Extra

I just read about something intriguing. There is apparently a new field emerging dedicated to the presentation of information. It is called information design. I am fascinated by this. I will post links to some of the information I have found below.

Every time I try and think about the origins of the universe I end up with a headache. It's as if I am not wired to ponder it. Try thinking about it for a bit. If you are not a creationist I would very much like to know what you come up with (No offense to you creationists, I respect your views and you may well be right but, generally speaking, I already have your answer).

I've been doing some thinking about how to better preserve emotion and tone in online communication (textual). I haven't come to any conclusions yet but it is an interesting problem.

Links

Robert Horn's Explanation of Information Design
This site also includes an interesting list of references. The Semiology of Graphics, for example. My recent UI explorations meet my design fetish... very interesting
A Unified Field Theory of Design
I have not managed to read this in it's entirety yet but it looks promising. A word of warning: Tonight I am using the links section as more of a contextual set of bookmarks.
THE Lamp
Frank Lloyd Wright rules. This lamp begs to be built. Thanks to Clark for turning me on to this. 3k? Yeah. Right.
A semi-tidy Explanation of Information Design
Hrmmm...
All wet, hey you might need a raincoat. Shakedown, dreams walking in broad daylight. Three hundred sixty five degrees, burning down the house
everstar
I now hate Creative in a big bad way (rant!)
I tried getting a Nomad II to replace the Diamond Rio 500 my mom accidentally tossed (don't ask). Wow, is this thing a tribute to bad design. The disk installs four different utilities without telling you what any of them do. The first installation worked well enough, but it killed the counter and the visualization in the main window of Winamp, so I got rid of all the software but the one labelled Device Manager. Then I discovered that the equallizer in the mp3 player itself didn't work. I called tech support, and they tried to explain to me that it didn't work because I didn't have all the software installed. (Not that I see how the 3d visualization software had a damn thing to do with the equallizer, but WTF.) Uninstall, reinstall, and now Windows doesn't recognize the player anymore. Try adding the drivers that are IN THE FOLDER INSTALLED BY THE SOFTWARE, mind you, and now it tells me those drivers weren't written for this piece of hardware. I know now why the damned thing has a magnesium case; it's to survive being hurled against the wall by the end user. Three hours of twiddling later, it's still whining about how these aren't the right drivers for this hardware, and wouldn't I much rather let it be an Unknown Device? Fuck it, says I, and repack it to send back to the store. I'm getting another Rio; they didn't jack around nearly so much with my system. just thought I'd share. :) ever
m4dd4wg
Dodnent Hamdrict
Jared, Do you and the editors at OJR have some kind of freeky Vulcan mindmeld? There's a feature there about basic research into media design, that I thought was germane to today's rant on Information design:
OJR Story on Media Design

There's also a sto ry about "blogs even if the Headspace isn't a blog, per se.

Finally, did you see the Infor mation Design rountable at Feedmag.com that came out in reaction to Florida's butterfly ballot?
fathom
UI and lynx
You might be interested to know that your site looks excellent in lynx. Since I don't have X windows running currently i'm having to do all my web trolling via lynx. The headspace is a good stop on the lynx ride through the web.
loophole
That's funny... (Re: OJR)
I regularly poke around the web pages at media lab... that's how I got off on this tangent in the first place. Thanks for the link... very cool.
everstar
ah HA!

I've finally discovered the secret hideout of my arch-nemesis, Tangent Man! It's HERE! mwahahaha!

okay, time to get away from the desk because I'm getting silly again....

m4dd4wg
Gettin' Personal
On the topic of silly, personal topics, I'm embarrassed that I'm just know reading this, but one of my drinking buddies interviewed Kevin Mitnick! I am so jealous! Talk about a plum assignment.
sparky
(dis)information design
Actually, Jared, Information Design has been around for quite some time -- it's just in the past 5-6 years that the term has been bandied about freely. We graphic designer folkies are typically split into two camps -- the "artists" and the "info designers". The very nature of the WWW has accelerated the need for clear information design.

Here's a link to the best of the best regarding information design. These cats make me feel thoroughly inferior they're so good.

Meta Design