“If thereís one design clichÈ that has come to really irritate me, itís this one: answering the question ‘Whatís your favorite design?’ with an answer like ‘The simple paper clip.’ Or the rubber band. Or the stop sign. Or the Post-It Note. Or any other humble, unauthored object from everyday life. To me, this is like answering the question ìWhatís your favorite song?î with ìYou know, is there any song as beautiful as the laughter of a child?î Itís corny. Itís lazy. Itís a cop-out… The white t-shirt and 121 other objects are on currently on view at New Yorkís Museum of Modern Art, in an exhibition that will either be the last word on the subject or start a new orgy of paper clip fetishization. ìHumble Masterpieces,î on view through September 27th, was organized by the first-rate curator (and unrepentant Post-It Note fan) Paola Antonelli, and includes the Bic Pen, the whisk broom, the tennis ball, and bubble wrap.”

An interview: “Nigel Holmes creates graphics, illustrations and animations that try to explain things. He is principal of Explanation Graphics, a graphic design firm located just outside of New York City. His projects include advertising, books, charts and diagrams, corporate identity, logos, branding, and Web sites” (Thanks InfoDesign!)

“This tool enables you to check if a site is categorized within various versions of the SmartFilter Control List. After you check a URL, SmartFilterWhere also allows you to suggest an alternative categorization for a site.”

“Last month, I started a discussion on the interaction designers list that continued on and on and on. Until I incurred the wrath of Dave Heller by touching upon the definition of interaction design. I thought since it was forbidden to discuss it there, I would put down my thoughts here in a coherent manner and offer up my definition of interaction design.”

“Automata automates Adobe Illustrator in the production of multiple files based on an Illustrator ‘parent’ or template file. Automata automatically inserts the content information for every variation of the template then saves each file separately.”

Sorry for the lack of posts. My laptop’s logic board went wonky so I sent it in for repairs. Then I went on vacation. Came home, still no computer. We’ll resume normal posting as soon as possible!

“How should we represent the distinction between visited and unvisited links within our designs? Recently, a number of industry writers have sought to explode suggested guidelines and reassure us that it’s fine to experiment, so long as we consider the end user. I consulted several established commentators, namely Andy Clarke, Jason Santa Maria, Mike Davidson, D. Keith Robinson, Cameron Moll, Derek Featherstone and Simon Willison in an attempt to consolidate these views, and reflect the broad range of methods in use today.”

“Light from different light sources add together to illuminate objects in a scene. We can use this super-position principle to modify the lighting of a scene after it has been photographed. We can also simulate negative light sources.” (Thanks Coudal Partners!)

“Everyone involved with digital imaging has heard about Genuine Fractals. This utility claimed to do a better job interpolating digital images than Photoshop’s bicubic engine. Now I would like to introduce a new utility. It’s called SI.”

“Online journalism needs better design for active readers rather than passive consumers. The author’s research indicates that Web content can be made far more meaningful and useful through better use of interactivity, or ‘productive interaction.’”

“A colleague recently told me that one of the biggest challenges that she and other in-house information architects face is earning management’s trust. Initially this shocked me, but when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. There are the standard reasons–staff may be the legacy of a previous manager, there may be personality issues, whatever. But information architects also face some unique challenges: we are a newish and oddly-named profession, lacking in certification or other associated academic pedigrees, assigned to the wrong departments and working on highly abstract tasks that don’t translate into clear return on investment. What can we do about it?”

“Epicenter Design involves focusing in on the true essence of the page (the ‘epicenter’) and then building outwards. This means not starting with the navigation/tabs, or the footer, or the colors, or the sidebar, or the logo, etc. It means starting with the part of the page that, if changed or removed, would change the entire purpose of the page. Thatís the epicenter.”

“Following the lead of Rabid Squirrel’s g-mailto, I worked up a bookmarklet to pop up a new message window off my browser toolbar. I’ve only tested this on IE6 for Windows, but it’s the standard javascript stuff, so it should work everywhere.”

“This is not designed to be a course on the history of photography such as a resource to dip into. In addition to pen-portraits of many of the most important photographers of the period, it contains information on some of the most significant processes used during the early days of photography. The project was confined to the first eighty years or so, as this is often a convenient cut-off point in books and when dividing courses into a syllabus.”

“Taglines used to be called slogans, and in the days of hard sell advertising mavens like Claude Hopkins and Rosser Reeves, they summed up the product and the promise in one viciously efficient little package: Winston tastes good like a cigarette should. Somewhere along the way, though, slogans turned into taglines, vague bits of poetry that sought to transcend the mundane commercial world and commune with the divine.”