Seth's Blog
Don’t rush
…but hurry. The words matter. Rushing has a built-in excuse. Rushing pushes us to skip steps or ship...
12 hours ago
…but hurry. The words matter. Rushing has a built-in excuse. Rushing pushes us to skip steps or ship junk. But hurrying acknowledges how precious this moment in time is. It honors our good fortune to be in this place, able to contribute something generous.
Seth's Blog
Beyond CRM
Many marketers spend time with their CRM systems. Expensive cloud-based tools that automate Customer...
yesterday
Many marketers spend time with their CRM systems. Expensive cloud-based tools that automate Customer Relationship Management. Maybe customers don’t want to be managed. They probably don’t. It might be more useful to think of our most important work as customer relationship...
Open Culture
High-Tech Analysis of Ancient Scroll Reveals Plato’s Burial Site and Final Hours
Even if you can name only one ancient Greek, you can name Plato. You can also probably say at least...
2 days ago
Even if you can name only one ancient Greek, you can name Plato. You can also probably say at least a little about him, if only some of the things humanity has known since antiquity. Until recently, of course, that qualification would have been redundant. But now, thanks to an...
Seth's Blog
The other choices
The intentional, noticed choices are obvious. “Vanilla or chocolate?” But most of the choices we...
2 days ago
The intentional, noticed choices are obvious. “Vanilla or chocolate?” But most of the choices we live with are unseen. They’re expensive, challenging and invisible. When we plan an event with an outdoor component, we’re choosing to be anxious about the weather in the week leading...
Open Culture
RIP Paul Auster: Hear the Master of the Postmodern Page-Turner Discuss How He Became a Writer
In the Louisiana Channel interview clip from 2017 above, the late Paul Auster tells the story of how...
3 days ago
In the Louisiana Channel interview clip from 2017 above, the late Paul Auster tells the story of how he became a writer. Its first episode had appeared more than twenty years earlier, in a New Yorker piece titled “Why Write?”: “I was eight years old. At that moment in my life,...
Seth's Blog
Comfort and convenience
For the last thirty years, the easiest shortcut has been convenience. If a marketer or a politician...
3 days ago
For the last thirty years, the easiest shortcut has been convenience. If a marketer or a politician or an institution wants to gain acceptance, make it convenient. Tim Wu has pointed out that we’ll trade almost anything to save a few moments of hassle or thought. But that doesn’t...
Open Culture
Artist Draws 9 Portraits on LSD During 1950s Research Experiment
During the 1950s, a researcher gave an artist two 50-microgram doses of LSD (each dose separated by...
3 days ago
During the 1950s, a researcher gave an artist two 50-microgram doses of LSD (each dose separated by about an hour), and then the artist was encouraged to draw pictures of the doctor who administered the drugs. Nine portraits were drawn over the space of eight hours. We still...
Open Culture
A 5‑Hour Journey Through North Korean Entertainment: Propaganda Films, Kids’ Cartoons, Sketch Comedy...
Over the second half of the twentieth century, South Korea became rich, and in the first decades of...
4 days ago
Over the second half of the twentieth century, South Korea became rich, and in the first decades of the twenty-first, it’s become a global cultural superpower. The same can’t be said for North Korea: after a relatively strong start in the nineteen-fifties and sixties, its economy...
Seth's Blog
What does reality look like?
Not what we see when we’re present, but what do we see when we imagine we’re present? In the early...
4 days ago
Not what we see when we’re present, but what do we see when we imagine we’re present? In the early days of photography, the world was black and white, and sort of flat. It’s worth noting that no one who saw these pictures complained about the fact that they didn’t exactly match...
Open Culture
Google Launches a New Course Called “AI Essentials”: Learn How to Use Generative AI Tools to...
This week, Google announced the launch of Google AI Essentials, a new self-paced course designed to...
4 days ago
This week, Google announced the launch of Google AI Essentials, a new self-paced course designed to help people learn AI skills that can boost their productivity. Taught by Google’s AI experts, and assuming no prior knowledge of programming, the course ventures to show students...
Open Culture
André Breton’s Surrealist Manifesto Turns 100 This Year
People don’t seem to write a lot of manifestos these days. Or if they do write manifestos, they...
5 days ago
People don’t seem to write a lot of manifestos these days. Or if they do write manifestos, they don’t make the impact that they would have a century ago. In fact, this year marks the hundredth anniversary of the Manifeste du surréalisme, or Surrealist Manifesto, one of the most...
Seth's Blog
Inverting the vex
Life can be irritating. And sometimes, we can make a choice. The thing that’s vexing you: is it a...
5 days ago
Life can be irritating. And sometimes, we can make a choice. The thing that’s vexing you: is it a situation or a problem? Problems have solutions. If we care enough, we can find a way to solve a problem, but it might cost more money, require more effort or involve more risk than...
Open Culture
Behold The Drawings of Franz Kafka (1907–1917)
Runner 1907–1908 UK-born, Chicago-based artist Philip Hartigan has posted a brief video piece...
5 days ago
Runner 1907–1908 UK-born, Chicago-based artist Philip Hartigan has posted a brief video piece about Franz Kafka’s drawings. Kafka, of course, wrote a body of work, mostly never published during his lifetime, that captured the absurdity and the loneliness of the newly emerging...
Open Culture
How Édouard Manet Became “the Father of Impressionism” with the Scandalous Panting, Le Déjeuner sur...
Édouard Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1863) caused quite a stir when it made its public debut in...
6 days ago
Édouard Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1863) caused quite a stir when it made its public debut in 1863. Today, we might assume that the controversy surrounding the painting had to do with its containing a nude woman. But, in fact, it does not contain a nude woman — at least...
Seth's Blog
The Net Promoter Score
More than two-thirds of the companies surveyed said that they used NPS methodology with their...
6 days ago
More than two-thirds of the companies surveyed said that they used NPS methodology with their customers. Some are using it to measure employee satisfaction as well. The P stands for ‘promoter’, but of course, it doesn’t actually measure promotion. If that many of your customers...
Open Culture
Bukowski Reads Bukowski: Watch a 1975 Documentary Featuring Charles Bukowski at the Height of His...
In 1973, Richard Davies directed Bukowski, a documentary that TV Guide described as a “cinema-verite...
6 days ago
In 1973, Richard Davies directed Bukowski, a documentary that TV Guide described as a “cinema-verite portrait of Los Angeles poet Charles Bukowski.” The film finds Bukowski, then 53 years old, “enjoying his first major success,” and “the camera captures his reminiscences … as he...
Seth's Blog
Indifferent overhead
Every business and individual has overhead. The bills we have to pay and the costs we incur that...
a week ago
Every business and individual has overhead. The bills we have to pay and the costs we incur that aren’t directly related to our income. You pay them whether or not you’re busy. But there are two kinds of overhead, worth differentiating: Different overhead … the investments that...
Seth's Blog
Manipulation, indoctrination and addiction
They’re often related. It’s not unusual for someone to have more experience or knowledge than we do....
a week ago
They’re often related. It’s not unusual for someone to have more experience or knowledge than we do. If they use that knowledge to their benefit, not ours, they might be manipulating us. If we knew what they knew, we wouldn’t have gone along. This is the difference between a...
Open Culture
The Origins of Anime: Watch Early Japanese Animations (1917 to 1931)
Japanese animation, AKA anime, might be filled with large-eyed maidens, way cool robots, and...
a week ago
Japanese animation, AKA anime, might be filled with large-eyed maidens, way cool robots, and large-eyed, way cool maiden/robot hybrids, but it often shows a level of daring, complexity and creativity not typically found in American mainstream animation. And the form has spawned...
Seth's Blog
Books don’t sell
That’s not true, actually. Books sell, but book doesn’t. The odds of a particular book selling a lot...
a week ago
That’s not true, actually. Books sell, but book doesn’t. The odds of a particular book selling a lot of copies are close to zero. The truth of the long tail is that most titles are way out on the fringe. Now that book publishing is unleashed from retail distribution, the math is...
Open Culture
What Would Happen If a Nuclear Bomb Hit a Major City Today: A Visualization of the Destruction
One of the many memorable details in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop...
a week ago
One of the many memorable details in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, placed prominently in a shot of George C. Scott in the war room, is a binder with a spine labeled “WORLD TARGETS IN MEGADEATHS.” A megadeath, writes Eric...
Open Culture
Pink Floyd Plays in Venice on a Massive Floating Stage in 1989; Forces the Mayor & City Council to...
When Roger Waters left Pink Floyd after 1983’s The Final Cut, the remaining members had good reason...
a week ago
When Roger Waters left Pink Floyd after 1983’s The Final Cut, the remaining members had good reason to assume the band was truly, as Waters proclaimed, “a spent force.” After releasing solo projects in the next few years, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright soon...
Seth's Blog
Bottom of the funnel
It’s easy to get focused on the public-facing mouth of the funnel. More followers. More impressions....
a week ago
It’s easy to get focused on the public-facing mouth of the funnel. More followers. More impressions. More buzz, hype, promotion. Get the word out. Just about all the time people who call themselves “marketers” spend is on this. Don’t worry about what happens later, just pour more...
Open Culture
Inside the Beautiful Home Frank Lloyd Wright Designed for His Son (1952)
Being Frank Lloyd Wright’s son surely came with its downsides. But one of the upsides — assuming you...
a week ago
Being Frank Lloyd Wright’s son surely came with its downsides. But one of the upsides — assuming you could stay in the mercurial master’s good graces — was the possibility of his designing a house for you. Such was the fortune of his fourth child David Samuel Wright, a Phoenix...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Rosanna Morris
I am an illustrator and printmaker, working mainly with relief. I work from my large studio on the...
a week ago
I am an illustrator and printmaker, working mainly with relief. I work from my large studio on the top floor of an creative warehouse in east Bristol. I also run a courses, workshops and printmaking events.
Describe your printmaking process.
I usually start with a pencil...
Open Culture
Steven Spielberg Calls Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange “the First Punk Rock Movie Ever Made”
Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick are two of the first directors whose names young cinephiles get...
a week ago
Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick are two of the first directors whose names young cinephiles get to know. They’re also names between which quite a few of those young cinephiles draw a battle line: you may have enjoyed films by both of these auteurs, but ultimately, you’re...
Seth's Blog
“What’s the catch?”
It’s an important question. Lots of opportunities come with one, and going in with your eyes open...
a week ago
It’s an important question. Lots of opportunities come with one, and going in with your eyes open helps avoid problems later. Two challenges: Sometimes, a really good opportunity doesn’t actually have a catch. And spending a lot of time looking for one keeps us from the work we...
Open Culture
Hear Flannery O’Connor Read “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (1959)
Flannery O’Connor was a Southern writer who, as Joyce Carol Oates once said, had less in common with...
a week ago
Flannery O’Connor was a Southern writer who, as Joyce Carol Oates once said, had less in common with Faulkner than with Kafka and Kierkegaard. Isolated by poor health and consumed by her fervent Catholic faith, O’Connor created works of moral fiction that, according to Oates,...
Seth's Blog
Generational shifts in punditry
In 1970, when Walter Cronkite was narrating current events for the United States, he was 54 years...
a week ago
In 1970, when Walter Cronkite was narrating current events for the United States, he was 54 years old. Hitchcock made his last film when he was 77. When there’s a limited number of slots for narrators to fill, they can stick around for a long time. One of the overlooked cultural...
Seth's Blog
What happened vs. what we do about it
It’s possible to have a useful conversation about what to do about something that’s broken or needs...
a week ago
It’s possible to have a useful conversation about what to do about something that’s broken or needs improvement. But first, we must acknowledge that it happened. It’s not controversial to understand the facts, the data and the shifts that are happening in the world we live in. In...
Seth's Blog
Other people’s problems
It’s surprisingly easy to be generous and find solutions to our friend’s problems. Much easier than...
2 weeks ago
It’s surprisingly easy to be generous and find solutions to our friend’s problems. Much easier than it is to do it for ourselves. Why? There are two useful reasons, I think. FIRST, because we’re unaware of all the real and imaginary boundaries our friends have set up. If it were...
Seth's Blog
ChatGPT is dumber than it looks
That’s not true for a screwdriver. Or a table saw or even a spatula. These are useful tools, but...
2 weeks ago
That’s not true for a screwdriver. Or a table saw or even a spatula. These are useful tools, but they don’t pretend to be well-informed or wise. They’re dumb, and they look dumb too. That’s one reason that tools are effective. We use them to leverage our effort, but we don’t...
Seth's Blog
The grid of inquiry
Expertise and firmly held beliefs don’t always go together. Here’s a simple XY grid to help us...
2 weeks ago
Expertise and firmly held beliefs don’t always go together. Here’s a simple XY grid to help us choose where to sit at whatever table we’re invited to: Plenty of well-trained professionals have earned the right to have strongly held beliefs. These convictions save them time and...
Seth's Blog
Dreams, plans and contradictions
Dreams are fine. And dreams involve contradictions. We want this AND that, but both can’t happen....
