Tuesday 24 January 2017

A Better Way (2017)

Some blurb notes for a short essay that I am writing and hopefully publishing this year: A Better Way

Innovation is neither an art nor a science. Though it is undoubtedly vital for both. This short essay argues that innovation is simply what human groups naturally do for fun and that very often, the urge to innovate is nothing more noble than the nagging thought that somehow, there must be a better way.

The book is aimed at a non-technical audience and begins:

If you thread a coloured bead onto a cord or string, then an artefact will begin to take shape in your hands. If you add a few more beads onto the string, then a pattern will begin to develop. This pattern could represent an abstract idea, a name, a quality, an emotion, or a memory that is important to you. If you now tie this string of beads into a loose loop around your wrist, then you will have created a unique personal ornament. An object that captures within it's simple material form a few scraps of symbolic meaning.

Below is a typical page. The book design is heavily influenced by Robert Bringhurst's book A Solid Form of Language. The page size is A Format - 178 mm x 110 mm.  The text face is Chapparal Pro from Adobe.