Hot Off The Press

Photo By Dorit Beller De-Beer

The sounds of the heavy steps rushing up and down in the building's stairwell would alway startle me. I'd quickly fall back asleep and forget about it. Later when I woke up I would open the door, and there it laid, that crisp brand new newspaper. 

Every day without fail this managed give me that little ting of exciting joy 'oh what interesting piece of news will I discover today'. It held a sense of promise. 

Never mind that on some occasions I was lucky enough to be part of the team that helped bring the newspaper to life, translating away foreign news items that would hit the AP or Reuters feed (and this pre facebook age mind you). 

Newspapers are exciting and I forgot how much they are. 

Recently with the new political atmosphere we made a decision, we need to go back and become more media literate, know our facts, dig deeper to a story. Prompt our kids to see headlines, ask questions, expose them beyond the sheltered world which they are so so privilege to live in. Quest beyond a feed. 

That is starting to happen, but I also noticed some other things happen. 

I noticed how mono-news-feed assaulted we are, how the structure of a broadsheet paper allows you to physically pick and chose what and how much you want to read. How shallow our news feeds have become, how hard it is to sit and actually read through a whole article of more than 200 words. How limiting it is to our thought process when the news feed is algorithm curated to you, without the freedom of accidental diversion from a set path. The sense of adventure is lost, and with it the joy of discovery. Something very crucial to humans is slowly extinguishing, the deep sense of curiosity that drives us to challenge what is around us, and create new things that have deeper meaning. 

I was reminded how having limited physical space, as you do with printed matter, makes for better higher quality writing, that content put into print creates a bigger commitment to the subject matter. 

Same as with literal spaces, the more constraints one has the more accurate and thoughtful the design of that space will be. That sometimes less is more. 

And that I still have that small ting of excitement in me to see what the front page headline would be. That I like stepping outside in the cold for just a second to grab the paper, smell the crisp air, pause and readjust my new/old found rhythm to a start of a new day. 

Mindful Act of Kindness

When my soon to be 10 year old girl was about 4, she was brushing her long golden hair. She looked up at me and asked 'why do I need to brush my hair each and every morning?' My response was 'because by doing so you respect yourself, and respect your friends and teachers'. 

I was never a fan of Feng Shui, or to be precise, its watered down western interpretation of it; Closing the toilet seat to prevent your money escaping your wallet, never have a staircase facing the front door, never put a chair with its back to the door - are some of the highlights I can off handedly suggest. 

But a few years ago I had this small epiphany of why it mattered in our world. Why habits like making sure you don't squeeze the toothpaste in the middle mattered, why making your bed every morning matters, why putting a fork and knife in the right order matters -why these seemingly mundane tedious, and routine things matter. They create order, they create balance, and for control freak megalomanic designers (hey we are paid to build 'worlds') are a code and key to understanding human interaction and behavior within different environments and spaces. 

These random daily routine acts are mindfully observed and broken down frame by frame to create a narrative for a space. These 'mindless' acts being thought of mindfully are the difference between getting furniture straight out of catalog, only to discover these don't make your house feel like a home. 

It's attention to details in ways that are not obvious to the user of the space, but they make the user feel good happy and safe. They make people feel like they are cared for, and not taken for granted, that even though you can't exactly pinpoint what it is that makes you feel connected, you know you are. That yes, even brushing your hair in the morning, matters. It's a small act of kindness to yourself signaling that you will also make sure to be kind to others.