The Tremendous 10 link roundup, #257

1. As companies look to bring remote workers back to the office, a writer asks: Why? | “The evidence is mixed, but many employees say they’re able to be more productive working from home than they were in the office. At the same time, there’s value in being able to collaborate in person.”
2. Michigan’s only HBCU closed in 2013. Now it’s reopening as a free design school | “The newly opened school is called the Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design. The “Pensole” comes from Pensole Design Academy, a nonprofit design program in Portland, Oregon, that focuses on teaching underrepresented students skills for the shoe-design industry. Pensole was founded in 2010 by D’Wayne Edwards, a former design director at Nike.” Via Design Observer.
3. Visualizations That Make You Go ‘Hmmm’ | “When it comes to big data, advanced analytics, and AI, we’re conditioned to expect the big ‘aha!’ moment. We expect to see the crazy-haired data expert leap out of bed, saying something like ‘By George, I think I’ve got it!’ But for Zan Armstrong, a data visualization engineer with Observable, the big breakthroughs are more likely to start with a simple ‘hmmm, that looks strange.'”
4. Secret Whiteboard: Flip From Work to Home In One Motion | “A hanging print frame that opens to reveal a large magnetic whiteboard. Make any space multifunctional.”
5. Let’s Ignore Each Other in the Same Room | “Why parallel play is good for grown-ups, too.”
6. Kid A Mnesia | “With the release of Kid A Mnesia, there’s been a welcome dump of material looking back at Radiohead’s make-or-break period… I’m obsessed with the intertwingling of art, sound and ideas about landscape, so when Thom talks about these things, I’m there. And I love his point about a naive process, reminiscent of McLuhan’s praise for the amateur.” Via Chris Glass.
7. Karim Rashid on Design Losing Ground as a Respected Profession | “Yesterday Karim Rashid posted this 8-minute walk-and-talk, where he brings up some topics you rarely hear about: An oversaturation of design schools and designers, a high number of designers willing to work for little or free, and the effect that’s having on the overall business model whereby someone pays you to add value to their product or process.”
8. How to make a map of your mind | “I wrote about making mind maps in last Tuesday’s free bonus newsletter, “How to make a map of your mind.” I also recorded myself making one…”
9. Google Docs rolling out file review & approval system to Workspace tiers | “Google built this system in Docs/Sheets/Slides to replace workflows that involve manually attaching Drive documents to an email or chat for approval. The entire process can occur ‘without leaving the secure environment of Google Workspace,’ with the company pitching this capability for contracts, legal documents, and ‘other situations where formal approval is required.'”
10. Instant Lettering, a Letraset Database. | “Pardon our dust! We’ve just launched and are still hard at work cleaning up code and uploading typesheets. Bookmark the page and come back often to see the collection expand.”

Image: The Secret Whiteboard, via link #4.