“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.” — Eugene Ionesco.

The feeling of nothing

It was quite late that night. I was riding through a bridge, on my way home. The beautiful darkness of the sky got covered by the immense light from the street, the stores, the buildings, the cars, and the motorbikes. The view was a bit glare which made my eyes quite tired.

I felt empty at the time. No motivation. No hesitation. No rush. No nothing.

And I was not…happy. But at the same time, I don’t think I was sad. There are no emotions, to be specific. I think I was craving for something, because feeling nothing to me is something quite hard to accept for myself, something is wrong, at that time.

Right at the moment when everything seemed to be hopeless, and I might have had a night of vague mind, a question ran through my mind while I was looking at the taillight of the motorbikes, rushing from behind me, rushing to a date, to home, to work, and to infinity.

Why does a motorbike have yellow color on it’s headlight, and red color on taillight?

Feeling alive

Immediately, I felt everything was so vivid, and everything is so unfamiliar to me, as I didn’t grasp the fact that it is the way I was seeing and perceiving of. The “why” questions were stacking up in my head when I look around my whole world.

Understanding why everything is designed the way it is, makes me feel alive.

Why “everything”?

To me, the most impactful legacy one can leave behind after he/she’s gone, is inspiration.

Once you inspire someone so that she can strive to be a better version of herself, at any aspect in life, you’re a part of her life positive transformation. Along the journey, she will meet people, and inspire them just like the way you did before. And the inspiration chain continues, forever. Imagine what our society will be like, if that chain grows bigger and bigger everyday.

Being a part of that inspiration chain, makes me feel alive.

To be a part of that chain, me myself has to be inspired first, on a daily basis. And the most simple thing to start inspiring myself, is to do what I love doing, on a daily basis. I love asking questions, right. But to know what kind of questions I love asking and figuring out answers for, it’s necessary to explore everything going through my life, including the things I see, the processes I develop, and the people I meet.

Why “Design”?

Design at it’s core, is optimistic. It’s the call to change what is into what ought to be. - Steve Vassallo.

I found the quote so resonate with my core values and my perception of designing anything. We are all designers. Life is our product. Isn’t we all want our product to be better at some way? To be happier, to be richer, to have better friends, to love someone and to be loved?

And to me, inspiration is one of the sources of that “call to change”.

To wrap up, this blog is about Design Explanations of the world through my lens.

I started writing this blog not primarily for the purpose of someone will take a look and immediately gets inspired to do something great. That sounds silly. Instead, I’m writing this for myself, to feel alive, as currently this is what I like doing. However, if your attention and your time is somehow spent in this journey with me, it will become a journey of us exploring the world together, and I really, deeply appreciate you for companying with me. Otherwise, I’m still thankful for your joining, and wish you the best.

Thank you for your time!

Sincerely and gratefully,

Ken Pham.