iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 12/09/2025

Today marks 18 years since I bought my first iPhone. Never used a case. Never dropped and broke one. (And I held on to my original one)

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 13/08/2025

My AC stopped working last night. Rough night. This morning I had ChatGPT help me troubleshoot the problem. Turns out it’s a $30 part and I could replace it myself. ChatGPT gave me the instructions (which I then verified with an electrician friend) and I was able to be up in running in no time.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 30/07/2025

This was my introduction to Groff. These days my daughter is a theater kid, so now I see him as he usually is. And he was great when we saw Merrily.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 30/07/2025

Went to see Fantastic Four last night. My favorite part: 👑

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Reposted by Jim MacLeod

Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

I'm telling you, ~2015 the era of performance advertising with attribution as a no-brainer growth lever ended. It's just that no one told execs and most are still acting like it works. Post 2015: Brand marketing > performance ads (this story from Unilever is 🔥🔥🔥)

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 27/07/2025

The Em Dash Responds to the AI Allegations www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the... Via Ann Handley (Back when I was laying out a lot of type, I preferred the en-dash because it wasn’t so gaudy.)

mcsweeneys.net

The Em Dash Responds to the AI Allegations - McSweeney’s Internet Tendency

“In recent months, a curious fixation has emerged in corners of academia: the em dash. More specifically, the apparent moral panic around how it is...

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 23/07/2025

I kept ChatGPT. The rest of it still works well. I just need a best-in-class image generator.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 23/07/2025

My latest podcast appearance, on The Business of Marketing, came out today. It's always great to chat with @aleejudge.bsky.social! If you're a marketer or business owner, check it out! www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iw3...

youtube.com

Why Marketers Must Master Visual Design to Drive Business Results (with Jim MacLeod)

YouTube video by A. Lee Judge

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 22/07/2025

I resubscribed to Midjourney. ChatGPT’s images are fine for one or two, but after a while, you start to see the massive chasm in quality between the two.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 17/07/2025

This is a great way to define risks associated with entrepreneurship.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 14/07/2025

It’s open source. I uploaded the files to my server. Created a new DB. Updated the config file, and it was up and running. It took an hour or so. But now I can use my domain shortener anywhere! ebri.us/yourls

ebri.us

YOURLS

Your Own URL Shortener

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 14/07/2025

I have to thank @s3th.me for suggesting I use Yourls for my shortened links. I can set custom link endings, able to edit the links afterward, and I have analytics on link performance. I have full control over my shortened links now.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 25/04/2025

Snoopy once wrote a Batman story. In the 1970s, the Peanuts strip had Snoopy struggling to write a novel. A few years later, DC and writer Len Wein used the text from Snoopy’s story as the captions for a 2-page Batman story illustrated by Walter Simonson.

Page of a Batman comic book using the same copy from the Peanuts strip.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 13/07/2025

I’ve been thinking about the Windsurf deal falling through and then the top execs jumping ship for a pile of cash. Since this is (at least) the second time we’ve seen this recently, why would someone join a startup at this point? How can talent protect themselves in these #startup situations?

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 12/07/2025

I feel sorry for the Windsurf employees who thought they were about to cash in. And now their company is dissolving before their eyes. #Windsurf techcrunch.com/2025/07/11/w...

techcrunch.com

Windsurf's CEO goes to Google; OpenAI's acquisition falls apart | TechCrunch

Notably, Google is not taking a stake in Windsurf and will not have any control over the company.

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Rand Fishkin @randfish.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Taste is the New Intelligence "Taste is anti-fragile. It gets stronger the more noise you expose it to. When you sharpen your discernment, you stop being swayed by trends. You stop needing consensus. You stop reacting to every new thing like it’s urgent." www.wildbarethoughts.com/p/taste-is-t...

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 09/07/2025

Companies cant lead if they’re waiting for evidence. It takes audacity to do something first. - A Lee Judge

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 07/07/2025

Today I dedicated my time to designing a couple of logos. I had forgotten how time flies when I’m working in Illustrator, throwing every bad idea on to the art board, and then refining. #design

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 05/07/2025

I read that one really quickly.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 03/07/2025

If your product revenue is declining, deciding “let’s make the experience worse” is not a good game plan. Before I got into design/marketing, I ran movie theaters. There are ways to fix this without just making things worse.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 27/06/2025

Same. It’s the same way we were taught to draw a capital A.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 21/06/2025

Marvel Comics have proven with the Ultimate line that they can put top talent on an imprint. Now that the comics fall under Feige, and he’s doing far fewer shows, he (or someone close in his office) could shepherd the line. I’m not going to dismiss an MCU line bc the early 00s adaptations were bad

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 19/06/2025

My favorite bar in history announced it’s shutting down on Saturday. I got up early to hit deadline so a friend and I can go say goodbye this afternoon.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 19/06/2025

#Marvel should have a separate MCU comic line/continuity. These are the fill-in-the-blanks stories between movies. Overseen by Feige/Marvel Studios. Make them cheap single issues ($1.99) with cheap paper/coloring. Then the tpb is high quality. First issue free to D+ subscribers on Marvel Unlimited.

