.. i was just getting through Donald Norman book, as I read this, I decided to put it here 🙂 Last days I'm quite mixed out of too much marketing in design production leading to waste... on one side 🙂 and emotional value of products on the other side. I know there must be some compromise inbetween, but i feel it will take long time to find it.
anyway, here is the story 🙂
After dinner, with a great flourish, my friend Andrew brought out a lovely leather box. ?Open it,? he said, proudly, ?and tell me what you think.?
I opened the bow. Inside was a gleaming stainless-steel set of old mechanical drawing instruments: dividers, compasses, extension arms for the compasses, a assortment of points, lead holders, and pens that could be fitted onto dividers and compasses. All that was misssing was the T square, the triangles, and the table. Andthe ink, the black India ink.
?Lovely,? I said. ?Those were the good old days, when we drew by hand, not by computer.?
Our eyes misted as we fondled the metal pieces.
?But you know,? I went on,?I hated it. My tools always slipped, the point moved before I could finish the circle, and the india ink - ugh, the India ink - it always blotted before I could finish the diagram. Ruined it! I used to curse and scream at it. I once spilled the whole bottle all over the drawing, my books, ant the table. India ink doesn§t wash off. I hated it. Hated it!?
?Yeah,? said Andrew, laughing,?you?re right. I forgot how much I hated it. Worst of all was too much ink on the nibs! But the instruments are nice, aren?t they??
?Very nice;? I said, ?as long as we don?t have to use them.?
Another interesting pencil story
NASA engineer meets with his Soviet counterpart and quite excitedly extolls the virtues of the "Space Pen" that NASA spent millions of dollars designing. Pumps ink in zero gravity, doesn't leak, etc., etc.
He turns to his Soviet counterpart and asks; "So, what did the Soviet Space program come up with for note taking in outer space?" The Soviet engineer pauses for a moment, reaches into his breast pocket and pulls out a pencil.
Pendulum-Technologies-Device
Would be necessary to use the "Pendulum-Technologies-Device"
(Should be patented by Koen and I would included in the manifesto tool kit)
My advice would be to have a pendulum point.
Love-hate pencil and love-hate computers with pendulum movements.
Don,t think old technologies are old n obsolete.
And try not to feel in heaven with the new. The new turns old fashion very soon. Robert said that very well.
But,s true the India ink on the paper, blotted!, And with that new program . . . if not in heaven at least in the limbo!
After all is the same that had happened to you. First good memories and then oh, India ink on the paper!, just have to wait to go back to other side.
But please, don,t look at the "old" as a museum piece as you did!, I think I prefer it abandoned in the garage, hoping someday be re-discovered!.
BTM: I love your story! (obviously). But the good thing is that regular people can buy it, to use it here on planet earth. 🙂
There was a thread about it:
Computers+design
http://www.designaddict.com/design_addict/forums/index.cfm/fuseaction/th...
...
Well, that story can't really be about me,
as I've been using computed already on my secondary school 🙂
and I didn't even intend to start a thread exactly on a topic "computer vs. pencil" as it turned out to be..
In my opinion pencil is better in some cases.. such as sketching an idea, taking notes.. or just while waiting for an inspiration to come 🙂
But also computer has it's pros... in various manipulation with already sketched drawing, by modifications, enlarging and so on..
but it is interesting how such simple instruments evoke so nice feelings.. I wonder whether some product of nowadays would sometime gain that much of respect of next generation?
I guess it all comes down to the right tool for the job at hand.
No need to boot up a whole graphics program to paste in a single image on a comp (I may have just dated myself) but I wouldn't by the same measure attempt a complicated design with multiple views and elevations with a pencil and a piece of paper when there are excellent CAD 3D programs available.
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