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John Maeda is a world-renowned graphic designer, visual artist, and computer scientist and is a founding voice for “simplicity” in the digital age. From June 2008 he becomes the 16th President of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

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The Right Hand Rules

Entering a hotel in New York, I'm struck by the subtle traces of constant and consistent human interaction.
Monday, October 01, 2007

When visiting the comfortable Bowery Hotel in New York recently, upon entering the lobby, I reflected on the situation of the handles on the double doors that opened to let me in. Both doors opened freely, yet one of the doors was clearly used more often; guess which one. I wondered about the other situations of regular use that reveal how we human beings erode our synthetic surrounds when we interact. Things close to us made of leather, like a wallet or a purse, are good examples of how objects soften, adapt, and engage us through a relationship. Forgiving wooden objects bear the scratches and stains incurred through our many foibles and slips. Yet computers rarely weather our interactions in a meaningful way.

Sure, there are the files upon files of hidden settings that fill up the system folder. And sure, we leave a messy desktop. But if need be, everything can be made entirely pristine with a simple hardware reset. It's why nowadays I often think about permanence and the computer's lack thereof.

Tags: design

Comments

  • [no subject]
    vikramgulati88 on 10/05/2007 at 10:23 AM
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    7
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    1/5
    So true!!! Nobody stops to think about the little things anymore....
    Rate this comment: 12345
  • Wear in the World
    searchresults on 10/08/2007 at 12:06 PM
    Posts:
    1
    I'm with you on this one.  I really wanted to do an art exhibit on this idea (with the above subject line as the title.)

    Some other observations: the wear patterns on the stairs at my alma mater also demonstrated the right hand rule.  People entered the staircase on the right side with their right foot.  You could even see the locations on the handrail where there hand would rest momentarily.
    Rate this comment: 12345

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