2 weeks ago
Dreams are fine. And dreams involve contradictions. We want this AND that, but both can’t happen. That’s what keeps them from being plans. Plans embrace boundaries and reality, they don’t ignore them. Plans thrive on scarcity and constraints. Plans are open for inspection, and a...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Lisa Stubbs
Hi, I'm a printmaker and illustrator living in the Holme Valley in Yorkshire, with a little print...
2 weeks ago
Hi, I'm a printmaker and illustrator living in the Holme Valley in Yorkshire, with a little print studio in the neighbouring Colne valley.
Describe your printmaking process.
Playful and experimental! I love being curious during my process, combining different processes together...
Seth's Blog
The blank page
Sometimes, we’re so afraid of creation that we don’t even leave blank pages around. If your...
2 weeks ago
Sometimes, we’re so afraid of creation that we don’t even leave blank pages around. If your workspace has a hole exactly the size of a creative idea in it, you’re more likely to fill the hole. When we decrease the number of steps to begin creating, and increase the expectation...
Seth's Blog
Refusing the salon of the refused
This week is the 150th anniversary of the most important failed art exhibit of all time. It was...
2 weeks ago
This week is the 150th anniversary of the most important failed art exhibit of all time. It was organized by and featured artists who weren’t even among those that had a slot at the runner’s up exhibit for artists who weren’t featured in the real Salon in Paris. Manet didn’t have...
Seth's Blog
Market pressure
Every competitor faces pressure, and it varies by industry, consumer/investor segment and geography....
2 weeks ago
Every competitor faces pressure, and it varies by industry, consumer/investor segment and geography. This applies to services, products, ideas, organizations, jobs… whenever there’s a choice and a market. The pressure might push you to be: But it’s also possible to choose a...
Seth's Blog
Getting the word out
“How do you get the word out?” I’ve heard this from presidential candidates, from small business...
3 weeks ago
“How do you get the word out?” I’ve heard this from presidential candidates, from small business leaders and nonprofits as well. It’s easy to believe that the goal of marketing is to shout, hype, hustle and otherwise promote. It’s tempting to focus on your story as the top of the...
Seth's Blog
The digital barback
A barback supports the bartending staff. There are always clean glasses and fresh ingredients, ready...
3 weeks ago
A barback supports the bartending staff. There are always clean glasses and fresh ingredients, ready to go. Having someone else do your mise en place can dramatically improve your productivity. And now, with a bit of effort, you can train an AI and a few systems to do it for you....
Seth's Blog
The perils of doing it live
[Relevant aside: If you get this blog by email, apologies for the glitches of the last few days...
3 weeks ago
[Relevant aside: If you get this blog by email, apologies for the glitches of the last few days caused by my provider. If you ever see a broken link or something that doesn’t render, you can visit the blog. It always has the latest version, typos fixed. It’s much easier to fix...
Seth's Blog
Them or us?
What kind of culture will we build? At work, in our community, online? Each of us builds culture...
3 weeks ago
What kind of culture will we build? At work, in our community, online? Each of us builds culture every time we interact with anyone else. Opting out isn’t possible, all we can do is decide what sort of impact and contribution we’re each going to make. It’s tempting to say, “they”...
Seth's Blog
The challenge of nonprofit fundraising
When someone starts a business, they spend a bunch of time with a business plan, working to raise...
3 weeks ago
When someone starts a business, they spend a bunch of time with a business plan, working to raise funds and get it off the ground. After that, though, the purpose of the business is completely aligned with the idea of not running out of money. We run a business to make money, not...
Seth's Blog
Updating our stuck interactions
There are few sitcoms, thrillers or plays where the plot can tolerate the addition of a cell phone....
3 weeks ago
There are few sitcoms, thrillers or plays where the plot can tolerate the addition of a cell phone. Once the characters have the ability to connect and clear up misunderstandings at will, a lot of tension disappears. If Juliet had had a smartphone, she and Romeo would have ended...
Seth's Blog
Why tell the others?
Every internet success works because the network effect kicked in. There’s no other way for an idea...
3 weeks ago
Every internet success works because the network effect kicked in. There’s no other way for an idea to reliably and economically reach a big enough audience to be sustained. That’s why Super Bowl ads make so little sense in 2024. Ideas that spread win. I wrote a bestseller about...
Seth's Blog
The marketing department
That’s the first part of the confusion. It’s a group of people who can’t decide what the thing they...
3 weeks ago
That’s the first part of the confusion. It’s a group of people who can’t decide what the thing they do is supposed to be. Is it: Advertising Publicity Increasing retail distribution Direct and measured response SEO Making the logo pretty Wholesale and trade relationships...
Handprinted - Blog
Toning Cyanotypes
Did you know that Cyanotype prints don't always have to be blue? They can be toned and even bleached...
3 weeks ago
Did you know that Cyanotype prints don't always have to be blue? They can be toned and even bleached to alter their colour. The key is to use anything with a high tannin content. Tannins are commonly found in the bark of trees, leaves, buds, stems, fruits, seeds, roots, and plant...
Seth's Blog
Launching GOODBIDS
Over the next few days, I’m going to feature a new project we launched today. A small and mighty...
3 weeks ago
Over the next few days, I’m going to feature a new project we launched today. A small and mighty team has been working on this for a year. I want to share the highlights along with some of the critical design choices we made along the way Each year, charities in the US raise...
Seth's Blog
Demanding certainty
The defenders of the status quo often demand certainty when facing decisions about the future. It...
3 weeks ago
The defenders of the status quo often demand certainty when facing decisions about the future. It sets up the conditions for doing nothing, because certainty never happens until the future arrives. It’s much more useful to look at probabilities. Flipping a fair coin has a 50%...
Seth's Blog
The color-coded wires
Have you ever wondered what the wiring layout behind the control panels at Abbey Road studios was...
3 weeks ago
Have you ever wondered what the wiring layout behind the control panels at Abbey Road studios was like? Neither have I. The Beatles recorded some of their best work there, and I have no idea if it was a rat’s nest of tangled wires, or if each wire was labeled, coded and perfectly...
Seth's Blog
Surprise and uncertainty
Until just recently, a solar eclipse wasn’t a tourist event. It was the cause of real panic. Two...
3 weeks ago
Until just recently, a solar eclipse wasn’t a tourist event. It was the cause of real panic. Two reasons that are worth considering: Eliminate surprise and explain the circumstances and panic starts to fade.
Seth's Blog
Analyzing the last move
When the deal falls apart, or the team loses the game, or a partnership hits the rocks, it’s easy to...
4 weeks ago
When the deal falls apart, or the team loses the game, or a partnership hits the rocks, it’s easy to focus our energy on what just happened. “What if they had called a different play?” This overlooks the real issue. It’s the first move, or the fifth, that led to this problem, not...
Seth's Blog
Jevons paradox is not surprising
When a resource can be used more efficiently, we end up using more of the thing, not less. So, when...
4 weeks ago
When a resource can be used more efficiently, we end up using more of the thing, not less. So, when cars get better gas mileage, people drive more, and consumption can actually go up. When AI learns to write computer code, the demand for programmers goes up, because more...
Seth's Blog
Non-fatal errors
Most of our errors are in this category. Yesterday, The New York Times sent this newsletter to a...
a month ago
Most of our errors are in this category. Yesterday, The New York Times sent this newsletter to a million people or so: I’m sure it wasn’t the best part of the day (or the week) for whoever messed up, but I also know that it had little impact on anything that matters. Being...
Seth's Blog
Responsibility and blame
It’s tempting to hand it to other people. If someone else takes the blame, if they accept the...
a month ago
It’s tempting to hand it to other people. If someone else takes the blame, if they accept the responsibility, then we get satisfaction and we’re off the hook. Alas, this doesn’t work unless the others do the taking and do the accepting. Which is unlikely. We’re giving power to...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker - Angela Hall
My name is Angela Hall, I’m an artist and silkscreen printer based in North Yorkshire, and I have...
a month ago
My name is Angela Hall, I’m an artist and silkscreen printer based in North Yorkshire, and I have been making and selling my limited-edition prints for the last 5 years from my studio, specialised print events and regional galleries.
My creative journey started with a degree in...
Seth's Blog
“This time will be different”
Why is that? The new diet. The fundraising after a natural disaster. The relationship. The hype...
a month ago
Why is that? The new diet. The fundraising after a natural disaster. The relationship. The hype cycle of a new technology or the media frenzy around a hot new fad or candidate… It always feels like it will be different this time. It rarely is. If it’s going to be different, the...
Seth's Blog
Generosity and fear
Fear is self-focused. Day to day, our fear is about us. What will happen if we give that speech,...
a month ago
Fear is self-focused. Day to day, our fear is about us. What will happen if we give that speech, launch that project, get stuck in traffic, are eaten by an alligator… And generosity is about others. “How can I help?” Jumping in the water to save a struggling swimmer stops us from...
Seth's Blog
Kinds of courage
Courage is a generous act that involves risk. It’s not courageous to hang out with friends and make...
a month ago
Courage is a generous act that involves risk. It’s not courageous to hang out with friends and make a crank phone call. The risk involved might be actual risk (it took courage to go to the moon) or it might feel risky (raising your hand at a meeting to ask a useful question...
Seth's Blog
Putting up the big numbers
Some people go to the gym for health and energy. Some go to lift more weight than they did yesterday...
a month ago
Some people go to the gym for health and energy. Some go to lift more weight than they did yesterday (or more than the person next to them). You can start a company to make an impact and surround yourself with people on a similar journey, or you can seek to maximize the stock...
Seth's Blog
Boyle’s Law
There’s no such thing as work life balance. There’s simply life. And you spend part of your life at...
a month ago
There’s no such thing as work life balance. There’s simply life. And you spend part of your life at work. One way to change the pressure of work is to expand or contract the size of the container that holds it. It’s a trap to embrace a productivity shortcut that isn’t a shortcut...
Seth's Blog
The B2B questions
Questions people ask themselves when looking at a web page aimed at businesses (B2B). They are...
a month ago
Questions people ask themselves when looking at a web page aimed at businesses (B2B). They are rhetorical, but should give you a place to begin: Is it my job to deal with this? Who sent me here? Will this advance my project? Will it help me get ahead if I take action? If I ignore...
Seth's Blog
“But what if I’m wrong?
If we’re going to come together and invest the time in conversation, in research or in analysis, we...
a month ago
If we’re going to come together and invest the time in conversation, in research or in analysis, we should begin by understanding what would be required for you or I to change our minds. If you’re not willing to consider that you’re wrong, then, in the words of a Dan Dennett,...
Handprinted - Blog
Blind Embossing with Lino
Blind embossing is a beautiful way in which to add light and shadow to your prints. Embossing adds...
a month ago
Blind embossing is a beautiful way in which to add light and shadow to your prints. Embossing adds subtle texture and interest. Emboss prints ‘blind’ (without ink) or combine with inked lino for a complex final print.
Prepare the design. These white pencils are brilliant for...
Seth's Blog
Shields down
Michael Lopp helped coin an important term. When you’re a skilled craftsperson with high market...
a month ago
Michael Lopp helped coin an important term. When you’re a skilled craftsperson with high market value, there may be recruiters knocking on your door. An employee who has ‘shields up’ doesn’t even bother to answer the door. When shields are down, you’re open to at least hearing...
The Great Discontent...
Luke Zahm
“Everyone eats. There's so much beauty in realizing that humaneness and that oneness.” This is the...
a month ago
“Everyone eats. There's so much beauty in realizing that humaneness and that oneness.” This is the ethos of Luke Zahm. The James Beard-nominated chef, host of the hit PBS show Wisconsin Foodie, and owner of the widely acclaimed Driftless Café in Viroqua, Wisconsin, believes food...
Seth's Blog
The drift to normal
As an organization grows in scale, the idiosyncrasy and distinctiveness that was originally informed...
a month ago
As an organization grows in scale, the idiosyncrasy and distinctiveness that was originally informed by the taste of the founders moves toward the mean. Over time, things get more average. That’s because each new customer, each new supplier and each new employee wants or needs...
Seth's Blog
Explaining yourself
The only reason we need to go into detail about our resume, the details of our new idea or the...
a month ago
The only reason we need to go into detail about our resume, the details of our new idea or the features of a product is to cause action to happen. And action is the result of tension, status or affiliation, and these are based on trust. There are many ways to build that trust,...
Seth's Blog
Velocity and possibility
The art of project management includes the dance between velocity and possibility. If you describe...
a month ago
The art of project management includes the dance between velocity and possibility. If you describe the outcome with specificity and remove as many variables as possible, you’ll get the work done with more speed, higher reliability and less cost. That velocity, though, might...
Seth's Blog
The rock star conundrum
Forty years ago, the royalty of rock spent the night in a studio to record one of the...
a month ago
Forty years ago, the royalty of rock spent the night in a studio to record one of the fastest-selling singles of all time. The documentary of the event is just okay, but it’s fascinating in how it shows us just how deep imposter syndrome lies. Only a few stars seemed at all...
Seth's Blog
The arrogance of improvement
Who are you to make things better? How dare you raise your hand to help, offer an idea, take...
a month ago
Who are you to make things better? How dare you raise your hand to help, offer an idea, take responsibility… Perhaps it might be helpful to reframe that feeling as the generosity of improvement instead. If not you, who? If not now, when?
