Month: January 2008

Here’s a challenge for you: what will communication look like in 3 – 5 years?

Two of my housemates are currently studying Moving Image Design, and that is their design brief for a theorhetical ad for Orange (project is sponsored by Orange and winner takes home a small prize for their efforts). Last night around the dinner table we had a chat about it, and actually found it incredibly difficult to pick what would happen in 5 years.

If it was 50 years from now, there’d be no problem – you could dream up pretty much anything (within reason) and it’d sound plausible. But 3 – 5 years means it’s just beyond the technology horizon, and so requires a little bit of thought and a little bit of imagination, but within limits. 5 years ago, wireless networking was at its nascent beginnings. 3 years ago, phones were just beginning to hit their strides as multimedia devices, though it all looks pretty familiar really (remember, it was only 2005).

Before you say it, the iPhone – not that revolutionary; my dad had a touchscreen PDA 3 years ago. Sure, it wasn’t as slim or as fancy as the iPhone, but it still did (does) the whole mail, web, music, videos, and all that song-and-dance that the iPhone does (except the iPhone does it better, to be sure). Not that revolutionary.

Probably the most fun thing we came up with before we devolved into looking at funny ads on YouTube was an OLED shirt with constantly moving images, such as, for example, waves sloshing around whenever the wearer moves.

What do you reckon communication will be like in 5 years?

Returning from watching Les Miserables, I was in an oddly cheery mood, given the subject matter of the musical. I’d seen a visiting friend off home, and was now returning home when she got on.

She was with her friends, and they’d been sitting in front of me in Les Mis. It wouldn’t have mattered, because she was the kind I would have noticed across the theatre. Her hair was almost a cherry blonde, darker perhaps, artificial, a shining beacon that made her unmistakable. The vagaries of connections on the underground meant we made it to the same train, the same carriage, despite my earlier detour.

Perhaps she recognised me, as she sat opposite, for she flashed a small smile my way. Perhaps it was just a brief courtesy when eyes met, for I had my headphones on. I turned the music down a little, eavesdropping on the conversation with her friends, sitting to the side of me, held across the carriage.

From the accents of her and another, I imagined them to be tourists; her accent suggested Chinese, though her command of English was good – perhaps Hong Kong. Settled in the seat, she turned her attention to her shopping. The bags were unique, one suggesting a visit to the milliner, the other a Harrods bag design I’d not seen before, Harrods further enforcing the tourist image.

Continue reading “A few short minutes”

a) Don’t rush dinner. Really, take your time to prepare it.

b) Whole wheat pasta is healthier for you, but it also takes longer to cook completely. 4 minutes more, in fact, according to the instructions on the packet.

c) Al dente is intended to be a lot more al than dente.

d) Carbonara sauce is the wrong sauce to pick for a vegetable pasta.