"Noticing is important, but what’s more important is sharing what one observes to define the edges of the experiences we share. This overlap bonds us, and the best part of paying attention is that it reminds us that we are occupying the same space at the same time as others. We are a part of the world, even in those in-between spaces.

All that’s required is to stop for a moment."

Frank Chimero writes about the necessity of at least knowing basic markup languages.

"Collecting is having all the pearls lose on the table, curating is stringing them together into a necklace."

"People invented everything, which puts the earnest on us to reinvent them as well. There is the past and what was made, and now there is the future and what we will make that replaces what was made before."

"Why do these systems feel more optimized for getting shit in, and not getting something good out of it? Leave that side out, and it’s just a pile of gold in a storage locker."

"But when people turn into just information, we lose something important. We lose the rules of engagement, we lose our etiquette. And even though we may be part of a social network, manners don’t matter much when you’re alone."

A few years ago when traveling I had a meal at a tapas bar on a slow Tuesday night, and struck up a conversation with the chef in the open kitchen. She told me that the key to a good meal is matching the chef’s time: take as much time to eat the dish as it took to prepare it. I always filed it away in my head, but never quite knew how to classify the sentiment. It’s just within the past few days that I’ve understood that the reason I liked the thought so much was because of how kind it seemed. To match attention is to be kind.

Frank Chimero writes about AIGA's recent Twitter chat about design. There's a lot to learn here.

"I think the way your collection is presented back to you matters. I guess what I’m asking for is a digital rendition of the commonplace book, and a serious rethinking of what advantages digital could provide in that context."

"Maybe “winning” at education is the student learning things without being at the whims of the institution, turning learning into an inquiry of the mind—chasing questions rather than collecting other people’s answers."

"Really writing forces us to lock the words into whatever contraption is being used to write. I like typewriters because it’s hard to take out the paper and crumple it up while writing. The easiest movement is FORWARD. Typewriters are momentum machines. Real writing pushes forward. Tweets push in every direction at once. These are not value judgements, these are just some observations."

"Things are not as they should be. And yet, it feels as if we are all in the right place."

Frank Chimero is starting a Kickstarter project to raise money for a book on design's place in today's world.

"What I mean by freedom is the ability to say no. I don’t consider this a negative way of thinking, but rather a very positive way to have permission to opt out of the things we don’t want to do. I feel we need to acknowledge the value of the freedom derived from simplifying and eliminating the useless things in our life. This means having an understanding of what’s important."

Frank Chimero's tips for basic accounting that will keep a freelancer sane.

Frank Chimero talks about what it's like switching from a 27" iMac to a new 13" MacBook Air.

Frank Chimero shares his two favorite things about the web from 2010. Both look like keepers.

"You ever order soup at a restaurant and get a bowl that’s mostly broth?

The problem is the register at the restaurant is four-hundred bucks under what it was the day before, and everyone is running around screaming “No one wants to buy our soup!” Then they start looking for different ways to distribute the soup. Do they buy new ladles? Would people like it if the ladles were fancier? “Let’s buy new bowls. People would enjoy the new bowls,” they say. Customers could choose the bowl that best fits their personality, or how they’re feeling that day, or whether they’re having the soup for lunch or for dinner."

Frank Chimero discusses why it is sometimes better to dive into long projects where iteration does not work as effectively.

"There is a horse in the Apple Store and no one sees it but me...I think, “Would they notice if it were a tiger?” Or a lamb? Or an anaconda? What would it take to shake the haze from around their eyes? A sale sign? A new iPod Touch? Would they notice a new iPod Touch?"

Frank Chimero's advice about what constitutes design.

Part 3 from Frank Chimero.

Part 2 from Frank Chimero.

Part 1 of a great series from Frank Chimero.

"Media inventors aren’t making format changes for change’s sake. While it may be fun to tinker on a meta level, Media Inventors champion content. It’s the foundation, and every decision that leads to any sort of invention is done in an attempt to tell a better story, sing a better song, or make a more profound or fulfilling experience for an audience."

Great story about a painting and the thinking it inspires.

Frank Chimero discusses the difficulties of doing client work and why he's taking a brief holiday from that type of design.

"Do we have any frontiers left? Frontiers exist for one reason: promise. Where do we go now to find promise? What direction? We are a people hungry for something to believe in."