Category Archives: design

Navigating a way forwards

Posted on March 24, 2025 by things magazine

Broken Veil is a new podcast that dips into the weird/psychogeographic/quasi-non-fictional realm / a sad farewell to publishers Unbound / Elizabeth Goodspeed on what happens when we treat the past like a stock library / The Social Media Sea Change, … Continue reading →

Posted in design, ephemera | Leave a comment

Slopping out

Posted on January 14, 2025 by things magazine

Where have all the flowers gone?, a 1978 BBC film that ‘traces the hippies of ten years ago to find out how they are living today. Yippie leader Jerry Rubin, ‘Social Deviant’ Mick Farren, Oz editor Felix Dennis, Dr Timothy … Continue reading →

Posted in design, linkage | Leave a comment

Things thrown out of the pram

Posted on November 12, 2024 by things magazine

We all deserve and need random, enjoyable links. Onwards. Modernist Estates, a new agency (not for profit!) looking to make the most of the best bits of 20th century architecture and help get it into the hands of those who … Continue reading →

Posted in design, ephemera | Leave a comment

Out of the shadows

Posted on May 27, 2024 by things magazine

So, we’re now secure. Apologies for what might well have been several months of downtime for many readers. The mysteries of secure sockets, certificates, caches and domain records has hopefully been sorted by the good people at Nethosted, leaving us … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, art, collections and archives, design, ephemera, linkage | 1 Comment

On loss

Posted on January 25, 2024 by things magazine

The World’s Largest Cruise Ship Is a Climate Liability: ‘Taking a cruise generates “about double the amount of total greenhouse gas emissions” as flying’ / the sadly departed music journalist Neil Kulkarni selects his favourite writings from The Wire / … Continue reading →

Posted in design | Leave a comment

Recovery positions

Posted on January 13, 2024 by things magazine

Art and design things. How London Transport’s roundel was nearly a rabbit, at Ian Visits / Controlled Demolition specialise in taking things down / the story of the Teenage Engineering Choir / ‘The Anomalist‘ is a journal and website that … Continue reading →

Posted in art, design | Leave a comment

All aboard

Posted on April 4, 2023 by things magazine

‘This category contains people who are known by their reputation or acts, but their names have remained unidentified‘ / break out your Yamaha CS-80 (whether a pricey original or a plug-in) and delve into this tribute to Vangelis, Tears in … Continue reading →

Posted in design | Leave a comment

Teeth-grindingly awful

Posted on January 30, 2023 by things magazine

Another nail in the coffin. Google’s MusicLM generates relatively convincing audio from text descriptions (via MeFi and MusicRadar). You know the kind of thing it’ll be used for: ‘Hans Zimmer-style epic soundtrack’, ‘romantic music for a beachside sunset’, ‘horror movie … Continue reading →

Posted in design | Leave a comment

Lost at sea

Posted on November 25, 2022 by things magazine

Apologies for the downtime. On to the links. Enchanted Book collates rare book illustrations. Unfortunately, many of these will simply end up as fodder for the myriad art AIs that are flitting about, redefining the nature of commissioning, art and … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, design | Leave a comment

If pigs could fly

Posted on October 10, 2022 by things magazine

Tracing the History of the Green Book in Southern California / the Manhattan Population Explorer / selfie landscapes: ‘The Instagram capital of the world is a terrible place to be‘ / The Acrostic Edition, a short piece about the joy … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, collections and archives, design | Leave a comment

Tick tock

Posted on July 12, 2022 by things magazine

Watches that don’t tell time / a very, very thin watch / epic post on the audio and visual legacy of Atari, on the occasion of the company’s 50th Anniversary / a camper conversion of a Swiss Fire Engine / … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, art, design | Leave a comment

10 PRINT “RIP”, 20 GOTO 10

Posted on September 16, 2021 by things magazine

The Royal Institute of British Architects page at Arts and Culture / aerial photography by Brad Walls / Pelle Cass’ digitally manipulated sports photographs / Amelia, The Trilogy of Terror, fun short film from the 70s / China’s Ghost Cities. … Continue reading →

Posted in design | Leave a comment

Different takes on the future

Posted on June 28, 2021 by things magazine

Photographs by Thibaut Derien (via El tiempo en cucharitas de café) / so what problem does this solve exactly? The Aska flying car-roadable helicopter / The Story of the MiniDisc, ‘Sony’s 1990s Audio Format That’s Gone But Not Forgotten’ / … Continue reading →

Posted in design | Leave a comment

Rules of the road

Posted on March 29, 2021 by things magazine

On the end of the Mondeo and Ford’s legendary skill at conveying status with subtle design cues: ‘Ford’s tinsel artistes always made sure that you could tell a base from an L, or an XL, or a GXL, their palette … Continue reading →

Posted in design | Leave a comment

What happens next

Posted on March 10, 2021 by things magazine

More unintended consequences / why Bitcoin is so bad for the planet / In the late 1960s, Shelter asked photographer Nick Hedges to document homes in the UK that were unfit for human habitation (via Fishstickmonkey). More by Nick Hedges, … Continue reading →

Posted in design | Leave a comment

What happens next

Posted on December 19, 2020 by things magazine

A compelling short film by Meghna Gupta on what happens to cast-off clothes at Aeon. The film looks at the journey made by 100,000 tonnes of ‘rag’ to garment recyclers in the Indian city of Panipat. The garment slashers, button … Continue reading →

Posted in design | Leave a comment

The Bland of Confusion

Posted on December 2, 2020 by things magazine

Histories and mysteries of the age. Towards a Cultural History of Plexiglass, in all our lives these days. For many, it never went away: ‘But in particular “fringe” businesses in contested neighborhoods, plexi refracts different politics and subjectivities; it marks … Continue reading →

Posted in design, technology | Leave a comment

The Colour out of Space

Posted on October 29, 2020 by things magazine

John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”, animated by artist Michal Levy who has synesthesia. At Aeon, via tmn, who also point us to Ghost Stories of Tripadvisor, ‘a dreadful directory of hotel hauntings’ / retro news: the Super Mario Game & Watch; … Continue reading →

Posted in art, design | Leave a comment

Shallow pools, deep dives

Posted on May 20, 2020 by things magazine

10 Years of Forensic Architecture, exploring the minutiae at the intersection of space and polities / the Atlas of Urban Expansion / cooking with Blixa, Einssturzende Neubaten’s front man on noise and food (via The Guardian) / the story of … Continue reading →

Posted in design | Leave a comment

Islands in the stream

Posted on April 23, 2020 by things magazine

A Short History of London by Simon Jenkins, reviewed at The London Society / Columbia and Pea Islands, the ultimate in self isolation about 6 miles from the Bronx / the story of the Thingstätte: ‘Between 1933 and 1936, so-called … Continue reading →

Posted in design, ephemera | Leave a comment