There is a saying by Robert M. Pirsig: “You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It's easy. Make yourself perfect and then just paint naturally.”

We express who we are, even when choosing to work for other people. What we see, how we listen, what we focus on. These all enter what we create.

Entering design, I wanted to see what the greats focused on. Through that, finding what I focused on, and who I was.

Robert Greene’s The Laws of Human Nature had already approached this form. However, it was too long and not as focused as I would have liked. The Vignelli Canon was focused but subjective, lacking stories to anchor the lessons. Using these, I wrote what I wished to exist.

A constant process of expansion and contraction. Taking new perspectives, analysing design history, and distilling an essential set down.

Stories need to have an arc, emotional movement is what people remember. Both the triumphs, and the failures, regardless of the designer's intentions.

Here is a small excerpt of people I considered:

Working in tech, Make Something Wonderful was immediately the gold standard for a digital book interface. While longer, more resource varied, and different, it provided valuable insight into approaching the design of the site.

I didn't want to divorce reality simply.

Simple cover and paper colours (which could be inverted) were paired with Valkyrie by Matthew Butterick.

The final page setting evokes traditional physical media with a header row, bearing a home link in the top left, and a chapter name/symbol in the top right.

The contents evolved from modernist book indexes. Rather than requiring pages, and referencing, indicate progress through position (creating a cleaner animation).

The text was dense, but the value in reading it is to create memories. In practice, association is the quickest and most valuable process for people.

The page is intentionally subtly hidden to only be revealed to those who paid attention.

These people changed how I see and think about the world. I hope something here does the same for you.