The White Moon and What Products Have To Say

Sometimes in the afternoon sky a white moon would creep up like a little cloud, furtive, without display, suggesting an actress who does not have to ‘come on’ for a while, and so goes ‘in front’ in her ordinary clothes to watch the rest of the company for a moment, but keeps in the background, not wishing to attract attention to herself.
Marcel Proust

Isn’t that magnificent?

An unusual lens that captures the innocence of a frequent lunar affair.

A metaphor that single-handedly renders the genetic makeup of most descriptions of the moon, a mere peddler of futility.

And if we were to come up with a description of the same mettle, even a Holmesian investigation of our mental wares might have us return empty-handed.

A demanding task, indeed.

That’s the case with most everyday things.

The more we experience them, the more their cause gets discolored in our minds. But it isn’t lost. With some introspection, we can figure out how we really feel about something.

Waking up to our own description of dawn or a toothbrush, could be liberating.

What about our creations, though? What do they have to say?

This nameless agony also affects the products that we build, no matter how much we care about them.

How often do they express what they stand for? How often do they speak for the dreams of the people behind them?

It isn’t just the words. It’s about everything. The colors. The empty spaces. The underlines. The sales emails with GIFs of sober cats, acting otherwise.

The task of infusing everything with the same vigor is daunting for all of us. But just like the problems that we’re trying to solve with our products, it’s a fight worth fighting.

Typeform is a form builder. A simple product. There are dozens of products that do the same thing. At the same time, there’s no product that does what they do. Because there’s something special about their awe-cloaked ways.

They believe that the days of lifeless forms are over. And that we can do better, and that they’d help us. Their website says the same. And as any human who has created a Typeform would attest, so does their product.

So. It’s about making people believe what we believe. Making people care about what we care about. Without expressing it in a way only we can, we’d fail.

As James Victore reminded us in an essay, in the particular lies the universal.

Perhaps, that’s why the MacBook Air came out of an envelope.

Perhaps, that’s why Slack had Brené Brown pen “a special set of wisdoms and witticisms” for their loading messages.

Here’s one of them –

Courage is contagious. Every time we choose courage, we make everyone around us a little braver and the world a little better.

Perhaps, the way we tell our story, is worth everything.