It makes the most sense to me to compare designers to writers. Perhaps because design is so new to me, and I’ve been reading for as long as I can remember, so writers are the most accessible comparison in this new design world. Nabakov, in particular, has a special place in my heart and at this moment Lolita is sitting on my bedside table (I’ve never read Pale Fire, but I intend to put it at the top of my reading list for Christmas break). Books, especially the most well-written of classics, represent design challenges: how to incorporate different plot elements, where to weave in different character personalities, how to build the story, when to let the story build upon itself. A book cannot be over-written and over-thought, just as design should not be heavy-handed.
In Michael Beirut’s other musings on design, he discusses his typography obsessions and hatreds, but none of the essays really spoke to me like his seven paragraphs about Pale Fire and hypertext. It is interesting enough to imagine how some design concepts become a placebo for the anxieties for our world. It is more interesting still to consider how design elements such as the “door close” button have become obsolete represent the ephemeral nature of design. Nothing really stays around forever, nor does any design element retain forever the meaning that a designer originally intended. The only way things really stay around is through their