Roots

Lately it feels like everything has been moving at once — packing up one home, stepping into another, and feeling the weight of change in every pocket. And yet, amid the change, something steady endures. 

In branding, that steadiness is called the root idea. National Geographic once added a yellow frame to unify its covers — a seemingly simple design decision that became a beacon on newsstands. Levi’s stitched a red tab to help factory workers spot authentic jeans — an afterthought that turned into an icon. The New Yorker stayed loyal to a serif typeface others dismissed as fussy, now inseparable from its voice. What began as practicality or conviction became the thing remembered. 

The same is true in your work. The root often hides in plain sight: the phrase you return to, the quality that lit the first spark, the habit that keeps showing up. 

To uncover what endures, ask yourself:

• What part of my work would I never throw out?

• If every trend disappeared, what would I still be making?

• What’s the thing I do without thinking — what makes it unmistakably mine?

Then notice which answer feels most essential — the one that, if you lost it, your work wouldn't feel like yours anymore. Hold on to that. Let it guide your choices for a while. If a choice strengthens it, keep going. If it blurs it, let it go. The way every branch begins at the trunk, your work will always grow from what lasts. A root idea holds steady and points you back to what’s true. 

In the upheaval of moving and change, the surface keeps shifting — but what holds within, the part of me that’s true, remains. And that, I’ve found, is where lasting work — and the life beneath it — begin.✦

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