DESIGN + MANAGEMENT
Archives for the month of: May, 2012
As stories, they are all the same: This thing is special because of the way it was made, and (usually) because of the skill/passion of this person who made it. The unspoken premise is that there is a class of consumer craving “the story behind” the object. The further premise is that this class of consumer is expanding all the time; more people want to know more about the things they buy, and so on, because global manufacturing culture has alienated us from our objects. Actually, this premise often is spoken. The knife-maker, in explaining the satisfaction of making something useful, mentions “the details” that make his objects superior to those made quickly “in Germany, by ten different robots.”
Read more at http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/the-theater-of-making/34348/
Vernacular Typography is a digital archive and community-based initiative dedicated to the documentation, preservation, and promotion of vanishing examples of lettering in the everyday environment. It seeks to explore, protect, and support the typographic environment in cities around the world that retain their rich traditions of vernacular signage.
http://blog.vernaculartypography.com and vernaculartypography.com
Some of my favorites:
Take a minute and enjoy the subtle details of this beautifully designed website.
I’m in love with this album color. The color palette and type treatment is spectacular.
Makes me really appreciate my bone finder as limitless tool.
Last night, I was wondering why my iPhone dings like a vintage bell when I get a text message. Why does new technology use sounds that are antiquated? With the development of new technology you would think new sounds would replace old sounds.
When they invented the telephone, it rang the way it did because it’s mechanisms required it to do so. But now…. Why does my mobile phone still use that ring? What is this phenomenon? What made that ring special amongst all the other telephone rings in history?
I have found the answer!
A skeuomorph 
/ˈskjuːəmɔrf/ skew-ə-morf, or skeuomorphism (Greek: skeuos—vessel or tool, morphe—shape),[1] is a derivative object that retains ornamental design cues to a structure that was necessary in the original.[2] Skeuomorphs may be deliberately employed to make the new look comfortably old and familiar,[3] such as copper cladding on zinc pennies or computer printed postage with a circular town name and cancellation lines.
An alternative definition is “an element of design or structure that serves little or no purpose in the artifact fashioned from the new material but was essential to the object made from the original material”.[4] This definition is narrower in scope and ties skeuomorphs to changes in materials.
Must find out more.
I need to enroll now:
