Not the sting of it, though that’s real too, but what’s underneath once you’ve sat with it long enough. Specifically, the relief. Because I am human, and like most humans, I carry a deep wish to belong, to be accepted, to be seen as enough. And for a long time, I kept trying to be more of what was expected, hoping that would change things.

At some point, I realized how incredible it is to be told “no,” so I can be redirected towards a life worth living. To be relinquished from the confines and definitions of who I am “supposed to be.”

So this year, I started & luo studio.

--

Let’s try together.

If you’re a founder or product leader looking for a fractional product design partner to help you build with more clarity and intention, I’d love to hear what you’re working on.

If you’re a designer navigating a transition, figuring out what’s next, or trying to make work actually feel like what you want, I offer one-on-one coaching.

And if you just want to be in a room with curious, creative people, come to something I host in Brooklyn.

You can find all of it at andluo.studio and @lxluo and say hello at leslie@andluo.studio.

Music by lsaudio from Pixabay

If you’ve followed along here for a while, you probably know me more for the creative side of my life including the gatherings I host and the creatives I love featuring. But lately I’ve been wanting to open up to share the projects I’m diving into. So I’m trying something new with this one: a bit of behind-the-scenes.

For a while now I’ve been embedded with the team building Postcards. Jared, the founder, and a friend, recently wrote about why we made it and what it means to him: his case for social media in its purest form, sharing with the people you actually know. I want to share the other side: what it was like to actually design it (so far).

Postcards is live on iOS. Try it out and send us your feedback. We’d love to hear what you think.

And if you’re a founder or a small team building something meaningful, looking for an embedded design partner who works like this: intentional, fast-moving, comfortable with AI as part of the process but not the whole thing, I’d love to hear from you. I run & luo studio, and you can reach me at leslie@andluo.studio.

 west & ease is a space for conversations with creatives, insights on design, and the moments that bring community to life. I’m Leslie Luo, and I’ve always been fascinated by how we interpret the world. And west & ease is where I explore that through conversations, design, and community.

Today I’m talking with Eric Li, a self-taught designer, developer, and co-founder of Versive, a YC-backed AI user research platform. Eric started his career in investment banking, then made a deliberate pivot into product, designing at Bread as their first designer, at Uber Eats, and leading product and design at Vareto before starting his own company, Versive.

Recently, he built Scratch, a free open-source markdown notes app, all in a weekend using AI coding agents and watched it blow up on GitHub, LinkedIn, and Twitter. We get into his actual workflow with Claude Code. Why design taste is still the hard part, even when AI can ship working software in minutes, and what building in public looks like when you’re already running a company.

To learn more about Eric and his work, visit www.ericli.io or follow him on Linkedin and Twitter.

You can also read our first conversation, where Eric shares more about his creative journey.

west & ease is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

west & ease is part of & luo studio, where I do fractional design consulting, design coaching, and host creative community events. If you’re a brand, team, or creative partner interested in collaborating, I’d love to connect. You can learn more and reach out at www.andluo.studio.

Credits

Music by lsaudio from Pixabay

I'm sharing three things I've learned so far as a host and community builder: why intimacy can be designed at any scale, how a host's energy and intention shapes the room, and what "scale" actually means when it comes to meaningful gatherings.

Subscribe to west & ease on Substack for essays, reflections, and invitations from the community: www.westandease.com

You're also invited to an upcoming event in Brooklyn: get lost (& send love) is a creative afternoon where we'll slow down and make personalized cards for friends and loved ones. Tickets include complimentary mini bouquets, light bites, and all materials. Plus $1 of every ticket goes to Heart of Dinner. Tickets: www.luma.com/efwbcyov

west & ease is part of & luo studio — fractional design consulting, design coaching, and creative community events. Learn more at andluo.studio.

Because to me, community is defined, as Merriam-Webster would, as “a state or feeling of caring about and wanting to interact with others in a group.” Specifically, the feeling of finding space and belonging with others.

And so, I began to explore with my community what it means to create and engage in community.

Read the full post at https://www.westandease.com/p/practicing-community

---

P.S. two upcoming events in Brooklyn, NY I'll be co-hosting:

• Ground + Gather: a yoga and tea event with Dana Lee

• SANS: a craft non-alcoholic cocktail experience with Billy Cho.

