the triumph of stuff and embedded assumptions

I saw this splendid folder sitting on someone's desk the other day. (Not at FCB.) I love this kind of thing - task specific stationery. I suspect we'll see a return to things like this. Rather like with scrapbooks, I think the physicality of paper and stuff helps with thinking and memory and keeping a track of things. And people have an affection for it. Just as the paperless office led to a boom in paper sales I bet the boom in people taking and sharing pictures will lead to a microprinting spurt. As with iPhoto books and services like Qoop and the splendid Moo.

But then I noticed the assumptions embedded in the stationery.

The tabs in order: Briefs then Concepts then Scripts then Invoices.  ie the planner does a brief, the creatives do some concepts, then we make some TV commercials, then we bill the client. You can be as forward thinking and media-neutral as you like but you can't fight the assumptions you've built into the fabric of things. It's worth noticing these things.  (Though I'm sure FCB have moved on and now have much more media-neutral office supplies.)

Comments

[Vando]

The good old pen and pad is gold. It's incredible how much more stuff you can take away with you. A favourite travel author of mine, a guy called Peter Moore, says it's the secret of his success. When he's on the road and sees/hears something he likes, he just runs around the corner and writes it all down.

[Mike]

Russell, good observations, spot on.

And I suppose, by-the-by, (Or is it; bye-the-bye? Or even; Buy-the buy? Sorry I digress.) The bit about the 'physicality of paper' fits (sort of) with a post a read on a blog earlier about a bloke who suggested setting printers up so that instead of someone sending you an email, and printed page/photo/drawing whatever drops onto your desk.

It made me smile, think and enjoy.

A post well done says I.

Here's the link; http://schulzeandwebb.com/blog/2006/10/06/my-printer-my-social-letterbox/

[Matt]

Schulze and Bloody Webb get everywhere!!! ;-)

Anyway, there is a bit of crazyfutureness going on in printing atm, not just microprinting, but printing *everything* - meat, batteries, rfids, etc...

Bruce Sterling just reported back from the 'intelligent printing' conference:

http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2006/10/the_wit_and_wis.html?entry_id=1568970

[josh]

And I'm sure you've all read it, but Gladwell's written an interesting piece on the importance of paper in a digital age. You can find a pdf of it on his site.

[G.B. Veerman]

Re: the physicality of paper: well, paper is good technology.

This from an interview with an MIT tech guru I heard a few years back in reference to digital paper and electronic books (like the Sony Reader or Phillips' "iLiad.")

His gist was essentially that you can do all kinds of great things with books — you can jump right to information/data you need, they don't need power, they're interactive, they're easy to use, etc. That was a killer way to blow away the assumption that bound paper is archaic.

Re: embedded assumptions: this is the danger of every tool, isn't it? The tyranny of the tool, in which something that makes a job easier becomes the de rigeur solution or approach to it. It's a reminder to break habits, or else prevent them from forming in the first place. Great post.

[Juan Pablo]

Part of our work is to create some kind of "social representations", but we´ve ever stop a minute to think about our own "mentalschemes" and the way they influence our work.