Our fragile sensibilities collectively cringe at the very idea of anything "raw." We’re socially conditioned to reject the raw, candid, and uncensored, indoctrinating ourselves with the idea that anything of value must arrive vacuum-sealed, pre-digested and processed into an inoffensive, homogenized paste devoid of any real bite or texture. Our overly-cleansed palates simply cannot stomach anything more.

We're blocked. Terrified of the unfiltered passing through us. But sometimes you catch yourself noticing the untamed reality of the moment and its jarring, but you feel it. The frenetic charcoal lines of an artist's first sketch before it gets traced over with soulless precision. A jagged guitar lick breaking through with a sound so real it reminds you of what music sounded like before the algorithm.

Our pleasure centers hunger for that hit of honest, asymmetry that synthetic perfection can never recreate. The jerk from banality you get from tasting something uncut, unfiltered by AI, popular opinion or committee.

Followers are lured like moths to fluorescent light, succumbing to artificial experiences and ideas, pushing them only further away from anything truly deep or real. Their senses so numb that they've forgotten the rush of what raw expression should evoke within us.

I'm more interested in the underbelly of pretense, where we risk getting caught up in the thorny, tangled truth of it all. It’s there where the good resides in all its raw, uncompromising sincerity.

Moreover, The Raw Goods is a kitschy play on my name.

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Jared Rawlings is the Associate Creative Director at Agent, specializing in brand identity design, campaign creative development, digital advertising launches, and creative brand refresh strategies. With nearly two decades of experience and a BFA from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Jared brings a wealth of expertise to every project, helping organizations elevate their brands and create lasting impact. In addition to his role at Agent, Jared is a guest lecturer at the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he teaches Typography II.