How to design better?

We call it a belief system because it's more than a collection of values. It's how we see the world and what is missing.

1. Make stuff you use every day —it makes for a better life.


2. Make it better —do less if you need to.


3. Nothing is finished —everything can be rethought.


4. Think small —make one small part of the world as it should be.


5. Slow down —put in

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These founders recognize that company design goes beyond playbooks, case studies, or podcasts. Consider how modern startups approach product development: A technically proficient team might build perfect features, but design-literate founders create experiences that make users feel something when using the product. Notion succeeded not through tech... See more

My father embodies design to the fullest extent. He says, “It’s a lifestyle, not a job.” He brings the same intensity to everything—whether solving engineering problems, crafting sales messages, or building side projects. He brings opinion. He is a polymath maniacal about every aspect his work touches. He is obsessed.

“It’s a lifestyle, not a job.”

Conviction often stands in opposition to market trends. To have conviction before validation may make you seem weird or delusional, but it defines great artists—the ability to appreciate what others overlook or even fight against. To borrow YC parlance, they pursue “low-status things.” Maintaining this vision requires courage, especially when it se... See more

But at the time, I questioned this approach. Why study semiotics when I could be building a portfolio site? Why pull all-nighters just to endure brutal critiques—tossing the work away and starting over? But the process—thinking, making, critique—proved transformative. The school wasn’t teaching design as ornamentation or styling. Instead, it was an... See more

I don’t write to simply generate a 1,200 word output. I consider writing to be an extension of my curiosity, and the writing process itself is what turns a rough idea into a finished product. I begin with a vague idea based on some observation of the world, and I put that on paper. As I’m writing that idea, two distant synapses in my brain connect,... See more

“Good work” feels like a bunch of highly skilled, tasteful, diverse, and thoughtful people looking at an idea and saying, “I like that...I like that a lot”—and then being totally okay with it when the collective group comes up with an even better idea.