Makerbook – A directory of free resources for creatives | Hacker News Reader

Makerbook – A directory of free resources for creatives

makerbook.net

116 pointsCraigJBarber22 comments

I was dissapointed to find that this site was not about resources for "making", as in Maker Movement. I was expecting a good library of things like "How to make an armchair", "How to build your own 3d printer".

I though the same thing, but we kinda-sorta already have that with http://www.instructables.com

[1] http://www.instructables.com/id/Ramified-Armchair-bending-pl...

[2] http://www.instructables.com/howto/3d+printer/

Not free, but the most recent Humble Books Bundle has a bunch of stuff targeted to the Maker crowd:

https://www.humblebundle.com/books

Yes, the term maker is quiet broad these days. There's no reason I can't expand it to the different types of makers I guess. Thanks for the feedback.

In 2009 how was the term used by pg?

http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html

Neat site!

Bug report: Broken link from the "Tools" sidebar links to this page http://makerbook.net/?page_id=292

Thanks, yes picked that one up. It is a 'Tools' section which I'm still working on. Cheers : )

I have a little bit of a problem with the word 'creatives' used in this way to describe a category of people (and often as a self-descriptor). It implies that some people are creative and some people are not. Because if everyone was creative then why use the word? Further, it is talking only about a supposed quality of a person and not what they actually do. Otherwise it would be 'creators'. And if you are using these resources, surely it is to actually do some 'creating'?

I asked a friend who is a preschool teacher (and became friends when my kid was in her class for 2 years, 4-5 year olds) if she thought that all children were creative (regardless of talent), or if she thought that only some kids were creative and other kids were not really - just doing what they were told. Her answer was unequivocal - "all kids are creative. Not all are talented, but they all create"

I love sci-fi, and I was asking her the question because the future utopian dream is that the 3-D Printing cornucopia machines deliver to humanity all they want, and the only task left to do is to create. So to me it seems settled. All people are creative as children and somehow that goes away as they become adults. I suspect people just adapt to the best way for them to get by, creative or drudgery, whatever it takes. The modern school system can probably take some credit, as well as human's normal tendency to adapt to whatever the herd is doing - ie if all your adult friends stop playing with LEGO maybe you would too. (I did not stop playing with LEGO)

So I hope all humans are once more makers, and we can stop with silly labels. I have been making stuff for 40 years+ and it seems odd that the world now has a word to describe what I was always doing.

Not all are talented?! You mean not everyone's talent is understood and appreciated :)

Napolean Hill postulates that there are two types of creativity.

1. One is analytical and is the intuition that comes from turning over a topic and examining all the angles.

2. the other is a flash of insight that comes from outside the person.

As someone who considers himself exceptionally creative (but not so humble) I can tell you that most of my ideas come from seeing a pattern in something and applying that pattern to whatever I am working on. Most of the universe is fractals and when you see interesting relationships between random things it gives you a new way to think about whatever you are considering.

I think he is coming from an advertising background where creatives refer to writers and designers. All of these resources are great for creatives at ad agencies.

Yes, and why should anyone be surprised that these "creatives" came up with a cool, self-aggrandizing, term for promoting themselves? That is after all their calling.

The existence of a directory of sources for 'free color swatches' suggests that there might be such a thing as 'proprietary' color swatches. I mean, I know there's Pantone, but are there sites out there in the same vein as these free resources but which charge?

Speaking about maker books, check out the Humble Make Book Bundle: https://www.humblebundle.com/books. For $14 you can get 13+ really good books.

Nice site, it would be cool to add a section for free 3d model sites.

Thanks for the suggestion. Will look into it : )

I like the idea, but it looks like one of those domain squatted spam sites right now....

"The best sites to get free, high quality $THING" over and over looks a bit... bot-generated.

As was once told to me:

"The first rule of design is 'use your own material'.

The second rule of design is 'use your own material'.

The third rule of design is 'use your own material'."

Yes, use things like good photography and video, maybe some icons and make something awesome. It's the ingredients that make a good cake right?

Wow, great resources. I really like http://www.pexels.com/ to find free photos

Yes, Pexels is awesome. Such high quality of photography and video.

Only a few links there?

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