mukdesign

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Positive Affirmations

This week’s moodboard is Positive Affirmations, a reminder to take a deep breath, set intentions and start the new year with good vibes, and good vibes only. I hope some of these will be your anchor in 2021. And remember that good things happen, love is real and we will be OK.

Artist featured in the series are Adam J. Kurtz, Al Diaz, Andy Leek a.k.a. Notes to Strangers, Anthony Burrill, Beg4Cred, Carissa Potter Carlson, Coco Capitan, David Shrigley, Dude With Sign, Genie Espinosa, James Victore, Luc Pierre, Marta Morientes, Richie Culver, Simoneone, Timothy Goodman, Jessica Walsh, Tracey Emin, Wasted Rita and Yee Poon.

Did All I Want For Christmas warm you up?

If so, grab a notebook and start putting your ideas on paper. Or, if you know someone who could use some inspiration right now, share this moodboard with them.

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Scared to Death

Every horror in his life that had crept through his dreams Swept his mad laughter to terrified screams!

This week’s Halloween-themed moodboard is Scared to Death. The quote that’s inspired this series is from my favourite Tim Burton film, Vince, a short about a young boy and his fascination with the horror literature. I have to admit how much I enjoyed curating this one, and it took me to unchartered territories. I love that art can do that.

Artists featured on this series are Adam Riches, Andy Sciazko, ANIMVS, Anthony Rondinone, Benny Kusnoto, Ble, Daneil Art Turtlei, Dusty Ray, Guang Yang, Ilo Künst, Joan Lalucat, Kim Jakobsson, Lesle Kieu, Luis Perez Banus, Madziowa P, Matas Martinaitis, Micah Ulrich, Pablo I Prada, Pitch Canker and Sean Deloria Black Wolf.

Did Scared to Death chilled your spine?

If so, grab a notebook and start putting your ideas on paper. Or, if you know someone who could use some inspiration right now, share this moodboard with them.

[mukdesign]

Summer Solstice

Happy Summer Solstice 🌞!

This week’s moodboard is Summer Solstice. This major planetary event that marks the official beginning of summer and the longest day of the year, since it’s synchronised by a lunar eclipse. On the first degree of a cardinal sign, this Cancer lunar eclipse welcomes new worldly cycles and much needed renewed hope at the end of a dark period.

For this moodboard, I was inspired by sacred geometries in the skies, and specifically planetary patterns. This lead me to antique engravings about the macro/microcosm, alchemy and esoteric anatomies as well as several symbolisms of kundalini which represents the life force in Eastern traditions. The cycle of seasons of course led to the cycles of life, and my soul has been nourished by looking at many many many Tibetian, Hindu and Buddhist art. I was happy to discover engravings based on Aristotle’s iconic text “Metaphysics”. The circle itself as the sacred symbol of cycles, as well as the oneness has led me to a variety of mandalas, from islamic wall paintings to visionary art by Alex Grey. As always, I like to throw in a few classics, and this week it was Van Gogh’s sunflowers, and an anonymous drawing from Rijks Museum’s open archive. And finally, as eclectic as this moodboard is, I have to also mention the initial inspiration for this series, which was the visual aesthetic of the series “Midsommer” by Ari Aster, and its pagan symbolism. Forgive me if I seem out-of-focus this week, since I’ve been personally very influenced, almost challenged, by this unique astrology.

Artist featured in this moodboard are Ian Parker, Jack Kirby, Brian Reedy, Romio Shrestha, Robert Fludd, Vladimir Kush, Vanja Vukelić, Vincent Van Gogh and Ari Aster. I’ve also featured anonymous pieces from Capricorn Press, Verginielli-Rota collection, MFA Boston and Rijks Museum, and some folk art depicting Manjushri, Samsara, White Tara and Bahavachakra. Last but not least, I had to include the world tarot card, which was so unique and magical, but whose artist I just could not find. And the all loving sun shall forgive my sins.

