Essays
The Road Through Your Screen
2 June 2023
Using the Y-Axis to Maintain Focus and Attention 27 May 2023
The Rhythm of Your Screen 20 May 2023
How to Turn Good Design Direction into a Good System 13 May 2023
What I Want From The Internet 7 May 2023
What happens when the computers disappear? 6 May 2023
Designing for (Realistic) Attention 5 May 2023
Persuasion 15 April 2023
My Reverse Time Capsule 19 March 2023
We Live in the Uncanny Valley Now 28 January 2022
What Eyes Want 17 December 2021
Are We Ready? 3 December 2021
There Is No Digital World 19 November 2021
What We Do When We See 5 November 2021
What If Phones Were Actually Designed for Hands? 5 November 2021
Can a Robot Do a Designer's Job? 29 October 2021
A Pep Talk for those Who Work Bullshit Jobs 22 October 2021
The Last Time 15 October 2021
Move Slow and Preserve Things 17 September 2021
Less Doesn't Have to Be More. It Can Just Be Less. 3 September 2021
From the Desk Of 27 August 2021
Systems Design is Not Enough 20 August 2021
Books 13 August 2021
We Have Eight Years Left 30 July 2021
First Principles 23 July 2021
Why I Am Still A Designer 16 July 2021
Turn It All Off 2 July 2021
We Write, Therefore We Are Cyborgs 18 June 2021
The Mosaic 11 June 2021
The World is Crowded and That is Natural 28 May 2021
The Luddites Were Right 21 May 2021
We Don't Need More Information 14 May 2021
The Problem With Design is Designers 7 May 2021
Think About the Future's Past 30 April 2021
Encapsulated Experiences 23 April 2021
73 Ideas that Should Provoke You 12 April 2021
Progress Jams 9 April 2021
The Power of Small Images 2 April 2021
Other Ways 2 April 2021
Future Objects 19 March 2021
Your Phone is Destroying the World 12 March 2021
The Circle of Now 5 March 2021
The Riddle of the Square 26 February 2021
Attention Stewardship 19 February 2021
This Is Not Good Design 11 February 2021
Search Engines Don't Work and They Are Not Good 5 February 2021
The Biggest Dream is of the Small, Simple Life 29 January 2021
Cross-Examining Coincidence in the Courtroom of Technology 27 January 2021
That Coincidental Advertisement is Not Just a Coincidence 22 January 2021
Good Prophecy Doesn't Have to Be Right 15 January 2021
We Have A Reality Problem 8 January 2021
Success Mysticism 31 December 2020
The Place Where We Shelter 1 July 2020
Active Erasure 20 April 2018
Progress Bombs 6 April 2018
Computer Nostalgia and Malignant Doppelwelts 8 March 2018
Want to Resist? Delete Your Facebook Account 22 February 2018
Unexpected and Realistic AI Headlines 28 July 2017
Introducing The Liminal 18 July 2017
Facebook Is Not necessary 4 December 2016
Talking to Machines 4 November 2016
Behind Every Robot is a Human 29 October 2016
Unearthed Time Capsules 10 October 2016
Words Matter 2 October 2016
Design is Art with Rules 2 September 2016
A Solution that Doesn't Exist 13 August 2016
We don't fear the future… 30 July 2016
A Slice of Life 9 June 2016
How to Design a Different Future 3 June 2016
The Magic of Ordinary Objects 27 May 2016
When the World Around You Shook 12 May 2016
Unchecked Attention Avarice 17 March 2016
How to Think About the Future 10 March 2016
Sympathy for the Sim 26 February 2016
The Most Difficult Thing About Design 19 February 2016
Technological Luxury is Powered by Oppression 11 February 2016
Beneath the Interface Layer 4 February 2016
How to Get Your Time Back 22 January 2016
We Are What We Watch 2 January 2016
Upgrading Our Way Out 18 December 2015
Time's First Principles 13 November 2015
Until They All Have Faces 6 November 2015
Back to the Real Future 23 October 2015
The Fit Filter 16 October 2015
Street Ritual 9 October 2015
