Entries tagged Essays from Christopher Butler

My Reverse Time Capsule Mar 19, 2023 Essays While rummaging in the WIRED magazine archives, I found this entry from 1995. In it, Douglas Copeland imagines a “reverse time capsule,” sent back

We Live in the Uncanny Valley Now Jan 28, 2022 Essays Making virtual worlds can help us understand the real one, but they’re not places we can live permanently. As a parent, I’ve had the chance to

What Eyes Want Dec 17, 2021 Essays If you drive up or down Interstate 95 between Virginia and Georgia, you will see sign after pun-riddled sign beckoning you to pull off the highway

Are We Ready for This? Dec 3, 2021 Essays ⨳ 3 Dec 2021 Inventions that were ahead of their time can help us to understand whether we are truly ready to live in the world we are making.

There Is No Digital World Nov 19, 2021 Essays ⨳ 19 Nov 2021 Everything digital costs something physical. It’s time for a digital conservation movement. ⚐ Christopher Butler is a designer

What If Phones Were Actually Designed for Hands? Nov 5, 2021 Essays ⨳ 12 Nov 2021 Phones no longer fit in the hands they were made to be held and used by. How did that happen? ⚐ Christopher Butler is a

What We Do When We See Nov 5, 2021 Essays ⨳ 05 Nov 2021 What does it even mean to design when perception is reality? Do we all ever see the same thing? ⚐ Christopher Butler is a

Can a Robot Do a Designer's Job? Oct 29, 2021 Essays ⨳ 29 Oct 2021 Automation isn’t as much of a threat as we have been told. ⚐ Christopher Butler is a designer living in Durham, NC.

A Pep Talk for those Who Work Bullshit Jobs Oct 22, 2021 Essays ⨳ 22 Oct 2021 How do you know if what you do is actually meaningful? ⚐ Christopher Butler is a designer living in Durham, NC. SUBSCRIBE

The Last Time Oct 15, 2021 Essays ⨳ 15 Oct 2021 Life has as many ends as it has beginnings. What can an end teach us about making our world? ⚐ Christopher Butler is a

Move Slow and Preserve Things Sep 17, 2021 Essays ⨳ 17 Sep 2021 Haste has created waste. Someone please tell Zuckerberg to slow the hell down. ⚐ Christopher Butler is a designer living in

Less Doesn't Have to Be More. It Can Just Be Less. Sep 3, 2021 Essays ⨳ 3 Sep 2021 How much is enough? So much of what we design assumes that either the question has not been answered or has no answer at all. This

From the Desk Of Aug 27, 2021 Essays ⨳ 27 Aug 2021 Wouldn’t it be nice if you could actually peer over another designer’s shoulder once in a while and see what they actually do?

Systems Design is Not Enough Aug 20, 2021 Essays ⨳ 20 Aug 2021 What good is thinking ahead in a world built entirely upon rewarding the opposite? ⚐ Christopher Butler is a designer living

Books Aug 13, 2021 Essays ⨳ 13 Aug 2021 Books still matter in the digital age. Here are a few recommendations you might find of interest. ⚐ Christopher Butler is a

We Have Eight Years Left Jul 30, 2021 Essays ⨳ 30 July 2021 We must radically reduce carbon emissions by 2030 in order to avoid the most catastrophic damage of climate change. How can you

First Principles Jul 23, 2021 Essays ⨳ 23 July 2021 Hiring for skills is mostly bogus. Hiring for soft skills is better. Hiring for principles is ideal. ⚐ Christopher Butler is

Why I Am Still A Designer Jul 16, 2021 Essays ⨳ 16 July 2021 Why we became designers is not what will keep us in the practice. There are four skills that must become the substance of our

Turn It All Off Jul 2, 2021 Essays ⨳ 02 July 2021 This is an intervention. We are addicted to media. Our screen time crisis will not be solved by technology, but by will. ⚐

We Write, Therefore We Are Cyborgs Jun 18, 2021 Essays ⨳ 18 June 2021 Language is as intrinsic to the human experience as many of our biological functions, and yet it is our own creation. That is

The Internet is a Bad Name Jun 11, 2021 Essays ⨳ 11 June 2021 The digital experience has outgrown the names we commonly use. Now is the time to think deeply about what we call it. ⚐

The World is Crowded and That is Natural May 28, 2021 Essays Tokyo, crowded and beautiful. 28 May 2021 Minimalism is en vogue. But how minimal can a lived-in world really be? Christopher Butler is a

The Luddites Were Right May 21, 2021 Essays This image depicts Ned Ludd in 1812. 21 May 2021 Luddism wasn’t really about technology. But was their skepticism toward development a good

We Don't Need More Information May 14, 2021 Essays This image was taken by the crew of Apollo 15. 14 May 2021 How do we make sense of reality if we can’t trust facts, sources, or one another?

