My parents’ house is next to a language center. My apartment is in the same building complex as a bank. Those anchor places are where I book my Grab trips now instead of the actual addresses, after failed navigations from both ends. It’s a tiny solution that solves a tiny problem I have.

Someone is someone’s child. Someone is someone’s partner. Someone is someone’s friend. I grew up thinking so strongly about how you should be your own person, but recently it also seems nice to have adjacent meanings.

Time is either too fast or too slow, and either way I spend most of it killing.

tôi bất lực trước thời gian
tồn tại chậm rãi lan man nhiều giờ
không thể tua nhanh bất ngờ
và không thể nhớ tôi chờ hay đi

2023

Life during the last quarter of 27 hadn’t been exactly functional, let alone hopeful.

As I lay in bed one day, I kind of got how that club is a thing. I think, by 27, you would have done a fair bit of messing around, and might have just found out. It’s a monumental milestone if you get out of it alive.

My dad started working (at his more serious job, for lack of better expressions) at 27. His life started at 27. I was 27, and I thought my life was ending.

I’m about a few fountain pens and a few friends wiser now. This is to me—18, 27, in-between numbers, since the beginning of time, until the end of time, etc.:

Watch unimportant films, play uncanny games, read unserious books. Or important and serious ones, whatever sticks. Look at too much design, and you might only design for designers, or design about design. Do it anyway if you must, but remember that there’s design about life.

Returning to baseline

Let’s get this out of the way: medication is useful¹ to people with “this stupid idiot disease” (courtesy of some internet user). One of the things it helps me with is allowing me to be lazy.

If you’re no stranger to the sinister vibe that is executive dysfunction, you may inflict upon yourself the torture of asking “Am I lazy or is it executive dysfunction?” regularly. The good news is that the difference lies in the mental burden, and it can go away. Let me sum it up:

1. Laziness? No mental burden.
2. Executive dysfunction? Immense mental burden.

I found this apt description on a Reddit thread: moving things from the executive dysfunction basket to the laziness basket to lessen the mental burden may be a good coping mechanism. The thing is, I’m only able to do that after I started taking stimulants. Now, when I have so many things to do and nothing seems to get done, I feel much less anxious than before, because I know I’m more than capable of resolving them. Or I allow myself to rest without guilt. Such a simple state of mind, such a ridiculously long period of time to achieve. Believe it or not, I only felt anxiety-free for the first time in years last year.

The key is to return to a workable baseline so that life can happen.

Reducing friction

Dealing with the flawed executive function, the flawed memory, and the flawed grasp on time—all at the same time—is a lot. Over the years, without medication, I’ve built up certain habits to cope with forgetting and losing things. These are a few effective-to-me tricks.

Stack connected steps together

I guess this is similar to habit stacking, in principle? Anyway, I used to live in an apartment complex that required a keycard to use the elevator, so my motorbike key and the building keycard always went together in this MUJI cardholder (non-affiliated link), minus the lanyard. I never forgot to grab my motorbike key when I got home, because I needed my cardholder keychain to get back in. Pretty foolproof, no motorbikes have been lost.

Invest in quality-of-life products

You know how mundane, repetitive tasks drain us out. For the longest time, I dreaded doing laundry because I dreaded hanging the clothes to dry. I used to run the washing machine twice countless times because the clothes sat in the machine forever. But since I got a dryer, it has lifted so much of the stress. This applies to other boring chores as well. If you have the means, I highly recommend making your life easier by investing in machines that make you less stressed and anxious on a daily basis.

Have multiple copies of the same thing

I own three sets of laptop chargers—one at home, one in my backpack for when I go to cafés, one at my workplace when I worked onsite. Would have saved me embarrassing midnight texts to someone asking to borrow their charger, because I forgot mine at work, if I had done this earlier. I guess the reasonable middle ground can be two sets of things in the same category—one stationary at home, one always with you? I also get ready quicker this way.

Get more excited when you lose things

Or low-impact things, at least. Because now you can try new brands and new products. What else to do?

The same principle across these tactics is to preserve my energy and cooperate with my memory. By reducing friction against things I need to do but dread, I get more things I need to do and love done.

Unfortunately, you’ll just have to spend money².

Managing work, life, and digital assets

A good overall strategy is to simplify my stack with straightforward products I love using. Another vague specification for me is that the product should also feel cozy. After having tested out a lot of apps to keep me sane (in vain), last year I settled on some workflows that have actually been useful. A quick roundup of products mentioned below:

• Apple Calendar + Reminders / Digital
• Things / Digital
• Midori + Asvine / Analog
• Obsidian / Digital
• Apple Notes + Shortcuts / Digital
• OneDrive / Digital

Events and tasks

I’ve had my time with Google Calendar, Notion Calendar, Amie, and now I just stick with Apple Calendar. Besides events, I use the Calendar interface to set life tasks as well—which are actually Reminders items—so I always have a bird’s-eye view of stuff that has happened and will happen.

