The Caspian The Caspian has its realms of sand, Its other realm of sea; Without the sterile perquisite No Caspian could be. Emily Dickinson, The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson beautybalance
Duality All existence seemed to be based on duality, on contrast. Either one was a man or one was a woman, either a wanderer or a sedentary burgher, either a thinking person or a feeling person – no one could breathe in at the same time as he breathed out, be a man as well as a woman, experience freedom as well as order, combine instinct and mind. One always had to pay for the one with the loss of the other, and one thing was always just as important and desirable as the other. Herman Hesse, Narcissus and Goldmund balance
Research, empathy, simplicity, speed An Article by Matthew Ström matthewstrom.com As Nosrat provides a simple list of essential ingredients for any great meal, can we describe a simple list of essential components for digital products? Here are four elements that I believe are the foundation of great digital products: Research, Empathy, Simplicity and Speed. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat designsoftwareproductsbalance
What excellence is Learn what excellence is, how to identify it...This is not a big reading assignment – excellence is scarce, lognormal, long-tailed. Acting on this knowledge is liberating, freeing oneself from vast piles of triviality, knock-offs, petty connoisseurship, over-publishing, and the short-sighted, trendy, greedy. Excellence is long-term knowledge, even forever knowledge. Excellence, like good taste, is perhaps a universal quality. Analytical thinking is about the relationship between evidence and conclusions, and is fundamental to all empirical work, regardless of field, discipline, specialty. Thus it is possible at times to assess credibility of nonfiction work without being a content expert. Thinking eyes may well have an eye for excellence, regardless of field or discipline. Edward Tufte, Seeing With Fresh Eyes Tetlock and the Taliban qualitygenius