009. didn’t create for the sake of creating

a bit of a creative (for the sake of being creative) break, my first product launch, ideas in a graph & the impossibility of marketing myself

hello, and to be completely honest, wassup.

I’ve completely stolen that from

Alex Dobrenko`

, it’s too funny not to copy.

This past week I did much but at the same time felt like I didn’t do much.

The biggest thing was launching my first “DIY website kit”, but this past week not much went into it, really. I only had to give it the last touches and hit publish. It’s for photographers to create their own website, from a Framer template, a small but cute one.

If you’re curious, you can preview it here.

(And if you’re so curious you want to buy it (OMG), you can do that here. Or if you know a photographer that could be interested, you can refer it to them and earn a cut.)

I also created a template for the virtual birthday card my sister and I made for our mom, because, after posting it on the Framer community, it got so much attention (which makes me SO happy 😄) and someone asked for the link to duplicate it. It’s free, of course.

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Most of my free time was dedicated to learning things on YouTube, and I’m not sure if it was because my brain wanted to learn, or because the YouTube algorithm wanted me to, and I couldn’t resist. Either way, I never feel like it’s a waste of time, I do love learning things, especially those that I can apply to life. And I get to take notes on Obsidian and watch this graph grow:

(Every dot is an idea, and they can be connected with each other, kinda like in your brain, I LOVE it. Anyway I’m getting distracted, back to the topic!)

I also worked on uni projects, where I learned a bit about wayfinding and the anthropology of design objects.

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I said I feel like I didn’t do much because I didn’t create outside what I “had” to do, I didn’t create for the sake of creating.

But I didn’t feel like doing it either, I didn’t feel inspired. Which is fine, days like that happen, although it has been like this for a bit now. I think it could be because I’m doing too much. Starting uni not even three weeks ago has naturally taken extra time and energy in my routine. As of now, my mind doesn’t have space for creativity with everything else going on. But there also might be a part of me that cares too much about the result and fears I won’t like it, and so avoids trying altogether.

But I’ll find my rhythm again and hopefully feel more inspired (or energized) to be creative, as well as forget about the outcome, which is when I enjoy creating (for the sake of creating) the most.

One thing I did do, because I committed to it, and the e-week of Alphabet Superset was getting to an end, was, you guessed it, a poster! This week’s object was an easel. It’s a pretty simple one, I didn’t feel like putting much effort into it.

On Saturday, I did get a bit inspired checking the blog I created for my dad with Notion and Super (didn’t know Substack or Framer at the time). I thought the next DIY website kit could be a simple blog website, like his. So I designed a bit of what it could be.

(On Illustrator, not Figma, yes. I don’t care. I like Illustrator. These are just wireframes. The rest is done on Framer. Sue me, I don’t care. lol)

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The painful act of marketing yourself

Thinking of ways to get these products in front of people that might be interested, I struggle to think of ways that I’m comfortable with. I do not like marketing myself (it was a bit painful to “promote” the kit I just launched), it feels unnatural to me, almost evil. And I do try to make it feel natural to me, but even what they call “authentic marketing” feels weird. Maybe I’m just not good at it, or maybe I’m so tired of the internet screaming “buy! buy! buy!” at me that I don’t want to be the same.

Like, how can marketing be authentic? It feels like the opposite, it’s competition, it’s “my thing is better than that one”, but like, no. Both are good, and it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. I want to do what I do because I believe in it, and when people resonate and like it, that’s great, but I’m not going to scream to their faces that they should be part of it and give me their money for it. Is that so wild? I see all this advice online on marketing yourself or your brand, and it feels incredibly manipulative to me. I don’t want to follow that advice. I’m a person, not a walking ad.

Okay, I’m inspired now. I might make a poster or something on this now, hahaha.

Anyway, depending only on yourself for money is hard. Aligning my values to making a living is the only thing that feels right, but it does make it much more difficult. That’s why I’m now looking to find work with agencies or studios that already have clients that go to them. This way I could work on what I’m good at, instead of mediocre-ly wearing multiple hats.

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• When was the last time you needed a creative break? What caused it?

• What inspires you?

• Can marketing be 100% authentic? If yes, is that still called marketing?

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• Ram’s video on design ethics as his E-week piece. He perfectly put something I’ve been thinking for a while into words, and I’m so happy about what the online design community is becoming.

• MartLens
  ’s new Substack. Here’s her first post!!

  1: Town of Cats

• Emily’s vlogs. So pure and raw, a breath of fresh air.

• This song. I’ve had it in my head for a week:

• Psychiatrist Dr K’s interview/therapy session with someone who committed murder (Anthony) and has “shitty life syndrome”. Very, very interesting if you have the time to watch it (it’s 2 hours)

• Prof. Robert Sapolsky on the neurobiology of trans-sexuality

• Meditation's impact on the brain

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