February 2010
44 posts
4 tags
Steven Heller on Olympic Pictograms →
Audio commentary from the great Steven Heller on the Olympic Pictograms through the years.
4 tags
4 tags
Not To See →
Paul LaFarge on black:
The contemporary philosopher Giorgio Agamben, following Aristotle, remarks that the fact that we see darkness means that our eyes have not only the potential to see, but also the potential not to see. (If we had only the potential to see, we would never have the experience of not-seeing.) This twofold potential, to do and not to do, is not only a feature of our sight,...
Reflections on Apple's Shareholder Meeting →
Dan Frakes, reporting for Macworld:
Perhaps the most thoughtful response of the day came when a woman wondered about the biggest challenges the company sees going forward, asking Jobs, ”What keeps you up at night?”
“Shareholder meetings,” Jobs quickly quipped, before giving the meeting a cold splash of reality.
Just another reason I love Steve Jobs.
3 tags
To Find Is The Thing →
Jonah Lehrer quotes Picasso in his piece on creativity, age, inspiration, and genius:
I have never made trials or experiments. Whenever I had something to say, I have said it in the manner in which I needed to be said…I can hardly understand the importance given to the word research in connection with modern painting. In my opinion to search means nothing in painting. To find is the thing.
...
3 tags
One Year
I got a lovely email from Tumblr this morning informing me that this blog you are reading right now turns one today. It started simply as an experiment to see how I liked the Tumblr platform and it slowly evolved into my primary blog, making it my official blog just last week.
It all started with this little link announcing my discovery of the band Radical Face. This is especially ironic since I...
4 tags
Take a Hike. Help your brain. →
Seth Fischer arguing that taking a walk outside will make you smarter:
It’s called Attention Restorative Theory, and the idea behind it is that when you go for a walk in, say, the woods, you’re using a more subtle “involuntary attention” when looking at things like sunsets or squirrels. When you’re in the city, you’re always avoiding that asshole bicyclist, stepping over that pile of human poo, or...
3 tags
5 tags
The Importance of Boredom →
An interesting perspective on boredom:
It’s about a certain mindset. Perfect boredom is the enjoyment of the moment of stasis that comes between slowing down and speeding up — like sitting at a traffic light for a particularly long time. It’s at the cusp of action, because however enjoyable it may be, boredom is really not a long-term aspiration. It’s for an afternoon before a sociable evening. It...
7 tags
Words create worlds →
Jon Foreman, lead singer of Switchfoot, for The Huffington Post:
The artist is a bridge between despair and hope. The artist, more than anyone else is responsible for the re-creation, re-definition and re-thinking the world around us. Every poem, every song, every painting has tremendous possibility. Each of these creations could be a letter of resignation to The World That Is or a window into The...
5 tags
The Auteur Theory of Design
For a few months now, I’ve been fascinated with the auteur theory of film criticism. An auteur is defined as “an artist, often a film or theatre director, whose complete control over all aspects of a production gives the end result a recognizable feel.” This emerged in France in the late 1950’s when a movie reflected the director’s personal creative vision and his voice is evident throughout. The...
Happy Friday! Phoenix’s album Wolfgang...
On finding a good story →
Dave Guggenheim, director of the recent documentary, It Might Get Loud:
A great interview comes from a conversation. And if you keep asking questions that are on your list, you’re certain never to get there, because each question yanks you out of that spontaneity. It yanks you out of that path. Too many directors get in their own way. And certainly, with documentaries, ones that are pretty boring...
Roger Ebert: The Essential Man →
Esquire has a terrific piece on Roger Ebert and his journey with thyroid cancer and what life is like now unable to eat, drink and speak.
Jobs to Collaborate on Biography →
Brad Stone reporting for The New York Times:
Apple’s chief executive is set to collaborate on an authorized biography, to be written by Walter Isaacson, the former managing editor of Time magazine, according to two people briefed on the project.
The book, which is in the early planning stages, would cover the entire life of Mr. Jobs, from his youth in the area now known as Silicon Valley through...
Learning Math All Over Again →
I’m not sure how I missed this, but Steven Strogatz is writing a weekly column for The New York Times that’s attempting to breakdown the mysteries and confusion of mathematics and numbers. This first article was excellent.
Once you finish it, please continue to part two on addition and then part three on subtraction. Mr. Strogatz ability to break down fundamental principles is mind...
Designing for Improvisation →
The always wonderful Liz Danzico:
As people, as designers, we think in terms of expectations. We can turn scraps of sound into a symphony. Just like Miles Davis and his sextet turned scraps of paper into one of the best-selling albums of all time. Just like we, as designers, turn scraps of paper into transformative designs. This is our ability. To frame experiences; to extract information; to make...
3 tags
“Do you want me to tell you something really subversive? Love is everything that...”
