Moneydick

Being away from the internet, TV, and even electricity for a week in Cabo Pulmo, Baja (pictures) I’ve come back to two things I missed most. Funk Music (mixtape) and my addiction to imagestream design blogs. Sites like Ffffound, Malfunc[tion], and Resoulution keep me comfortably attuned to the viz/aesthetic zeitgeist better than any aggregator out there. These sites are like little communities of communicating and creating people (designers/photographers), and they remind me of the old styles and techniques that have become appropriated and transformed long after their decades pass. Here’s some oldies that will forever be goodies:

But what was once ugly does not necessarily age well. As the door closes on an age of design (let’s say U.S. 1984) the new age looks back with disgust. The elements of style that rise again have something essential to them–a temporal universality that’s hard to come to terms with. Who decides what color schemes and trashy expressions of zig-zaggy 80sness return? (see: MIA - Paper Planes)
Looking at what international design has distilled from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s…. no patterns come immediately to mind. But maintaining an awareness of why 1950s soviet posters and the wealth of images in Ffffound (like this one) still find mass appeal gets us closer to touching the illusive dream: perfect design and better communication/info processing a la Edward Tufte)

Because all design is about looking back, and picking up the good pieces for today

Tip to Things Magazine.