Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 21/09/2026Some things can be bought, used and then sold back for the same price. arun.is/blog/pinned-...arun.isPinned-value goodsXX 010
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 30/08/2026Photo essay about the first long trip we took in our ID. Buzz arun.is/blog/buzzin-...arun.isBuzzin’ down CaliforniaA week down the California coast in an electric van that made us stop every couple hundred miles — and the places we found because of it. 020
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 15/08/2026Looking back at what the 747 meant to me and the changes in air travel arun.is/blog/do-you-...arun.isDo you want to go for a ride?The 747 shaped how I understood distance, family, and wonder. As it disappears from the skies, I'm trying to figure out what to hand my son instead. 052
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 20/07/2026Visited this whimsical place in China that reminded me of Burning Man arun.is/blog/lijiang...arun.isYunnan V · Land of WildernessA photographic journey through the design principles of a whimsical wonderland. 011
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 12/07/2026Books based off of my favorite show about design arun.is/blog/design-...arun.isDesign Ah! booksXX 041
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 27/06/2026Wrote some words about Om and what he has meant to me. arun.is/blog/good-by...arun.isGood bye, Om MalikI admired Om Malik and his writing for my entire adult life, then had the fortune of knowing him. A remembrance of a friend, mentor, critic, and guide. 032
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 22/06/2026Explored some Japanese symbols that speak without words. arun.is/blog/japan-s...arun.isJapanese symbols that speak without wordsI look at the Japanese symbols that carry meaning entirely on their own. 040
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 17/06/2026@inbn.dev Thanks for creating and maintaining The Component Gallery. It has been super useful to me over the years. 120
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 14/06/2026A look into the history of one of my favorite logos arun.is/blog/jr-logo/arun.isHow Japan's railways stayed one while splitting apartWhen Japan broke up its national railway in 1987, the new companies agreed on one thing to keep the same. 010
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 07/06/2026Wrote about my latest side project. arun.is/blog/daily-d...arun.isIntroducing Daily DesignerToday I'm introducing a new project called Daily Designer with daily quotes from designers I admire. 060
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 30/05/2026I wonder if the Ferrari Luce could have ended up looking any other way. arun.is/blog/ferrari...arun.isWhy the Ferrari Luce looks like thatEveryone may be dunking on the Ferrari Luce, but I'm not sure it would have ended any other way. 030
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 26/05/2026Omg. I’ve spent so much time there. Was hoping to take my kids there next time I visit. 110
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 25/05/2026A dream-like visit to an old city in China with snow-capped mountains in the background. arun.is/blog/yunnan-...arun.isYunnan IV · LijiangA week in Lijiang — ancient towns, medicinal hot pot, and architecture that looks more like Tibet than China. 010
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 16/05/2026Love Hultén’s creations feel like they straddle our world and an alien one. I wrote about the two books covering his work. arun.is/blog/love-hu...arun.isLove Hultén WorksSpend enough time with Love Hultén's work and you start to feel like you're mapping an alternate world — one built from wood, electronics, and a very particular kind of whimsy. 110
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 09/05/2026Japan has two incompatible power grids with startling consequences. arun.is/blog/japan-e...arun.isJapan's invisible electric wallJapan's power grid has a fracture running through it that no one has ever fully repaired. East and west run on different frequencies. 000
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 01/05/2026Dali, China is where I want to retire. I could run, eat, think and feel alive there in a way I’ve never felt anywhere else. arun.is/blog/yunnan-...arun.isYunnan III · DaliDali in Yunnan may be the best place I've ever visited — better than the Mediterranean or Southeast Asia. Here's why almost no one in the Western world knows it exists. 000
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 26/04/2026How the MacBook Neo reminds me of a cult classic Porsche arun.is/blog/cheap-c...arun.isWhen the cheap one is the cool oneApple and Porsche both figured out the same secret that the cheapest product in the lineup can be the most exciting. It just takes a little intention. 020
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 17/04/2026A love letter to the best camera I've ever owned. arun.is/blog/leica-cl/arun.isA love letter to the Leica CLI fell in love with a camera Leica discontinued. Four years later, it's still in my bag — and nothing has come close to replacing it. 010
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 10/04/2026I've realized the trap with AI isn't that they produce bad writing, but that they let you skip figuring out what I actually think. Here's how I use AI in my writing. arun.is/blog/ai-enha...arun.is 130
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 03/04/2026Second part of my series about visiting Yunnan, China. arun.is/blog/yunnan-...arun.isYunnan II · KunmingKunming was the best first impression of Yunnan with its mild weather, delicious food, and rich history. 000
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 27/03/2026A look through some rare books by my favorite designer. arun.is/blog/without...arun.isNaoto Fukasawa’s without thought catalogsA look at the without thought workshop catalogs by Naoto Fukasawa and how observation is so important to design. 030
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 26/03/2026Issue 86 of my monthly newsletter is going out on Monday. Subscribe here: arun.is/subscribe/ 120