Seth's Blog
Purchase decisions
All purchases involve a decision. Yes or no, this or that, now or later… But it’s helpful to realize...
a month ago
All purchases involve a decision. Yes or no, this or that, now or later… But it’s helpful to realize that all decisions involve a purchase. When we decide to spend time or take a risk or make a commitment, our brains act in a way very similar to how we choose to make a purchase....
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Rob Jones
I am a textiles artist working with Japanese techniques such as Shibori, shaped resist and Katagami...
a month ago
I am a textiles artist working with Japanese techniques such as Shibori, shaped resist and Katagami stencilling (using indigo to dye the fabric). I also work with formal Japanese embroidery techniques - Sashiko and Kogin (counted thread) embroidery as well as some Boro inspired...
Seth's Blog
Podcasts, international covers and more
I just received copies of the new reprints of four of my books in the UK: I’m really pleased at how...
a month ago
I just received copies of the new reprints of four of my books in the UK: I’m really pleased at how the books have stayed relevant and also delighted at what a good job the publisher did with the reissues. Also, the Italian version of This is Marketing just went back for its 14th...
Seth's Blog
The worst person on our team
A common shortcut to cultural divisiveness is to find the single worst person in a different group...
a month ago
A common shortcut to cultural divisiveness is to find the single worst person in a different group and highlight and attack their behavior. By making it clear and obvious that this is what THEY (the plural) want and who THEY are, it’s easy to walk away from a larger we. Their...
Seth's Blog
Out of control
It’s negative when we say that someone is out of control. They’ve lost their self-restraint, and...
a month ago
It’s negative when we say that someone is out of control. They’ve lost their self-restraint, and they’re doing things that they’ll regret later. And it’s honest when we acknowledge that just about everything is out of our control. We can work to influence it, we can practice...
Seth's Blog
Willfully uninformed
Access to information used to be scarce. We ranked college libraries on how many books they had, and...
a month ago
Access to information used to be scarce. We ranked college libraries on how many books they had, and time at the microfilm reader was booked in advance. Today, if there’s something I don’t know, it’s almost certainly because I haven’t cared enough to find out. I don’t understand...
Seth's Blog
In search of incompetence
Learning is about becoming incompetent on our way to getting better. If you’re not open to the...
a month ago
Learning is about becoming incompetent on our way to getting better. If you’re not open to the tension that is caused by knowing you could do better, it’s unlikely you’re willing to do the work to get better. As you’re doing that work, there’s the satisfaction it brings, but also...
Seth's Blog
“For what purposes will it be useful?”
In 1840, at the dawn of the information age, the king of Sardinia asked Charles Babbage what nearly...
a month ago
In 1840, at the dawn of the information age, the king of Sardinia asked Charles Babbage what nearly instant messaging like the telegraph could possibly be good for. Twenty years later, it was obvious. When I first saw Prodigy in 1986, I saw that the consumer internet would have...
Seth's Blog
Later or now?
When we feel like doing something selfish, indulgent, hurtful or short-term, we can simply decide to...
a month ago
When we feel like doing something selfish, indulgent, hurtful or short-term, we can simply decide to do it later. And when it occurs to us that we might be able to make a useful contribution or do something important, perhaps we could do it now.
Seth's Blog
Naming is part of marketing
A name is a hook for us to hang a story on. We need to begin with empathy and a useful story… useful...
a month ago
A name is a hook for us to hang a story on. We need to begin with empathy and a useful story… useful to the people who want to believe it, spread it, and use it to accomplish their goals. But then, the story needs firm footing and a way to stick with us. Patagonia […]
Handprinted - Blog
Using Pearl Ex Metallic Pigments to Enhance Linocuts
Pearl Ex Powdered Pigments are metallic pigments that can be mixed into printing inks, acrylics,...
a month ago
Pearl Ex Powdered Pigments are metallic pigments that can be mixed into printing inks, acrylics, oils, encaustics and loads more. As printmakers we were keen to see how they could be used in various printmaking applications, starting with linocut.
We began by mixing Apple...
Seth's Blog
Curation (vs the road to junk)
The independent bookstore down the street is carefully curated. Each book takes up the spot that a...
a month ago
The independent bookstore down the street is carefully curated. Each book takes up the spot that a different book could inhabit, so the owner makes sure that there’s a great reason a title is included. Amazon, on the other hand, has no shelf space problem, and the Kindle...
Seth's Blog
Holding on for dear life
That’s a cliche from the movies. Dangling from a railroad bridge, only determination and firm grip...
a month ago
That’s a cliche from the movies. Dangling from a railroad bridge, only determination and firm grip can save the hero. In our modern world, we often end up holding on to ideas, to grievances or to our view of the world. Ironically, the harder we hold on to the things we’re hiding...
Seth's Blog
Hiding the ‘aha’
The most effective persuasion happens when we persuade ourselves. The purpose of the memo or the...
a month ago
The most effective persuasion happens when we persuade ourselves. The purpose of the memo or the table or the graph or the presentation is to create the conditions for someone to make up their own minds. Because it’s almost impossible to make up their mind for them. The aha is...
Seth's Blog
Preference and utility
Taste varies. That’s why we don’t call it utility. Taste is individual preference, not absolute...
a month ago
Taste varies. That’s why we don’t call it utility. Taste is individual preference, not absolute truth. In team settings, then, it’s much more helpful to say, “I prefer this over that,” instead of, “this is wrong.” Some things are wrong. There are standards that we can all accept...
Seth's Blog
Default to surrender
AI chatbots highight a challenge that is worth understanding. It applies to customer service,...
a month ago
AI chatbots highight a challenge that is worth understanding. It applies to customer service, bureaucracies and teachers as well… If you ask an AI a question and it’s not confident in the answer, it should say, “I’m not sure.” That could be followed up with, “do you want me to...
Seth's Blog
Where are you?
When you’re reading a good historical novel, you might be there and then. When you’re checking your...
a month ago
When you’re reading a good historical novel, you might be there and then. When you’re checking your email, you are in a conversation between and among, over there, not here. When you’re imagining what went wrong in that conversation yesterday, you are living in yesterday. And...
Seth's Blog
Graceful
Long after people forget the details, they’ll remember your kindness. There are many forms of...
a month ago
Long after people forget the details, they’ll remember your kindness. There are many forms of hospitality, but resilience, goodwill and gratitude are often the ones that matter. PS here’s a short ebook I published almost a decade ago.
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker - Rebecca Perdue
Hello! I'm Rebecca Perdue. I am a printmaker and artist based in a small garden studio in Wiltshire....
a month ago
Hello! I'm Rebecca Perdue. I am a printmaker and artist based in a small garden studio in Wiltshire. I work primarily in linocut and monoprint, but also paint and make occasional silver jewellery pieces and textiles. I'm very interested in linking work across several...
Seth's Blog
Regressing to the mean all by yourself
“The mean” is the average. Another word for “mediocre.” When an organization gets big enough, by...
2 months ago
“The mean” is the average. Another word for “mediocre.” When an organization gets big enough, by definition, it’s the average. When you have enough customers, they represent the population as a whole. If you find yourself seeking to serve the largest possible number of people,...
Seth's Blog
The positive auction
In 2023, I developed a new idea that transforms an old way of doing commerce. In traditional...
2 months ago
In 2023, I developed a new idea that transforms an old way of doing commerce. In traditional auctions, there are rounds of bidding and the high bidder pays to get the prize. The last bid is the amount paid, and no one else is charged anything. This is an interesting ‘game’ in...
Seth's Blog
On building a cathedral
If you’re in need of a gathering place, a dry, functional, centrally located facility for your folks...
2 months ago
If you’re in need of a gathering place, a dry, functional, centrally located facility for your folks to meet, a cathedral is probably way more than you need. It’s far more expensive to build and maintain and not optimal in delivering what’s required. But what if this building...
Seth's Blog
Headwinds
When it’s tough going and it feels fraught, it’s easy to imagine that the headwinds will never end....
2 months ago
When it’s tough going and it feels fraught, it’s easy to imagine that the headwinds will never end. And yet, when all is going well and the wind is at our back, it’s tempting to imagine that this is the way it’s going to stay. Neither is true. The reason we see them as headwinds...
Seth's Blog
Becoming intentional about virtual meetings
A manual I recently read listed the “cons” of having a meeting virtually: To be accurate, every one...
2 months ago
A manual I recently read listed the “cons” of having a meeting virtually: To be accurate, every one of these points should have “so far” added. The videogame market is far bigger than the box office of Hollywood films. The people who play video games at home for hours at a time...
Seth's Blog
The weird math of halfway
6 times 1/2 doesn’t equal 3. It equals zero. We’re tempted to do a little less than we need to....
2 months ago
6 times 1/2 doesn’t equal 3. It equals zero. We’re tempted to do a little less than we need to. Perhaps we’re busy, with too many options. Perhaps it’s resistance, pushing us to hold a little bit back. Whatever the reason, when we show up just a little, we get zero credit. The...
Seth's Blog
The question book
In the old days, companies had a suggestion box. It was immortalized in cartoons, but the idea that...
2 months ago
In the old days, companies had a suggestion box. It was immortalized in cartoons, but the idea that an employee could anonymously submit a suggestion to make things better is a first step in engagement. Some companies took this much further and paid employees for suggestions that...
Seth's Blog
The leap
In action movies, there’s a lot of leaping. Brave shifts in which the hero gets from here to there,...
2 months ago
In action movies, there’s a lot of leaping. Brave shifts in which the hero gets from here to there, all at once. It’s easy to imagine that sudden leaps are how we make our impact. This is blog post #9000 (give or take). When did the leap happen? It wasn’t an external leap. The...
Seth's Blog
By association
We’re busy, we’re confused and we’re always seeking a shortcut. If a company is hiring, the person...
2 months ago
We’re busy, we’re confused and we’re always seeking a shortcut. If a company is hiring, the person who worked at Google or Apple or Disney gets more of the benefit of the doubt. Even if all they did was bring coffee to someone. But, if that person was one of the hundreds laid off...
Seth's Blog
(Free) subscription drive
Every four years, give or take, I make a big but cheap ask: Consider subscribing to this blog. If...
2 months ago
Every four years, give or take, I make a big but cheap ask: Consider subscribing to this blog. If you’re already a subscriber, please ask five colleagues or friends to subscribe. It’s free. You can subscribe by email by putting your email address in the little box. Click below if...
Seth's Blog
What are the stakes?
How big a swing do we need to make it feel like it matters? At the casino, some folks play with $5...
2 months ago
How big a swing do we need to make it feel like it matters? At the casino, some folks play with $5 chips, some with $100 chips. Do the high rollers have more fun? Are they more engaged? It’s natural to imagine that bigger swings matter more. That a bigger audience means our...
Seth's Blog
The close proximity gap
One of the unmentioned causes of division in much of our culture happens because of the shift in...
2 months ago
One of the unmentioned causes of division in much of our culture happens because of the shift in expectations and rules when we begin to live in close proximity to one another. In a non-crowded setting, the default is independence. The expectation is that you can drive as fast as...
Seth's Blog
The grey goo
If we take a big enough dataset… Add to it machine learning and autotune and the race to fit in and...
2 months ago
If we take a big enough dataset… Add to it machine learning and autotune and the race to fit in and reach the masses… We end up with a relentless march toward mediocrity. Mediocre is another word for average. It has always happened as industries matured (whether it’s Motown or...
Seth's Blog
A transformative summer
Living indoors, connected to a screen, it’s easy for the months and years to blur together. The...
2 months ago
Living indoors, connected to a screen, it’s easy for the months and years to blur together. The seasons used to matter more. But for young adults, they still do. Transitions are built around the seasons, and the headlong rush to a career is still sometimes interrupted by months...
Seth's Blog
And it can also do that
If you were around when the Model T was first announced, you could have built the organizations that...
2 months ago
If you were around when the Model T was first announced, you could have built the organizations that became Disney, McDonald’s and Holiday Inn, all of which were powered by cheap, plentiful cars. You could have become a major developer of suburbs, mortgage banking and even pop...
Seth's Blog
Queued
It’s sort of the opposite of “cued.” In addition to being delightful to spell, the idea of work...
2 months ago
It’s sort of the opposite of “cued.” In addition to being delightful to spell, the idea of work that’s queued up is energizing. The chapter ahead of schedule, the process in place for the next quarter, the continued commitment to learning… It is locked, loaded and ready to go....
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Duncan Tattersall
I’m an artist and maker from southern Scotland, designing and hand printing bespoke textiles for...
2 months ago
I’m an artist and maker from southern Scotland, designing and hand printing bespoke textiles for interiors. My work focuses on the relationship between pattern & place; all of my designs are inspired by a particular location and aim to interpret the story of their surroundings....
The Great Discontent...
Mira Nakashima
In 1970, Mira Nakashima joined the family business run by her father, renowned furniture designer...
2 months ago
In 1970, Mira Nakashima joined the family business run by her father, renowned furniture designer and craftsman George Nakashima. Since his death in 1990, Mira has helmed Nakashima Woodworkers, now a 21-building complex and National Historic Landmark nestled among the trees in...