The Problem With Design is Designers May 7, 2021 Essays This painting by Rene Magritte is ironically titled Not To Be Reproduced. 07 May 2021 Psychology and process can get in our way just as often as

Think About the Future's Past Apr 30, 2021 Essays 30 April 2021 Emotional Futurism is a different way of shaping the future by considering about how we will feel about the past. Christopher

Encapsulated Experiences Apr 23, 2021 Essays 23 April 2021 Desire Paths and Capsule Reviews are mashed up here, for your consideration. Christopher Butler is a designer living in Durham,

73 Ideas that Should Provoke You Apr 12, 2021 Essays Not everything that can be imagined should come into being. The mind can only suspend so much disbelief, especially when it’s trying to be

Progress Jams Apr 9, 2021 Essays

The MiniDisc’s big moment in Strange Days. ⨳ 09 April 2021 Why most innovation never actually happens. ⚐ Christopher Butler is a designer

Other Ways Apr 2, 2021 Essays ⨳ 02 April 2021 There are three reasons why what we make ends up the same as everything else. Here’s what we can do about it. ⚐ Christopher

The Power of Small Images Apr 2, 2021 Essays

⨳ 02 April 2021 Stamps, Computational Linguistics, and Minspeak all share a reliance upon the way pictures can communicate faster than words.

Future Objects Mar 19, 2021 Essays

⨳ 19 March 2021 An object made for a better future will be locally controlled, indefinitely powered, sustainable, autonomous, private, and

Your Phone is Destroying the World Mar 12, 2021 Essays

Agbogbloshie, Ghana — Image sourced from Wikipedia. ⨳ 12 March 2021 Our cultural obsession with the new has created a destructive cycle of

The Circle of Now Mar 5, 2021 Essays

In our home, there are eleven clocks. Some may say that eleven clocks in a home is eleven too many. I disagree. I will grant that a clock is no

The Riddle of the Square Feb 26, 2021 Essays

Shapes are mysterious. They are basic, rudimentary forms — simple ideas upon which we build more complex systems of understanding. They are also

Attention Stewardship Feb 19, 2021 Essays Some people saw the thrashing idscape in which we tribulate coming from a long way off. And they called it “the attention economy.” A recent New

This Is Not Good Design Feb 11, 2021 Essays Much has been written about what makes for good design. All of it is fiercely debated by designers, who would rather find ways to exclude one

Search Engines Don't Work and They Are Not Good Feb 5, 2021 Essays As optimistic as I try to be about where we are headed, based upon my belief in the good of where we could head, I find myself in a gloomy hangover

The Biggest Dream is of the Small, Simple Life Jan 29, 2021 Essays

Every other Tuesday, a few friends and I get together in the evening for what we jokingly refer to as “Church.” We’re all formerly of the fold, so

Cross-Examining Coincidence in the Courtroom of Technology Jan 27, 2021 Essays So many readers sent in notes in reply to my last article that I thought something of a post-script was warranted. I must say, though, that I am so

That Coincidental Advertisement is Not Just a Coincidence Jan 22, 2021 Essays I have never eaten a Bel Vita cracker in my life. I’d never even heard of the brand until I was visiting with my brother and he pulled them out of

Good Prophecy Doesn't Have to Be Right Jan 15, 2021 Essays “Alexander Consulting the Oracle of Apollo” by Louis Jean Francois Lagrenée ⨳ 15 January 2021 We shouldn’t try to predict the future. We

We Have A Reality Problem Jan 8, 2021 Essays In the early 1990s, when the internet was still in its structural infancy, and its influence on broader culture was widely underestimated if not

Success Mysticism Dec 31, 2020 Essays Scant hours remain of this troubled 2020. From where I sit, it’s not likely we’ll even see the sun again until 2021. And so in this dimly-lit

The Place Where We Shelter Jul 1, 2020 Essays

If the human eye suffered the same burn-in effect that some screens do, this would be the image now set against everything else for me. For the last

