Who are you?
I thought you might wanna ask, encountering this weird blog, advertising itself as a blog about a human being.
This is a blog about a human being.
What does that mean? (Almost) everyone with a blog is written by human beings, right? Well, there is something that bothers me about the recent digital space:
Brands. Everyone is about brands these days. To be able to sell yourself as a product, you need to brand yourself.
I remember reading an article by Adam Lefton about the dehumanization of users of a product by referring to them simply as users and removing any and all human traits associated with the individual behind the screen. The idea behind that article has really stuck with me ever since reading it. The idea is one of the things that are always on the back of my mind.
I think ✨personal branding✨ is the same thing, but instead of dehumanizing the people who use your product, you dehumanize yourself. I understand the reasoning behind it: to sell yourself as a good product to potential employers, potential clients if you’re a freelancer, to other people in the ecosystem who you will eventually interact with. I think, especially in the world of developers, it is such a common thing. On the web, there exists this divide between the human you and the person you present yourself as on the web. I’m not very fond of this idea. Just as the people who use your apps are more than just users or data points on your KPIs, you are more than the brand you present yourself as.
I’m not trying to say that the people who involve themselves in such roleplays aren’t aware of the dichotomy. I’m sure they are. I just don’t wanna be a part of it. My best analogy would be: I understand the people who make different YouTube channels for cooking and gaming, but I’m just going to upload them on the same channel.
Okay, that makes sense, but what does this ⬇️ mean?
To solve existing systemic problems through design solutions, to create experiences meaningful to daily lives.
Just like every design student in the third year of college, I thought I wanted a slogan to ✨brand✨ myself with — yes, yes, I know that’s like the one thing this blog is ideologically against — but I wasn’t that person yet.
So I thought about why I chose to study design in the first place, and more importantly, why I chose to continue to study design. The question is still relevant: why do I continue to work as a designer? The above phrase is my answer to that question. To solve systemic problems through design solution is why I started being interested in this field and why I continue to associate myself with it today, and probably will for the foreseeable future.
Yeah, but what does that even mean? Isn’t that just a load of good-sounding bullshit?
Well, yes. Like most of these catchphrasy, LinkedIn clickbait slogans, it is mostly just a string of fancy words, but I stand by it. I think very highly of design as a discipline. I think design is a powerful tool with which we can do amazing things. I honestly think that through design, we can alleviate some systemic problems. How? I’m not sure. That is something that designers need to figure out. That’s the kind of design I want to do.
It frankly does not matter much to me what the exact problem is that I am trying to solve. If a startup or a project is about solving/alleviating an existing systemic problem, and the startup/project’s logic on how it is going to achieve it, I’m on board (Bonus points for doing it through design thinking).
Imagine toppling an entire market, however niche or small they might be, with just a silly little design and changing up the positions of every stakeholder in the field. Challenging capitalism, one app at a time.
Okay, but what about the other part? ‘To create experiences meaningful to daily lives’?
Oh, yeah, that part. While I mean everything I’ve said in the previous section, I also think there is more to it than that in design. I don’t think I need to be designing for social challenges to be able to enjoy design. In a sense, I also interpret “systemic problems” in that statement as problems-in-life-that-are-the-way-they-are-and-nobody-is-really-thinking-about-them.
You know that meme:
Never spend 6 minutes doing something by hand when you can spend 6 hours failing to automate it
— Zhuowei Zhang (@zhuowei) April 26, 2020
I did find an image meme like a normal person, but I didn’t want to link to reddit because of their third-party API changes fiasco
So that’s a part of the kind of design I wanna do — spend months or years designing something that will ever-so-slightly improve the lives of its target audience. There’s gotta be a break-even point (in terms of time spent) somewhere as long as enough people use it.
So, welcome to nourlwasavailable. This website is going to keep changing. It’s going to evolve as I keep adding new functionalities to it. So who knows, maybe the next time you suddenly remember this website and decide to revisit it, it might look a bit different. I hope you enjoy your stay. :D