Life In Perpetual Beta

Disclaimer: Melissa edited this beautifully shot interview. Had the same time an attention been used in editing and uploading it as was taken in filming it the Rapture would be upon us at this very moment.  Thanks to Adrienne Brawley for the San Francisco filming.

Xuanlana Nguyen is an artist, web designer, and the sole proprietor of Loetus Creative, but most of all she’s a story teller.  She is passionate about communicating a story in everything she creates whether it be a web site or an illustration, she is intent on using her creativity to communicate some kind of narrative. She views her one woman design company as a venture in new school storytelling, an interesting mix of collaboration to bring about a meaningful interaction for both her clients and the people that ultimately visiting the websites she creates.  An interesting way to articulate collaborative creativity I think.

She also touches on her work with incarcerated young women and her passion for helping them to tell their stories through their creative process.  You can tell by watching Lana talk that it’s a very important part of what she’s doing.  In fact, I would almost go as far as to say, that these interactions are exactly what she is in business for.  She designs websites that tell a story so that she can afford to teach other young women to design artwork that tells their story.  

I would’ve loved to interview Lana for longer, and had the construction workers next door kept their promise of remaining quiet for 20 minutes I could have. I would have gotten her perspective about what it’s like to be a female entrepreneur following her own path as opposed to the one her mentors set for her.  I would’ve asked her if she thought the expectations were different between men and women in regards to creative thinking and problem solving.  I would have asked her views about why it is that so many women stay in the background of their businesses.

I could have asked her why she thought that when I asked around for examples of women who were good representations of the core themes of Life In Perpetual Beta… men and women alike came up with nothing.  But I didn’t get that chance, so now I’m asking you?  I know they are out there, I know that their stories are amazing,  so why is it we have such a difficult time recognizing them?

 i struck out on my own a year ago this next month after a meandering pinball path from berkeley to art school to ad agency to nonprofit arts to my own solo gig (under the guise of Loetus Creative). My trajectory mirrors the way in which I live my life and how I approach my work both personally and professionally; it suggests a seeming discontinuity that like a snowball picks up momentum and direction that becomes clear closer to the end, but it’s useful to enjoy the ride and not freak out.

My sense of purpose comes from an interest in communication and voice. What I think I share with other women entrepreneurs/professionals is figuring out how to push my interests/aptitudes in a way that also services a community. For me personally, it is about the small and local successes that have nothing to do with recognition, money, or web traffic, but are instead measured by impact, resonance, or personal reward for the work you do. For example, I work in visual communications, which often means redesigning a brand and an online presence for a client, but the same principles apply to the art classes I do with the young women at Juvenile Hall. In either case, I measure my success in how clearly I am able to help my "client" articulate an idea or story, thereby allowing them to connect to a greater audience or community.

This is a very "feminine" approach to working that is integral to what I do both in form and function: it relies on the actual process of communication and collaboration that is sometimes slow and circuitous, but ultimately the most meaningful to everyone involved. The goal is not just tangible deliverables, though these are useful byproducts– but it’s about listening as much as telling. How I see it, that’s the real business of good communication.

I’m not sure if I fit the criteria for your film in terms of convention. I am not much of anybody in the public sense and my ideas aren’t absolutely original. But I remember my friend alex saying to me ‘determine what is important to you and do it on your terms." I think that’s what i’m doing now in arbitrary strokes, and by that litmus test, I am wildly successful. I consider it an overdue subscription to the book of yes (http://loetus.com/exchange/20080601/iplay/) and I am clumsily tearing pages from it with slow, concentrated delight
 

For more slow concentrated delights subscribe to Life In Perpetual Beta.  If you want to get the insider scoop follow me on Twitter or even better join the LIPB twitter production team for updates interaction and cool schwag.

This post is tagged "creative thinking", "design as storytelling", "design thinking", "female entrepreneur", "loetus creative", "loetus extchange", "Xuanlana Nguyen", art, authenticity, collaboration, creativity, desing, storytelling