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
   

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2. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
   

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4. 1 metre
   

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5. 1 metre
   Steph was here
   

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6. 1.63 metre = 5 feet 4 11
   64
   inches
   

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7. “Do you have a flag?”
   

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8. “
   ”
   — Tyrion Lannister
   I have a tender spot
   in my heart for
   cripples and bastards
   and broken things.
   

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9. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
   

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10. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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11. wabi-sabi
    © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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12. wabi-sabi
    © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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13. “ ”
    — “Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence”,
    Andrew Juniper.
    Everything in the universe
    is in flux, coming from or
    returning to nothing.
    

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14. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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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.
    

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16. — “Zen Culture”, Thomas Hoover.
    “ ”
    Sabi also brought melancholy overtones of
    loneliness, of age left behind by time.
    © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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17. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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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.
    

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19. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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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.
    

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21. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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22. A capture of something
    past its prime…
    © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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23. …a framing of something
    not yet bloomed.
    © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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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.
    

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25. Still Life by Former Flatmate
    © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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26. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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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
    

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28. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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29. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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30. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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31. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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32. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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33. Karim Rashid in “Objectified”
    

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34. What about digital?
    

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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/
    

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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
    

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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/
    

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39. http://www.flickr.com/photos/straup/7972183518/in/photostream/
    

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40. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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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.
    

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42. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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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.
    

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44. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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45. Throw-away vs. permanent?
    © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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46. Throw-away vs. permanent?
    © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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47. © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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48. Impermanent vs. permanent
    © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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49. Hadrian’s Wall, ~ 1890 years old.
    Only things that are allowed
    to age can last forever.
    © Stephanie Troeth. All rights reserved.
    

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50. David Kelley & Bill Moggridge in “Objectified”
    

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51. Design something that
    gets better with use.
    “ ”
    — David Kelley
    

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52. So, how can we make a Web
    that gets better with use?
    

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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
    

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