Hope you enjoy this moodboard, and this new season that’s full of new beginnings!

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Did this get your creative juices flowing?

If so, grab a notebook below and start putting your ideas on paper.

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Sign up below to get a inspiration like this in your inbox every week. Also, if you know anyone who could use some creative help, share it with them.

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Mother Earth

Earth Day inspired this timely moodboard, Mother Earth. While researching, I pleasantly ended up in exciting places and touched upon eccentric mother archetypes, a cosmic aesthetic and an alien Gaia. This moodboard once again taught me to close my eyes and let my inspiration drive.

Mother Earth is also a loving tribute to my own mum, who is of course my business partner, but also my teacher of joy, curiosity and my earth queen. We virtually celebrated her birthday on the very same day as the #EarthDay and the birthday girl was very happy. 

The artists featured are Mahmoud Farshchian, Susan Schroder, Tilda Swinton, Kate Friend, Ren Hang, Manabu Ikeda, Georgia O’Keefe, Cüneyt Akeroğlu, Tim Walker, Anne Ten Donkelaar, Maiko Takeda, Salvia, Björk, Evie Shaffer, Mariko Kusumoto, Frédéric Fontenoy, Brian Kirhagis, Max Ernst and Léon Frédéric.

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Raison D'Être

So much alone time with a hint of melancholy forcing upon the humanity a search for the meaning of life, inspired this moodboard Raison D’Être.

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Forbidden Fruit

A mythology about the origin of sins, or a higher consciousness from the works of Terrance McKenna, inspired this moodboard Forbidden Fruit

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Colour

Spring Equinox, the birth of a new cycle and an ever-present, self-generating positive spirit, inspired this moodboard Colour

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Male Muse Female Artist

Women’s Day, and the passing of Ulay, his beautiful legacy born from his love and partnership with Marina Abramović; male sirens and the female intellect observing them, inspired this moodboard Male Muse Female Artist.

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Turkish delight

Celebrating our Motherland, it's newest art and emerging artists, ever-changing culture and our tight and loose ties to our roots that shape our sense of self, which inspired this moodboard Turkish Delight.

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Muk Design at Renegade Craft Fair

Come along to East London for this year's Christmas shopping. We're taking part in Renegade Craft Fair, an exclusive Christmas market, where you'll have a chance to grab our Architect's Cubes, diaries without dates and notebooks for your quirky friends and creative family members.  Happening since 2011, Renegade Craft Fair is an exciting winter event, bringing together selected designers and makers that cultivate and present avant-garde craft. So be sure to come and say hi to us, have a play with our Architect's Cube, check out all the other stalls while sipping a warm cup of coffee.

[mukdesign]

Future watching

I just spent a grey Sunday at the museum and therefore my life feels wholesome, filled with mild intellectual stimulation. I also now feel entitled to give my opinion on the exhibition that I just saw (which my dad’s bff suggested).

The exhibition in question is The Future Starts Here at the Victoria and Albert Museum. And the bff in question is a very opinionated political strategist. The stakes were high. But the timing of my visit was even more interesting, after spending four days with my friend, Rudy.

Rudy teaches a course called Trend Watching at the University of Tilburg. I met him last year at the London Design Fair where he took his students onto a mission to haunt what’s trending in the design world. I met him up again in the middle of this year’s chaotic Design Week to chat about topics like culture management and trend forecasting. It was such an educational pub conversation that I could barely stop myself from asking for further resources.

As a “macro trend”, my outlook on the future has been changing. I’m becoming more and more optimistic towards the progression of civilisation, science, technology, and even the spiritual knowledge of humanity. Being aware of trends on different levels makes me more objective towards them. It reminds me that every generation is fitter than the previous, and every era faces new challenges relying on a larger accumulative wisdom and therefore is more progressive. This conclusion is made on such a larger scale. And in conclusion, these various waves of trend manifestations ultimately lead to an undeniably idealistic future scenario.

