| 
| 
|
 BLOG | JANUARY, 2009 In Real Life January 19, 2009 at 2:00 pmby Christopher
It's really hard to impress anyone with stuff on a screen any more. However clever you've been. However much thought you've put in. However good the tech is. No-one's impressed. They've all seen better stuff in ads and movies anyway - when will onscreen stuff be as good as that? Whereas doing stuff in the real world still seems to delight and impress people. Really simple stuff with objects looks like magic. Really hard stuff with screens still just looks like media.
I completely agree. I was lamenting to a friend recently that I am always disappointed when I see scientific renderings these days- they are always way less impressive that the illustrations that artists used to do by hand. For example, most renderings of dinosaurs are done digitally these days, but I much prefer the old hand-painted illustrations, however inaccurate they may be.  
|
    Sign Up to Receive our Weekly Blog DigestEach week we'll email you a summary of all the blog posts that we published so you can stay in the know.   Subscribe To Our NewsletterJanuary 2012 The Truth About Content |
Its interesting that Davies says "It's really hard to impress anyone with stuff on a screen any more," because I've found that the opposite is often true.
It would seem to me that if it is NOT on a screen, people, especially the younger generations, won't pay much attention to it. This is the dilemma we face in hosting star parties and public events at our observatories. It is difficult to impress people looking through a tube at little lights in the sky through the haze of light pollution when the "screens" are beckoning from every angle: TV, video games, instant messaging and now cell phones.
I read an editorial in the local newspaper recently where a nature writer (sorry I couldn't find the link) lamented on how he couldn't encourage his co-workers to pull their eyes away from screens for a mere moment to turn around and look out their office window at the spectacular conjunction of Moon, Venus, and Jupiter last month--some even commenting that in order to be interested, the planets would have to "start bouncing around like pinballs" as they did in some comedy movie they had just seen.
While screens certainly have their use, as we all use them for work every day, I do hope that more people realize that (or remember the times when) the physical world (or IRL as it is now commonly called) is far more awe-inspiring than things done on screen.
Jim,
I think you're right about this, which is why Davies probably chose his words carefully when saying "It's really hard to impress anyone with stuff on a screen anymore (emphasis mine)." In his context (design), stuff on screens is a given. Like us, Davies, his colleagues and his clients probably spend their entire day in front of a screen, so the likelihood that anyone will be impressed by something presented on a screen is probably pretty low. What used to be impressive a few years ago is a given now. Think about all the tools that are now available to anyone at low or no cost that enable the average person to create semi-professional audio/video/graphics. So I think Davies is thinking more along those lines.
What's sad, and what I think you're pointing to, is that I'd be willing to bet that most people go from spending their entire work day in front of a screen (presumably doing work stuff) to spending most of their evening in front of another screen (surfing the 'net, talking to friends, watching tv and/or movies, playing games, etc.)! I used to pride myself on not having a TV; practically it freed me up to do other things, symbolically it seemed like a statement of preference for IRL than IFS (in front of screen). However, having a computer connected to the internet is essentially like having a TV these days, so I'm going to need much more willpower to live IRL.
This also brings to mind a thought I've had lately that computers are a better delivery system for what is produced creatively than they are an actual creative tool. But that's another blog post, I think.
Thanks for commenting!
Chris
Chris,
I've been feeling this a lot lately, and I have made it a goal to step away from the computer much more in 2009 to work in my sketchbook, play guitar or go on hikes. Something besides sitting, staring, clicking!
It's really kind of pathetic that we have become "bored" with what we see on screens since it's all pretty amazing. Even the digitally rendered dinosaurs you mention are quite amazing, yet I am with you, they are not as inspiring as the colored pencil illustrations of our past. We just cannot be satisfied.
Without getting too metaphysical, I'd like to put it out there that we are meant to do more than sit in front of screens, but our culture is causing us to be in front of them more and more. Having just gotten an iPhone, I see this more than ever!
TO RELATE THIS TO NEWFANGLED:
I am frustrated with graphic design as it applies to websites. There are a few "schools" of webdesign out there. You've go the uber-digital with dropshadows and gradients that many refer to as Web 2.0 (although that's not what it is). On the other hand, you've got the sketchy/collage-y look. One grasps that this is digital media, the other tries to make it more "real." Neither of them are terribly successful most of the time, because the design gets in the way.