Hope to see you there, and we can practice building community together.

-----

Music by lsaudio from Pixabay

west & ease is a space for conversations with creatives, insights on design, and the moments that bring community to life. I’m Leslie Luo and in this conversation, I’m catching up with Sam Ray Lee—a creative and part of the Brooklyn-based music collective Umami House.

We first spoke in 2023. Since then, a lot has happened. In this recent conversation, Sam reflects on what he’s been building over the past year and a half — from learning how to create the right atmosphere for live music, to finding that sweet spot where energy, space, and sound all come together. But it wasn’t until he came up with the idea for Jam Battle, a one-v-one musical improv showdown featuring talented artists, that he saw the full potential of what this could become.

Also heads up, there’s some explicit language in this conversation.

To learn more about Sam and his work, you can follow him on Instagram @raytheidea, @umamihousemusic, and @jambattleofficial.

You can also read our first conversation where Sam shares more about his creative journey in 2023.

west & ease is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

west & ease is part of & luo studio, where I do fractional design consulting, design coaching, and host creative community events. If you’re a brand, team, or creative partner interested in collaborating, I’d love to connect. You can learn more and reach out at andluo.studio.

Credits

Intro and outro song: Friends by Umami House

Umami House’s first song, Move Along

Audio from the first Umami House Experience recap

Audio from the second Umami House Experience recap

Audio from Umami House x 12 Pell collaboration

Audio from Umami House Presents Jam Battle 1 recap

So you might hear some mentions of Patreon, but switch that out with “Subscribe on Substack” and you’ll get the idea.

west & ease is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Interviewed in 2020. This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Welcome to a west & ease subscriber exclusive. west & ease is a collection of stories, sounds, knowledge, visuals, and "creative" work. Specifically, you're listening to an exclusive clip from a recent Conversation with Kevin Twohy. You can find our original conversation here.

Meet Kevin Twohy, an independent product designer helping early-stage startups go from zero to one. He shares with us how he got started in his career, how he's steered himself into the creative, independent world, and gives us insight on how to approach it ourselves.

For this exclusive, we'll hear directly from Kevin about a recent project he did with Hellosaurus. Hellosaurus is a new interactive video platform for kids to watch and play along with their favorite shows, truly reimagining screen time for a touch screen generation. Kevin shares with us how the idea came to fruition and walks us through the process from start to launch.

Bonus links: Kevin shared with us a few links during the chat, including:

* Kevin's tweet thread about Hellosaurus with visuals

* Nielsen Norman Group research on how to design for kids

* A book on how to Design for Kids

To learn more about Kevin and his work, check out his website at kevintwohy.com and follow him on Twitter @kevintwohy.

Music by mariokhol from Pixabay

Welcome to a west & ease subscriber exclusive. west & ease is a collection of stories, sounds, knowledge, visuals, and "creative" work. Specifically, you're listening to an exclusive clip from a recent Conversation with Jay Demetillo. You can find our original conversation here.

Meet Jay Demetillo, a Filipino-American designer whose career and life spans worldwide. He grew up in New York, making his first cross-country move to design in the early days of Silicon Valley. He eventually made cross-world moves to further experience and embrace living an international life while navigating his design career. Over time, his experience helped him expand his worldview while actively contributing to East and Southeast Asian communities.

For this exclusive, we'll hear directly from Jay about his recent projects with Grab, a Singaporean-based tech company providing ride-hailing, deliveries, and financial services in Southeast Asia. Jay shares insights on how privacy and safety are crucial to ride-hailing services like Grab and themes and learnings from two projects: Audio Protect, which introduced audio recordings during rides, and Telematics, which focused on enabling and encouraging safe driving habits.

Bonus links:

Jay shared with us a few links during the chat, including:

* Grab Audio Protect: https://soyacincau.com/2023/03/09/grab-rolls-out-audio-protect-to-help-solve-safety-related-ehailing-disputes/ 

* Grab Telematics: https://engineering.grab.com/telematics-at-grab 

You can learn more about Jay at:

* Embracing an international perspective through design with Jay Demetillo:

https://www.westandease.com/p/conversations-with-jay-demetillo

* Learn more about Jay on Linkedin and Instagram @asianxjay.

Loved this exclusive? Share it with your friends by giving them a gift subscription today.

Music by ComaStudio from Pixabay