Cheesin'

If my work was labelled cheesy, I'd have taken that as an insult. Not so much anymore.

I need Ted Lasso and Great British Bake-Off in my life. I need to be a little basic with a #PSL and a flannel blanket. I need to listen to a completely overdone love song every now and then.

Cheesiness has a place in the world. There's a distinction between the cheesy and the expected, but the concepts are related. I've been struggling with the concept of originality lately; every idea I have seems to spring from somewhere else, or been done before, or not really stand out. But not everything has to be new: sometimes, workable and done is enough.

But the premise behind baking shows or "junk-food" books isn't anything new. They're not supposed to be; that's not their purpose. They're meant to be sweet, and easy, and a break from the chaos raging right outside our doors.

So it goes with the text we UX writers try to place in our interfaces: Does it need to be original, or just clear?

Does that friend going through a rough time need his problems solved, or just a kind word that's been said a million times before?

Should every product be groundbreaking, or is it enough to meet a need?

Are books and shows required to be thought-provoking, or is it enough to just offer a moment of joy and distraction?

Celebrate the new, sure. But let's also be grateful for the overdone, unoriginal, sweet, working, truthful, and the cheesy.