This mindset brought me to The Future Starts Here, which shares a similar optimistic future projection, in my opinion. The exhibition is structured in the form of questions, which I think was a very smart choice, that are:

What makes us human?

We are all connected, but do we feel lonely?

(Under the title SELF)

Does democracy still work?

Are cities for everyone?

Is Edward Snowden a hero or a traitor?

(Under the title PUBLIC)

Should the planet be a design project?

If Mars is the answer, what is the question?

(Under the title PLANET)

Who wants to live forever?

(Under the title AFTERLIFE)

Here are a few pieces that caught my attention:

Incarnated for disclosing classified information to Wikileaks, Chelsea Manning could not be photographed while in prison. These portraits were generated using only her genetic information, extracted and interpreted from hair trimmings and cheek swabs. Until her release in May 2017, these were the only public images of Manning following her gender transition in 2016. The portrait is composed of two faces, each showing nuance in gender. They reveal the wealth of information available in the smallest traces if our bodies.

When worn in the sun for an hour, this shirt can generate enough electricity to charge a smartphone. Flexible solar cells are integrated into the fabric of the garment, creating a portable power source that harnesses the sun’s energy. Electricity can be stored in the shirt’s battery pack, located in the front pocket. As we become more dependent on digital devices, this shirt suggests a future where our bodies are intertwined with technology.

Smart devices are usually triggered for functional purposes. This project explores their potential to represent emotional states and life stories. The four smart curtains are linked to the bed and phone of Oumarou Idrissa, a young man from Niger who lives and works as an Uber driver in Los Angeles. Every time Idrissa wakes up in the middle of the night and WhatsApps his family back home, taps Uber, or uses Instagram, one of the curtains opens. This installation is accompanied by texts written by its creator, artist and filmmaker Miranda July.

Each time the brown curtain opens, Oumarou has opened WhatsApp — the free, secure, worldwide messaging service. Every night around 11pm he begins to talk and message with his friends and family in Niger. ‘I don’t have any close friends in America’, he told me, ‘so my phone is my everything’. He exchanges videos and pictures with his 21 sisters and brothers and responds to requests for money, most often to pay for food, school tuitions, christenings and medicine. He used to talk to his mom every night, but she passed away two years ago. Just before she died, Oumarou texted to me she was sick. We had sporadically kept in touch after our long drive together. Just a few hours later he texted me that she had died, and he was headed back to Niger for her funeral.

Herbert Bayer was fascinated by dream imagery and the surreal quality that could be achieved by photomontage. Here the artist’s eyes stare from the palms of his hands, floating mysteriously in the courtyard of a Berlin apartment block. The image is almost 100 years old, but its evocation of the psychological realities of modernity, and the loneliness that can be experienced in highly populated cities, still resonates today.

71-year-old Cindy lost the full use of her limbs following complications from a severe heart attack. While waiting for her new robotic prosthetic, Cindy improvised ‘object hacks’ to help her with everyday tasks that she now found impossible. These adaptations to the most commonly used objects in her home allowed her to hold cutlery, play cards, brush her teeth, read the newspaper and much more. Design educators Sara Hendren and Caitrin Lynch documented Cindy’s hacks ‘to illustrate new ways of understanding who can engineer, what counts as engineering and why this matters.’ The project reminds us that the best innovations are not necessarily high-tech, and that technologies are valuable for their social function or ability to empower us, not just for their precision or sleek appearance.

Hidden inside the panda are shredded government documents and a memory card with information leaked by whistle-blower Edward Snowden. A project between the artists and political activists Ai Weiwei and Jacob Appelbaum, a number of these toys were sent to political dissidents around the world for safeguarding, creating a ‘distributed backup’. As Appelbaum explains ‘the safest place to put these things is in a museum, a gallery, where it’s protected as an object’.

The main argument The Future Starts Here is that the world of tomorrow is shaped by the designs and technologies emerging today. But the progression of technology cannot be separated from its intent and therefore comes with a huge potential for destruction. Therefore it’s our responsibility as humans to forecast the consequences when integrating emerging technologies into our lives. All this is well and reasonable of course.

