Thursday, September 24, 2009

m is for mobile


>I have a few mobiles, and I love them. There are a lot that are too "busy", too many things, but some are simple, and perfect. Like these. Someday I will learn how to make one. And I will put a bunch of cool letters on it. M's, of course.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

too cool to be practical

> I got these cool magnets as a gift from someone who knows I love typography. I also love practical things. But sometimes a "thing" is so cool the way it is, that I can't use it as it's intended, because it wouldn't be AS cool. So rather than take them apart to use as magnets, I keep the whole thing together as a single magnetic typographic design.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

nostalgia...with backup music

> I admit I'm "old-school" when it comes to buying music. A couple days ago, I received a CD I had "pre-purchased" from Amazon. There are certain artists whose music I buy without even listening to it. I know I will love it. And 99% of the time, I do. I'm happy to buy the entire CD, and love to look at the designed elements of the packaging as I burn the music to my iTunes, sync it to my iPod, and put the CD away, not to be touched again. Yes, it's an "offline backup", but it's also a library of design nostalgia. I know I'm probably a dying breed. People download albums, songs, and never even touch a CD anymore.
> But is there no appreciation for the design anymore? The cool graphics screen printed on the CD itself? The liner notes? I, for one, feel like that's part of listening to the music for the first time—reading the lyrics, the acknowledgments—which have the musician's personality running throughout—isn't there something to it that people (besides me) enjoy?
> Technology—definitely a good thing. And good for music too. I don't dispute that. But I am worried for the day that the CD and its case full of design treasures will become obsolete. I hope there are enough people like me, who buy the actual CDs, not JUST for the music, but because there's a tactile part of buying the music that we enjoy, again and again, because we can.