Where there is new technology, there are new ways for designers to play. And what do designers play with most? [Fill in the blank].
Oded Ezer’s Skype-Type is a play project influenced by the visual possibilities of Skype’s video conferencing and social networks. Each letter of “Skype-Type” was designed by an individual from a different country, and was photographed together with its creator, using the Skype application’s print screen function. This method was used to create two of Ezer’s recent works: A magazine double spread, stating “Every improvement in communication makes the truth less visible,” commissioned by our very own Print for the August 2010 issue (using Chatroulette), and a poster for this year’s famous Krakow Jewish Festival, Poland. Good ideas should have more than one life, right?!
Ezer‘s project calls to mind this prescient quote by Marshall McLuhan from the 1960s:
“As technology advances, it reverses the characteristics of every situation again and again. The age of automation is going to be the age of ‘do it yourself.'”
Now, that McLuhan was one very smart, visionary dude.
If you missed “Art and Porno: Recycling the Past” go here.