Active Erasure Apr 20, 2018 Essays

My favorite professor, Al DeCredico, used to begin his fall semester foundation year drawing course with a strange assignment: make a drawing in the

We May Be at the End of Progress Apr 6, 2018 Essays

Easter Island; Image sourced from Wikipedia. Over a century ago, Oxford University’s administration decided to finally do something about the

Computer Nostalgia and Malignant Doppelwelts Mar 8, 2018 Essays I am nostalgic for the computer. Yes, for the thing that, today, I have more of than I ever needed — or ever wanted. In a world where computers are

Want to Resist? Delete Your Facebook Account Feb 22, 2018 Essays

The only meaningful act of protest in the 21st century is to permanently delete your digital accounts. Facebook. Netflix. Amazon. The big ones.

Unexpected and Realistic AI Headlines Jul 28, 2017 Essays Picture me staring at eight different TextEdit windows, each full of notes of things I’ve been thinking about lately and had saved there with the

Introducing The Liminal Jul 18, 2017 Essays I know. It’s been a while. More than six months, actually. It’s been a much longer break than I intended, and I’ll be up front with you, it’s not

Facebook Is Not necessary Dec 4, 2016 Essays

I wrote this shortly after the 2016 election. Though it exposed deeper divisions among Americans than were commonly acknowledged beforehand, I

Talking to Machines Nov 4, 2016 Essays Greetings from a very quiet kitchen at the Newfangled HQ. Mark’s Sonos Jazz alarm went off at 7:30 as usual, and right now one of my favorite

Behind Every Robot is a Human Oct 29, 2016 Essays Hello from our quiet house on a Saturday afternoon. The pup is out sleeping in the sun, occasionally watching as the chickens peck around the

Unearthed Time Capsules Oct 10, 2016 Essays Hello from Emerald Isle, where I am sitting on a porch listening to waves crash on the shore. The beach in October is a pretty nice place. I’ll be

Words Matter Oct 2, 2016 Essays Where are you right now? If you were to set down the little screen you’re holding, or look past the big screen in front of you, what would you see?

Design is Art with Rules Sep 2, 2016 Essays Current Status: Accepting the age-old truth that we are quickly who we are, as a recently unearthed postcard I sent to my mother and soon-to-be

A Solution that Doesn't Exist Aug 13, 2016 Essays Current status: It’s early on Saturday in the very hot and humid city of Durham, North Carolina, and I am sitting in the dim morning light of our

We don't fear the future… Jul 30, 2016 Essays I must admit to having been nervous to publish this. I’ve never been afraid to expose private things in my writing; if you’ve read my blog for long

A Slice of Life Jun 9, 2016 Essays Current status: I received an interesting email from a reader recently. She wrote, “It’s easy to assume things about someone else’s life based upon

How to Design a Different Future Jun 3, 2016 Essays Current Status: Ahead is a long read, so I’ll get out of the way as quickly as possible. I’m sitting at my desk on a Friday afternoon, drinking an

The Magic of Ordinary Objects May 27, 2016 Essays Picture me marveling at the wonder of text, impervious as it is to the law of supply and demand. No matter how much we write, we want more. And by

When the World Around You Shook May 12, 2016 Essays Current Status: After a two-month hiatus, I’m back. I’m glad to be here and hope you missed me terribly. If you’re curious what’s had me so darn

Unchecked Attention Avarice Mar 17, 2016 Essays Current Status: Much more this than this, but man, who wouldn’t want to be at the base of Chimborazo at least once in their life? That second link

How to Think About the Future Mar 10, 2016 Essays Current Status: Trying, but in a roboty kind of way. You see, sometimes this blog is about design. Sometimes technology. Sometimes both. And every

Sympathy for the Sim Feb 26, 2016 Essays Picture me on the couch with both cat and pup vying for prime real estate on my lap, both presumably annoyed that this cold, glowing machine is

The Most Difficult Thing About Design Feb 19, 2016 Essays I’ve been thinking all week about design. What is design, exactly? Is it an idea? An action? A thing? Linguistically, it’s all of those things.

