January 2010
62 posts
On Studying →
Frank Chimero:
To study means to spend time with something. Music and books have the benefit of having the qualities of time baked in to them. I can’t experience November Rain in 2 minutes. I can’t watch Citizen Kane in 20 minutes. Infinite Jest is a bonding experience because it asks so much.
I think that is why I enjoyed Irving Stone’s novel Lust For Life so much. It’s a long book....
Massimo Vignelli: In The Kitchen →
Massimo Vignelli on packaging design:
The unfortunate thing in America is that only sophisticated products have beautiful packaging. The supermarket packaging is a disaster; it is vulgar. There are countries that do better work— England and Scandinavian countries—even for public packaging. But here there is a tremendous misconception of what public is. The marketing people think they are giving...
The History of the Ampersand →
Web Designer Depot:
The word “ampersand” was first added to dictionaries in 1837. The word was created as a slurred form of “and, per se and”, which was what the alphabet ended with when recited in English-speaking schools. (Historically, “and per se” preceded any letter which was also a word in the alphabet, such as “I” or “A”. And the ampersand symbol was originally the last character in the...
Final Season of LOST Promises to Make Fans More... →
This is hilarious and describes me perfectly during LOST seasons.
Bob Noorda, 1927–2010 →
A tribute to the great Italian graphic design who passed away last week.
Confidence for Good →
The always insightful Liz Danzico on confidence, fear, and self promotion:
People, both women and men, should be so fiercely passionate about good ideas that self-promotion is a natural extension. Otherwise, why is it worth doing in the first place? It’s when confidence and self-promotion are obfuscated from passion that the claims become flimsy and empty. Confidence can bridge the gap between...
300&65 Ampersands →
This is my kind of site.
The Original Tablet →
John Gruber has a great piece on Apple’s “original tablet,” the Newton MessagePad, why it never took off, and why the new Tablet will:
Thinking of the Newton got my gears turning. It’s a fascinating comparison point for both the iPhone and whatever it is Apple is set to release. I suspect most of you reading this have never used, let alone owned, a Newton, which is a shame. They really were...
Starbucks Gets A Makeover →
A nice feature on how Starbucks is adapting it’s brand to fit into local cultures:
Starbucks stock began dropping in 2007, the Seattle-based company realized, among other things, that the cookie-cutter approach to store design had fallen out of fashion. Last year, Starbucks announced it would renovate its thousands of company-owned stores, in 52 countries, to be more sustainable and to look,...
The Importance of Routine →
A fascinating peek into the routines and rituals of some famous thinkers. Some of my favorites:
CS Lewis: Writer and thinker CS Lewis had a very clear schedule of his day, with activities such as work, walking, meals, tea, and socializing down to the very hour they should be done. He even describes when beer should be enjoyed (not at 11:00 for fear of running over the allotted 10 minutes for the...
The Fall of I.D. Magazine →
Julie Lasky, former editor of I.D. writing for Design Observer:
I stayed at I.D. for the next six years. Over that time, the parent company, which had been owned by a private equity firm based in Providence, Rhode Island, was sold to a private equity firm based in Boston. The new backers introduced a new CEO (an art-loving guy who had written his undergraduate thesis on the symbolism of bread in...
Conan O’Brian Statement Regarding ‘Tonight Show’ →
Incredibly eloquent, thoughtful and funny.
Why Introverts Can Make the Best Leaders →
Jennifer Kahnweiler for Forbes Magazine:
It has been reported that a full 40% of executives describe themselves as introverts, including Microsoft’s Bill Gates, the über-investors Warren Buffett and Charles Schwab, Avon’s chief executive, Andrea Jung, and the late publishing giant Katharine Graham. Odds are President Barack Obama is an innie as well. What does that mean? That introverts, not just...
The Small Caps Debate →
Joe Clark, arguing against the use of small caps in acronyms:
This nonsense, promulgated by snobs like that bore Bringhurst who have not read anything written after Jane Austen croaked, ostensibly improves typographic colour. What it actually does is inhibit reading: Acronyms are not regular words. All-small-caps setting fools the reader into thinking an acronym is a real world. That discomfort...