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Chris Eliopoulos @chriseliopoulos.com · 18/06/2025

Happy birthday to Sir Paul McCartney!

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Timothy Hughes @timothyhughes.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a letter to employees that the company’s AI push will trim its corporate headcount in the coming years with agents and automation advances. buff.ly/jvAEx6B #Artificialintelligence #Technology #Innovation #Tech #TechNews #ArtificialInteligence #FutureofWork

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 18/06/2025

It’s interesting to watch Figma and #Canva position themselves as alternatives to Adobe … only to become Adobe-like conglomerates. www.cnbc.com/2025/06/17/c...

cnbc.com

Canva moves into analytics with acquisition of MagicBrief

Canva already provides popular tools for designing ads. Now it wants to help marketers see how they perform.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 17/06/2025

I've been contracted to #design book covers for a series of books. I started with sketches on the iPad (Procreate) Brought those into ChatGPT to turn into photos Took those into Photoshop to adjust color and AI to clean up parts Then brought those into Illustrator to lay out the type on all three.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 16/06/2025

“If you skip the struggle, you miss the growth.” @annhandley.bsky.social talking about the importance of not over relying on AI. Her newsletter is always great, but this one is a good reminder not to outsource all of your thinking to AI. It will make you weak.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 13/06/2025

Yesterday I was asked why I’m so bullish on #AI. As a design student, my freshman year was focused on doing layout and type by hand. We rolled ink onto letters. Then we got a new computer lab with something called Photoshop. I saw the digital revolution. Everyone had to evolve. AI is the same.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 08/06/2025

Thanks! I hope they learned something they can use. The best feedback came as an indirect compliment. One attendee mentioned to a colleague that he enjoyed my session, without knowing that I happen to know her. That meant a lot, b/c it wasn’t something he said just to be polite while I was around.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 07/06/2025

Yesterday I gave the talk “Your AI Visuals Are Fine … Until They’re Not” at #EvolveDrupal Boston. I got some laughs, lots of head nods, people taking pics of slides, and a handful of questions afterwards. I consider that a win.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 07/06/2025

I had VAX in high school, so I could send electronic messages to my mother’s work account, but I’m not sure if that was technically email.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 07/06/2025

My first email address was jmm@keene.edu. I was part of the first group to have email. And you can tell they had no idea what they were doing because they didn’t think about how that naming structure scales.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 05/06/2025

I hope tomorrow’s episode of Pivot isn’t locked yet. I can’t wait hear @karaswisher.bsky.social and @profgalloway.com think.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 03/06/2025

Thanks to @timothyhughes.bsky.social for including The Visual Marketer in this top 10 list.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 02/06/2025

So disappointed to hear about the upcoming end of Marc Maron's WTF podcast. I've been listening since the early days. With everything he had going on during the pandemic, my wife and I were worried about him. But, I'm excited for what he does next! #MarcMaron #WTF

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 01/06/2025

“It’s no use stewing over things. The best you can do is work the problem, then tackle the next one.” Great advice from The Boston Globe’s profile of MBTA general manager, Phil Eng.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 01/06/2025

Looking at my newsletter stats, and it's kind of crazy to see that a subscriber who read so regularly just unsubscribed. I kinda want to email them and ask what happened.

List of recent issues of After Design. All but two were opened by the subscriber in question.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 29/05/2025

I was cleaning up a presentation for a speech I’m giving next week. Then I found an old, rejected book cover design I had created for a client. Next thing you know, I’m redesigning the entire slide template. (It works better now).

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 29/05/2025

That is smart. A friend of mine used to be a driver's ed instructor, and he always "taught" the kids how to go through the McDonald's drive-through whenever he was hungry.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 28/05/2025

This makes sense to me. The drive to rename SEO for the age of AI is ego driven so someone can proclaim that they coined the term. People are searching for answers, and we’re structuring our data and content to be found in those results. That’s SEO.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 26/05/2025

I used it like a writing assistant. It helped me save time and to look at things from a new perspective. Oh, and there were a couple of places where I used AI to create an image. I included the prompt so others could see how it was done.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 26/05/2025

Early on, I used AI to review my table of contents to make sure I had a clear through line. Toward the end, I used AI to help define three personas. Then I uploaded the book and ran through it and asked what might be missing for the personas. And I used it to do a first draft of the index.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 26/05/2025

Listening to the latest #ThisOldMarketing and it dawned on me that I didn’t talk about the use of #AI in my book. I wrote the whole book. I used Grammarly to help with some grammar and structure. Sometimes, I used ChatGPT to find better words or phrases if I was overusing a word or phrase.

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Seth From Philly @phillycodehound.com · 25/05/2025

Podcasters on Bluesky! I made a feed that is for sharing tips and tricks and discussions about podcasting. Use: 🎙️or #PodcastersUnite to post to it.

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Jim MacLeod @jimmacleod.com · 23/05/2025

Making some progress on the slides for a speech I’m giving in a couple of weeks The copy is already written and the basic graphics have been created. Now I’m just designing the slides

Screenshot of an Adobe Illustrator window with multiple art boards made up of slides

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