Technological Luxury is Powered by Oppression Feb 11, 2016 Essays

The greatest lie of technology is that it is the great equalizer. Technology has its own caste system. If you don’t know that, then that means

Beneath the Interface Layer Feb 4, 2016 Essays Hello friends. Picture me in the text editor. I’ve been there a lot this week. I wrote a couple of articles over at Newfangled, one On Letting Go,

How to Get Your Time Back Jan 22, 2016 Essays Hello, friends, and another Happy New Year to you! My last post was mostly written in 2015, so this one feels like a fresh start. Current status:

We Are What We Watch Jan 2, 2016 Essays Last year, I created a lifetime mix and shared it with you. It comprised thirty-four years of music; one song chosen for each year I’ve been alive

Upgrading Our Way Out Dec 18, 2015 Essays Hello, friends. I’m back. I laid low for a month, focusing my time on closing out the year with goals met and new ones set. Meanwhile, a bunch of

Time's First Principles Nov 13, 2015 Essays A little more than a year ago, I started this newsletter with the idea that I’d sit in the early morning darkness of my home office once a week and

Until They All Have Faces Nov 6, 2015 Essays Hello, friends! I’m grateful that there are some of you who notice when I miss a weekly post, like my mom, who will reliably send a text: “no post

Back to the Real Future Oct 23, 2015 Essays Hello, friends, and welcome new ones! Some of you must have shared last week’s letter with others, and so our numbers grow. If each of you shared

The Fit Filter Oct 16, 2015 Essays Hello, friends, and welcome, new ones! Thirty-six of you have been with me since the beginning, that first post, written just over a year ago. We’ve

Street Ritual Oct 9, 2015 Essays Current status: back in the office after a few days at HOW Interactive in Chicago. It was such a pleasure to listen and learn from the many

The Gift in Our Work Sep 25, 2015 Essays Current Status: Officing it. Coffeing it. Sonosing it loud here to the sounds of some Newfangleder’s energetic Spotify playlist. Current song:

Sabbaticalifragilisticexpialidocious! Sep 18, 2015 Essays Current Status: Up early, shaking off the debate hangover (three hours?! my god!) and marveling that The Joker has indeed manifest a tulpa and its

The dream of the Nineties is alive… Aug 21, 2015 Essays Picture me tapping this message out to you on my phone, hoping that the weak signal I’ve caught will hold for long enough. I’m out in the mountains

It won’t be interesting until we can’t see it anymore. Aug 14, 2015 Essays Hello, friends. I guess you guys were snacky last week! Many of you sent thoughtful replies to the mixpost, especially the bits about women and

Step aside, keep quiet, and listen. Aug 7, 2015 Essays Hello, friends. Greetings from the other side of the apocalypse that was last week’s post. Somehow, it was the most divisive thing I’ve sent out

Greetings from the Rubbish Patch Jul 30, 2015 Essays The commercial opens with a series of quick, intimate shots. Someone writing a letter by hand; someone shaking a polaroid as its exposure settles; a

The Last Thing We Need Jul 24, 2015 Essays Picture me at home, in the office. It’s 9:41 PM, Eastern Standard Time. The sun has set on Durham. The chickens are roosting. The lights have been

Enter the Void Jul 15, 2015 Essays Hello, old friends! And welcome, new ones. I invite you to not think about the future with us, this small but gathering crowd of the curious, we

Perceiving the Machine Jul 2, 2015 Essays Hello, friends. Good news: we survived the leap second. I was worried, you know, after that Y2K fiasco and all. You never know what kind of computer

Where are you, Digital Le Corbusier? Jun 26, 2015 Essays Hello there. According to the numbers, you are probably new to the Don’t Think About the Future fold. You are part of a recent swell of interest

Randoposto Jun 19, 2015 Essays Picture me stuffing a bunch of text into the random-letter-machine and seeing what comes out. I stayed up late and got up early and was driving to

Keeping the Fire Lit Jun 12, 2015 Essays Picture me asking for help. God grant me the strength to not watch Season One of The X-Files all over again for the thousandth time simply because I

The Power of Perspective Jun 4, 2015 Essays Picture me monopolizing the conversation. I mean, not really, but when I look at my wordcount in the transcript of a recent roundtable I did with

Emails are the new blogs. Jun 3, 2015 Essays A few weeks ago, Ian Fitzpatrick — of Dark Matter fame — sent an email to me and a few other writers that began a long and in-depth conversation

What is an idea worth? May 28, 2015 Essays Picture me up at five; laced up, earbuds in; up and down hills and around the city; back home, cooling down; showered; packed lunch; to the office;

We Always Start Now May 26, 2015 Essays I wrote the Interaction column for the Spring, 2015 issue of PRINT magazine, which was a true honor because this issue also celebrated PRINT’s 75th