For project management and more complex nested tasks, I use Things. The interface and interactions are nice. It works just right for me and my needs.

Other than the pre-defined filters (Inbox, Today, Upcoming, Anytime, Someday, Logbook), this is how I set up the rest (called Areas in Things):

1. Projects: Each list is a project. Can be personal or commercial.
2. Prospects: Each list is either a new personal project idea or a project in the planning phase.
3. Admin: Each list is a (somewhat) personal aspect. I have ones like Profile (to manage personal branding assets, for example) or Wishlist.
4. Hobbies: Each list is a hobby. I have ones for Fountain Pens, Backpacks, Sewing, etc. I add what I want to research and what I need to buy.
5. Travel: Each list is a trip.

Notes and ideas

My preferred method of idea keeping is a physical notebook³ and fountain pens. I’m using a Midori MD in A6, which is with me most of the time, and an Asvine V126 with a medium nib, which is a budget-friendly gem.

Raw ideas and notes go into my pocket notebook, then I organize and refine them in Obsidian. I sync my vault with Obsidian Sync.

This is how I set up my vault—this looks like a lot, but the first two and the last three folders are generally what I don’t touch often:

1. Bases: Obsidian databases.
2. Meta: Documentation on my vault setup, writing style guide, etc.
3. Inbox: Things I’m currently working on.
4. Projects: Projects and project ideas.
5. Notes: Thoughts and writing ideas.
6. Resources: Research, collections, and samples from different topics.
7. Clippings: Collected articles and quotes from other writers.
8. References: Movies, books, friends, collaborators, etc.
9. Admin: Personal information and housekeeping.
10. Newsletter: Issues for my newsletter.
11. Media: Images used throughout this vault.
12. Archived: Things I no longer need to revisit.
13. Templates: Templates used in this vault.

Other than full-fledged ideas and long-form notes in Obsidian, I set up a shortcut to create a new Apple Notes entry with an optional tag, assigned to the Action button on my iPhone, for quick capture. This works anywhere when I use my phone, so it has been tremendously helpful when I need to remember something while in another app. If you don’t have an Action button iPhone, you can still add this shortcut to the Control Center for quick access.

Files and projects

I currently sync most of my files with OneDrive. I don’t have much rationale for this other than that my brother started a family plan a few years ago. Been serving me well, not many complaints.

01 Projects
|	00 Profile
|	|	CV
|	|	Portfolio
|	|	Portrait
|	01 Design
|		2026 Project A
|		|	01 Final
|		|	02 Editables
|		|	03 Resources
|		|	04 Updates
|		|	05 WIP
|		2026 Project B
|		2026 Project C
02 Threads
|	Documents
|	Music
|	Photography
03 Resources
|	Lectures
|	Library
|	Licenses
|	Refs
04 Vaults
|	Obsidian
|	Typeface
|	Unclutter
99 Unsorted

I’ve been using this folder structure for a while now (I did limit subfolders for privacy, by the way, so this is not everything). I’d occasionally rename something, but the gist stays the same. I don’t sync folders I have archived on my devices.

More on the main folder structure:

1. Projects: Other than the Profile folder, the rest are work categories.
2. Threads: Files that can be grouped into a topic form a thread. Some frameworks call this Areas but Threads fits my usage better.
3. Resources: Useful materials I collect. The general rule is that these files aren’t created by me.
4. Vaults: App vaults. Such as my font collection imported into Typeface.
5. Unsorted: Files that I haven’t sorted.

More on the project folder structure (which might sound a little verbose since it’s fairly self-explanatory):

1. Final: Final files of a project.
2. Editables: Working files, which can be opened and edited.
3. Resources: Design assets, e.g., logos, stock images, photos of sketches, etc.
4. Updates: Presentation files and quick update files.
5. WIP: Every exported file that is not the final design.

To easily sort project files by date, I name them in this format: YYMMDD-ProjectTitle-FileName. For example, 260317-AHDH-Logo.

All that being said, I still have a lot to work on, like how to manage my focus or how I perceive time. But compared to a few years ago, I’ve come a long way in understanding what works for my life. I’ve realized that a lot of the ADHD tactics involve some degree of tricking your brain into cooperating. And maybe all of this has nothing to do with ADHD; you can just try them out and see if they are useful? Well, minus the stimulants, of course.

Adobe Illustrator looks, feels, and functions like a piece of software that is stuck in the past—and the whole Adobe Creative Suite, for that matter. Every few clicks takes me back to secondary school when I was tinkering with K-pop posters in Photoshop CS2. Brand identity can entail more than just vector graphics, like generative coding and sound branding, but most of the day-to-day tasks when I was working at a design studio still relied on Illustrator. Alternatives do exist, from ones that replace the entire app to ones that evolve to serve specific use cases. Still, this bloated app remains the industry standard despite everything.

