This post was inspired by: Today in Capitalism – The Generation M Manifesto by Umair Haque

As Americans, we used to be defined by our excesses, having everything without limits. We’re famous around the world for big houses, big cars, and big macs. We didn’t mind getting ripped off by corporations here and there on our impulse buys – it felt like it didn’t matter because it was so easy to make money at our jobs. Now that it’s hard to find a job, things have changed. More people have started watching out for economic landmines. It no longer makes sense to buy useless things. So less companies will be able to thrive by selling cheaply manufactured crap. It’s time for serious innovation.

To me, innovation is creating something within tough constraints, then turning around and breaking out of those constraints. It’s combining multiple special sauces to make that one super special something. I want that something to not only meet technical specs but also include a dual function or at least a really cool design. To be able to say “I need it because it’s X, but it’s also Y and Z.”

I wish good design was more of an everyday occurrence. There’s plenty of great ideas on the web, but not enough of it has moved onto real solid objects. I feel like too many things around me are just carbon copies; it’s all too obvious that there are thousands more in a warehouse somewhere from the exact same mold.

I wish more of my stuff was more unique and actually meant something to me. The web is pretty personalized already… but when is everything else going to catch up? Instead of complaining, I need to make more of a point of actually doing something to change my surroundings in the real world. It’s about time to get started.