this post is dedicated to the greyish hellscape that is microsoft outlook — may our paths never cross, in this lifetime or the next.
traditionally, I hate zoom calls.
except I actually don’t.
I love being on them. I love how I feel afterwards. being in actual real-time relationship with folks is most often the highlight of my day…
and yet even up ‘til a few weeks ago, whenever I would see a block of calls on my calendar, my body would physically tense.
I’m always looking for ways to make my online experience easier on the eyes because I spend so much goddamn time on the internet, so usually, when I feel resistance to something, my first question is:
how can I make this pleasure?
and then my next question is:
how can I make this… prettier?
my calendar was already colour coded but it was in my ~brand colours~ which are totally a fucking vibe but they don’t actually bring me joy in the same way that others might.
when I was scheduling my calls, they were in this greyish blue colour, looking like a literal goddamn storm cloud chillin’ on my calendar. there was a heaviness to them visually — despite only being a few hours out of my day — that made them feel like anchors I was bound to instead of opportunities to connect that I’d chosen.
ever since I made them butter yellow, I’ve been thrilled to log on.
maybe for you, it’s a sick feeling in your stomach when it’s time to open your inbox — whether you find fires to put out or glowing feedback, you can’t shake that weird tension of urgency and avoidance, desperate to get in there while dreading what you’ll find.
or perhaps it surfaces when it’s time to plan your social content — something you find creatively fulfilling, in theory, but the physically painful process of weeding through the mess that is your saves graveyard leaves you x-ing out in defeat.
and even if your digital ecosystem is made up of things you genuinely hate, this system works (although, we should probably keep hanging out ‘til it’s… not). it doesn’t matter whether your work is burning you out or saving you from it:
the online space is designed to drain you, but cute-ification is the cure.
cute-ification is a means of shifting the circumstance around something so that it feels more pleasant to arrive to. period. it changes the energy of a task by making it physically look more attractive to you so that it emotionally feels more attractive to accomplish. usually, this means painting a little bit of ourselves onto whatever we’re doing, increasing the thrill of showing up for it in the process.
if you’re having flashbacks to fall of 3rd grade, you’re not wrong: cute-ification has been coming for us since we learned to read, most certainly connected to the capitalist agenda of productivity culture, but a source of joy, just the same.
first it was glitter gel pens, agenda stickers, those coloured binders that kind of looked like a derivative of early aughts Mac computers.
then it was after school rush of logging onto MSN, choosing the colour of our chat boxes and deciding what font best represented us that week. confesh: I had a brief middle school relationship with a boy who answered “papyrus” to that question, every time.
eventually, we might find ourselves cute-ifying our cubicles, naming our work plants, bringing our own mug.
the con of cute-ification extends fair beyond work and school, touching pretty much any industry related to things you’re not stoked on doing, ranging from completely terrified (the dentist) to mildly uninterested (the gym).
burpees? no. in a matching workout set? maybe.
I used to go to this chic doctor’s office in LA with arched doorways, colour-blocked walls, a stocked fridge of complimentary ~functional beverages~ and socks with motivational quotes on the bottom (that you were allowed to take home!!!!). it felt more like having tea at a chic rich aunt’s house than a place where you go to have your coochie gawked at, and yet once the patterned robe was on, the latter is precisely what would happen.
never have I ever scheduled a doctor’s appointment just because I “felt like I was due for one” twice in a 12 month span, ‘til it started coming along with an excuse to go visit with Tia.
the interior designers of instagram have BEEEEEN telling us that environment is critical to both job performance and creative satisfaction, but natural light, high ceilings, and thoughtful design details aren’t always a reality we have control over. a beautiful workspace — much like the doctor’s offices who heed their advice — has a significant cost of entry.
but in our digital office, cute-ification comes free.
the ecosystem beyond our screens is not inherently attractive, and yet almost every single system we use gives us the option to make it so, with zero investment beyond a little virtual elbow grease. the cute-ification practices on the list below won’t cost you a dime — just set aside some time for digital puttering this week, and get ready to romanticize the fuck out of your tech stack.
*cracks knuckles*
CHRONICALLY ONLINE, BUT CUTER
I recommend adding a layer of cute to anything that you’re feeling resistance towards, but here’s a list of things that I’ve cute-ified myself if you need a few ideas for where to start ↓
001 / colour-code your google calendar
I already gave you a little glimpse at my reasoning / process behind this in the intro, but pro-tip: the events you tend to dislike most should be in the colour that makes you feel the lightest. although, I don’t recommend making it your favourite colour because I don’t want you to have a negative association with that. make your favourite thing the favourite colour. that’s sacred.
002 / aestheticize your instagram saves folders
you’ll notice that this is a visual thing and an organization thing — multiple folders so it’s easy to browse, the same naming convention/styling, and a cohesive vibe for all the cover photos. I recently was chatting with a client who has gone above and beyond on this one, creating an instagram profile for the sole purpose of creating cover photos that could be saved. I have not gone this far, personally, but I will sometimes save a vibe-y pic to the folder even if it doesn’t quite match the context of the saves files because… cute.
003 / set a monthly vibe for your desktop
I shared my entire monthly cute-ification ritual recently in this note, but the desktop wallpaper is the one I love most. there’s something about opening your laptop and seeing things you like that makes you immediately at ease, and that’s the vibe I want to start any task with, regardless of how I feel about it.
004 / make your phone screen look less like a phone screen
whenever I sneak a screenshot of this up in my stories the crowd goes willldddddd!!! the way I’ve done it is by setting up 4 shortcuts for my dock, and then moving everything else into folders on the second page. I’m insane, so my folders are organized by colour, and as you’ll see I have just given them a little glyph as a title to keep it minimalist. the background is a wallpaper I made at the start of the year in Canva — a vision board that gives me that excited fluttery feeling + reminds me of things that are way more important to me than whatever’s happening on the tiny screen in my hand. and then of course… there’s the widgets. I’ve added one for notion, Pinterest (it changes the image every hour!) costar, and moon phases! but play around and see what your most-used apps have to offer — they’re all so fun.
and these are just the tippppp of the iceberg.
I’ve also cute-ified:
- my flodesk back-end
- my pinterest boards
- my to-dos
- my want list
- my content calendar
- my substack drafts
- my iphone photo folders
and, respectfully, I refuse to stop.
is cute-ification used as a weapon of consumerist coercion? yes!
AND YOU KNOW WHY? ‘cause it fucking works.
so, I’m taking a page out of the brand manipulation book and using it to gaslight myself into building my own dreams. whenever I’m not keeping my promises to myself, I know it’s time to make them cuter.
ride with me, if you please.
x
