On paper, it had been my dream job, but what I’d come to realize (and apparently what my friends have always known) working for someone else wasn’t cutting it. I wanted a community of collaboration, what I got was complete autonomy. Don’t get me wrong the experience was great, but a lot of times knowing what you don’t want is just as important as finding what you do. And so starts a new journey…

I remember being in the office at somewhere close to 2am and realizing there was still a lot of oil to burn. At one point, my boss sent me a message and said, “Mihae, it’s only marketing.” At that moment I found comfort, it had eased the pressure and lifted the burden of performance. It didn’t change the fact that I still spent the night at the office but somehow it felt better. He would repeat the statement during a recap of the project, but the second time around it felt deflating. It made me question the worth of the work. Keep in mind, I’m not anti-advertising nor hate the corporation, I just wanted the work I did to be meaningful beyond someone’s bottom line. And when you work for the end result of profit over losses, you realize a certain degree of futility. You can walk away from it because at the end of our days, it’s really not worth that much.

I’d written a job posting once and it concluded with a line from Confucius, “Find a job that you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” In the days since writing it, I had oscillated between believing it to questioning it to downright denying it, in fact I may still just be on a pendulum swing in one direction, moments away from heading just as powerfully back. But for now, I can say I believe it.

During Steve Job’s commencement speech at Standford (2005) he said, “for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.” The speech ends with a statement, or maybe even a call to action, “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

It has stayed with me and I found myself rereading it just moments before my evaluation. I’d written the quote on a sheet of paper and read it word for word to my boss. He gave a hesitant but warm smile and asked, “what are your plans?” The beauty of that moment was that I didn’t have any.

I’d gone into my evaluation with a quote and I’d come out, perhaps for the first time, knowing that my whole life was ahead of me, that the biggest hurdle was getting over the self-doubt and the nagging “shoulds” that seem to come from everywhere except yourself and I’d jumped over to the other side to find I was feeling delightfully foolish with an appetite to match.

It’s the kind of thing movies are made of…

Other related stories:

NPR

Definitely not wanting to go that route, I thought a lot about the qualities that spoke out to me and more importantly what would make me take a closer look at a candidate. I just had to remember what it was like when I was clicking through hundreds of resumes for a designer while at Windup.

It came together when I’d come across an article in the Harvard Business Review via CNN. Entitled “The Innovator’s DNA,” the article was about a six year study highlighting the key skills that innovative and creative entrepreneurs share. I connected with it because I saw my own characteristic parallels. So I ran with it. I rewrote my resume, with a fresh approach focusing on the skills that made me an intelligent thinker and innovator. I stressed the importance of “foolish” experimenting and social networking- the ability to put yourself in positions and amongst the unfamiliar with a childlike enthusiasm and taking actions that were open and fearless.

Prior to application, I sent out an email asking for feedback, which was anything but fearless. Admittedly, I had a lot of trepidation and sat for several minutes before hitting send. There were people on that list who I highly respected and their feedback would be taken to heart no matter how much I would steel myself against it, but I hit send and put my head on the chopping block and implored that everyone be brutally honest, that the criticism would push me more than a pat on the back. It’s also just good practice to have another set of eyes for typos.

What came back was a mixed bag, which I suppose was to be expected. Of course I zeroed in on the less than praiseworthy comments. After all, I had chosen these people not only for the fact that many were design savvy but because they were also smart people. I won’t lie, it was deflating of sorts, despite all the compliments. I got more positive feedback than negative but it still planted a seed of doubt. The one comment that stung the most did so because it was also a compliment, “you are too seasoned and too senior to have a resume that (as much as I appreciate the work you put into it) feels to me like a ‘designer’ effort.”

I know that it seemed like a very JV move, I’d put in a lot of time that could have been spent on the long list of side projects that seems to grow exponentially with each passing week that could add to my own portfolio, but I still thought maybe the concept would push beyond my “unseasoned” effort.

So what started out as simply an attempt to redesign my resume has evolved into an experiment. I’ve identified 50 “innovative” ad agencies and design studios and split the list in half. My methodology in the split for the most part was an exacting flip of a coin. Heads they get Resume 1: “5 Elements of Innovative Thinking,” tails Resume 2: “Mihae S Mukaida-Contact Info and Chronological List of Professional Experience.” Some of the bigger agencies have a standardized submission, in which case I’ll have to go with the run of the mill CV, which I’m balancing out by sending those who had advertised their openings with Resume 1. The rationale being that those with job postings will most likely be receiving a boatload of responses.

