As a new year begins, the mStoner team reflects on their favorite things from the past 12 months. I’m excited to present mStoner’s Eighth Annual Top Picks — a crowd-sourced collection of all the stuff — websites, podcasts, books, and more — we love. We hope you find something new to listen to or learn from in the new year.
Not familiar with the series? Check out our sixth annual and seventh annual top picks.
Do you have a favorite to share? We’d love to hear from you. Tweet us at @mStonerinc.
Life Hacks
Easy way to clean a blender: Fill your blender with hot water and dish soap and turn on the blender. It will be 10x more effective at getting it clean, especially the blades.
— Bianca Tomlin, digital marketing specialist
Todoist + Alexa. I’ve had an Amazon Echo for a little over a year, but I found I didn’t use it consistently until I integrated it with my Todoist app to make grocery and to-do lists. It’s been incredibly helpful to list items as they come into my head, especially when I’m in the middle of something or I don’t have my phone on me. I’ll never run out of milk again!
— Shannon Lanus, content strategist
Joule. Precise, convenient, and cool. If you’ve never tried cooking sous vide, you’re in for a life-changing experience.
And noise-canceling, Bluetooth headphones. Great for the gym, for travel, and for open-layout office spaces.
— Voltaire Santos Miran, co-founder and co-owner
Start each day with gratitude. I’ve been keeping a gratitude journal, which prompts me to list three things I’m thankful for each day. I can tell that beginning each morning with this positive thinking exercise helps to keep things in perspective throughout the day and makes me dig a little deeper to appreciate the little things.
— Lauren Anderson, office manager
Best of Higher Ed
You might say I’m a tad biased, but I believe that mStoner’s design team is doing its best work ever and I’m hard-pressed to pick a favorite among the sites we’ve launched this year. But if I had to pick one, it might be the Texas Woman’s University Library site. Library sites are difficult to design because people who use them generally want to get into the resources the library offers and have little patience for bad organization, unclear labels, or a complicated user interface. This site makes it easy to find those things — and also showcases other important aspects of the TWU library, including its multiple locations and its best-kept secret, The Woman’s Collection, the largest collection of research material about women in the Southern U.S.
— Michael Stoner, co-founder and co-owner
The Elmhurst College Blog: In 2018, mStoner continued its strategic move away from a traditional agency model to creating lasting partnerships with our clients. This new approach to building websites gives us and our clients further opportunities beyond the launch to create measured improvements based on user feedback, create additional marketing landing pages as needed, tweak SEO, and last but definitely not least, create rich content.
Another great site is Park.edu. In particular, I love Park University’s dynamic use of the Mapbox platform for “Explore Campuses” feature in the navigation bar. Stay tuned for the future iteration, which will be embedded on the homepage and include more advanced functionality for exploring Park’s many locations.
— Ben Conley, UX/visual designer
Our team is really excited about the University of North Dakota’s new program finder. As part of a website redesign, UND created new program pages and content for 300+ programs. Presented for site visitors, the more than 300 programs are in a program finder that provides searching and filtering capabilities as well as a preview of each program. Since launching in May, the new program finder has been one of the top destinations on und.edu.
— Greg Zguta, director of web development
Great Reads
Questions Are the Answer: A Breakthrough Approach to Your Most Vexing Problems at Work and in Life, by Hal B. Gregersen — Need better creative? Ask better questions. This book is a guide that will change the way you frame problems and arrive at breakthrough solutions. At mStoner we’ve been using design sprints with our clients to get better answers, but this book will definitely influence our line of questioning in 2019.
— Ben Bilow, creative director
My favorite book genre is post-apocalyptic sci-fi. This year I read/listened to The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi, The Extinction Cycle by Nicholas Sansbury Smith, and Breakers by Edward W. Robertson.
