What's design?

Design is about playing the song of humanity.
From the dreams we have,
the ideas we come up with,
and the rules we break.

To create without cutting corners is to respect others.
To whole-ass something.
Even on the parts people will never see.

How it makes people feel.
Seen, appreciated, empowered.

Caring is not about making things perfect,
but about not diluting our humanity.

It can be fixing that old '50s car with your father,
or building that LEGO set with your little sister,
or recording that one cringe VCR home movie.
Or someone adding support in Noto Sans
for a language only a couple thousand speakers
even know on the first place.

Because caring is our inner drive as a species.
Creation is our play.
It's what extends us beyond our space and time.

It's never too late to care.

When we make a piano and figure out what tactility
and heft feels nicest on every key.
Or make a drill fit the ergonomics of our hands.
And the way bike pedals and seats can be adjusted
to close to every person.

We think of the wonder a baby feels when they first
start drawing with crayons.
Smashing the cylinder into the square hole.
And pressing the damn button that makes the toy
sing again.

Humanity is all about blasting that cylinder like it owes us money.
Or figuring out that actually, it did fit in the square hole.

It's about democratizing access to inventions for the rest of us.
Making it cheap, safe, conscious of ourselves and our environment.
Turning inventions into instruments. Amplifying us.

Because to make anything but that does us a disservice.
We need to keep playing the song of humanity.