kuniform

This article on Slate about Japanese design retailer Muji (think: Target, Ikea) sums it up:

Muji contends that design needn’t announce itself—rather, it can become apparent to you through use, over time. Nor is Muji interested in capitalizing on consumers’ seemingly insatiable appetite for designer goods. From day one, the company has maintained a “no brand” credo, refusing to put its name on any of its products. And although many Muji products are designed with guidance from the most thoughtful designers working today (Naoto Fukasawa, Enzo Mari, Jasper Morrison, Konstantin Grcic, and Sam Hecht among them), Muji does not promote or even discuss its relationships with these luminaries.

We need more of that spirit in design, and less ego-driven work that serves no one but the designer. That type of work only debases the nature of design, and the products such work creates.

Linking off to Jonathan Coulton’s blog post reply about the NY Times Magazine article discussing musicians, culture, fame, and how the internet changes the relationship between artist and audience. Coulton is featured as one of a new wave of musicians embodying who represent this trend. His post about making it up as he goes along and taking advantage of the situations he finds himself in is really inspiring.

I’m also linking off to it because he mentions my boy Dave Slusher. Yay! I’m still recovering from the bachelor party of one Brendan Gramer. I hope he’s still breathing.