💎 Friday Gems (Learning by doing, From Human Hands, and Your Better Self)
Art is not freedom from discipline, but disciplined freedom. -Edward Catich
Dear reader,
The struggle with is real when it comes to working with AI. On the one hand it is a great tool for activities such as summarizing meeting notes and deceptively harmful when we ask it to do the actual craft work for us. The challenge is knowing the boundaries and keeping AI in its lane. For me some days are better than others but the more I read about how people are dealing with this struggle in their work, the more I realize just how important the pushback is to keep AI away from the craft of design. How are you dealing with AI in your work? What works for you? I would love to know. Please share your experience in the comments for all of us to learn from. Thanks!
On to the this week’s gems!
Today's Gems
Personal Mastery: Learning by doing: lessons from new hobbies
The Mindful Designer: From Human Hands
Motivation: How to imagine a better future for yourself
Personal Mastery
Learning by doing: lessons from new hobbies
Chances are you like to learn by doing instead of someone just showing you how it’s done. Watching a presentation is not the same as a hands-on activity. When we are given the space and trust to observe, try, fail, learn, and repeat it again, we learn best. We internalize our learnings the information sticks with us. We gain knowledge and we grow so we can apply the newly learned skill in real-world situations. This is why finding hands-on courses is not enough, we need to see how much time is given to being able to practice what we learn.
As Emma shared two of her experiences, one where the teacher took over when Emma had questions and needed help and the other where the teacher created a safe space by acknowledging their own struggles in learning and have the students learn through repetition and by being kind to themselves.
The pottery wheel reminded me that watching someone else demonstrate perfection doesn’t translate to personal mastery. The dance studio showed something different: that learning happens when we’re given permission to stumble, ask questions, and build skills incrementally in a supportive environment.
So the next time you need to create a learning experience or are looking for one yourself, remember Emma’s advice:
the most powerful learning happens when people can practise in spaces that feel safe enough to fail—and supportive enough to try again.
Source: Emma Blomkamp in New Know How
The Mindful Designer
From Human Hands
The origins of typography go back thousands of years. From cave drawings in France, to movable type in China, to the Gutenberg Press, to current modern typefaces, the process of the craft continues till this day. Now when AI is used in typography or any craft it dilutes and cheapens the work because ChatGPT doesn’t share the knowledge, the skills, the history, the friction that the human knows and feels.
When we turn design over to generative AI, we remove the human element from the process. When we ask Midjourney to draw an ox, it does not think of home. ChatGPT will never invent a new calligraphy technique, because it has no wrists to feel uncomfortable. A tool that shields us from the friction of the work is compelling, but if we don’t experience the friction, we will never change the work.
In typography as in any other craft, the process is the journey and when we remove the process what else is left?
Source: Mass-Driver
Motivation
How to imagine a better future for yourself
Pause for a moment and think about what you want in your life. If you are clear about what you want, great. If like me you’re not clear of where you’re headed and the picture you imagine is blurry then perhaps it’s time to deliberately construct a vision of where you want to go by doing an exercise called Best Possible Self.
The best possible self (or BPS) exercise was introduced by Laura King in the early 2000s, and researchers have found that it produces significant boosts in positive mood and optimism.
Instead of focusing on our problems and failures, this exercise helps us practice envisioning things going well for us which in turn helps us feel optimistic, not in a fake way that denies our problems but gives our minds a break to reflect on the good parts and to not overlook them.
Thinking about the future in this way can also crystallise what you value. It’s surprisingly hard to articulate what you actually want until you’re forced to describe it in detail. What does a fulfilling day look like? Who are you with? How do you behave? The specificity required by the exercise cuts through the fog.
By taking the time to focus our attention on what we want, what fulfills us, who we want to be with, how we want to show up helps us cut through the doubt to see a path forward so we can make the decisions we need to achieve our goals.
One question we can keep on top of mind when we’re working towards our goals is ‘Does this move me toward my best possible self?’
Give this approach a try and see if it helps bring clarity to your future. Wishing you the best.
Source: Psyche
Did one of the Friday Gems resonate with you? Please consider commenting, restacking, or sharing it with a friend. This is the simplest and most generous ways to support creative work.
It only takes a moment, but it makes a real difference.❤️
That’s it for this week’s Friday Gems.
In stillness, find your next step.✊🏽
