A little purple icon? Is that all?

Lol… I loved the lack of ROYGBIV.

One of the differences between print vs. web that I think Jason Santa Maria isn’t taking into account is that the web is much more ephemeral, and really great design is only economically worthwhile for things that have enduring value. I think this has more influence over the quality of design on the web than flexible viewports.

@Mike: I actually did touch on that in the full version of the hour long talk, this was just a condensed 10-minute version. But, I actually don’t think this should be a roadblock to good design online, we just need to approach it differently.

@Jason Santa Maria

What font is that in the title slide? (“The Influence of Print Design”)

@John

It’s one of my favorite sans serifs, Auto from Undeware.

@Jason Santa Maria

Thank you!

@Jason: It seems like your overall point is that designers can’t dig their heels in and insist on the traditional ways of doing things, we need to adapt and find new approaches. I don’t disagree with that, but here’s something that I think is being lost: resistance to technology isn’t only a defining trait of a luddite, it’s also a trait of a hacker. Yes, designers should adapt to the new technology, and focusing on the practices and techniques internal to design is that way to do that. But I think here you aren’t paying enough attention to the economic and technological factors that limit the success of design, which means surrendering a valuable critical perspective. For example, I think there are parallels between Nicholas Carr’s argument in The Shallows about the effects of ephemeral digital culture on our ability to concentrate and think deeply. Doesn’t design also suffer? What about the cognitive impairment created by bad design?

In the end, I think the adaption should go both ways: technology also needs to adapt to design practices, which is an idea I’m sure you’ll agree with, since it’s also behind your recent blog post about creating a real web design tool.