This Website Tells You What David Bowie Was Doing At Every Age

The list of Bowie tributes is ever-growing. From his widow Iman’s remembrances, to celebrity tweets, to large public gatherings, to gifs devoted to his fashion legacy, there are no shortage of ways to remember Bowie now that he has passed. But a pair of Norwegian-based creatives were ahead of the game. Launched in late November, "What Did David Bowie Do At Your Age?" is the brainchild of 26-year-old Duy Nguyen and 25-year-old Joakim Tønnesen. The duo used to work together in an ad agency — Nguyen as an art director and Tønnesen as a developer — but have since moved on to freelance and a newspaper, respectively. The site came about when Nguyen was bored at his internship. His mentor gave him a challenge: "Tell today's youth, most of whom have heard of David Bowie but really don't know anything about him, why they should worship David Bowie." Nguyen took the challenge. “I did some research and I quickly noticed how many different things Bowie did, also outside of his music,” he told us via email. “Then I started comparing myself to David Bowie. Thus the idea of 'what did David Bowie do at your age?' was born. People tend to compare themselves to celebrities, and the concept is very relatable to most people.” Although the idea started out as a means for people to draw inspiration, there were some unintended consequences. “It does seem to make a lot of people [feel] depressed and underachieved,” Nguyen said via email. But he cautioned that comparing oneself to Bowie in terms of raw achievement isn’t the way he would go about interpreting the site. “It's just really hard to compare yourself to someone like Bowie,” he said. “Not only because he was a musical genius and a talent, because many people are. What really sets him apart from everyone else is how he used all that. By not stopping when he could have, he always kept going. Kept experimenting and tried new things. Which is the real inspiration we can take away from him beside his legendary musical career.” So head to the site, check out what Bowie did at your age, but don’t despair. Take Nguyen’s final words of advice as tribute: “There is never going to be another David Bowie, but we should look at his awesome life and be inspired to make the most of our own. Just like he did to the very end.”