Finding my North Star: How The New Yorker’s Storytelling Guides My Design Philosophy

A few months ago, my friend Hugo asked me a pointed question: “What’s your North Star?”

I tried to answer with some grandiose values. He shook his head. “Those are metrics, not a North Star.”

I paused, thinking. And then, slowly, something bubbled up—one of those realizations you almost dismiss immediately. But Hugo pressed me to spit it out.

“A New Yorker article,” I said.

“What? You mean you want to be featured in one?” he asked.

“No—more like the essence of a really great New Yorker article. I think it’s the highest form of human expression.”

This might sound strange, especially coming from me. I’m not a writer, nor do I have aspirations to become one good enough for The New Yorker. But the magazine’s caliber and impact inspire me as a designer, product builder, and creator.

Here’s what I believe the best New Yorker articles accomplish. (Not every article reaches this level, but when they do, it’s electric.)

1. The New Yorker article either makes something banal beautiful, or something spectacular approachable.?
2. The article is counter intuitive—I think the article is saying one thing, it sounds like something else I’ve read, but then it surprises me with a swerve, and leads me somewhere new.
3. The article’s writing is so exemplary that discordance becomes coherent and multiple storylines and perspectives can be woven seamlessly together.
4. At least, this leaves me with a sense of informed ambiguity—not sure what I? really believe—reflecting more thoughtfully on the world and perspectives around me.
5. At most, it induces ideological vertigo. I find myself thinking something that I never would have anticipated—feeling sympathetic with a foreign viewpoint or questioning a long held belief.
6. The New Yorker article investigates the modern era and the unique state of being human in it—being a human in the Information Age is unlike being a human another time. It brings together a sense of generational community—I have peers.
7. However, the New Yorker doesn’t isolate the modern era. Human issues have a timelessness that helps us recognize struggles and consistent humanity. There is a human project at work, and this is just one small blip.?
8. The New Yorker article grounds its ambition and intellectualism in a story. Not like a journalist finding a person to interview to personify an issue. The intellectual issue is personal.?
9. The New Yorker article leverages its command of the medium to reflect life in its highest potential and simplest expression.
10. It exudes casual genius. They make it look fun and easy to set off this kind of effect with an article written over months that takes an hour to read. And yes, the cartoons help with this!
11. Bonus: it does this all at the same time!!!!

This blend of depth, subtlety, and surprise is what I aim to bring to my own work as a designer. It’s my North Star. I want to challenge the status quo in ways that feel subtle yet delightful, never losing sight of the humanity within the systems I’m designing.

I want to master my craft the way these writers have, so I can tackle complex, hairy issues and build something that resonates just as profoundly. I want to find those underlying pivot points that bridge unimaginable gaps—even in B2B software, which, for me, is the ideal medium. (A story for another day.)

It can be tough to approach the daily grind with this level of ambition, but that’s why it’s a North Star. And no matter the volatility around me, this ideal remains a constant. And there's a change for another one every week.

Does this resonate with anyone else out there? What do you hold onto in uncertain times?

(This post, sadly, is not sponsored by The New Yorker —but here’s hoping one day!)