Entrepreneur
“It worked” sounds like a verdict on the work. Derived from the foundation’s fidelity result, it is two readings in one sentence: the outcome against what you expected, said of a mark that answers to what it is for. Results speak for themselves, and only for themselves; the outcome trains your forecast, not your reading of the work. … readWhat Is “It Worked”
A detail is a small part of a bigger thing, and small parts matter less — except that the proverb says they matter most. Derived from the compass at the base of the foundation, the word turns out to be reporting on an axis that has no size in it, which is why the two proverbs were not rivals, why “how much detail is enough” has no answer in the form it is asked, and why looking harder will not supply one. … readWhat Is a Detail
A chore is supposed to be a kind of task. But the same act is a chore for one person and craft for another, and the act does not change between them. Derived from exemplarity, a chore is an artifact made with the reading against its exemplar declined — which makes a chore list a document about the person rather than about the work. … readWhat Is a Chore
A compromise is pictured as a point on a line between two positions, reached by each side giving up a proportion of what it wanted. The foundation I work from says there is no such line: two conditions are two complete forms, not two ends of one scale. A settlement is one mark serving one of them, and the shortfall against the other is placed somewhere rather than paid off. … readWhat Is a Compromise
A copy is supposed to be measured against the original. But the original is an artifact too, and every artifact is a miss — so the standard was never the original, which makes “better than the original” the ordinary case rather than a paradox, and leaves originality as a timestamp rather than a merit. … readWhat Is a Copy
Taste is usually called preference, and preference cannot explain the most common experience in any craft: knowing your own work is short while being unable to fix it. Derived from exemplarity instead, taste is a reading of the angle between an artifact and the exemplar it was made against. … readWhat Is Taste