So an amalgamation of things has led to this post- I'm pretty much going to repost stuff that I've collected on my way through the web.
This is a google image of Google HQ in California.
First up is a great documentary off of the BBC- The Virtual Revolution: The cost of free. Here's a couple of interesting parts of the film in quote form:
"What we've done is limited the range of human expression and activity on the internet to those things that are market friendly.
Look at the devolution of people's personal presence online, from the quirky individualistic highly personalised websites of the home pages of the HTML of the mid 90s, to the now utterly conformist and rigid profiles on something like myspace and facebook. You can no longer define yourself by anything- you must define yourself by what books you buy, by what movies you like, what actresses you aspire to- whether you are single, married or looking. By things that the market understands"
Douglas Rushkoff (Author: Life Inc)
"Millions of people obviously enjoy these recommendation systems and are happy with what they get in return- but I worry that in the process perhaps we've lost something.
I wonder whether if recommendation systems don't defeat the point of the web. Isn't the vast possibility that the web offers for serendipity to bring us unexpected raw ideas from accidental encounters being replaced by a process that apparently broadens our horizons but actually sells the same thing."
Dr Aleks Krotoski (The shows presenter)
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Next is a repost from Ben Terrett of Noisy Decent Graphics blog (also of the RIG) about 'The silver TV steel and glass stand'...
This design kind of sums up everything I hate about bad design in the naughties.
1. It's totally meaningless, devoid of any added value.
2. It's essentially a style that's been ripped off. Hugely derivative of something (probably from Ive) that was once good and then expanded and bastardised to death.
3. It triggers more poor imitations, and leads design buyers to say things like "I want it like they did it".
4. Everyone blindly buys one because everyone else has bought one. No one actually stops to think, do I like this?
5. It's so damn ugly and intrusive. Sat in the corner of your lounge looking shit.
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Next is a repost from It's Nice That's 'Discussion' Feature: 'The Blog Blackout' by Chris Gray...
I probably spend an unhealthy amount of time on blogs, to the point where I waste hours looking at the same thing on about 200 different pages. Which did get me thinking about what I did before there was countless websites all doing the same thing yet are all equally popular. From working in a big studio environment and seeing the studio grind to a halt when the net dies to working for myself trying to be disciplined enough to not click safari every time I get a spare minute. There seems to be a total reliance on being able to surf the web as part of being a designer. Surely it can’t be a good thing that most of us are all getting the same inspiration from the same places. No wonder everyones work is starting to look the same. Every week I get e-mails from students that are carbon copies of a recent post and I wish I could reach through my monitor and give them a right old slap. Not to mention that every second advert on TV seems to be cack handed rip-off from something good found on a blog. I’m sure I’m not the only one who hasn’t forgotten the Berocca advert. So that’s me done. I’ve managed to convince myself that it would do me no harm from being offline. Well. At least until tomorrow.
So, where now, how do we stay aware without falling into the pitfalls of styles and trends?
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So fill in the gaps yourself, and rant over. Go watch that documentary though- here.