Seth's Blog
Spire confusion
When architects show off their work, or propose a bold new building complex or even ask for a zoning...
2 months ago
When architects show off their work, or propose a bold new building complex or even ask for a zoning variance, the public sees the external photos. The tall spire, the innovative use of glass, the weird hole in the center of the building. And when a car company shows off a new...
Seth's Blog
Easy/lazy tech journalism
Choose either one: When a new technology comes out, review it breathlessly. Explain without nuance...
2 months ago
Choose either one: When a new technology comes out, review it breathlessly. Explain without nuance or caution how it will instantly change the world. Go into the details of this first instantiation of it and assume it will never change, it’s done, here we go. When a new...
Seth's Blog
Make or buy?
If you’re a writer, it probably doesn’t pay to chop down trees and make your own paper, or even to...
2 months ago
If you’re a writer, it probably doesn’t pay to chop down trees and make your own paper, or even to set up a little machine shop to make your own pens. That’s pretty obvious. Should the smoothie shop make its own almond milk? It’s pretty clear that Starbucks should have a team of...
Seth's Blog
The illusion of concern
When organizations reach scale, digital interactions belie our expectation that someone in charge...
2 months ago
When organizations reach scale, digital interactions belie our expectation that someone in charge actually gives a damn. Once there’s math to do, the CFO does the math. It quickly reveals that no, the search engine shouldn’t bother having a customer support team. That UPS or...
Seth's Blog
Problems and the clover
Systemic and existential problems dance their way through three circles: If it’s not solvable, we’ll...
2 months ago
Systemic and existential problems dance their way through three circles: If it’s not solvable, we’ll pretend it’s not a problem. If the cultural cost of solving the problem is too high, we’ll pretend there’s no solution. People don’t spend a lot of time planning for death because...
Seth's Blog
Trading trust
The Brookings Institution did a fascinating survey series over the last five years. I have two...
2 months ago
The Brookings Institution did a fascinating survey series over the last five years. I have two takeways from this: The first is that focused and persistent propaganda is able to shift public opinion about institutions they don’t have direct interaction with. The more important...
Seth's Blog
Peak infrastructure
Community resources are easy to take for granted. Unevenly distributed, they’re the sort of thing we...
2 months ago
Community resources are easy to take for granted. Unevenly distributed, they’re the sort of thing we miss only when they’re gone. Invisible things are easy to ignore. I was stunned to see a sign in Connecticut that listed the names of dozens of highway workers who had been killed...
Handprinted - Blog
Introduction to Linocut Tools
As printmakers, we know that having good tools can be a game changer when it comes to your...
2 months ago
As printmakers, we know that having good tools can be a game changer when it comes to your printmaking practice. There are lots of lino and wood cutting tools to choose from so read on for a breakdown of the different options available.
All our linocut tools can be found here.
We...
Seth's Blog
Customer satisfaction and tipping
In North America, tipping is an unfair system built into the status quo by law. Restaurants aren’t...
2 months ago
In North America, tipping is an unfair system built into the status quo by law. Restaurants aren’t allowed to easily spread tips around, and as a result, they tend to to exacerbate many of the inequities in our culture at the same time that they make it hard to count on a fair...
Seth's Blog
The four cohorts of the status quo
The first group cares about the policy. They benefit from it. They’ve organized themselves around...
2 months ago
The first group cares about the policy. They benefit from it. They’ve organized themselves around it. The second group cares about stability. They have limited bandwidth, and they’re not particularly interested in reconsidering everything, all the time. The third group doesn’t...
Seth's Blog
To be well published
Sooner or later, we benefit from being well-published. Publishing has nothing to do with printing....
2 months ago
Sooner or later, we benefit from being well-published. Publishing has nothing to do with printing. It’s the act of taking risks to bring a new idea to people who want to embrace it. It’s the head of the lab who works behind the scenes to be sure the talented scientist gets a gig...
Seth's Blog
“I’ve never seen you paint”
… said the collector to the painter Jasper Johns. “Neither have I.” Watching is different than...
2 months ago
… said the collector to the painter Jasper Johns. “Neither have I.” Watching is different than doing. Trying to do both at the same time is a challenge.
Seth's Blog
Transitions are difficult
They’re risky (unknown territory leads to unforeseen outcomes) and a very recent phenomenon. A kid...
2 months ago
They’re risky (unknown territory leads to unforeseen outcomes) and a very recent phenomenon. A kid dropped off at pre-school, a new boss, a food you’re not familiar with. None of this was common for most of pre-history. When the transition occurs, we’re tempted to direct our...
Seth's Blog
Understanding free software
A cup of coffee costs far more than a glass of water. That’s true even though we can’t live without...
2 months ago
A cup of coffee costs far more than a glass of water. That’s true even though we can’t live without water. (Most) people can live without coffee. It’s true even though creating the infrastructure to purify and deliver clean water costs billions of dollars. The critical reason for...
Seth's Blog
Jump in the lake
The waters of Buck Lake are cool and clear and restorative. All summer, it’s tempting to go for a...
2 months ago
The waters of Buck Lake are cool and clear and restorative. All summer, it’s tempting to go for a swim. But it’s also a hassle. You need to change your clothes, find someone to guard, bring a towel and most of all, gasp at the transition when the cold water hits. And yet… no one...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Kathryn Green
I am a textile artist and tutor, specialising in dye and print processes to create organic, layered...
2 months ago
I am a textile artist and tutor, specialising in dye and print processes to create organic, layered and textural art textile pieces for exhibition, in addition to capsule collections of wearable art and interior accessories.
Having obtained a First-class degree in textiles, I...
Seth's Blog
All customers are the same
[and all customers are different.] Customers are why you’re here. They pay the bills and they are...
2 months ago
[and all customers are different.] Customers are why you’re here. They pay the bills and they are the primary driver of your growth. But each adds a different amount of value to your organization and the journey you’re on. The customer who spends 100x as much as the average...
Seth's Blog
What’s the right size?
There are no city buses with just four seats. And none with 400 seats. We get to leverage the...
2 months ago
There are no city buses with just four seats. And none with 400 seats. We get to leverage the driver’s effort if we put in a few more seats, but add too many and the bus is too big to make a turn–and soon we’d have to add conductors and cleaners and then the bus […]
Seth's Blog
As slow as possible
A six-hundred-year-long organ recital is going on, and today marks a change in notes. If you miss...
3 months ago
A six-hundred-year-long organ recital is going on, and today marks a change in notes. If you miss it, the next one is in two years. We’re used to the rapid increase in speed in just about everything around us. Absolutely positively overnight is mostly too slow for many industries...
Seth's Blog
The pitfall of Big Game thinking
In the US, today is a major holiday. The Superb Owl, with nachos, commercials and beer. People who...
3 months ago
In the US, today is a major holiday. The Superb Owl, with nachos, commercials and beer. People who don’t even watch football watch this game, and it’s one of the largest audiences each year on TV. For a certain kind of mass marketer, a Super Bowl ad has been the gold standard for...
Seth's Blog
Two chicken jokes
“Why did the chicken cross the road” tells us a bit about jokes. It’s a joke about jokes. The first...
3 months ago
“Why did the chicken cross the road” tells us a bit about jokes. It’s a joke about jokes. The first half is a setup, reminding us that an absurd question creates tension, which is then relieved by the punchline. But the second half undoes this by refusing to release the tension....
Seth's Blog
Niching up
Along the way, folks have talked about “niching down” as a way to help a project find focus. But...
3 months ago
Along the way, folks have talked about “niching down” as a way to help a project find focus. But that’s backward. When we identify and embrace the smallest viable audience, we’re moving up. Up the quality hierarchy. Up in responsibility. Up in the likelihood that we’ll make an...
Seth's Blog
What to do with firm footing
If we’ve got tenure, a lifetime appointment or simply a really secure gig, what should we do with...
3 months ago
If we’ve got tenure, a lifetime appointment or simply a really secure gig, what should we do with it? One option is to race to the bottom, to chase short-term self-focused outcomes and to see how much we can get away with. (Probably, quite a bit). The other is to take this rare...
Seth's Blog
The best possible use
I walked by a psychic’s storefront studio. The window said that this person had been reading palms...
3 months ago
I walked by a psychic’s storefront studio. The window said that this person had been reading palms and predicting the future since 1989. It was a large space on a vibrant New York City corner. The rent must be astronomical. Or else the purveyor owns the building. Given that this...
Prolost
iPhone ProRes Log in Peru and Taiwan
This is a blog post about a video, which is about new color-conversion LUTs for Apple Log footage...
3 months ago
This is a blog post about a video, which is about new color-conversion LUTs for Apple Log footage from the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max (updated from my first set). The video is also a mini-travelogue of my recent trips to Taiwan and Peru. This post dives a bit deeper into both the...
Seth's Blog
Redundancy has a half-life
At first, this stop sign sign makes a lot of sense: Lives are at stake. Break the rhythm, turn...
3 months ago
At first, this stop sign sign makes a lot of sense: Lives are at stake. Break the rhythm, turn something ignored into something noticed. The challenge with “highlighting” is that it fades. When everything is in all caps, nothing is. Exclamation points are like salt. When people...
Seth's Blog
Normalizing selfishness
Shoplifters lurk in the shadows. They realize that they will have an easier time if they quietly...
3 months ago
Shoplifters lurk in the shadows. They realize that they will have an easier time if they quietly steal stuff, because speaking up about it won’t help their cause. Sometimes, though, some people seek to change the culture in a way that celebrates taking. “I own this jetski and I...
Seth's Blog
Optimized or maximized?
Engineers can optimize a bridge. There are some bridge designs that satisfy aesthetic, financial,...
3 months ago
Engineers can optimize a bridge. There are some bridge designs that satisfy aesthetic, financial, durability, safety and efficiency needs better than others. The work of optimization is finding the best set of tradeoffs. Maximization, on the other hand, seeks the solution that...
Seth's Blog
Unaware
If you don’t realize that you have power, you might not be able to exercise it. The power to speak...
3 months ago
If you don’t realize that you have power, you might not be able to exercise it. The power to speak up, to participate, to invent, to lead, to encourage, to vote, to connect, to organize, to march, to write, to say ‘no’ or to say ‘yes’. It’s tempting to imagine we have less power...
Seth's Blog
Coercion
One way to look at power is “you get to tell people what to do.” But an alternative is that the most...
3 months ago
One way to look at power is “you get to tell people what to do.” But an alternative is that the most powerful institutions, brands and people are the ones who are in alignment with their audience. Trust and the benefit of the doubt are more powerful and resilient than command and...
Seth's Blog
A good idea, well executed
Why isn’t this enough? There are plenty of good ideas, easy to learn from and copy. There are...
3 months ago
Why isn’t this enough? There are plenty of good ideas, easy to learn from and copy. There are countless projects, well executed, with the steps on display. Any entrepreneur could find a local business and bring a version of it from over here to over there. And a social change...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Ariana Martin
Hi, I’m Ariana - a pattern designer and printmaker from leafy Sheffield. I create joyful patterns...
3 months ago
Hi, I’m Ariana - a pattern designer and printmaker from leafy Sheffield. I create joyful patterns and illustrations, which are particularly inspired by 20th century design, and I produce my own range of stationery and homewares.
Describe your printmaking process.
Screen...
Seth's Blog
Direct questions worth answering
For everyone on the team… Do you care enough to do great work? Can we agree on what great work looks...
3 months ago
For everyone on the team… Do you care enough to do great work? Can we agree on what great work looks like? When the world changes, do we have a process to redefine great work? Do you have the tools you need to reach your goals? How could we create a system where great work […]
Seth's Blog
Communications hygiene (and the demise of texting)
Attention is scarce. Decisions are difficult. Searching takes effort. For thirty years, texting has...
3 months ago
Attention is scarce. Decisions are difficult. Searching takes effort. For thirty years, texting has been a powerful medium. It’s the thing that vibrates in our pocket. It promises something urgent, and a reply that’s demanded equally urgently. “I’m running ten minutes late,” is a...
Seth's Blog
It’s Mac Day (#40)
A lot shifted when the Apple Macintosh was introduced, and it wasn’t about the RAM, the chips or the...
3 months ago
A lot shifted when the Apple Macintosh was introduced, and it wasn’t about the RAM, the chips or the processor speed. Our world changed forty years ago today. Marketing, technology, commerce, luxury brands, communities, communication and our expectations for how we might spend...
Seth's Blog
Stumbling in the dark
Learning is complicated. While we’re doing it, it’s easy to imagine that those around us are...
3 months ago
Learning is complicated. While we’re doing it, it’s easy to imagine that those around us are completely sure of themselves, moving forward in a well-lit space. In fact, if you visit a growing company, a useful school or anywhere that growth is happening, you’ll quickly see that...
Seth's Blog
Out to get you
It’s easy to believe that in some moments, the world is out to get you. This is unlikely. The world...
