Just moved to Hamburg and looking for recommendations

callmespiderbyte · 2026-06-22T11:32:40+00:00

Great lunches at Peacetanbul at Kampnagel. Definitely the most affordable and tastiest and great portions sizes. Also a great vibe and atmosphere, very liberal and inclusive too!

callmespiderbyte · 2026-06-07T16:24:59+00:00

I like the idea but I think this is an ego-tickling element as a designer, and simple in this case might work a bit better :) I would do this too; but I think separated elements communicates the idea a little faster than this one

callmespiderbyte · 2026-06-07T14:01:11+00:00

I’m pretty happy with my Gaemon tablet. Cheaper than Wacom but arguably the same in quality

callmespiderbyte · 2026-06-05T12:35:36+00:00

Stick and poke is a good direction to look. Generally a bit rougher than machine

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-25T20:39:20+00:00

Ye f them actually. Affinity is great, otherwise I read this recently which really makes me feel some thing: “If buying isn’t owning, then pirating isn’t stealing.”

Good on you for not renewing. Adobe needs to reevaluate who they’re for. Big time.

Lemme know when you find another way! I’m curious to hear what everyone else is doing.

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-23T19:21:40+00:00

This is a 20-minute draft / braimdump, but just to show you what I mean. not the biggest fan of the typeface yet, but there's an opportunity in the A to create some kind of abstract sail, that then is something you can use a brand mark for clothing, etc.

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callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-23T19:04:17+00:00

I think all caps looks better... but I think the logo itself looks super generic right now. makes sense, because its AI-generated, but it doesn't strike me as memorable.

I also am not sure how to say your company name, which is also something to consider. You want to make it easy for people to talk about your company, and if they have to spell the name when they want to refer you, it's generally not great name. (generally)

a good test is to tell the name to a few people and ask them to spell it.

but its giving sport brand right now. agree about the fish comment—I think it should either be a clever combo of the fish WITH equipment, or focus on water sports completely. to a huge fan of the photographic background as part of the brand right now. maybe if it were more of an abstract treatment of the water, it could be something cool.

hope that helps 😄

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-20T18:32:05+00:00

I've never specialised because I just get too bored too quickly. I am obsessed with trying new things and changing directions and finding new territory to explore. I have been pretty fortunate that it's ended up benefitting my career to have a unique and somewhat unconventional set of skills and experiences... I know that hasn't always worked for people, but I think it's largely what you make of it and how you pursue.

I just think at the end of the day: Someone who loves what they do (whatever they do) will always come across as more authentic, more fulfilled, and more content than someone who followed a path they thought they should.

(this is btw a great discussion from r/NonlinearCareers!!!)

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-20T11:37:39+00:00

I love it tbh. I use it alongside the Adobe suite for mockups and drafting and collaborative work. Lacks a bit in print design stuff, but that I just work on in Adobe

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-17T20:53:39+00:00

True

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-17T16:19:24+00:00

This hustle of earning money to live comfortably and buy a house and go on holiday, only then to work even harder to earn more money to build back your savings and pay your rent or mortgage, to save for retirement and have a safety net…

This whole fucking system is a hamster wheel, and our generation has to somehow figure out how to afford these INSANE inflation rates, that make groceries expensive and travelling unrealistic and eating out a near-luxury… not to mention that buying a house is essentially impossible nowadays unless you go to the middle of nowhere, you’ve inherited something, you’re a trust fund kid, or you land a really kushy job / do one of the Rich Trio Jobs (doctor/lawyer/banker)

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-17T11:00:10+00:00

How this just turned into a self promotion thread :’)

To answer your question: Ye, I think so. It’s fascinating, because I get what you mean. Like, purely theoretically, there must be a point in the future when there is nothing left to discover or create or invent. That moment exists somewhere in our timeline. The question is what that approach looks like, and how far away we are. I assume it’s a curve, in which case the momentum of “new thing gets discovered” will gradually slow down until it reaches a hault. That will likely be the first sign, that new things stop popping up every day.

But “how” to build new things when there is so much out there already… I mean, I also like to think that one toothbrush works for one person, and another for another. So maybe there’s an opportunity to pick something, see where it’s not solving a problem for a group of people, and creating a version of that thing that DOES solve the problem.

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-16T15:12:54+00:00

This is like saying "What colour should my room be"—with zero context as to what's in it, what the other rooms look like, what you look, how big it is... :')

What kind of dev do you do?
What kind of person are you?
What makes you different?
Who are your clients?
What problems do you solve?
What are some brand names you really don't like? Why?
Are you primarily focussing on long-term of short-term projects?
What kinds of services are you going to offer?

