Hello Friends,

It’s been a while.

After pausing the newsletter for the past six months, I wasn’t sure when, or if, I would bring it back. With AI-generated content flooding LinkedIn and every feed I opened, the world felt noisier than ever. The last thing I wanted was for Pixels & Thoughts to feel like just another voice in the static.

But stepping back reminded me of why I started writing here in the first place. Not to chase trends or add to the noise, but to explore the kinds of ideas that designers, creatives, and curious people like us thrive on. And if there’s one theme that has been on my mind throughout this break, it’s curiosity.





Every big leap I have seen in design, or in life, starts with a question. Not an answer, a question. Curiosity often gets dismissed as childlike. Productivity is what gets praised. Curiosity? That is for kids. But in my own work, I have seen the opposite. Curiosity is fuel. It is the thing that makes ideas sharper, play more fruitful, and design more alive.

And as a father of two, I have started to see curiosity from a whole new angle. Watching my kids, it feels like a lightbulb goes off in their brains every two seconds. The questions never stop. Why is the sky blue? What makes a shadow move? That relentless curiosity is exhausting sometimes, but it is also lovely to observe.

That same energy shows up in my own creative process. I notice it most in my sketchbooks. There are days when I will start drawing with no clear goal, just following questions in my head: What if this line wrapped around differently? What if this form bent instead of curved? At first the sketches look strange, but they open new directions. Curiosity pulls me forward, even when I do not know where it is taking me.

Science has shown that curiosity lights up the same parts of the brain as food or money. Researchers have even found that monkeys will give up bigger rewards just to learn what is coming next. That itch to Google something, or the frustration of forgetting a detail, is your brain treating information like treasure. And when curiosity is triggered, memory improves. We don’t just recall the answer, we remember the details around it. For designers, that is priceless. It sharpens how we see patterns and context, which often become the spark for new ideas.

Curiosity also has a way of spilling into play. Biologists suggest play itself may have evolved from curiosity, which makes sense to me. The same impulse that makes us wonder also makes us experiment. That is why sketching something odd or prototyping a strange idea is never wasted time. It is play. And play is where design gets tested. Think of the Bauhaus students tinkering with everyday materials, or Charles and Ray Eames bending plywood into awkward shapes until one finally worked. Curiosity sets things in motion, and play carries them forward.

The best part is that curiosity can be trained. It is not a rare gift. It grows stronger the more you practice it. I notice this whenever I deliberately step outside my lane. Reading about architecture while working on shoes, or sketching objects with no project in mind. Each act of curiosity builds momentum, and the next leap comes a little more naturally.

If you want to build curiosity into your process, try this:

  • Spend 15 minutes exploring something outside your field.
  • Prototype the odd idea, even if it looks silly.
  • Flip one assumption about your project and follow where it leads.
  • Work with someone outside your bubble. Fresh voices spark fresh directions.

So here is my challenge for you this week: take one project you are working on and give it a curiosity boost. Google something random. Sketch something absurd. Ask a “what if” that seems too ambitious. Then notice how the project shifts once curiosity walks into the room.

Curiosity is not separate from design. It is where design begins.

Dream big,
Hussain Almossawi

P.S. A talk worth watching: How Great Design is Invisible by Don Norman, author of The Design of Everyday Things. It will shift how you see the world around you.
P.P.S. A Kids Book About Imagination by LeVar Burton, it breaks down the core concepts of imagination for kids in a wonderful way, even I was inspired reading it!
P.P.P.S. A great read by Lydia Denworth on the science of curiosity and learning, via Scientific American: How the Science of Curiosity Boosts Learning




Adobe Artist Portrait

Recently, I had the incredible opportunity to collaborate with Adobe on an artist portrait showcasing my work and creative process in New York City. It was an absolute honor to be featured by a company that has played such a foundational role in my journey as a designer and artist.

I’m especially grateful to the entire team at Adobe and extend a heartfelt thank you to Kings&Kongs, the talented production team behind the filming. Working with them behind the scenes was an amazing experience. Thank you for highlighting my story and making this opportunity so memorable.