3 months ago
It’s easy to believe that in some moments, the world is out to get you. This is unlikely. The world hardly knows you exist. There is injustice and trauma and systems of caste. There are tiny pockets of humanity that hold a grudge. But most of the time, in most situations, what...
Prolost
What I Want to Do in Apple Vision Pro
Still frame from Hello! by Goro Fujita, created in VR using Quill
Today’s the day to pre-order Apple...
3 months ago
Still frame from Hello! by Goro Fujita, created in VR using Quill
Today’s the day to pre-order Apple Vision Pro, Apple’s first “spatial computing” device. It’s an expensive VR headset that either represents an opportunity to beta-test the future, or double down on past failings...
Seth's Blog
Decoding ‘story’
Marketers like to talk about the story we tell. And non-marketers imagine that we’re referring to...
3 months ago
Marketers like to talk about the story we tell. And non-marketers imagine that we’re referring to Goldilocks and other ‘once upon a time’ moments. Because stories are the basic building block of culture, it’s difficult to see the nuance in this simple word. But one or two...
Seth's Blog
“I didn’t get in”
There are two ways to process this: The selection committee saw me, understood me, and then decided...
3 months ago
There are two ways to process this: The selection committee saw me, understood me, and then decided to reject me. or The selection committee didn’t get what I had to offer. I wasn’t rejected, my application was. It’s not that I didn’t get in, it’s that they didn’t engage with the...
Handprinted - Blog
Choosing Printmaking Paper
Choosing the paper for your printmaking project can have a significant impact on the way the print...
3 months ago
Choosing the paper for your printmaking project can have a significant impact on the way the print turns out. Changing the colour, thickness or texture of a paper can alter the mood, style or success of a print - it can be great fun to experiment.
Although there are no rules...
Seth's Blog
Who pays?
Supply and demand are always in a dance, with one outpacing the other from time to time. In the last...
3 months ago
Supply and demand are always in a dance, with one outpacing the other from time to time. In the last three years, the green tech revolution has accelerated dramatically. Countless companies are being created to change how food is grown, people are transported and energy is...
Seth's Blog
Variety and the long tail
In a We Are All Weird universe, there are two sorts of cultural disappointments. The first has been...
3 months ago
In a We Are All Weird universe, there are two sorts of cultural disappointments. The first has been around since the dawn of cable: We don’t all watch the same thing. We don’t all talk about it, hits aren’t really hits, not like they used to be. There’s no comparison in the reach...
Seth's Blog
Time, consquences and opportunities
Dreams have consequences Hisham Matar Time passes, decisions are made, we face the consequences or...
3 months ago
Dreams have consequences Hisham Matar Time passes, decisions are made, we face the consequences or enjoy the benefits. A few books for this moment, about navigating our days, and the possibility of light. It bends toward justice. The Return, by Hisham Matar. A beautiful and...
Seth's Blog
The generous ask
“If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” That’s problematic advice. Taken to an extreme, it turns us into...
3 months ago
“If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” That’s problematic advice. Taken to an extreme, it turns us into hustlers. The alternative is to realize that the best asks are actually offers. When we offer to help someone get to where they were going, we’re approaching the relationship with...
Seth's Blog
Everyone wants to be connected
But we hesitate to be the connector. Everyone wants to be trusted, but we hesitate to trust. And...
3 months ago
But we hesitate to be the connector. Everyone wants to be trusted, but we hesitate to trust. And everyone wants to be respected, but we often fail to offer our respect. What an opportunity.
Seth's Blog
Looking for a handle
What if your boots don’t have any straps? Bootstrapping is logically impossible. You can’t pick...
3 months ago
What if your boots don’t have any straps? Bootstrapping is logically impossible. You can’t pick yourself up into the air by lifting on your boots, no matter how hard you try, because gravity isn’t just a good idea, it’s the law. But it’s significantly more difficult if your boots...
On the Arts
Generative AI and the Falling Costs of Art Creation
For individual creators on a budget, the future is bright.
3 months ago
For individual creators on a budget, the future is bright.
Seth's Blog
Kash’s garden
She doesn’t grow plants. The plants grow themselves. Her job is to create conditions for the plants...
3 months ago
She doesn’t grow plants. The plants grow themselves. Her job is to create conditions for the plants to grow. The soil, the water, the light, the weeds… these are the conditions. But none of it happens if the plants don’t do the thing they want to do in the first place. This is...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet The Maker: Ian Burke
Ian Burke is a Painter Printmaker based in the North Yorkshire Moors. He was born in Saltburn and...
3 months ago
Ian Burke is a Painter Printmaker based in the North Yorkshire Moors. He was born in Saltburn and grew up in Redcar before studying Fine Art at Newcastle University. Having completed a Master's at Goldsmith's College, London he established a career in teaching art.
Ian now...
Seth's Blog
Consequences
Frederick Lewis Donaldson created a list of seven social sins that was soon popularized by Gandhi....
3 months ago
Frederick Lewis Donaldson created a list of seven social sins that was soon popularized by Gandhi. One hundred years later, it’s more relevant and more urgent than ever. Wealth without work.Pleasure without conscience.Knowledge without character.Commerce without morality.Science...
Seth's Blog
Customer service is a choice
It’s either part of your strategy or you’re paying for your mistake. 800 numbers changed the way...
3 months ago
It’s either part of your strategy or you’re paying for your mistake. 800 numbers changed the way large brands dealt with the public. Instantly, and for free, a consumer could contact a company about a product or service and they would work to make it right. It was more than...
Seth's Blog
The opposite of insubordination
“Do as I say.” That’s industrial management in four words. If you don’t follow the instructions to...
3 months ago
“Do as I say.” That’s industrial management in four words. If you don’t follow the instructions to the letter, you’re insubordinate. Not subordinate. Complete subordination might have been the goal in an industrial setting. But now, it’s dangerous, expensive and inefficent....
Seth's Blog
Avoiding technology
Robert Caro never learned to type. He pecks out his books two fingers at a time on an electric...
3 months ago
Robert Caro never learned to type. He pecks out his books two fingers at a time on an electric typewriter. There are two reasons to avoid learning a proven new technology: You know what it can do and how it will change your life and you don’t want it. You don’t know what it can...
Seth's Blog
Trying harder
Or trying better? Fast runners aren’t the same as slow runners, but with more effort. And great...
4 months ago
Or trying better? Fast runners aren’t the same as slow runners, but with more effort. And great chefs or violinists or actors… it’s not about doing what you did yesterday, but more of that. It’s something different.
Seth's Blog
PW 5: Measuring the right thing
Last in the series… Most of us were indoctrinated to believe that completing chores is the...
4 months ago
Last in the series… Most of us were indoctrinated to believe that completing chores is the appropriate measure of productivity. “I did all my homework.” Doing all your homework is a measure for industrial bosses. But what, precisely, did your homework ever do for you? The actual...
Seth's Blog
PW 4: Productivity and tools
Adam Smith and Karl Marx both wrote about the pin-making machine. Not too long ago, pins (for hats,...
4 months ago
Adam Smith and Karl Marx both wrote about the pin-making machine. Not too long ago, pins (for hats, to hold shirts in place, etc.) were incredibly expensive. They were a luxury item, and a handmade pin might cost more than buying lunch. The pin-making machine changed this. It...
Seth's Blog
Productivity week: Bonus
In an economy built on skill, knowledge, and attitude, the single most powerful way to improve your...
4 months ago
In an economy built on skill, knowledge, and attitude, the single most powerful way to improve your productivity is to learn something. You put in the effort once and it pays off for decades. There are more ways for an adult to learn now than at any time in our history, and all...
Seth's Blog
PW 3: Errors and productivity
If productivity is useful work created by time or money, it’s worth thinking about what we mean by...
4 months ago
If productivity is useful work created by time or money, it’s worth thinking about what we mean by ‘useful’. There are areas where reliability is crucial. It turns out that building an airplane that works 95% of the time is incredibly easy compared to building one that never...
Seth's Blog
PW 2: Productivity in community
We need you. But only if you need us. Purple.space is six months old, and there are about a thousand...
4 months ago
We need you. But only if you need us. Purple.space is six months old, and there are about a thousand of us now. It was an experiment, now it’s a useful tool. The initiative hat is often ill-fitting. We rush to take it off and get back to doing chores. And that’s why a community...
Seth's Blog
PW1: Two hats for productivity
Welcome to 2024. Back to work, here we go. So it’s Productivity Week on the blog. Productivity is...
4 months ago
Welcome to 2024. Back to work, here we go. So it’s Productivity Week on the blog. Productivity is the measure of the output (value) we get for the time or money we spend. Two hats for productivity: When I’m clearing my inbox, responding to comments in a doc, cooking lunch–these...
Seth's Blog
Where does your mind go when it wanders?
My friend Jason points out that this might be where your heart is. What would have to change for you...
4 months ago
My friend Jason points out that this might be where your heart is. What would have to change for you to actually follow the wandering and make it real? Or for your mind to choose to wander somewhere else? Somewhere you’re already going.
Seth's Blog
On choosing a college
For some fortunate 17 year olds, the end of the year is the day for a momentous decision, one that’s...
4 months ago
For some fortunate 17 year olds, the end of the year is the day for a momentous decision, one that’s largely out of the comfort zone of a 17 year old. A four-year college education in the US can cost nearly half a million dollars once we count the expenses and foregone...
Seth's Blog
Benign vs. normal
We evolved to be wary of change. Our attention is limited, new things can be a threat and the status...
4 months ago
We evolved to be wary of change. Our attention is limited, new things can be a threat and the status quo feels comfortable. As a result, we spend a lot of time and energy being afraid (and arguing about) the upcoming changes in our lives, but almost no time at all thinking about...
Seth's Blog
Which agenda?
Every day matters. It seems like a waste to spend one as a to-do list item on someone else’s agenda....
4 months ago
Every day matters. It seems like a waste to spend one as a to-do list item on someone else’s agenda. It’s easy to become so focused on checking the boxes that we forget that there are people involved. Peers, colleagues and friends that with something human to offer, if we only...
Seth's Blog
Rewrite for humans
My building had an elevator problem. The management company sent everyone this note: Please be...
4 months ago
My building had an elevator problem. The management company sent everyone this note: Please be advised we have been experiencing intermittent issues with the elevator. Our priority is your safety, and we are taking immediate action to address the situation. After a thorough...
Handprinted - Blog
In the Studio 2023
We've been looking back on all our studio highlights for 2023, and what a year it's been! If you...
4 months ago
We've been looking back on all our studio highlights for 2023, and what a year it's been! If you took part in one of our Fab Fridays, attended a workshop, or used the studio for open access - thanks for being a part of our studio! We hope to see you back again in 2024!
Workshops...
Seth's Blog
Leverage
It’s almost impossible to remove a screw with your bare hands, but easy with a screwdriver. The...
4 months ago
It’s almost impossible to remove a screw with your bare hands, but easy with a screwdriver. The handle might only add a little torque, but it’s more than enough. If someone is succeeding at something you find difficult, it might be because they realized they needed a screwdriver....
Seth's Blog
Finding a more useful umwelt
Add up all the senses you use and the things you notice: that’s your umwelt. It’s pretty obvious...
4 months ago
Add up all the senses you use and the things you notice: that’s your umwelt. It’s pretty obvious that your dog has a different one than you do. They see fewer colors and smell far more intelligently. Sea slugs see a much wider range of colors, and bats can sense vibrations. Among...
Seth's Blog
“Let’s face it”
In 1959, three years after Columbia Records spent a fortune rolling out stereo recording, a senior...
4 months ago
In 1959, three years after Columbia Records spent a fortune rolling out stereo recording, a senior A&R executive named Ward Botsman told the New York Times, “Let’s face it, the craze for stereo has not been as intense as expected,” writing off the format that would end up...
Seth's Blog
Happiness can often be traded for money
Most of us know what enough happiness feels like. But some people are stuck in an endless cycle of...
4 months ago
Most of us know what enough happiness feels like. But some people are stuck in an endless cycle of seeking more money. That’s a bad trade. Because after a certain threshold, it’s hard for more money to buy you more happiness. And the trap is that trying ends up costing you both.
Seth's Blog
Lost on purpose
…of course, if you’re lost on purpose, you’re not lost. Lost is only possible if you are fixed on...
4 months ago
…of course, if you’re lost on purpose, you’re not lost. Lost is only possible if you are fixed on getting somewhere specific.
On the Arts
On the Arts: A Year-End Review
A brief guide to everything published this year.
4 months ago
A brief guide to everything published this year.
Seth's Blog
x1000
The future creeps up on us slowly. But when it leaps dramatically, we notice. One spam phone call a...
4 months ago
The future creeps up on us slowly. But when it leaps dramatically, we notice. One spam phone call a day is an irritation. 1,000 of them destroy the utility of the phone. One photographer undercutting our rates is a threat. 1,000 of them means we can’t make a living at it any...
Seth's Blog
Drama at work
A divo (or diva) is an opera singer with skill. Sometimes, though, that skill comes in a package...
4 months ago
A divo (or diva) is an opera singer with skill. Sometimes, though, that skill comes in a package that also includes imperiousness, skittishness and a fair amount of unpredictable drama. It’s tempting to imagine that CEOs, painters or poets that bring the noise must also have...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: 2023 Round Up!
