pricing is by request and categories by Team, Professional, and Enterprise.

Wrike

Website:  ttps://www.wrike.com/

Wrike is a project planning and collaboration web app made for various types of teams. Used by companies such as Airbnb, Verizon, SurveyMonkey, and more.

(Source: wrike.com)

Pricing

Free for up to 5 users

Simple shared task lists

Premium: Packages start from $9.80 USD Per User/Month

Task & Subtask Management

Gantt Chart

Advanced Integrations (MS Project, Excel, RSS)

Shareable dashboards

Unlimited collaborators

From 5 GB of storage space

From 15 GB of video uploads per month

More features in better packages

We have a useful comparison PDF chart version of this article.

Download PDF Comparison Chart

[ymasada]

Project Management 2018: 16 Mobile & Web Apps to Optimize Your Teams Part 2/3

(Source: pexels.com)

Previously: Project Management 2018: 16 Mobile & Web Apps to Optimize Your Teams Part 1/3

Overview

Looking for tools to improve and support your work processes? There are great web apps (web-based tools) that can compliment or enhance your workflows to make task management and collaboration much easier and faster.

Previously we introduced General Task Management apps.

In Part 2, we introduce Project Management tools, which may be better than Task Management Tools if you have specific workflows for multiple teams working on different projects.

Project Management Apps

Basecamp

Website: https://basecamp.com

Basecamp is a web app for to organize communication, projects, and client work.

(Source: basecamp.com)

Pricing

$99 USD Per Month (for complete service)

Unlimited Users

Unlimited projects

Every tool and feature we offer

500GB of file storage

iOS App

Click here to find on Apple App Store!

Blossom

Website: https://www.blossom.co

Blossom is a project manage web app focused on employees that work from different cities and time zones. Used by companies such as Facebook, Apple, Spotify, and more.

(Source: blossom.co)

Pricing

Starters up to 5 Users: $22 USD/Month (cheaper if billed annually)

Unlimited Products

Unlimited File Uploads

Premium: Packages start from $70 USD/Month

Up to 15 Users

Crocagile

Website: https://www.crocagile.com

Crocagile is a web app for agile teams with various customization options.

(Source: crocagile.com)

Pricing

Small Teams up to 5 users: $2.50 USD Per User/Month

Custom Workflows

Kanban Boards

Story Boards

Custom Fields

File Sharing

Personal Dashboard

Files & Docs

Wallposts & Chat

Reports

Premium: Packages start from $3.50 USD Per User/Month

Up to 15 users

10.0 GB Storage

Unlimited workspaces

And more with better packages

JIRA

Website: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira

JIRA Software is a web app for agile software teams with deep customization of projects, issues, and workflows.

(Source: atlassian.com)

Pricing

$10 USD Per Month (up to 10 users)

Customizable Projects, Issues, and Workflows

Scrum & Kanban Boards

Agile Reporting

3000+ Free & Paid Plugins

$7 USD Per User/Month (more than 10 users)

iOS App

Click here to find on Apple App Store!

Mingle

Website: https://www.thoughtworks.com/mingle/

Mingle is a program management web app for teams with workflows and content building. Used by companies such as Cisco, Siemens, Hertz, and more.

(Source: thoughtworks.com/mingle)

Pricing

Free for starters up to 5 users

Planning Templates

Workflows

Chats

GitHub Integration

Single Sign on

Premium: $35 USD Per User/Month (first 5 free)

Program Management

Backlog

Smart Alerts

Portfolio Management

Dependencies

Pivotal Tracker

Website: https://www.pivotaltracker.com

Pivotal Tracker is a project management web app focused on story based task creations. Used by companies such as BBC, Groupon, IGN, and more.

(Source: pivotaltracker.com)

Pricing

Free for up to 3 Users

3 collaborators

2GB storage

2 projects

Premium: Packages start from $12.50 USD Per User/Month (when paid annually)

5 collaborators

5 private projects

5GB storage

Next: Project Management 2018: 16 Mobile & Web Apps to Optimize Your Teams Part 3/3

We have a useful comparison PDF chart version of this article. 

Download PDF Comparison Chart

[ymasada]

Project Management 2018: 16 Mobile & Web Apps to Optimize Your Teams Part 1/3

(Source: pexels.com) 

Overview

Looking for tools to improve and support your work processes? There are great web apps (web-based tools) that can compliment or enhance your workflows to make task management and collaboration much easier and faster.

Web apps are great because you can easily start testing without having to invest in self-hosting or learn how to set up from scratch. If you are good at setting things up yourself and are able to self house, open source and local software are other great options that you can search for.

