Exactly 20 years ago, I opened Photoshop for the first time. I immediately closed it. The interface looked too intimidating. A habitual quitter at the time, I would have never opened it again but I somehow did. That was an anomaly and I owe my entire adult life to that anomaly.
Took me 4 more years, age 17, to stop suppressing the thought that I could do it for a living. Nearly shut that thought down prematurely too. I felt embarrassed thinking about it but it happened to also be one of the lowest points in my life and I guess it made me me say fuck it
I think the thing that rubs me the wrong way about a lot of web3 influencers saying “music nfts will change the industry” is that they haven’t demonstrated any love or passion for music much less an understanding of the music industry.
And with that it comes off much less like “I’m here to help steward a struggling and broken system into a slightly better one” and more like ”resistance is futile. you will assimilate” it’s literally the web2 disruption hubris we complained about
Feb 10, 2022 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Having gotten into design through the web when most of my classmates in art school came from a print background was interesting because I got "Oh I'm not interested in digital. I want a physical connection to the work I make" alot. I spent years unpacking why that felt odd.
Because the process for designing, let's say, a poster felt much more abstract and disconnected from feeling physical than making a website.
Open Indesign->Go to Layout->Set Column Width.
Set Font Size->Drag some boxes->Export to PDF.
It didn't feel physical at all.
Oct 3, 2021 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
might be good to google "south korea youth bankruptcy" if you're watching Squid Game
American households on average have a debt of about 8.6% of their income. The latest for Korea has the average debt per household at about 192% of their income. statista.com/statistics/111…
Oct 1, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Excited to announce Monarchs, a generative #NFT series I created with one of my best friends @roytatum. 888 unique editions. Minting begins October 7. Full details here: monarchs.art
Each of the 888 NFTs will be unique and no two will be alike. Would love to have you in our Discord: discord.gg/9qPPgYtv
Feb 6, 2021 • 13 tweets • 2 min read
regarding new tech:
1. everything new will feel like a toy at first. 2. everything new will feel lame...until it suddenly doesn’t. 3. it won’t be as dope as some people say, it won’t be as stupid as other people say
4. if you can’t explain it a five year old be careful calling it stupid 5. if you can’t explain it to a five year old be careful calling it revolutionary 6. separate the “version 1” problems from the unchangeable problems
Jan 12, 2021 • 25 tweets • 4 min read
If you want to wean yourself off Instagram but feel pressured you might not be taking advantage of how it can help you with getting your work in front of more people, I think I have an idea about maybe getting some of the best of both worlds.
Before I start, my gut tells me that the advantages of Instagram are highly overstated and that you can just simply not engage—but I don't think I can say that personally because I do have a following and I might be blind to how it has helped me.
Jan 1, 2021 • 21 tweets • 4 min read
I've been thinking about the "reframing of powerlessness as righteousness" with regards to design education, and I want to jot down some loose thoughts...
Around 2012, while on summer break from what I felt was a lackluster school year, I was kind of at a breaking point. A prominent designer was peddling this self-help program, a $6000 weeklong workshop that centered around dinner with him and his influential friends.
Dec 11, 2020 • 17 tweets • 13 min read
@beckybrooker@carolynz@ariel_n Personally yeah, absolutely —but in many ways you're asking the wrong question when it comes to an MFA. They're so individual based and part of it is meant for you to find out more about what kind of design you want to do rather than like a strict career track
@beckybrooker@carolynz@ariel_n BFA programs and bootcamps are more about training you to be a designer, MFAs are more about giving you space to question what you learned from your previous schools and your work
Aug 31, 2020 • 13 tweets • 2 min read
I don’t know if you can have an abstinence-only approach to cultural appropriation and wonder if it is best to accept that people will borrow shit and move the convo to being about properly contextualizing, crediting, and paying respects rather than enforcing do’s don’t’s
Pandora's box is opened. With culture and technology now it's not going to stop. What do BIPOC want to spend our time doing anyways?
Aug 2, 2020 • 13 tweets • 6 min read
Wow I have found an example of incel dieter rams in the wild I need to draft the Incel Modernist manifesto
Sometimes you take a nice corporate gig for security and stability and it ends up being unstable in its own ways...new bosses...re-organizations...layoffs
Like I have had on paper two jobs in three years and it felt like six jobs to be honest. Went through four different managers at two places...a re-organization...changes in corporate strategy...each time felt traumatic in its own ways
Aug 9, 2018 • 24 tweets • 4 min read
Late night long thread here. Warning you now.
Everyone has an opinion on what good design is, and most of those opinions are shallow and limiting. I’ve been designing for 17 years and I’ve heard every type of opinion on this subject. 1
The only thing I honestly still believe in after all these years is that: "Good Design Gives More Than it Takes."(1) 2
Incel-Modernism 
