Do The Impossible With Old Technology? No Problem!

Stories from the cutting edge of letterpress printing. *pun groan* But seriously, Dafi Kühne’s letterpress printed posters teach us about the meaning of design.

Have you recently been asked to do something that seems completely impossible? In much of my client work, I have to meet the client where they are. Data aggregation and integration solutions can take a while to implement, and often at significant expense. That sometimes means that new technologies that I would normally recommend are beyond the reach of the client. I often have to think about how we and the client might innovate, right now, using only what is right in front of us.

So, I’m often looking for inspiration beyond the scope of data visualization or technology design. The best designers do the same: to name a few, Jony Ive, or Tim Brown (one of whom I’ve met in person and never met a nicer person of such accomplishment). Listen to them talk about their inspirations: their inspirations are wide and varied, well beyond the scope or composition of the solution they ultimately delivered.

And why take direction from something other than what we do every day? Sometimes we all need to think out of the box, especially when we are trapped in it. The design work that makes us grow the most is the project that, two thirds of the way through, sends us into a total tailspin. We are stuck, we can’t solve the problem…