A question that concerns us is to what extent something that is experienced as pleasant is “acquired taste”? Tonality in Western countries is completely different from that in the Middle East. However: the golden ratio is almost a universal given. We do not have the answer, but it seems to us to be one of the great differences between visual means and music.
Box and Bowles conclude with the proposition that as a designer you have to look for the right flow: the perfect balance between consonance and dissonance. And that is what we know as “Most advanced, yet acceptable”.
No excuses: web designers who can't code
The provocative title of this panel discussion is apparently a hit, because the room is far too small for everyone who wants to be here. Wilson Miner, Ryan Sims, Jenn Lukas and Ethan Marcotte have all been designers, developers, or both, or both.
The topic is taken from a tweet from late 2010, which stated that you can't be a 'real' web designer if you can't program. The question this statement raises is: what is a "real" web designer? Difficult, if not impossible, to answer. It's a bit like saying that you can't be a real composer if you can't play all the instruments yourself. The latter is of course not true, but everyone understands that you have to be able to play something in order to come up with compositions.
There is consensus in this panel (and in the audience, where programmers clearly dominate) that web designers need to have basic programming skills. We think there is some truth to this, but the definition of basic remains arbitrary.
Disconnecting the Dots: How our Devices are Devisive
Roy Cristopher , the speaker for this presentation, reminds us of Brian, a developer who worked for us years ago. Optimistic, brilliant and abstract. Very abstract.
Roy starts his presentation by asking: what do you think your dog sees you doing all day? “Well, is he still looking at this book?” After all, your dog doesn’t understand what it shows. So now you’re looking at devices while I’m standing here talking, says Roy, and that’s fine.
Our perception of technological progress is often hampered by our need to constantly refer to the existing world. Roy showed a brilliant video to illustrate this:
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“Telephone was a form of augmented communication when it first existed”
If telepathy existed we wouldn't need all those devices
Watching TV together has shifted from antisocial to very social due to the rise of other devices
“Our feet are getting shoe shaped. Some people are getting car shaped. We adapt to our devices”
“technology curates culture”
“Augmented reality brings things closer, but also deviates us from what is really there”
When asked by the audience whether our brain can adapt to changing technology, Roy's answer is that technology senegal phone number list does not develop faster than we can handle. We are still in control, as long as technology does not invent itself. A safe thought.
The Art of Enchantment
The first keynote of Sunday was filled by Guy Kawasaki . Guy is a nerd and internet veteran from the very beginning, and best known for his time at Apple, where he was Chief Evangelist. Now he speaks and advises like crazy, but mostly about his own ten books.
His keynote is a typical one-topic presentation, this time about Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. The art of enchantment, that is. Entertaining: the formula for a good handshake.
Kawasaki also shows once again, just like Priebatsch yesterday, that Americans can be so incredibly catchy on stage. The nice thing about keynotes like Kawasaki's is that they are often already on Youtube. Including those funny, spontaneous slips of the tongue...