A designer and a critic talk about taste without a single moodboard—on judgment, influence, and the moment you finally stop collecting other people’s eyes.
Stripping things back is a choice with a cost. What gets cut, who notices, and who has to live with it when “minimal” stops being a look and becomes a rule.
Screens get the specs; rooms get the hours. Designing for the body that still has to sit somewhere, and for the quiet hour after the laptop finally closes.
Most newsletters arrive as noise. This one earned a reread—and a note on what “useful” now means when every inbox is already stuffed with unasked-for advice.
A UI preference became a mood, then a brand, then a personality test we did not ask for. How dark mode left the settings panel and quietly entered the self.
When a room full of slides cannot say what a pencil can. A case for drawing before the deck, and for the meeting that should start on paper instead of a screen.