Unreachable

Welcome to The Logo Edit—a weekly newsletter on life, business, and research. I translate patterns, you adapt them to your process.

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The more exclusive, the better, no? From VIP status to A-Lister stamps... Who didn't want what couldn’t be had?

The thing that happens with companies and brands that choose the luxurious, deluxe path is that they cease to be regarded as casual. Basically, the pieces of life that made their existence seem familiar were rarely shared. There is something crafty about their behavior, as they preferred to move in a low-key manner, similar to silence. They were always somehow known by many -one way or another-, but never did they overdo it when it came to what they chose to reveal. They gave to the public what they believed they wanted, blurring need and desire. They knew how to keep an audience impatient for what was yet to be created.

When we used a term like casual: informal or even “lived in”, we were talking about things that were subject to regular use or habitation, aka the opposite of deserted and abandoned.  

Some examples included being able to tell who just got out the bathroom based on the way the faucets were turned, knowing which towels were used last because of how they held their own shape, seeing the scuffs and creases on shoes we thought could never not look brand new. When we moved at the pace that was today, we at times barely remembered where certain "marks” came from - why things looked not as they once were…

This is because you can never etch out the “living”, or could you?

But what can we say, maybe some people just preferred to be like that - not wanting to leave an impression that was too apparent. In the day-to-day, we knew we didn’t do this. Who is really cautious enough to refuse to leave drops of water on the floor after they’ve washed their hands? Who couldn’t leave the shower curtain edges damp when they needed to grip onto something as they walked their way out the tub to get their towel? Who didn’t forget about the snacks they left by the stove or the blankets they left sitting in the dryer since the morning?

How manageable was it, always hiding where we were last?

Yes, the conscious, chosen absence of tools and methods is a form of strategy that then lent itself to becoming a company’s “character”. But what made a business truly approachable and undeniably appealing?

Many people want to resist this urge: acknowledging that they had these tendencies of not wanting to leave anything behind so no one else could pin them or figure them out. Whether this was reasonable or not, it still was a challenge - creating a forum for what was somehow both pristine and mysterious, one that showed only streaks of brilliance, not the whole thing.  

Repelling the truth that is being obsessive and particular about this topic (the attempt to leave no traces of one’s existence) only went but so far in the personal category - people succumbed quickly and eventually confessed that this was them through the way they did and said things. Just think about whose home you’ve been to… People can’t hide much for long. You already knew they didn’t want you to sit on anything because you still had your outside clothes on, and you definitely saw them coming with the coaster after they said your cup’s sweat was going to stain their tables.

We’ve all been warned in these spaces on multiple accounts, be it discreetly or explicitly - don't open, don’t use, don’t touch...  

That being said, with every business comes its own set of rules, written or not. If you keep certain regulations in practice with no context, they become the blockages that prevent your house from feeling like a home -or in this case- your business from being the solution.  

When it comes to companies admitting they aren’t ~all~ about the final product, they usually take the long route to show their genuine answer to this question. They don't want to mention their steps. Some may repeat what they think and say anything along the lines of “how does 'telling' benefit us”?

Even this belief that appears slight and harmless -choosing to not show the ins and outs of an operation- roots itself in apprehension and confirms the upholding of a type of idealism that makes one unmeetable.

How were we to locate you if all we were left with was the end?

Because we live in the era of digital impeccability, it can gradually get harder and harder to reject this standard as a mere suggestion. Hence, the aversion to curate a business around lived-in experiences -> showing the fragments of what can be considered previous. So, now what? What are we to ask of ourselves then?

What ultimately made a business, a business?

Those who theoretically walked through our doors and got acquainted with our spaces, or those who never could?

Didn’t it get exhausting fighting the unnatural? Now, no one is saying the sky needs to fall for your business to be noticed. What is instead being described is finding how you can be more real. You were the one deciding what this was at all times anyway - what if it was time to pay attention? How were you taking this a step further with your audience? At what stage were they ready to join your world?

We as people can't help but leave an imprint, that's the action part, the body. Yet, when there was none of you to be found, how could your audience know what you cared about if you couldn’t be read?

In the sphere of making money and providing services in the digital age of media and information, we can observe how although a lived in experience may have its moment - what repeatedly evoked more intrigue was still what carried the energy of not being subject to external forces, the untouchable one could say.  

Where were the businesses that showed their systems? Why did it feel as though they were disappearing for good?  

As we move out of this era of the retouch and into full-blown pre-recorded, pre-edited, pre-scripted, pre-planned everything, little room is left for those that decide to openly show prior wear and tear: what really made the results what they were.

Everyone in this decade paraded over privacy and hyper-selective circles… they wanted what was “theirs” to feel like it was only theirs to own.

If you were still building from scratch, was this a plausible ask or just another constraint? 

Many people in business have grown accustomed to perfecting what cannot be perfected. They tell themselves that the people want something polished, not washed out; the people prefer what is sophisticated, not simple. What’s wrong with truly making these statements is that the more a business and or project attempts to remain clean -free from all scratches, trials, and scars of being tested- the less likely it is for it to feel real and important. Yes, we know you wanted your ideas to be treated like your house -comfortable, easy to get through, organized, and fulfilling... But if your home were to stay unused and unchanged, could it still be called the same name?  

We don't realize that continued meaning is given by way of continued use. The less we use items or things, the less we consider the need for their function.

Not long ago, it was brought to my attention that some founders praised appearances before description and beauty before purpose. They seem similar, sure. I was curious as to why this had become a new currency. It felt like before one told you what to do, they wanted you to watch how they hypnotized your eyes to look past what you thought was necessary. We have to remember that what is striking on the outside doesn't mean much if we can't see a signature: what grew to be sealed by time.  

If you find yourself working and you're always leading with the look of things, you’d be surprised how little people care about what you portray instead of what you can actually do for them. They need to know that you're real above all things. They need to sense that you’re familiar with trial and error, success, and failure. When you keep polishing your things to a level that is always out of touch -showing no signs of life- that becomes your magnet of attraction.  

If everything remained uninhibited, how could we ever call it whole?

As a thank you for being a part of our newsletter, we are opening our calendar up this week for those who have been looking to have a conversation about how to implement research into their current + upcoming business projects.

To ensure we meet with as many of you as possible within the given time frame, these discussions will be 15 minutes per person and free of charge.  

Reply to this email describing what you’re looking for at the moment, and we’ll set up a time to speak.  

See you soon.  

Madison