#090 Carrying On

Common Discourse is a project designed to help others (and ourselves) think through creativity, focus, and intentional work—from Alex Tan & Alice Otieno.

Every Tuesday we share words from a journal, a few ideas, a quote from somebody else, and links worth sharing. On Fridays we invite a guest to share images from their camera roll and a sound that resonates with them. Words from the Journal come once a month.

Alice and I are working on new things with this project, but still carrying on with Tuesdays the best way I know how.

Thanks for continuing to read, share, and respond.

— Alex

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A few ideas

I. SOMEBODY

It’s rare that either nobody cares or that every single person cares.

But almost 100% of the time, somebody cares.

Somebody is enough to change everything. Enough to make a difference, to create meaning, to pave a way for significance.

Choose to be somebody.

II. INTENT

Those who ask less questions are typically on their own agenda while those who seek out restraint are hoping to solve problems.

A painter is frustrated by direction while a product designer may be lost when there aren’t creative guidelines.

Neither are wrong objectively, but there is most certainly the right person for the job at hand. As the saying goes, it’s like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Understanding intent now saves us a whole lot of everything later.

III. GETTING CLOSE

Our creations are more impactful when we’re focused on using personal experience as a guiding force as opposed to being objectively accurate.

Humans don’t care about perfect because we’re far from it.

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A quote from somebody else

“Summer Solstice

will be significant

im going to release something

soft and radiant

and true

into the world”

— Jenny Zhang

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Links worth sharing

⛅️ Madelinenotes.cloud is the data portrait of Madeline Greenberg ****created by Maya Man. The site allows visitors to walk through various notes and clippings detailing Madeline’s life.

🌊 To see the wave as a sliding door

📖 Why Every Fashion Kid Is Suddenly Collecting Old Books via GQ magazine

🚪Fluxus Research indexes photographs taken between Thursday, June 3rd to Friday June 4th, 1999, of every door or drawer knob, handle, or latch that was touched.

👁 Eyecandy is an open visual library for visual technique lovers.

🍸 Small Matter: Form Glasswear 001 by Saint Heron . Designed to support the leisure of routine and daily use, the collection aims to shape environments and grow personal collections of Black art through thoughtfully choreographed design.

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