"New" design aesthetics?

Nothing for months (not that nothing interesting was happening; rather, I mean that I've just been lazy/busy and not writing anything on this blog), then POW, something interesting pops up. Gizmodo posted an article yesterday about a SXSW panel on "The New Aesthetic," a (kinda) new trend in digital design. That article linked out to a Wired article by Bruce Sterling and to several other sites, including Glitch - Designing Imperfection and a sort of manifesto on a site called Book Two, that comment on this New Aesthetic.

In part, The New Aesthetic (P.S. can't we come up with a better name than that?) is about representing the digital glitches inherent in - what to call them? - "failed" digital design. Errors sometimes created in digital design become art unto itself. Pixelation can (should) be celebrated. Googlemaps goofery is a comment on the nature of the visual form. OK, yeah, I'm oversimplifying it, but I think there are some interesting aspects of postmodernity going on in these concepts. Go read the artciles. What do you think?

Edward Tufte and the unyielding passage of time

I haven't posted in a while, but I've got some things coming soon. I went to a symposium last week given by Edward Tutfte, and had my mind pretty much melted. The presentaion itself was dynamite and has given me so much to think about in terms of information design that I'm sort of at a loss as to how to proceed.

I mean, I use PowerPoint all the time, and - in case you don't know - Tufte has a pretty serious hatred of PowerPoint. Well, no that's not exactly right. He argues essentially that PowerPoint, as a medium, has become crutch presenters rely on AND it's dumbed down the presentation of potentially complex data. He points out that even Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, has gotten sick of bulletized, oversimplified slide decks that his company's software creates.

Anyway, I'm doing some serious re-thinking about how I deliver information (create meaning?). In the meantime, I've added a couple great infodesign blogs to my bloglist. go check out what more dilligent writers (staffs thereof?) are writing.

Seeing is believing. Believing is seeing.

A friend recently sent me a link to this video of an artist who works in what's called "tilt-shift" photography, which is often used to create images of fake miniature models. Per our discussion about "truth" in images, about visual rhetoric and communication, I thought it's an interesting thing to think about. Check out the slide show below. If it doesn't load, click on the "Metal Heart" link to go to Vimeo's site.



Metal Heart from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.