Current design record

Navigator

The authoritative account of LifeArts as it currently stands — and why it is designed this way. The rest of the site is the working model; this is the record.

Current modelLifeSpiral + Working EnvironmentsVocabularyRecover the LexiconActive StudiosLifeArts Studio · PlayhouseNext place to workLifeArts Studio Dashboard
Visual repository · newIllustrationsInspect the Practice’s visual inventory before assigning work to the Manual, Navigator, website, Sketchbooks, or other outputs.Open workbench →Creative resources · newLifePaletteAwareness notices the color. The LifePalette keeps it within reach. The Studio mixes and works with it. The Gallery shows what you made.Open the Palette →The LifeArtist’s toolboxToolsCreative Compass, Lens, Stepping Back, Studies, Sketchbooks, and specific study tools — used across Studies, Studios and Reviews.Open the toolbox →
01◐ RefiningDashboardThe whole Practice at a glance — the current working model.02◐ RefiningArchitectureLifeSpiral movement, ambient influences, and the supporting environments.03◐ RefiningDictionary / LexiconCurrent working definitions, distinctions, and principles.04◐ RefiningToolsThe LifeArtist’s toolbox: Lens, Stepping Back, Studies, Sketchbooks, Creative Compass.05◐ RefiningRhythms & ReviewsWeekly Design Review, Capture & Release, and the current Apple Notes prototype.06● DecidedWorking EnvironmentsAwareness, Studios, Library, Sketchbooks, Illustrations, Gallery, and Archive.07◐ RefiningIllustrationsThe visual inventory and developmental workbench for the Practice.08◐ RefiningLifePaletteKept-within-reach lived and creative material — fragments, memories, lines, images — to draw from later.09● DecidedLifeArts OSVersion and change record for the evolving system.10○ Open questionManual MapWhere settled concepts belong in the eventual Manual.11◇ StudyingProductsFolios, Signatures, digital and print tools, accessories.12● DecidedLifeArts StudioThe venture as a Studio — business plan and current development work.13◇ StudyingResearch & SourcesRetrievable books, influences, interviews, references, and citations.14◐ RefiningInfluences & ReadingCurated influences, the working reading desk, marginalia, and the questions being lived with.15◐ RefiningDecision LogA concise record of meaningful design decisions.16○ Open questionDesign DeskOpen questions, experiments, things actively being designed.17● DecidedSquirrel PreserveSparkly things captured so they don't interrupt the work.18○ Open questionIndexCross-reference of terms and where they appear.

Decision Log

Current / refining
  • ● Decided

    The LifeSpiral describes creative movement; it is not an information filing hierarchy.

  • ● Decided

    Awareness is the faculty that notices; an Inbox or capture tool records what Awareness notices. They are not the same.

  • ● Decided

    The Four Dimensions of Life are Health, Growth, Security and Connection — formerly called LifePillars. In the LifeLotus they appear as petals; “Dimensions” is the conceptual term.

  • ● Decided

    Health stays Health. Self is the whole person; Health is one Dimension.

  • ● Decided

    The Lens is a tool for seeing, not a required stage in the anatomy of the Practice.

  • ● Decided

    Working Environments support the Spiral but are not sequential stages.

  • ● Decided

    Library is for retrieval; Gallery is curated; Archive retains inactive material.

  • ● Decided

    A Studio is a continuing field of activity; a Project is a bounded undertaking within one.

  • ● Decided

    Projects, Tasks and Milestones are forms of activity inside Studios, not conceptual stages.

  • ● Decided

    Creative Compass directions are Imagine, Prepare, Act, Share.

  • ◐ Refining

    Threshold language — Choose, Commit, Refine, Release/Reflect.

  • ● Decided

    Studies belong to curiosity; Reviews belong to navigation.

  • ● Decided

    Stepping Back is a posture available anywhere in the Spiral, not a stage.

  • ◇ Studying

    Weekly Design Review is a concrete Capture & Release practice; Apple Notes is its current prototype, not the architecture.

  • ● Decided

    Business Plan and venture-development work belong inside the LifeArts Studio; the Navigator may point to them but does not own them.

  • ◇ Studying

    Creating your LifeStyle as a dimension of the Practice.

  • ○ Open question

    Whether LifeStyle becomes a Dimension, a Spiral movement, or neither.

  • ● Decided

    LifePalette is a repository, not a stage: Awareness notices the color; the Palette keeps it within reach; the Studio mixes and works with it; the Gallery shows what was made.

  • ● Decided

    Capture freely. Commit deliberately. Captures are welcome; commitments are chosen. Material may live in LifePalette without action, while an intention/action system holds only what the LifeArtist has decided to act on.

  • ● Decided

    Gallery is not terminal. A Gallery work has reached a meaningful state of completion, expression, or sharing, and may later be reused, adapted, excerpted, republished, performed, or become material for new Studio work.

Practice & Rhythms

Instruments live in Tools
  • Studies● Decided

    Curiosity examining a subject or experience. No decision required.

  • Sketchbooks◐ Refining

    Designed visual tools for exploration — never questionnaires.

  • Reviews● Decided

    Navigation: looking back to decide what continues, changes or is released.

  • Capture & Release● Decided

    Capture first, decide later. Nothing captured is a commitment.

  • Stepping Back● Decided

    Change distance. Return with fresher eyes. Look from another angle.

  • Weekly Design Review◇ Studying

    A Saturday review of Awareness that redirects, curates, archives, or releases captures.

  • Creating your LifeStyle◇ Studying

    Intentional design of environment, rhythms, atmosphere, habits, relationships, time.

Current Studios

Re-entry points
  • LifeArts StudioActive

    Founding studio — the Practice itself

    Open Studio
  • PlayhouseActive

    A physical creative Studio for sewing, product prototypes, making, and sketches.

    Open Studio

Where to re-enter

After time away
  1. 01Recover the model in Architecture.
  2. 02Check a term in the Dictionary / Lexicon.
  3. 03Scan recent decisions and open questions below.
  4. 04Open the Studio Dashboard and take the Next Move.

Design Desk

Open
  • · How should Gratitude be named as an ambient influence?
  • · Which threshold terms survive into the Manual: Choose, Commit, Refine, Release / Reflect?
  • · Does LifeStyle remain an emerging dimension or become something else?
  • · What belongs in a Folio versus a Signature?

LifeArts OS

Change record
  • 0.1LifeSpiral separated from Working Environments; Library, Archive, Playhouse, and Weekly Design Review added.
  • 0.0.5LifeArts Studio detail page added, with the working Business Plan inside it.
  • 0.0.4Six-month Milestones horizon calendar added as a prototype experiment.
  • 0.0.3Navigator becomes the design record; navigation reduced to the conceptual Practice.
  • 0.0.2Sketchbooks added.
  • 0.0.1First visible model of the architecture.

The LifeLotus describes the subject. Tools help you see and study it. The Creative Compass helps you shape what comes next.

This record is designed for re-entry: begin with Architecture, recover a term in the Lexicon, then return to an active Studio.