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intimidating yet somehow relaxing
It's a funny one. I might not feel quite as peeved as TK, but she is very "youtube". She is definitely skilled, knowledgeable and capable - but I find her videos a bit annoying. But I could say that of many of the maker youtube channels.
I think this is going to be quite hard to explain why I find her annoying, and I'm keen to try and not sound like I'm criticising her personally. I also think a lot of my complaints come from my own weird expectations of people/stuff. But essentially there's always an element of cackhandedness that winds me up when I watch her videos - whether its a duff bit of welding, or a contraption that clearly doesn't work, every time I watch one of her videos there's always something that puts me off in some way.
But she's just doing what she's doing. Making stuff and putting it into youtube and she's clearly popular, and good at making videos that people like - none of which deserve criticism per se. And if your goal is to just make content of you making stuff, it probably doesn't matter how good the stuff you make is.
Take this cupholder video. It's fun, it's silly and I should find it entertaining. If my mate turned up with a bike with a cupholder she'd welded into it I'd be buzzing/find it hilarious. But for some reason it kinda winds me up to watch it. This post is already too long for no good reason, but I kinda want to figure it out for my own sanity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmVWrqmquQU
On the flip side, watching this geezer put furniture together is about as captivating as it gets for me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYIk2aXM4BE
Typing this out I've kinda realised that I dislike most makers on youtube as I'm simply a grumpy prick.
Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.
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My guess is that her YT videos are very tailored to get the best metrics to make the most money. I have found myself watching her Instagram Stories more than her YT vids as it goes more into her design decisions and you get more of an idea why or what she is doing. Most of it is still just her trying stuff out, which I like.
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This post is already too long for no good reason, but I kinda want to figure it out for my own sanity.
It's because they prioritise creativity and aesthetics over design/engineering. If that's not you, then it will grate.
The no. 1 requirement of a coffee cup holder is that it holds a cup of coffee. She achieves that. But once you give it more thought, there are a whole load of other requirements. Very high up the list for eg is keeping it warm. In a cold arsed country wrapping your coffee in steel is a bit of a fail.
Does anyone else find Laura Kampf videos intimidating yet somehow relaxing?
I wish I took welding back in high school...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0bt6RNQdtw