Design and Data Are A Product of What I Do, Its Not What I Do

Over the years, a few folks who get to know you for various contexts say things like “man you are good, you should write a book.” And then when you ask them if they’ve read anything lately, many will say no. Others who are more avid book readers read and that’s it. Because as many authors figure out, a book is a means to an end. Sometimes that end is easy to lay out (follow my pattern), sometimes it’s more of an analogy to expression (this was my journey).

For me, I’m a mosaic. I never have seen the logical formatting of a book conductive to describing me — and this makes sense why I blog the way I do. Design and data are a product of what I do, they aren’t the patterns and aren’t the journey.

So then what would a signal of the expression of my value onto the greater world look like? It could be my drawings, tweets, and the chances that I’ve been afforded to craft connections which have never existed before. Heck, it could be all of those things. But it is defined by a constant: connections.

I make connections. It’s weird too. And a book about making connections sounds as off as it does reading without chapters and section breaks. I don’t have the equation to how I make those connections, I just make them. There are times where I’m able to see beyond those connections to other connections, and that’s pretty cool.

Now, I also miss a lot of connections. Things others see because frankly I’ve opted out of so many experiences (for example, I don’t know fake news and Facebook because I don’t have an account there). I miss a lot of what happens in mainstream spaces because I have opted out of most media; I just wait for the conversations and the learning that comes from stitching so many perspective’s together quickly. It’s a challenge and an art… does such a book get written or lived?

That said it’s extremely difficult and fun to describe myself to many. I wrestle context and time to craft a story — each time the same thread, just shown to folks in a manner that fits. I have my three passions, my vision for how to go forward, or my apprehensions holding me back. There is sharing, and a concerted effort these days to do more listening. Hoping that one of these days I’ll learn enough about me to stop being so Philadelphian (I often say that I’m from the city of brotherly shove… it fits).

Said stories end in the same banners. There is design (form and beauty, materials and machines, behaviors and process) and there’s data (content, context, cross-references, and maybe creeds reforumlated). The product of these connections I make manifest in these constructs, and I’m invested heavily in each one. I take critiques hard, relationships harder, and introspection as a cross of my own to bear. I design through joys and pains, and find the data to construct something better the next time… at least I hope so.

Design and data are a product of what I do. What I do is make connections. Connect what? Well, throw me some pieces, I’ll figure out the picture.