For New Year's Eve, we had some friends visiting. Since our son goes to bed quite early, we decided to celebrate the Japanese New Year instead. It takes place at 16:00, so we had gyozas, little rice cakes, and wasabi peanuts. It was fun. Bento was especially excited about the fireworks.
Went to a Russian supermarket, twice to a German supermarket, and to top it off, once to a DIY-chain store. It was a busy day but still managed to play with Bento and post some thoughts thoughts on LinkedIn while he took a nap.
I had to work today. Although I took most of December off, I didn't have enough vacation days left to take the whole month. I spent most of it catching up with a new corporate influencer program.
My 2 year old engaged in a conversation with me using some of his Portuguese vocabulary, "Tatu boio tia bebe dois” meaning “Ambulance, train, aunt, baby, two”. I can really feel the struggle, but also the effort. Building sentences is hard, but the effort eventually always pays off.
Most people look at good and simple designs and think, "I could have easily done it myself". Because simple looks easy. But in reality simple is hard. Simple requires looking at the same thing everyone else looks at and be able to perceive its essence when everyone else sees nothing of essence.
Woke up early and spent most of the day flying back home. Arrived at 17:00 and it feels good to be home.
Visited my sister in the afternoon. It was good spending a little with them, but sad that I couldn’t stay longer – we still had to pack our bags. I have the feeling that my interactions have become much more superficial, mostly because we never have enough time.
We spent the Christmas at my Mom’s house with my wife’s sister and mother. For the first time I dressed myself as Santa. Bento was super excited but a little scared. Also, a personal christmas hack is buying all gifts on Christmas Eve. This time it took me more or less one hour to get done with it. Everything is way less crowded. I love Christmas but I hate how busy everything gets on the weeks prior to it.
Bluesky, the social network that started as a initiative within Twitter, has just announced a new logo. The press release mentions that the choice of a butterfly as a symbol was inspired by its users usage of the butterfly emoji to indicate their Bluesky handles. It does the job, but somehow it brings MSN back to memory.
I met my good friends Pedro and André for dinner. I really miss spending time with them. The conversation revolved, naturally, around fatherhood, and… AI. One of the little kids had a low fever – I hope Bento doesn’t get it. Would suck for him to be sick on Christmas.
The word "design" is difficult, not because it is hard to pronounce, but because its meaning and usage vary between verb and noun, referring to both the process and the outcome. Some people even consider design to be a subjective quality of products when they say really hurtful things like "I really like the design of the latest iPhone." None of this is wrong, and even though I personally lean more towards the design as a process team, I also find the definition proposed by the Hungarian designer László Moholy-Nagy in his 1947 essay "Designing is not a profession but an attitude" really fascinating. He argues that design should "be transformed from the notion of a specialist function into a generally valid attitude of resourcefulness and inventiveness". Because design is about creativity, and everyone has creative potential.
We don’t easily let go of habits. I always lean towards the same type of non-fiction books. I read the news in the same websites I always do. I even eat the same breakfast everyday, religiously – black coffee and toast. I tend to avoid things that I find strange. But doesn’t design work require being open to things that are unusual, strange, different? Otherwise, all we create, is a bunch of creative sameness. So in 2024, I will make an effort to read something I don’t usually read, try other processes, visit uncomfortable places (both physically and mentally), talk to strangers, allow myself to get lost, dream different, embrace the strange. Maybe like Alice, sometimes all we need is to follow the White Rabbit, even if just for a little bit.
The Adobe+Figma $20 billion merger deal has been called off. What does this mean for the future of design tools? Will Adobe try to compete with Figma again, or will they partner despite the failed merger? Personally, I hope the former - more competition is good for industry.
I have been writing this journal for almost a year. I hope to continue for as long as I can. I would have loved to read a diary from my father. Hope Bento gets to do it.
Do we ever forget other people? My mind constantly drifts to people I hold dear close to my heart but who are no longer part of my life.
...
Before checking out from the hotel, we still had time to a delicious breakfast and a swim in the pool.
Sweet little restaurant in Mora with a very large Aquarium in it. Bento was fascinated with all the huge fish swimming around. Other than that, pool in the morning, pool in the afternoon.
In the morning, we went to the swimming pool and then in the afternoon, we visited Montargil's center and a dam. When we returned to the hotel, we went to the pool again. It had been months since we last took Bento to a pool, so in the morning he held on to me tightly. But in the afternoon, he was already less afraid.
We drove to Montargil, where we will spend three nights. During half of the trip, I had to split my attention between old rock songs playing on Spotify and Bento in the backseat repeating, "Are we there yet?"
Visited a few locations in and around Lisbon where there was a Santa Claus. Bento was apprehensive at first, but excited when Santa gave me a high five.
Today was Bento’s second birthday. It was good seeing a lot of friends and family – definitely a full house. But as usual, the more people come, the less time you can actually spend with them. But among the chaos, Bento was happy.
How would you feel if it is found that meta used your instagram photos as training data for their new image generation tool? Well, they did.
Started the day giving a presentation GenAI for images and videos. Afterwards I packed my bags, picked up Bento from the Kindergarten, and left to the airport. Ended the day flying to Lisbon. I’m tired.
Our company will leave the office I spent nearly a year involved in planing and designing. It is frustrating, and I hate that feeling.
My yearly performance review reads great on paper. But, it is bittersweet in its meaninglessness, with salary increases frozen and the prospect of a difficult economy for 2024.
ChatGPT was trained with data that represents the average of human literary quality, so it makes sense that its texts have an average literary quality. Not great in style, but still better than those from non-writers.
Today starts the last week before vacations. A lot is going through my mind – for better or worse this will be the last month of normalcy.
It is mind blowing that carpet bombing a land is now the result of automation, where everything is nothing but a game of statistics being played by powerful algorithms. War is divisive, and I don’t want to take sides, but AI was meant to solve society's biggest problems... Not arts, and certainly not killing.
The media is so focused on everything OpenAI, ChatGPT, and the potential dangers that AGI might bring, that they completely overlooked the AI algorithmic warfare brought by companies like Peter Thiel's Palantir. Through highly sophisticated algorithms that excel at the correlation between signals intelligence with satellite imagery, military forces can now quickly identify enemy positions, potential casualties, and countless other indicators in seconds. Israel's AI-powered system called "The Gospel" is an example of such technology. It generates hundreds of automated recommendations for attacking targets . . . a day. And this from a prior amount of less than hundred per year. Whoever developed “The Gospel” is still unknown, but my guess is that Palantir played a role. And the thought that public listed companies can be behind the automation of war is scary as hell.
It is really nice to have the choice to work from home. I always do it on Mondays and Fridays. For sure, it comes with whole bunch of distractions – especially when the kindergarten is closed. But… life is too short to miss out on your kids growing up. And my daily commute to, and from work, steals two hours of that precious time per day. That’s 10 hours per week that I’m never getting back. The possibility of decreasing that even by just a little is priceless.
Today I read an interesting manifesto from 37signals defending one-time payments for software versus the current standard of everything is SaaS. In principle I agree, especially for products that aren’t web based. That’s how things used to work before – pay once, and then pay for updates.At least companies would make an effort to release meaningful updates, not incremental bs.
There is something special about the German Christmas markets. I don't know exactly what it is, but the charming little huts, along with the warm Glühwein, truly create a unique atmosphere. Today, my team and I went to a market close to our office. Sinatra and the Rat Pack was playing. It was nice. But I didn’t get to see Bento in the evening.
I keep reading that works generated with GenAI tools can’t be copyrighted. But I really, really doubt that the people working at the trademark offices are able to discern between man-made logos and AI generated ones.
When did the term "design" become almost exclusively associated with software design? There is so much more beyond just software.
My iPhone X just started exhibiting an extremely irritating defect. Now it only charges when turned off. Apparently it is a lightning socket defect, which after some research Apple repairs for the modest amount of 500€ – they basically just exchange the device. I really hate how companies make tech unaffordable to maintain.
More and more designers appear to be feeling a certain uneasiness when it comes to diffusion models and how they might impact their profession. I am too. AI companies are aggressively going after creativity as if there is an urgent need to solve a lack of creativity in the world. I don't get it. Especially considering how savage the job market is at the moment, it‘s not like creatives needed any more pressure.
