MINIMIZE DESIGN

What if you simply set aside all of your usual support technology, and instead, pick up a pencil and a piece of paper, and use only those minimalist tools to continue to work?

Emotional distance. Forms with a soul. A solution that sparks joy. Minimalist design. These are some of the thoughts that came before me as I read Jia Tolentino’s New Yorker article about the new minimalism.

We all know, of course, about the minimalist lifestyle guru, Marie Kondo, who admonishes us to get rid of everything that does not spark joy. Their admonishment is now a verb: you are supposed to Kondo your sock drawer. Once you do, the theory goes, you will be free to appreciate the process of your life with an increased elegant, and soulful, simplicity.

“True minimalism…it’s about challenging your deepest beliefs in an attempt to engage with things as they are, to not shy away from reality or its lack of answers.” pp.72,

What if we extend this to our design, our art, and our thinking processes. What if we Kondo our process? What if we discard all of the technology that we have accumulated around us, so that we may work, fully in the moment, and not be reliant on technological crutches?

Does typing algorithmic formulas into a computer spark joy? What about your oil paints? Does your 3D computer rendering spark joy? That parallel rule? What if, instead, we employ a pencil, a piece of paper, a bit of wash, and your now free imagination, to continue our work?

And what if this purging, this cleansing results in a fresh direct emotional connection with your work? What if this allows a soulful connection that only comes from a form, with a solution that is a holistic integration? What if you were free from arranging opaque shapes on your surface? How might your imagination be freshly engaged using the most minimal means?

If any of these questions resonates with you at all, then turn off the computer and everything else that you typically use, and see what happens. And feel free to use the Modes and Assemblies of Transparent Drawing as a starting point.

1. Tolentino, Jia. “Simple Plans.” The New Yorker. February 3, 2020. Print.

Transparent Drawing Metrics:
-Source Images: Triceratops skull and house in Japan
-Mode: Form Combine, Drawing At The Boundary Of Form
-Assembly: Chalkboard, Painted Lines Without Tones
-Media: Acrylic Ink
-Use: I included this in a presentation to a client last week
-Result: I did not get fired.