There has to be a median where we can easily exist online without too much other "stuff" in the way.
I've just skimmed the surface of these thoughts. An entire blog could be devoted to this. Anyone? ;)
Able,
I'm with you completely. Put simply, I think it's pretty inhuman to interact primarily with a machine, or even with other humans in a virtual environment. I must admit that I'm concerned with what our continuing reliance upon the computer will mean for society (Dystopia Now?). This pushes us into heretofore unexamined issues of ethics, law, biology, relationships, etc. that are much bigger than just design. Such is the effect of technological progress on human society...
In any case, I also agree that designers need to spend time away from the digital world in order to remain inspired and effective in their craft. Like you, I try to think on paper, too, by keeping up with a sketchbook (here's a link to Able's work, too), though I wish I did this more. I also value reading actual books (rather than content online) because I actually find myself affected by my surrounding IRL environment and creating more specific memories of what I read when I'm not in front of my computer. For instance, I finished reading The Numerati on the bus and will always remember some of its concluding passages as I ride down Franklin Street. In comparison, I read a ton online while at work and probably forget much of it.
Chris
Rather than write out another response here I am drafting a letter on my typewriter. I will mail it to the first 100 readers who request it. If you see a big block in my timesheet that really has nothing to do with work, that's probably what it is. Consider me typing away the next week or so...
Oh, and thanks for the link to my site!
Able, I officially request said typewritten letter. Regarding your timesheet, please tag your time as "strategery." It's a new category.
I thought the post was discussing the quality of on-line images but the commentary seems to have drifted into a discussion on the quality of life and how we spend our time.
Spending 40+ hours a week in front of my computer screen allows me to appreciate the time I spend playing a board game with my children, working in my wood shop or riding my motorcycle through rural Rhode Island. I suppose if I worked as a plumber, the internet might have more of a "wow" factor for me, but familiarity breeds complacency.
As far as images on the web are concerned, quality can be assessed either by judging the technical proficiency by which the image was crafted or the content of the image. I always appreciate quality; whether it's a heavily photoshop-ed product shot or a candid cell phone image of someone's dog. The content of an image is compelling if you can relate to subject matter. It might remind you of someone you know, someplace you've visited or an experience you had.
Able, I'd also like a copy of your letter. But make sure you put your signature on it (preferably with a fountain pen) because I want a signed original.
Nice post and related thread, and definitely some great points. I just joined Facebook on Monday, and I'm already feeling an increase in time drain and the amount attention I need to spend keeping up with yet another screen experience (in addition to Twitter, my Google Reader, etc). I'm having fun, but it's something that needs to be put into perspective--these are primarily means of communicating quickly and creatively with others about things we love or want to learn. For example, Able's Tweet brought me back to this page (sorry I didn't comment during my first visit via my Reader, Chris ;)).
Sure, we spend tons of time looking at screens, but how much of this homespun and crafty art would we be able to see, share and draw inspiration without them?
Able--I'm down with one of those typewritten letters...I might even Tweet about a blog post I wrote about it...
That is a really insightful thought about screens becoming boring. In some ways it amounts to why I'm still personally resistant to using an iPhone (already at screen overload).
And conceptually, pixel overload is influencing the philosophy of our company, even though digitally, we are growing in this arena. It's an odd paradox, but one we're representing even with the incorporation of a new logo design: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nailknows/sets/72157612243200785/
To be fair, too, those of use who work in the industry of pixels are already at the threshold of using too many screens, but there is a fair number of people in America and around the globe who still don't use the internet at all.
My awesome veterinary for example; he's not in a rural area by any means, has a staff of three, and they have NOT ONE computer in the practice. It's astonishing, frankly. And also inspiring, in a weird way.
Cheers, gents.
Josh, thanks for your comment. I like the logo ideas for nail- will you be re-doing the website too?
Hey Chris,
Yes, a web redesign is in the works.
P.S. - story on people who don't want broadband: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090122-two-thirds-of-americans-without-broadband-dont-want-it.html