One Plus One Equals Three

Quote for the Month: May 2008

"All design relies on heuristic thinking more than algorithmic thinking – meaning there is no set path, no mathematical formula, for reaching your goal. But you still need rigor and process, otherwise you'll drift from one thought to the next with no hope of it making sense than the proverbial thousand monkeys with their thousand typewriters."

Marty Neumeier, Zag: The Number One Strategy of High Performance Brands, 2007, p47.

Quote for the Month: April 2008

"I don’t trust the font Times New Roman. To me it just looks like Helvetica in a suit."
Comedian Kent Valentine, 'A Fistful of Rainbows' at The Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Quote for the Month: March 2008

"The circulation of the people should not be hindered by numerous litters and noisy chariots."
Roman edict from approximately AD 125.

"In AD 125, a limit was placed on the number of vehicles that could enter Rome. For as long as there have been roads, it seems, there have been crowds of swearing, sweaty drivers – and schemes to get rid of them. But now traffic is so bad – costing the European Union €40 billion a year – that some cities are getting serious about fighting back." Read more.

Quote for the Month: January 2008

"What, in the end, makes advertisements so superior to criticism? Not what the moving red neon sign says – but the fiery pool reflecting in the asphalt. "

Walter Benjamin. Reflections. Trans. Edmund Jephcott. New York: Schocken Books, 1986.

Quote for the Year

This has been mentioned here before, but I feel it deserves another airing.

"Imagine this design assignment: design something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, accrues solar energy as fuel and makes complex sugars as food, creates microclimates, changes sugars with the seasons, and self-replicates... why don't we knock that down and write on it?"

William McDonough of Cradle to Cradle fame, at TED.
Via Noisy Decent Graphics.

Quote for the Month: December 2007

"We in the West think that we are in a well-developed internet economy. Wrong. Only 17.8 per cent of the world's population is online."

Kimmo Alkio, President of F-Secure, Monocle, October 2007, p72.

Quote for the Month: November 2007

"Unfortunately I see design today becoming hostage to strategy and market research data. I believe that if you want true differentiation in the market you can't rely on what the market already knows, which is what you get when market strategists drive the creative process."

Fabio Ongarato, Design Hub.

Quote for the Month: October 2007

"Don’t imitate the present. Invent the future."

Jeffrey Keedy (attributed), Via Design Observer.

Quote for the Month: September 2007

"The term greenwashing applies when companies (or governments) spend more money or time advertising being green, than on investing in environmentally sound practices.

In business, greenwashing often means changing the name and/or label. Early warning signs that a product is probably toxic include images of trees, birds, or dew drops. If all three are on the box, the product will probably make your skin peel off in seconds..."

John Thackara at the Doors of Perception Blog.

A vaguely similar thread (in the context of architecture) is at Building Blog.

Quote for the Month: August 2007

"...I'm fine about record sleeves becoming obsolete. Music doesn't have as important a role to play in social culture as it did in the 1950s and '60s."

Peter Saville in The Scotsman. Via Design Observer.