Clarity

Here’s the thing about every idea that enters your track.

They are all characters entering a room with something to say.

Aimlessly introducing many different characters in one track often makes the space feel cramped rather than exciting.

So artists with clarity, punch and conviction use fewer ideas but give them more depth, than pile on shallow characters who don’t have much to add to the conversation.

Clarity is giving less more.

Lean

Here are some facts about the leaning tower of Pisa:

⁃ Height: 55.86m

⁃ Weight: 14,500 tonnes

⁃ Steps: 295

⁃ Incline: 3.9 degrees (post restoration)

The main fact that makes this tower notable is its biggest design flaw - the incline from miscalculating the foundation’s stability.

Sometimes, leaning into imperfections makes for the most interesting idea.

Artefacts

I often think of sound passed through analogue circuits like photos on film.

The noise floor, pitch fluctuation, harmonic distortion and tapered high frequencies.

It reminds me of that romantic, nostalgic quality that only comes with those imperfections.

It’s made me wonder why so many of us are drawn to these old mediums.

And I think it’s because these rich artefacts are great metaphors for how nothing in reality is perfect.

Which feels beautiful to me.

Perfect

Perfect only exists as a concept.

The moment conceptual perfect is manifested, it’s eroded by the fabric of reality.

And so a mistake is to apply the parameters of conceptual perfect to define finished.

A more liberating approach is to assess unexpected quirks and accidents in your work to see how it can serve your message.

And if it happens to serve your message well, then there need be no reason to continue clinging onto conceptual perfect.

It already is.

Kintsugi

We are all broken in some way.

And we’re doing our best to repair it.

Kintsugi is the Japanese technique of repairing broken pottery with golden lacquer.

When we repair our breaks and celebrate them as part of who we’ve been, we glow in a way that confounds perfectionism.

It’s a beautiful sight to see someone overcome crisis and wear their scars on their sleeves gracefully.

We can still glow after we break.

Imperfection

Everything about you is imperfect.

Your face isn’t symmetrical. You have a weird laugh. And you like that hat way too much.

And that’s okay, because that’s what people like about you.

Wabi-Sabi is the Japanese philosophy on aesthetics that reminds us imperfect is beautiful.

It’s the rustic edge that gives you depth. The vulnerability that makes you relatable. The honesty that makes you real.

You are imperfect and that is what feels perfect.