However, I do think that this is a bit of a naive approach, because we as individuals have less conscious impact in trends this macro than we think. As Rudy was explaining to me, each trend, regardless of its scale, manifests with multiple and simultaneous counter trends. The combination of this dialectic is the only translation of the trend that becomes the foundation of the coming trends.

All in all, this was a nicely curated, nicely narrated exhibition with interesting arguments and an engaging tone. I also enjoyed the overall presentation; colours, materials, and spatial arrangement, even though the ever-present dystopian music on the background was a bit too much. And in any case, start paying attention to trends around us shaped by emerging technologies and human inventions, so that we’ll have more influence over them than they have over us.

Finally, I’ve made a list of further reading. Here it is:

P.S. Two things. One; I’m also reading Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens and this couldn’t be a better company to all this future thinking mania. And two; I just listened to an interview of Tim Ferriss, where he said “Love comes from acceptance, not understanding.” Love.

[mukdesign]

How to use a notebook as a creative tool

Confession: I’m not an analogue person at heart.

But I do use notebooks religiously, and only for creative purposes. 

Sparing notebooks for specific activities like this is a good thing, I think. It helps your mind to associate notebooks with deep focus and creation. This conditions your brain to go back to that contemplative space every time you turn a blank page on your notebook.

This is why notebooks are creative tools when used properly. They're helpful with self-discipline and excellent companions for any creative journeys. 

So, here are some tips on how to use a notebook as a creative tool:

1. Notebooks are for shitty first drafts, rough sketches and mind maps. 

Use your notebook to sketch, draft, doodle and brainstorm. Don't use it to refine, edit, finalise or execute. The refinement, editing, finalising and execution are the natural outcome of a creative process, but — believe it or not — they're not the goal of it and come much further along the way.

Notebooks are the tool, not the medium.

That's why you need to use your notebook instrumentally. Your notebook is there to serve you. It's the space for mistakes and accidents (hopefully some happy ones too), and you're encouraged to use it roughly, exhaustively, quickly and intuitively. So don't be precious with your notebook.

Notebooks may bore you.

And that's a good thing. Boredom is a catalyst for creativity. Use your notebook to practice repetitive skills and build muscle memory. Use it for tasks that you often procrastinate on, without the luxury of escaping to the usual drugs like the internet.

Notebooks are inspiring objects.

As tactile as they are, notebooks offer a multi-sensory experience that involves touch, movement, smell and sound. Other than being a totem for accessing that creative zone in your brain, those mortal, restricted objects are an inseparable part of the process by setting much desired physical and functional boundaries and challenges. So don't avoid them, cherish them.

Be an archivist.

Notebooks are cool because you can go back to the earlier pages and see the progress you've made along the way. That's the antidote to a common problem in creativity. The more you polish an idea, the more you lose the spirit of it. Your job as a good creative is to always find that balance between the raw idea and the refined execution. Your notebook will allow you to go back to earlier versions where you've found that sweet spot. 

Worst ideas are sometimes the best ideas. 

Marina Abramovic talks about asking her students to come up with a number of ideas and to put them on a piece of paper each. She would then tell them to go through the whole stack and throw away all the ideas that they didn’t like anymore. She would then ask her student to hand her all the bad ideas. She says that often the best ideas are the trashed ones. Never cross anything off or rip off pages of your notebooks.

Dedicate notebooks to ideas, not to activities. 

Creativity is multi-disciplinary, and so are notebooks. Best creatives seek for ideas, and the execution is a natural result of it. So, don't spare notebooks to techniques, or activities, like this-is-my-writing-book, and this-is-my-watercolour-notebook, but dedicate them to ideas, like this-is-my-notebook-about-fun, and this-is-my-notebook-about-my-dark-side.

Every notebook is a diary.

