Rob Walker writings on Design Observer

Rob Walker: What is the maker-video genre really about?

2012-05-18T16:01:26-05:00

What videos depicting the story of stuff-being-made are really about.

Rob Walker: Making an e-collection, and what it taught me.

2012-05-14T20:47:37-05:00

Learning to manage the disconcerting durability of digital objects.

Rob Walker: A chaotic and fun new book.

2012-05-05T15:48:58-05:00

A chaotic and entertaining collection addresses "the art of the art assignment."

Rob Walker: On Being Inspired By Debris

2012-04-24T06:48:41-05:00

Dancing about ruins: Can debris, detritus, junk, be useful creative material?

Rob Walker: The screen as a form of work space.

2012-04-09T14:54:02-05:00

The computer-screen desktop, considered as a category of work space.

Rob Walker: What To Make Of It? A Contest.

2012-03-31T11:27:46-05:00

Inventing meaning for junk, through a Studio360 and Significant Objects story competition.

Rob Walker: "Screenshots of Despair"

2012-03-21T08:46:17-05:00

Considering practica interactive-design elements as plaintive expressions of isolation.

Rob Walker: Stealth Iconography: Pinwheel of Death

2012-03-14T08:57:55-05:00

Apple's "pinwheel of death" of stealth icon of machinery having a problem.

Rob Walker: The Ekphrasis-y Critique

2012-03-05T13:05:15-05:00

Further thoughts on "dancing about architecture."

Rob Walker: Dance About Architecture (Please)

2012-02-23T13:06:26-05:00

"Dancing about architecture" might sound pointless, but to me it's shorthand for creative potential.

Rob Walker: A Place Called "Space Available"

2012-02-15T13:58:28-05:00

How a collection of "Space Available" signs functions as an involutnary monument to the sluggish economy.

Rob Walker: Beautified Words

2012-02-06T09:57:59-05:00

Further thoughts on the romance of the hand.

Rob Walker: Santorum's Tragic Sweater Vest

2012-01-28T11:07:20-05:00

The visual meaning of Rick Santorum's sweater vest, considered.

Rob Walker: Package It Black

2012-01-12T08:48:26-05:00

Marlboro Black cigarettes: Connotating dangerous allure with graphic design jujitsu.

Rob Walker: Swoosh. Repeat.

2011-12-29T09:48:18-05:00

The enduring success of the Nike Swoosh, and the mysterious power of repetition.

Rob Walker: Anonymous Identity (Seen and Heard)

2011-12-15T11:10:46-05:00

Investigating the visual identity of the non-organization called Anonymous.

Rob Walker: Image of the Year

2011-12-07T11:49:54-05:00

The image of the year is one that's never been made public: At this point, there’s nothing more surprising than an image people might want to see, but can’t.

Rob Walker: Postcards from Portfoliopolis

2011-11-23T11:03:55-05:00

Nobody likes to move, but I’d pack my bags tomorrow if I could figure out how to become a citizen of Portfoliopolis.

Rob Walker: Shower Head As Moral Crossroad

2011-11-15T17:22:27-05:00

A hotel presents travelers a moral crossroads in the form of a dual shower head.

Rob Walker: A New Kind of Capture

2011-11-09T10:55:32-05:00

The Lytro camera creates a new form of photographic object, one that fits with and exploits picture-consumption in the digital era.

Rob Walker: Questions About 'The New Aesthetic'

2011-11-01T10:22:59-05:00

Questions for, and answers from, James Bridle, on his online project examining screen culture, robot vision,and related matters, "The New Aesthetic."

Rob Walker: Imagine To Me

2011-10-23T16:02:00-05:00

Creative writers respond to MoMA's "Talk To Me," imaginatively.

Rob Walker: More Google Image Fun

2011-10-19T16:15:30-05:00

Parsing Google Image search results for fresh meaning — and fun.

Rob Walker: A conversation between Rob Walker and co-founder of Area/Code, Kevin Slavin

2011-10-10T11:50:57-05:00

A conversation between Rob Walker and co-founder of the game development company Area/Code, Kevin Slavin.

Rob Walker: Pictures of the Familiar

2011-09-30T07:51:28-05:00

Why do we photograph extensively documented icons and monuments?

Rob Walker: Quirky and "Design" as Entertainment

2011-09-23T18:35:49-05:00

Quirky tries to make "design" into entertainment. Is that a good idea?