Putting together the list alone took 2 days of research. I’d looked at AdAge’s 50 Top Interactive Agencies, gone through AIGA’s design archives, Communication Arts, looked at interviews of designers and ad executives, which inevitably led to others. Which, on a side note, you have to check out the site of SCPF. It’s a novel approach, tongue-in-cheeky without going all cheese. Although, I’m still not sure if they were tipping their hat to Alex Bogusky (founding partner of Crispin Porter + Bogusky and recent cover of Fast Company magazine) or snubbing him…but I digress, onto the scientific methodology.

While it won’t be winning any scientific award for exactitude, the objective of the experiment is to determine what kind of response each resume type will garner and hopefully find out why one or the other did or did not elicit an interview. Each agency/studio claims to focus on ideas and innovation. Now, I know I’m making a big assumption but for simplicity sake, let’s say that I’m an ideal candidate, that the major variable for said agency/studio is the resume type.

The experiment in a nutshell: Designer seeks position as Art Director or equivalent at forward thinking agency/studio utilizing two types of resumes.

I’ve thus far identified 4 possible hypothetical outcomes:

1. Resume 1 = Well-Received » Interview
The novel approach grabbed attention and was found to “practice what it preached” resulting in intrigue and further investigation.

2. Resume 1 ≠ Well-Received » Delete
Approach was found to be ill-fitting for a senior level position and application was promptly tossed.

3. Resume 2 = Well-Received » Interview
Work experience documented was sufficient and inline with qualifications sought in potential candidate.

4. Resume 2 ≠ Well-Received » Delete
Either I totally suck, or the resume while adequate was either lost in the shuffle or they received other resumes that worked a little harder for attention.

Data Collection:
Aside from quantifiable results (i.e. getting an interview or not) further investigation will attempt to determine some qualitative data. In fact if you have received my resume and are reading this please go here: http://mihae.qhub.com/

Timeline:
March 10th: Cover letters, resumes, and portfolio links sent to all 50 agencies/studios
March 17th: Follow up communication will be made to those studios which have yet to respond
March 22nd: Data will be interpreted and results published

Nowhere more do you see this phenomena embodied than in a city like New York, where for the past two centuries, with the constant influx of new people, it has become a powerful influencer worldwide in everything from the currency you spend to the clothing you wear.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” It’s the statement emblazoned upon the statue that has greeted millions of ship-weary foreigners and the backdrop that has enabled those seeking a better life a way to it. Which isn’t to say every immigrant who reaches these shores has a better life, in fact for many it was and continues to be merely a stepping stone that requires a huge step back, before even attempting a move forward. Yet, it is this struggle that has colored the past two centuries and made what New York City is, but as we come to the close of the first decade of the 21st century, something has shifted. There’s an oddly mixed sentiment brewing, you’ll hear it in every corner in manhattan, you’ll see its head reared full-faced as landmark buildings and shops throughout the city give way to large developers whose buyers and tenants have equally large pockets.

Take one look down the Bowery, the oldest American thoroughfare and you’ll be overwhelmed with the changes. CBGBs, whose walls reverberated with the sounds of rock icons like the Talking Heads and Blondie is now a John Varvatos; the east side of the street lined with luxury hotels and high-rise condominiums, a far cry from the flop houses. Of course, it’s not exactly a bad alternative to the alcoholics and drug dealers that it displaced, but what exactly has replaced it?

I took a walking tour recently of the Bowery with Rob Hollander, an adjunct professor of linguistics at NYU and a New Yorker through and through. We talked about the Bowery and its history, he reminisced about the freedom that one used to feel; that while yes, you might have had to step over more than a few drunken bodies, but there was still a freedom, albeit a little reckless that drew people and artists like Mark Rothko, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, and Eva Hesse to its dilapidated, light-filled lofts. It was an independence outside the mainstream that allowed the artist to, in the words of lady liberty “breathe free.” He’d go on to mourn the new developments, and denigrate the gentrification that seemed to suck the area dry of it’s colorful and more than a little messy historic culture. But at one point, it reminded me of an article in the NY Observer about No Longer Empty’s “Never Records” exhibit, that almost inadvertently grappled with an uneasiness with a nostalgia that was no longer a wafting warm and fuzzy memory but something more akin to a paralyzing rheumatism.