Today was the Christmas party at work, and at the same time the company's 20-year anniversary. It was good fun. We drank, ate well, and danced. However, I can't shake this strange feeling in my gut as we get closer to the end of the year.
I had an evaluation conversation with a colleague of mine that reports directly to me. She reminds me of myself. Passionate, curious, talented, but introverted. it is hard to evaluate people, but feedback is totally worth it. Both ways.
I am totally obsessed with Prelude in E Minor from Chopin. I spent the whole day listening to different versions while working. By far, the one I like the most is the one from Gerry Mulligan. The Bossa Nova rythm and the Saxofone texture really make it the perfect soundtrack of a more modern sad love story. And I love melancholic music.
I was at the office today but decided to go home during lunch time. No one from my team was there, and it kind of sucks to be alone in the office. I like working from the office, but not alone.
I have the impression that all this drama marked the end of OpenAI as the one in the front sit towards AGI. It seems like they’re more focused on productizing their existing models, less on researching alternatives to LLMs. But time will tell.
We visited a friend for cake in the afternoon. As usual Bento thought we were either going to the doctor or dropping him at the Kindergarten – he cried. But after a while, he was all smiles. It just took some toys.
I started working on a new case study. It’s been some time since I did this. It’s always a pain to go through project archives. So many fucking files.
Yay, I’m now 39. Had dinner with my Caterina and Bento, we sang happy birthday and ate some cake. It was sweet, but maybe also the lamest birthday ever. After everyone went to bed I had a beer.
The VP of Audio at Stability AI just quit due to a disagreement with the company on the usage of copyrighted material to train AI models. He stated: "Today's generative AI models can clearly be used to create works that compete with the copyrighted works they are trained on. So I don't see how using copyrighted works to train generative AI models of this nature can be considered fair use."
After a few days with no improvement, we took Bento back to the doctor. It seemed that his condition was bacterial rather than viral. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic, which Bento cannot stand, but today he finally started improving.
The last design project I worked on before leaving my previous job just won a red dot award. But it’s kind of unfair that the agency does not even acknowledge people that were part of the project team between 2019 and 2020 – Jörg, Julia, Birthe, Jens, me.
I found a community for generative AI explorations, and submitted my first contribution to a cinematic challenge. Really happy to have found a gang as commited as I am to explore these new possibilities.
Bento is sick again. He was as playful as he normally is, and in a good mood the whole day – now he shouts “Ai ai ai” when I go after his train with the police car. In the evening it was a bit concerning as his fever flared up. I ended up calling the doctor at 10pm, but I need to remind myself that it is totally normal – kids are always sick.
Lazy Sunday, took Bento to the playground, and spent a couple of hours diving deeper into Runway ML – it’s not so easy to get good results, but I will keep trying.
Highlight of the day was going with Bento to the Martins Tag parade. He was beyond excited.
Designers tend to like discussing the differences between art and design, pointing out that art serves no function while design does. I don’t know about that, but I would rather live in a world surrounded by art than in a world without art. And I think most would agree. Aesthetics matter. Artistic experiences matter. Even when it’s not about art.
Old iPhones were somewhat superior ergonomics wise. Thumb movements felt much more comfortable with smaller screens.
Apparently, the Big Bang was not the beginning. I just watched a video that explained how recent findings might lead to theories of infinite universes, or at least an infinite contraction and expansion - much like breathing.
I still hold the opinion that the training method used for diffusion models like Midjourney is somewhat unethical. But, as a creative I also can’t stop but be amazed by how incredible powerful they already are. Especially when it comes to visuals in support of storytelling like defining looks for games, films, or commercials. In this case, I wanted to continue exploring the theme of solitude and sandy planets, but now giving a face to the explorer. Tools used: Midjourney, Photoshop, Gigapixel.
I love the kind of work I do at the moment, but it kind of sucks not being able to explore the possibilities of new AI tools in the context of brand identity work.
Today we went to the 'Altonaer Blaulichttag', a street display of fire trucks and ambulances, things Bento is extremely obsessed with. Afterwards, we met with Florian & Kathrin for some cake and coffee. Felt nice.
Musk really does not give a damn about branding. Twitter (formally known as X) just launched a ChatGPT competitor that uses the Deutsche Bank logo.
The latest update of Runway ML Gen-2 looks amazing. The things the community is doing have been inspiring me to create a short video about space exploration. Today, I started creating the first few scenes featuring a space explorer figure. It looks promising.
The latest thing that Bento has been saying the most is "Uh uh?" He always adds an interrogative tone to it and uses it "millions of times" every day. For example, he says "Uh uh?" for "Let's play with the legos?"
Back to work. Decided to work from home as apparently we all had a mild case of covid. I tested negative but Caterina tested positive. After vacations, even if just a long weekend, it always takes me a bit to get back to work mood. Especially so close to the year’s end.
Finally home. Flying with a toddler is really tiring. He slept a bit on the second flight, and I managed to have a bit of red wine – thanks business class, but never again.
Last day in Valencia before flying back to Hamburg. I was feeling fit, but now the other 2 were sick with fever. We rested and stayed within the surroundings of the Hotel the whole day.
On our second day in Valencia, something funny happened during breakfast. We left our backpacks and Bento's stroller by a table and stepped away to grab some food. To our surprise, when we came back, a French couple had taken over our table and refused to leave – love such considerate people. Anyway, we found another table and proceeded to explore the city. Beautiful historical buildings. We were also lucky that the center was closed to traffic due to a marathon. Later we had some street food at El Garage (average), and Bento played with a person dressed as Pikachu while we ate ice cream.
First day in Valencia and I must say it is a beautiful city. I really like urban coastal cities with good weather (26 degrees, even though it’s the end of October). Despite being sick, I still wanted to make the most out of it. In the morning, we visited a Bio Park with several African animals. And in the late afternoon, we couldn’t resist the beach.
It's Friday, and we spent the day flying from Hamburg to Madrid and from Madrid to Valencia for a long weekend. I'm almost forty, and it was my first time flying business class. Bento is not even two, and he can already check that off his list.
I can’t stand this war. After watching several debates on the topic, I can’t understand how a very large amount of people see Israel’s actions as some sort of proportionate response – for fucks sake, indiscriminate bombardment of civilians in Gaza.
Ah, Old Dads is a bad, stupid movie. I really can't recommend it, but at the same time, I really enjoyed it. I love Bill Burr's humor. It really speaks to my core.
Dark patterns: LinkedIn sending an email informing me that 4 people have seen my profile, only to find that that I can’t possibly know who they are unless I subscribe to premium. And even if I do it’s probably not even recent, but like 60 days ago.
The time of case-study based portfolios with complex navigations is over. I tend to explore maybe 20% of such portfolios. Give me a one pager, or pdf and I’ll go through all of it.
I am still shocked by what happened and what’s going on in the Middle East. But I doubt that the right solution against terror is more terror. It is immoral, and might just well lead to the complete opposite of the desired outcome.
Today, we picked up a 'Bobby Car' for Bento. He loves it, but it was a bit challenging to get home. He can't steer very well, but he still wanted to play with it on the sidewalk while cars were driving by. We managed, but it wasn't easy.
The week is over, and . . . Bento is sick . . . again.
Spent some time animating the Moonlight motives in After Effects. I added some particle generators, camera movements, and clouds. I really enjoy the outer worldly impression it gives. Definitely something I will continue exploring – using generative AI to create cinematic atmospheres.
Layoffs, layoffs, cuts, layoffs.
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes (…) when or where has a problem similar to this been solved?”. Really like this thought from Taamy Amaize, Collins' Chief Strategy Officer, on a recent interview with the The Creative Factor.
I can’t seem to remember a year where people weren’t fighting each other anywhere in the world. I also can’t remember a year of prosperity. Especially since I started working. It seems like a constant never ending recession.
I thought “vegan” would be hard. But 5 years on, I don't really miss anything – well, except for Portuguese piri piri chicken and… grilled fish. Grilled fish is really the reason I can’t consider myself a true vegan. I can’t exist without making an exception for fish a couple of times a year.
The reality in Israel is really sad, but so it is in Gaza. Today, because of the recent terrorist attacks, I watched a documentary from 2014 about children in Gaza. What a sad existence. So young and already suffering from PSTD, mangled, injured, losing their parents, friends. Just in 2014, in around 2 months, over 500 children were killed, not to mention injured. I can only imagine how that also fuels extremism.
