Journal
About Closed and Open systems
Most discussions about open vs closed systems start in the wrong place. They begin with ideology; freedom, control, community, ownership. But that’s not where the real d…
6 min read
THE PERSONAL JOURNAL OF Ikayowusu
Thoughts in progress.
Life in perspective.
A place for personal thoughts, observations, and the ideas that stay with me.
Explore the writing ↓Ideas · Reflections · Everyday lifeikayowusu.com
THE ARCHIVE
Latest writing115
Journal
On Taste
Yesterday I saw a new update to a system. The update was poorly implemented. Certain parts of the system didn’t work anymore. Simple things broke, which suggested the up…
3 min read
Journal
How Consistency and Cohesion Build Unbreakable Identity
In 1998, when the iMac was introduced, it did not just look different. It sounded different. The name was soft, almost playful. A lowercase “i” attached to a familiar wo…
5 min read
Journal
Why Experience Is Worth the Pain
In January 1984, a young man in a black bow tie stood on a stage and pulled a small beige box out of a bag. The room erupted. The machine spoke: “Hello.” It was the Maci…
3 min read
Journal
A few Great, Useful things
A few great, useful things. Lowering the Signal to noise ratio. When we were younger and using analog radios and TV sets, we tuned carefully. We kept the stations that c…
2 min read
Journal
High-agency People are Rare
High-agency people are rare, and once you work with them, you can’t unsee the difference. A high-agency person doesn’t wait to be told what to do. they don’t wait for cl…
2 min read
Journal
Materials in Design
Lately, I’ve been obsessed with materials; not trends, not features, not branding but the actual substances used to create the physical objects I interact with every day…
4 min read
Journal
Entropy, Disorder, and the Cost of Doing Anything Meaningful Pt 2
The second law of thermodynamics rests on a simple but uncomfortable idea: entropy. Entropy is a measure of disorder in a system. It also describes how much energy in th…
3 min read
Journal
A Tech Stack is not a Flex. It’s a Reflection
These days, everyone talks about their tech stack. It’s on Twitter bios, portfolio sites, pitch decks. Frontend stack. Backend stack. AI stack. No-code stack. Sometimes …
3 min read
BEHIND THE WORDS
Hello, I’m Ikayowusu.
This is my corner of the internet: a record of what I’m thinking about, learning, and noticing along the way.
I welcome thoughtful conversations. If something here resonates with you, I’d love to hear from you.
More about Ikayowusu ↗