After empathizing with the lower east side’s developmental plight, I asked Rob what kind of development could he see that he would endorse…he paused, noted it was a good question and then responded with, “I hate to say it, but I don’t think there is any.” And yet, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought about it, it wasn’t a romanticized notion of how much better it would be if the homeless alcoholics and prostitutes were left to run the streets, but more a lament for what had gone up in its place and what the erection would inevitably trigger. Some could argue that every generation feels that longing for a time past…even Rothko in his Bowery studio felt it,

“One day while his one-man show was still on in New York, Rothko and James Brooks sat talking on the stairway in the building at 222 Bowery…Rothko “declared at length…the reason for his deep melancholy.” “His work had reached such an acceptance that it now inhabited the investment world as much as or more than the art world,” leaving Rothko “bereft of the only thing that meant anything–the love that many people had for his work. Now he no longer felt his work was admired for itself, but that it was a rising commodity quotation on the stock market.”[1]

But there is a single, very crucial difference to take note of between the 1960′s and 2010—the environment of creation. Art of any given period is not only a reflection of the men and women who created it, but inescapably a mirror of the times; for the Bowery artists of the 19th and 20th centuries, struggle and strife were rampant. It led to the creation of art from an almost empathic impetus.

Rothko writes in his essay “The Romantics were Prompted..”

“The unfriendliness of society to his activity is difficult for the artist to accept. Yet this very hostility can act as a lever for true liberation. Freed from a false sense of security and community, the artist can abandon his plastic bank-book, just as he has abandoned other forms of security. Both the sense of community and of security depend on the familiar. Free of them, transcendental experiences become possible. [2]

So when a designer men’s clothing store becomes a more viable platform for launching a music career than an actual music venue like CBGB’s what is the effect? It begs the question, what kind of culture is cultivated when nurtured not necessarily by a common human struggle but by brand generation and capitalism?

Hollander, bespoke of homogeneity and the loss of the individual. I think we all feel it, we comment about it at art shows and social events over complimentary glasses of wine and conveniently mourn the passing of New York’s historic gems..but we relish the cleaner streets and more often than not welcome the homogeneity if it comes with a reduced price tag. But if there is one thing that New York City has in abundance, it’s those in search of the struggle and that healthy hostility Rothko mentions. On the Bowery it may just be that the whiskey-breathed and homeless are being traded for the well suited and higher heeled.

References:

[1] Breslin, James E. B., 1935–Mark Rothko a biography, The University of Chicago Press, 1993

[2] Rothko, M., “The Romantics were Prompted…” Possibilities, New York, I, 1947, p. 84

It begins as a throwback, something of a mirage-like homage to music history. In the former spot of Tower Records is a small sign outside, a faux cd cover entitled “Never Can Say Goodbye” by No Longer Empty. It’s the introduction to Never Records, a record store that never was but is, replete with record bins, posters, flyers, merchandise for sale, even a cash register, with individually painted dollar bills and calling cards of artists swapped out for change. Each item, from cardboard box to employee of the month sculpture, recreated and repurposed with the theme of invoking the history of how music was represented in a time when record stores could turn a huge profit. Composed by Ted Riederer, Never Records (a befitting moniker), is in actuality a record of 40+ artists whose displayed work has never had anything to do with music recording prior to its inception for the show.

picture via psfk.com

The exhibit also showcases the works of Ryan Brennan, Joe Diebes, R. Luk DuBois, Richard Garet, Invader, Josh Jordan, Kaz Oshiro, Meredyth Sparks, Naama Tsabar, Siebren Versteeg, and Paul Vilinski.

And while there is quite a lot to say about each of the artists, from the flight of Vilinksi’s bird records to Invader’s album recreations with Rubik’s cubes, I found the more subtle piece of Ted Riederer’s record bins most provoking given the setting of the show and ensuing panel discussion.

We can all remember perusing music lined aisles flipping through albums, or for my generation cds. It can be almost trance-like, the repetitive motion as each album face flips forward revealing another and another, until something strikes your fancy and makes you pause. It’s what’s captured and utilized in Riederer’s record bins, the centerpiece of Never Records. Each donated record blacked out with a single line on each album. Taken separately, one might mistake it for a guessing game of what the record might have been or it’s most famous single; taken entirely it’s a evocative, 15-stanza poem.