Today, we visited a new kindergarten that Bento could potentially join. The people and installations look much nicer compared to his current one. We need to make a decision soon, but I’m really not sure if I wanna go through the whole process again.
My work has been featured on Page and celebrated on LinkedIn. However, I find it difficult to feel really happy or even publicly acknowledge people with a short thank you note. As a perfectionist, deep down I always feel a bit like a failure, like my work is never that good.
Started a new collection of images generated by AI, upscaled, and the retouched in Photoshop with some corrections and grain. I’m calling it moonlight – sounds fitting.
It’s easy to confront bullshit when among peers. Asking for clarification or countering with my own arguments is often enough to keep BS in check. It is however much more difficult when not among peers. And the problem is that it is systemic. How do you confront that?
The weather was (again) horrible so I decided to start the week working from home. Delivered some assets for the feature on page. Let’s see what they say – will they even make mention of my name?
I had to work a bit to get some urgent stuff done before the week starts. Also got back to Midjourney, and purchased an image-upscale software. I think it will be useful since AI-generated images are always low resolution.
It was raining, so there were no playgrounds for Bento. We went to a shopping mall so that he could run a little, but apparently everyone else had the same idea. Bento also runs fast, and has a certain dislike for holding hands, which makes crowded shopping malls challenging.
Worked from home in the morning and went to the office in the afternoon for a single meeting. The office was fairly empty – I have a weird feeling about the coming weeks.
Apparently Page wants to cover my latest work, but I was just told they need all the images and texts until Monday. It is now Thursday and I have so much to do – fml.
Self reminder to remind myself daily only to worry about things I can control. People go crazy worrying about all the craziness they can’t control.
Ah Bento is finally improving. It’s been a rough-grumpy week due to his sore throat.
“Financial markets, as many admit, aren't purely rational. They're driven by good stories and imagination, especially the stock market”. Interesting thought from Ruediger Goetz regarding the Johnson&Johnson rebranding.
It amazes me how large organizations gate-keep innovation processes. New ideas are often pushed top-down disregarding the down creative potential. That has made me contemplate investing on learning design thinking workshop facilitation. Those tend to be deeply involved in innovation processes, right?
We took Bento to the doctor. The fever isn’t going away. Apparently he has a sore troat. He didn’t like the doctor, but he liked being outside… a lot.
Started working on a new portfolio, but… without case studies, instead with a one-pager format. I like how simple and impactful it feels. Also finished watching the movie 'Reptile'. What a great one.
It’s a 4-day long weekend and Bento is down with a fever. Poor guy, and poor us. We had some plans for fun stuff, but I guess we will mostly stay at home.
I realized today that I’ve been getting the shaft at work. Unfortunately, this has been a recurring pattern throughout my entire working-life. Unfortunately introverts are never valued, no matter how much merit they have. Well, they might be valued to some extent, but not truly valued.
Bento: Não… Não… Não… Não… Não… Não… Não… Não… Não… Não… Não… Não… Não… Não… Não… Nein.
“First is to create the spark. Second is to create retention. Then, once you have retention, then you can start encouraging more people to join. But if people aren’t going to be retained by it, why would you ask people to go sign up for something?”. Interesting thought from Mark Zuckerberg today.
I’ve been trying to write everyday, both here on this journal, but also for my blog. It still takes me a while to complete each article, but I notice that I’m getting better and quicker at articulating my thoughts. I now published some thoughts on getting old, maintaining cars, and what that has to do with decay in design.
I think in the last year I’ve been doing some of my best work. People say, "You should be proud of your work", but unfortunately, for me, work-wise, at the moment, it is hard to see the silver lining.
Have you ever noticed how every single brand comes up with an inspiring vision statement? And every single one of such statements seems to imply a commitment for the greater good. Nike wants everyone to be a winner. Apple, wants to advance the humankind. Disney wants to make us happy. And Ikea wants to create a better everyday life. What a great society we live in, right?
It was Vera's first birthday and we took Bento to the party. It was fun, but Bento cried on arrival - he thought he was being dropped at the kindergarten.
Went out at night for the fist time after Bento was born (well, if I ignore work events). I had dinner with a good friend, Korean vegan food - hmm. We talked about being an adult and everything that’s wrong with it from a work perspective. Bullshitting others is so ingrained in who we are, by the time we reach adulthood, we have been groomed to become the ultimate experts at selling stuff, even if what we do has nothing to do with being a salesperson.
I like helping people, but being too helpful always leads to a point where I am constantly swarmed with requests for help.
Today, the project on which I have been working for the past year has started to be implemented. I have experienced this several times in the past, but never from the client side as an in-house designer. It is a strange feeling, a mix of excitement and anxiety, as work daily with those who are impacted by the changed.
Previously, while working in agencies, I used to do a lot of overtime. I don’t miss that, but I miss having less meetings. I miss the days when I could put my headphones on, zone in, and just work for 8 hours straight.
Today Bento ran 2km straight towards home, and he’s not even two years old… I guess he likes the new shoes
It is so fulfilling to see small beings turn into individuals. But, it is also a mix of emotions, as we create something special, only to let them lead what will likely be ordinary lives.
Ah, just started Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit. Cool title for a book.
It's great to meet colleagues in person. I met Joel for the first time. We often chat virtually as he is based in a different country. However, nothing beats in-person collaboration.
I have the feeling that the whole corporate world (and not only) is full of BS left and right. Everyone is constantly trying to BS one another. And not just when communicating to the outside world.
I used to be certain that Ryanair would eventually fail. But they won’t. Ryanair won’t fail, because every other airline seems to be obsessed with copying their business model - making their customers feel like crap.
Things decay. Actually, as soon as things come into existence, they start decaying. Cars decay, buildings decay, food decays. Some things faster, others slower, but everything around us decays. People also decay, and there is nothing we can do about it. We tend to say that we either age gracefully, or ungracefully, but we age, we decay.
11th September, and I fell asleep watching a documentary about the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the war that followed. It’s been more than twenty years, but I still remember watching it happen live on tv.
Reminder to myself about funny words Bento uses:
As it’s becoming a habit on saturdays, we went to the pool in the morning. In the afternoon, we went for dinner at a Vietnamese in Sternschanze. Just the three of us. The weather was nice and it felt nice. After getting home, I published the new edition of Dig this vibe.
Most companies keep iterating on the product until it becomes a Frankenstein. Unfortunately product teams can only make compromises, they can’t fight external pressure from the stock market or venture capital money.
Today, my director told me about the motto she’s lived by for many many years: 'I have no time to be stressed'. It helped me somehow.
Mauro Porcini just shared their PEPSI rebrand case study. It's great to see companies showcase their own projects. It makes them much more attractive for designers.
Anxiety levels are at the moment maxed. I end up taking responsibility for things that I’m not an expert on. Driving blindly stresses me out. A lot.
I enjoy living in Germany, but slowly finding how overwhelming and unfair German burocracy can be for foreigners. A colleague of mine is facing some issues with her immigration visa and it’s revolting how difficult it is to solve it.
I was feeling sick, with a sore throat and a fever, but the little one couldn't care less. So, in the afternoon, we took him to Lurupina, a kind of street festival close to us. He didn't like being in the middle of so many people, but he enjoyed the playgrounds we stopped by on the way there.
We met up with Nico in the afternoon at a playground in Sternschanze. The weather was great, and it was cool to catch up, have some cake, drink coffee, and philosophize a bit. We discussed how drugs might be the middle class means of escape from the unkindness of the world.
'Influential' designers on social media act as if they have everything figured out, constantly offering work-life advice. But, if they truly had things figured out, they would spend less time on social media.
Today, I learned through the news that a childhood friend of mine met a tragic fate - senselessly murdered with a sword at a Yoga retreat. I guess we come to accept death as tragic yet unavoidable when it is caused by illness. But, it is really disturbing to see someone's life abruptly cut short by a senseless act of violence. It makes me think how meaningless life can be.
A not yet 2 years old kid turned me into a six-hour sleep type of person. I can cope with it, but I find that some days I have more trouble focusing. Today was such a day, and I had a ton of coffee. I hope that sometime soon I can get back to being an eight-hour sleep type of person. Or maybe seven…
I’m sad to see SPACE10 close. I always found it inspiring that IKEA had a research & design lab where they engaged with the future of living in cities. It kind of set them apart.