Notebooks belong to their owners, not to the rest of the world. Not right away. Notebooks allow privacy to messy experimentation. That doesn't mean that a notebook cannot be the object of voyeurism, eventually. But the no. 1 purpose of a notebook is to create a safe space to hatch ideas. So respect that introverted, reflective period and care for the integrity of your notebook.

[mukdesign]

design principle no. 4 HIERACHY

Hello world,

Today, I’m quoting the email I just sent to TFL, which talks about my new bike and some casual racism, that honestly has nothing to do with design, but does have a lot to do with hierarchy, especially with the way I described it as compositions — like societies — structure around power that creates order and illusions to. 

“I'm writing to you to ask for a refund for a possibly overcharged journey that I paid for using my contactless debit card, but didn't properly check out because two of your staff members asked me to leave the station.

The reason for this was the bike that was travelling with me. I bought my first bike today after more than 4 years in London, and I was planning to take it home from Hoxton to Clapham Common via Overground. To give you context, I'm not a very good cycler, and definitely not someone who cycled in traffic before. That's why I took two beginner classes with TFL's Cycle Confident a few weeks ago, which was very very helpful, and decided to buy my first bike thanks to the encouragement of my instructor Barnaby. 

Understandably, I didn't want to ride my bike all the way back home yet. Plus, I didn't have bike lights and was worried that it was already getting dark. You also have to remember that I'm not from London, or the UK, or a cycler really, and not hugely familiar with the etiquette of travelling in the tube with a bike. I definitely remember seeing bikes in National Rail and Overground, and wasn't sure about the tube.

While I was already in Hoxton station, I realised that there were no Overground running to Clapham today, which stressed me already. So, following Citymapper's advise, I decided to take the Overground to Canada Water, then change to Jubilee Line to London Bridge and then with the Nothern Line to Clapham Common. 

When I got off at London Bridge station, I took the lift from the platform to change to Northern Line. When I got out of the lift, I realised that I had to check my card out of Jubilee Line, and then in again to get to Northern Line, which I thought would cost me two journeys instead of one. I was confused at this point and asked a member of staff how to change to Northern Line.

He told me that bikes weren't allowed, and I told him that I already was in, and trying to get to Clapham. Without an explanation, he called his colleague and told him that there was a 'lady with a bike'. The colleague approached from behind the barriers, opened the barrier and asked me to go to him, which I did. Then, he told me, very loudly and simultaneously using sign language, that I was not allowed in the tube with a bike. While I was already stressed and worried about how to bring my new bike back home, and quite shocked as I wasn't anticipating to cause such a scene at all, I felt extremely humiliated, extremely mortified to be told what to do like that like I was a child, or wasn't smart enough. I just was genuinely confused. He asked me to leave the station immediately and waited until I did, making me feel like I was causing some sort of a potential danger. I felt like I wasn't for some reason clever enough to deserve a decent explanation, that I couldn't afford a mistake, that I wasn't good enough to travel like everyone else. This was rude and unhelpful, to say the least, let alone being purely racist. I felt so small. 

To give you more context, I am a (hopefully) pretty normal looking, 30-year-old, human, who somehow manages to live normally in London that in itself proves a decent level of IQ. I also do have a foreign accent, even though I have been speaking English since when I was 7. I believe everyone who speaks a second language would agree that accents are extremely hard to get rid of, if ever possible, like a constant reminder to everyone that you're a misfit, a stranger, someone who doesn't quite belong. And all aside, I believe that any of these should affect how humans should treat each other, especially when they represent an institution like TFL. I do realise that your staff member was under pressure, possibly busy and even overworked. I'm just terribly sorry to receive such a disgraceful attitude overall. 

To sum up, I would like to kindly ask for a refund for today's journey that I never got to check out from. Naturally, I'd not want to be overcharged for the worst TFL experience of my life due to a staff mistreatment. I also have to tell you that this will act as a fuel for me to learn to ride my bike incredibly well and never have to commute with TFL again. So thank you.

