Pretty with a Purpose 🐦‍🔥

May 6, 2025

Hey there,

Ever since I started living on my own AND having my own disposable income, I've been having the same conundrum for most items I've wanted to buy — do I pay more for aesthetics, or should I stick to the old "if it works, it works"?

I've noticed that most stuff I've wanted to buy has some variety of choices, which seems to follow more or less the same pricing/features pattern:

1. The cheapest variant is usually not the best-looking (and yeah, I realise it's a subjective rating usually).
2. The more the price rises, the more variety you get in terms of features, but not so much in terms of aesthetics.
3. Typically the more you optimise for aesthetics, the more you venture into "custom make" territory, so it's usually not cheap to have very specific tastes.

I've developed some sense of interior design over the past 2-3 years of living by my own (or so I'd say myself), and I've noticed that there are a few rules I gotta follow to keep a coherent home. For example, at my kitchen counter where my coffee machine is, I've tried to keep all appliances in the black + metal palette. Which means that when I go around purchasing something in that niche, like a kettle, or a milk frother, I try to keep it within this palette, even if it comes with a sliiiightly higher pricetag.

The reason why I got thinking in this direction of aesthetics/functionality was a quote from the new "Hunger Games" book, the prequel about Haymitch Abernathy, "Sunrise on the Reaping":

"I like my pretty with a purpose"

Now, in his context, this was said about the gift his girlfriend gave him on his birthday — a beautiful flint striker with a snake and a bird on each end, something that's used to light fires (very helpful in the arena) but which is also elegant and fits his aesthetic.

It's a relatively insignificant quote in the grand scheme of the book, but I still found it thought-provoking, as I related with the message a lot — liking your pretty with a purpose. 🦋

...and just like Haymitch's flint striker (where every curve of that snake-and-bird motif isn't mere decoration but a nod to survival and style), you can apply the same mindset to your daily gear. When you shop for your next kettle, notebook, a laptop bag, whatever, I try and follow this framework:

1. What's the core mission (e.g. what are we optimising for)? Is this something that you'll be replacing often OR will it be something you want to treasure? Is it something for your eyes only OR should we optimise for presentability?
2. Where can you inject a little flair? I feel like we make statements with everything we buy/wear/decorate with. Even if you wear the same t-shirt all the time, it still signals something — it could be minimalism, some intentional unintentionality, or just different priorities. Nevertheless, even not making a statement IS a statement, in a way.

By decoupling "must-have" features from "nice-to-haves", you give yourself permission to splurge selectively. Maybe you choose the retro coffee machine despite it being more expensive to maintain, just because it matches the aesthetic of all the other items in your kitchen. High-end and modern doesn't always equal the best choice — otherwise, we'd all be buying the same items. That way, you never pay extra for features you won't use — only for the intentional moments of beauty you'll actually appreciate.

So, channel your inner engineer: nail down the specifications first, then let your creativity flow. A purpose-built design that also delights the senses doesn't just elevate your morning routine: it reminds you that even the simplest tools can tell a story. And in the end, isn't that what "pretty with a purpose" is all about? 🐦‍🔥

Weekly Insights

• Accomplishment for the week: did a complete revamp of the pokemonpalette.com website. ✨ Give it a go, you'll keep finding easter eggs across it, I hope. 😁
• While doing the planning and development for this silly wee app, I realised that it's honestly the one project where what I do and how I do it is just making myself, as a user, happy. Meaning that I was designing it in such a way that I personally enjoy it, find it pretty, have fun using. And maybe unsurprisingly, it's the most visited and used app I've created so far, so I'd say there's a correlation there.
• Any ideas for cool features to add to it? I'm all ears. 👂

Book Highlight: Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a book whose title you've surely come across in a literature class or just on the web. For a good reason, it's a definite classic and a pretty short book with a strong message — unlike my other favourite book by John Steinbeck, "East of Eden", this one doesn't take 600+ pages to tell you its story, and it still hits hard, nevertheless. 🐭

In its ~150 pages, it sets the scene in rural America and tells the story of two friends, George and Lennie, trying to save up money working on a farm. George is fiercely protective of Lennie, who is more simple-minded and infantile. They have a very strong brotherly bond, which weaves into the dramatic plot they get themselves into.

The plot is very straightforward, so I don't want to spoil it here by talking about the ending. For those of you who haven't read it yet, I'd deffo recommend it, it shouldn't take you more than a day or two to read through it. And for those of you that have read it, a re-read can't hurt — it's a heartwrencher that's good for the soul, I'd say. 📔

Worth Watching This Week

Mini Essays - The Perfect Tool for Lifelong Learners by Oddysseas — a tiny, low-friction practice for turning what you read into thoughts you actually keep.

why do some things just look so good? by Arteri — a thoughtful breakdown of the design instincts behind objects that quietly delight us.

Closing Thoughts

Till next week, stay safe, stay curious, and keep kicking. ✌️