— Kim Ward, front-end developer
One of the highlights of books I read in 2018 is Michael Pollen’s latest, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence. Pollen usually tackles topics around food, but this time he delves into the world of psychedelics. Very fascinating read. It will be interesting to see if this book will have as much impact on the mental health industry as his other books have on the food industry. Semi-life hack: As a proud book addict, I love to have Goodreads by my side to easily keep track of books I want to read and the books I’ve read. I especially love having a way to quickly add a book I want to read when I get a recommendation from a friend or learn about a new book from an author interview on NPR. (Can you tell we love NPR around here?)
— Abby McLean, UX/visual designer
I discovered the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Mass last fall. This is a binge-worthy series because the seventh (and final) book was published in October. The world-building is phenomenal, the female protagonist is badass, and the twists and turns are unexpected and delightful.
— Mallory Willsea, director of marketing and sales
Samin Nosrat’s Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s much more than just a cookbook. Her new Netflix series with the same name as the book is great companion watching.
— Voltaire Santos Miran, co-founder and co-owner
Listen-Worthy Podcasts
Matt Sweeney’s Guitar Moves web series produced by Noisey and Vice. It’s not new to 2018, but it’s new to me. Guitarist Matt Sweeney interviews fellow guitarists. Even if you don’t play guitar, there are some really interesting interviews.
— Jim Johnson, lead developer
One of my favorite things to listen to in 2018 was The Habitat, produced by Gimlet Media. This short-run podcast follows the plight of six volunteers in a remote mountain on Hawaii, sent there to imitate Mars astronauts over the course of a year. They live together in a dome-like structure, do geologic field work outside in space suits, maintain audio diaries, and ultimately demonstrate to both NASA and listeners alike what kinds of interpersonal conflicts, communication gaffes, and other societal impacts could occur in future long-term space missions. It’s scientifically fascinating and incredibly human.
— Nicole Lentine, business development specialist
I’ve been a public radio fan for a long time, so it’s probably no surprise that I’m already hooked on NPR Life Kit, a new podcast series from NPR. The first series just launched in December, so you may see this on next year’s list as well. Practical, bite-size life advice from experts and based on the latest research. What’s not to love?
Another great podcast: Gastropod. This podcast has been around since 2014, but I dove deep into it this year and it’s been more than worth it. Hosted by Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley, Gastropod is a smart, fun, and well-researched podcast about food. Want to know who invented mac and cheese, find out why saffron is so expensive, or geek out about Jell‑O? Then check out this podcast about food science and history.
— Shannon Lanus, content strategist
Ways to Unwind
I love to do crosswords and listen to music while sitting on the porch. It’s (nearly) always nice outside so it’s a great way to relax. Sitting outside in the quiet and the sun can work miracles!
— Elisabeth Bland, web analyst
Headspace.com. Choose your own meditation adventure. Plus, animated video.
— Voltaire Santos Miran, co-founder and co-owner
Music has always been a part of my life, but it specifically became important to drown out the noise in our society this past year. Whether it’s escaping and listening to a new album like the Beatles’ “White Album” or discovering a new band that just hit the scene, it takes my mind off of some of the uncontrollable aspects of life. My aunt and uncle retired and they spin records at a local bar once a month and have an insane collection of records. I am inspired by the bands they’ve introduced me to. It’s interesting to hear the modern-day bands that we would consider indie today that were once considered grunge or punk rock in the late ’80s early ’90s.
— Bianca Tomlin, digital marketing specialist
Black Mountain, “IV” — OK, this album may have come out in 2016, but it’s totally rocked my morning commute in 2018. Ruled by heavy riffs and Pink Floyd-esque jams sprinkled with modern rock aesthetics, this album is the stuff of dreams in a sea of pop sameness. Female vocalist Amber Weber’s epic voice sends me to the stratosphere.
— Ben Bilow, creative director
Cute animals & social media go together like peanut butter & jelly. I probably spend way too much time watching videos and looking at photos of these adorable creatures on Instagram, but it helps me unwind (and smile!) after a long work day. Last year I leveled up from a content consumer to a content contributor! I’m obsessed with my new fur-baby Blossom, a mini Aussie-doodle, and you can be too.
— Mallory Willsea, director of marketing and sales
We can’t wait to hear your top picks of 2018. Tweet us @mStonerinc.