85 / The deep-dive purchase questionnaire

It’s easier to desire and pursue the attention of tens of millions of total strangers than it is to accept the love and loyalty of the people closest to us.

– William Gibson

❏

Featured artist: Jonathan Holt

Dense Discovery
Dense Discovery
 

Welcome to Issue 85!

View/share online

Like so many others, I’ve been spending more time in the kitchen during isolation, trying to improve and expand my skills. It seemed like a good opportunity to replace some of my twelve-year-old cheapo gear with something more robust and capable. My first investment would be a decent set of kitchen knives.

And so before I knew it, I was in the depths of the YouTube-verse, learning about steel types, handle shapes, and whetstone grits. It only took me a few hours over a weekend to get a free crash course in knives – from making to using to looking after them. I also reached out to friends who are more experienced in the kitchen and/or tend to make well-informed buying decisions.

One of them is my friend Alistair who, unsurprisingly, had some savvy advice for investing in quality gear – kitchen or otherwise. Based on this excellent post on camping equipment, he compiled a list of questions to consult for major purchases. Here’s a shortened, edited version:

  1. Can I work around the problem with a repair, modification, or change in use?
  2. If I buy this, what else am I not buying?
  3. Can I afford this?
  4. Will this item help me do things I can’t do now?
  5. Will buying this item significantly increase my enjoyment of X?
  6. How often will I use this in the next year? In the next five years?
  7. Will this item become obsolete in the near term?
  8. Is this item repairable?
  9. Do I really need ‘the best’? What is a good second choice?
  10. Can I buy something used that will do the job?
  11. Am I supporting a business I know and like? Do our values align?

With mindless consumption being encouraged everywhere we go online, running through questions like this is a great way to add back in some friction. – Kai

Dense Discovery is a weekly newsletter read by more than 24,000 subscribers. Support us by sponsoring an issue, booking a classified ad, or sharing this issue with friends. Feedback or recommendations? Just reply, but keep it short please.

 

Improve Your Colour Game SPONSOR

❏

Color Ninja for Mac →

Create perfectly matching designs

The hardest thing in design might be choosing colours. Make your life easier with a dedicated macOS app that features all the schemes and shortcuts you would expect.

 

Apps & Sites

Milanote →

Visual note-taking

Milanote is a virtual pinboard for your ideas. Use it to organise your ideas and projects into visual boards, collect everything – text, images, PDFs, links and more – in one place, then share it with your team.

Glance Back →

Browser-driven photo diary

Not one for the privacy-concerned: “Once a day, when you open a new [Chrome] tab, Glance Back will unexpectedly take your photo, ask you what you’re thinking about, and save both the photo and written thought to its locally stored archive.”

Scrumie →

Virtual stand-ups

An app to get everyone in a team on the same page: “Scrumie gives you a simple overview of the work done in your team.”

Vito →

Online events platform

My friends at ticketing app Tito, who face a particularly uncertain future as a business, have quickly responded to the current situation by developing a new online events platform called Vito. “Vito will be a place to share live-streams and agendas. You will be able to provide a safe, secure community for your participants (we’re calling this contextual networking).” ‘Invite only’ so far.

 

Indie Mag of the Week

❏

Sandwich →

Sandwich is written as a celebration of the often overlooked, but universally beloved culinary creation: the sandwich.

– Latest Issue: 2
– Frequency: 4 issues/year
– Formats: print
– Origin: USA

Every week, we’re giving away five copies to randomly selected DD readers. Keep an eye on your inbox to find out if you’re among them!

 

Books & Accessories CONSUME RESPONSIBLY

❏

The Squiggly Career →

A new way to look at career paths

Today, we're living in a world of squiggly careers, where moving frequently and fluidly between roles, industries, locations, and even careers, is becoming the new normal. Squiggly careers can feel stressful and overwhelming, but if you know how to make the most of them, they can be full of opportunity, freedom and purpose. And to make the most of our increasingly squiggly careers we need to answer some important questions: What am I good at? What do I stand for? What motivates and drives me? Where do I want to go in the future?

❏

Cubbit →

Peer-to-peer cloud storage

Removing monthly subscription fees and dependency on Big Tech (though requiring a substantial initial investment), Cubbit is a compact personal storage device that connects directly with your router. Under the hood, it runs an encrypted peer-to-peer network that makes your files accessible from anywhere, even if your own Cubbit is offline.

 

Overheard on Twitter

Me: I love pastry
Person on Twitter: I see that you like pastry and that’s fine but also I wondered if you ever knew that pastry was responsible for a murder in 1977 when someone set a sausage roll on fire which caused a fatality so you’re basically condoning murder here’s a link

@lisforlia

 

Food For Thought

After dread →

Read/Listen

So much to quote from this excellent, quite confronting piece by ethicist Cennydd Bowles. “Change happens where power meets appetite, but dread stems from a lack of agency: the future is only something to fear if we can’t influence it. And lack of agency is surely a hallmark of recent years.”