The Designer Stands Firm May 8, 2015 Essays Picture me in the early morning light of my office downstairs, filling its silence with the muted clatter of the keyboard, the pause and pin-drop

Etc. Etc. Etc. May 1, 2015 Essays Picture me in the cloud. Look, I’m a pretty tech savvy guy and I’m all about the future and what not, but this is the first time I’ve actually

Advertising is an Anachronism Apr 17, 2015 Essays Picture me frazzled. It’s been a busy past few weeks. I’ve been here and there, at events and planning for upcoming ones. I missed last week because

A 200-Word Mixpost Apr 3, 2015 Essays Picture me lorem ipsuming here because I’m actually just sitting in a chair in an office staring at a big rectangular lamp and typing like we do

The Cost of Cognitive Surplus Mar 27, 2015 Essays Picture me back in the habit. I took a break last week. It was needed. But I’m back with a bunch of words (prepare yourselves! prepare your

A.I. is U.I. Mar 13, 2015 Essays Picture me running on a treadmill yesterday at the gym. I’ve only been on about five minutes when a woman hops on the machine to my left, plugs in

The way to make good things is to make many things. Mar 6, 2015 Essays Picture me waking, making, breaking, steaking, baking, flaking, taking, faking, shaking, aching, caking, mistaking and bellyaching. Well, that got

Neighborhoods, the Anti-Algorithm Feb 27, 2015 Essays Picture me snowed in. Eight inches of it is enough to shut things down for a day in these parts. But, hey, it sure is pretty. So, look, bear with me

Everyone is someone else’s marketer… Feb 20, 2015 Essays Picture me huddled up inside where the ice can’t get me. But whatever. I live in a typically warm place and we had a little ice storm. If you live

Don't Think About the Future Feb 11, 2015 Essays Picture me back in the habit. Another week lapsed. Another grandparent lost to the other side. Two weeks after my father’s mother, my mother’s

Through the Looking Glass Jan 29, 2015 Essays (Hi, friends! And welcome, new ones. Old friends may have noticed that I took last week off. My Grandmother passed away after 100 years of intrepid

Futures of Making and Being Jan 16, 2015 Essays Picture me picturing myself at home tonight, sitting on the couch with a lady, a pup, and a cat, feet up, a drink in hand, watching that show

Liner Notes for a Lifetime Mix Jan 9, 2015 Essays Picture me in full High Fidelity mode. You’ll soon see what I mean by that. Oh, and welcome, new friends. Yes, this is ordinarily a post about

Thirty-Four (a lifetime film list) Jan 1, 2015 Essays Just as I finished my lifetime music mix, it occurred to me that a lifetime film list would be a good idea. So here it is. There were some very

Thirty-Four (a lifetime mix) Dec 31, 2014 Essays It’s the end of the year; why not another list? This one is a bit different, though. A friend shared with me the idea of making a mix of songs from

We'll get there fast and then we'll take it slow. Dec 19, 2014 Essays Picture me eating a cookie for breakfast. You know it’s the holiday season when you do ridiculous things like eat a cookie for breakfast. And with

The information is not entirely online. Dec 12, 2014 Essays Picture me staring at Chrome and marveling that I’ve pushed it to the point where the tabs are barely big enough to fit the “X” and my Textedit page

"I just want something real to happen." Dec 4, 2014 Essays Picture me up early, half hour sitting in silence on the floor, up and tying my shoes, chasing my own breath on dark streets, back home, shave,

Blackfridaycore Nov 28, 2014 Essays Picture me sitting by the fire, mass-deleting emails from companies who want me to be shopping right now. It’s Black Friday. (Friends in foreign

We are all working for different futures. Nov 21, 2014 Essays Picture me at 37,000 feet in a United-brand flying tube hurtling eastward at 505 miles per hour. I’m returning home after a great time speaking at

Hyper-local NIMBYism (and Other Easy Critiques) Nov 13, 2014 Essays Picture me in the office alone last night when I wrote this. It was thoroughly November. The post-sunset blue light peering in through the windows

The Inexorable March of Convenience Nov 6, 2014 Essays Picture me pouring the coffee. I’m working from home today. The pup is sprawled out on the floor; she’s working on her Cong which I’ve filled to the