I listen to a lot of music, but with streaming platforms, the music I enjoy ends in a gigantic list of liked songs. Before, I used to spend many evenings recording mix tapes with compilations of my favorite songs, sometimes energetic, other times more introspective. In an effort to get that feeling back, André and I have created a newsletter about music, where we will curate playlists and share our throughs about music.
Lazy Sunday. As it normally happens in Hamburg, after a sunny day there’s likely a rainy day coming. It rained the whole afternoon, so we stayed home listening to music, watching baby shows, and I managed to curate a first playlist based on romantic Reggae songs.
It was family day so we took Bento to church where they had model trains. He’s going through a train period, so he was very happy. He also got to meet some of his 'baby' friends.
Today was Annika's last day. Work-life is always full of goodbyes. She'll go on to live her own life, accomplishments, failures, and sadly, but most likely, we'll never see each other again.
My entire team and I had a team offsite meeting today at my director's home. We worked, discussed work-related stuff, ate, drank, and listened to music. It was outside the city, so it was a nice change of scenery. I grew up in a place like that, and I always think how nice would it be if Bento would grow up in such a setting - with horses, space, and not as many cars.
There seems to be a specialized platform for virtually anything. Today, read cv announced their support tier with analytics and custom domains – I enjoy using it as a digital personal card. I also use other platforms, like substack for my writing, and cosmos for my photography. I wonder if there’s a future for personal websites, or if personal websites will become just something of an hub for different platforms?
These days, I have been avoiding after work drinks, celebrations, and even goodbye parties. It’s a choice between strengthening social bounds, or spending time with my son before his bed time. I always choose the latter. Yesterday afterwork I was able to see Bento's excitement with his new small couch. But, to be truly honest, I’m starting to miss socializing and having drinks with friends.
It is unbelievable how damaging a poorly slept night can be to your capacity to focus at work. I spent the whole day getting distracted. I couldn't concentrate, no matter how much coffee I drank. What a Monday... Thanks anxiety!
I spent the afternoon going through old Graphis annual publications and it made me think how people used to have the mental availability for ads. I was especially impressed by a text advertisement from Volkswagen in 1985, a time when things were slower, and people actually read. It would not have been possible today, a time when ads are skipped or quickly swiped away.
We went to the pool in the morning, and to the park in the afternoon. We got wet from the pool in the morning, and wet from the rain in the afternoon – typical Hamburg summer.
This week, a thought about choices, mortality, and longing has stuck with me. Sometimes, when we make hard choices, we dwell on what could have been if we would have chosen differently. And maybe when we approach death, we say goodbye not only to the life we have chosen to live, but also to the life we wish we could have lived and secretly still hoped to live. That is what hurts the most – the death of hope.
Finished watching Painkiller on Netflix. What a show. Money turns people into monsters. Or maybe they were monsters all along.
The society entices us to buy, buy, and buy, until the things we buy, or wish we could buy, are the things keeping us away from the things that money can’t buy.
I should already be sleeping, but I couldn’t miss Eliezer debating George Hotz live on the topic of AI safety. It seems like these two extremely intelligent guys disagree the most on how dangerous a super intelligent AGI might be and how soon one will be created. But because it’s mostly futurology, the arguments are very much grounded in analogies.
Finished a new article on the origin of ideas. I wrote this one in roughly a week, which is a record for me. Most of the articles that I write stay in the oven, cooking for quite a while. Sometimes - more often than not - I write about things that I don’t have a very clear opinion on, and writing is a process of clarifying my own opinions. It takes time.
Me and Caterina had lunch at Peter Pane while Bento took a nap. Afterwards we met with some friends at a playground. I guess that’s what happens when you have a kid. They become the center of your free time, and you adjust your life around them. Nonetheless we managed to catch up, and talk a bit about what’s going on with our lives, and the world - are aliens now really a thing?
Reminder to myself about funny words Bento uses:
Brand assets have the role of triggering the mental associations that exist in the brand part of someone’s memory. For many people 'Twitter’ and the bird triggered something. For most people 'X' triggers something… else.
Is innovation an individual pursuit or collective achievement?
I have a strange feeling about Twitter's ad revenue payouts. At first it seems fair, but it kind of encourages engagement traps instead of authentic content. And the worst part is that everyone copies each other's engagement traps.
In the pursuit of profit, businesses create needs that don't exist, and offer products that no one really really needs. I struggle with that, that the design practice is sometimes similar to that of a salesman.
During my time working in design agencies, I never viewed a visual identity project as anything other than a design sprint. Unfortunately, the amount of time I had to deliver was always determined by the client's budget. If they could only pay the equivalent of one week’s work, then one week’s work was all they got from the agency. The sad part is that you start making compromises and taking shortcuts. It's only natural, as some ideas take more time to fully develop than others. Nonetheless, design sprints are fun, and I really enjoyed reading the perspective on the topic by Smith & Diction.
Today marked the second anniversary of our wedding, and despite Caterina's dislike for flowers, I decided to surprise her with flowers anyway. Surprisingly, she liked the flowers...
As usual on Saturday mornings, me and Bento went to the playground next to our place while my wife took a nap. In the afternoon, we went for a walk in the woods. Being in nature is reenergizing. I should do it more often.
'Boio' is the word my son says most often, despite his limited vocabulary. He often points to the TV and shouts repeatedly, 'Boio, Boio, Boio', until I play some lame ass video of real Boios. He eats with a miniature 'Boio' at the table, and when out, he likes to point at other 'Boios' while riding a 'Boio'. Boio is portuguese for Train, and today Bento was super excited when he received his first electric-wooden Boio.
I really enjoy going through design guidelines. I like when things make sense. That’s maybe why I like rules and organization so much, at least work wise - my home, on the other hand, says otherwise. I really treasure the brand book YouTube’s creative director gifted me, but printed guidelines though seem to be now a thing from the past. That’s sad.
I've disliked Spotify for a while now. Its interface has become so complex that lately I find myself listening to online radio more and more. This is such a recurring issue with platforms. To differentiate themselves from competitors and attract more users, they keep adding features towards a complexity hell. And the designers working on the platforms stay busy, believing they are solving problems.
I tried Bluesky a bit, but it feels a bit like a weird comedy club where I can't understand the jokes. Maybe in a few months…
Today marks one year since my father passed away, and I miss him dearly. But, I missed him my entire life. When I was younger, he was always present but emotionally distant. I hoped that at some point, I would be able to connect with him on a deeper level, that we could have grown-up conversations, that he’d feel proud of me, and that we eventually would form a bond similar to the one he had with my older brother. Unfortunately, as I grew up and he grew older, his health deteriorated, and he became a confused and debilitated person. I miss my father. But I also miss the father he could have been.
Do designers really solve problems? The problemizing approach seems to be about defining as problems things that aren’t really problems. We keep addressing problems that were just solved yesterday. And we do it continuously, daily. Maybe because there wasn’t ever a problem, but rather business needs, or expectations. So, is our job really to about solving problems?
Frustrated with my mum, who can’t seem to visit me (and her grandson) no matter how many times I ask.
Another work-week is over.
I think we’re all spitting into the wind on the existing big social networks and platforms. The website that Roby created to showcase the music he produces as a hobby, does a much better job of doing justice to his work than if it were to compete among the music from thousands of other artists.
Is it believable to consider the possibility that a psychological operation has been ongoing for more than 70 years? Perhaps it was all true after all.
I really dislike the term creative/s. From personal experience we‘re often categorized as the creatives (not thinkers) in a belittling manner. And it takes some effort to overcome the 'creative' stereotype and prove that design is strategy too.
Once your to-do list feels like a constantly evolving living organism, with a structure made up of different parts, subparts, and sub-subparts, you know you've had enough.
Maybe I'm feeling nostalgic, but I find it sad to see the bird logo be replaced and the Twitter brand disregarded like that. I have read both "Hatching Twitter" and "Things a Bird Told Me," and I have always found Twitter's founding story to be full of good intentions. Twitter and Tweeting has become a part of popular culture, and watching that equity be replaced with a generic X that represents nothing but a 25 year in the making master plan to create an everything App - that I assume not many people want - is mind-boggling.