And while I hate to remove it from the exhibition backdrop, especially when each stanza ends with an oddly paralleled real album (also donated), it’s poignant enough to read on its own, especially given the context of Tuesday’s featured panel discussion “Discs to Downloads: New Directions in Music Industry” (which includes: Elliot Groffman, Music Industry Attorney for Dave Matthews Band and Jay-Z; Kevin Patrick, Artist Manager for Matt & Kim, Lord Warddd, Vivian Green; David Weiss, Co-Founder/Co-Editor SonicScoop.com; Ted Riederer, Featured Artist, “Never Can Say Goodbye”; Oli Stephenson, CTO, CBS Interactive Music Group).

I.
In the heart of nowhere
At the end of the beginning
We are all set adrift
Under skies of vermillion and silver

II.
Welcome to tomorrow
This is the age of alarm
These are ghost stories
Tales from planet earth.

III.
Our world
The one rare earth
Will never be the same
This is the turning point.

VI.
As the sun gets hotter
The vapor of gasoline in the wind
Will catch fire.

V.
The great lonely city
Is a dead memorial
To days of wine and roses.

VI.
Living in danger
We are walking a changing line
A battle of heaven and earth

VII.
So many men witness universal struggle
Around the world and preach
How they are different from others
And lie “It could never happen here.”
We are all destroyers and refugees
Connected by a bitter history of abuse

VIII.
The makers sing us to sleep
In a dreamland of product in paradise
Alkaline dreams murder minds

XI.
The rebel youth are hungry
For some kind of spiritual voyage.

X.
Resist the in-crowd
Who dance their danse macabre
In a theater of suicidal tendencies
Fight the status quo
Fight for love
Ideas are bulletproof
Like germs we will take hold of the system
One cell at a time
Some people cry “cultural decay” others Scream “revolution.”

XI.
The feeling that
It’s more than you
More than you know
Is the true meaning of brotherhood.

XII.
Look no further
Tear down the unopened door inside you
The ghost in you
Dreams of emancipation
Crossing a bridge that just won’t burn
You alone can save you.

XIII.
Believe in the midget and the giant
Diamonds and rust
Death and transfiguration

XIV.
In time a song shall rise
For those who believe in the wisdom of looking in
Street songs
Songs for sinners
A lullaby in tongues
The sweetest sounds
And the most beautiful noise

XV.
I will wait of you
In the diamond night
Alone together
With eyes that see in the dark
We will wait for the golden dawn of redeeming grace.

Let’s face it, the age of the internet has ravaged the music industry, but it’s important to examine exactly what part of the industry it’s taken a bite into. What have mp3s, iTunes, MySpace, YouTube, and the creation of applications allowing “free” downloads of virtually any song be it obscure live recording or top 100 billboard song done to the creators of music–it’s essentially taken away one major gatekeeper and with it a huge hurdle–the record label and distribution. This is not to downplay the fact that it also hits the pockets of the artist, but the label has always done that. I can remember a video interview of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes from TLC (yes I was a fan) livid at the knowledge that they made but a few cents off each album, which divided three ways and minus their own expenses was by star standards pretty modest to say the least. It’s more notable that major labels are finally feeling the pinch, so call it a little karmic retribution.

Riederer, who abashedly claims friendship with a few bands signed by big labels remarks that for the band members what changed wasn’t so much the cash-flow from album sales, it’s that now they could gain a larger following more quickly. Riederer also quips musicians are still screwed, they “still have to try and make money the same way that they always have… and that’s going out on tour and selling merch.” And aptly notes, “it’s as if we are sitting here trying to connive or figure out a way for major labels to adapt and keep their profit margins.”

Looking at the larger picture of what the panel brought to light was the trend across all mass media towards that of an individual, DIY media. Traditional paradigms of distribution and discovery have been shattered, opening avenues and ways of communication that promote connectivity amongst the masses that up to now have never been available. As David Weiss, the Co-Founder/Co-Editor of SonicScoop.com said, “New technology has shifted supply, having music recorded and distributed is no longer a privilege it’s a right.”