21st Century Simulacra Oct 30, 2014 Essays Picture me fussing around with some sketches of a product I need that doesn’t exist yet. It’s a bit half-baked at the moment, but it’s something

Something Wetter than Pixels Oct 23, 2014 Essays Picture me upstairs in a dark and quiet house. It’s 11:15 p.m. I’ve just returned from three very full days at a conference in Chicago. The animals

A cup of tea and a crowbar materialize in space... Oct 16, 2014 Essays Picture me rounding the corner this morning, heading in the opposite direction of coffee, just to take another look at the arcade that is presently

Truth and Ditto Oct 9, 2014 Essays Picture me alone in a silent office. It’s so quiet that I can hear the distant and muffled sound of water moving through pipes throughout the

Take Time Oct 4, 2014 Essays Picture me up in the air, at 35,000 feet, with a six inch screen inviting me to sit back, snack, and enjoy the entertainment. I would if I could,

Flesh and Machine Oct 1, 2014 Essays Picture me sitting in the dark of my home office, staring in disbelief at two things. Number one, the absurd number of open tabs in my browser. One

Going Postal Sep 29, 2014 Essays Picture me finishing up my lunch at the Game-of-Thrones-ish table in our office dining room. This massive and gorgeous thing was handmade by a local

Independent Brains Sep 27, 2014 Essays Picture me watching my younger brother play Hill Climb Racing on our Amazon TV while he eats what he calls a “peanut butter surprise.” Somehow, an

The Disappointment of Now Sep 25, 2014 Essays Picture me on the couch in my den, trying my best to type three or four words in between being pawed by a certain Border Collie who insists I’ve

Time-Collapsers, Great and Small Sep 23, 2014 Essays Picture me downstairs in my little office at home. It’s 6:15 AM. My partner is upstairs sleeping. She’s recovering from a day-long fever. My brother

On Expertise and Control Aug 13, 2014 Essays Just a moment or so in to an hour-long consulting session, something unexpected happened. I was hunched over, hands planted shoulder-width apart on

How to Tell the User's Story Apr 14, 2014 Essays

⨳ 14 April 2014 User Stories, User Scenarios, and Use Cases can all help you better understand who your users are and ensure that what matters

Remote Viewing Mar 30, 2014 Essays

In the 1970’s, physicists Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff were studying a variety of parapsychological phenomena at the Stanford Research Institute

Maybe that acquisition is just good advertising. Mar 26, 2014 Essays Google and Facebook, they’re up to something. I mean, they have to be, right? All these acquisitions must mean something! This reminds me of when

"Disruption" Mar 14, 2014 Essays As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, Dan Hon has been killing it lately with his daily dispatches. Here’s a clip from yesterday that really spoke to

Guts Mar 9, 2014 Essays A few months ago, I woke up from a dream that left me feeling upset for days, though the more I recount it, the less upsetting it seems. In the

This Mediated Life Mar 4, 2014 Essays Time to report! How did you sleep? What time did you wake up today? Are you working? What are you doing? Where are you? Who are you with? What did

Groupthink Feb 25, 2014 Essays videoessay About midway through the interview, Lofgren is explaining how he first became interested in digging deeper and sticking his nose where it

There’s a person at the other end. Feb 21, 2014 Essays Last summer, Charlie Rose hosted a short segment on 60 Minutes about David Kelley. It covered a short history of IDEO through the lens of David

More destabilizing ideas, please. Feb 20, 2014 Essays An idea doesn’t have to be objectively true to be valuable, does it? Some ideas are intrinsically valuable, irrespective of their truth or

We don't solve real problems anymore. Feb 19, 2014 Essays Yesterday, on the way home from work, I heard someone on the radio say, “The last thing we need are smartphones.” It was said as a quick aside. The

Detroit Jan 22, 2014 Essays I’ve just returned from a brief visit to Detroit. My father, step-mother, three brothers and sister live there. So do my three uncles, three aunts,

Being Online in 2014 Jan 3, 2014 Essays Hours in to the long, slow drive up north for the holidays, with nothing but wilderness around me, I was still thinking about the web. I had left in

Loves and Resolutions Jan 1, 2014 Essays I don’t normally make New Year’s resolutions, but if there was one lesson that 2013 taught me, it is to be intentional in all things. On this first

Don't Be So Linear Oct 15, 2012 Essays The October issue of PRINT is out, and with it, my latest Interaction column. This issue is focused on international design, so it gave me an

Stuck in Idle Aug 11, 2012 Essays The August issue of PRINT Magazine is out, and with it, my latest column. It’s a different type of piece; this one is about information overload and

Several Things I Have Learned May 29, 2012 Essays Just a few things I’ve learned that are on my mind as I draw closer to my 32nd birthday… I’m nearing the end of my thirty-second year on this

Playing with Data May 14, 2012 Essays I love the fusion of infoaesthetics and abstract expressionism that Holly Gressley put into her illustration for my column in June’s issue of PRINT.