And thank you very much for reading through this long email. Please feel free to contact me for any further information about the journey.”

Oh, obviously, buy design principle no. 4 HIERARCHY. It’s a notebook, obviously. Or don’t. Up to you. But definitely, speak up when you’re pissed off. Especially when you’re right. And ride on. Ride on.

Elif x

[mukdesign]

design principle no. 3 CONTRAST

an extremity; a conflict; a discomfort; a rule-breaker; a rebel; a narcissist; a sarcastic remark

Life makes brutal jokes and we learn lessons worth learning the hard way. 

I just turned 30 and I can’t help but admit how good I’m feeling. A year ago, I spent my birthday in Glasgow feeling very lonely, terribly longing for a friend’s hug and still I was feeling better than one year ago. This year, I was lucky enough to cook mum’s recipes for some of my best friends, who were happy to celebrate me. This is quite precious. I received lots of flowers that are still alive, fill my room with lovely scents and remind me of how rebellious staying alive is.

This year is dedicated to being and staying authentic, which is the ultimate rebellion. Being gentle and kind is a rebellion. I have recently changed many things in my life in the search for true authenticity, like a true rebel. I’m in my cave, which has been lacking for a long while, making rebellious plans. I’m feeling more loving and generous than before. And yet, thinking about all the things I wanna do give me fear. It’s hard to imagine how there’ll ever be enough time or mental space, but hopefully, we’ll have lifetimes.

I’m also thinking a lot about discomfort. The discomfort of apology. Of conflict. Of unclarity. And of fragility. And cold winters. And rejection. And lacking energy. Of Demons. And criticism. Which come up when I think about all the things I wanna do. What if I can’t make them? And die with so much trapped in my body eating my flesh like worms? And what if time flies like it always does? And Demons win? I make terrible mistakes? I end up sharing my deepest vulnerabilities with the world? I feel completely naked? 

And then I’m jealous of musicians. I’m always jealous of them. Those modern time healers and magicians. Music is medicine, and music is the drug. Music, which is so ephemeral and forgiving, can save us from all our inner conflicts moments. Like the air that feeds everything. It is so effortless and full of emotions.

I go back to the dilemma between authenticity and discomfort. It’s quite simple actually. You either are yourself, or you’re nothing at all. And that’s the end of it.

Love and peace to all.

Oh and before you go, why don’t you check out MukShop and get one of those CONTRAST notebooks as part of the design principles? Why don’t you?

Elif 🖤

[mukdesign]

design principle no. 2 PROPORTION

two objects facing one another; one feeling rather microscopic, while the other quite monstrous

Proportion is about jealousy. 👁 🐍

One of the most reliable units to measure the impact of an element in space is to compare it to its neighbor. Without an absolute reference, neighbors act as each other's measuring unit. Judging how much something only makes sense in relation to something else. Hence proportion turns quantity into quality.

Because in fact, quantity means nothing in the absence of context. Proportion helps you build meaningful relations between objects that create a piece of design. An object becomes big in the presence of a smaller one. 

It doesn’t matter how big something is as long as it is bigger than others. 

Are you a queen? 👑 Or a servant? That's what matters. It doesn't matter how many people you rule in your own queendom ⚜️. (Because there is only one queen, and that's you. In this case, growth might be irrelevant either. As the most impactful person, your growth wouldn’t make sense for the lack of a higher impact level to achieve. You have already reached your tipping point. If you still have a tendency for growth, you should move over into another composition to hang out with other bigger and smaller objects, where there still is potential for you.)

But when you go to the annual royalties hang out, you might be intimidated by the Queen of England 👑  👑  👑 , for example, for being a much much bigger queen than you are. And this gives you a chance to quickly see that your impact in your former queendom has completely changed, even though you as a queen hasn’t changed at all. This is why proportion is about an unhealthy narcissism, self-image, and competitive comparison. 

Proportion is also about progress.