One could argue that the plethora is overwhelming, unleashing a herd of mental masturbators who want the world to know their indigestion woes from week old pizza or worse show it to you with a soundtrack. And yes, there is a multiplication of the mediocre and banal added to the internet ether. On the flip side however, it’s enabled a dialogue, a conversation if you will, that no other artistic age had available, introducing an additional tool into the art making process, the highest social art form, the art of conversation. To be both fiercely individual and intensely interconnected, to have unique ideas and views that can be disseminated, related, and understood and equally misunderstood, is an environment both exhilarating and leveling. Today, the next big star isn’t necessarily one that gets signed by the major label and manufactured to stardom, it’s as easily plausible to get discovered on MySpace, mentioned on Pitchfork, and skyrocketed into the ears of adoring fans. One realizes the awesome power of the most base form of marketing – word of mouth.

With the proliferation of blogs, Facebook accounts, and  twitterers, everyone is a critic. Why listen to the opinion of a single critic, when you can survey thousands in seconds and decide for yourself if what someone has to say matters to you. It’s easier to doubt the opinion of a critic from a single news source, no matter how established, but when 100 of your facebook friends became a fan of a new band, you listen, hell even a fraction of that. If I saw that 10 friends completely unrelated to eachother were buzzing about a song, I would without a doubt be curious to check it out, not just to hear it for myself, but also see what it was that was connecting people, in a way transcending boundaries of personal taste.

Word of mouth is nothing new, it has always held sway, Malcolm Gladwell wrote about the power of it in his national bestseller The Tipping Point over ten years ago. But word of mouth has gained a momentum factor very different from the turn of the millennia. It’s mind-blowing to think about how many gadgets, words, and modes of communication have become fully integrated into daily practices that weren’t even in existence a mere decade prior. How people are connecting today in 2010 is completely different but the “laws” Gladwell laid down in is his book still apply. Gladwell quotes sociologist Mark Granovetter and his coined adage, “the strength of weak ties.” He writes,

“Granovetter argues that when it comes to finding out about new jobs — or, for that matter, new information, or new ideas — “weak ties” are always more important than strong ties. Your friends, after all, occupy the same world that you do. Your acquaintances, on the other hand, by definition occupy a very different world than you. They are much more likely to know something that you don’t.”

And what have applications like Facebook and Twitter done? They have vastly increased one’s ability to nurture weak ties and with it our abilities as individuals to influence each other. It has created a river of ambient personal knowledge, which the reader can choose when and how much to dip into.

Douglas Rushkoff, author of Life Inc., made an interesting comment at his recent Etsy appearance in Brooklyn, about how in our emerging DIY society to become relevant as an artist today is to be irrelevant. It eluded to the Renaissance practice of artistic sponsorship and its subsequent corporate iteration. The corporation can no longer extract value from the individual and shape it, it must come with greater authenticity–come from the individual and be built with other “irrelevant” individuals to gain relevance.

So where does this leave the evolution of the music industry? I leave the answer to the Do-It-Yourselfers and give nod to Riederer’s featured poem, “at the end of the beginning we are all set adrift…in time a song shall rise for those who believe in the wisdom of looking in.”

Additional Links:
Behind the Scenes, the making of Never Say Goodbye

Subject Related Links:
02/03/2010 Imogen Heap embraces twitter technology or rather wears it
02/03/2010 An “Interactive” Experiment

About No Longer Empty

No Longer Empty (NLE) is a comprised of arts advocates, curators and artists who orchestrate public art exhibitions in vacated storefronts and properties in New York City. The non-profit organization was conceived as an artistic response to our present economic condition and to revitalize empty spaces and areas around the venues by bringing thoughtful, high-caliber art installations with accompanying programs to the public.

Locating art in unexpected places in the public domain suggests new models of community art that are different from major institutions and galleries. Committed to art as a positive component for community and cultural development, No Longer Empty conducts outreach into the community to contribute meaningfully and bolster the local businesses through the increased flow of visitors that these exhibitions attract and by arranging programs such as panel discussions, music and performance evenings, children’s workshops, artist conversations and more.

These exhibitions could not have happened without the vacant spaces being generously donated rent-free by the landlords. The exhibitions and art chosen or created are site specific in the sense that they reflect such issues as the former use or history of the site, the nature of the neighborhood and, of course, the specific features of the space. Both established and emerging artists have been selected for the exhibitions, benefiting our audiences with rich variety and discovery.