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 25/03/2026Does this new thing not work? www.figma.com/blog/the-fig...figma.comAgents, Meet the Figma Canvas | Figma BlogStarting today, you can use AI agents to design directly on the Figma canvas. And with skills, you can guide agents with context about your team’s decisions and intent. 110
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 20/03/2026arun.is/blog/yunnan-...arun.isYunnan I · Homebase, ShanghaiShanghai is my home base in China — and this time, I finally figured out why. A few days, a handful of places, and a tension I didn't expect to find running through all of them. 000
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 13/03/2026The gear and principles behind how I run arun.is/blog/on-runn...arun.isOn running: principles and gearA pre-dawn run through Lijiang's old town, and the gear, principles, and philosophy behind how I train. 001
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 06/03/2026Redesigned my personal website and wrote some words about it. arun.is/blog/arun-is...arun.isIntroducing arun.is 3.0How I turned four years of incremental improvements into something focused and coherent. 150
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 03/03/2026We have had the ID. Buzz for a few months and it has been a dream. It still brings a smile to our faces every day. We took a long road trip recently and had far more fun than we did last roadtrip in a luxury SUV. 020
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 27/02/2026Last issue of the series of photoessays about my trip to Kanazawa arun.is/blog/kanazaw...arun.isKanazawa IV · An interlude in TokyoAfter a week in Kanazawa, we returned to Tokyo, the city in Japan I know best. 030
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 24/02/2026I turned on the vertical tabs experimental flag (afaik only available on beta and canary at the moment) 1. go to chrome://flags/#vertical-tabs 2. switch "Vertical Tabs" to "Enabled" 3. go to chrome://settings/appearance 4. change "Tab strip position" to "Side" 110
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 24/02/2026I tried so many browsers recently and landed back in Chrome, but with vertical tabs 120
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 20/02/2026Part 3 of my series about why Kanazawa is my favorite place in Japan so far. arun.is/blog/kanazaw...arun.isKanazawa III · The oldHow the actions of the ruling clan in Kanazawa centuries ago lead to it surviving WWII. 010
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 13/02/2026Exploring the new in Kanazawa arun.is/blog/kanazaw...arun.isKanazawa II · The newWhy did a mid-sized city on the Sea of Japan become a place where contemporary culture flourishes alongside five centuries of tradition? 020
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 08/02/2026Part one of a series about why Kanazawa is my favorite place in Japan so far arun.is/blog/kanazaw...arun.isKanazawa I · On the wayA Ferrari designer's train delivered us to a city where Pritzker Prize architecture coexists with centuries-old samurai districts. We had no idea what we were in for. 131
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 21/12/2025Thank you everyone for making 2025 so great. arun.is/blog/2025-ye...arun.isThe year in review: 2025This year has been a return to the routines that once defined how I lived my life 030
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 02/12/2025Words and photos from Savannah, Georgia. arun.is/blog/savannah/arun.isCreative SavannahA photo journey the creative landscape that is Savannah, Georgia. 030
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 11/11/2025Made a wallpaper inspired by Liquid Glass and the classic Mac “hello” arun.is/blog/hello-l...arun.isHello, Liquid GlassI've made a wallpaper inspired by the icon Mac "hello" and Liquid Glass. 020
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 15/10/2025Photos and thoughts from a family trip to Charleston, SC. arun.is/blog/charles...arun.isCharleston's historic fabricPhotos and thoughts from a short family vacation to one of America's oldest cities 000
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 08/10/2025Remind me of MYNUS www.mynus.jp/enmynus.jpMYNUSSimple and beautiful to the max. We pursue functional, minimalist designs born from the "aesthetics of subtraction" that thoroughly eliminates unnecessary elements. 130
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 31/08/2025Learned a lot from five years of my newsletter. Here’s to five more. arun.is/blog/five-ye...arun.isFive years of the arun.is newsletterMy learnings after five years of writing the newsletter. 150
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 04/08/2025Made a little charging station to tame the mess of cables around the house. arun.is/blog/diy-mod...arun.isMy DIY modular charging stationHow I built a modular USB charging station with a focus on material honesty. 020
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 11/07/2025Photoessay of the beautiful cultural spots I visited in Milwaukee arun.is/blog/milwauk...arun.isMilwaukee's many facesA family trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin showed me the surprising mix of old and new, urban and rural that this city has to offer. 040
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 27/06/2025With devices lasting longer, I now have the unique opportunity to hold on to older designs I love the most. arun.is/blog/aesthet...arun.isAesthetics over upgradesWith devices lasting longer, I now have the unique opportunity to hold on to older designs I love the most. 020
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 06/06/2025I wrote about the T-shirts I have been designing. arun.is/blog/tech-t-...arun.isDesigning wearable tech historyI've designed some shirts inspired by technology history. 030
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 31/05/2025Made an insanely great T shirt cottonbureau.com/p/5UQTE8/shi...cottonbureau.cominsanely great! by Arun VenkatesanHomage to the product that started the personal computer revolution. 020
Arun Venkatesan @arun.is · 25/05/2025Photoessay exploring what makes Mexico City so special arun.is/blog/mexico-...arun.isMexico City's embrace of cultureOn my last visit to Mexico City, I discovered what makes this city special 010