Currently challenging myself to write about the push-and-pull of creativity and entrepreneurship; art vs capitalism; artistry vs product for 30 days.
If this is something you’re thinking about, then I want to hear from you!!
Gosh! There were so many fun comments last week! Thank you so much!
But it’s Monday, and I’m ready to jump through a few hoops to get to a point. Are you ready?
Let’s start with Nathan on Friday
Commenter Nathan said this about the eternal tension between business and art:
“Designer Bob Baxley […] also challenges the idea of designers trying to justify the value of design using the language of business. Maybe it isn’t helping either party.”
And Bob? Here’s what he says directly
Here’s a link directly to the video:
There’s a lot going on when people are saying you have to speak the language of business […] like ROI.
Design is a way that we as the creators and companies and culture show that we care about the people we’re making products for.
There are millions and billions of people that are counting on us to make something meaningful. […] It’s easy to lose sight of that when using the language of business.
This takes us back to the hair suspension acrobat
In my last post, I shared how acrobat Danila Bim shares how because she is not the same everyday, she tries to bring that to her performance. It’s not just about her; she recognizes that for whoever is sitting in the darkness, this is a special moment in their lives. They have made an active decision to come to the circus for an experience, and she aims to reward and honor them with her performance. When you watch the video, you’ll hear the gasps as soon as they see Danila suspended in the air from her hair!
That now brings us to the keyword: BODY
Or rather embodiment. Art—and all its forms—is an expressive way to communicate. Any artist will tell you that they must first embody whatever they plan to create. Their brain/body is a vessel, and the output is the performance, the piece, the expression of that embodiment. The expression is a form of communication which gets telegraphed through the art form directly into the brains and bodies of whoever interacts with it—even within a hushed darkened auditorium.
The technical world, especially now, is all about automation and efficiency. For the the last 10-15 years or so, “frictionless” has been the word de jour. I hate this word. At first, it meant that we aimed to make the world easier. But it has come to actually mean “thoughtless.”
We are building products and experiences that separate people from their bodies. The screen itself is a disembodiment. It takes away emotion and agency.
There goes your hand to touch your phone without you even realizing that you are doing it.
Here you are coming back to awareness in your body without understanding that 5 hours have passed.
Now you’re taking a social media post as fact—that the person spontaneously was caught in this pose or action—when it is definitely not.
Here you are giving your voice to an LLM and taking what it spits back at you as your true thoughts.
[✂]
A thing I tell clients, teams, students, and myself all the time? Words, language, expression are not inert. They aren’t just meant to fill spaces between images or buttons. They are actually the things spur action, and the simpler you want to say something big, then the harder it is.
[✂]
Ok, let’s end with Good Morning
That’s a movie by Yasujiro Ozu set just 5 years or so post WWII. It’s a slice-o’-life film about two brothers who just want their parents to buy them a TV. In an argument, the parents tell the boys to shut up—stop wasting so many words. In response, the brothers say how all adults are filled with useless talk—good morning, hello, how are you, excuse me, etc.
The brothers swear not to say another word till they get their TV.
Later, two characters have this conversation:
Tutor: It’s rather interesting. For children, our greetings may seem like a waste of time [… . But it] acts as a lubricant in this world.
Sister: Important things are difficult to say.
Tutor: Whereas meaningless things are easy to say.
[✂]
We are drowning in words, data, opinion, science, fact, fiction, and noise the moment we touch an interface. So I think it begs the question:
Are you doing it mindfully and with meaning? Or is easy action diluting you from yourself?
When the world is frictionless, what you find inside yourself? What will be worthwhile enough to share?
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Extra Fun Thing
So much farting.