My brother once described Mr. Larry Young as his “cheat sheet to life.” Granted this was after he’d gotten over the fact that Larry was dating our mother and after he no longer searched for his picture posting on the bulletin at the post office for America’s most wanted. And while the comment was made in passing it is, in my eyes, one of the greatest compliments and one that is rarely bestowed because it’s seldom deserved. It’s not as if Larry has any secret short cuts or special tricks, he lived and lives a full life, one that enables him to impart that crucial nugget of information that makes things go off in your head and connect the dots. And like any good cheat sheet he does so discreetly. If you were to meet Larry face to face, you’d think yourself in front of an unassuming country boy, silver from years of living both the high and low life, but still colorful and with a muted southern twang to boot; his blue laughing eyes the only part hinting at the deep ocean of knowledge just a story away.

Sometimes we spend our whole lives searching for things that are often right in front of us. Throughout my education, I’ve always wanted something of a mentor, someone to guide me and show me the ropes. I’ve sort of romanticized the notion of apprenticeship, searching for a master crafstman who would pass on his/her knowledge, skill, and experience and I, the chosen disciple if you will, would greedily soak it up like a sponge.

After more than my fair share of professions from public relations to hair transplants (yes, I once assisted in the rejuvenation of receding hairlines) to my current affair graphic design, what I reluctantly came to was that my romanticized, imagined notions were exactly that–in a world where techonologies change so rapidly that by the time you’ve learned something it’s almost old news, the idea of a traditional mentor is somewhat obsolete, overtaken by the next software bundle or programming script. Think about how many things you use on a daily basis today that didn’t even exist a few years ago. Things as seemingly innocuous as cell phones and Google. And yet these technologies have drastically changed our learning environments, leveling the playing field and allowing a sort of youthful innovation unhampered by routine and tradition. Take for example a look at New York’s recent fashion week, where front row, amidst fashion icons like Anna Wintour sat absolute newcomers unbeknownst to the world but for the creation of blogs, taping away at laptops whose price tags were probably a fraction of the cost of the stilettos sashaying by on the runway and to the outrage of those poor souls who spent the greater part of their 30 odd year lifetimes battling their way to the front row only to find they’d been out maneuvered by a gay Filipino fashion blogger. Which is not to say I don’t share in the enthusiasm of this ever transferring world…let’s face it, I sit here on the subway, writing this on my iPhone with a widget for WordPress. However, I also find myself still clinging to something. In the hurry and hustle amidst tweets, blog postings, and social networking; in the striving to be in the know with the latest technologies, what are we missing, or more accurately what are we really learning?

I think there is a general consensus beginning. Good magazine’s recent issue entitled “The Slow Issue” was devoted to the subject of, wait for it…slowing down, focusing on “quality, authenticity, and longevity rather than a mindless adherence to the faster and cheaper ethos.” It struck something, it made me once again look back at my discarded notion of mentoring and redefine it, or perhaps define it rightly for the first time.

In Paulo Coelho’s novel Brida, there’s a line on page 42, which reads, “Learning something means coming into contact with a world which you know nothing. In order to learn, you must be humble.” To put yourself in a position for which you are completely unfamiliar and allow yourself to be humbled by a greater knowledge–that act itself is a worthy lesson and one that’ll prove its usefulness tenfold if you are able to master it–and it’s one of the qualities I admire most in Larry. The breadth and scope if his stories are as numerous and varied as his body of work and yet despite that, he is prepared to leave all of it at the door and learn whatever lesson you have to offer.

Think about what you can learn when you aren’t bound by the limitations of what you know.

So Larry Young–illustrator, photographer, artist, sculptor, painter, teacher, filmmaker, and father, will you be my mentor?

http://www.youtube.com/user/brooklynmobile

Yes Brooklyn Mobile is a makeshift cardboard box but it is also an internet videobooth. Part of the Broadcaster Project, which seeks to develop public information appliances, the booth can be found meandering the streets of downtown Brooklyn (mostly around Jay St, Fulton Mall, Livingston, Atlantic, Flatbush).

What is a public information appliance you ask? Well, it’s sort of like a public telephone – cheap, ubiquitous, easy to use, with many vendors. So, while still in it’s infancy in terms of vendors, in the case of Brooklyn Mobile it’s a public video booth that allows you to place a public photo or video online, much like how a public phone booth is used to make a phone call.

The goal of the project is quite multifarious and you can find their project notes on google docs (along with more scenarios like those below) but one of the most interesting is this idea of creating a public history file, that not only documents human culture and viewpoints but also allows for the dissemination of information in a new way and (while again still in somewhat of an embryonic stage) the idea is to make it as accessible as a public phone.

