End Graphic Design

‎"I think it's insane that people still call electronic music, "electronic music." It's like calling guitar music, "guitar music." It just doesn't make any sense. Electronic music has been in the musical vocabulary for 60, 70 years now. The majority of pop music is made almost exclusively electronic[ally]. People talk about how it's permeating the mainstream but it's been in the mainstream forever.

When people think about electronic music, I think they mainly think about music without vocals that's beat-driven that you're made to dance to. I don't think they're thinking about Britney Spears or the majority of hip-hop or Devo or Talking Heads or anything like that. All of those bands use heavy elements of electronics; they also have guitars and vocals, and people associate those sounds before they associate the electronic instruments."

- Dan Deacon, interviewed by NPR

Apple and Samsung have wrapped up their cases before a jury in their epic patent war, and so it's a good time to discuss how out of control the patent situation has become in the US.

First off, the US patent office seems to be occupied by a bunch of knuckleheads who, for well over a decade now, grant patents to just about anything you could possibly think of, not just inventions. The most mind-numbingly stupid thing to come out of our patent office is allowing Amazon.com to patent "one-click ordering." That means if you buy something from a website, when you return, login and click a "buy" button, the process of simply fetching your credit card number and shipping address from the database is somehow a scientific invention. Apple pays royalties to Amazon so that you can click "Buy" beside an app or song in their store without having to go through the Billing and Shipping address steps. Barnes and Noble had a 2-click system: You clicked to buy and then clicked to verify the purchase. Apparantly, our courts inherited some of the patent office's stupidity, because they seem to have been leaning toward extending Amazon.com's 1 click patent into covering 2 clicks also: Barnes and Noble settled out of court, the terms of which are secret. Amazon tried to patent their one-click foolishness in Europe and practically got laughed out of the room, as well they should have.

They are now allowing tech companies to patent graphic design and user experience ideas that include doing things with your fingers like swiping to unlock or pinching to zoom. Basically, no one outside these big tech companies with thousands of patents could even think about trying build a tablet or smart phone at this point. In the meantime, these tech companies use our courts as a way to carry on day to day competitive business with each other, which is what we're seeing today in Apple vs Samsung. We should clean house in the patent office and set aside a good budget to do a full review of as many tech patents as possible with the goal of shredding them by the truckload.

Letting a domain name expire on GoDaddy is like trying to break up with a psycho. You simply can't do it without suffering through an obsessive period of stalking. You get one, two, maybe three emails a day from them. And they're always the same: "Let's get back together now! If you don't respond to this, things are gonna be over. I'm not gonna do this and that for you anymore, you're not gonna get this and that. But, if you come back, I'll change this and do that." They send you colorful letters in the mail. They call you. You say you're okay without them and they try to tell you why you're not.

Then, when they finally let go, they immediately jump head first into a one to three year relationship with someone else who is no good for them. Someone that just leaves them parked out there with nothing except a commitment.

Last week, Oreo cookies displayed a major social media/viral win when they posted a picture of one of their cookies with rainbow colored frosting and the word "Pride." As you would expect, a cookie maker weighing in on a charged social topic caused some controversy. But what's truly controversial, at least in the eyes of this designer, is a cookie picture that was posted back in February:

There seems to be foul play afoot. Notice the very Photoshoppy looking bevel on the side of the cream (#1)? Also, there are Smudge Tool blur spots on 2 and 3. I will not dispute that Oreo makes the best cookie (if you have dipping milk, if not, the award must go to home made chocolate chip). However, we mustn't stand by and let them 'ShopChop these pictures when we all know their social media staff has all the time in the world to carve them out by hand.

  It's funny to see this London 2012 logo flying back into public discussion after a few years of silence. The main thing the logo seems to communicate to non-designers is that graphic designers are full of crap. Well, that's how it goes I guess. The main problem with it is that it was designed in 2006 and closely resembles the style of the "New Rave" look that was blowing up back then (especially in the UK). It is triple important not to design to music and cultural trends, especially when your product won't be finally implemented for 6 years.

And it ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, then to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. - Machiavelli