Some of the recent work of Joel Freeman, who teaches bookbinding at Art Division in L.A.: “This is (a record of) the time”
I have a somewhat destructive addiction to note-taking apps and systems. One of the early contenders for everyday use was Craft.do, which did most of the things other apps like Notion and Obsidian did but had somewhat more pleasant interface and what I thought might be the killer feature: the ability to instantly create and include drawings in your work
But at the time I was very focused on having an app that also included a lot of database features, and Craft was limited in that, as well as a couple of other ways. So instead I vacillated between Notion and Obsidian with occasional forays into Capacities and AnyType, never really feeling at home in any of them.
However, recently two things happened: one, they came up with an update that includes even more features (like chatGPT 4.0 integration and a reminder that it’s always local-first storage) as well as a half-price discount code for the month of December. I’ve also gotten over my “one app to rule them all” quest and settled for the fact that nothing — not even Notion — is going to replace my notes, my task manager, and also play nice with data the way I’d like.
I’m not suggesting you try out Craft (and I have no affiliate link or anything to share with you) but I’ve been enjoying coming back to it for my everyday notes (like this one).
I’m still slowly listening my way through Cal Newport’s “Slow Productivity” (with the weary realization that I’m going to need to start all over again and take sketch notes of the book because he really does have too many good points to just listen casually).
It’s almost done, and the final “pillar” of slow productivity is “obsess over quality.” I’ve been dreading this even more than the other two (“do fewer things” and “work at a natural pace”) because I’ve from the school of done is beautiful and ship it! A poor newsletter sent out consistently and on time is going to be better than a carefully-written one that’s still a draft in your writing app, I thought.
And I still think that, to some extent (as is evident from this non-edited, stream-of-consciousness, two-days-late edition of TQTFGB). But as I listen to him talk about the concept, I’m realizing that more of my resistance comes from the phrasing: “obsess over quality.”
In my experience, “obsessing” is rarely a good thing. And “quality” is such an ephemeral and subjective thing that it feels like a hopeless waste of time to try, especially if you’re trying to match the expectations of an audience.
However, I think that a slight reframing of the words resonates better with me: take the time to make it as good as possible. Which doesn’t fit into his three-word principle, but it takes it out of the superlative “obsess” and is more about slowing the pace at which I create things and also taking the time to make sure they are ready to go out into the world before I set them free.
I’ve recently started watching a Domestika course by Susana Dominguez Martin, a book artist from Madrid, Spain. She’s introduced me to the concept of non-destructive book binding: rather than gluing and poking holes and stitches through things to put them in books, finding ways to fold and cradle the content in a stable and beautiful encasement.
Along with the course itself being nifty, she has a lot of resources and suggestions for inspiration. Here is a short list of people you can google on YouTube and such if you’d like to see some really cool, really different forms of books:
Hedi Kyle
Elbel Libro
Cor Aerssens
Video about a spectacular box-book by Cor Aerssens
Monica Langwe
Carmencho Arregui
Edward Ruscha project
Monique Mathieu
Jean de Gonet
Michele Garrec
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Have thoughts about this stuff? You can email me at gray@creativegray.me !
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