Making & learning · Collection guide · 5 stops
Make work I’m proud of
This route is for work that functions but does not yet feel considered. Start with criteria, look closely at disciplined practice and skilled performance, then examine what can be lost through efficiency and what revision actually demands. Bring a piece of your own work to assess throughout.
Browse this collection in reading order →Suggested routes through material saved to explore. I haven’t read or watched everything here yet. The order and prompts are editorial suggestions based on available source text, excerpts, descriptions and synopses; they are not personal ratings or claims of completed viewing.
Define what good means here
Rams’s principles offer concrete questions about usefulness, clarity and restraint. Begin by choosing standards relevant to your medium instead of judging quality only by whether you like the overall impression.
Pause & try
Select three principles and translate each into a question about your own piece. Identify one detail that fails one of those questions.
Look behind the polished result
Jiro Dreams of Sushi shifts attention to the practice and standards behind a finished experience. Notice both the care involved and the demands that this working culture places on people.
Pause & try
Which small part of your work would improve through focused repetition? Make three attempts at that part rather than restarting the entire piece.
Learn to describe the difference
Art · Est. 30 min
Federer as Religious Experience - David Foster Wallace →
Collected by The Unintuitive ↗
Wallace’s Federer essay is an exercise in noticing and describing exceptional performance. Read for the concrete distinctions that make admiration more precise than saying someone is talented.
Pause & try
Choose an excellent example in your own field. Describe three observable choices that make it work, then compare one with your current attempt.
Check what efficiency has removed
Memos · Est. 5 min
The Commoditization of the Starbucks Experience - Howard Schultz →
Collected by The Unintuitive ↗
Schultz’s Starbucks memo asks whether growth and efficiency weakened the experience customers valued. Apply that question after defining quality: a convenient shortcut may preserve the output while changing its character.
Pause & try
Which shortcut in your process helps, and which erases something important? Test restoring one detail and compare the experience.
Return to the unfinished stage
Comedian brings the route back to developing and testing material. It is a useful final reminder that standards become practical through revision, including attempts that do not yet satisfy them.
Pause & try
Show a small revision to a relevant person. Ask where it becomes unclear, unconvincing or dull, then revise that point once more.
After the five stops
Take it into your own life.
Save the before and after versions. Write three standards supported by details you can now see, and one compromise you chose deliberately. Use those standards on the next piece without expecting every project to demand the same level of refinement.
Continue exploring
Items 1–5 are the guided route above. The remaining items are listed alphabetically below; choose what interests you next. These numbers match the collection shelf.
- 100 greatest artists - Rolling Stone → Find on the shelf: 100 greatest artists - Rolling Stone →
- A 28-year-old Steve Jobs gives a talk at the 1983 International Design Conference in Aspen → Find on the shelf: A 28-year-old Steve Jobs gives a talk at the 1983 International Design Conference in Aspen →
- A day in the life of Japan’s most famous grandpa’s hot dog shop → Find on the shelf: A day in the life of Japan’s most famous grandpa’s hot dog shop →
- Civilisation Series → Find on the shelf: Civilisation Series →
- Daft Punk: An In-Depth History → Find on the shelf: Daft Punk: An In-Depth History →
- Frank Sinatra Has a Cold - Gay Talese → Find on the shelf: Frank Sinatra Has a Cold - Gay Talese →
- Hans Zimmer talks → Find on the shelf: Hans Zimmer talks →
- Hayao Miyazaki: 9 Creative Lessons - Trungphan2 → Find on the shelf: Hayao Miyazaki: 9 Creative Lessons - Trungphan2 →
- How Larry Gagosian Reshaped the Art World → Find on the shelf: How Larry Gagosian Reshaped the Art World →
- How to Do Great Work - Paul Graham → Find on the shelf: How to Do Great Work - Paul Graham →
- Interview with Luigi Colani → Find on the shelf: Interview with Luigi Colani →
- Jay Z at studio making The Black Album → Find on the shelf: Jay Z at studio making The Black Album →
- Jerry Seinfeld’s advice → Find on the shelf: Jerry Seinfeld’s advice →
- Lectures on the Art of Reading - Andrew Symons → Find on the shelf: Lectures on the Art of Reading - Andrew Symons →
- Make Something Wonderful - Leslie Berlin → Find on the shelf: Make Something Wonderful - Leslie Berlin →
- Man on Wire → Find on the shelf: Man on Wire →
- One Of One → Find on the shelf: One Of One →
- Phone 1 - Steve Jobs MacWorld keynote in 2007 → Find on the shelf: Phone 1 - Steve Jobs MacWorld keynote in 2007 →
- Rams → Find on the shelf: Rams →
- Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus → Find on the shelf: Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus →
- Senna → Find on the shelf: Senna →
- Shelby American: The Carroll Shelby Story → Find on the shelf: Shelby American: The Carroll Shelby Story →
- Sound City → Find on the shelf: Sound City →
- Steve Jobs - The Lost Interview → Find on the shelf: Steve Jobs - The Lost Interview →
- Stop Making Sense → Find on the shelf: Stop Making Sense →
- The Playboy Interview With Miles Davis → Find on the shelf: The Playboy Interview With Miles Davis →
- The Salt of the Earth → Find on the shelf: The Salt of the Earth →
- Tom Ford Documentary → Find on the shelf: Tom Ford Documentary →
- Valentino: The Last Emperor → Find on the shelf: Valentino: The Last Emperor →
- What makes a great music producer tick? Brian Eno Interviewed → Find on the shelf: What makes a great music producer tick? Brian Eno Interviewed →