We’re not objects. We’re human beings (mostly). And we, therefore, have the capacity to progress. We can grow and change, and the proportions change between us and our environments accordingly. This is why we leave partners and friendships and jobs and places of living. We also need to adjust ourselves due to the change in people around us. If for example, a friend is always too busy to hang out with us, we either rise to the occasion and find similar interests that we can be busy together (this is the progressive option) or we break up with our friend and find new friends who have time for us (this is the conservative option). In any each way, we are forced by our environment to adjust ourselves. 

This made me think. As individuals and objects, we thrive on one special place in our biotope. Our lifetime(s) is spent preserving that special place and when we lose it, we’re forced to adjust ourselves. We may be comfortable being one of the big guys. We might be more into being one of the smaller guys. We might like being in the middle. And everything we do in life is to keep the proportional size to our environment. I don’t know. It’s just a theory.

I personally prefer being the most stupid person in the room than the other way around. The former gives me lots of room to grow. And the latter makes me angry and I lose respect in myself and detach from my environment.

Anyway, enough with progression. I think proportion is also about time and in particular rhythm. Let’s define rhythm as a linear proportional narrative in time. Because rhythm is all about the relationship of parcels of time, it’s very ephemeral, exciting and magical. I want to give a good example about this one and I would have loved to give you one about music making which I lack the experience or knowledge. But I do have a bit of experience in film making that can replace music making for the purposes of this blog. Even though I was trained as a visual person, I think I’m more of a kinesthetic learner. So when someone explains things in terms of feeling or intuition, it makes great sense to me. So I find this following video quite inspiring.

There is this Youtube channel called Every Frame a Painting which is a series of video essays about film editing. All of his videos are pretty good, but on this subject, I think this particular one is relevant, which is called How Does an Editor Think and Feel?. It talks (and paints) about the tools editors use through rhythm in a movie to cultivate an emotion. Check out his other stuff too, instead of watching stupid videos on Youtube. Progress.

To get one of the PROPORTION notebooks as part of the design principles series, go to MukShop.

Elif ��

[mukdesign]

design principle no. 1 BALANCE

an equilibrium, an aesthetically pleasing arrangement, that allows nothing to be taken away

A canvas, on its blank state, is a neutral space—like a blind canvas, a new born baby. This is the space where endless possibilities are allowed. The dawn that holds the new day. As soon as an object is placed, a pole is created. Life is created on earth. A force field. A gravity.

The balance is broken.

Now, every single new object that enters the force field will either be pulled towards a pole—if its own gravity is weaker than the former—or creates a new pole stronger—if its gravity is stronger instead. (In the former case, the object obeys the dominant trend within the field, and in the latter, it creates a new trend that overpowers the existing forces.)

A tension is created.

This push and pull between objects continue as long as a state of balance is achieved, which is an extremely rare state that is present for no longer than a brief moment in time. This state is somehow similar to a stationary moment, or maybe a snapshot in time. I would even argue that balance is never something we can achieve, but rather only aspire to. It’s such an ultimate idea that this intention itself it is often the sole hint of a balance. The duality of Yin and yang, which is an ideal equilibrium within the micro- and macrocosms is omnipresent and flowing towards its alteration. As life is always moving, the composition is always evolving, balance is always broken to be recreated over and over again. So the perception of balance as a moment of inertia might be a paradox.

However, this also means that we can only speak of balance in presence of, not necessarily two, but definitely multiple objects (or elements or things or flavours or sounds or colours or movements or any other artistic ingredient). So balance is a relationship. The astrological sign Libra, which has the scales as its symbol, rules relationships. In particular, it rules relationships of one-to-one, where a precise fairness has to be maintained by a constant equal give and take.

Hence balance is a constant equal give and take, the flirt between the female and male.

It’s a peaceful tension, where you feel at ease. The more tension there is, the closer we are to quietude. Or Balance. Like the moment before a rubber band snaps. Or tip of a rollercoaster. Or orgasm.