– Erica Jong
4 tags
Is This Thing On?
After copious amounts of coffee, countless late nights, and a last minute push, I’m very excited to welcome you to the brand new JarrettFuller.com. Version six, if you happen to be counting.
I wasn’t planning on a redesign, really. I liked my previous design. It had a certain character. It was flexible, simple, and straightforward. It had served me well for nearly two years. And that fact right...
3 tags
3 tags
‘Up in the Air’ Opening Title Sequence →
Director Jason Reitman on filming the open titles:
We went up with a propeller plane and the pilot had to wear an oxygen mask to get up that high; we took a camera out on a wing, we went digital instead of film, and then the camera would not go straight down, so they’d have to put the plane into a dive to get the camera to go down. I mean it was just like unreal how hard it was to get this...
Information is Beautiful →
A brand new book full of information graphics, annual reports, and charts. This is definitely going on the “must purchase” list.
3 tags
“I simply want to celebrate the fact that right near your home, year in and year...”
– Kay Ryan, US Poet Laureate
5 tags
Keeping Busy, Inspiration and Making Really Cool...
Alex Cornell over at ISO50 recently asked twenty-five top creatives how they work through their creative blocks.
Go read through it now.
While all the responses are insightful and informative, I was particularly interested in this comment from designer Nicholas Felton:
My other strategy is to keep my plate as full as possible. I tend to say yes to more than I can do, and the fear of failure...
5 tags
Something Borrowed →
I’m currently reading Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book, What the Dog Saw, a collection of his essays from The New Yorker. I read the essay Something Borrowed last night and it could be my favorite from the set so far. It’s about plagiarism, creative work, and borrowing inspiration. It’s worth a read.
3 tags
‘The Last Airbender’ Super Bowl Trailer →
Not sure how I missed this, but apparently a full trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s latest movie, a live action adaptation of The Last Airbender aired last night. Needless to say, I’m completely blown away. This looks completely different than anything Shyamalan has done and I just can’t get over the sheer grandness of it all. Think we can call this a comeback?
(It doesn’t...
3 tags
5 tags
WatchThis is an interesting short documentary titled Delivered in Beta about the effects of social media on design. It’s an interesting topic to think about and in regards to collaboration, I tend to go back and forth. On one end, I think it’s great to take a product/design/etc and let your audience use it and interact with in the midst of the process so you can continue to perfect it....
3 tags
The Rhythms of Climbing →
Craig Mod:
Climbing is meditation. I’ve long since realized this is why I’m drawn to this kind of activity.
By ‘meditation’ I mean, having space to think. Feeling an emptiness in the mind that enables you to consider solutions to tough problems, or not-so-tough problems, or just, god forbid, to relax. I find I need doses of this space in regular intervals.
And then:
But...
3 tags
‘Each one of us is not the center of the universe’ →
Frank Chimero is seriously KILLING IT lately. His blog is easily in my top five daily reads every day. His piece today on knowing your audience is something I’ve thought about quite a bit:
My “dream sequence” forced me to flirt with the idea that everyone around me is sometimes bored when listening. Talk about being brought down to scale. No one likes to be minimized or excluded. But, as a...
4 tags
“You can’t fake quality anymore than you can fake a good meal.”
– William S. Burroughs
‘Just be curious out there. Things will pop up... →
Scout Book has a terrific interview with one of my current favorite designers/illustrators/thinkers Frank Chimero. A few choice quotes:
Style is such a complicated thing thing now. Some people tell young practitioners to avoid style so they can grow. The market says illustrators should have a style so clients can minimize risk and predict what they will get. Other people say no style is a style....
Most Designers Can’t Write →
Natalia Ilyin:
Most designers cannot write. I don’t mean they can’t write like Faulkner. I don’t mean they don’t have a discernable prose style. I mean they cannot WRITE. They do not know where to put a subject and a verb and a capital and a period. They are functionally illiterate. Only the very top echelon of designers writes. And let me tell you, that top echelon writes...
LOST Interactive Timeline →
A good way to get ready for tonight’s final season premier. I can’t wait!
‘Everything is amazing and no one is happy’ →
Mark Morford:
You have but to take a peek in the comments section below this column, any column, any article on this or any news site whatsoever, to see just how mean and nasty we have become. It does not matter what the piece might be about. Obama’s speech. High speed rail. Popular dog breeds. Your grandmother’s cookies. The anonymous comments section of any major media site or...
Utility Ambiguity →
Frank Chimero:
Regardless, it feels like an important shift when the two cultural markers of early 2010 aren’t products, but platforms. Clear-cut utility won’t ever completely go away, but I think that more and more, I’ll place value on products and sites and ideas by how excited I am to participate with and contribute to them. Attention and enthusiasm are scarcer resources than money.
The two...
