In Polish, we have a saying: “Even Salomon won’t pour from an empty cup.” Ideas for evocative, imaginative text don’t appear out of thin air either. When I come up with a character concept, I write a short introduction and start thinking about their origins. Creating a Word Bank maps their qualities and properties so I don’t need to write a full story to understand who they are, what world they represent, and what tone the lore will take on.

In a world that favors instant gratification and perfectionism it is easy to feel behind, like everything exceeds me before I even manage to take a breath. Especially now, when everywhere I look—augmented bodies. Augmented faces. Augmented personalities. A world expanding so fast it forgot to ask if I wanted to come along.

It comes naturally to feel, but sometimes, we experience feelings that seem indescribable at first. It’s the general mood that triggers an emotion, a vibe. It’s hard to sew such an abstract state into a conceptual idea. But by breaking down basic senses, I learned how to invent ideas based on the atmosphere.

Zoe Miklis is a creative director, digital painter, designer, photographer, and writer who explores the interplay between visual and written creations with human emotion. For her, design means creating with intention, and she is passionate about inventing narratives that are meant to create sensory connections with people who experience her work.