What's going on in the world around me?

Still waiting on pics from my letterpress projects– and for inspiration for another layer. I actually happened to grab another issue of the Minnesota Daily that has some interesting sentiments expressed in stark contrast (or is it?) to the original Op/Ed articles I was responding too. I hope to get in the studio this week to add another layer, and then get these in digital form to see what happens.

In the meantime, I'm trying to recognize examples of what I identify as emergence in nature. One thing that I can't ignore is the leaves changing colors and falling off the trees– in an abstract sense, this design relates the idea of 'progressive change' that I'm trying to pin down. So, as inspiration, I've started to photograph these loose instances of emergence and see where they take me.

In addition to change, my concept of emergent identity also relates to self-organization. While in Boston this past weekend, I saw a perfect juxtaposition of designed space verses created space. While there were numerous tables and chairs meant for assembly, interaction, discussion, etc, the most active cases of such occurred in the area directly next to the "Assembly area." Here a group of street performers (arguably already organized and well-practiced) entertained loads of people– the tables and chairs were completely empty. Recognizing the ability of individuals to respond to their situation is critical as designers; sometimes the best spaces or solutions are nothing at all– or at least drastically different from what we thought they would be.

A perfect example of a design solution that responds to such self-organized activity is the Music Under New York program initiated by the Metropolitan Transportation Association. Recognizing the ability of the underground stations to be a great venue for musicians, the MTA responded by adding an organization structure to support these organic forms of presentation and display. The yearly competitions keep the musical acts fresh and encourage unknown artists to showcase their skills to a captive audience.