
The Web’s Grain (2015) - dsr12
https://www.frankchimero.com/writing/the-webs-grain/
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nine_k
This is a great, thoughtful article. A few quotations.

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 _I believe every material has a grain, including the web. But this assumption
flies in the face of our expectations for technology. Too often, the internet
is cast as a wide-open, infinitely malleable material. We expect technology to
help us overcome limitations, not produce more of them. In spite of those
promises, we typically yield consistent design results._

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 _What would happen if we stopped treating the web like a blank canvas to
paint on, and instead like a material to build with?_

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 _an edgeless surface of unknown proportions comprised of small, individual,
and variable elements from multiple vantages assembled into a readable whole
that documents a moment

That’s a pretty good description of the visual challenges in interaction
design, huh?_

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 _And, most interesting to me, edgelessness means blurred lines between the
disciplines that work together to make things for the web. Everyone that I’ve
spoken with that’s worked on a large responsive project with a big client says
that the process disrupts workflows, expectations, and work culture.

Simply put, the edgelessness of the web tears down the constructed edges in
the company. Everything is so interconnected that nobody has a clear domain of
work any longer—the walls are gone, so we’re left to learn how to collaborate
in the spaces where things connect._

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 _Our words make it seem that we’re designing how elements break down, but
really, we should be focusing on how they build up._

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 _We often think making things for the web is a process of simplifying—the
hub, the dashboard, the control panel are all dreams of technology that
coalesces—but things have a tendency to diverge into a multiplicity of
options. We pile on more tools and technology, each one increasingly nuanced
and minor in its critical differences. Clearly, convergence and simplicity
make for poor goals. Instead, we must aim for clarity. You can’t contain or
reduce the torrent of technology, but you can channel it in a positive
direction through proper framing and clear articulation._

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 _What we build is defined and controlled by its unresolvable conflicts. In
responsive design, it’s the text and image conundrum I showed earlier. In
other, more grand arenas, there is capital versus labor, or collective control
versus anarchic individualism. In technology, I believe it comes down to the
power dynamics of convenience. To create convenience—particularly the
automated convenience technology trades in—someone else must make our choices
for us. In other words: the less you have to do, the less say you have._

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