Aesthetically, balance can create immense pleasure to senses and that’s why we’re drawn towards it as creators. A balanced face is a beautiful symmetrical face, which every feature is counterpoised by an opposite one; where your eyes can rest as long as they want to. It feels like the artist’s job is done. To the outside gaze, it can look perplexing to analyse the meticulous calculations that were put into the construction of the piece. Because there is not a single extra grain that tips the scale. A perfect nothing. The lack of tension. It is perfectly decluttered. Not in the sense that it is minimalistic. Not necessarily. But rather, it’s crystal clear that every single element in the composition exists to fulfil a noble purpose in the exactly right place. Like the way, God created each of us with a special purpose that no-one else but us can fulfil that in the whole contributes to a complex system. It’s without a doubt impossible to substitute any single object with another. 

Nothing is redundant, or arbitrary.

I love Hemingway’s quote “Write drunk, edit sober”. It may take courage to start the creative process, so losing your head over it might certainly help. But equally, it takes a sharp mind, a steady hand and a strong will to refine the outcome and to take things out. And the latter is what makes the work great. Getting rid of the unnecessary and stripping the work down is what makes mastery. And in my own experience, and according to others like Hemingway, this is the hardest part. Artists ultimately manifest a human nature, which more often than not holds onto overstatement.

I recently went to a shaman, because, like everyone, I have issues that I can’t solve with a sharp mind, a steady hand and a strong will. I show addictive behaviour and am drawn to extremes. I’ve been looking for a long time to find my state of balance. This shaman told me that my soul wasn’t willing to let go of the soul of a long passed loved one, even though he wanted to let me go already. She said that our souls finally separated peacefully through her guidance and that when two souls do separate, they always do so with love. I was so so so mad to hear this. Like, so mad. I could not believe that I was being dumped on the soul level. I was just so so so mad. I clearly wasn’t willing to let go of the past and or to be in balance whatsoever. And then I was so so so sad. After the experience, I cried for days, which felt like a fresh grief. But in an ironic way, this started a healing in me.

Finding balance can be dramatic.

You might have to be very brave to let of things, that you know bring you (or your work) harm. It’s quite heart breaking to “killing your darlings.” It might feel like cutting your own limb off. But in fact, the more you dare to lose things, the more you (or your work) get stronger.

So indeed, balance can only be achieved by letting go rather than adding on, in that as artists, we tip the initial balance of nothingness by creating in the first place.

Go to MukShop and have a look at the BALANCE notebook from the design principles series and many more.

[mukdesign]

New blog about new blogs

I'm starting to write a series of article-style blogs. 

My intention is to keep them as design-related as possible, and occasionally touch on art. However, I like to keep everything abstract. Like everything, for which you raise your hand to do before you're ready, I'll call this an experiment. And take the pressure off a little bit. I basically don't know what I'm doing. So no plan, other than a vague outline. But this is usually how I work. 

 I love books about advertising. I also love Seth Godin. He is a champion of shipping before being ready. He has a better word for this. He also blogs every day. I hope we all know that this is a commitment beyond the usual. I obviously believe that this is important. 

Of course, publishing drafts makes me cringe and like every other self-respecting creative, I like to polish things forever and ever until they are perfect, or until I'm sick of them, or until I retire. I don't think I'll ever retire. And nothing is never perfect. 

So, rather than judging a single piece of work, I started to look at an artist's body of work. The progress, the evolution, the persistence and the perseverance. The portfolio with the embarrassing work, the student projects, the "experiments" and the ugly disasters. Because the total of your work takes the attention off of details and allows you to see the ideas. The things that keep coming up. The popular themes. The real "style". 

 So what I'm trying to say is that, be gentle, and don't judge this before you read a fair amount. And be gentle in general. The plan is to start with design principles, then move on to basic shapes, then creative personas, visual elements and finally colours. 

 We'll see how it goes. Little scared. 

 Elif 😍