What a fantastic array of makers we've had featured on our Meet the Maker blog this year. We've put...
4 months ago
What a fantastic array of makers we've had featured on our Meet the Maker blog this year. We've put together a round up for you with all of the wonderful advice our makers have given for creatives at any stage of their creative practice.
Pop your feet up, grab yourself a nice...
Seth's Blog
The clamp and the mallet
While building a project, I found that a key part was stuck. I tapped it with a mallet, then harder,...
4 months ago
While building a project, I found that a key part was stuck. I tapped it with a mallet, then harder, and eventually whacked at it. No luck. Then I got smart and put three clamps around the part, gently turning each one, increasing the pressure, until it simply popped out....
Seth's Blog
The problems with flat out
The desire for 11 is proof that we often want to go all the way to ten. While 11 is silly, there is...
4 months ago
The desire for 11 is proof that we often want to go all the way to ten. While 11 is silly, there is a lot of pressure to give our all. But there are problems. The first is that if you try to sprint an entire marathon, you’ll hurt yourself. Systems can be stressed for […]
Seth's Blog
Focusing attention is a skill
Where we choose to direct our gaze determines not only what we learn or believe, but how we choose...
4 months ago
Where we choose to direct our gaze determines not only what we learn or believe, but how we choose to see the world. Typing is a skill. Juggling is a skill. So is project management. It’s easy to overlook the fact that we can get better at what we think about, create and consume....
Seth's Blog
Personal process notation
“I’ll remember it later.” I’ll confess, I rarely do. It turns out, it’s easier to remember questions...
4 months ago
“I’ll remember it later.” I’ll confess, I rarely do. It turns out, it’s easier to remember questions than answers. And tools like Google Docs and photos in the cloud give us a chance to build our own personal search engine. It takes 14 steps to construct the pages in one of my...
Seth's Blog
The friendly professional
Friendly doesn’t mean saying ‘yes’ all the time, or changing every policy, or giving up our...
4 months ago
Friendly doesn’t mean saying ‘yes’ all the time, or changing every policy, or giving up our principles. Friendly is how it feels, not what it does.
Seth's Blog
Signal and noise
If the signal is very weak and the noise is large, it’s easy to imagine that there’s no signal at...
4 months ago
If the signal is very weak and the noise is large, it’s easy to imagine that there’s no signal at all. AI and computers can be used as lenses now, which means we can strip away the noise and see things that we certainly didn’t expect. Dina Katabi at MIT can point a radio antenna...
Handprinted - Blog
Mark Making - Using Resists
Using tools on your plate isn’t the only way you can create marks within an etching. You can also...
4 months ago
Using tools on your plate isn’t the only way you can create marks within an etching. You can also use resists to stop the mordant from reaching the surface of your plate. Resists can help achieve more subtle marks and washes, and they can also be applied using a brush to control...
On the Arts
Winter as Reading Season
David Foster Wallace on the necessity of quiet time in order to read.
4 months ago
David Foster Wallace on the necessity of quiet time in order to read.
Seth's Blog
Valuable contributions
We actually don’t really know. Netflix just released their first-ever detailed analysis of how many...
4 months ago
We actually don’t really know. Netflix just released their first-ever detailed analysis of how many hours of engagement the top 15,000+ most watched shows on the network received over a six month period. Here’s the file. Who won? That question is actually the lesson here. The...
Seth's Blog
Digital stocking stuffers (and the other kind)
Ever since O. Henry wrote about the Magi, it’s been pretty clear that gifts aren’t about the stuff...
4 months ago
Ever since O. Henry wrote about the Magi, it’s been pretty clear that gifts aren’t about the stuff as much as they are the intent. Holidays where gifts are expected undermine this, because it’s hard to tell where obligation begins and intent fades away. One lightweight and quick...
Seth's Blog
Elegant and classy
If you announce that something is elegant or classy, it probably isn’t. There’s a humility to...
4 months ago
If you announce that something is elegant or classy, it probably isn’t. There’s a humility to hospitality and sophistication that evaporates when we name it.
Seth's Blog
Walking the city, walking the world
Last week, I passed 800 people as I walked my way through New York. I decided to look at the folks I...
4 months ago
Last week, I passed 800 people as I walked my way through New York. I decided to look at the folks I was walking near. Of those 800 people, not one was as conventionally attractive as a movie star. Few looked like the images I saw on the billboards I passed. Most wouldn’t be cast...
Seth's Blog
Wrestling, fighting or dancing?
We can wrestle with a challenge or a problem and find energy and possibility while doing it. And we...
4 months ago
We can wrestle with a challenge or a problem and find energy and possibility while doing it. And we can dance with someone else as we seek a mutual way forward. Fighting tends to be more brutal, final and hurtful than is often productive. You don’t want to spend your days...
Seth's Blog
All species are invasive species
Human beings as we know them have only been around for 70,000 years or so. Honeybees got to North...
4 months ago
Human beings as we know them have only been around for 70,000 years or so. Honeybees got to North America around the time Columbus did. And the same is true for technologies and companies. Western Union was an interloper, telegrams were the scary new tech that was going to change...
Seth's Blog
Abundance and ideas
A colleague got an angry note. It concluded with, “you should know better.” The transgression? The...
5 months ago
A colleague got an angry note. It concluded with, “you should know better.” The transgression? The sender was offended that my friend had written a post about a concept she’s been developing for nearly a decade. Of course, no idea is unique, and the posted idea sort of rhymed...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Sue Lewry
How and where did you learn to print?
A decade ago, when I first stepped into a print workshop, I...
5 months ago
How and where did you learn to print?
A decade ago, when I first stepped into a print workshop, I met print technician and artist India Ritchie, who taught me various printmaking methods while studying at Arts University Plymouth.
India taught me intaglio, relief, and screen...
Seth's Blog
Hope and expectations
They’re not the same thing. Hope can fuel us. Hope can be refilled. Hope opens the door to...
5 months ago
They’re not the same thing. Hope can fuel us. Hope can be refilled. Hope opens the door to possibility. Expectations, on the other hand, are a trap. They make us brittle and lead to disappointment. When we raise our hopes and lower our expectations, we establish a resilient way...
Seth's Blog
The head of marketing
It’s easy to be confused about this job, because it’s not one job, it’s at least three. This is why...
5 months ago
It’s easy to be confused about this job, because it’s not one job, it’s at least three. This is why it’s a difficult job to fill, and why turnover is so high–we’re not allocating resources or setting expectations in a way that matches the work to be done. Marketing strategy: This...
Seth's Blog
Wild Hope Now: The power of books for causes
Non-profits and charities depend on the emotional and financial support of their backers. And that...
5 months ago
Non-profits and charities depend on the emotional and financial support of their backers. And that support is always based on a story. A story of possibility, of justice, of community. They serve to right wrongs, to fix problems, to shine a light and to make things better. I’ve...
Seth's Blog
The sixty-day staircase
In the moment, it’s really difficult. L’espirit descalier means, “the spirit of the staircase.” That...
5 months ago
In the moment, it’s really difficult. L’espirit descalier means, “the spirit of the staircase.” That thing you wished you had a said just a moment ago, the bon mot or the clever riposte. It only comes to us as we’re walking away. But this sort of quick comment is good for the...
Seth's Blog
True/useful
Here’s a simple grid that might change the way you think about internal stories: When we believe in...
5 months ago
Here’s a simple grid that might change the way you think about internal stories: When we believe in something that’s useful but not true, it can serve a helpful purpose. The tooth fairy, perhaps. When we act on something that’s useful and also true, we’ve found a resilient path...
Seth's Blog
When was the last time you used a compass?
How about an astrolabe? Or even a watch? Technology advances, and sooner or later, the old stuff...
5 months ago
How about an astrolabe? Or even a watch? Technology advances, and sooner or later, the old stuff gets left behind. It’s easy to romanticize some of the classic devices that we built civilization on, and it’s worth remembering that the tech we’re wrestling with now will soon be...
Seth's Blog
When the committee decides
They’re almost always conservative. Whether it’s a governmental body, the strategy group at a big...
5 months ago
They’re almost always conservative. Whether it’s a governmental body, the strategy group at a big company or the membership panel at the local country club, we can learn a lot by seeing what they approve and when they stall. Of course, each of us know a lot about our offering,...
The Great Discontent...
Yashas Mitta
Yashas is a creative director and ambitious connector. He was also a self-described outsider for...
5 months ago
Yashas is a creative director and ambitious connector. He was also a self-described outsider for much of his life, and his path from Bangalore, India to New York City has been a winding one driven by sheer stubbornness and a keen instinct for creating community wherever he goes....
Seth's Blog
The thing about Hobson
People talk about Hobson’s choice as if it’s always a bad thing. A liveryman in pre-industrial...
5 months ago
People talk about Hobson’s choice as if it’s always a bad thing. A liveryman in pre-industrial London, he rented horses. And every customer was allowed to take the horse closest to the door. Hobson’s choice is no choice at all. Of course, this system meant that the horses were...
Handprinted - Blog
Designing a Repeat Block by Hand
Visualising what your design will look like when printed can be the hardest thing about designing a...
5 months ago
Visualising what your design will look like when printed can be the hardest thing about designing a repeat pattern. We have a good method for sketching out your initial design to see how it will work when it has been printed.
For this project, we will be using a mounted lino...
Seth's Blog
The art of estimation
If you’re a freelancer or a contractor of any kind, it’s typical to be asked for an estimate or a...
5 months ago
If you’re a freelancer or a contractor of any kind, it’s typical to be asked for an estimate or a quote. And if you’ve been doing business for a while, it’s likely that you’ve heard about price more than just about any other factor in losing an opportunity. So the pressure is on...
Seth's Blog
Study groups
If I had to choose one metric that would determine how well someone would do in law school, it...
5 months ago
If I had to choose one metric that would determine how well someone would do in law school, it wouldn’t be the LSAT or another test. It would be whether or not they formed a study group, and who else was in it. Of course, the same is true for your project, or any sort […]
Seth's Blog
The hard part first
If you’re trying to reduce risk, do the hard part first. That way, if it fails, you’ll have...
5 months ago
If you’re trying to reduce risk, do the hard part first. That way, if it fails, you’ll have minimized your time and effort. On the other hand, if you’re looking for buy-in and commitment so you can through the hard part, do it last. People are terrible at ignoring sunk costs, and...
Seth's Blog
The long-range forecast keeps shifting
Exactly. That’s why it’s a forecast, not an accurate account of what’s going to happen in the...
5 months ago
Exactly. That’s why it’s a forecast, not an accurate account of what’s going to happen in the future. This seems axiomatic, but our desire for certainty keeps letting us down. The shifting of forecasts is evidence that they’re merely forecasts.
Seth's Blog
After the meteorite
When it slams into your house and destroys it, we’re likely to pursue one of two lines of thinking:...
5 months ago
When it slams into your house and destroys it, we’re likely to pursue one of two lines of thinking: –How did I cause this? What choices did I make, what mistakes did I permit, why did I deserve to have this damage, or who can I blame? –Well, that happened, now what should I do?...
Seth's Blog
The network scam
Lana Swartz coined this term in her breakthrough paper on crypto. A scam always involves a...
5 months ago
Lana Swartz coined this term in her breakthrough paper on crypto. A scam always involves a transaction. In the traditional fraud, the scammer tells a lie and the buyer, either with or without diligence, believes it and loses everything. You buy the magic beans, but they don’t...
Seth's Blog
Generosity and gratitude
A gift doesn’t diminish the giver. Sharing creates connection, possibility and energy. And the magic...
5 months ago
A gift doesn’t diminish the giver. Sharing creates connection, possibility and energy. And the magic of gratitude is that it improves everything it touches, especially the person who offered it in the first place. So, what holds us back? Fear. Fear of connection, of change, of...
Handprinted - Blog
Easy Christmas Cards Six Ways
We’ve had a lot of fun this week working on easy, quick and fun ways to print your own Christmas...
5 months ago
We’ve had a lot of fun this week working on easy, quick and fun ways to print your own Christmas cards! We’ve come up with six simple ways for you to try. Take a look at our instructions below and have a go yourself.
Bah Humbug Lino Printed Card
This two-layered lino card is...
On the Arts
The Meaning of Melancholy
An Interview with Hans Maes
5 months ago
An Interview with Hans Maes
Seth's Blog
Long form AI
The new version of Claude can read a document of up to 400 pages in about three minutes. You can...
5 months ago
The new version of Claude can read a document of up to 400 pages in about three minutes. You can then ask it for criticism, summaries or other insights. I wouldn’t use it on a piece of literature, but if you’re reading for work (aren’t we all), it will dramatically increase how...
Seth's Blog
Three sheet metaphors
Here’s a large blue bedsheet, queen sized. If we’re going to pull it taut, it will take the...
5 months ago
Here’s a large blue bedsheet, queen sized. If we’re going to pull it taut, it will take the coordinated effort of eight people, each pulling just the right amount, from each corner and edge. If we’re going to billow it up and down, like a parachute, we’re going to need those...
