Do you have a well-worn thing?

Like a notebook, scribbled, battered, and ink-stained, but it’s always there for your thoughts, ideas and emotions? Or a pair of very old pants that still spikes you with the confidence you need?

I had a lot of them, these well-worn things. I made the best use of them. But now the number has drastically reduced. I am still using a lot of things, but not really making them well-worn.

About the well-worn thing

A well-worn thing, I think, is a sign of a well-used product. The things we buy, that helps us to further do more, create more, express more, and live life more - those tend to be well-worn things. Like a cap we pop on our head to play a game outdoors, our baking gloves to pull out that experimental batch of cookies.

There’s a reason you keep reaching out to it again and again. A well-worn thing becomes a symbol of your well-lived life. No longer a ‘product’ they become a part of your life helping you live it to its best. You form a bond with that item.

Where did they go?

Consumerism tells us that it needs to be new. Most things are not built to last, let alone be used enough to be well-worn. We barely hit the end of our lipstick before we purchase the next one.

We are always buying, buying, buying. Consuming, consuming and consuming. And yet it feels all hollow. It doesn’t feel tasty anymore.

The Era of the One-Night Stand

Most of things we consume today are banal and not meant to be well-worn. Trendy cafes that neither offer a restful ambience nor a good cup of coffee do not become well-worn. Clothes with its tearable material and unflattering cut stay hidden in the back of our cupboards under a pile of more clothes of regret. A lot of things made today are like a one-night stand. Fun for a while, till you just get over it.

Worth Keeping

In a world where consumption is glorified, I think I would focus my energies on building my small world with well-worn things. Rather than having a lot of things, I would love to have a few well-worn things. Like a good movie that I watch on repeat, homestyle fries from my slightly battered yet trusty air fryer, and my comfy ancient blanket that never fails to make me feel cozy and safe.

Take the time to look around your space and find those well-worn things that have grown along with you. Im sure their scruffs and marks carry a story - their story, which is also yours too.

In fact, this month was a struggle. With college projects going all wrong, falling sick at the wrong time, and not being able to generate enough of ideas - I AM PROUD to present February 2024 issue of Fat Cat! 🥳

Hopefully as time passes this zine will evolve. But for now, here are the links! Hope you enjoy reading :)

Fat Cat #002

2.66MB ∙ PDF file

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The online edition

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Fat Cat #002 *Print*

5.06MB ∙ PDF file

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The print and read edition

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As a tiny kid, I would read and look at the illustrations for hours. I never really understood what I was reading, but enjoyed every single bit of it. So my tiny kid self decided to start creating my own magazines.

It did not last long because it was tougher than I thought.

Fast forward to today and I still can’t find a magazine that I would love to read (MAD got difficult to find here and later on got discontinued). Being a masters college student, I have also not been able to get myself to create comics or explore my art as much as I would have liked to.

And this is where ✨ Fat Cat ✨ comes in. Inspired by my cat gif that I had created long ago on my instagram page, I decided to create a zine series.

Contained within 8 pages my goal was to publish one Fat Cat zine every month. Primarily comics, but who knows, maybe something more as well.

I have taken this on as my mini journey to growth and happiness. A journey which can hopefully entertain people along the way.

So here, I proudly present the FIRST ever series of the Fat Cat Zine. Edition 001

FatCat #001

1.65MB ∙ PDF file

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And then I thought, why not share a little of what I learnt in my most favorite format?

Why feedback is important

In addition to this, I had also created short little video explainer (if you prefer this format)

Let me know what you think! Does this help you better understand design?

Our users are facing a vast gulf.

A gulf that we, as designer, must bridge.

When a user is figuring out how to reach a goal (cookies in this case) they are in the gulf of execution (how do I do this?). The feedback the user receives and interprets is called the gulf of evaluation (did it work? what’s happening?).

By bridging these two gulfs (with a button telling what to do) it makes it easier for the user to get their cookie!

I learnt this from Don Norman - Design of Everyday Things. I hope you learnt something too!

This is how it started out.

And this is where they ended!

Comic 1: My Name

Comic 2: Good Morning

Comic 3: Out of the Box

Comic 4: Rain

A good ‘nothing’ session, would be to zone out, stare at nature or to doodle on a scrappy newspaper. At the end of such a session, I always end up feeling better and ready to go.

On the other hand, when I mindlessly binge a show that I won’t remember, or “watch a movie” while scrolling my phone for god-knows-what, it leaves me feeling horrible and far from relaxed.

Especially when I try to recollect what happened during the day…

It leaves me feeling very much like a zombie.

Horribly mindless.

I am no expert on zombies, but I did wonder - “Is that how zombies feel day in and out?” Horrible and mindless? Then it’s no surprise why they go after our brains.

Because what I have come to realize is that when I push through the initial friction and paint a little, walk a little, or stare at a pigeon doing shady business, I feel much better. More energized, happier and even sometimes confident.

Maybe the zombie apocalypse is already upon us. And the only way to survive is to just stop being mindless.

6 years ago…

…and counting is when I got into this field. The field of design to be exact. 6 years ago I was trying to make sense of this field and I am still am even today. I am not any clearer on what I want to design, where I stand as a designer and what sort of a designer am I.

Don't get me wrong, I have a vague idea of my likes and dislikes - but nothing really solid or concrete at the moment. And all my decisions are leading me to God only knows where. ( I asked, he wasn't keen on sharing.)

But I thought why not channel the tough times into something. Thats one thing I seem to be able to do. Eat, sleep, freakout, and then, create. And I figured that maybe I can let other designers who are struggling themselves to know they are not alone. :)

That’s a lie.

I am basically using this as a big fat journal of being a designer. What designer? For now lets leave it as ___.