Thursday 20 September 2012

Global Design Forum 2012

I popped along to the Global Design Forum yesterday at Central St Martins to hear the likes of Alberto Alessi, Matthew Daniel SiskinThomas Heatherwick and Zaha Hadid discuss all things design. Amazing to hear the stories behind the Olympic cauldron, the influence of shells in Zaha's sculptural buildings and the redesign of gov.uk.

Matthew Daniel Siskin's talk on your human digital self was incredibly thought provoking. Our digital imprints are huge - be it blogging, facebook, twitter, pinterest or tumblr. And that's just the personal side of things. Brands are increasingly using the same digital tools to drive awareness. But who are they attracting? Beyonce's most popular page on her site is her tumblr. Interestingly it's not run by her team or her label, it's run by her. And it's that human side of things that connects people, and drives traffic. It got me thinking about this blog - I started The Domestic Novice as a diary of moments captured to share with my Grandfather but chose to keep myself and loved ones anonymous-ish. I don't publish full names or face shots. I don't know why - it just felt a little too exposed. Which is quite funny when you consider that some of my favourite blogs disclose pretty much everything - A Cup of Jo even advertises her apartment for rent on her blog when they go away on hols.

So, is making your digital self more human the direction we're headed? In my opinion, there are degrees of human injection. Going all out works for small start ups and individuals who want to establish themselves as a brand. For me, for now, I'll continue to potter along merrily in anonymity - taking snaps of the ordinary and the not-so-ordinary part of my life, which in itself is inherently human. It's a debate that is intrinsically linked to that of the warts-and-all blog v the edited life blog, not to mention the very human support that can be gathered from the blogging community. But that's a discussion for another time.

What are your thoughts?

2 comments:

  1. I like you, prefer the anonymous approach rather than warts and all. Very interesting really as I am pretty open in my non blog life, I will ponder this but think I prefer this approach for my digital self.

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  2. forum designs are very important, because all will be surfing in forums only. a good blog. web design bangalore

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