Seth's Blog
Nice bike
A well-designed bicycle is efficient, inexpensive and delightful. If you use your bike on the right...
5 months ago
A well-designed bicycle is efficient, inexpensive and delightful. If you use your bike on the right paths, with appropriate goals, it can deliver exactly what you need, while also allowing you to go at your own pace, see what’s going on around you and feel grounded. Until, of...
Seth's Blog
The perfect conditions
Somewhere, there is the ideal soil for growing mangoes. Or the best possible wave for surfing. Or...
5 months ago
Somewhere, there is the ideal soil for growing mangoes. Or the best possible wave for surfing. Or the most romantic sunset for a proposal. But it’s not right here and it’s not right now. Our success has a lot to do with how we dance with conditions that aren’t quite perfect.
Seth's Blog
Working with problems
They’re everywhere we look. Here are a few thoughts on the ones that won’t go away: First, is it a...
5 months ago
They’re everywhere we look. Here are a few thoughts on the ones that won’t go away: First, is it a problem or a situation? Problems, by definition, have solutions. You might not like the cost of the solution, the trade-offs it leads to, or the time and effort it takes, but...
Seth's Blog
Who’s got the camera?
For years, I’ve been using this picture of Neil Armstrong when I tell the story of meeting him and...
5 months ago
For years, I’ve been using this picture of Neil Armstrong when I tell the story of meeting him and hearing his talk at one of his last public appearances: I wasn’t there when this photo was taken, so I relied on a Google image search to find it: I compounded Google’s error....
Seth's Blog
The second mistake
That’s the avoidable one and the one that usually causes the real trouble. When the first mistake...
5 months ago
That’s the avoidable one and the one that usually causes the real trouble. When the first mistake flusters us, breaks our rhythm or messes with our confidence, we’re far more likely to make the second one. It’s almost impossible to avoid making a mistake. But avoiding the second...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Grace Gillespie
Hello! I’m Grace Gillespie, a printmaker specialising in reduction linocuts and based in Bristol....
5 months ago
Hello! I’m Grace Gillespie, a printmaker specialising in reduction linocuts and based in Bristol. Most days you will find me in my teeny home studio, adding layers of colour to my prints, thinking about future designs or working on the never-ending administration side of running...
Seth's Blog
Turtleneck confusion
Apple didn’t succeed because of the way Steve Jobs dressed. Just like SBF’s hair didn’t put him in...
5 months ago
Apple didn’t succeed because of the way Steve Jobs dressed. Just like SBF’s hair didn’t put him in jail. We can look at the outré behavior of various Silicon Valley overlords and come to the conclusion that it’s not only a necessary part of the job but actually the cause of their...
Seth's Blog
Learning, connecting, deciding (and amazing)
My new short LinkedIn class on project management just launched, and I’ll be discussing it live...
5 months ago
My new short LinkedIn class on project management just launched, and I’ll be discussing it live today with Amanda Ruud … we’ll be there if you want to bring your questions. Sooner or later, all important work becomes project work. After the extraordinary feedback from her last...
Seth's Blog
A long time is not the same as never
It might feel like an endless slog now, but when the innovation appears, people won’t remember how...
5 months ago
It might feel like an endless slog now, but when the innovation appears, people won’t remember how long it took to get here. Often, we assume that today’s snapshot is actually the entire movie, but it rarely is.
Seth's Blog
The reluctant spammer
“I don’t want to send this pitch to a list of every single podcaster in the world, but we have to...
5 months ago
“I don’t want to send this pitch to a list of every single podcaster in the world, but we have to get the word out.” “I don’t want to send an email to every one of our previous donors every three days until they unsubscribe, but our work is so important, it has to be […]
Seth's Blog
Finding the glitch
Many moths are attracted to light. That works fine when it’s a bright moon and an open field, but...
5 months ago
Many moths are attracted to light. That works fine when it’s a bright moon and an open field, but not so well for the moths if the light was set up as a bug trap. Processionary caterpillars follow the one in front until their destination, even if they’re arranged in a circle,...
Seth's Blog
Heavy Lemon Tuna
It’s easy to smirk at the ridiculous images one can make in twenty seconds with AI. People used to...
5 months ago
It’s easy to smirk at the ridiculous images one can make in twenty seconds with AI. People used to smirk at photographs in the 1800s. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” is no longer a useful thing to say. Truth is real, photos are not.
Seth's Blog
The amateur presenter
Not “amateur” as in the unprepared professional. Amateur as in the passionate individual, untrained...
5 months ago
Not “amateur” as in the unprepared professional. Amateur as in the passionate individual, untrained but with something to say. If you’re called on to give a talk or presentation, the biggest trap to avoid is the most common: Decide that you need to be just like a professional...
Seth's Blog
The paradigm flip
Paradigm shifts are appealing but rarely well executed. A paradigm is our mental model of the world....
5 months ago
Paradigm shifts are appealing but rarely well executed. A paradigm is our mental model of the world. We’re surrounded by people who share a similar model, and as long as the model is working, we live our lives without thinking much about it. If you lived in a space station, the...
Handprinted - Blog
Testing your Copper Sulphate Solution
When you’ve mixed a fresh batch of copper sulphate mordant, or if you have an old batch that you...
5 months ago
When you’ve mixed a fresh batch of copper sulphate mordant, or if you have an old batch that you haven’t used for a few months, it’s good practice to test the strength of your solution.
By creating some test strips for both line and tones, you’ll create yourself a reference point...
On the Arts
How to Write a Proper Haiku
A Starter's Guide to the Deceptively Simple Poetic Form
5 months ago
A Starter's Guide to the Deceptively Simple Poetic Form
Seth's Blog
“We used to do that”
When electricity came along, there was a swath of industries that were trapped in an old way of...
5 months ago
When electricity came along, there was a swath of industries that were trapped in an old way of thinking. The only ones that thrived were able to walk away from what they used to do and eagerly embrace something new. When the internet was young, the major book publishers had...
Prolost
What Does and Doesn’t Matter about Apple Shooting their October Event on iPhone 15 Pro Max
A still from Apple’s “Behind the scenes: An Apple Event shot on iPhone” video
Apple Shot Their...
6 months ago
A still from Apple’s “Behind the scenes: An Apple Event shot on iPhone” video
Apple Shot Their “Scary Fast” October Event Video on iPhones And We Had Feelings
You’re somewhere on the spectrum of occasionally shooting video on your iPhone to a professional-ish video maker with...
Handprinted - Blog
Printing with Heat Stamps
If you haven’t tried printing with Heat Stamps yet, this is your new project. It’s really quick to...
6 months ago
If you haven’t tried printing with Heat Stamps yet, this is your new project. It’s really quick to create a unique block that can be reused again and again to create different textures and patterns.
All you need is a heat gun and a variety of objects and surfaces to create your...
Seth's Blog
Project resistance
In Steven Pressfield’s classic The War of Art, he introduces the idea of Resistance. It’s the...
6 months ago
In Steven Pressfield’s classic The War of Art, he introduces the idea of Resistance. It’s the internal force that keeps us from doing our most important creative work. If an instinct, a habit or a feeling gets in the way of the work, it’s Pressfield’s Resistance. Things we would...
Seth's Blog
The first nine minutes
Mixing up a batch of homemade vegan marshmallow Fluff® is an exercise in patience. For the first...
6 months ago
Mixing up a batch of homemade vegan marshmallow Fluff® is an exercise in patience. For the first nine minutes of the ten minutes it takes in the mixer, not much happens. And then, it transforms into something fluffy and delightful. Without the recipe, it’s unlikely that most...
Seth's Blog
Patience
It’s worth the most when it’s the most difficult to find.
6 months ago
It’s worth the most when it’s the most difficult to find.
Seth's Blog
The power of expectations
When we raise our expectations for a student, a friend or a co-worker, we open the door to...
6 months ago
When we raise our expectations for a student, a friend or a co-worker, we open the door to possibility. We offer them dignity and a chance to grow. We are offering them trust. But if we become attached to those expectations, if the expectation unmet leads us to distress or...
Seth's Blog
The community orchestra
There are people who get paid to play the flute or bassoon. There are far more people who volunteer...
6 months ago
There are people who get paid to play the flute or bassoon. There are far more people who volunteer to participate in a community orchestra. For many, rehearsals or performances are the high points of their day. The metaphor is powerful, because it teaches us that we all benefit...
Seth's Blog
Commonplace technology
Not all tech is new tech. The ballpoint pen was a revelation, and a bit controversial. Now, it’s...
6 months ago
Not all tech is new tech. The ballpoint pen was a revelation, and a bit controversial. Now, it’s disposable and obvious. Different industries go through tech spurts. My desk is covered with items I use every day (a mouse, headphones, a solid-state drive, transparent tape, and...
Seth's Blog
Two ways to defend the status quo
Neither is true, helpful or generous. Both happen all the time. Call it out when you see it.
6 months ago
Neither is true, helpful or generous. Both happen all the time. Call it out when you see it.
Seth's Blog
Confronting consciousness
Everyone knows what it is to be conscious, and we imagine that other people are also aware. That we...
6 months ago
Everyone knows what it is to be conscious, and we imagine that other people are also aware. That we have a voice in our heads, apparent agency and free will, a little person inside who is commenting, making decisions and in charge. We’re not sure if dogs have this, and we’re...
Seth's Blog
The 2 x 4 lessons
You’ll need two 8-foot boards and six five-gallon buckets. Each board is a standard 2 x 4, about two...
6 months ago
You’ll need two 8-foot boards and six five-gallon buckets. Each board is a standard 2 x 4, about two inches by four inches in size. And the bucket is about two feet deep. The first lesson is simple: Put the board on the floor and have a colleague walk from one end to the other....
Seth's Blog
Three things about innovation
New approaches will never be embraced by everyone at first. If you need unanimous consent, you’re...
6 months ago
New approaches will never be embraced by everyone at first. If you need unanimous consent, you’re not going to move forward. And it’s not convenient. If it were, someone would have done it already. Finally, it’s not sure to work. If you need any or all three of these things for...
Seth's Blog
Big science
To win a Nobel prize a hundred years ago, you might only need a legal pad and a few pencils. Today,...
6 months ago
To win a Nobel prize a hundred years ago, you might only need a legal pad and a few pencils. Today, it takes millions of dollars, scores of people and many years of effort. That’s because the most straightforward problems have been solved. One side effect of this inevitable shift...
Seth's Blog
Small groups, well organized
And those are the two challenges of anyone seeking to make an impact. First, we get distracted by...
6 months ago
And those are the two challenges of anyone seeking to make an impact. First, we get distracted by the inclination to make the group as big as we can imagine. After all, the change is essential, the idea is a good one. It’s for everyone. Except that’s a trap. Because a group...
Seth's Blog
What’s new at purple.space?
There are now 1,000 of us in this online community that’s not a social network. Proudly a millionth...
6 months ago
There are now 1,000 of us in this online community that’s not a social network. Proudly a millionth the size of some other online experiences. It includes the original Creative’s Workshop, with hundreds of people working through it, side by side. And just added, access to the...
Seth's Blog
Trouble in the grey zone
In many creative industries, there’s a similar pattern. When the stakes are very low, most creators...
6 months ago
In many creative industries, there’s a similar pattern. When the stakes are very low, most creators produce things that are fairly banal and ordinary. Part of that is the law of large numbers, but it’s mostly our personal cultural resistance to leaning too far into weird stuff....
On the Arts
Do biographies need to start at the beginning?
Alternatives to the predictably linear narratives of most biographies.
6 months ago
Alternatives to the predictably linear narratives of most biographies.
Seth's Blog
The seduction of “why”
It’s classic linkbait. Headlines that explain why something is happening. Questions to AI about why...
6 months ago
It’s classic linkbait. Headlines that explain why something is happening. Questions to AI about why something happens. Even kids, asking their parents. Why is easy to sell. Why is hard to deliver. Consultants make a good living explaining the why. And media companies try to. But...
Seth's Blog
Scaffolds and talent
Kindergarten teachers matter more than you think. Chess isn’t a talent, it’s a learned practice....
6 months ago
Kindergarten teachers matter more than you think. Chess isn’t a talent, it’s a learned practice. We’re sorting for head starts, not growth. And that’s just the first chapter. I think Hidden Potential is the most important book in Adam Grant’s career. The indoctrination around...
Seth's Blog
The next one
When asked what his favorite composition was, Duke Ellington said, “the next one.” This is the...
6 months ago
When asked what his favorite composition was, Duke Ellington said, “the next one.” This is the essence of the artistic process. When we’re in the liminal space between now and what is about to come, we’re fully alive.
Seth's Blog
Late-stage technocrats
Water flows downhill, and tech solves the easy problems first. After the launch of Amazon and...
6 months ago
Water flows downhill, and tech solves the easy problems first. After the launch of Amazon and Google, when smartphones reached critical mass, an easy problem to solve involved bridging information with stuff. So you could use your phone to summon a car, a case of beer, a dog...
Seth's Blog
Emotional labor and its consequences
Forty years ago, Arlie Russell Hochschild wrote about emotional labor. The work that frontline...