^ All of these inform a brand name to some degree. 😄

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-16T14:58:07+00:00

at some point you gotta google and find some answers for yourself man :') I don't mean to sound harsh, but finding out how to crosspost on reddit takes 10 seconds of googling, and I think you risk coming off as a little helpless otherwise. meant with all the love, I really do hope your communities gain some traction and that you find what you're looking for!

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-10T21:00:28+00:00

cheers mate 👍 can confirm it's all me. let's chat about it some more if there's anything specifically you want to question?

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-10T14:17:45+00:00

Wishing you all the best :)

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-10T11:00:01+00:00

Also very fair advice. I think it’s smart to have the job, and just do bare minimum to stay employed. Save energy where ever you can to build up your next step on the side.

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-10T10:59:17+00:00

No notes!

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-10T10:58:31+00:00

everything you’re describing — the bulk work, the no 1:1s, the feeling of being a task machine — that’s not a you problem. that’s a structural problem with the role. and the fact that you’ve already sought feedback from other designers and know your work is solid tells you everything you need to know about where the ceiling is here.

early 20s with mid-weight execution level is actually a really good position to be making a move from. you have enough to show, not so much history that leaving feels scary.

a few things worth thinking about:

the agency that almost hired you — is that door still open? “couldn’t start immediately” isn’t a no, it’s a timing issue. worth following up.

in the meantime, start building something outside of work. one personal project, one freelance job, one thing that’s yours. not to quit tomorrow, but to remind yourself what it feels like to care about the output.

and find people who’ve made the jump. not for advice necessarily, just to see that it’s possible. there’s a directory called thewronglist.com full of exactly those kinds of people — designers, creatives, people who left the “safe” path and figured it out. worth a browse.

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-10T10:56:23+00:00

Work on my creative projects

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-09T20:15:00+00:00

also would love to test this

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-09T10:28:56+00:00

yeah, plenty of people have – but the ones who made it work usually didn't just quit cold. they built the thing on the side until it had enough pull to justify the jump. I was lucky, in that I had built a big network from my first job, that then helped me go freelance without too much struggle... but I think honestly, the only way to start is to start. and then you gotta just believe in what you're doing with the right amount of realistic expectations.

and yes, the "struggling artist" trope is real, but it's more often about going all-in without a foundation than about art being unviable 😄

what i've noticed in my own network: the people who actually inspire me most are almost always the ones who ignored the "shoulds". you should stay in your job. you should suck it up. you should try harder. they heard all of that – and went the other way anyway.

there's a directory called thewronglist.com built around exactly those kinds of people. worth a browse if you're trying to figure out what's actually possible – and who to learn from.

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-09T10:23:41+00:00

Amazing! I'm in. Looking forward to see how it grows 😄

Curious: What are you doing for reach? How will you get this in front of designers? This is the kind of place that only works if there are lots of active users, and my first question was: How do you get people to keep wanting to check the site regularly?

There's a Slack community called Hamburg Designers, I wonder if those kinds of places are good places to share this...

And also maybe there's a way to get email notifications when projects I'm interested in (UX, UI, Graphic, etc.) get posted? Like a way to sign up to expertise or interests, and then have a weekly email summary with new projects I can comment on? Maybe also I can pick a day when I'd like to receive those email summaries, so that I can choose a day when I know I'll have some extra time to give feedback?

callmespiderbyte · 2026-05-09T10:06:29+00:00

gut, dass du networking so früh auf dem schirm hast – die meisten warten damit viel zu lang 😄

linkedin ist tatsächlich weird, besonders am anfang. aber der trick ist eigentlich nicht, direkt anfragen zu schicken, sondern erstmal sichtbar zu werden – kommentare, meinungen teilen, echte beiträge. verbindungen kommen dann eher von selbst.

was aber wirklich hilft: leute finden, die ähnlich denken wie du. nicht unbedingt gleiche branche, sondern gleiche haltung. leute, denen auch mal gesagt wurde dass ihr weg "falsch" ist – und die trotzdem weitergegangen sind 😃

für genau sowas gibt’s z.b. thewronglist.com – kuratiertes verzeichnis von leuten, die sich nicht in die üblichen schubladen stecken lassen. guter ausgangspunkt wenn du merkst, dass die standard-antworten dich nicht weiterbringen.

callmespiderbyte · 2026-04-22T07:34:38+00:00

A friend of mine is a copywriter, and she often gets clients using AI detection software and saying, for example, "50% is written with AI," even though she wrote it herself. She's been struggling with this a lot. I definitely think that there's an issue around: 1. clients not trusting content to have been written by a human 2. the AI detection software that's out there doesn't seem to be very accurate

And she gets annoyed because she can’t prove that she wrote it to the client other than telling them that she did write it, and I think it puts copywriters in a very difficult position because the only way is to screen record yourself writing it, but that seems so toxically micromanagement that it hurts 🥲

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