Hi,
Well. That was crazy.
Crazy how much can change in just one month. This month felt like an eternity. A month we have never seen before. It once again shows that time is not a linear concept (more on that later this year; I’m researching time and the future of the calendar).
So in the dying seconds of this month, I decided that a virus is not what was going to break my newsletter streak (#9). Enjoy!
Graphic design
In February I went to the lights and sounds event Skalar. I decided to make a poster about this event to work on my visual skills. Inspired by the light setup used at Skalar I started iterating on various design directions. Shapes and typography were leading in this process; let the final result emerge. The final colors appeared by inverting colors on accident. This shows that the graphic design process is built on serendipity and trying things out. This is different from the more functional UX design process; which is more structured and builds on user insights.
‘A Clear Horizon’, a film on Super 8 Film
My brother Guido is a filmmaker and photographer. Over the holidays in December, he shot a short film called ‘A Clear Horizon’. It’s shot on Super 8, an old film technology they used back in the day). I think it is the kind of video people should watch right now.
What is the software equivalent of a Louis Vuitton handbag?
I loved this article about signaling by Julian Lehr. His point: You don’t really have luxury products in software due to the nature of intangibility.
You can’t really show off with an app: “Apps live on your phone or computer. No one can see them except for you.”
“People spend absurd amounts of money on jewelry, handbags, and cars, but I can’t think of a piece of software with an even remotely similar price tag.”
Similarly, the purpose of a bookshelf:
“eBooks have never caught up with paper books despite being more convenient. On the contrary, physical book sales have remained stable (and in some markets even increased) in recent years. Interestingly though, people spend less time reading them. Their value seems to stem from lying around the house to impress visitors (see also coffee table books) – a benefit digital books simply can’t offer.”
A picture from before..
“Oh wow, this is a picture from before…”
Harari
For those that really need/want a good reading about COVID. I really liked this piece by Yuval Noah Harari: “This storm will pass. But the choices we make now could change our lives for years to come”
Reminds me of another quote I read today: “We can’t return to normal, because the normal that we had was precisely the problem.”
That’s it for this month. If you’re enjoying this I’d love it if you shared it with a friend or two. You can send them here to sign up.
Thanks for reading.
Stay safe!
KDB