6 months ago
Forty years ago, Arlie Russell Hochschild wrote about emotional labor. The work that frontline employees had to do (especially women) in managing and expressing emotions as part of their job. She talked about how exhausting it was for flight attendants to show up with a smile,...
Seth's Blog
Complex or complicated?
Complicated problems have a solution, and the solution can often be found by breaking the...
6 months ago
Complicated problems have a solution, and the solution can often be found by breaking the complicated portions into smaller pieces. And complicated problems often have an emotional component, because there are parts of the problem we don’t want to look at closely, or deal with...
The Great Discontent...
Ophelia Chong
Ophelia Chong has had a long and storied career in photography, art, and creative direction that...
6 months ago
Ophelia Chong has had a long and storied career in photography, art, and creative direction that spans from magazines and music labels to film festivals and book publishing. When a family member’s medicinal marijuana use inspired her to dip her toes into the world of weed, Chong...
Seth's Blog
The shifting status of more data
How do we know if we’re doing a good job? In some fields, it’s always been pretty easy to tell....
6 months ago
How do we know if we’re doing a good job? In some fields, it’s always been pretty easy to tell. Either the building falls down or it doesn’t. Either the car starts after you charge the battery or it’s still dead. We can ask easy questions about how long it took or how much it […]
Seth's Blog
The end of writer’s block
I was delighted to share this short talk with my friend Sue. I thought it might resonate with you. I...
6 months ago
I was delighted to share this short talk with my friend Sue. I thought it might resonate with you. I hope it’s helpful. More interviews and talks are here. And my books are here.
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Angie Lewin
I'm a printmaker working in linocut, wood engraving and silk screen. I also exhibit my watercolours...
6 months ago
I'm a printmaker working in linocut, wood engraving and silk screen. I also exhibit my watercolours and create collages of printed Japanese papers applied to objects collected on walking and sketching trips. In 2005, I set up St Jude's, along with my husband Simon, to produce...
On the Arts
What is the Demoscene?
An Interview with Filipe Cruz on the Influential but Obscure Art Form
6 months ago
An Interview with Filipe Cruz on the Influential but Obscure Art Form
Seth's Blog
Spines out
I lost a cookbook the other day. After twenty more minutes of searching, there it was, right on the...
6 months ago
I lost a cookbook the other day. After twenty more minutes of searching, there it was, right on the cookbook shelf. But the spine was much more subtle than the cover, and it hadn’t been what I was looking for or expecting. We spend a lot of time on our (metaphorical) book covers....
Seth's Blog
The slog, the hobby and the quest
Here’s a simple XY grid to help you think about your next project, freelance career or startup: All...
6 months ago
Here’s a simple XY grid to help you think about your next project, freelance career or startup: All too common are ‘fun’ businesses where someone finds a hobby they like and tries to turn it into a gig. While the work may be fun, the uphill grind of this sort of project is...
Seth's Blog
Judgment
AI pushes us to do what we actually get paid to do: make decisions. Craft used to drive our hours or...
6 months ago
AI pushes us to do what we actually get paid to do: make decisions. Craft used to drive our hours or even days. Get the pen lines just right. Source the Letraset. Get your instrument in tune. Sweat the details, because the details are everything. Now, I can choose from 1,000...
Seth's Blog
What are the defaults?
Perhaps they were chosen a very long time ago. Or with very little thought. It could be that the...
6 months ago
Perhaps they were chosen a very long time ago. Or with very little thought. It could be that the constraints that led to the default are long gone. They might be perpetuating bad choices, injustice or sub-optimal outputs. The best way to fix something is to look at what we assume...
Seth's Blog
Different kinds of people
It’s a tempting shortcut. Different kinds of people prefer pop tarts to pizza, or prefer expensive...
6 months ago
It’s a tempting shortcut. Different kinds of people prefer pop tarts to pizza, or prefer expensive wine to beer, or prefer amusement parks to bowling. Except everyone is the same and everyone is different. What’s actually useful is to realize that in this moment, under these...
Seth's Blog
The Pizza Principle
Good pizza is rare, even though the method to create it is well known. Any efforts to make it more...
6 months ago
Good pizza is rare, even though the method to create it is well known. Any efforts to make it more convenient, cheaper or easier will almost always make it worse. If you think this post is about pizza, I’m afraid that we’re already stuck.
Seth's Blog
Consider joining Purple Space
It’s not for everyone, but it might be for you. All the details are at purple.space It’s for...
6 months ago
It’s not for everyone, but it might be for you. All the details are at purple.space It’s for creatives, independents, brand managers, strategists, founders, non-profit leaders and lifelong learners.
Seth's Blog
It could have easily gone the other way
It could have been way better. It could have been far worse. It’s easy to imagine that outcomes are...
6 months ago
It could have been way better. It could have been far worse. It’s easy to imagine that outcomes are inevitable, but they’re not. Was it your fault, or was it luck (good or bad)? If our story of the past is filled with second guesses, shame or blame, it can carry forward. Or...
Seth's Blog
Jargon comes and goes
Forty years ago in engineering class, it wasn’t unusual to talk about GIGO or FUBAR. These weren’t...
6 months ago
Forty years ago in engineering class, it wasn’t unusual to talk about GIGO or FUBAR. These weren’t technical terms, they were mild complaints that signaled insider status and cultural cohesion. In a closed profession, like airplane pilots, the insider jargon lasts for...
On the Arts
Link List: 20 Articles + Websites About the Arts
A wide-ranging collection of links on ballet, ugly architecture, Soviet Control rooms, Hokusai, and...
6 months ago
A wide-ranging collection of links on ballet, ugly architecture, Soviet Control rooms, Hokusai, and nifty CSS tools.
Seth's Blog
Writing your book
I spent time this week with two authors who are showing up to share their lives, their insights, and...
6 months ago
I spent time this week with two authors who are showing up to share their lives, their insights, and their generosity in the form of books. A good book will change the reader, but it makes an even bigger impact on the author. Here’s a classic episode of Akimbo. Book publishing...
Seth's Blog
Input choice is easily taken for granted
We can give instructions to a fellow human by: Most people develop voiceboxes and limbs and facial...
6 months ago
We can give instructions to a fellow human by: Most people develop voiceboxes and limbs and facial expressions that make any of these usable. Computers, over the decades, have had to have them engineered. In 1983, Dan Lovy built a parser for the adventure games I was marketing at...
Prolost
Log is the “Pro” in iPhone 15 Pro
And I’ve got some free LUTs for you.
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max feature log video recording. This...
6 months ago
And I’ve got some free LUTs for you.
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max feature log video recording. This is a big deal, but there’s already some confusion about it. Where consumer devices and pro video overlap, that’s where the Prolost Signal gleams brightest in the night sky. So...
Seth's Blog
No thank you
Failing to acknowledge a favor or a courtesy is a triple mistake, and it’s becoming more common....
6 months ago
Failing to acknowledge a favor or a courtesy is a triple mistake, and it’s becoming more common. ChatGPT is now promoting the idea that it can write a thank you note for you, and a text is a lot easier than a handwritten note, and yet, the level of ‘thank you’ seems to be...
Seth's Blog
Possibility and opportunity
We have the chance to build something that creates connection and generates value. On the other...
6 months ago
We have the chance to build something that creates connection and generates value. On the other hand, a system that diminishes agency and dignity is inherently unstable. When we seek to create scarcity and control and optimize output at the expense of our humanity, it may pay off...
Seth's Blog
Getting it right the first time
How unlikely is this? The artist who paints a masterpiece, from scratch, without hesitation. The...
7 months ago
How unlikely is this? The artist who paints a masterpiece, from scratch, without hesitation. The playwright who doesn’t need a workshop or a reading. The architect who designs a food hall that has a layout and vibe that works without one alteration… Evolution is powerful. It...
Seth's Blog
Password stupidity is no longer viable
[Of course, it’s not stupidity. It’s fear and superstition, which often go together. First, the...
7 months ago
[Of course, it’s not stupidity. It’s fear and superstition, which often go together. First, the rant.] It’s 2023. Major corporations should not be posting rules like this: This is not just security theatre. It’s a waste of time, the math makes no sense and it leads people to...
Seth's Blog
Getting better at bucket management
If you throw a bucket of water on a small campfire, you’ll succeed in putting it out. Pour a...
7 months ago
If you throw a bucket of water on a small campfire, you’ll succeed in putting it out. Pour a bucketful of sake into one of those little glasses and you’ll waste most of it and ruin the table setting. And try to use a bucket to refill a dried-out lake and not much will happen. […]
Seth's Blog
Nothing to ad
A recent discussion about the challenges of direct-to-consumer marketing of a skincare product ended...
7 months ago
A recent discussion about the challenges of direct-to-consumer marketing of a skincare product ended with one participant describing the hard part with, “nothing to ad.” She was referring to how much the thread had covered, but the pun wasn’t lost on us. Social media offered an...
Handprinted - Blog
Meet the Maker: Pia Bramley
I’m an artist, illustrator and printmaker. Having left London after a decade of city life I now live...
7 months ago
I’m an artist, illustrator and printmaker. Having left London after a decade of city life I now live and work in The New Forest, squeezing in drawing and printing around caring for a three year old.
How and where did you learn to print?
I did my foundation at KIAD (formerly...
On the Arts
The Vertical Beauty of Hong Kong
An Interview with Photographer Romain Jacquet Lagrèze
7 months ago
An Interview with Photographer Romain Jacquet Lagrèze
Seth's Blog
Evenly distributed
For the first time, the only time, everyone on Earth was in the same boat at the same time. We’ve...
7 months ago
For the first time, the only time, everyone on Earth was in the same boat at the same time. We’ve long been divided by privilege, by caste, by accidents of birth or by organized hierarchies. Sure, there have been events that struck us all at once. Landing on the moon caused us...
Seth's Blog
Fooling ourselves
It’s tempting to believe that we’re not easy to fool. Not by a magician, a politician or a banker....
7 months ago
It’s tempting to believe that we’re not easy to fool. Not by a magician, a politician or a banker. Other folks might be easily duped by a spammer or a hustler, but not us. And yet, no one fools you more than you. When you look in the mirror, do you see what others see, […]
Seth's Blog
But it matters a lot to them…
To get to the Kebab House Cafe, you’ll need to drive past a dozen fast food restaurants, restaurants...
7 months ago
To get to the Kebab House Cafe, you’ll need to drive past a dozen fast food restaurants, restaurants you can find off just about any interstate. It’s certainly less convenient to go a few blocks off the beaten path, but the food and service and vibe might be worth it. The thing...
Seth's Blog
Learning from the Amazon gift card snafu
Millions of people got this email last night: It’s legitimate, but it’s a mistake. A mistake...
7 months ago
Millions of people got this email last night: It’s legitimate, but it’s a mistake. A mistake because: We can learn a lot about what not to do from this. First, if you make a mistake by email, fix it. Fix it by email AND fix it on your site. Let everyone who got the wrong […]
Seth's Blog
Confusion and certainty
When facing a complex problem, it’s easy to become confused. Lately, it’s become socially acceptable...
7 months ago
When facing a complex problem, it’s easy to become confused. Lately, it’s become socially acceptable to express your confusion with certainty. Untrained in the field, make a pronouncement that makes it clear that you have not just an understanding of what’s going on, but also...
Seth's Blog
Solving invented problems
Some problems, when well solved, lead to making things better. Some problems give us a chance to get...
7 months ago
Some problems, when well solved, lead to making things better. Some problems give us a chance to get back on course. And some problems are opportunities to be generous. But many of the problems that we seek to solve are actually invented, and maybe we could benefit by simply...
Seth's Blog
Freedom of attitude
There are two franchised pack-and-ship shops about equidistant from my home. One has a 4.5 rating...
7 months ago
There are two franchised pack-and-ship shops about equidistant from my home. One has a 4.5 rating and is reliably busy. The other has an astonishingly low 1.5 out of 5 rating. The physical plant is virtually identical, and the marketing and promo are the same. The only difference...
Seth's Blog
A small shopping list (floss and more)
Here are some books and household items that I wanted to share. I’m mostly into audiobooks these...
7 months ago
Here are some books and household items that I wanted to share. I’m mostly into audiobooks these days–a good narrator combined with a good author is pretty rare and wonderful… It turns out that a breakthrough rice cooker is a bargain, even if it seems expensive at first. The...
Seth's Blog
Thoughts on the manual
We have more ways to offer instructions than ever before, but it’s not obvious that we’re getting...
7 months ago
We have more ways to offer instructions than ever before, but it’s not obvious that we’re getting better at it. Not just the operator’s manual, but every way we have to teach and offer instructions… Some (uncategorized) things to consider: The first manual I created, in 1983, was...
Handprinted - Blog
Pigment & Binder - Mixing colours for printing fabric
Using Pigment Colours and Binder, you can mix your own bespoke colours for screen printing and block...
7 months ago
Using Pigment Colours and Binder, you can mix your own bespoke colours for screen printing and block printing. Experimenting with different ratio amounts of binder to pigment can create some lovely subtle pale shades and some strong bold colours too.
Keeping a note of your...
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