As someone who’s slowly inching toward 40, I feel distinctly out of place with the present. It doesn’t feel like my present. The more I age, the greater the sense of anachronism. Three distinct realities are blurring together: the old world wisdom my grandparents conveyed to me during my childhood, the analog-to-digital transition through which I have …
Tag: economy
What Does Design Want to Be?
About four years ago, I railed against the state of design at the time. As a practicing designer, it deeply troubled me that the design world had become so self-absorbed that it lost touch with reality. News articles and blogs were celebrating design for the beautiful, delightful products that it brought into the world, and praising the rockstar …
The Future of Design History
The future is so now. Everywhere you turn, there’s some book, blog post, or conference about “THE FUTURE OF something-or-other” these days. The faster tech progress moves, the more impatient people become for the next new thing. There’s certainly nothing wrong with envisioning the future and imagining possibilities for what could be. Meaningful progress depends on it. But there …
Retrospect | Prospect
Here we are, at an end and a beginning — as much a time of retrospection as of prospection and prediction. It is also a time to stop and take a look at the present. I know it’s quite customary at this time of year to do recaps, years in review, forecasts, predictions, etc. Rather …
Believing in Change + Making Change Happen
Almost through the first month of 2009, and I still can’t believe we’re in 2009. What’s even harder to believe is the great number and sheer scale of problems we’re facing in 2009: the global economic downturn the ongoing wars and conflicts around the world the persistent threat of terrorism the rapid degradation of the …