Link Drop Today

Happy to see the interview on Booooooom with Hiroyuki Hamada reposted. I wasn’t familiar with his artwork before today.

Stack America is a great idea in the making. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of a private magazine club where you get a selection of curated magazines mailed to you that you may not have ever known about before. It is bimonthly and will end up costing you $72 in the US. It’s a bit more in other countries…

I felt a bit smarter after reading the Wisdom Manifesto. The argument is that there’s too much strategy and not enough wisdom. Umair Haque points to nine points that could help organizations improve. Under the umbrella there’s 1. express, 2. energize, 3. channel, 4. ignite, 5. evoke, 6. examine, 7. rise, 8. be and 9. renew. And while each of the principles sound sort of new age’ish they all suggest a bit more consideration. My fav. suggestion of the article was about renew:

Renew. Strategies are as disposable as a cheap plastic razor. But wisdom is eternal. And that means that it’s a ceaseless quest for learning. Here’s the measure of a wisely spent day: one where you learned five new things. At the end of the day, can you articulate them? If you can’t, odds are you’re not acting wisely. Wise organizations institutionalize everyone’s daily learning, and a simple path to wisdom is to be the person in your organization that brings the Rule of Fives to life.

Lately I’ve been thinking about constraints, limitations and the conditions that create those elements. While it is true that there needs to be some sort of boundry to focus on, sometimes it’s not a lot of fun. There’s a post from 52 Weeks of UX titled the Power of Frameworks, something that I thought came at the right time for me to read. They break it down the idea of a framework into four categories: structural, visual, social and conceptual—each having something to offer. Apparently it’s not just about boxes.

Nooka has been a great supporter of Design Notes and Link Drop Today since I started. Because of that support it always feels a bit weird posting about them, however I do think their stuff kicks ass which means from time to time I’ll pass along stuff that I think is worth mentioning. I don’t do sponsored posts which mean if I like something from a supporter I’ll write about it because I want to. So with that said I do think it’s worth reading Nooka’s Nookafesto, a reason d’etre for a couple reason. Every company or designer for that matter should from time to time reflect on who they are and what they stand for. I like Nooka’s example because they’re putting it out there as a work in progress. They’re fans will let them know if it’s working or not. Something more of companies should have an ear out for.

Micheal Rylander points to this great art piece of a model boat made at life size from artist Michael Johansson.

Really cool idea about LAPTOP REFLECTIONS. A camera was set up to take a screen shot and image of the user at the exact same moment. As a rational, they talk about the screen: “The screen sees me the whole time while I am looking at it, I am not embarrassed by it, it is neutral, invisible even, I don’t register its existence, it is just a glowing surface. The screen is inextricably connected to my life. It is a door that I pull shut behind me, which gives me access to a space where I can disappear. It is my gateway to information, it is my space for communication, it is a space where I carry out my work and enjoy myself. I entered into this connection and I am addicted to it”.

Found via Dailogue Through Design, 78 Reasonable Questions to Ask about Any Design by Stephanie Mills suggests a lot of things a designer should think about.

Ecological
1. What are its effects on the health of the planet and of the person?
2. Does it preserve or destroy biodiversity?
3. Does it preserve or reduce ecosystem integrity?
4. What are its effects on the land?
5. What are its effects on wildlife?
6. How much and what kind of waste does it generate?
7. Does it incorporate the principles of ecological design?
8. Does it break the bond of renewal between humans and nature?
9. Does it preserve or reduce cultural biodiversity?
10. What is the totality of its effects – it’s “ecology”?

Social
11. Does it serve community?
12. Does it empower community members?
13. How does it affect our perception of our needs?
14. Is it consistent with the creation of a communal, human economy?
15. What are its effects on relationships?
16. Does it undermine conviviality?
17. Does it undermine traditional forms of community?
18. How does it affect our way of scene and experiencing the world?
19. Does it foster a diversity of forms of knowledge?
20. Does it build on, or contribute to, the renewal of traditional forms of knowledge?
21. Does it serve to commodify knowledge or relationships?
22. To what extent does it redefine reality?
23. Does it to raise a sense of time and history?
24. What is its potential to become addictive?

Moral
25. What values does its use foster?
26. What is gained by its use?
27. What are its effects beyond its ability to the individual?
28. What is lost in using it?
29. What are its effects on the least person in the society?

Aesthetic
30. Is it ugly?
31. Does cause ugliness?
32. What noise does it make?
33. What pace does it set?
34. How does it affect quality of life (as distinct from standard of living)?

Practical
35. What does it make?
36. Who does it benefit?
37. What is its purpose?
38. Where was produced?
39. Where is it used?
40. Where must go when it’s broken or obsolete?
41. How expensive is it?
42. Can it be repaired? By an ordinary person?
43. What is the entirety of its cost-the full cost accounting?

Ethical
44. How complicated is it?
45. What does it allow us to ignore?
46. To what extent does it distance agents from effect?
47. Can we assume personal, or communal, responsibility for its effects?
48. Can its effects be directly apprehended?
49. What ancillary technologies does it require?
50. What behavior might it make possible in the future?
51. What other technologies might it make possible?
52. Does it alter our sense of time and relationships in ways conducive to nihilism?

Vocational
53. What is its impact on craft?
54. Does it reduce, deaden, or enhance human creativity?
55. Is it the least imposing technology available for the task?
56. Does it replace, or does it aid, human hands and human beings?
57. Can it be responsive to organic circumstance?
58. Does it depress or enhance the quality of goods?
59. Does it depress or enhance the meaning of work?

Political
60. What is its mystique?
61. Does it concentrate or equalize power?
62. Does it require, or institute, a knowledge elite?
63. Is it totalitarian?
64. Does it require a bureaucracy for its perpetuation?
65. What legal empowerments does it require?
66. Does it undermine traditional moral authority?
67. Does it require military defense?
68. Does it enhance, or serve, military purposes?
69. How does it affect warfare?
70. Does it foster a mass thinking or behavior?
71. Is it consistent with the creation of global economy?
72. Does it empower transnational corporations?
73. What kind of capital does it require?

Metaphysical
74. What aspect of the inner self does it reflect?
75. Does it express love?
76. Does it express rage?
77. What aspect of our past does it reflect?
78. Does it reflect cynical or linear thinking?

While it’s pretty hard not to read about a press release of a company doing something with social media, Ana in What are social media really good for? brings up some great questions about it—like is a brand extending themselves with pr stunts and using social media as a means to build the business/service (she uses the word marketing, I prefer to think it’s something more meaningful). She does note that those companies that are top of mind tend to be providing a service to their customers as opposed to just pushing product.

While it’s easy to take tagging for granted on the street one person has kept her eyes on what’s been going on inside a library of all places as the WSJ story A Statistical Stab at Graffiti talks about. She’s been capturing the images on flickr and has been entering them into a spread sheet. Predictable feelings of love at the beginning year tend to pop up early in the school year while near finals things turn a bit darker.