Imagine for example you know an amazing artist or musician. This person is not technology inclined. Their work is not available online because they don’t like computers and can’t afford to hire someone to make a web page for them. They go to a broadcaster. It’s as simple as a stereo or old rotary phone. Turn it on. Place yourself or your artwork in front of it. Press the button. A video or photo is captured and uploaded automatically to public stream (youtube/flickr/blogger/etc). Or, you lost your phone. You are separated from your friends or family. You’d like to make contact but you don’t have numbers memorized. If you have a quarter and there is a broadcaster in a store or public place nearby, you can post a public note. Tagged with your name and the details of the physical location of the broadcaster, the message finds its way to those who care about you…assuming someone out there cares about you.

So it may not be winning any prizes for innovation exactly but what it boils down to is accessibility and connection. Look at the success of NPR’s StoryCorps program and you can see they’re onto something.

StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening.

By recording the stories of our lives with the people we care about, we experience our history, hopes, and humanity. Since 2003, tens of thousands of everyday people have interviewed family and friends through StoryCorps. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to take home and share, and is archived for generations to come at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, creating a growing portrait of who we really are as Americans.

What the Broadcasters Project proposes is to push it even further, with uses that aren’t limited to a sound booth or particular purpose even, just the idea of supplying a tool that the public can utilize and innovate on their own. How they intend to put it into the market is another story…

The Top 10 Everything of 2009 via Time Albums, Animal Stories, Apologies, Art Exhibitions, Awkward Moments, Best Business Deals, Breakups, Children’s Books, Crime Stories, Editorial Cartoons, Facebook Stories, Fashion Faux Pas, Fashion Moments, Feuds, Fiction Books, Fleeting Celebrities, Gadgets, Green Idea, Heroes, iPhone Apps, Late-Night Jokes, Magazine Covers, Medical Breakthroughs, Movie Performances, Movies, New Species, News Stories, Nonfiction, Oddball News, Pariahs, Pictures of the Year, Plays and Musicals, Political Gaffes, Quotes, Religion Stories, Scandals, Scientific Discoveries, Sports Moments, T-Shirt-Worthy Slogans, TV Episodes, Untruths, Viral Videos, and lastly Worst Biz Deals.

Best of Lists from The New Yorker

- Ten Great Photographs, 2009 , by Vince Aletti
- The Ten Best Dance Performances of 2009 , by Joan Acocella
- Who Knew? The Year in Musical Surprises , by Kelefa Sanneh
- The Year of the Songstress , by John Donohue
- The Top Ten Moments in Theatre of 2009 , by John Lahr
- The Best Theatre of 2009 , by Hilton Als
- Goings On About Town’s Best Off Broadway Theatre Shows of 2009 , by Shauna Lyon
- The Eleven Best Museum Shows of 2009 , by Peter Schjeldahl
- The Best Museum Shows of 2009 , by Calvin Tomkins
- The Best Non-Museum Art Goings-On of 2009 , by Andrea K. Scott
- Books of the Year , by James Wood
- Memorable Fashion Statements of the Obama Era , by Judith Thurman
- The Ten Most Positive Architectural Events of 2009 , by Paul Goldberger
- 2009, as seen on TV , by Nancy Franklin
- The Best Films of 2009 , by Anthony Lane
- The Ten Best Films of 2009 and The Best Films of the Decade, by David Denby
- The Best Films of 2009 and The Best Films of the Decade , by Richard Brody
- Ten Exceptional Recordings and Ten Memorable Performances , by Alex Ross
- Classical Notes: Alarums and Excursions , by Russell Platt
- The Best Recordings of 2009, plus annotations , and The Best Shows of 2009 , by Sasha Frere-Jones
- The Ten Best Cultural Events of 2009 , by Claudia Roth Pierpont
- The Top Ten Books of 1709 , by Jill Lepore
- The Top Thirteen People of 2009 , by Zachary Kanin
- The Five Best Ten-Best Lists , by Ben Greenman

Google’s 2009 Zeitgeist
Each year, Google examines the billions of queries people around the world have queried, taking a moment to look back at the happenings of 2009 to shed a little light on the spirit of the times.

