Steyn Viljoen
@steyn
Designer at CustomerOS. Gardener. Dad. Write at Viljoen Space about product, gardening and parenthood.
Steyn Viljoen
viljoen.space
"Which of these has more life? Which of these is more a mirror of my self? Does this object make me feel my humanity is expanding—or contracting?"
— Christopher Alexander, The Nature of Order
Questions to stay in sync with how people feel when they use your product
Gardening offers an endless supply of these kinds of "neutralizers for perfectionism," as Lamp'l called them. He confessed to being a perfectionist himself and knows firsthand that "pursuit of perfection is a waste of time—especially in the garden. So don't bother!"
Psychology Today • 10 Mental Health Benefits of Gardening
He who jumps into the void owes no explanation to those who stand and watch.
– Jean-Luc Godard
Feel and Into the void
Following this logic, our brains reward a kept garden because it staves off wilderness, because in the wilderness there is death, and thus by keeping nature controlled and orderly, we keep death away.
Landscape maintenance is, therefore, an exercise of fear.
Landscape Maintenance and the Fear of Death - Wonderground
We create more than ever, but it weighs nothing.... See more
AI now promises results without the reckoning, but frictionless creation leads to weightless rewards. No one dreams of merely pushing a button to generate their magnum opus. The output matters, but the intention, the struggle, the care is what makes it count — what gives it weight...
Weight is
Tom White • When the Internet Was for People
This is true of everything in the garden. Each flower, tree, and vine is seen in relation to the whole by the gardener so that the visitors can have unique yet coherent experiences as they find their own paths through the garden. We create the garden as a sort of experience generator, capable of infinite expression and meaning.
mikecaulfield • The Garden and the Stream: A Technopastoral
Just as someone with iron deficiency anemia craves ice (“pica”), I crave texture.
“…buildings should have enough care, complexity and emotional intelligence built into them that the people who pass them by every day are nourished by them.“ Thomas Heatherwick