Shipwrecks; The waste age; Creative inspiration
💡Think
More often than not, throwing more resources at a problem won't fix if you fundamentally don't understand what's wrong.
Earlier, for example, I was trying to work out a problem and was frantically Googling for an answer, but I really just don't understand what I'm trying to do and need to take a step back before moving forward.
To get around this, going to the source of truth is more usually the best first step we can take.
Information within organisations is filtered many times before we get a chance to see it, so how can we ensure we're getting the cleanest version of the problem?
📷 Look
📖 Read
❶ Inventing the shipwreck
The ship-whatnow? Bear with me here, this is a brilliant concept. The fact is that with the invention of the ship came the shipwreck – an un-planned risk. So when we look at our own work, what shipwrecks are we inherently creating with what we're making? It's a brilliant metaphor, particularly as we shift into a world increasingly fixated on things such as deregulation and open data.
❷ Ours is the waste age
This one requires a bit of self reflection, particularly after the holiday season and the amount of waste most of us witnessed. This essay argues that waste isn't just a byproduct anymore, it's our culture. Finding plastic bags at the bottom of the ocean just isn't something we can continue to support. We've built a culture of consumption and therefore waste. Nicely linked to the previous article too.
❸ The myth of creative inspiration
The word "myth" is a strong one, but this article does have some solid foundations. The reality is that without a strong routine where we set ourselves up to be creative, with the comfort that we may produce junk, there's no way we will ever create anything. It's with routine that we build muscle, and with that we can build consistency and work we'd be proud of.
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Bonus round
I had an article published in Smashing Magazine this week. It's part 1 of my "10 tips for aspiring designers" mega-article
AirBnB designer Angela Li wrote a lovely piece about the "degrees of being online" and how it's easy to not really know anyone
🎧 Listen
The ghost in the machine
I really loved this one. It's broken down into a few different sections, but I think you'll all particularly enjoy the part about GPT-3 (future "robots will take our jobs" tech stuff) and an author attempting to write an article using AI alone. It's bittersweet in that the article is about the trauma of losing her sister, but the way the AI is making stories up to fit the narrative is therapy in itself, allowing her to remember what really did happen.
Listen to this podcast (...)