Laws of Simplicity

John Maeda
John Maeda

Laws of Simplicity

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John Maeda
 

TDC Bccks

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I designed a minibook for the anniversary of the Tokyo Type Director's Club that is running as an exhibition this month in Tokyo at a variety of venues including Tsutaya Roppongi, Ginza Graphic Gallery, and Aoyama Book Center. The contents are visible here.
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ABC

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This weekend I submitted a little book to be published as part of an exhibition in Tokyo of twenty or so folks' books to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Tokyo Type Director's Club. It's 32 pages of random ideas I had last week, and if you're interested in seeing the rest of them they will be up in Tokyo over the winter holiday season.
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Talk of the Nation

I will be speaking on Ira Flatow' NPR show Talk of the Nation: Science Friday tomorrow. Times in your area can be determined here. The greatest pleasure of hosting this blog has been all the incredibly rich commentary and insight from readers. Please call into NPR to continue the conversation on the radio.
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Great Products

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The weather in Chicago is quite beautiful today. I am attending a conference in the area of "design strategy" and am helping to keep their blog moving with Becky Bermont. The entire conference can be reduced to a single question with this poll on great products. My personal bet is on option number three.
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Free Swim

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For my exhibition in London, I constructed a kind of "fish" constructed of 16 iPod Nanos. Each of the iPods contain a set of sixty-thousand visual memories from my most recent ten years. I think of these memories as constantly swimming away from me -- much like an exhibition that has set sail. Alice Rawsthorn, Design Critic for the International Herald Tribune, wrote a piece about the show from her perspective. The show will be up for another month or so.
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Saatchi Says

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I gave a talk at M&C Saatchi in London this week. There I had the fortune of meeting the advertising legend Maurice Saatchi for a brief moment. In my introduction to the audience of marketers and local creatives, Saatchi related the story of Christopher Columbus and his quest for the Western Hemisphere. In Columbus' diary there was the consistent entry to the effect, "No land. Move on. Move on." Saatchi's point was that to explore new territories of lands, life, or thought, that the mantra is always reduced to simplicity itself. At the very end of the talk, I fielded some questions and there was a gentleman that brought up how The Economist educates its writers. Simplify. Then exaggerate. I found this to be an enjoyably simple thought from one of my favorite papers.
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Lucky Fate

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The less time you have when constructing a piece of art, the more likely you are to make a mistake. But the less time you have, the more law3();?> you have saved doing other things with your life. In the remaining time left counting down to my exhibition, I took a little gamble in making a tiny new piece at the last minute and the effort seems to have paid off. One's good fate is the result of luck, or sheer skill? In my case it's always luck. Bad and good.
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Brother, Got a Light?

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I'm a week away from my upcoming exhibition in London at Riflemaker Gallery. In my random pockets of time I have put together some new work which will be intermixed with a variety of works I've made over the last five years. The official opening is Monday 30, April 6PM to Midnight. If you're in the vicinity of Regent Street, please come and visit us at 79 Beak Street.
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London Showers bring May Flowers

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I was invited to select my favorite designed object for the Design Museum in London's 25/25 exhibition which opened just recently. My selection was the Dyson vacuum cleaner series -- they really do suck (advertising pun intended). Incidentally I'm giving a talk there on May 2 in the event that you are in the vicinity.
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LOS in Italy

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I was in Milan last week to speak at my friend Maria Grazia Mattei's event series entitled "Meet the Media Guru." The title of the series is somewhat charming but I made it clear to the audience that I'm no guru, and just a "Media Guy." Coincident with my visit to Milan was the launch of the Italian edition of LOS published by Bruno Mondadori. I was happy to learn that by the time I left Milan their first edition had completely sold out. Currently LOS is available in four other languages and soon a few more I hear. I encountered many unique experiences in Italy that I will write about here next week.
Posted by John Maeda
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