We look to tell great stories. We try to connect them with themes and characters for readers to relate to content. I personally love double meanings of words, and “Easter Eggs” we find in content. I wrote about that in my last post, and its the reason why we called the Publication Nota*.
There is however a part that is most important in the name, and the most important theme behind this project, and that is really the “*”. It’s in ever title, and it means that there is more to the story. It meant to build context and clarity of whatever the subject we decide to talk about.
The Thesis
I have send in previous posts that creativity is not exclusive to creative pursuits, and that we can learn from the creativity to better our lives, business, and how we look at the world. Although we are communicating in english, different words hold different values to different people.
At Avantwall we are developing a collection of pieces that explore this idea. Although words hold different values to different people, there are words that are especially contentious and that we really have to define ourselves. These are words, like success, beauty, and happiness. Although we have a general idea of what they are, it truly varies between person. In the Picture above I found a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson about success. I trimmed it down, and added the asterisk, and all of a sudden you can see success through my eyes.
Understanding the journey
We are really good at celebrating the successes, trophies, and the finish lines in general. We see a beautifully crafted products, but rarely delve deep into the process: the inspiration, the iterations, and the teams it took that it took to bring that product to life.
Imagine the everything around us had an asterisk, and explained the story behind it. We see this in scattered ways. We hear an interview with a designers for their inspiration for their designs. We often read about the rise of business magnates, and listen to lessons they learned that lead them to success.
I live by the asterisk
Of the all the shortcomings I possess, there is one thing I can do which has got me through life, and that is simply the ability to tell a story. I don’t know why or how, but it’s my default state to always to be understanding something, and trying to tell its/their story. If I can’t find a story I am lost, I am powerless.
I live by the footnotes. Trying to understand the stories of the world, and trying to deliver it to others. whether for business or just pure passion, I want to tell stories, and very few things can really elegantly describe my mission better than a simple asterisk.
It doesn’t really matter to most people, but I am a sucker for these kinds of things as I have mentioned before. My failures to learn or become great at things has always been because I failed to see any application to better my life or any practical use. I am terrible at math, and most other subjects for that matter, but when learning these abstract concepts. I always asked why am I am learning this. What is the story behind Calculus? I never found a good enough answer. That cost me a lot financially and personally, and is why I stick to my stories, and trying to find meaningful stories in everything!