The Gift in Our Work 25 September 2015
Sabbaticalifragilisticexpialidocious! 18 September 2015
The dream of the Nineties is alive… 21 August 2015
It won’t be interesting until we can’t see it anymore. 14 August 2015
Step aside, keep quiet, and listen. 7 August 2015
Greetings from the Rubbish Patch 30 July 2015
The Last Thing We Need 24 July 2015
Enter the Void 15 July 2015
Perceiving the Machine 2 July 2015
Where are you, Digital Le Corbusier? 26 June 2015
Randoposto 19 June 2015
Keeping the Fire Lit 12 June 2015
The Power of Perspective 4 June 2015
Emails are the new blogs. 3 June 2015
What is an idea worth? 28 May 2015
We Always Start Now 26 May 2015
The Designer Stands Firm 8 May 2015
Etc. Etc. Etc. 1 May 2015
Advertising is an Anachronism 17 April 2015
A 200-Word Mixpost 3 April 2015
The Cost of Cognitive Surplus 27 March 2015
A.I. is U.I. 13 March 2015
The way to make good things is to make many things. 6 March 2015
Neighborhoods, the Anti-Algorithm 27 February 2015
Everyone is someone else’s marketer… 20 February 2015
Don't Think About the Future 11 February 2015
Through the Looking Glass 29 January 2015
Futures of Making and Being 16 January 2015
Liner Notes for a Lifetime Mix 9 January 2015
Thirty-Four (a lifetime film list) 1 January 2015
Thirty-Four (a lifetime mix) 31 December 2014
We'll get there fast and then we'll take it slow. 19 December 2014
The information is not entirely online. 12 December 2014
"I just want something real to happen." 4 December 2014
Blackfridaycore 28 November 2014
We are all working for different futures. 21 November 2014
Hyper-local NIMBYism (and Other Easy Critiques) 13 November 2014
The Inexorable March of Convenience 6 November 2014
21st Century Simulacra 30 October 2014
Something Wetter than Pixels 23 October 2014
A cup of tea and a crowbar materialize in space... 16 October 2014
Truth and Ditto 9 October 2014
Take Time 4 October 2014
Flesh and Machine 1 October 2014
Going Postal 29 September 2014
Independent Brains 27 September 2014
The Disappointment of Now 25 September 2014
Time-Collapsers, Great and Small 23 September 2014
On Expertise and Control 13 August 2014
How to Tell the User's Story 14 April 2014
Remote Viewing 30 March 2014
Maybe that acquisition is just good advertising. 26 March 2014
"Disruption" 14 March 2014
Guts 9 March 2014
This Mediated Life 4 March 2014
Groupthink 25 February 2014
There’s a person at the other end. 21 February 2014
More destabilizing ideas, please. 20 February 2014
We don't solve real problems anymore. 19 February 2014
Detroit 22 January 2014
Being Online in 2014 3 January 2014
Loves and Resolutions 1 January 2014
Don't Be So Linear 15 October 2012
Stuck in Idle 11 August 2012
Several Things I Have Learned 29 May 2012
Playing with Data 14 May 2012
On Digital Davids and Goliaths: Why the Design We Trust Usually Comes from the Little Guy 13 March 2012
Future Daydream 10 January 2012
Ethical Technology, 5 15 December 2011
Ethical Technology, 4 14 December 2011
Ethical Technology, 3 13 December 2011
Ethical Technology, 2 12 December 2011
Ethical Technology, 1 11 December 2011
Smarter, Better Cyborgs 16 September 2011
How Should We Contain the Cloud 15 July 2011
The Folly of the Flock 1 June 2011
We are Latently Enslaved by Our Own Ingenuity 10 February 2010
Interview with John Maeda 24 July 2009
Can Any Problem Be Solved? 6 February 2009
21st Century Skillset 3 February 2009
The End of Solitude 27 January 2009
Time Definitely Has Value 26 January 2009
The Great Equalizer 23 January 2009
In Real Life 19 January 2009
Respond 7 January 2009
Interview with Silas Munro 22 September 2008
