Design Philosophy

The Canon

2024— Present

Creation is removing what obscures

Biography

The CREATE SOMETHING Canon synthesizes the wisdom of masters across disciplines into a unified framework for creation. It recognizes that Rams, Mies, Tufte, Eames, and Heidegger all point to the same truth: excellence emerges through disciplined subtraction. The Subtractive Triad operationalizes this insight at three levels: implementation (DRY), artifact (Rams), and system (Heidegger).

Principles

#1 meta

The Subtractive Triad

Creation is the discipline of removing what obscures. Apply three questions in order: DRY (Have I built this before? → Unify), Rams (Does this earn its existence? → Remove), Heidegger (Does this serve the whole? → Reconnect).

#2 meta

The Hermeneutic Circle

.ltd provides standards for .io, which validates through .space, which is tested by .agency, which feeds back to .ltd. Nothing is canonical until it survives this full cycle.

#3 meta

Modes of Being

Each property is a mode of being: .ltd (Being-as-Canon), .io (Being-as-Research), .space (Being-as-Practice), .agency (Being-as-Service). Together they form a complete ontology of creation.

Legacy

The Canon serves as the philosophical foundation for CREATE SOMETHING's hermeneutic circle. Each property (.ltd, .io, .space, .agency) embodies a mode of being: Canon, Research, Practice, and Service. Together they form a self-referential system that validates and evolves its own principles through practice.