Web app categories:

General Task Management

Project Management

General task management is for great for business and general teams to communication and assign tasks for collaboration. Project management tools may be better if you have specific workflows for multiple teams working on different projects.

General Task Management Apps

Asana

Website: https://asana.com/

Asana is a general project management tool to organize projects with multiple members so you can quickly and easily share tasks to reach goals. Used by companies such as Deloitte, NASA, New York Times, and more.

(Source: asana.com)

Pricing 

Free for Starters

Unlimited tasks, projects, and conversations

Up to 15 team members

Basic dashboards

Basic search

Premium: $9.99 USD Per User/Month

Timeline - New!

No team member limit

Unlimited dashboards

Advanced search & reporting

Custom fields

Task dependencies

Comment-only projects

Private teams and projects

Start dates

Admin controls

Customer success webinars

Priority support

Google SSO

iOS App 

Click here to find on Apple App Store!

Todoist

Website: https://todoist.com

Todoist is a general task management tool with great mobile app support. 

(Source: todoist.com) 

Pricing

Free for up to 5 users per project

Access on 10+ platforms

Recurring due dates

SSL secured connection

Sub-tasks & sub-projects

Task priorities (4 levels)

Premium: $3 USD Per User/Month or $29 USD Per User/Year

Automatic Reminders

Custom Templates

Cloud Data Backup

Custom Labels

Task Views

Custom Themes

Review Completed Tasks

Account Activity Overview

Visualized Weekly and Monthly Reports

iOS App

Click here to find on Apple App Store!

Microsoft To-Do

Website: https://todo.microsoft.com/

To-Do is made by the creators of Wunderlist after acquired by Microsoft and is part of the Office 365 family.

(Source: todo.microsoft.com)

Pricing

Free if you have a Microsoft Office 365 Account

iOS App

Click here to find on Apple App Store!

Wunderlist

Website: https://www.wunderlist.com

General task list with great focus on mobile apps to get things done. Acquired by Microsoft in 2016.

(Source: wunderlist.com)

Pricing

Free with great features but may be discontinued and be replaced by To-Do, which will have direct integration with Office 365.

iOS App

Click here to find on Apple App Store!

Next: Project Management 2018: 16 Mobile & Web Apps to Optimize Your Teams Part 2/3

We have a useful comparison PDF chart version of this article. 

Download PDF Comparison Chart

[ymasada]

16 Useful Project Management Mobile & Web Apps 2018

Looking for tools to support your work processes?

Mobile & Web Apps are great because you can easily start testing without having to invest in self-hosting or learn how to set up from scratch.

Here’s a list of 2018 Mobile & Web Apps for:

Project Management

General Task Management

Download the PDF Version Here:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=14QWaWU-KXRLpXLDdCq-rO_aQ9OUnwkI_

[ymasada]

Fun With Facebook Posts: FIFA 2018 Edition!

FIFA WORLD CUP SOCCER 2018!

Team Japan’s been doing pretty good so far. The latest Japan vs Senegal game was so intense, there’s been news that everyone held their restroom breaks until half-time and almost plugged up the Tokyo’s city drainage.

After the game, what do we do? We jump on facebook and rant about the game. It’s what we do.

Talking about Facebook, have you seen the new post backgrounds?

It’s soccer season, and guess what we got some new soccer/football themed post backgrounds!

Red balls, green balls, blue balls, and ah grass! (Or pitch! Or Field! However you want to call it.)

For soccer fans, this is an awesome opportunity to play around with some new posts. The colorful ball backgrounds are a bit too artificial, but how about this grassy one? It looks very tempting to play around with, doesn’t it?

So, let’s go at it! Let’s put some copy on top of that background to make some fun posts.

After a few tries, here’s what I got.

Simple is best. I did try some ASCII art stuff, but it just didn’t work too well.

What I did was combined some Japanese text with Emojis to create a fun little Facebook post.

Only 6 steps to make it happen! (Once you’re on facebook of course.)

Prerequisite: You need a Japanese keyboard or copy-paste from this post!

1. Choose the grassy background image. 2. Type “み(mi)” into the post. 3. Convert that to a Katakana “ミ(mi)”. 

4. Switch to the Emoji keyboard. 5. Choose the athletic shoes from the list. 6. Finally, add a soccer ball Emoji!

Look at that! You’ve got some Emoji kids playing some real football on that Facebook grass! (Smallprint: Requires some imagination.)

I’m sure you can do better. But, the theory is add Emojis on top of an Image Background to make a fun Facebook post. Be a striker. Get some goals.

That’s how you have fun with Facebook posts!

Sayonara! See ya next time.

[ymasada]

2015 Design Portfolio