For decades, creatives have loved the metaphor of the looking glass. In Harry Potter, the Mirror of the Erised shows Harry his deepest desire. In Goethe’s work, the protagonist Faust doesn’t see a simple reflection in the looking glass, but the qualities he loves about himself and has hidden away.
But the metaphor that we love most, which directly inspired the name of this blog, is Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass.
When Alice looks through the looking glass in her house, she sees a world that’s both familiar and unrecognisable, like it’s been turned inside out. For her, it’s the start of a grand adventure and a series of lessons.
The looking-glass teaches Alice that she can’t change the past but can learn from it. It shows her that “the only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible”.
That’s a lot like the world of possibilities that Obvious works in today: much is familiar, but so much more is new. It’s a chance to turn what we know on its head, believe that the impossible is possible, and make the uncommon obvious.
It’s what we want to offer to you, through a brand-new version of our blog that we’ve aptly called the Looking Glass.
Looking Glass is intended to be an ever-growing repository of op-eds featuring inspiring people, work, and ideas that light creative fires. It’s a mirror for our multi-talented teammates to explore what brings joy and piques curiosity.
It’s also a gateway for us to distil our thoughts, refine our storytelling chops, and share how we make sense of the world around us.
In Looking Glass, you’ll find:
The Playground
Show-and-tell essays on creativity, craft, and community outside the Obvious bubble, from colleagues and other interesting people in the business.
You'll find articles like:
- "If you could redesign one thing, what would it be?" Chaos and great answers ensued!
- Indian e-commerce apps have discounts on display, but international apps don't. What gives? Tejasvi Soi investigates.
The Laboratory
Stories that dive deep into the technical stuff we do at Obvious in particular — building, prototyping, experimenting, exploring, and more.
Here's a teaser:
- UX writing is so much more than checking spellings. Sidika Sehgal dives into what makes UX writing a great tool in your design arsenal.
The Lookout
Musings on game-changing possibilities and objects in the mirror that are closer than they appear in the design and engineering world.
From the archives:
- What's the secret to dealing with a creative block? Embracing it, and calling it your "dry sponge" era! Sindhu Shivaprasad elaborates.
- In healthy, growing organisations, “culture” is an ever-morphing thing. Monica Pillai reflects on an offsite of true bonding.
If this publication is the Looking Glass, then we’re all Alice: leaving our comfortable armchairs to embark on a grand adventure of imagination and inspiration, creativity and learning, thrill and joy.
Won’t you join us?
Image via Freepik