We went to the birthday party of one of Bento’s friends. It turned out to be quite an experience for both of us. He was nervous about going to a new place (I think he thought we were leaving him there, as we do when we leave him at the 'kindergarten') but in the end he had a lot of fun. And I had to confront my own protectiveness when an older kid threatened to hit him with a yellow car.
As it was raining, we stayed home most of the day besides going out shortly to buy a present for tomorrow’s party. In the evening I did some writing but I still couldn’t finish the latest article I’ve been writing.
Today, I forgot to buy a thermometer. I always write a shopping list before going to the supermarket, but sometimes the things needed are so few that I assume a list is unnecessary. And everytime I don‘t take a list, I end up forgetting something. Memory is really, really ironic - I can't seem to remember things that I would like to remember, yet I can't forget things that I would like to forget.
I'm surprised by the announcement of a congressional hearing on the topic of UAP or UFOs. This topic has been around for almost 80 years since Roswell, and since then, it has been dismissed as conspiracy theory for loonies. Even just by writing this, I feel labeled like one. But, I guess such theories only exist because there is a huge amount of secrecy and classified information surrounding it. So, for once, it will be interesting to finally hear high-ranking officials testify (willingly) under oath.
As a very anxious person, complexity keeps me up at night. I just can’t stop thinking about all the things that are screaming for my attention - emails I need to reply to, problems for which I don’t yet have a solution. I guess that’s what makes me perform at my job - I need to see things through. This takes a toll, both emotionally and physically. But what if we could get rid of complexity? Converge instead of diverge. Distill the essence of our lives. Simplify. Focus more, on less.
This process is fairly simple, but for some reason, we decided that a needlessly complex double-diamond diagram would be more effective at explaining it.
I moved my blog Ideas on Design to Substack. Unfortunately, today it is really challenging for independent websites to get found. Most people tend to visit news portals or spend their time on social media platforms. I hope that with Substack's integrated discoverability features, more people will be able to find it.
Humans have existed for 200 thousand years. Now, it has been found that the universe is at least 26 billion years old. Yet we think of us as the pinnacle of evolution. In reality, we are probably as insignificant as ants in the grand scheme of things. Not that ants are insignificant, but…
I haven't watched a movie for quite some time, but today, while Bento took a nap, I managed to watch Bird Box Barcelona. I should have watched something else.
I always work from home on Fridays. Many people love it, but for me working from home is always hectic. Little Bento still doesn’t stay at the 'Kindergarten' a lot of time, and not having a dedicated office room does not help in staying focused. Evening's highlight was a slice of pizza after everyone went to bed.
Is design thinking the reason why we see so many solutions that aim to fix non-existing problems? Is it still really about improving things, or did it become just another way of achieving capitalistic goals.
Babies and toddlers are sheer presence. They are 100% present in the moment they’re in. Wouldn’t it be nice if we were a little more like them?
'If you have an idea you’re excited about and you don’t bring it to life, it’s not uncommon for the idea to find its voice through another maker. This isn’t because the other artist stole your idea, but because the idea’s time has come.' This interesting perspective is from Rick Rubin in his book, 'The Creative Act.' I guess it’s partly for this reason that similar products appear at the same time, sometimes with only a few months apart. It’s a motivating perspective, but also gives you solace for not acting on every idea. Because from the idea's perspective, it ultimately doesn't matter if you take action or not, as someone will inevitably do so.
In the past, design influencers used to be designers whose work spoke for them. Today, design influencers seem to be designers whose speaking is all they are.
Critics are fine, insults are not. I think almost everyone can agree with this. But in reality these two concepts are not that different. Harsh critics can feel insulting - especially when criticizing someone’s work in a public forum. I’ve seen that happen in the context of the new Threads’ logo and I felt bad for the designer (or team) behind it.
In the morning we went swimming with Bento and in the afternoon we joined some friends for my friend David's birthday barbecue party at a park. It feels like time has been passing by so quickly. It's been a whole year since I last saw him.
I did a big presentation in my company that was broadcasted to all locations and potentially watched by over 1000 employees. It was live, I didn't use notes and the whole time I was very concerned about losing my words. Being an introvert, I always fear that my shy side will take over and I might freeze. But it went well and the feedback was positive. In the afternoon, I attended a summer party at Bento's Kindergarten. It was a funny but weird experience.
Validation metrics everywhere online makes it feel like we're all performers, constantly wary of a virtual audience. In most cases, it throws authenticity out of the window.
Bento hugs his favorite plush bear everyday, but he didn't know how to hug people. Today, I taught him how to do so, and he took turns hugging me and Mom. After giving each of us around 10 hugs, he also hugged his favorite car.
From a brand architecture perspective, it’s clever from Meta to leverage the Instagram brand to launch Threads. The challenge for past Twitter alternatives, has been convincing people to start over from scratch. But with Threads, users can keep their Insta name and followers/following.
How did you feel when you first used ChatGPT or Midjourney? Surprised, right? Blown away, maybe? For me, it felt like watching someone perform magic tricks without knowing how they were done. Now, every company is considering ways to incorporate AI into their products. But, most go for small improvements on existing functionalities. Improvements enabled by AI, but that fail to make a real impact on the brand or consumer perception. Improvements that often miss the 'Wow' reaction we had when first interacting with this new generation of AI tools. In my opinion, 'Wow' is what we need to aim for. Not less than that. It should be the goal, and not something that happens by mere chance. If we really want brands to benefit from AI, we need to think more of magic tricks. And that starts with the question: How can AI support our brand in a way that feels magical?
Construction workers build according to plans and models created by architects and engineers. On the contrary, printshop workers do not have to reconstruct a logo designed by a graphic designer when printing business cards. Will the relationship between digital design and development ever look like the second example? Or will it stay similar to the first example?
First time attending a birthday party with the small Bento. It's quite a logistical challenge. Fitting a couple of hours of drinking up, eating up, catching up, between a tight schedule of naps to avoid Bento's fuzziness.
The work-week is almost over, and I will start the weekend with a thought from the book '4000 weeks' in mind: 'Life, I knew, was supposed to be more joyful than this, more real, more meaningful, and the world was supposed to be more beautiful. We were not supposed to hate Mondays and live for the weekends and holidays. We were not supposed to have to raise our hands to be allowed to pee. We were not supposed to be kept indoors on a beautiful day, day after day'.
Brands are built at the intersection of how you want consumers to think of you, and what consumers think of you. Every action impacts that perception. Positively or negatively.
Really enjoy working while listening to the NTS Breakfast Show with Flo Dill. The music is great, and it feels good to listen to random chatter between songs - even when it’s dating advice.
Four thousand weeks. That’s the average human lifespan. I’m curious about a book on managing time whose title confronts you directly with how absurdly brief our time is.
Jenny Johannesson wrote something that got me thinking. She questioned the value of years of experience, suggesting that 10 years of experience could be equivalent to one year of experience multiplied by 10. It’s a valid point. It made me wonder if the only measure of our experience is the length of time we have spent doing something, or if the quality and variety of our experiences matters more. I’m not sure what the answer is, but I’m sure that at some point length of time starts having dimishing returns.
Do we really need a distinction between Design Thinking and Design? If we ignore labels, don't we go through most of the things in the first when we do the second? For me, it seems impossible to design without hypothesizing, testing, evaluating, iterating, researching, etc. When I began my studies in 2002, most of these steps were taught as a fundamental part of the design method - if I remember correctly, heavily influenced by Bruno Munari.
For a moment I thought the war was about to end and we would have a sense of normalcy again. One of my teachers used to make a word play on a well-known saying, and his version was, 'When the going gets weird, weirdness takes over' - I think it perfectly describes what happened today.
Smart move from Nissan to capitalize on the Anime & low-fi chill-hop trend (check out the Lofi Girl channel on YouTube) for a new campaign promoting their electric SUV. A 4-hour YouTube commercial featuring the Nissan car, as well as Nissan billboards in the background. 18M views and 61K likes. Not bad.
The design community used to cherish and celebrate Sketch. Now we ignore Sketch, and celebrate Figma. What’s next?
