Design
Alex Wright gave a talk based on his book down at Google and it’s probably the longest video I’ve ever watched with full attention start to finish on the web. The Web That Wasn’t is an accessible and inspiring series of biographical sketches of historical visionaries of the web and web-like constructions. Alex describes the visions and significance of Paul Otlet, Vannevar Bush, Douglas Engelbart, Ted Nelson, and others who foresaw the current www (and more) over the past 100+ years. And, in so doing, he points out the ways the current web falls short of their various visions as well as describing the gestures in the current incarnation towards such things as two-way links, and visible trails through hypertext. Well done, Alex.
Matt’s closing keynote at reboot, Products Are People Too is easily my favorite idea bomb of the past 5 years. See also: Clifford Nass and, more disturbingly, this McLuhan quote:
…man in the normal use of technology…is perpetually modified by it and in turn finds ever new ways of modifying his technology. Man becomes, as it were, the sex organs of the machine world, as the bee of the plant world, enabling it to fecundate and to evolve ever new forms. The machine world reciprocates man’s love by expediting his wishes and desires….
Envelope and Letterfolding Techniques: “One of the “Holy Grails” of envelope and letter folding is to create a fold which not only latches, but can’t be unfolded—sealing it shut like a glued envelope. No one seems to have managed this feat, so far.” (via)
The Design Encyclopedia is the latest from Under Consideration. Think of it as Wikipedia for design with all the decentralized content-creation and hypertextual non-hierarchy that that implies. Still in Beta and obviously missing lots of obvious entries, this looks to be a great resource for anyone interested in design, though it will be interesting to see how TDC differentiates itself from Wikipedia (see, for example, the two sites’ entries for BIC: TDC, Wikipedia)
These Marcel Wanders components are a welcome ornate antidote to the relentless flaccid placid futurism of the Apple ID group. And the TV/microwave is a lovely bit of design art: now you can watch TV while you wait for your TV dinner to cook (so you can eat while you watch TV). Brilliant.
I think this Frog Design article on “dissonant designs” is pure hokum. People buy Bugaboo strollers for the same two reasons people buy any luxury item: one, they’re nicer than the average stroller (as in they feel good to push around… you know, that user experience thing all the kids are talking about); and two, they’re a status symbol. That’s it.
Oh, and, this bit on the Escalade is just patronizing hogwash:
Urban hip-hoppers now drive Cadillac Escalades because of the ironic twist they create by juxtaposing their cutting-edge culture with Cadillac’s stodgy, older brand image. Because the brand was not originally intended for them, driving Escalades enables them to poke fun at the brand’s old expectations. With the adoption of the Escalade as an urban icon, Cadillac’s brand has been rejuvenated after several decades of declining relevance.My guess is that “Urban hip-hoppers” (if you mean “black people” just say it) drive Escalades not because they’re ironic but precisely because they’re the classic American status symbol car. And they’ve been marketed at young urbanites from day one. Sorry to get so snippy, but this one got under my skin.
thoughtlessacts.com includes images from the book as well as letting visitors contribute their own photos.
“Groceteria.com is a site about supermarket history and architecture, roughly covering the period from the 1920s to the 1970s.”
This series of “future” apple products by Pentagram is surprisingly weak: a wireless iPod that lets you “remotely connect to… the music kept on [your] computer,” or the “wrist-worn iPod”? Er, didn’t Casio do that like 3 years a go or something? Apparently Pentagram is no IDEO when it comes to dreaming up crazy new products.
I was killing some time in the SFMoma store and picked up a copy of Thoughtless Acts, which is a sweet little book of photos documenting the ways humans interact with the designed world around them, from reacting to affordances to exploiting unforseen attributes and manipulating artifacts for their own ends. I bought the book because it highlights something missing for me in software design, the sense of being able to repurpose digital artifacts, design for creative (mis)use. There’s just so rarely that many things you can do with a web site’s controls (yes, jodi.org, blah, blah, but I’m not talking about making sculpture from a wire hanger, I’m talking about hanging your dry cleaning on the back of a chair, or even making a crack pipe from a car antenna). Anyhow, lovely synchronicity, here’s a perfect example from sxsw. So, now, how do we go about designing for this kind of thing. And, do we want to?