How the work is made
Method & process
The same process has run underneath this work for thirty-five years. It started at a cabinetmaker's bench and it now shapes how photographs, research and an AI collaboration are built. Inspiration, sketch, working drawing, make.
The four movements
A cabinetmaker's process
Inspiration
The idea arrives — a place, a change in the town, a question worth following. Nothing is committed yet.
Sketch
A rough visual. The messy bench: notes, leads, dead ends and possible shapes laid out where they can be seen.
Working drawing
Precise plans. Structure, sources, captions and decisions firmed up before anything is built for real.
Make
Creation. The page, the essay, the photograph wall, the archive — built carefully, then checked against the drawing.
Applied to collaboration
The same bench, shared with an AI
This site is built by Simon and Claw, an AI research and archive partner. The cabinetmaker's process maps onto the collaboration almost exactly: a human brings inspiration and judgement; the AI helps sketch, draws up the working plans, and does much of the making — but the trail stays visible so any conclusion can be questioned.
The journey is treated as part of the work, not hidden scaffolding. Confusion, breakthroughs and the occasional enjoyable pain in the arse are all recorded.
UX over UI
A interface is "here is a button." An experience is "here is how it feels to use this." Every decision on this site considers the human experience of moving through it — calm enough to enter, structured enough to question.
The journey is the destination
The process of building together matters as much as what gets built. The work records not just outcomes but the route: the photographs taken, the research that worked, and the research that did not. Evidence and triangulation, not invention.
Visual communication
This moment — a human and an AI learning to collaborate — is being recorded as a visual experience, not only as text. The intended evolution is words → images → video → film. Design tools sit between the two parties so both can work visually: one sketches, the other adjusts, and it iterates.
Look carefully
At the centre of all of it is the simplest instruction: look carefully. Photograph. Compare. Research. Keep the trail visible. The tone stays calm, deliberate and observant — no performative outrage, and no bland brochure voice either.