On Digital Davids and Goliaths: Why the Design We Trust Usually Comes from the Little Guy Mar 13, 2012 Essays My latest Interaction column for Print Magazine is now out in the April issue! And, hey, look, they kept my original title (first time)! Neat. Also,

Future Daydream Jan 10, 2012 Essays This is my fourth Interaction column for Print Magazine. My original title: “A Post-Screen Future.” No matter. The illustration by Zut Alors! is as

Ethical Technology, 5 Dec 15, 2011 Essays Well, I think I’m winding down here. I can tell that I’m close to being out of things to say (for now, anyway); my mind has begun to wander back to

Ethical Technology, 4 Dec 14, 2011 Essays So far, my ramblings have gone from monopolies of information to the filter bubble to the economics of the internet. Today, what about automation

Ethical Technology, 3 Dec 13, 2011 Essays Continuing these thoughts in a meandering sort of way (Part 1 → Part 2 → You Are Here). Yesterday I was talking about the filter bubbles that we

Ethical Technology, 2 Dec 12, 2011 Essays So, picking up on Part 1. The next thing that came to mind as far as ethics and technology are concerned is the filter bubble (as coined by Eli

Ethical Technology, 1 Dec 11, 2011 Essays A few weeks ago, I sat down for a cup of coffee and conversation with a new friend—someone who had been put in touch with me by a mutual friend of

Smarter, Better Cyborgs Sep 16, 2011 Essays This is my third Interaction column for Print Magazine. …or, as I originally titled it, “Designing the Unseen.” But, this title plus Tim Lahan’s

How Should We Contain the Cloud Jul 15, 2011 Essays This is my second Interaction column for Print Magazine. My original title was “Post-Desk Content,” but the editors reframed it as an interesting

The Folly of the Flock Jun 1, 2011 Essays This is my first Interaction column for Print Magazine. I’m proud of the article, and very thankful for the opportunity to write for the same design

We are Latently Enslaved by Our Own Ingenuity Feb 10, 2010 Essays Chuck Klosterman, in his essay, “Fail,” (one of several collected in the book, Eating the Dinosaur) wrote: “We are latently enslaved by our own

Interview with John Maeda Jul 24, 2009 Essays

I first encountered John Maeda during my third year as a student at the Rhode Island School of Design. I was fascinated by his work, which merged

Can Any Problem Be Solved? Feb 6, 2009 Essays Bill Gates asks this question (specifically toward the problem of Malaria) in his TED conference talk from this week, but I’m interested in the

21st Century Skillset Feb 3, 2009 Essays In a culture column of titled What Technology Has Taught us at Dizzying Speed, Alicia Rawsthorn muses on some areas in which technological change

The End of Solitude Jan 27, 2009 Essays I came across a wonderful piece written in The Chronicle of Higher Education titled The End of Solitude, by William Deresiewicz, which emphatically

Time Definitely Has Value Jan 26, 2009 Essays I am just finishing up reading Blown to Bits: How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy by Philip Evans and Thomas S. Wurster, which,

The Great Equalizer Jan 23, 2009 Essays I’ve been reading a book titled What Are You Optimistic About? Today’s Leading Thinkers on Why Things Are Good and Getting Better, edited by John

In Real Life Jan 19, 2009 Essays I just read an insightful post from Russell Davies about how screens are getting boring. He elaborates: “It’s really hard to impress anyone with

Respond Jan 7, 2009 Essays I just saw an interesting post from Wired’s Epicenter blog discussing a new approach to user comments on blogs. The author points out that since

Interview with Silas Munro Sep 22, 2008 Essays

Silas and I were classmates at Rhode Island School of Design and have known each other for almost a decade now (wow). Silas is also a graduate of

Interview with Eric Karjaluoto Aug 18, 2008 Essays

Eric is a Canadian designer, who is passionate about ideas and experience. He studied at the Emily Carr Institute and worked as a painter prior to