My sister works at NASA in mission control on the EVA team, training astronauts and working on space missions... meaning there is not much I could do in life to be cooler than her.

I work on a completely different type of space; I spend a lot of time thinking about this visual and mental space. (see not quite as cool)

Design is not about filling space; it's about the space we leave.

Often newer designers attempt to fill whatever canvas they have with all the information and options they need to show. This cluttered design approach forgets two helpful things:

1. If everything has focus, nothing has focus.
2. Leaving space allows for exploring and understanding how things relate.

Too often, I act like a new designer, and I try to fill all my time. This creates a kind of mosaic of activity, which at times is beautiful as a whole, but often it means nothing has focus, and I don't make progress on something I care about.

Clutter is space designed poorly.

There are times when we must design with lots of information, elements, or events - space is the base element that allows grouping and making flows - it's not an excuse for clutter.

Design means making decisions about what in life and work is essential and then organizing the space to create room for focus and meaning.

‍