DESIGN RELATED
The Best of the Web by ArtFag City
New York Times’ Favorite Book Covers of 2009 Part 2
New York Times’ Favorite Book Covers of 2009 Part 3
Best & Worst Logo Designs
The Best of Twitter 2009: Graphic Design Edition
Best New Blogs of 2009
Movie Posters of the Decade
Wallpaper’s 35 Year Review of Pentagram’s Holiday Greetings
2009 Year in Review by It’s Nice That
Amazon’s Best of 2009

MENTIONS
The Top ‘Nontroversies’ Of 2009
Top 10 IPO Candidates

I’ve always been in love with building blocks, deeply drawn to the idea of starting with a simple form and adding to it, building and constructing something far more complex from a single element…it’s also not intimidating. Try to add to an existing fort and it’s possible to witness it crumble having barely touched the thing. To start from square one, on the other hand, well if you didn’t like the placement of the first block, it’s not exactly difficult to start over.

To try and understand the whole of art history (in all its forms) and its influence on design is, to say the least, a tall order. I’d recently stumbled upon the writings of Jack Cheng, whose facetiously titled posting, 51 Ways to Change Your Life, bestowed only a single, but very poignant lesson (inspired in part from the 43 of Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth)- learn in moderation.

When you find yourself saying “that’s a really great idea, I should try that,” stop reading. Pick one thing from that list of fifteen. Don’t worry about finishing the rest of the book. Try it. Practice it, repeat it, until it becomes routine. Remind yourself to consciously think about it on a regular basis. When you make that one item a habit, you can come back to the source and learn something else. Then, every time you practice the new thing, you’ll be reminded to keep practicing all the old ones.

Moderation is key. The more we try to learn everything, the more we learn nothing.

So in the spirit of learning in moderation intermingled with my love of building blocks, it’s back to basics, exploring some of the most elementary principles of art and design, mainly of composition. Be it music or literature, painting or poster design, composition is the very basic building framework of any creative work, the combining of different parts to make a whole. How one consciously puts together the elements at their disposal- the first block.

Of course the tools at one’s disposal can be seemingly innumerable, flip open William Lidwell and Kritina Holden’s the Universal Principles of Design and you’ll see 210 pages worth, but I’d like to start with one in particular – proportion, more specifically the Fibonacci sequence.

Google anything to do with composition and inevitably you’ll come across, the rule of thirds and the golden ratio, aka the golden proportion, also referred to as the golden section and golden mean, dive a little deeper and it will point you to the Fibonacci sequence. A series of numbers in which each number beyond 0 and 1 is the sum of the previous two.

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, …

I once took a color theory class in which the teacher asked her students to define what good design was, in the end after quite a few well-crafted responses about utility, the “answer” she boiled it down to was that good design was what the majority of people deemed such. While it was a sobering answer in its stark simplicity, it still left a void as to why the majority should find one form generally more appealing than another.

Enter English poet John Keats and German physicist, psychologist, philosopher Gustav T Fechner, both of whom came to the same conclusion though from complete opposite ends. The former wrote in his conclusion to Ode on a Grecian Urn, “Beauty is Truth; Truth, Beauty. That is all ye know on Earth and all ye need to know,” the latter conducted an experiment to give aesthetics a mathematical foundation. Fechner conducted one of the first public surveys to measure statistically aesthetic preference. What he found was that people generally preferred ratios and proportions closest to large consecutive Fibonacci numbers. Proving the inherent preference for that which “we know,” a sort of “divine” truth in nature.

“Biologists, artists, musicians, historians, architects, psychologists, and even mystics have pondered and debated the basis of its ubiquity and appeal. In fact, it is probably fair to say that the Golden Ratio has inspired thinkers of all disciplines like no other number in the history of mathematics.”—Mario Livio, The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, The World’s Most Astonishing Number

Phi’s (φ) self-replicating symmetry appeals to us because we unconsciously sense its internal balance recognizing in the harmony of φ relationships the harmony within ourselves. φ resonates with the core of life, reminding us of our own infinite depth and beauty. – Michael S. Schneider, A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe

The point being, one need not be aware of mathematics and phi to appreciate beauty because we know them, we find its reflection in every organic and for that matter many an inorganic object we come in contact with. Appreciation and utilization, however are two very separate things. How an artist is able to incorporate such proportions or break them and its subsequent effects throughout history may very well be like its graphical depiction, seemingly infinite and full hidden harmonies and relationships to be uncovered and discerned by the careful observer/student.

RELATED LINKS & RESOURCES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_works_designed_with_the_golden_ratiohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_numbers_in_popular_culture