Or, why web designers need you to draw some fonts.
Public transport is not glamorous. Buses and trains do not usually inspire design monologues, but neither are they entirely devoid of art and culture. James McGoram explores the concept of a civic brand from a new angle, the view from his morning train.
One Saturday afternoon, about a year ago, I cracked open a beer, collapsed into a comfy chair and powered up my new, gleaming, 42inch TV. Between an American college drama and an American small-town drama, on comes this ad for AUT, that eminent design educator based in Wellesley St. The voiceover, authoritative and male, speaks thusly:
“On August 6th 1991 a war started, the war for our attention. The birth of The Internet would rock traditional media to the core…”
There was a time, and god knows it's receding quickly, when I thought I could master design. I thought this way about a lot of things. It's a contagion of youth, the earnest desire to be better at something than anyone has ever being, to seek new frontiers and map them for the human soul. You realise as you mature that there are some things in life you'll never master, such as, for instance, the espresso machine that you bought last year. It lurks on the kitchen countertop of your ostentatious studio, silently mocking your ineptitude.