Khoi Vinh's Blog, page 118

Wes Anderson, Centered

Wes Anderson’s newest film, “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” is out, and so people are openly debating the merits of his work again. I have yet to see it, but from what I’ve heard it’s more of the same — which is to say, it’s likely to continue to please his fans and continue to displease…

Walking Men Worldwide

The artist Maya Barkai collected these surprisingly diverse examples of crossing signal “men” from around the world. For the past several years she has used them to create art installations in New York City (above) Australia, Russia and Israel. She’s also run a limited edition silkscreen print (below), though I personally find that the typography…

Cloudwash

Product design studio Berg re-imagines the washing machine as a connected device, including extensive integration with smartphones. This is an internal prototype that doubles as a showcase for the firm’s deeply thoughtful approach to designing experiences. More at Berg’s blog. +

A Famous 20th Century Novel Cover

I found this on Tumblr and it tickled me. Of course, rooting out its provenance was all but impossible, even after a search on TinEye. As I wrote several years ago in a post title “The New Who Thing,” Tumblr is amazing but its inability to attribute or provide sourcing is a perpetual frustration to…

Creative Market

I’m really impressed by Creative Market’s campaign to build a robust marketplace for designer-created tools for other designers. I’m not altogether convinced that there’s a huge business here, but I hope there is. Lots of smart, talented people turn to Creative Market to sell clever, useful solutions that make designers’ lives easier and more interesting…

Color Works

People rarely ask my advice on color — I made my bones with this black and white Web site, after all — but when they do, the best I can do is basically say, “Try a bunch of different stuff, and get lucky.” That’s why I was intrigued by Pentagram partner Eddie Opara’s new book…

NYT Op-Ed: Has Privacy Become a Luxury Good?

Technology writer Julia Angwin wrote this op-ed piece in today’s Times about the mounting burden on consumers to protect their own privacy.

The more we learn about how our data is being harnessed — and how it may be exploited in the future — the more likely we are to re-evaluate the true cost of these supposedly free services. And some of us will start trying to buy our way out of the trade-your-data-for-services economy.

But, as I have learned, it isn’t cheap or convenient to start buying privacy. I spend annoying amounts of time updating software or trying to resolve technical difficulties when my different privacy-protecting services conflict with one another…

As more privacy-protecting services pop up, we need to consider two important questions: Can we ensure that those who can afford to buy privacy services are not being deceived? And even more important, do we want privacy to be something that only those with disposable money and time can afford?

I’m personally surprised and dismayed by how slow moving the public conversation around privacy has been for the last two decades, even as the intrusions on our privacy have gotten ever more aggressive. Full article here.

To follow me on Twitter click here.

What Leading Designers Think of the New Nutrition Label

FastCo Design asked Tobias Frere-Jones, Stefan Sagmeister and Bonnie Siegler for their opinions on the proposed redesign of the new nutritional label, announced last week. The changes are an improvement, though I wish the new design would provide more useful context for the numbers; knowing that a given item contains 18% of daily values is helpful, but it’s not as helpful as knowing whether that’s an excessive percentage, or how that percentage benchmarks against other foods of its type. Full article here.

To follow me on Twitter click here.

What’s the Dot on Top of a Lowercase “i” Called?

A friend asked me this today and I had no idea. He went and looked it up, then reported back that it’s called a tittle. A tittle.

To follow me on Twitter click here.

Prince Street

Prince Street, New York City, taken 28 Feb 2014.

To follow me on Twitter click here.