A swipe file of experiences

Why you should collect so you can create

👋 Hi friends, it's Hesam with issue #28 of 4 bits. 4 bits is a biweekly newsletter where I share thoughts and musings on how to build memorable experiences.

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Here’s what I’ve been listening to: Audien and Jason Ross - 21 (Spotify).

I’d put this track in the “good to listen to as background music for Hesam” category. Smooth, melodic, and with nice vocals. It plays similarly to Seven Lions, Illenium, and other EDM artists. I’m a sucker for that sound, and part of me wonders if my taste in music will ever change.

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Swipe files

Every time I’m surprised or delighted by something someone has created, I’ll pull out my phone and furiously start capturing what happened and why it stood out to me. It all goes in my swipe file.

Copywriters and advertisers have been using swipe files for years. The idea is simple: as you come across good headlines, offers, ads, and commercials, find a way to “swipe” or stow away the page or headline so you can revisit it later.

Years ago, people would literally stash newspaper clippings and magazine cutouts into a box. Nowadays, your phone’s camera roll or a pinned note in your phone does the trick.

Swiping is not stealing. It goes without saying that you should never wholly take someone else’s work and use it without attribution. Instead, it’s about remixing what you’ve seen elsewhere.

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Courses as concerts

A couple years ago, I started noticing one of my favorite artists, Gabriel and Dresden, posting concert flyers on Instagram.

I liked how the color popped in the images and the ambiguous floating blobs. I saved the images to the swipe file on my phone hoping they’d be useful someday for inspiration.

While at another university last year, I noticed they made posters advertising their courses. I took photos and added notes to my swipe file.

A few months ago, I was following the work of buildspace, an online school that helps people launch their ideas. I liked their typography. I captured the name of the font (manrope) as a note in my swipe file.

Then, about a month ago, I decided to redesign our course marketing materials to be more like concert posters.

Thinking back to Gabriel and Dresden’s flyers, I pulled up the images and studied the color palettes. I loaded up the buildspace font.

I wanted the poster to be interactive. Recently,

Brooke Smith

introduced me to Typebot, a platform for making chatbots. Brooke had been using bots in her courses, so I started to experiment with chatbots too. I added a QR code to the poster that, when scanned, would connect the person to a chatbot. The chatbot would greet them and ask for their email address. With their contact information, I could follow up with any questions they had about the course.

The end result was a combination of multiple parts of my swipe file (concerts + courses on posters + colors that pop with ambiguous blobs + a font I liked + interactive chatbot):

Courses as concerts. The QR code leads to a chatbot.

I never know if what I capture in my swipe file will come to use in the future. What I do know is that if it delights me, then it might delight others. And by collecting the work of others, it encourages me to remix and share.

So take a moment to start your own swipe file. Swipe what stands out to you. Next time you create something new, visit the swipe file for inspiration. It not only brings back good memories, but also makes starting your next project less daunting.