Kevin Twohy

"The recurring metaphor in The Inmates are Running the Asylum is that of the dancing bear—the..."

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:33:35 -0800

“The recurring metaphor in The Inmates are Running the Asylum is that of the dancing bear—the circus bear that shuffles clumsily for the amusement of the audience. Such bears, says author Alan Cooper, don’t dance well, as everyone at the circus can see. What amazes the crowd is that the bear dances at all. Cooper argues that technology (videocassette recorders, car alarms, most software applications for personal computers) consists largely of dancing bears—pieces that work, but not at all well. He goes on to say that this is more often than not the fault of poorly designed user interfaces, and he makes a good argument that way too many devices (perhaps as a result of the designers’ subconscious wish to bully the people who tormented them as children) ask too much of their users. Too many systems (like the famous unprogrammable VCR) make their users feel stupid when they can’t get the job done.”

Nervous Structure. Stunningly beautiful.

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:06:13 -0800

Nervous Structure. Stunningly beautiful.

"Computational processes are abstract beings that inhabit computers. As they evolve, processes..."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:44:12 -0800

“Computational processes are abstract beings that inhabit computers. As they evolve, processes manipulate other abstract things called data. The evolution of a process is directed by a pattern of rules called a program. People create programs to direct processes. In effect, we conjure the spirits of the computer with our spells.”

- The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

"The acts of the mind, wherein it exerts its power over simple ideas, are chiefly these three: 1...."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:39:44 -0800

“The acts of the mind, wherein it exerts its power over simple ideas, are chiefly these three: 1. Combining several simple ideas into one compound one, and thus all complex ideas are made. 2. The sec- ond is bringing two ideas, whether simple or complex, together, and setting them by one another so as to take a view of them at once, without uniting them into one, by which it gets all its ideas of relations. 3. The third is separating them from all other ideas that accompany them in their real existence: this is called abstraction, and thus all its general ideas are made.”

- John Locke - An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)

"On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it’s so valuable. The right information..."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:39:10 -0800

“On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it’s so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other.”

- Information wants to be free - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (via slantback)

"And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing..."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:30:31 -0800

“And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about.”

- ― John Steinbeck, East of Eden (via zenchronicles)

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets..."

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:58:45 -0800

““And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.””

- Roald Dahl (via zenchronicles)

exray: The death of information - an amazing work by Michael...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:35:04 -0800

exray:

The death of information - an amazing work by Michael Rigley

"Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel..."

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:22:11 -0800

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.”

- Steve Jobs (via putorti)

"I feel like there’s a red pill and a blue pill, and you can take the blue pill and go back to your..."

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:40:50 -0800

“I feel like there’s a red pill and a blue pill, and you can take the blue pill and go back to your classroom and lecture your 20 students. But I’ve taken the red pill, and I’ve seen Wonderland.”

- Tenured Professor Departs Stanford, Hoping to Teach 500,000 Students at Online Start-Up - The Chronicle of Higher Education (via davemorin)

The Bubble Computer

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:19:43 -0800

The Bubble Computer

Decided to try a spontaneous Turing Test on the weird Comcast...

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:25:31 -0800

Decided to try a spontaneous Turing Test on the weird Comcast customer service rep (like you do), and….wait what?

"Seventy-two is a magic number in printing and typography. In 1737 Pierre Fournier used units called..."

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:07:54 -0800

“

Seventy-two is a magic number in printing and typography. In 1737 Pierre Fournier used units called ciceros to measure type. Six ciceros were 0.998 inches.

Around 1770, François-Ambroise Didot used slightly larger ciceros to fit the standard French “foot.” Didot’s pica was 0.1776 inches long and divided evenly into 12 increments. Today we call them points.

In 1886, the American Point System established a “pica” as being 0.166 inches. Six of these are 0.996 inches.

None of the units ever strayed far from 12 points per pica: 6 picas per inch = 72 points per inch. It was an important standard by 1984, when Apple prepared to introduce the first Macintosh computer.

”

- The Myth of DPI

"The urge for good design is the same as the urge to go on living. The assumption is that somewhere,..."

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:38:30 -0800

“The urge for good design is the same as the urge to go on living. The assumption is that somewhere, hidden, is a better way of doing things.”

- Harry Bertoia

Symmetry

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:35:14 -0800

Symmetry

A History of the Sky

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:26:05 -0800

A History of the Sky

"Software options proliferate extremely easily, too easily in fact, because too many options create..."

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:14:07 -0800

“Software options proliferate extremely easily, too easily in fact, because too many options create tools that can’t ever be used intuitively. Intuitive actions confine the detail work to a dedicated part of the brain, leaving the rest of one’s mind free to respond with attention and sensitivity to the changing texture of the moment. With tools, we crave intimacy. This appetite for emotional resonance explains why users - when given a choice - prefer deep rapport over endless options. You can’t have a relationship with a device whose limits are unknown to you, because without limits it keeps becoming something else.”

- Wired 7.01: The Revenge of the Intuitive

(via davidhoffman)

Frontiers through the Ages

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:12:28 -0800

dbreunig:

Water, 1400

Land, 1840

Gold, 1850

Wire, 1880

Air, 1900

Celluloid, 1920

Plastic, 1950

Space, 1960

Silicon, 1980

Networks, 1990

Data, 2000

10 New Years Resolutions for Designers

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:36:00 -0800

10 New Years Resolutions for Designers:

You are not Jesus and comps aren’t for saving. If something isn’t working, start over. Otherwise the goal you’re working towards is saving your work, not solving the problem.

Also, comps do not have feelings. You are not abandoning them. (You have no idea how much therapy that sentence took. Seriously.)

This urge comes from not wanting to feel like the time they’ve spent on that comp is wasted. The only possible way you can waste time is by being dishonest with yourself about its value. If you just spent an hour on a comp thinking it was working, then that was time spent honestly trying to solve a problem. The minute you realise the comp isn’t working and you start trying to “save it”, you’re no longer working towards good design. You’re working towards ego salvage. You gonna bill for that? That’s what I mean by dishonest time.

"...I think each of us has a finite amount of terrible radio in us, and you have to work to get it out. You can’t think it out. You can’t study other pieces and avoid it altogether. Producing radio is the only real answer." - Roman Mars

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:28:30 -0800

"...I think each of us has a finite amount of terrible radio in us, and you have to work to get it out. You can’t think it out. You can’t study other pieces and avoid it altogether. Producing radio is the only real answer." - Roman Mars:

99percentinvisible:

Hey! I said that!