Freedom to create jank

I want to quickly comment on a change in myself I was observing for the past few months.

The past

Previously I was self-critical towards my projects and what I put out into the world, and demanded a certain level of quality or outward polish out of my creations. “Oh this project needs a great README on Github before I publish it, oh this game needs better graphics before I let anybody see it, oh the blog needs to be redesigned.”

The recent wave of LLM slop which has questionable quality but GREAT DESIGN (although now recognizable and increasingly off-putting because of the association) by default; landing pages with beautiful serif headings and monospace menus, READMEs with a ton of emojis and 20 different subheadings, all of this makes me crave authenticity instead of professionalism and frees me to show the human inside my creations instead, however janky it might look.

Michael Lynch of “Refactoring English” said it best:

Even a terrible MS Paint drawing is more interesting than an AI-generated image. ~Michael Lynch

The present

I’m now at the point where as I’m working on a game, I am fully prepared to just scribble some sprites on paper or make a crude pixel art drawing and keep it in the final game instead of hiring a professional designer to make something, well, polished. I’m suddenly free to put out something on the internet even if it doesn’t have a landing page and a Github stars tracker.

The game Nepenthe comes to mind as I write this blogpost:

Is it janky? Oh you have no idea how janky it is. Did I enjoy it? Yes, yes I did.

Olivia When has written a BlueSky thread about “Some things lost to AI.”

It resonates with me and speaks about the hunger for authenticity. “I like every weird handmade poster. I like the joke you spent 20 minutes crafting. I like every placeholder drawing even if you hate it.”

I believe those are not things we lost to AI. I believe AI has just awoken the hunger for them by providing contrast: polished slop without soul. It has certainly lowered the barrier to creation for me, and lessened my fear of “is it good enough?”

What’s important has changed. Personality and authenticity over polish. Embrace the jank. Put your soul into something and put it out there. We’ll celebrate it because you did it.