Rob Walker: Styles of Likeness

2011-09-14T08:55:20-05:00

The meaningful photograph as object — and non-object.

Rob Walker: Stealth Iconography: The Waveform

2011-09-08T07:09:20-05:00

The rise of the waveform as a visual signifier of music.

Rob Walker: Monkey or Drone?

2011-09-02T08:19:37-05:00

Photography settles into the era of Annoying Facebook Girl, the drone, and the monkey.

Rob Walker: Graphic Design, Valued

2011-08-28T14:01:14-05:00

Is an aesthetically pleasing annual report a signal of financial health?

Rob Walker: Wear And Tear

2011-08-15T11:38:39-05:00

Designing something that is meant to be lived with vs. designing something that is meant to be replaced: How to think about wear and tear.

Rob Walker: Ruscha Vs. Street View

2011-08-08T09:16:41-05:00

Car as medium, rotating motorized camera, a series of contiguous horizontal images of buildings and the street on which they are situated: Ed Ruscha, or Google Street View?

Rob Walker: A Simple Tool, or the Value of "Oh yeah"

2011-08-03T09:38:22-05:00

In its not-noisy way, the simple Flickr tool Time Capsule pushes back against a problematic side-effect of digital culture.

Rob Walker: The Work of Art in the Age of Googled Reproduction

2011-07-26T08:47:53-05:00

Ask Google for an image of "Mona Lisa," and what do you get? Maybe the answer is an artwork unto itself.

Rob Walker: A Brief History of Architecture Fiction: Implausible Futures for Unpopular Places

2011-07-25T12:50:49-05:00

On Places Rob Walker describes the Hypothetical Development Organization, which creates fanciful renderings of imaginary developments for vacant urban sites — a new form of "architecture fiction."

Rob Walker: Rarified Air

2011-07-14T07:23:50-05:00

Can air (like water) be commodified, or at least physically and/or intellectually packaged in some manner that gives it measurable monetary value? So it would seem.

Rob Walker: On Slate: Branding with badges

2011-07-09T15:10:50-05:00

Foursquare's badges as a stealthy form of graphic branding: subconsciously familiar, without being overtly advertised or highlighted.

Rob Walker: Order, chaos, order: Jennifer Shaw's 'Hurricane Story'

2011-06-29T12:45:35-05:00

Order, chaos, order: An introduction to Jennifer Shaw's personal narrative in photograhs, Hurricane Story.

Rob Walker: The Right Stuff

2011-06-23T09:00:13-05:00

Tumblrs The Burning House and Everyday Carry aim to tell personal stories with objects.

Rob Walker: Stealth Iconography: The Google Maps Pin

2011-06-16T14:57:24-05:00

Asssessing the stealth icon status of the Google Maps pin.

Rob Walker: Dedigitization

2011-06-08T12:03:35-05:00

“Digital goods” are increasingly seen as having real value. Increasingly, though, things from the digital world are crossing over into physical manifestations that can be bought and sold.

Rob Walker: On Radiolab: the Sound of Science

2011-04-07T00:00:00-05:00

“Radiolab,” a public radio show that breaks from public radio sensibilities, not least in its striking sound.

Rob Walker: Fun Stuff

2011-02-11T00:00:00-05:00

A result of the wrenching economic downturn is that we just don’t care about stuff anymore.

Rob Walker: Go Figure

2011-02-04T00:00:00-05:00

A recurring feature in architectural renderings: the little human figures who inhabit the rendered world.

Rob Walker: Ghosts in the Machine

2011-01-09T00:00:00-05:00

Everyday we are busy producing fresh masses of life-affirming digital stuff. What happens to this “stuff” when we die?

Rob Walker: Global Entertainment

2010-12-30T00:00:00-05:00

Entertainment via web-based geography.

Rob Walker: Rob Walker's Collection of Bicentennial Quarters

2010-12-09T11:17:45-05:00

Rob Walker shares his collection of bicentennial quarters.

Rob Walker: Inside the Wild, Wacky, Profitable World of Boing Boing

2010-12-01T00:00:00-05:00

How four people who do exactly what they want run one of the most popular blogs on the planet.

Rob Walker: Hearing Things

2010-09-10T00:00:00-05:00

I have seen the future of rock and roll, and it’s merch. Of course, band-branded merchandise has been a major part of the music business, big and small, for years.

Rob Walker: When Funny Goes Viral

2010-07-16T00:00:00-05:00

Taking Lulz (Sort of) Seriously.