Some quotations and thoughts reflecting my design ethos (it feels pretentious and overblown claiming to have a design ethos but there you go)

Lateral Thinking with Seasoned Technology

-- Gunpei Yoko

... design today tends to point in the wrong direction. Design thinks it's a discipline that moves forward, carrying design objects into the future. But in truth, design works best when it moves downward, making things even more what they are. This latter kind of design proceeds through play rather than innovation.

-- Ian Bogost in Play Anything ( I think)

I figure that it’s better to be a sucker who makes something than a wise guy who is too cautious to make anything at all.

-- Henry Darger

I like this idea but it often seems to be hard for me to put into practice. Ocassionally I'm able to chanel that spirit and forget about how things "should" be done. It's something I'd really like to get better at.

Related concept Shoshin;

beginners mind ... refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying, even at an advanced level, just as a beginner would.

These points are aimed at urban design but they feel relevant to my thinking about personal website design & dev...

Several of the principles were immediately useful, and put straight into practice; they either reinforced an earlier thought or opened up entirely new vistas. Several others are unfurling as we go. A few more are more broadly relevant, well beyond our street-oriented agenda. Here they are:

  • Think like a gardener, not an architect: design beginnings, not endings
  • Unfinished = fertile
  • Artists are to cities what worms are to soil.
  • A city’s waste should be on public display.
  • Make places that are easy for people to change and adapt (wood and plaster, as opposed to steel and concrete.)
  • Places which accommodate the very young and the very old are loved by everybody else too.
  • Low rent = high life
  • Make places for people to look at each other, to show off to each other.
  • Shared public space is the crucible of community.
  • A really smart city is the one that harnesses the intelligence and creativity of its inhabitants.

-- Dan Hill & Brian Eno - Working with Brian Eno on design principles for streets (2021)