Last week, I gave a talk at UE Design Week. To open the session, I shared a personal story. A moment from my past that I’ve carried with me for years, one that changed how I see our industry.
Back when I was doing client work, we hired a well-known typographer for a client project. At some point, the work got stuck. We were going in circles, unable to find the right direction.
Trying to unblock the situation, I innocently asked him a simple question: “Can you share your process with us?”
His answer? I will never forget it.
A magician never reveals his tricks.
I froze. Completely stunned. Until that exact moment, it had never crossed my mind to compare the discipline of design to the art of illusion.
To compare Dieter Rams to David Copperfield.
I didn’t know what to say. But that phrase left a mark on me. It perfectly captured a protective, ego-driven side of design that I realized I wanted nothing to do with.
Magic relies on secrecy. The illusion only works if the audience is kept in the dark. Design is meant to be understood, built upon, and shared.
It made me think of the Masked Magician. Back in the late nineties, he caused an uproar by going on television and revealing how the world’s most famous illusions were performed. Traditional magicians hated him. The Magic Castle in Hollywood banned him for life.
He wanted to force magic to evolve. So he gave away the old secrets. Pushed the industry forward. Forced magicians to invent, to renew, to stop hiding behind what already existed.
By giving away the old secrets, he dragged the industry forward. He forced magicians to invent. To renew the craft. Not by guarding the tricks behind closed doors, but by throwing them wide open.
Open source works the same way.
We usually talk about open source in terms of code. But it’s much bigger than that. It’s an open mindset. The exact opposite of the secretive typographer.
And that’s why I believe so strongly in the culture we have at Automattic. No tricks. No hiding. Just open communication and the discipline of designing out loud.
As a discipline, design shouldn’t look to magicians for inspiration.
We should look to scientists who share their research papers. To architects who open their project blueprints and structural memories. To developers who build the modern world by sharing everything on GitHub.
Different disciplines, different tools.
But the same quiet principle: growth doesn’t happen in the dark.
It happens when we let people see the mess. The process. The decisions.
And if we really insist on looking up to magic? Then we need to look up to the Masked Magician.
Share the trick.
Force the evolution.
