Beauty in the Impermanent

As designers, makers and creators, we often think in terms of form and function—but what about time? We tend to build and design as if time didn't exist, as if everything were made of plastic that is to last for thousands of years. Could we perhaps learn from an ancient aesthetic movement that began in medieval Asia, and embrace impermanence in our digital world?

Transcript

1. New Adventures in Web Design Nottingham 2013 Stephanie Troeth Beauty in the Impermanent @sniffles #naconf
2. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
4. 1 metre
5. 1 metre Steph was here
6. 1.63 metre = 5 feet 4 11 64 inches
7. “Do you have a flag?”
8. “ ” — Tyrion Lannister I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples and bastards and broken things.
9. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
10. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
11. wabi-sabi © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
12. wabi-sabi © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
13. “ ” — “Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence”, Andrew Juniper. Everything in the universe is in flux, coming from or returning to nothing.
14. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
15. “ ” — Excerpted from: “Zen Culture”, Thomas Hoover. Sabi grew out of the Heian admiration for lovely things on the verge of extinction. By [then] this curious attitude was extended to things already old, and so entered the idea of sabi, a term denoting objects agreeably mellowed with age. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
16. — “Zen Culture”, Thomas Hoover. “ ” Sabi also brought melancholy overtones of loneliness, of age left behind by time. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
17. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
18. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved. “New objects are assertive and striving for attention; old, worn objects have the quiet, peaceful air that exudes tranquility, dignity, and character. ” The fact that rich objects are old does not make them less rich. Sabi can still encompass snobbery. — “Zen Culture”, Thomas Hoover.
19. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
20. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved. “ ” In a sense, wabi is the glorification of artificial poverty, artificial because there must be the element of forced restraint and in genuine poverty there is nothing to restrain. — “Zen Culture”, Thomas Hoover.
21. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
22. A capture of something past its prime… © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
23. …a framing of something not yet bloomed. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
24. “ ” — The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics Source: Simple English Wikipedia The entropy of an isolated system not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value at equilibrium.
25. Still Life by Former Flatmate © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
26. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
27. “ ” “Can you believe it?” Richard demands of no one in particular, loud enough that faces bent over microscopes rise to look at him. — “The World Without Us”, Alan Weisman
28. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
29. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
30. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
31. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
32. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
33. Karim Rashid in “Objectified”
34. What about digital?
36. “ ” Representations of people and technology begin to break down, to come apart not at the seams, but at the pixels. — James Bridle on The New Aesthetic http://www.riglondon.com/blog/2011/05/06/the-new-aesthetic/
37. http://ghostynet.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/pixel-water-flows-from-exposed-pipes-in-nyc/ http://www.unitednude.com/lo-res-smoke-rubber-1130
38. “ ” The frisson of shock or wonder one experienced at seeing an aspect of the New Aesthetic out in the wild comes because that is the only time it will be noticed; afterwards it will pass unobserved. — “The machine gaze”, Will Wiles http://www.aeonmagazine.com/world-views/will-wiles-technology-new-aesthetic/
39. http://www.flickr.com/photos/straup/7972183518/in/photostream/
40. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
41. We already have digital decay: things become less findable, content becomes less relevant, and design looks “old”. Hat tip: Olivier Thereaux © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
42. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
43. We have a sense of being out of date, but not “agreeably mellowed with age”. Or at least, not yet. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
44. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
45. Throw-away vs. permanent? © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
46. Throw-away vs. permanent? © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
47. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
48. Impermanent vs. permanent © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
49. Hadrian’s Wall, ~ 1890 years old. Only things that are allowed to age can last forever. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
50. David Kelley & Bill Moggridge in “Objectified”
51. Design something that gets better with use. “ ” — David Kelley
52. So, how can we make a Web that gets better with use?
53. Thank you. Olivier Thereaux, for many hours of enriching debates, photo-walks, film digitising, for being my witness. Dan Rubin, for photo-geekery and chaperoning me to Hadrian’s Wall. James Bridle & Aaron Straup Cope for allowing me to use their images and for spontaneous chats on aesthetics, new or not. Special thanks to: Interested in the Photo Book? http://is.gd/impermanent