My mother’s birthday has been in my mind for a while. She’s been through a rough year, with my father passing away and health scares. I live 2200 km away, so a phone call is the least I can do to make her feel appreciated. But, it was a stressful work-day, anxiety kicked in, I worked until late at night, and regretfully I totally forgot about it. Luckily, my brother reminded me just before midnight and I still managed to call wishing happy birthday before going to bed. But I don’t feel great about it.
Capitalism is like a paradoxical competition in which you are continuously enticed by the things you might be able to have if you win the competition, but which you cannot truly enjoy if you want to keep competing.
Can good news be bad news? I guess it depends on one's expectations. Recently, my mother nearly passed away from a sudden and severe case of anemia. She was hospitalized for two weeks and had to undergo several treatments. Today, when she visited the doctor, I hoped for good news. I hoped to find what’s wrong with her. I also hoped that a prescribed treatment would involve a healthier lifestyle and diet. I didn’t hope for a simple 'You need to eat more red meat'. While I am beyond relieved that my mother is okay, deep down I fear they didn’t find the underlying problem.
Tomorrow I will be back to work after taking two weeks off. I feel kind of tired due to the heat and also a bit unmotivated - strangely or not, I always feel like this after taking some time off.
I'm not sure about Apple’s Vision Pro. It’s definitely expensive, but I think that for wearables, awkwardness is larger detractor than price. Meta Quest, a much cheaper device that costs less than 10% of the announced Vision Pro price, has sold 20 million units, has a bunch of cool apps, and still has not achieved mass adoption. People are really wary of things they put on their face.
I think a lot about the things I’ve done so far and the things I might still do in the future. I guess it’s only normal. After all, it’s been 16 years since I started working as a designer. During that time, I developed many interests, both personally and professionally. And the common idea of a linear career scares me - the idea that upwards is the only way to climb the ladder. And that there is only one ladder for each one of us. I enjoyed reading a similar point of view by Kyle Turman.
Finally, back home! It was a busy almost-last day of vacation. Grocery shopping, playing with 'hot wheels', visiting playgrounds, and some anxiety.
It's disheartening how much energy is spent staying up to date with tools and processes. When I became a designer, it used to be the other way around. We would dedicate most of our time and effort to what design really is - solving problems through creativity.
In brand building, distinctiveness is often pointed to as a key factor for brand recognition and differentiation. I really like how Jones Knowles Ritchie defines it in a recent study: 'strategic substance with signature style. A prominent mental cue — or asset — that helps consumers build associations with your brand'.
Visiting my dear sister and lovely nieces is always fun, but what an experience. With one tetraplegic dog, a ferocious bitter in isolation, and a blind-dying canary, it wasn’t an ordinary afternoon. And to top it off, we took a plunge into the pool while it was raining.
It's so fun to see how much Bento loves his cousin. It kind of leaves me regretting not deciding to have another one. But it's really tough raising kids abroad with no family around.
I wish more companies, like Procreate, would take public stances against AI. It seems like everyone is only trying to make a buck, ignoring the unethical way that training data was collected and used.
The weather was not good enough to go to the beach, so we took Bento to a public farm where we could see all types of farm animals. He was obsessed with the cows. On a less positive note, a friend we met yesterday messaged saying that her kid has mumps. The incubation period is around 3 weeks. Fingers crossed we do not get it - I never had mumps as a child.
Having a conversation with friends when everyone has small kids around feels like trying to have two lines of conversation during a world cataclysm.
In 2012, Timothy Goodman gave me the contact information of his previous boss, Brian Collins, and recommended I get in touch and try my luck with Collins' agency if I ever found myself in NYC. I never reached out and ended up moving to Hamburg instead. Despite this, I continued to follow Collins' amazing work from a distance. I always wondered how cool it would have been. More than 10 years later, I briefly mentioned this on Twitter, and Brian reached out to me. Life is strange.
The new Apple Vision Pro looks magical, but personally it adds to the melancholic feeling I've been experiencing towards the evolution of technology. While VR goggles like Oculus initially focused on gaming experiences, Apple seems to be marketing the new Vision Pro also for social and productivity settings, not just entertainment. This will lead to situations where people interact with one another while shielding their eyes - one of the most important organs in the human experience. Now combine this with a shielded brain and chatbots that do most of the thinking… you get the picture.
Why do we limit ourselves so much by the place of our birth? It saddens me to see talented people struggling to make a living when there’s a world of opportunity out there.
Writing this on a flight to Lisbon. It’s not a very long flight and I’m happy to finally be on vacations, but… flying with a toddler feels like torture. Help!
After listening to a conversation between Mo Gawdat and Stephen Bartlett, I couldn’t help but question whether our reckless attitude towards life - partly because we know that our own life eventually ends - could ultimately lead to the end of every single life.
The iPod was simple, iTunes was complex. I would use the feature rich, but complex iTunes to purchase music, and setup my playlists. But, I would use the distractions-free iPod to listen to music. I miss this approach in modern products and software. Today, everything feels so complex… all the time.
Today, designers act much more as experts than they did in the past. Many times with a certain arrogance. My take is that people feel more confident when they obsess over things they can easily control. Design used to be less about rejoicing on control, and more about embracing uncertainty.
'You will die and it will be as if you had never been. It could sound demeaning. But these are generous sentiments, for we otherwise so easily exaggerate our own importance and suffer accordingly.' - in Calm by Alain de Botton. What a beautiful thought on the ephemeral nature of life and our inability to relativize things.
Apparently, all leading figures in AI have signed the new 22 word statement on AI risk. Well, all except for anyone from Meta or MetaAI.
Today, I read on Twitter designers preaching to other designers that generalists are good only for startups. They seem to generalize the idea of design generalists as a 'Jack of all trades, master of none', ignoring that generalism often comes from experience and curiosity. I think that’s rarely a bad thing.
Push to open is a nightmare when you have a little toddler. So, today I replaced all of the drawers from the tv low-board with soft closing drawers, and without handles (extremely important). Life is good now.
Swimming with Bento in the morning and picnicking with some friends in the afternoon. We met at Planten un Blumen and spent the whole afternoon chitchatting, drinking coffee, and eating cake.
Good storytelling is convincing, but many things go wrong because of how deceiving good storytelling can also be. Compelling stories often lead to decisions based on assumptions rather than facts. I really don’t like when it’s done on purpose - it triggers the rationalist in me.
I’m obsessed with Nopia. What a beautifully designed instrument. I really like the idea of focusing on chords and degrees - hope they manage to launch.
After work I met with a bunch of ex-colleagues who were laid off recently for some drinks and a last hurrah. It was nice to see some familiar faces and get the impression that everyone’s alright.
Whoa, some cities like New York sink around 2mm per year due to the weight of buildings and infrastructure pressing down on the earth.
I’ve been struggling with the question of whether to consider AI-generated images as art, or even prompt writers as artists. I think AI-generated images have some aesthetic value, but they lack the artist artistic expression - the intentful use of human skill, talent and creativity to express an idea. In a way, Leonardo da Vinci also received commissions that included broad instructions of what was wanted for a given painting. But, whoever ordered the painting or provided the instructions was not considered an artist. And the instructions themselves were not considered art. On the other hand, AI-generated images are in many ways indistinguishable from human art.
I finished watching Dune tonight. I know I'm extremely late, but what a movie! I have nothing but good things to say about it.
A new book on creativity, Anatomy of a Breakthrough, makes a very interesting point on creativity and the 'fear' of a creative cliff: 'On the one hand, we recognize that other people are more likely to make creative breakthroughs when they persist. On the other hand, when we feel stuck on a problem, most of us fail to see how successful we’ll be if we just keep trying'.
It's weekend and . . . Bento is sick. We had planned to meet up with friends to help him feel less anxious, but we stayed home the entire weekend instead.
I spend around 8 hours sleeping, 1.5 hours getting ready for work, 1 hour commuting. Then I work for 4 hours, take a 1-hour lunch break, and work for another 4 hours. After work, 1 hour commuting back home, 1 hour preparing and eating dinner, and 2 hours playing with my son and giving him a bath. In the end, 30 minutes of free time. I miss the joy of having time to spend hours with my hobbies. It seems all I do is spend time with work.
Damn… it’s tough dropping Bento over at the 'Kindergarten'. It breaks my heart to hear him cry like that.
Is the goal of generative AI to keep us in a constant state of déjà vu? We already get shown the same content that is always shown. See the same photos that we always see. And now we get infinitive variations of the same always same.
