Digital Presence

Christmas time, amongst other things, is a time for present giving and receiving. And an annual problem is finding gifts for those close to you, and for those you have been buying presents for, for most of your life; parents especially!

This year, I have brought my parents a digital photo frame. Allowing them to watch a sequence of pictures of their family throughout the years – ‘share your memories’ it states on the box – it truly is a present that keeps on giving!

The digital frames on sale – from Boots to Bloomingdales – are, by and large, generic in design: plastic, shiny and oblong. Of interest here are the images used to market the frames. On counter displays and the Internet alike, the images are the usual family/holiday/funny typologies; the same as those used to market the ‘Box Brownie’ over 100 years ago!

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The Beautiful Game: architecture and visual communication

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Re-writing (graphic) design history: part one

Recently, I read an article at Design Observer on the subject of relational design. It is a thoughtful beautifully scripted essay by Andrew Blauvelt. Any student of design writing should seek it out as an excellent example of structure and argument. The essay breaks down the last 100 years or so, demarcating 3 historical ‘phases’ in Design: from a preoccupation with form at the beginning of the 20th Century, to cultural semantics in design starting in the 60s, and finally the third stage – an investigation of the performative nature of design. The essay concludes by framing the ‘relational’ as a defining element to design today.  By and large, I agree with the essay’s conclusion and have written on the subject myself – if not as cogently.

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