I recently listened to a great talk from Talia Cotton, a designer and a coder who recently started her own company, Cotton design. I’ve been actively hunting inspirational sources as a balm for current events.
As a designer who also specializes in different disciplines, I can relate to a lot of what Ms. Cotton talks about. She is a designer but also codes, and her firm leans into very interesting coding aspects of design.
What really stood out to me is what she said about AI. She said that AI can only spit out information based on things that already exists; it can’t create anything new. So if you find an idea through AI, it’s a good idea to keep looking because it means that the idea already exists.
As another multitasker, one who works at the intersection of design and product management, I can relate to that view of AI. I use it mainly to summarize and categorize longer pieces of text. But if you’re using AI if you’re looking for something innovative, good luck with that.
In my experience, if you want to do something innovative, you want to be comfortable with some mess. This is because if you want to make something different, you need a cultivated collaboration between a diverse group of people. They can be your co-workers, but it’s great if you can find someone outside the company to also contribute.
When I’ve worked on teams that have done transformative things, it’s always been messy, at least at the beginning. Those teams got out of the mess together and got stronger in the process. No AI prompt can take the place of those experiences.
A different but a related source of inspiration for me is listening to Sly Stone’s memoir, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin). I’m a fellow Vallejo, CA native - one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the United States - so Sly has been an inspiration for me for a long time. One of my proudest moments at work was getting a young developer to become a Sly fan after I posted a video on our Slack channel. I’m at the messy part when There’s a Riot Goin’ On was getting made.
If you’re unfamiliar with the album, I always wondered why the title track had a 0:00 run time. To paraphrase, Sly explains that he wanted to emphasize that he didn’t want to give the anger that fuels riots any oxygen. He’s always been someone unafraid to make something new.
These are a couple of things that are keeping me sane, and as a creative person I wanted to share them with you too, because maybe you are looking for inspiration too.
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