Hello,
This is Slow Cooked, a collection of weekly musings, ongoing projects, and the media I’m consuming; delivered every Monday.
This began as an exploration of self — that provided an opportunity to create the circumstances under which I am motivated to produce work on a consistent basis.
My hope is to be able to pursue and produce varied work under the banner of 'Slow Cooked', be it short films, photographic series, zines, the newsletter you're currently reading or anything else that catches my fancy.
The name, 'Slow Cooked' comes from the process of cooking food at low temperatures for long periods of time. Or the exact opposite of pressure cookers, which are known to speedily cook food. It requires less energy, but asks that that energy be applied consistently, over time. This results in food that packs in nutrients and in doing so, amplifies flavor. It breaks down tough meats and vegetables; in this case, ideas, sometimes disjointed or not fully formed.
What’s cooking
The following are excerpts from a transcript of a conversation between myself and Naomi Shah, someone who's work and thought processes I admire. Aside from being my sister, she's also the designer behind the logo of 'Slow Cooked'.
Here's a little about her as a designer — She's a recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in visual communication design, with a focus on identity, print and editorial design. Her background in art and design makes for work that is driven by both concept and a close attention to detail. Her approach focuses on empathy for the user/viewer. She utilizes deep research into her subject and human psychology to find the most effective way to communicate a story or concept. And believes that “the medium is the message”, the theory that the medium expresses greater communication than the actual message itself.
Vihan Shah: Tell me about your design process and how you went about creating the identity for Slow Cooked.
Naomi Shah: It feels so weird because I never have to explain it to anyone. I guess when you came to me, I had no clear idea in my head. I was just excited about it. And I think that's what I do with most projects, at least the ones that I feel like I've gone on well with or I've enjoyed making or working on. It's always been projects that when I agreed to them, or I was assigned them, I never really thought about what the end outcome was going to look like. So I go in with nothing. And I've realized that works way better for me as a person.
I know people who start working directly on their computer, but I just can't do that. I've realized I need to follow a process before I get to work on a concept. So I put down words that I think of - in describing the subject, what I imagine the subject to be, sometimes personifying it to find it's personality.
In this case, I wrote down the words slow cooked. And took down all the information that you gave me regarding your intention and the applications of it. I used this to look up what that meant and what context it has been used in. And found that it's mainly used in recipes; not something people really use in sentences, or as a phrase. So for me, when you explained it to me, my mind went to actual cooking. What does it mean to have food that's slow cooked? What happens when you slow cook food? Does it enhance flavour? What is it good for? Why would you just slow cook versus another form of cooking?
And then I thought of the words ‘slow’ and ‘cooked’ separately and liked the idea that slow has a very specific reference to movement. And I really liked that idea, that idea of movement. And then you think about cooking, there's some movement there too. So I went back to images that I'd take of a pan when I'm cooking. And I began thinking of photographs I've taken of sliced zucchini and the way it fills up a pan, letting you only see the negative spaces.
And how it’s not perfectly circular. Which led to the idea that it could be moved and rotated in different directions. I then connected it to what your newsletter is. What is a newsletter? What's the point of a newsletter? Why are you writing it? Why is this something someone wants in their inbox? And if it's something that's so personal, it could be something that's very abstract, since the newsletter itself could be about anything, it's not defined by the subject. And I thought that was cool, because it gave me a lot of scope.
This informs the initial sketches that I make. Even if some of these drawings don't make sense, I get to know what's possible. Because in my head, they can make a lot of sense, but they may not hold up on paper.
Eventually, the final product may be a small version of the initial things that I wrote or might be a more refined look on it. But it doesn't subtract from the process itself.
VS: I’d mentioned I wanted it the logo to be blue, if possible. Was that something that was actively on your mind?
NS: Color is the last part of the process for me. But because you’d mentioned it, my first thought when I started looking at colors was to look at shades of blue. I even tried softer blues, but you're not a person who has a soft nature, that’s just not you. I can't connect you to pastel blues. Or to sky blue, or an actual marine blue, in fact, I’d probably connect to a deeper blue if I have to. Or the one I ended up using.
VS: How did you arrive at this process?
NS: To be honest I didn’t really think about it until I was asked about it a few times. It’s something that came very naturally to me. So I never really thought about it as a process. I just knew that this is how I always start a project.
But I think maybe that's why, I feel like I used to enjoy it more earlier. Because I never gave it that much thought. Now that I have a name for it, it kind of bothers me. But that's like a lot of things. Once I'm more aware of it. I don't like it.
VS: Is there an expectation for others to know your thought process behind your work?
NS: The nature of the work is that not many people are really going to question it. They'll just associate it with the visual form, for example, Slow Cooked. So if done right, it's the only way they'll read slow cooked. And that becomes an association in their head. But other than that, there's a few people who are actually going to be interested in knowing more about it. Like, obviously, sometimes I'm dying to tell people about it when I have a concept that I've worked so much on, and I have lots to say about it. Because for me, all the details, eventually, end up connecting to the concept.
VS: What's the value of good design to you? Why is it important?
NS: The main reason why I like design as compared to, let's say art, or creating paintings and displaying them in a place where only some people will see it, or just the people who I will share it with would see it, means it reaches a much smaller audience. And I'm not saying the stuff that I'm designing right now is really reaching a wide audience. But it's exciting to see work that, comes into people's homes, or is put on shelves, or is seen on the street. Because that will be something that is in our environment.
When I was in Switzerland, I realised I was surrounded by beautiful looking things all the time. And that itself, I feel, might be creating such a different impact on a person's life or just making their life nicer. I was surrounded by nice looking things that were made intentionally, not just aesthetically visually pleasing.
I like work that has an intention, and looks good. It’s really hard to achieve a good balance between concept and aesthetics, but when you can do both effectively, you’ve created good design. I hate work that just looks aesthetically pleasing, because for me, it feels like it's not gonna last forever — it’s trendy. Tomorrow, let's say years down the line, you're gonna look at it, and you're just gonna be like, okay, cool, it looked good then. But like, now, what's the value of it or what function did it serve?
If you’d like to see more of Naomi’s work, head over to her website or follow her on Instagram or Twitter.
In other news
Given the limited supply of vaccines and the slow rollout, it’s almost impossible to find a vacant slot on CoWin, the online platform set up to help vaccinate Indians. Every evening, any time after 7:30 PM, 500 slots open up at each vaccination center. These are often filled within 30 seconds of them going live.
I’ve been at it for about two weeks now with no success. So it’s refreshing to see young developers organize and create tools using the site’s public API that make it easier for people to know when slots go live.
Here are a few that I’ve been using that may be helpful to you:
Let this simmer
Here’s a case to start your own blog or newsletter, I recommend reading the entire thread:
What I’m reading
‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear
Chernobyl: Why the nuclear disaster was an accidental environmental success by Marthe de Ferrer
What I’m listening to
I’ve been looking for a playlist that helps me get to a state of flow; this is one that I keep coming back to.
Thank you
If you made it this far, I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to do so.
Feel free to reply to this email with your thoughts, feedback you may have, or just to say hello.
Talk soon,
Vihan Shah