Lesson 8a: Defining Better

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Okay everybody, it's a bit of a gray Sunday here and we're using this to define what better actually means. So what is better? Well, if we've already created something that's missing or designing something that's missing and it's something new and unique, that's only one step being different. Being better is the other half of this.

And people say this all the time, be different and better, but different is easy. You can just go completely off the deep end and go crazy and like that doesn't mean someone's gonna buy it. It doesn't mean it's better.

And so if you just create something new and different but it's not cool, isn't useful, doesn't solve a problem, isn't better than existing solutions in some way, then why would I buy it? Like, why would I want it? That's crazy. Other than maybe to prototype some new thing that they're trying to do. So better, better is a tricky one.

Better sometimes means quality. Better sometimes means a more accurate representation of something. Sometimes better means the perfect encapsulation of a feeling, a solution, something that previously was unable to be done, was unable to be captured as accurately or precisely.

Poets often get credited, the great poets, for capturing in words, in a few words, something that is a complex human emotion, feeling, journey, awakening. And so better on a quality standpoint really comes down a lot to detail. Detail in the fit, in the finish, in the care.

But sometimes people go too far and they think it has to be perfect. And nature is perfect because it's imperfect. It's the wabi-sabi aspect of things.

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And wabi-sabi is essentially means that it's not, it's not entirely perfect. So a glass jar, a bottle breaks, you put it back together with gold leaf, soldered gold, and it's better. Leaves, trees, palm trees, they're not perfect.

Grass isn't perfect. Nature isn't perfect. But it's beautifully imperfect in a way.

So you can go too far and you can try too hard. And trying too hard, it just looks like you're trying too hard. And so there's nothing cool or better about that.

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Yeah, so better is an encapsulation of something. And you've got to put your unique flourish on it. It could be a stitch, it could be a mark, it could be an idea, something that is truthful to you that may not be precisely accurate in the corners or perfectly 90 degrees.

Maybe you round that corner 10 degrees and so it's a little flourish. Or maybe you put some bumps on it. Because nature is bumpy.

There's no right angles in nature, right? So better can be extreme precision and quality, but with the natural imperfections of the materials and worlds we work with. That's why when you see like these strip malls that are brand new and perfect, they never quite look as good as something like Paris or old architecture that's been around for centuries because it has a lived-in feel. Same thing for like a vintage watch.

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The fact that it's been used and worn and it's natural and it's had history and culture and like usefulness and it's got character, right? So better can sometimes mean character, a lived-in aesthetic, a lived-in feel. And a lot of times, at least in like the technology world, we try to get to this like precision and it's pixel perfection and the human-made machinery, it's all so perfectly done. And it doesn't leave a lot to the imagination, which again is why classic cars, classic watches, vintage clothes has a character to it, has a soul to it.

So we will see a resurgence of this in the future. I can almost guarantee that. So better is character and quality, which is a love of the detail.

So the love can be felt. So if you put the love in and it's true to you and true to your core values, then it's almost impossible. It's almost impossible to not have that character.

The problem with a lot of organizations though is they're built for risk removal, which means you end up with like the most plain, drab, lack of character-y thing possible. And then you have to hire these people to come in and like put a veneer over the top of it to give it some character, but it's not built in from the bottom because all these committees and reviews and the hundred thousand things it's passed through has just kicked away all of the like thing that humans want to engage and connect with. So you've stripped it of its essence.

You've stripped it of its soul. So I think a lot of these large organizations that are trying to like do these authenticity campaigns and connect with the culture and just go hire a celebrity or a rapper or an athlete or something to give them some character, like we all see right through it. And that's the reason is because you've stripped it from the core of who you are and tried to slap a skin over the top of it and it reads as fake.

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So you gotta stop with the committees and you gotta just give like, that's why they hire a creative director. It's like you can cut through all of this corporate lack of character and give character so it's like a shot in the arm. This character, like the punk aesthetic that we rock is for a reason.

Like because it's a reminder of like that life, that human aspect, the emotion, the curation, the creativity. There's something that's raw and real that's injected into the soul and the essence. So you might see us do some stuff that looks perfect with the like little bit of nature but then also some like flourish and things that don't quite look right.

Like it's something meant to like, you know, like it needs to have some jagged edges in order for it to attach to something. Velcro isn't smooth. Velcro sticks because you've got loops and you got hooks and they stick together and they're not super strong.

You can still take them apart but it's got something you can attach to. It's not like Teflon. Like you can't attach anything to Teflon.

That's great in cookware but as a product or a brand in general, not so great. So that's our intention on this sort of gray Sunday morning and if you're going out to brunch or hanging out with the friends or just taking some time for yourself and your spirit, yeah keep going. I like it and remember just inject some character and some quality and some love into your stuff, your product or service, and good things will happen.

There will be some folks that attach to it and vibrate with it and rock with it. So that's it. Have a good one.

Peace.