“Simplicity carried to an extreme becomes elegance.” -Jon Franklin, American author and Pulitzer Prize winner
Design is small tweaks over a long time.
For several months, I have been staring at my laptop screen, knowing I had to talk about evolutionary biology and design, but not knowing exactly what shape to make the words and what angle to enter into the topic.
I first got the inspiration to write about it when completing an assignment for an evolutionary biology class. As part of this project, I had to conduct a phylogenetic analysis, using software to construct a sort of “family tree” of related species, called a phylogeny.
Through it, we could see how species have evolved, where they branched in the evolutionary tree, and when certain traits adaptively radiated.
It was fascinating, with lots of crossover to how ideas evolve, or how etymology shapes, or even how culture spreads across geography.
But nowadays, we seldom make the link between biology and other domains.
So I thought about this. For months.
Then, as I munched on a bag of highly addictive caramel popcorn, it hit me: design is not about the idea coming to you all at once.
It’s about riffing, iterating, and building something better than what you had before.
And guess what?
That’s also exactly how design works in biology.
Much like in evolution, it’s not about starting out perfect. It’s about making many small tweaks over a long period of time until you arrive at an end product you’re proud of.
#1: The Underrated Power Of a Terrible First Draft
The idea of being struck by a bolt of lightning and suddenly having a stroke of creative genius is a widespread myth that afflicts millions of perfectionists and overthinkers worldwide each day.
We are tormented by the fact that we will somehow blasphemize the idea in our head by putting it out into the world, and realizing it isn’t that great in real life.
It’s the fear that we will turn potential into actuality, and in doing so, be confronted with so many mistakes and imperfections.
And these mistakes?
They will have the final say over what we are capable of on a deeper level.
The sappy poem you wrote about your crush in seventh grade? Definitely nowhere near Jane Austen or Maya Angelou level. So your literary career is over.
The lumpy scarf you knit three Thanksgivings ago, where you messed up the pattern and ran out of yarn? Yeah, you better give up knitting now.
If you make that “cringe” post about that incredible passion project you’ve been working on, your cousin’s friend’s sister will not be impressed.
And who are we if our cousin’s friend’s sister doesn’t approve of us?!
Maybe no one will care. They might think you’re being “performative”.
Evolution doesn’t work this way.
It throws out so many terrible first drafts it would make you dizzy. It leaves so many of its genetic “ideas” behind.
And yet?
And yet.
Look around you.
There is life everywhere, in the most impossible niches (check out this magnetic bacteria I heard about recently). This life is designed impeccably. Why? Because of those terrible drafts that paved the way.
#2: Random Mutations
The irony is that as much as we are creatures of habit, we are also built on randomness.
While a lot of the traits we have as humans seem to make sense, they are also the product of random differences in our genetics being passed on because they help people survive and perpetuate the human race.
But random mutations aren’t just biological.
They also apply to the design process, where we not only ideate, but also iterate and test.
For example, if you’re inventing a new pasta recipe, you might add some of the more “classic” ingredients (marinara sauce, cheese, basil…).
Then, you separate the pasta, and decide to test out some ingredients you have never added before. For one bowl of pasta, you throw in some edamame beans. In the other, you add some chopped spinach. The last bowl gets some broccoli.
You have tried something completely random that in all likelihood will end up tasting either neutral (i.e. you don’t mind whether it’s there or not) or worse (i.e. you will never add it to your pasta again).
However, if you do this enough times, you will also get the third outcome: realizing that your random new ingredient makes this dish taste better.
After trying potatoes and corn on pizza (I condone it!), a flavor unique to audacious Japan, I have come to realize this is a tried and true approach to generating masterpieces.
Creative genius isn’t about just knowing to put potatoes and corn on your pizza.
#3: Steady Rivers Cut Through Immovable Mountains.
This is the age of doing everything all at once.
You must cram every big life milestone into a 5-year plan. Log it in your bullet journal. Post about it with a “candid” (but also totally staged) photo with a caption that reads “#blessed”.
We are in the “instant coffee”, “instant results”, and “instant progress” world.
Evolution doesn’t work that way.
Instead, evolution makes the smallest changes you could imagine, but compounds them over millions, and even billions, of years.
This act of compounding and iterating on tiny mutations is what has produced some of the best designs we know to occur within life.
Consider the eye, which first evolved only as a light-sensing organ, and later developed the lens, retina, iris, and more.
Across the animal kingdom, eyes take all sorts of weird and wonderful appearances.
One of the common traits among all of them, however, is that they sense light, and have been knee-deep in the evolutionary design process for millions of years.
So take it slow.
Small consistent changes will get you way farther that sporadic drastic steps.
#4: It’s not the strongest or smartest, but the most adaptable…
There is a beautiful quote attributed to Albert Einstein that goes, “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”
Isn’t that such a relief?
Maybe in second grade you did not always ace your spelling tests, and in third grade you weren’t the first to learn your times tables.
In fact, maybe right now, you feel like kind of an idiot because you cracked an egg in a way that made the yolk break. You turned all your white clothes pink because one red sock snuck into the washing machine. Maybe you accidentally clicked “send” on an email before actually adding the attachment.
If you have ever felt stupid, or weak, or incapable, or unworthy of success, there is good news: you don’t have to be perfect; you just have to be adaptable.
When climate change strikes, or human beings destroy yet another vital habitat, the way species perpetuate is by adapting to change.
If there is an extinction, they fill the empty niche.
New mutations occur, and the old species adapt to the new habitat, food sources, and conditions.
Evolutionary biology says that when Life (yes, with a capital ‘L’) happens, you adapt.
Design should adapt the same way too.
Design is dynamic.
The unifying theme connecting evolutionary biology with design thinking is that, contrary to what we might think about both domains, they are dynamic and evolving.
Both design and evolution are about responding to change and to need.
Design is the space between stimulus and response where we decide what the next iteration will look like.
It means saying “this next draft won’t be perfect, but it’ll be closer than what came before”.
Thought to Action
- Lower the Stakes on One Creative Act: Make something deliberately small, unfinished, or silly. Let it exist without optimizing it.
- Feed Your Imagination Intentionally: Consume one strange or delightful input today—a poem, a walk, a conversation, a Wikipedia rabbit hole.
- Create Without Explaining: Make something you won’t post, monetize, or justify. Let curiosity be the reason.
- Keep an “Idea Garden”: Write down half-formed ideas without judging them. Growth likes space.
- Practice Creative Permission: Before starting, say: “I’m allowed to explore this.” Then begin.
Sources
No external sources were used for this post.
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