I’m waiting for the day we’re free from Adobe Illustrator. For the time being, designers will continue to make do, juggling between Illustrator and other software for basic tasks.

Shaping the tool

Sure enough, you can’t wrap the whole branding process into just one software. Having dedicated apps for dedicated tasks is almost always efficient. Things that are designed for a single purpose have a charm of their own:

[…] the pattern is clear: an intentional commitment to a single purpose—either as a life philosophy, by using specific materials, or a deliberate design.

But beyond all else, I love the openness of creative tooling, where between you and your tool, the way you use it defies and expands its predetermined purpose.

Glyphs, as a font design app, excels at vector management. As expected, designers use it for logotypes, logomarks, symbols, and the like. Figma is another case of design mutation. Originally tackling websites and products, it has somehow become a one-stop shop for visual design. My friends and collaborators adapt the auto layout and component features for social posts, brand guidelines, design delivery, etc. And this was about the stock Figma Design, before the announcement of Figma Draw and Figma Buzz. Using Pitch and Google Slides for brand guidelines isn’t too far from the usual practice, but still requires a more elaborate setup.

There’s a beauty in molding the tool to fit our usage. My partner, a designer and developer, often talked about “hacky” ways to code certain kinds of design, going on creative routes to reach the desired destination. Before Figma Slides, my colleagues and I “hacked” Figma Design for collaborative presentations¹. About 4–5 years ago, in a long-gone attempt to run a multimedia project, I “hacked” the Samsung Notes app to design Instagram posts and stories², as a way to pass the time in long hospital visits. After all, anything with the functionality to control images and text has its chance to bear witness to good layout. Besides, I find creative constraints stimulating.

In holistic and practical ways, our craft shapes the tool we use.

In The Lofi Art and Human Tools Era, when discussing the constant pressure to get perfect results from AI-generated templates, Pirijan—Kinopio creator—said:

At whatever age it grips you though, the urge to create pulls you into a world of frustration, where your skills don’t yet match your taste and everything you try feels not good enough.

And then at times when what’s available in terms of resources and technicalities doesn’t align with your vision, our craft is defined by what the tool offers us.

Shaping the craft

When I was in university, I tended to be a little extreme about creativity and design theory being more important than knowing your tool. I remember my disdain for design centers focusing on teaching the apps rather than having a substantial design syllabus. A designer and educator, whose workshops I attended, once briefly mentioned something along the lines of mastering your design software of choice is essential. I wasn’t fully convinced then—and my disdain for those design centers is still alive now—but I appreciate the beauty of tooling much more as I grow.

Changing your tool is changing your workspace, changing your flow, and inevitably changing your outcome. When I was designing this website, my workspace changed from Figma to VS Code midway out of necessity and convenience. I put things together faster, and more aligned with technical reality. The way I think is also different. If most of the design had been done in a separate app, the overall construction would be the same, but details and micro-interactions would have diverged. Being closely interlinked with the potential and limitations of your medium streamlines the process and eliminates the impractical.

One of my first web projects was done in InVision, a memory that resurfaces only when I try to think of something less than decent about the path I’ve chosen. I’ve now forgotten the details, but the process was not pleasant. Designing with it aged me by a few years. This came from both the lack of experience at the time and the clunkiness of the tool. The design ended up being straightforward; but if my digital working environment had been more inviting and intuitive, the outcome might have been a tad bit cooler.

Then again, there are times when knowing the tricks of your tool does more harm than good, at least when you’ve advanced in your career. Back in 2020-ish, it felt like I couldn’t escape the four-pointed star motif and its variations in acid graphic design. I suspect it’s because it was two clicks away in Illustrator, and it signals the movement well, so it was grossly overused. Illustrator’s envelope distort design is another TikTok/Instagram trope that I used to come across quite often.

The only thing that keeps me coming back to Illustrator is muscle memory. A fair chunk of keyboard shortcuts is familiar to my fingertips. It’s an accumulation of your experience in the field. It deeply connects you to where you started. When you are in a work session, your body responds to the craft, sculpting it with your muscle memory.

For a few weeks, I struggled to find the point of this post. It’s half anecdotal, half train of thought going into ambitious territory I wasn’t fully prepared for. This is not to pit Illustrator against everything else in the design tool war. I wasn’t trying to endorse any tools mentioned above either.

Toward the end of his essay, Pirijan talked about “a market for understandable, engaging, and fun-to-use tools,” and I think it’s part of what I’m trying to say. I want to be equipped with good, open tools to be able to create well. Thoughtful tools, thoughtful craft. And good tools should be your reliable companions all the way.