I’m curious about the new book from Don Norman, 'Design for a better world'. I’ve been thinking about this for a while - how user centered approaches rarely consider the societal and environmental balance. I don’t think it’s enough to focus on the user. I don’t think it’s right to focus on benefiting a bunch and ignore what happens to everyone or everything else.
Our society and education system encourages us to tie our sense of self-identity with what we do professionally. Starting from 'what do you want to be when you grow up?' and overlooking that people can find happiness in simply being. Maybe we should instead focus on helping our young ones find the answer to the question, 'how do you want to be when you grow up?'
Many times I get the feeling that everyone is constantly trying to bullshit one another. If people were really honest with their thoughts, maybe we could talk less and progress more...
Tonight, we (the boys) stayed alone at home. We went to the park, bought groceries, phoned grandma, watched tv, and ate pizza. Boys will be boys.
There is a paradoxical relationship between risk and control. The fewer risks you take, the more controlled your life is. However, in reality, the more risks you take, the more in control you actually are.
I started coding a simple (re)design of my blog 'Ideas on Design'. A html file per blog-post that loads the footer and header through javascript. I’ve been growingly interested in the beauty of a simpler internet - meaningful and uncluttered.
Good news let you sleep tight. Bad news keep you awake at night.
The internet is changing. People are moving away from traditional social media. Being nicer. Microblogging privately. Using simpler websites. Plain text. Shifting towards a more authentic form of self-expression. Maybe a reaction to a certain collective nervousness.
Time passes so quickly. And there’s always so much to do. I guess the key for happier starts of the week would be a much emptier to-do list.
First time Bento went underwater. He didn’t cry, but looked a bit shooked afterwards.
I have been reading Reality+ from David Chalmers. It’s a difficult, but super interesting, philosophy book that covers topics such as virtual reality and the simulation theory - the possibility we could be living inside a simulation. Elon Musk, among others, also likes to discuss the likability that we could be living in a simulation. But this week, I enjoyed listening to the counter argument from Michio Kaku (string theory co-founder). He argues that due to its atomic richness, universe itself would be the smallest 'computer' needed to run a simulation of the universe. This kind of makes sense and totally undermines the simulation theory, doesn’t it? How could one larger Apple exist inside a smaller Apple?
Today is Caterina‘s birthday, but she’s unfortunately sick. We had croissants for breakfast (yes, I know… not vegan) and gave her a pair of sneakers and a card that included a 'beautiful' drawing by Bento - had to help him since he wasn’t very cooperative.
Social media used to be simpler and less toxic. It used to be fun and lighthearted. It used to have fewer thought leaders and even fewer annoying sales pitches. On a completely different note, I like this definition of AI “a broad method to take large data sources and run them through an algorithm to train a powerful pattern recognition software program.”
I miss endless virtual conversations with my group of friends. Before it was so hard to keep track of everything said. Before everyone was posting images and video. Everything takes so much space now. I miss simple chatrooms.
Geoffrey Hinton, who apparently is the pioneer in machine learning and neural networks, said that AI can 'boost healthcare while also creating opportunities for lethal autonomous weapons.’ I can’t stop but think that we’re making a mistake. We need to design things that are significantly net positive, not things that have an equal potential for good as they have for evil.
The threshold that qualifies something as worthy of the AI label seems to be at its lowest point. Every single feature is being promoted as Artificial Intelligence, even features that have nothing to do with Deep Learning.
People should avoid dark patterns when promoting themselves and their personal brand. I’m not sure if clickbait falls under this category, but I can’t stand the 'here’s how' any longer.
Really enjoyed listening to Paul Christiano’s slightly more optimistic view on AI alignment. 50/50 is definitely better than the 'we’re all going to die’ view from Eliezer.
When did rearranging Lego blocks become synonymous with design?
Large corporations should have obtained authors' consent before appropriating content to train LLM. No matter how you paint it, they are profiting from stolen goods.
So happy for Jeremie. He will join Sherpa and start working with Ragna, one of the best colleagues I’ve had. He’ll be great.
Once seen, it cannot be unseen - you’re now part of an exclusive club. You feel as if you've just stumbled upon the secrets of the universe, and you can’t wait to share it with the world. It’s unforgettable, not because you’ve seen it, but because you’ve discovered it. That’s the power of negative space in logos.
A friend of mine used ChatGPT to write a sci-fi book called 'The Singularity Nexus'. Another sign that things will never be the same again - at least for creators.
Laid-back weekend. Didn’t got out. Didn’t meet with anyone. But, I started writing a new article about negative space in Desgin, or in logo design. I haven’t decided yet.
Julie Zhuo wrote in her newsletter, 'So much of growing is executing lots of little optimizations that compound over time. It’s rarely just a single improvement that changes the game'. I don’t like to take things out of context, but I kind of disagree with the notion that lots and lots of little improvements is the path for growth. Mostly because it overlooks the fact that success - and growth - often comes from a strong foundational idea. Improvements are crucial, but it is a losing game trying to perfect a flawed idea with incremental improvements.
Accepting that your life is going to be just average while learning that greatness can be found in life's average things, is the path to happiness. Bento said 'Pa Pa.'
Bento started 'Kindergarten' yesterday, and received his first guitar (ok… ukulele) as a present - Bento’s Harley Benton.
Is it possible that the era of social media, content on demand, influencers, and content creators, is leading to a generation with extremely high life aspirations but without the necessary focus? I fear for my son, who at one and a half years old already knows how to swipe.
I miss the past. I miss my favorite pair of jeans, my first car, the lemon flavored ice cream I used to have every single day during the hot three month summer break, my Sony Walkman, the Airwalks I never had... I miss much of it, or maybe all of it. Nostalgia is a bitch, isn’t it? And the worse is . . . brands know it.
I have been thinking about setting up a space where I can share templates, images, and resources with others. My goal is that it serves as a personal creative catalyst, while also allowing me to make a contribution to the design community. And… I finally did it. I created a my own space on Gumroad.
Last day of vacations: Ate cake, finished watching the show 'Beef' on Netflix, played with Bento, and tidied up before going to bed. I don't feel any more rested than before.
I just had an epiphany about the term 'breakfast'. I think it means 'to break the fast' after the night period. Is that correct?
Bento is so strong-minded. It’s a good sign, but makes going out with him an 'interesting' experience.
I guess being an adult is also coming to terms with our own mortality. These last couple of years have been plagued with the loss of close family members - this time my dear cousin.
When designing new businesses, people tend to ignore the fact that by addressing one issue and creating value, they may unintentionally decrease the value of something else or even create new problems. Consumer centric often means another consumer (de)centric. We need human-centric approaches that, from the start, consider that everything exists in delicate balance.
Today, I took Bento to the park and he wanted to wear a cap since I was also wearing one. I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have lasted 5 seconds on his head if I didn’t have one on.
Finally home. It's Easter, and the sky looks like a scene from a post-apocalyptic science fiction movie. Apparently because of a fire at a nearby warehouse.
Last day before going home, and what the hell was this week! Food poisoning, allergies, sore throat, Bento teething… I can’t remember worse vacations.
I finally finished writing an article that I had been procrastinating on for some time. To be honest, for so long that I even forgot I was writing it. But I’m happy with the final result.
Had a moment of - reading and drinking a glass of wine while looking at the sea. That was nice.
Caterina wasn’t feeling well, so Bento and I went out for lunch together. I had beans, rice and sweet potato, and so did Bento - he wasn’t so happy about his soup.
Wrestling with the idea of writing a book on logo design. I’m still kind of a slow writer, but maybe I could overcome it with some sort of step by step approach, like a compilation of loosely connected blog posts. Ideas on Logo Design . . . probably not going to happen anytime soon.
Most people really spend their lives focused on the negative things that happen, instead of rejoicing on the positive ones. It’s sad to see someone like Anthony Bordain live a life full of adventures and achievements and yet commit suicide due to depression.
Started reading a 'A Cook’s Tour' by Anthony Bourdain and never would have guessed that his gastronomic world traveling journey started with Portugal. It’s extremely funny how he described a Portuguese schnapps - that I guess is 'Bagaço' - as 'Rocket fuel'.
I’m experiencing PTSD after talking with Claude, the AI bot created by Anthropic (OpenAI's competitor).
