Beauty is better made

Aesthetic disgust and how to push through it

“Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.”
–Kahlil Gibran

The designer strives for perfection.
Symmetry, balance, harmony, utopia.
But utopia literally means “no place.”
And symmetry is a myth.

The truth of the world is chaos and viscera
The trees grown askew in fallow soil.
The broadsheet dripping with grief.
The promises toppled like dominoes.

This asymmetry isn’t the problem.
What you call “ugly” is everything you resist.
Confusion. Uncertainty. Imbalance.
But is there really a problem?

Cross-examine your resistance.
You might not have beef with the universe.
Those superlatives might be pure corn syrup.
–Turn complaints into observations, June 5, 2025

Art is the canvas and the frame:
Fire is both the glowing manifestation of death
And the spark that warms the hearth.
Same flames, different frame.

Next time aesthetic disgust scrinches your nose,
Think about what you find beautiful.
You may have recovered beauty where others see none.
So reverse it. Push through the recoil. Rotate the frame.

Rotation is the designer’s actual work.
Change the frame, not the world.
You step into the mirror
And Consider how you might change.

You read a book more than once,
You bring your adversary closer,
You change the plane of conception,
And turn the impossible into routine.

All potential lies in what appears ugly.
Beauty is better made not found.
You are not swiping your way to a match.
You are what you design; what you design is you.