Utagawa Hiroshige and Jakob Nielsen: Art vs Design
I want to show you, as a little experiment, this piece of art and ask you what this is a picture of. Can you tell… Read More »Utagawa Hiroshige and Jakob Nielsen: Art vs Design
Books and Recommendations
Design Matters (9): Bruce Tognazzini’s First Principles of Interaction Design [Radio Edit]
Effective interfaces are visually apparent and forgiving, instilling in their users a sense of control. Users quickly see the breadth of their options, grasp how… Read More »Design Matters (9): Bruce Tognazzini’s First Principles of Interaction Design [Radio Edit]
McKinley Valentine (and Italo Calvino) on how reading changes the past
If on a winter’s night a whippet I want to share a quote with you that I think about a lot. It’s from a book… Read More »McKinley Valentine (and Italo Calvino) on how reading changes the past
Villainy: Things Fall Apart
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.” Gospel of Matthew Where does Sauron… Read More »Villainy: Things Fall Apart
Technology (9): The Dream Machine
In short This book – about the origins of the internet – comes highly recommended by lots of people, and is really excellent. Longer I… Read More »Technology (9): The Dream Machine
Rob Ricigliano on the murky unpredictability of complex systems
A complex social system… really is made up of a set of complex and interconnected forces that both affect each other and the things that… Read More »Rob Ricigliano on the murky unpredictability of complex systems
Technology (8): Kevin Kelly on finding jobs for infant technologies
This extract is from one of the best interviews with Kevin Kelly I’ve heard, on David Perell’s The North Star podcast. It covers a lot… Read More »Technology (8): Kevin Kelly on finding jobs for infant technologies
Margo Aaron on Copywriting: Right Person, Right Copy
I was a clipboard person… for registering people to vote. And one of the things you learn when you do this is that you’re actually… Read More »Margo Aaron on Copywriting: Right Person, Right Copy
Technology (7): Solow-ng (and thanks for all the fish) – Brynjolfsson, Rock and Syverson on intangibles and the Productivity J-Curve
On the Hook Here’s the promised graph, explained below: Fishing for Complements Robert Solow (1987) pointed out that “a technological revolution, a drastic change in… Read More »Technology (7): Solow-ng (and thanks for all the fish) – Brynjolfsson, Rock and Syverson on intangibles and the Productivity J-Curve
Technology (6): How did we sink Solow? – true ubiquity, clotheslines and switching costs
You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics. Nobel Prize in Economics winner Robert Solow, in 1987 (quoted everywhere but it’s… Read More »Technology (6): How did we sink Solow? – true ubiquity, clotheslines and switching costs