79 Short Essays on Design

How to Become Famous

While some may view this essay as a practical guide to becoming famous, I looked for the meaning behind the words. To me, it felt as if Beirut was arguing about the trivial nature of being famous and those whose sole purpose in life is to be famous. By boiling this “goal” down to a few swift bullet points, his larger point seems to be that being famous is easily attainable. However, being a talented and good person is much loftier goal.

Vladimir Nabokov: Father of Hypertext

I adored this short essay on Nabokov’s Pale Fire. Initial thoughts about graphic design, or design in general, usually evokes images of posters or products in a store, but rarely does it ever conjure about the image of a book. Especially, the insides of books, past their typographic elements. To describe Pale Fire as being more than a hypertext story, but as an element of design, opens up the door for more conversations about the possibility of stories being considered elements of good design.

Information Design and the Placebo Effect

This essay just confirmed my suspicion that crosswalk buttons are a hoax. It won’t stop me from mashing them with full force whenever the light won’t change.