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quotes worth consideration

“I am a design chauvinist. I believe that good design is magical and not to be lightly tinkered with. The difference between a great design and a lousy one is in the meshing of the thousand details that either fit or don't, and the spirit of the passionate intellect that has tied them together, or tried. That's why programming — or buying software — on the basis of "lists of features" is a doomed and misguided effort. The features can be thrown together, as in a garbage can, or carefully laid together and interwoven in elegant unification, as in APL, or the Forth language, or the game of chess.”

“Typography is to literature as musical performance is to composition: an essential act of interpretation, full of endless opportunities for insight or obtuseness. Much typography is far removed from literature, for language has many uses, including packaging and propaganda. Like music, it can be used to manipulate behavior and emotions. But this is not where typographers, musicians or other human beings show us their finest side. Typography at its best is a slow performing art, worthy of the same informed appreciation that we sometimes give to musical performances, and capable of giving similar nourishment and pleasure in return.”

“As we learn to understand this century and play its complex game, we can chart extraordinary futures. Today's young people must be given the confidence to transform their lifestyles, the environment and Homo sapiens itself. We can create civilizations more magnificent than anything yet conceived. We need the political will to transform our world rather than wreck it.

“Young people everywhere need charts of the worldscape ahead. They, collectively, will be responsible for the greatest transition in human history.”

“By the 1950s, the growth of recorded information was referred to as an information explosion. The term may not have been apt, because an explosion quickly ends its violent growth…

…The information-handling process typically costs from 5 to 30 percent of an organization's total expenses. Given such a large expenditure, it is desirable to ask how corporate communications can be made as effective and inexpensive as possible.”

“…In a cedar-shake shack on a cliff — but we all live like this — is a man in his thirties who lives alone with a stone he is trying to teach to talk.

“…Reports differ on precisely what he expects or wants the stone to say. I do not think he expects the stone to speak as we do, and describe for us its long life and many, or few, sensations. I think instead that he is trying to teach it to say a single word, such as "cup," or "uncle."

Better solutions grow from collaboration

Our development process is shaped by your goals, your market and your customers. We think of ourselves as your advocate. This helps to ensure that our custom web site designs, web applications and corporate identity packages serve you well.

Tuesday, 09 March 2010

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Forethought & Hindsight

Network Neutrality and Democracy Amplifiers (30 Oct 2009)

(Computer) Power to the People (5 Dec 2001)

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Historical perspective included:
External Design brings values and insight refined since the early days of personal computers. We continue to strive for solutions that can make things a little better for everyone.

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Could you benefit from a "larger than life" presence? We can help you craft a business identity that matches the stature of your mission rather than the size of your staff.

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office music in the workplace Soothe the savage beast with music in the workplace… here we share favorite tunes that have graced, inspired and sometimes confounded our offices.