Frequently I am taken aback when witness to direct rudeness from one person to another. It is common place, occurring every day. Just drive to work. You will be cut off, honked at, or worse by someone who pushes their own personal importance.
Someone said to me once that the problem with the world was simple. It is selfishness. If everyone were to just value others over themselves it would improve our condition.
Idealistic as this may be, if the people around you feel valued by you. Would your life not improve because of it?
The Manual #1 is the tip of the iceberg, underneath is the curated talent of six contributors. As a designer, this should be required reading. Period. Is this a good way to start the post?
Three beautiful, illustrated hardbound books a year, each holding six articles and six personal lessons that use the maturing of the discipline of web design as a starting point for deeper explorations of our work and who we are as designers.
One short and powerful article "The Space Between You & Me" has sold me on the unique vision of The Manual. Giving a tangible look at distance in relationship to humanity and the space with which we interact, Frank Chimero's perspective is brilliant. Here are a few excerpts:
The connections we make in the course of a life---maybe that's what heaven is, Tom. We make so many connections here on earth. Look at us---I've just me you, but I'm investing in who you are and who you will be, and I can't help it. -Fred Rodgers (Mr. Rodgers)
Tom Junod, "Can You Say... Hero?" (Esquire, November, 1998)
When we think of ourselves, we picture our complex inner monologues: we believe that we are not simple but rather complex, romantic, self-contradicting---beautiful messes. ...
... Technology runs counter to personhood; technology is complicated and shallow, but people are simple and deep. Our true needs are not complex. I remember asking Brandon what everyone needed. His answer was profound and human: "To be understood." ...
... See, I've just met you, but I am invested in who you are. We are a part of a human network. Maybe that's heaven.
Frank Chimero "The Space Between You & Me" (The Manual #1, 2011)
Get a subscription to The Manual here: http://alwaysreadthemanual.com
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I believe this generation will make an enormous shift in the way we perceive value and cost, disrupting the disconnected 'price point' and 'middleman' based ecosystems by highly connected and educated workforce of dynamically skilled labor, serving niche groups from the center of commodity markets. My two cents.
I am taking a sabbatical from most social media, and projects I find wasting the time I need to spend in other spaces. Follow me through The Function of, Twitter, and Instagram. Here are the changes:
- Facebook: I will decrease, if not stop, posting images and content to my personal Facebook page. Connect with me on a personal level on Instagram, or Twitter.
- Tumblr: At this point I am curating several reblogs and imagery that is not my own, I don't like this. I will push my professional content from thefunctionof.com - reposted to Twitter.
- Beta: Beta Objects hit its three year anniversary. A few huge things have happened over the last year, and Beta will be rapidly progressing towards new goals. You can stay tuned to thefunctionof.com which will be a hub for all my projects or follow betaobjects.tumblr.com and Beta's Facebook Page individually which will also be updated accordingly.
- 2013 Projects: New projects I will focus on this year are Asmbly (the future of Beta), Simple House, Put Down the Bourbon, and Fear Pressure. Again I will post from thefunctionof.com about these as they roll out.
2013 is an exciting time for myself and Jessie. We have ample ambition and are focusing our work to be meaningful and valuable. Follow us on a personal level via Instagram (@stavn & @simplyjessie) or Twitter (@stavn & @simplyphoto)
In thick fog there is something wonderful. Allowing you to focus on what is just in front of you and nothing more, it simplifies. To most it is a negative, our expectations pushing to be clear, accurate, and together. When things are uncertain, the mind thinks, hopes, imagines, and dreams. Into the fog I go.. Hope to find you there.
It's a good thing I wear solid colors, too much pattern in my pockets.
We all have expectations and dreams, some are fairly normal; have a good job, be successful, get married, buy a house, raise a family etc. But there are those whose expectations and dreams, are larger than most understand and most comprehend. As they still want those things that are normal ambitions, they are willing to sacrifice what that looks like, or in what order that comes, just to try something bigger.
If this is you, jump. You will soon find those who have jumped too.
