Meaningful Creations

EDITION 09 / 2026

Well hi lovely Reader!

I don't know about you, but I am already SO tired of hearing (and talking) about AI. (We get it, things are changing fast. And BTW if you tell me I need to 'keep up' one more time I swear I'm going to deck you. 😠)

ANYWAY we are living through a genuinely strange, fast-moving, nobody-really-knows-what's-happening moment. And I realized this week that in some ways, that's kind of..... freeing? 😲 (Although I do really yearn for those 'precedented' times! 🤣)

Let me explain wht I mean:

I'm Gen X. I grew up in a world where you had to get things right the first time, cos there was no undo button (literally - I learned a lot of design on paper). My whole creative brain was trained on the idea that work should look polished, considered, and finished before you showed it to anyone. Perfectionism wasn't a flaw, it was just called "professional standards." (Even if I do tend to take it to new extremes 😜)

And honestly - that instinct still lives in me. It probably lives in you too. And right now I am (personally) feeling overwhelmed and a little 'deer in the headlights' about how and where to take action. Because I believe in what I'M doing, but everything else seems to be an unknown. People are actually faking 'rough and imperfect' to fool an algorithm or follow a trend. It's kinda insane.

BUT... here's the interesting thing about this weird moment we're all in: the rules are changing so fast that nobody knows what they are. What worked on Instagram six months ago doesn't work today (Actually...more accurately six DAYS ago! 🫤). The platforms seem to be figuring it out as they go and the tools are being built in real time. The "right way" to run an online business in 2026 genuinely does not exist yet, cos the landscape keeps shifting under everyone's feet.

Which means that for a small business or creator this is, weirdly, one of the best possible times to try things out!

When the ground is moving, nobody expects you to be doing a perfect runway walk. And when everyone's figuring it out as they go, nobody's judging you for trying something that doesn't quite land. The cost of experimenting right now is lower than it's ever been - and the cost of waiting until you get it "right" before you try is higher than it's ever been.

So here's my gentle challenge for you this week: pick one thing you've been putting off cos it's not ready yet or you're not sure it will work, and just... try it. A post in a format you haven't used; a reel filmed in your car or while walking the dog; a bit of content that shows your actual face and your actual opinion; a product idea you've been quietly sitting on or an email where you say something raw instead of something polished.

Not because it'll definitely work. But because right now, in this messy in-between, trying something imperfect is exactly the right move. And it could really yield results.

I believe in you.🖤

Go with the flow

This week on the 'Tube, I'm revisiting something I probably should have done sooner.

A while back I made a carousel tutorial that became one of my most watched videos - which is lovely, except I look back at it now and cringe a little, cos I overcomplicated it. So this week I rebuilt it from scratch. Simpler, cleaner, and (I think) a lot more useful.

We're designing a seamless eight-slide product launch carousel in Canva, for a fictional specialty coffee brand I made up called Vakna (which is Swedish for "wake up" - clever ain't I? 😜) The focus isn't on carousel strategy this time - it's on making your slides feel like one seamless, flowing design rather than eight separate images stuck together. There are a couple of really simple techniques in there that I think will genuinely make designing these kinds of carousels easier for you going forward.

Check it out on my channel now.

This week I want to share something a bit different - not a single artist, but a place I've discovered online, and I will DEFINITELY be going to next time I'm in Lisbon!

HUM is a gallery and interior design studio run by Carla Radoll & Bruno Graça. Their aesthetic is immediately, almost unfairly beautiful - grounded, neutral, calm, lots of natural texture and quiet colour. The kind of visual world that makes you feel peaceful just scrolling through it. It's very 'me'. 🤣 But also makes me feel like I still have a lot to discover.

What keeps me coming back - beyond the pretty pictures - is that HUM curates work from artists and makers I'd simply never encounter otherwise - ceramicists, sculptors, object-makers from places and working in forms or mediums I didn't even know existed. Every time I land on their page I find someone new, something unexpected, a material or technique that makes me expand what I know about 'art' or design.

It's a reminder of how narrow our influences can get without us realising - especially when the algorithm just feeds us more of what we already engage with. The further you look from your own field, the more interesting your work tends to get.

Go and have a wander on their website or Instagram, and tell 'em I sent ya.😉