My 2026 Creative Tiny Experiments
It's been a slow start to 2026, but we're getting there. The extreme cold and snow have buried us in Central Ohio, so the days feel productive on one level, but scattered on another. There is no faster way to defeat all of those big ideas I had for the year. Instead, I'm happy I opted for a different approach.
I committed to doing some experiments this year, ala Anne Laure Le Cunff's Tiny Experiments Book. It's a fascinating way of looking at goals, and I decided to try a few things for the first 90 days of the year. Truth be told, I designed some of these incorrectly, so I'm going back to the book to rework them, which is the entire point of these tiny experiments.
I'm working on painting my designs as a complete composition or a whole design thought, which is different from how I learned to create repeat patterns. Over the last few years, I've done a few "manual repeats" on a large sheet of paper that I cut into 4 pieces, making a mostly finished repeat. Now I want to create finished works on one sheet of paper, uncut, and then put them into repeat or adapt them for the product I'm working on. This is a new way of thinking and designing for me. In some ways, it's freeing; in others, it's paralyzing. To overcome overthinking and procrastination, I've committed to painting for at least 5 hours a week. This might be 5 hours in one day, but I've given myself the flexibility to complete them however it feels best. I did this instead of a daily goal, which can easily get sidestepped, feel defeating, and lead to giving up. So far, so good.
The second experiment is creating short-form videos. I actually really love thinking in the concise, deliberate way that short-form video content requires. I committed to 20 posts in January, 20 in February, and 25 in March. January has been a bust because who really wants to film when they have a 3-week cold? No matter. I'll add them to the next two months to increase the inputs, but I'll keep the same number of posts for the first quarter. You can follow along on Instagram and TikTok.
The third experiment I didn't design well. It relates to developing a textile and wallpaper collection. The things I set out to do as experiments, I would be doing too soon. I have a few big decisions to ponder, and whether or not this is something I want to commit to doing, so this experiment needs to change a bit. It may look more like journaling my thoughts for the next 7 days to better understand where I want to put my time and energy.
What are you working on this year? If you're feeling stuck, I highly recommend Tiny Experiments, and you can also listen to Anne Laure Le Cunff on Nathan Barry's podcast.
