Jenny Wen

genuinely impressed by people who write newsletters and their ability to like, have things to say on a regular basis

this is my super bowl www.jezebel.com/nathan-field...

there is great power in a good button-up shirt

how much worse can it get apnews.com/article/walg...

four years of Boys Behaving Badly

pregaming in your 30s is just having a liquid IV *before* you go out

to live in new york is to fight for your life on a semi-regular basis

401k rollover is one of the scariest things you can do as an adult

one thing i really loved about being unemployed was feeling like time was plentiful. it felt okay to meander — to not optimize or feel any opportunity cost of one thing over the other.

when we fly, anything goes, diet-wise. on land, we are health-conscious and pure. at 30,000 ft, there are no rules. beer at 8:00am, crush a family-sized bag of m&ms before take off, two ginger ales— “i’ll take the can please.”

in a world of cloud files, there is something quaint about saving something to your hard drive. like, it lives in this one place for just yourself and no one else at all.

one thing i love about building a narrative is that it’s all intuitive. there’s so something that feels so powerful about listening to the little voice inside yourself.

one of my favorite things is going to a concert at an iconic venue like Radio City, and then seeing the artist get really emotional about finally being at a place in their career to play Radio City. (it always happens at Radio City, and i love it so much there)

👉 @jennywen.ca

✌️i joined @AnthropicAI recently to help lead design for our friend, claude.ai. i'm also returning to IC! i believe that design leadership in this era demands us to be excellent at crafting products *and* teams. i love embracing this fluidity.

i unironically love the SF ferry building

still too cheap for aesop soap / dude you just wash it down the drain

the most delightful thing i’ve purchased recently is this little pill case shaped like a peapod. i literally grin everytime i use it in public kikkerland.com/products/pea...

so much of… everything is just pattern matching

nothing better than a thrift in an old money neighborhood 🌟

my new years affirmations

happy two year anniversary to the time where i took a flight from toronto to new york and we circled, ran out of fuel, and went back to toronto ten hours later

i finally learned how to use “Airtable”

i haven’t really worn makeup for a month and i think i’m actually starting to prefer the look of my own bare skin more

can’t believe we used to just go outside in the canadian winter, no uniqlo heattech, in a non-down-filled jacket 🥶

the most embarrassing parts of toronto are the TTC stations where we set the signage in Univers, Ariel, Helvetica and faux Helvetica 😫 joeclark.org/appearances/...

one thing i think is a detrimental attribute of a society is a negative attitude towards math. it’s very strange to me that in north america math gets dismissed as too hard or too confusing by most people. especially to kids.

remember when you were a kid and your parents’ friends were like, “omg!!! you’re so big now. last time we saw you, you were small,” and you thought it was so annoying?? yeah, i’m those parents’ friends now

maybe some software is just complete. it doesn’t need anymore features.

hadn’t been on a zoom call for a month until today. forgot how to act.

have we ever considered that not all software needs a year-end recap, à la spotify wrapped??

hey! soooo, i left figma last month after 5.5 years. it’s so corny to feel this way about a job, but i *loved* this job. in many ways, i grew up there. i checked off a ton of career dreams, and i grew as a person in ways i never expected. i am eternally grateful 💞

our attention spans are shorter than ever and they keep making movies longer than ever

sometimes you gotta consume a lot before you create again

The dramatic reveal when you've been listening to somebody talk, and you're thinking "ah, that's just some regular guy" and then they have the long "O" in "pro-cess" or whatever and suddenly you realize you've been engaging with A CANADIAN

one caution i have with “personal brand” is that i never want to concern myself with it more than the actual work. and i never want it to disproportionally shinier than my abilities. i often find myself receding when i feel like the two are out of whack.

every year around this time, i make a portfolio, build it to about 70% completion and never actually ship it. then when i stumble upon it a year later, i hate everything about it and start the cycle again.

back on wired headphones and it feels… so good??

eating home cooked food after a long trip >>>>

the worst part about traveling for so much of the last two months is skipping new york fall 🥲

too used to my work calendar being packed that i can’t help but pack my time off calendar with soooo many activities: broadway shows, a bunch of self-care rituals, craft workshops, an ikebana class, a live podcast…. it’s a lot, but it’s *so* refreshing to feel full control over my time.

Say you're leading the design of a complex project... How do you attack that ambiguity and get momentum on your ideas? I made a short video with some of my favorite insights from @jennywen.ca and others👇 join.dive.club/ep5

low key obsessed with tiny social platforms that i use with different sets of friends.

super down to avoid using “guys” when addressing a group of people, but there is something satisfying about looking another woman in the eyes and being like, “dude…”

there’s incredible power in wearing an outfit that strikes the mood of the day perfectly.

in the age of social media, it’s so nice sometimes to do a thing and not post about it all. it feels like a little secret between you and the people there. idk, it’s special.

i live for a good group chat

feeling like i’m in my cocoon phase — messy, goopy, unformed. but knowing there’s something different for me when i emerge. i love this feeling.

it is kind of nice to declare following bankruptcy and decide to selectively refollow people!

how many days of listening before spotify wrapped?? need to completely change my listening so my friends think i have cool taste in music