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Welcome to CodedShapes!

It’s a weekly newsletter written by Braden Koh (me).

This Substack is for people who want to be more efficient with computational design.

But let me guess...

You’ve heard about computational design, and you’re thinking:

“This could change the way I work but I don’t know where to start”
“Everyone keeps talking about it, but how does it actually help me?”
“I want to learn it but it’s just so overwhelming”

Well, you’re not alone. Even after years of working as a computational designer, I still find it hard to explain what it actually does for people.

CodedShapes is my attempt at explaining it. It’s a newsletter that explores the what, why and how of computational design through stories, insights, and examples.

Computational design is for everyone

Most people think that automation and computational design is a luxury. That it’s only for the big and complex projects with tonnes of budget. Years of working in this industry has taught me it’s actually the opposite.

Sure, it’s useful in those complex situations but they are rare. The true value is in solving the everyday problem.

If I can save just one hour of a process that you use every day, that’s more valuable than any big project.

That’s why CodedShapes is here, to show you the many different ways computational design can be used, and hopefully teach you a bit on how things work too.

Free vs. Paid

If you subscribe for free, you get the weekly newsletter. That’s the core of what I do. It’s stories, lessons and some guides on what computational design actually looks like in practice. You also get my guide, “A Practical Guide to Applying Computational Design at Work”, which covers the five most impactful problems I’ve “solved” with computational design.

The paid tier of CodedShapes offers you the “how” of computational design.

You get:

A library of computational scripts I have modularised and used in my own work
Resources that have helped me be more efficient (note-taking templates, AI prompts, plugins, etc)
Courses that teach you computational design