Notes

Excerpts from User Interface: A Personal View by Alan Kay

The visual system’s main job is to be interested in everything in a scene, to dart over it as one does with a bulletin board, to change context. The symbolic system’s main job is to stay with a context and to make indirect connections. Imagine what it would be like if it were reversed. If the visual system looked at the object it first saw in the morning for five hours straight! Or if the symbolic system couldn’t hold a thought for more than a few seconds at a time!

It is easy to see that one of the main reasons that the figurative system is so creative is that it tends not to get blocked because of the constant flitting and darting. The chance of finding an interesting pattern is very high. It is not surprising, either, that many people who are “figurative” have extreme difficulty getting anything finished-there is always something new and interesting that pops up to distract. Conversely, the “symbolic” person is good at getting things done, because of the long focus on single contexts, but has a hard time being creative, or even being a good problem solver, because of the extreme tendency to get blocked. In other words, because none of the mentalities is supremely useful to the exclusion of the others, the best strategy would be to try to gently force synergy between them in the user interface design.

Doing with Images makes Symbols

The slogan also implies—as did Bruner—that one should start with—be grounded in—the concrete “Doing with Images,” and be carried into the more abstract “makes Symbols.”

The flitting-about nature of the iconic mentality suggested that having as many resources showing on the screen as possible would be a good way to encourage creativity and problem solving and prevent blockage.

Even if the most sophisticated models are shaped by specific human needs and contexts, can everything meaningful about human experience eventually be captured within it? Is the concept of expression itself limited by the conceptual boundaries of what our language allows us to imagine?

An excerpt from How to Get New Ideas by Paul Graham

The way to get new ideas is to notice anomalies: what seems strange, or missing, or broken? You can see anomalies in everyday life (much of standup comedy is based on this), but the best place to look for them is at the frontiers of knowledge.

Some personal takeaways from How to make something great by Ryo Lu

True greatness emerges not from any single stroke of genius, but from a careful cultivation of potential.

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Begin with the Ambiguous Artifact

Embrace initial uncertainty rather than forcing premature clarity. The greatest concepts often start as fuzzy outlines with untapped potential, gradually evolving into solutions that later seem inevitable.

• Deliberately avoid definitions early on
• Keep initial sketches rough - low-fidelity prototypes
• Document changing understandings from day to day
• Maintain a reference document - capture all potential directions

Assemble the Believers, Not the Bureaucrats

Build teams based on passion and mindset, not titles or roles. Seek collaborators who engage directly with challenges, share a higher purpose, and contribute energy rather than those who hide behind process or hierarchy.

• Notice who speaks in possibilities vs. limitations
• Cross-functional action beats isolated expertise
• Small, committed team > large, partially-interested group

Delay the Funnel, Widen the Field

Resist early narrowing of possibilities. Allow yourself to explore broadly and discover unexpected connections before imposing constraints. The best solutions emerge from understanding the full landscape of related problems.

• Map adjacent problems - they often hold hidden solutions
• Schedule dedicated “divergent thinking” sessions - explore
• Collect seemingly unrelated inputs - diverse industries, natural systems
• Create “problem clusters” before jumping to solutions
• “What if we solved for multiple problems at once?”
• Look for “rhymes” - similar patterns across different domains

Act from Instinct and Build to Learn

Trust your instincts and start creating rather than seeking perfect plans or consensus. Learning happens through making, testing, and revising. Direct engagement with materials reveals truths that planning alone cannot.

• Set “thinking deadlines” then make something, anything
• Create weekly “build sprints” - even if just paper prototypes
• Value partial solutions that teach something new
• Track “insights per prototype” not “features completed”
• Document gut reactions before logical analysis
• Implement “pivot or preserve” reviews after each build

Don’t Validate Ideas to Death

Protect young ideas from premature judgment. Early validation often kills promising concepts before they’ve had time to develop. Give ideas room to mature before subjecting them to rigorous testing.

• Establish protected periods for idea development
• Use different measures at different stages
• Beware of false negatives
• Ask “what would make this work?” before “will this work?”
• Test for potential energy, not immediate performance

Pursue Quality and Agility in Equal Measure

Reject the false choice between speed and excellence. Great work emerges from balancing quick iteration with craftsmanship. Build solutions in integrated layers that progressively reveal a cohesive vision.

• “Stackable quality” - each layer complete but expandable
• Maintain quality:speed ratio appropriate to project phase
• Track technical debt consciously - schedule regular repayment
• Study domains that balance both

The Strange Alchemy of Creation

Creating greatness is inherently messy and non-linear. When the principles work together, what begins as ambiguous experimentation ultimately appears both fresh and inevitable—revealing what was possible all along.

• Progress rarely feels linear - expect plateaus
• Greatness emerges from iteration, not revelation
• Track moments when “it clicked” - what preceded them?
• Cultivate patience and trust the process
• Document the messy journey - valuable