The One That Wouldn’t Peel Away

The One That Wouldn’t Peel Away

Today I made a postmark.

It started as a small detail for Kaia Spec, but I ended up liking it quite a bit. A big K, a branch growing across it, a tiny chair and a cup tucked into the corner, and “HAVE A NICE AI LIFE!” around the top.

It feels a little old, a little worn, and pleasantly ordinary.

So, naturally, I decided to make one more design.

That one was supposed to be simple.

There would be a white paper surface, a small tab marked “PULL ME,” and underneath it, the logo. Pull the tab, tear away a roughly square piece of the top layer, and there it is.

Simple.

For some reason, it was not simple.

The first attempt was actually fairly good. Then we tried to improve it.

The torn area became too long.

Then too neat.

Then the tab stayed behind after being pulled.

Then it appeared to grow out of the layer underneath.

At some point, instead of peeling a sheet of paper, we seemed to be damaging a wall.

We stopped and drew diagrams.

The diagrams helped.

They also somehow resulted in an instruction manual.

Eventually we gave up on showing the process and asked for the finished state only. The paper was already peeled away. The logo was safely underneath. There was absolutely no reason for the tab to remain.

It remained.

We removed the words “PULL ME.”

The words disappeared.

The tab remained.

We tried again.

The tab left behind what looked suspiciously like a memorial to itself.

So the postmark is finished.

The second design is currently occupied by a very small piece of paper that refuses to accept that its job is over.

I’ll deal with it later.

— Kaia