2/18 - a few updates, some vague ideas, a little list

updates

whats up y'all. crazy, uh, year huh? ..... ok lets move on

ive been constantly feeling like im in a state of limbo recently. some of this is expected because of the state of the world¹ ofc, but i feel it particularly aggravated for myself because of my uh employment situation ?

a general vague update is that:

• i left my job (quora) in june with the intention to take a few weeks off before 'figuring out whats next'

• some freelance work came my way (for which i was very grateful) pretty soon after i left - and being 'independent' had always sounded interesting so i decided to take it

• ended up freelancing till about December at 2 places which were very diff but great in their own ways - but didnt feel 'right' for me

Im now trying to figure out whats next. Ive been working on some projects (more beloww), trying to work a bit little slower, and trying to be in a more exploratory state. This update is an attempt at that! As i've learned a bit painfully, one really difficult thing about trying to be 'independent' for me is that its easy to get alone and be in my head. and it kinda sucks??? and i would like that to stop :) my hope is that writing more helps!

ideas

ok so ive been noodling around on some projects & ideas. here are the main ones on my mind:

South of Market Walks

ive been trying to learn and pay attention to as much of San Francisco as I can these days. Like all cities (maybe even more so), it has signs of its history all over if you look close enough. This has happened the most for me in South of Market (where I live). Ive spent so much time walking around trying to learn about this neighborhood & community and in return ive found (hopefully) a bit of space for myself here. I really want to highlight and share (somehow) what this city, and particularly South of Market, gave to me.

I've been bouncing around a few ideas: film photography, archival curation of some sort, maybe some interactive digital thing. BUT recently Jada gave me these City Walk cards for Paris that are so cool:

I really like these and they’re a big source of inspo to me rn. A physical way to experience the city guided by some history and context. I also think this format (short walks, lots of cards) is so incredibly neat - its much better than, imo, a long walk around the whole city or neighborhood which is for people trying to consume the city in 'one go'. There are valuable use cases for this but what if you're a resident of the city already and not in a rush?

Thats it so far! Im still trying to shape the project but ultimately i want to build some sort of curation of location and history of South of Market and this format is particularly interesting to me right now

Reconstructed

I've been working with Reconstructed Mag recently - they're so awesome, no description written by me will do them justice so im just going to copy their insta bio instead: "creative mag run by Black, Shi’a, and queer muslims, seeking to de/reconstruct what it looks like to carry closeness to islam"

Im working on building some sort of digital / web experience for their latest volume - the theme for this collection is Bodies. Im hoping to do justice to this theme on the site itself by making some objects on the page 'movable' and exist in a sort of rough physical space. Dont want to spoil too much for the digital experience but here is a very rough demo:

Out of Office

I had a super fun time making the Shukriya bags last month. I always learn so much whenever i deal with anything around making & selling your own goods - and its so rewarding when people actually LIKE your stuff omg. I want to make more things - particularly apparel I think. Ive been obsessed with sweatsuits (if you know me, you know i own a lot lol) so I've been trying to figure how to build a custom set and do a small run. I made a LLC this year (#LLCTwitter) and i named it Out Of Office which is i think is a good brand name (pls dont tell me otherwise) and ive been trying to play with the idea of making a rough brand with that name and experimenting with selling a range of home apparel (including most importantly sweats). Im pretty early in the process (ordering samples, making some rough design sketches etc) but i would love to make some more clothing or physical goods this year too.

Some current inspo:

Dump

Ok this ones dumb and maybe the least formed.

I feel like I had a period of hyper curation of identity (both digital and physical). But lately i've found myself trying to swing hard the other way and just be a maximalist - first physical (starting with my apartment) and then i think digital. Ive felt weird about doing this online at times because most people do still curate their identities and profiles - so it feels weird and costly to break this at times

This is all to say - ive been trying to wrap my head around some sort of product for more uncurated sharing (particularly through images, though not just pictures but screenshots and the like too). I dont have a lot more on this yet cause ive been trying to wrap my head around this fully still. maybe some random notes:

• this also makes me think about the metaphor of a stream vs a garden of content and how consumption of uncurated images might be better suited for gardens rather than streams

• photos seems naturally right to start with since photos are often the easiest to ‘create’. For text: the act of having to write your words down 1) i think makes the format more difficult on the creator (not just mechanically but mentally) than just taking a picture and 2) feels limiting at times. words without any physical context can only carry so much (my guess)

little list

thank you for reading this far <3 list of things ive been liking this week:

• Veneno - incredible show shout out to Aaron for the rec as always

• SFCityGuides -i went on a little guided tour of SF this morning, through SFCityGuides. It was so good, i really cannot recommend it enough

• Request Line - the song ive been listening to all week. the low rider mix is my fav but there are like 6 to pick from

1. isnt it fucked up that we have to call it that? just saying pandemic also seems too much tho im not tryna hit yall with that energy unasked for