Gromy's Jounral
Dave Croy on license plate design in America“The point is not just to make fun of this stuff. The question for me is not just why we don’t hire designers and illustrators to do design and illustration work at the state level (though that is a gigantic-ass question); it’s also, why we not just put up with, but embrace, this shit.
How about this crazy suggestion: hire some graphic designers – because contrary to the rumors of our Champagne-soaked lifestyles of ease, some of us were hit pretty hard by the recession that hit every single other person in the country pretty hard. Designers could use the jobs, and everyone could use a break from this clip art onslaught.”
I’m curious what the news reported a hundred plus years ago compared to today. I expect the entertainment industry has grown, but I’m curious if it focused more on events rather than the classification of events, ie. reporting the opinions of others. I guess entertainment and opinions are luxuries.
Thinking in public
Why do people post photos of themselves online?
People on tumblr seem to find the coolest pictures of stuff and post it on their blog as if someone else’s artwork makes them cool? Or do they just want to keep it recorded for themselves? Or do they just want to let their followers/friends know about it? Or do they want more followers?
Why does posting cool stuff get you more followers?
Should popularity be the aim of a blog? If not, then what? If not to shape the world’s image of you, then why? What good do you get out of a blog even if no one cares?
• A public record of your activities.
• A better sense of yourself by reflecting on what you have posted/written/found interesting/etc.
Don’t you want some followers though? At least a few good friends? Who will understand you, share similar opinions, be able to relate, and able to make some contribution to your thoughts? Yes, humans value friendship, but why? For what purpose?
• They introduce you to new things/thoughts/ideas/concepts/views/etc.
• They can assist you when you need help or have questions.
• By assisting them you feel valued, that your life has purpose.
• By being respected/having friends you feel important/better than alone.
The more people who follow you, the more important you must be. How does one avoid this sense of ego? How do you blog for yourself and not your audience? Or in hopes of reaching a greater audience. Blogging for this purpose scares me. I would feel lost. But how do I get just a few followers, who might have something to offer me? What is a sufficient number of followers? I cannot just hit a quota and then accept no more followers, can I? How could I justify such a thing. Certainly I would want my thoughts to be public so more people still may find my blog who have something to contribute. What about the others that find my blog, but do not have anything to contribute? Who see it, cannot relate, and in turn just want to criticize my thoughts because we are different? How do I avoid that? I could select my audience, only acknowledge those whom I feel have something to contribute, or whom I already feel I can relate to and reason they must be able to relate to me as well. But, then I would be limiting myself to only those that I already know, when I really want to know new people/thoughts/ideas/etc. that are completely unknown to me, but relevant still, relatable/valued still to me in some way. I want a filter, like everyone on the web today. But what do I want to filter? What do I want to accept? How could I know? How could anyone? What if I miss something that would have been life changing to me, but I never saw it because my filter said no, he won’t find that relevant to him. He never has before. How do we avoid keeping people in their little bubbles while filtering what is broadcast to them? Perhaps they want to be kept in their bubbles? I mean, you know, we all want something we can relate to, something that means something to us vs. something that doesn’t, something that is too strange or complex that we can’t understand.
We want the new, the unknown, to become understood by us. But not too much. Change too much, too fast and we will reject that change. Iterate instead they say. Iterate into what? No one shall know. No one shall see the big plan, until it has come to fruition. But the future is ever-changing, ever iterating upon the past. Why should we not plan the future? Too far, too much? Why no master plan? Because it’s too profound you say? No one will understand. But someone may. But no one may. And if no one understands, why not make it public? Because of what people may say?