Interview with Eric Karjaluoto 18 August 2008
Using the Y-Axis to Maintain Focus and Attention 27 May 2023
The Rhythm of Your Screen 20 May 2023
How to Turn Good Design Direction into a Good System 13 May 2023
What I Want From The Internet 7 May 2023
What happens when the computers disappear? 6 May 2023
Designing for (Realistic) Attention 5 May 2023
Persuasion 15 April 2023
My Reverse Time Capsule 19 March 2023
We Live in the Uncanny Valley Now 28 January 2022
What Eyes Want 17 December 2021
Are We Ready? 3 December 2021
There Is No Digital World 19 November 2021
What We Do When We See 5 November 2021
What If Phones Were Actually Designed for Hands? 5 November 2021
Can a Robot Do a Designer's Job? 29 October 2021
A Pep Talk for those Who Work Bullshit Jobs 22 October 2021
The Last Time 15 October 2021
Move Slow and Preserve Things 17 September 2021
Less Doesn't Have to Be More. It Can Just Be Less. 3 September 2021
From the Desk Of 27 August 2021
Systems Design is Not Enough 20 August 2021
Books 13 August 2021
We Have Eight Years Left 30 July 2021
First Principles 23 July 2021
Why I Am Still A Designer 16 July 2021
Turn It All Off 2 July 2021
We Write, Therefore We Are Cyborgs 18 June 2021
The Mosaic 11 June 2021
The World is Crowded and That is Natural 28 May 2021
The Luddites Were Right 21 May 2021
We Don't Need More Information 14 May 2021
The Problem With Design is Designers 7 May 2021
Think About the Future's Past 30 April 2021
Encapsulated Experiences 23 April 2021
73 Ideas that Should Provoke You 12 April 2021
Progress Jams 9 April 2021
The Power of Small Images 2 April 2021
Other Ways 2 April 2021
Future Objects 19 March 2021
Your Phone is Destroying the World 12 March 2021
The Circle of Now 5 March 2021
The Riddle of the Square 26 February 2021
Attention Stewardship 19 February 2021
This Is Not Good Design 11 February 2021
Search Engines Don't Work and They Are Not Good 5 February 2021
The Biggest Dream is of the Small, Simple Life 29 January 2021
Cross-Examining Coincidence in the Courtroom of Technology 27 January 2021
That Coincidental Advertisement is Not Just a Coincidence 22 January 2021
Good Prophecy Doesn't Have to Be Right 15 January 2021
We Have A Reality Problem 8 January 2021
Success Mysticism 31 December 2020
The Place Where We Shelter 1 July 2020
Active Erasure 20 April 2018
Progress Bombs 6 April 2018
Computer Nostalgia and Malignant Doppelwelts 8 March 2018
Want to Resist? Delete Your Facebook Account 22 February 2018
Unexpected and Realistic AI Headlines 28 July 2017
Introducing The Liminal 18 July 2017
Facebook Is Not necessary 4 December 2016
Talking to Machines 4 November 2016
Behind Every Robot is a Human 29 October 2016
Unearthed Time Capsules 10 October 2016
Words Matter 2 October 2016
Design is Art with Rules 2 September 2016
A Solution that Doesn't Exist 13 August 2016
We don't fear the future… 30 July 2016
A Slice of Life 9 June 2016
How to Design a Different Future 3 June 2016
The Magic of Ordinary Objects 27 May 2016
When the World Around You Shook 12 May 2016
Unchecked Attention Avarice 17 March 2016
How to Think About the Future 10 March 2016
Sympathy for the Sim 26 February 2016
The Most Difficult Thing About Design 19 February 2016
Technological Luxury is Powered by Oppression 11 February 2016
Beneath the Interface Layer 4 February 2016
How to Get Your Time Back 22 January 2016
We Are What We Watch 2 January 2016
Upgrading Our Way Out 18 December 2015
Time's First Principles 13 November 2015
Until They All Have Faces 6 November 2015
Back to the Real Future 23 October 2015
The Fit Filter 16 October 2015
Street Ritual 9 October 2015
The Gift in Our Work 25 September 2015
