Hey everyone! hope you've been well ✨
It's been a while since I worked deeply on Reclaim. These past few months got me really heads-down into the grind of creating for the sake of creating, so I thought I'd share some updates:
Joined a local design studio as a web designer while doing my own freelance work, constantly context-switching from one client project to another.
Then, all of my creative projects came to a sharp halt after I caught dengue. I had to confront what was really important to direct my attention towards over days of being confined to my bed, and say no to a few opportunities in favor of my health and focus.
Over the months, I've also found much solace in creating content for myself on Instagram, plus organizing a meaningful fellowship for mission-driven technologists with the team at Developh!
Community-driven projects and introspection feel like the balancing force to the intensity of designing all day—pushing me to confront the goals and philosophy behind why I create, and for whom—instead of just how I get things done.
more on this in today's newsletter:
balancing the how with the why ⚖️
a values-driven syllabus centering Filipino creativity
reflections on time, identity, and ginhawa (the good life)
Reckoning design with our values
Whenever I find myself blazing through tasks at breakneck speed, I find that I like myself and my work a lot less. WIthout depth and intentionality, no matter how many tasks or deliverables I check off my list, I can still feel the guilt of compromising my values.
In The Shape of Design, Frank Chimero writes about this disconnect between the why and the how, arguing that this is the main source of creative block. How enables, but Why motivates:
"Questions about How to do things improves craft and elevates form, but asking Why unearths a purpose and develops a point of view...We must remember Why we are working, because craft needs objectives, effort needs purpose, and we need an outlet for our song."
I spend a lot of time pondering how to cultivate this intentionality and counter the velocity of startup life. The more I write, read up on topics for Reclaim, or welcome conversations on ethical tech, the more I discover these are opportunities for me to focus on investigating my own why, so it can inform my practice the next time I show up for work.
And I think I like this version of myself a lot more: the one who stops to document her process, check in on herself and her workmates over coffee, or dig deeper into user goals and behavior while waiting for Figma to fire up on her laptop.
By opening up these internal dialogues to investigate our own contexts, motivations, and thought processes, we can become more authentic and intentional technologists.
What this looks like in action: At Developh, we recently organized a values-mapping workshop inspired by this framework, having attendees answer a series of questions. By identifying common themes across their responses, they came up with a set of criteria to evaluate their choices and their work.
Some of the prompts:
What's a meaningful activity you're involved in? Why is it important to you?
What is your biggest mistake, and what have you learned from it?
Look at the common threads in your peak and low experiences alike. What values were shaping your actions in those moments?
What small “harmless” ways do you compromise those values today?
The values I uncovered after going through this workshop myself were intensity or depth, compassion, and rootedness. Moving forward, I'm working to become more aware whenever I lose sight of the first two, ie. when I spread myself thin across different design projects, or focus too much on our own need to scale instead of the needs of teammates and users.
As for the third value, rootedness, I want to share a little learning experiment I'm taking on to ground myself more in creation that is maka-Pilipino 👇
A syllabus centering Filipino creativity
Here’s a little sneak peek of what I hope to do with the next volumes of Reclaim.
Building on the values-mapping work earlier, I recently discovered a syllabus on Values-Driven Product Design—a major designed by Penn State student Michael Miller in response to technosolutionist mindsets and the scarcity of curricula built around values, rather than specialized fields.
The self-designed syllabus drew me in instantly. I had been searching for more ways to learn by doing (feeling more jaded than usual with remote learning), and to integrate what I was consuming from a variety of sources: my psychology coursework, books and articles on tech and social science, and my work in community-building and UX.
Very fittingly, Michael's coursework pulls from design, business, psychology, and philosophy with the aim of producing holistic, ethical experiences. From his website:
As I started constructing my major, I wanted to venture beyond just the "how" of building products. Instead, I was captured by questions of "why" and "ought" around designing product experiences.
Using values as the framework for this exploration, I distilled four core values that every ethical designer should understand and embody: creativity, empathy, sustainability, and responsibility. Then, I curated my coursework around each of them.
Here's my attempt at modifying Michael's syllabus to fit my own context, as a Filipino creator pursuing communal wellness. Although it uses the same framework, it covers additional topics I've been pining to rabbit-hole down outside of school hours, especially those rooted in the indigenous experience:
For the next few issues, I plan to learn in public, sharing what I’m learning about Filipino creativity from my collection of curated resources. You can find the WIP syllabus here.
Curious to know: How have you been practicing intentionality lately? What topics would you take up if you could design your own learning project? hmu for your ideas, questions, or if you just want to say hi! ✨
— Nikki
Stretch Your Mind
🎥 Karl Castro's Bookings E01: Tatlong problema ng Pinoy creators.
Really enjoying this series of lush, animated videos on creativity. In the opening episode, Karl Castro discusses why art and design is given little value in the Philippines, our struggle in making sense of our cultural identity, and a framework I keep going back to in understanding the kulo or inner essence of a creative work.
💌 What am I running at breakneck speed for? by Jake Advincula.
Reflections on time, slowness, and Filipino circularity from a fellow at Developh 💙
💌 Letters to a young technologist.
A collection of essays envisioning a tech ethic that prioritizes technologists’ agency, the need for self-reflection, and the importance of historical inquiry.
My personal fave is the fourth one, Study the Past, Create the Future:
The study of history helps you appreciate the contingency of the present, and therefore view the future as open for creation. But there is a second reason why an understanding of the past helps you create the future, and it’s more psychological: by studying the past, you can situate yourself in a lineage, and find people whose interests and ambitions can help shape your own.
💻 Crafting Ginhawa slide deck by Karina Abola.
Designed by Kookie Santos, this deck goes over the results of a qualitative investigation of Filipino weavers' concept of ginhawa—a local word for the 'good life' or a general state of well-being.
I'm fascinated by the idea of creation as a mode of wellness in itself (bonus: see this quaint essay on side projects as therapy), and this study builds on that, going into the barriers and facilitators of that ginhawa.
Thanks for joining me today 🤍
I'm Nikki and I study psychology, design at NextPay, and write on weekends. If you enjoyed this issue, please feel free to spread the word, buy me a coffee, or let me know your thoughts and feedback :) Have an enchanting week ✨