November 2020

Shifting through disciplines

/ TV shows

I started watching Abstract: The Art of Design on Netflix. It’s a documentary series where each episode focuses on one designer and a different kind of design.

One episode is about Neri Oxman, a professor at MIT Media Lab. She leads a research team in exploring materials informed by nature. (Think: a strong plastic-like material made from proteins found in milk.)

In the episode, she talks about the relationship between art, science, engineering, and design. Usually, we think of them as four separate areas. You work in one domain but not the others. But Neri says, what if, instead, we thought of them as a circle? As a clock, where we shift from one discipline to another over time. Input from one domain becomes the output of another.

Neri uses architecture, design, engineering, and biology in her work, so it makes sense that she talks about interdisciplinary work.

A diagram displays on the screen at this point of the episode, and I paused it to draw it myself. When I see a diagram that clicks for me, I love recreating it as my way of learning.

Here’s the circle, with the disciplines each having their own domain, but now connected.

I’m paraphrasing the explanation from the documentary:

Art is for expression. It looks at cultural behavior, which leads to questioning presumptions about the world. These questions lead into science.

Science is for exploration. We gain information (input from art) and turn it into knowledge (output to engineering).

Engineering is for invention. It takes knowledge and turns it into utility for design.

Design is for communication. We take utility, give it context, and turn it into cultural behavior (which is then expressed as art).

Full circle.

Continuing with the clock analogy, Neri says that at the midnight position, that’s where art meets science, where Picasso meets Einstein.

I love this model because it shows the value of these disciplines working together. Rather than limit work to one domain, you can shift through domains (with a team…no one is an expert in all four areas) to create a full understanding, exploration, use, and expression.

Bits of Hell Yeah or No

/ Books /

Here are my notes from Hell Yeah or No by Derek Sivers.

You make connections based on who you are now, not where you’ve been.

You can’t diffuse your energy, trying to do a little bit of everything, or you’ll always be in conflict with yourself.

People have different preferences in different parts of their lives. Famous online, but anonymous in their neighborhood. Generous with time, but stingy with money. Introvert when working, but extrovert when not.

You have to know your preferences well because no matter what you do, someone will tell you you’re wrong.

Look around at those existing ideas in the world. You can imitate them and still be offering something valuable and unique.

All people know is what you’ve chosen to show them.

Say no to almost everything. This starts to free your time and mind.

Saying no makes your yes more powerful.

But most of the time, you need to be more grateful for what you’ve got, for how much worse it could have been, and how nice it is to have anything at all. Ambition versus gratitude. Comparing up versus comparing down.

Amazingly rare things happen to people every day.

Everybody’s ideas seem obvious to them.

We’re clearly bad judges of our own creations. We should just put them out there and let the world decide.

Don’t expect your job to fulfill all your emotional needs. Don’t taint something you love with the need to make money from it. Don’t try to make your job your whole life. Don’t try to make your art your sole income. Let each be what it is, and put in the extra effort to balance the two, for a great life.

Resist the urge to figure it all out in advance. Realize that now, in the beginning, is when you know the least.

John Cage said, “I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.”

Alvin Toffler said, “The illiterates of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

It’s easy to think I need something else. It’s hard to look instead of what to remove.

The most successful people I know have a narrow focus, protect themselves against time-wasters, say no to almost everything, and have let go of old limiting beliefs.

To get smarter, you need to get surprised, think in new ways, and deeply understand different perspectives.

Don’t focus on the example itself. Use it as a metaphor, and apply the lesson to my situation.

David Byrne, the main songwriter of Talking Heads, later said that most of their lyrics were just random. He would write little phrases on pieces of paper, throw them into a bowl, and shuffle them. Then he’d randomly pull some out of the bowl and put them into a song.

Zine: The Danger Zone

/ Zines /

I have some sample fountain pen inks from The Goulet Pen Company that are colors I would not write with, but they are definitely colors I would draw with. A bright yellow ink reminds me of caution tape, so I created this zine of everyday dangers, with the danger highlighted in yellow on each page.

Color photocopies of this zine are available in my Etsy shop.

Zine: Exploring is learning

/ Process, Zines / ,

I wanted to do a space and sea theme for a while, but I was stuck on the words. And then NASA found water on the moon.

I love how the colors, text, and illustrations came together. If you want to read about my process for this zine, keep scrolling after the images. 🙂

Color photocopies of this zine are available in my Etsy shop.

I started with a white sheet of cardstock and used blue and black stamping inks to build the background colors.

The blue ink is distress oxide ink, so it reacts with water. After the blue and black inks dried on the page, I sprayed the blue area with water and used a clean brush to move the water around and add some texture. Then I let it dry completely. I drew the seaweed and everything else in the blue area with Tombow dual brush pens.

I drew the stars and moon in the black area with a white gel pen.

To create the text, I used a Phomemo thermal printer with sticker paper.

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