The dilemma of taking vacations to clear my mind, but being unable to clear my mind because of unfinished work.
"They didn’t write the programs. They don’t understand how the programs work. They merely wrote the programs that wrote the programs." — Blake Lemoine, ex-Google Engineer fired for claiming that LaMDA is sentient.
Are our designs benefitting individuals to the detriment of humanity? Currently, we seem to be very much focused on unsustainable technologies, like cryptocurrency or large neural networks, which consume enormous amounts of energy and harm our environment. I understand that this is a result of capitalism's competitive nature - if we don't succeed first, others will - but perhaps it would be better to focus our smartest minds on winning the energy race first.
Some Open AI researchers make close to 2 million dollars per year. Outsourced workers who improve ChatGPT data make less than $2 per hour. Authors whose content was used to train ChatGPT make zero. For me, that’s a contradiction to their mission statement — “to benefit humanity as a whole” — and a clear sign of the need for fairer practices in AI.
How can a non-physical mind affect a physical brain? Can non-physical objects affect physical objects? Though provoking questions raised in the book Reality+.
It is so funny to see a little human being experience everything for the first time. Bento tried to grab some lines he drew on the table and put them back on the paper. I wish I could hold on to these memories forever. But my memory isn’t great.
Another thought on AI and traditional interfaces: I think assistants powered by LLM will be the main source of publicly available information. This means users won’t interact with websites to find what they’re looking for. Websites that offer community and exchange might be the exception to this.
Digital interfaces are about to change forever. Not only for productivity tools. With ChatGPT plugins and its interaction with third party systems, smart assistants will increasingly be the ones answering our needs. Using a bunch of different products for different needs might become a thing of the past.
Sometimes I’m overwhelmed by the amount of options to choose from. To the point where I choose not choosing at all. I’ve had that today with the Kindle.
A brand is like a car. Different target groups might look at it from different perspectives. While some people may find the interior details decisive, others may focus mostly on the exterior. Some may concentrate on efficiency, while others may be excited about its performance. But that car, is the total sum of all those perspectives.
The current economic downturn is having a ruthless impact on designers. It is heartbreaking to see so many talented individuals searching for jobs. I’m also sad to learn that Amazon, on top of firing an additional 9000 people, is also axing DPreview, the go-to website for camera news that I have regularly used since getting my first camera.
Thinking about going down the rabbit hole of Stoicism. I don’t really know much about it (yet), but I like the principle of focusing on things you can control, instead of dwelling on things you can’t.
Today was Father’s Day, the first one I celebrated as a father, but also the first one without one. I’m still dealing with it, but it was still a good day nonetheless. I received a drawing from Bento, my favorite chocolate, and a small bottle of red wine.
“Do we really need to find other ways to do things that people enjoy doing anyway? Things that give us a sense of achievement, like writing a poem? Why not replace the things that we don’t enjoy doing?” — Susie Alegre.
The highlight of my day was dancing with Bento to some old rock and roll music after work. It's also funny how he goes "uh uh uh uh" when he wants to watch "Animanimals".
The release of GPT-4 got me thinking - what a storm is coming our way! Financial instability with banks going down again, geo-political instability due to an ongoing war. And on top of that, AI is getting ready to rip the labor market apart.
I really like the pictograms IKEA uses in its stores, and today I’m happy that I found the agency that designed them, Above from Sweden.
This weekend I wrote a manual about myself. I don’t really expect anyone to read it, but it helped me put some thought on how I enjoy working with others.
I haven’t been meeting people outside of work too often, so having family stay over for the weekend feels nice.
The last few days showed how histerical rich people get when they are about to loose some of the riches.
It is so funny to see Bento going through big cognitive changes from one day to the other. Today he woke up so theatrical—pretending he’s surprised to find a toy he knew was behind him.
It's a snowy morning in Hamburg and I'm working from home. Got some nice music on, and the coffee isn't too bad. Recently I read somewhere an interesting question that a VC posed to a company he was maybe considering investing in: "What proprietary data do you have?" This got me thinking about the importance of data in today's AI world. It seems that having unique data is gold, since everything else can be collected and fed into AI datasets.
Posts by read.cv looks cool. Kind of excited about leaving legacy social media behind. Still impressive these 'two' products are built by a team of 2. Hats off!
Just put together a website for little Bento. It's going to be funny to document his toys, favorite foods, music taste, and such. As it is, he can listen to 'Dire Straits - Walk of Life' on repeat the whole day.
After the public exchange between Halli and Elon Musk on twitter, I'm left wondering: Is the perceived importance of design contracting?
Most companies don’t need design generalists, but they still look for design generalists. I think this places a lot of pressure on us, who often feel the pressure to excel at different kinds of tasks outside of our expertise.
“You often feel tired, not because you’ve done too much, but because you’ve done too little of what sparks a light in you”. Daydreaming about a time when I have the time to write and work on personal projects.
Had a visit from a friend I haven’t seen for more than 6 months. Cake, coffee, good conversation, and the realization that corona destroyed a lot of the social glue. We’re all living more isolated.
Design leaders often mention the importance of starting with the problem, not the solution. But are all 'problems' really problems? Or do we often force ourselves to see problems where problems don’t exist, just to keep the ball rolling?
Agency → high focus on creativity.
Client side → high focus on stakeholder management.
At home we’re two adults plus little Bento. And we just got ourselves a third desk! The pandemic really changed the whole idea of what an apartment needs to offer.
End of February comes with the last day of Jeremie in my team. Bittersweet feeling. He will be a kickass brand designer (already is), but I’m going to miss him and his talent.
We don’t have a 'Media' problem. We have a problem with people forming their opinions mostly on headlines.
Although I’m not a big fan of skeuomorphism, getting back to illustrating object miniatures in the form of an icon is fun. And clears the mind.
Great walk through the city. Started cold but sunny, ended cold and snowy. Hamburg is beautiful.
Noticing more and more people using chat GPT in an attempt to promote themselves as experts on a certain topic. Well written but confusing messages.
A day full of meetings makes you feel busy, but frustrated with how little you accomplish.
Sick again. No one told me that being a father is to some extent being sick every other week.
Adoption is highly influenced by a balance between value and effort. In the past I tried journaling online, but the effort of creating a new entry on Wordpress (7 to 8 steps) was too high for the amount of value it provided. This time, I'm using a note taking app which only requires two steps. Less friction, stickier habits.
Interesting thought from Brian Collins: "All ideas are bad ideas. They only become good through craft and love". But is it really so? Or are some ideas good, but become bad through lack of craft and love?
Last week I read the notes from Nick Groenen on Digital Gardens, and this weekend decided to update my personal website to some kind of a digital garden.
Highlight of the day: Bento doesn’t speak yet, but learned how to high-five.
When will we see integration of GPT3.5 in smart speakers? Today, all smart assistants sound quite primitive in comparison.
I wonder how high the percentage of negative posts on Twitter is. It feels like most tweets in the design community are either complaining or criticizing something.
I’m a frustrated musician, average photographer, and bad skateboarder. On the bright side I’m good at design and strategic thinking.
It’s Valentine’s Day and I’m excited about an app that allows me to track books I’ve read or want to read → Literal.
Thomas Wilder (Wolff Olins) shared a really interesting thought on Nostalgia and Branding in the context of Burberry's logo update: "When there is societal uncertainty, we tend to gravitate towards signals of comfort. It’s then no surprise some of the recently most celebrated rebrands leverage cues of more ‘idyllic’ times."
Being a recent father is meeting friends for cake, instead of beers.
I’m troubled about the growing adoption of generative AI tools and the lack of consideration that these tools were trained on datasets containing vast amounts of copyrighted and protected material without consent or attribution.
It seems like UI designers are pushing for a skeuomorphism comeback. Personally I'm hoping for a revival of lofi-pixel-ui interfaces. Fingers crossed!
Little one waking up at 2am ready to rumble... it's going to be a great day.
Burberry has just reintroduced their iconic emblem and moved back from a sans-serif wordmark. It is probably time for all car brands to get out of the black and white closet.
Large enterprises always seem to lose their way in terms of innovation, unless with mergers and acquisitions. Thinking about read.cv and its team of two. Great product.
Excited about AI, but these generative AI models might just get rid of any incentives to artistic creation.