Sabbaticalifragilisticexpialidocious! 18 September 2015
The dream of the Nineties is alive… 21 August 2015
It won’t be interesting until we can’t see it anymore. 14 August 2015
Step aside, keep quiet, and listen. 7 August 2015
Greetings from the Rubbish Patch 30 July 2015
The Last Thing We Need 24 July 2015
Enter the Void 15 July 2015
Perceiving the Machine 2 July 2015
Where are you, Digital Le Corbusier? 26 June 2015
Randoposto 19 June 2015
Keeping the Fire Lit 12 June 2015
The Power of Perspective 4 June 2015
Emails are the new blogs. 3 June 2015
What is an idea worth? 28 May 2015
We Always Start Now 26 May 2015
The Designer Stands Firm 8 May 2015
Etc. Etc. Etc. 1 May 2015
Advertising is an Anachronism 17 April 2015
A 200-Word Mixpost 3 April 2015
The Cost of Cognitive Surplus 27 March 2015
A.I. is U.I. 13 March 2015
The way to make good things is to make many things. 6 March 2015
Neighborhoods, the Anti-Algorithm 27 February 2015
Everyone is someone else’s marketer… 20 February 2015
Don't Think About the Future 11 February 2015
Through the Looking Glass 29 January 2015
Futures of Making and Being 16 January 2015
Liner Notes for a Lifetime Mix 9 January 2015
Thirty-Four (a lifetime film list) 1 January 2015
Thirty-Four (a lifetime mix) 31 December 2014
We'll get there fast and then we'll take it slow. 19 December 2014
The information is not entirely online. 12 December 2014
"I just want something real to happen." 4 December 2014
Blackfridaycore 28 November 2014
We are all working for different futures. 21 November 2014
Hyper-local NIMBYism (and Other Easy Critiques) 13 November 2014
The Inexorable March of Convenience 6 November 2014
21st Century Simulacra 30 October 2014
Something Wetter than Pixels 23 October 2014
A cup of tea and a crowbar materialize in space... 16 October 2014
Truth and Ditto 9 October 2014
Take Time 4 October 2014
Flesh and Machine 1 October 2014
Going Postal 29 September 2014
Independent Brains 27 September 2014
The Disappointment of Now 25 September 2014
Time-Collapsers, Great and Small 23 September 2014
On Expertise and Control 13 August 2014
How to Tell the User's Story 14 April 2014
Remote Viewing 30 March 2014
Maybe that acquisition is just good advertising. 26 March 2014
"Disruption" 14 March 2014
Guts 9 March 2014
This Mediated Life 4 March 2014
Groupthink 25 February 2014
There’s a person at the other end. 21 February 2014
More destabilizing ideas, please. 20 February 2014
We don't solve real problems anymore. 19 February 2014
Detroit 22 January 2014
Being Online in 2014 3 January 2014
Loves and Resolutions 1 January 2014
Don't Be So Linear 15 October 2012
Stuck in Idle 11 August 2012
Several Things I Have Learned 29 May 2012
Playing with Data 14 May 2012
On Digital Davids and Goliaths: Why the Design We Trust Usually Comes from the Little Guy 13 March 2012
Future Daydream 10 January 2012
Ethical Technology, 5 15 December 2011
Ethical Technology, 4 14 December 2011
Ethical Technology, 3 13 December 2011
Ethical Technology, 2 12 December 2011
Ethical Technology, 1 11 December 2011
Smarter, Better Cyborgs 16 September 2011
How Should We Contain the Cloud 15 July 2011
The Folly of the Flock 1 June 2011
We are Latently Enslaved by Our Own Ingenuity 10 February 2010
Interview with John Maeda 24 July 2009
Can Any Problem Be Solved? 6 February 2009
21st Century Skillset 3 February 2009
The End of Solitude 27 January 2009
Time Definitely Has Value 26 January 2009
The Great Equalizer 23 January 2009
In Real Life 19 January 2009
Respond 7 January 2009
Interview with Silas Munro 22 September 2008
Interview with Eric Karjaluoto 18 August 2008