The Caspian The Caspian has its realms of sand, Its other realm of sea; Without the sterile perquisite No Caspian could be. Emily Dickinson, The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson beautybalance
Duality All existence seemed to be based on duality, on contrast. Either one was a man or one was a woman, either a wanderer or a sedentary burgher, either a thinking person or a feeling person – no one could breathe in at the same time as he breathed out, be a man as well as a woman, experience freedom as well as order, combine instinct and mind. One always had to pay for the one with the loss of the other, and one thing was always just as important and desirable as the other. Herman Hesse, Narcissus and Goldmund balance
Research, empathy, simplicity, speed An Article by Matthew Ström matthewstrom.com As Nosrat provides a simple list of essential ingredients for any great meal, can we describe a simple list of essential components for digital products? Here are four elements that I believe are the foundation of great digital products: Research, Empathy, Simplicity and Speed. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat designsoftwareproductsbalance
Design Discourse is in a State of Arrested Development An Essay by Khoi Vinh www.fastcompany.com [Designer News] is good, useful content, but most of it is written by designers themselves. Taken as a whole, it’s also a useful illustration of something vital that our industry lacks: balanced, insightful, independent writing that critically evaluates the profession. Starved for good journalism and criticismThe allure of clicks Undoing the Toxic Dogmatism of Digital DesignOne Designer's Response to Khoi Vinh's Complaint designcritique
Starved for good journalism and criticism Imagine for a moment if Kimmelman–or any architecture critic–was also a practicing architect, building enormous commissions for corporations at the same time he writes his columns. If this were the case, you’d probably come to one of two conclusions: either the writer in question was not a serious critic, or that the art form itself is not very serious. You might also stop to think how much poorer we would be without the contributions of his independent voice to the discussion of the craft. That is exactly the situation that the design profession finds itself in today. We are lucky to have designers actively sharing knowledge, but we’re starved for good journalism and criticism. architecturecritiquedesign
The allure of clicks If more of us, as designers, approach what we encounter on design aggregators every day in this way, perhaps we can begin to effect some structural change. By and large these sites are just as susceptible to the allure of clicks as the craft of design. But if we are more selective about what we consume, we may be able to encourage design publications to follow that lead by applying editorial judgment to what gets shared every day. consumption