The Fool: Laid Off, Lit Up, and Starting Again
When The Fool shows up in a tarot reading, people often tense up. “Wait — am I the fool?” But The Fool isn’t about stupidity; it’s about courage. It’s the archetype of beginnings, leaps of faith, and walking off the cliff with nothing but a little satchel, a messy haircut, and maybe a dog who loves you enough to follow.
Earlier this year, I pulled my own Fool card in real life: I woke up to an email with the subject line “Team Update” and knew immediately my job at Nordstrom was over. (For the record, “Team Update” is corporate code for “kiss your health insurance goodbye.”) I sat through the ten-minute call, turned off my laptop, and cried. “Welp. This is awkward. Also — what do I do now?”
And that’s when I realized: the Tarot had been training me for this moment all along.
The Fool doesn’t wait until they have a 10-year plan, six months’ savings, or a shiny new title. They leap, even when the landing is unclear. And in that way, they’re the perfect mascot for anyone navigating the chaos of design in 2025.
The Fool as Designer
Design right now feels like standing on the edge of a cliff, too. Generative AI has wandered onto the scene like a chaotic trickster god, upending our workflows and portfolios with a “hey, babe” smirk. Tools are faster, clients are more unpredictable, and the question hanging in the air is: “Do designers still matter?”
Yes. And also: not in the same way.
The Fool doesn’t cling to old maps; they trust the path will form under their feet. For designers, that means unlearning some of our tightly-held processes. It means experimenting with AI not as a threat, but as a mischievous travel buddy. Sometimes it will trip you. Sometimes it will carry your bag. Either way, it’s part of the journey now.
The Fool as Me
Personally, I’m doing exactly what The Fool prescribes: starting again, lighter this time. I traded in endless corporate meetings for mornings spent writing, tinkering with AI, and building a portfolio that feels like mine — not just my employer’s. I’m launching my tarot + design + AI practice because if I’m going to leap, I want the cliff to at least have a good aesthetic.
Yes, it’s terrifying. But being laid off lit me up in ways I didn’t expect. It forced me to ask: who am I without a corporate badge? What happens when I stop designing to survive and start designing to express?
Turns out, I’m still a designer — just one carrying a dog named Manolo and a satchel full of half-baked AI experiments and Glossier highlighters.
The Fool as All of Us
If you’re reading this, maybe you’re standing on your own cliff, too. Maybe you’re between jobs, between ideas, between identities. The Fool says: it’s fine. You don’t need to know the whole journey. You just need enough courage to take the first step.
In design, in AI, in life — beginnings always look foolish from the outside. But from the inside? They’re electric.
So here I am: laid off, lit up, and starting again. It feels foolish, yes. But it also feels like magic.
And that, to me, is design in 2025: a little risky, a little chaotic, and absolutely worth the leap.