Month: December 2007

Full of Class: An Interview with Joseph Williams

Dec 27, 2007

Before we knew web design, before we knew what we did was called information architecture, we wrote. We sat patiently through grammar class, learning when the participle dangled and the sentence ran on. As we got older, we were handed down paperbacks gilded with lessons and rules about how to write. Guidelines from Strunk & White guided our high school prose.

But if we braved on, we may have encountered a different kind of grammatical attitude. Grammar rules dropped away; Strunk & White became idle on the bookshelf, and we were left to our own devices. (more…)

Nothing to Write Home About

Dec 10, 2007

I’m not a photographer, but somehow I find myself carrying at least two cameras at any given time: an iPhone camera and either a point & shoot or, more recently, a digital SLR. The latter two are intentional tools—I carry them with the intention of recording something (or hoping something photoworthy will happen). But the iPhone camera is unintentional—its presence is purely circumstantial.

But more and more, I find myself reaching for the iPhone instead of a proper camera. It’s not that the iPhone camera is smaller, more impressive, or even more fun to use. Upon a quick examination of my photos, it seems that it’s not about the camera at all—the contents of my photos themselves are changing. (more…)