Hi there.
Running the third year of d.o (a design office) has been a deeply rewarding challenge. That means I love what I do, but the workload has a way of pulling me right to the edge. In a good way, maybe.
Now that we’re mid-year and heading full force into summer, I keep asking myself: Where is Lui? Not geographically. Mentally. Spiritually. Emotionally. I’m everywhere and nowhere, wherever the next job takes me. Which is exciting, but also disorienting.
I’ve been grateful to see my skills, design, storytelling, digital instinct become essential to others. Everyone needs to communicate, share, convert. From brands to individuals. There’s no doubt we’re living in the prime era of information. And I believe this is a golden age for designers good ones. The kind that bring taste, restraint, and intuition. That kind of curation can’t be AI’d or faked. Not yet, anyway.
So no, I’m not afraid of the future. I’m excited. Just… confused.
After nearly 15 years of posting, sharing no longer scratches the same itch. And I’m not mad about that. Substack feels like the right space for this moment, but I caught myself falling back into old patterns chasing strategies I tried on Instagram or YouTube. Launching Office Mess was fun. I geared up like always, part of me hoping to become the next Emily Sundberg (our digital mother, still). But somewhere along the way, I stopped reading her. Stopped reading most things. Just like I stopped engaging deeply with the work of others. The scroll replaced the study.
Running my business forced me to look up. It got tiring, the social media game, the constant attempts, the pressure to convert attention into something. Eventually, you have to admit fatigue. Or maybe even defeat.
But I’m not giving up. Not at all.
I’ve just changed the terms. I’m no longer in a rush to publish, post, or prove. Maybe it’s age, I turned 31. Maybe it’s boredom. Or maybe it’s peace. I’ve become obsessed with long-format work: things that take time, things that aren’t made for virality. Craft.
I have a “zero” and a “one” tattooed on my arms a reminder of the binary system we live in. Good and bad, yin and yang, black and white. But these days, they feel more like digital deities. We are ruled by ones and zeroes. Algorithms, feeds, false gods. And now, AI.
The other day I saw a TikTok that said: “We work 8 hours on the medium screen (our laptops), to relax on the small screen (our phones), while the big screen (TV) plays in the background.” It hit me hard. I laughed. Then I sat with it. That’s the loop. And I’m in it, too.
But I’m stepping out not by deleting apps or disappearing into the woods. Just by rethinking what I’m here to say, and how I say it.
So if you’re still reading this, know this: I’m still here. Designing. Thinking. Writing. Less often, more deeply. This isn’t an exit it’s an upgrade. I’m not logging off. I’m locking in.
See you at the office,
LUi.