My Restaurant Was My Life for 20 Years. Does the World Need It Anymore? →

Read

A touching essay written by a NYC restaurant owner, and a great follow-up to last week’s piece about which entrepreneurs matter. “I, like hundreds of other chefs across the city and thousands around the country, are now staring down the question of what our restaurants, our careers, our lives, might look like if we can even get them back.”

Take The Long View →

Read

David Cain on keeping a healthy perspective on the different challenges life provides: “All problems exist within a context that dwarfs them, but often we’re too close to see it. You may have once been so stressed about a high school exam that your future seemed to hinge on its outcome. Looking back on your whole life, however, it will barely register as an important event.”

 

Aesthetically Pleasing

❏ ❏

What a lovely collection of climate action posters: Mate Act Now – a protest for the digital generation.

❏ ❏

More digital art with a dystopian touch, this time by Caleb Sanders.

❏ ❏

The brand identity for programming school Corpus is based on a program that transforms any text into a code and leans on the computational model of cellular automaton.

❏ ❏

A typeface for general practice, MD System is a distillation of the past 120 years of the grotesque style of typeface.

 

Classifieds

Want to make awesome landing pages? Get Landing Page 101 today. A straight-to-the-point field guide on making amazing first digital impressions with the websites you create.


Spotify users and music fans – stay in tune with What’s Spinning. Receive weekly digests highlighting your playlist updates and content related to artists you listen to.


Hello Iris is building the future of self-development. We provide guided meditations based on your personality – a new way to explore your unique experience of the world.


Portfolio Party is more than just a portfolio review. We hold you accountable, help you take action, and leave you with a community of new designers to connect with. RSVP now.

Classifieds are paid ads that support DD and are seen by our 24,000 subscribers each week.

Book yours →

 

The Week in a GIF

❏

Email and tweet us the URL to your favourite GIF and we might feature it here in a future issue.

 
 
_t

Older messages

84 / On the design of beard trimmers...

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

We have an economy where we steal the future, sell it in the present, and call it GDP. – Paul Hawken Featured artist: Julian Frost Dense Discovery Dense Discovery Welcome to Issue 84! View/share online

83 / Are you hibernating or wide awake?

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

The only thing that will redeem mankind is co-operation, and the first step towards co-operation lies in the hearts of individuals. – Bertrand Russell Featured artist: Brad Cuzen Dense Discovery Dense

A quick thanks and hello!

Monday, April 13, 2020

Dense Discovery Dense Discovery Your attention is precious. View Issue Archive → We're all struggling to keep up – with the news, social media, our inbox. The irony is not lost on me as I reach out

82 / Learning how to sit with discomfort amidst uncertainty

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. – Blaise Pascal Featured artist: MUTI Dense Discovery Dense Discovery Welcome to Issue 82! View/share online

You Might Also Like

*This* Is How To Wear Skinny Jeans Like A Fashion Girl In 2025

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

The revival is here. The Zoe Report Daily The Zoe Report 3.11.2025 This Is How To Wear Skinny Jeans Like A Fashion Girl In 2025 (Style) This Is How To Wear Skinny Jeans Like A Fashion Girl In 2025 The

The Best Thing: March 11, 2025

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

The Best Thing is our weekly discussion thread where we share the one thing that we read, listened to, watched, did, or otherwise enjoyed recent… ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

The Most Groundbreaking Beauty Products Of 2025 Are...

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Brands are prioritizing innovation more than ever. The Zoe Report Beauty The Zoe Report 3.11.2025 (Beauty) The 2025 TZR Beauty Groundbreakers Awards (Your New Holy Grail Or Two) The 2025 TZR Beauty

Change Up #Legday With One of These Squat Variations

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

View in Browser Men's Health SHOP MVP EXCLUSIVES SUBSCRIBE Change Up #Legday With One of These Squat Variations Change Up #Legday With One of These Squat Variations The lower body staple is one of

Kylie Jenner Wore The Spiciest Plunging Crop Top While Kissing Timothée Chalamet

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Plus, Amanda Seyfried opens up about her busy year, your daily horoscope, and more. Mar. 11, 2025 Bustle Daily Amanda Seyfried at the Tory Burch Fall RTW 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion

Paris Fashion Week Is Getting Interesting Again

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Today in style, self, culture, and power. The Cut March 11, 2025 PARIS FASHION WEEK Fashion Is Getting Interesting Again Designs at Paris Fashion Week once again reflect the times with new aesthetics,

Your dinner table deserves to be lazier

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

NY delis are serving 'Bird Flu Bailout' sandwiches. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Sophie Thatcher Lets In The Light

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Plus: Chet Hanks reaches new heights on Netflix's 'Running Point.' • Mar. 11, 2025 Up Next Your complete guide to industry-shaping entertainment news, exclusive interviews with A-list

Mastering Circumstance

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

“If a man does not master his circumstances then he is bound to be mastered by them.” ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

Don't Fall for This Parking Fee Scam Text 🚨

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

How I Use the 'One in, One Out' Method for My Finances. You're not facing any fines. Not displaying correctly? View this newsletter online. TODAY'S FEATURED STORY Don't Fall for the