Category: design

challenge design history pragmatic historian preservation

From Notre Dame to Yogurt Cups: Toward a Grand Unified Theory of Preservation

By Mary | by Mary

This is a post I’ve spent years thinking about. When it comes to historic preservation, the focus tends to be on buildings and structures that are historically or architecturally significant. Through the National Register of Historic Places, there are 4 criteria under which a structure can be nominated: Those … A. That are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or B.That are associated with the…

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art design

The Arty Dahlia

By Mary | by Mary

I’m continuing to explore making digital art using GIMP photo editing software. I take one or two photos and morph them using various effects just to see what happens. While I’m working, I save the iterations I like. If I don’t like an iteration, I back up and try something new. Here is the series I created using a photo of a pink dahlia.  

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action challenge design ideas preservation

Down With Glassines!

By Mary | by Mary

When it comes to recycling, one of the biggest barriers to recycling specific materials is contamination. Contamination comes in the form of other materials being mixed in with the material that is bound for recycling. For example, if you’re trying to recycle a cardboard box and there is grease or oil on it (think pizza box), the box can’t be recycled because of the oil. In addition, the more materials an item is purposely made…

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design history ideas pragmatic historian time

A Thought Experiment on Flag Day

By Mary | by Mary

Today is Flag Day in the United States. I thought it was Father’s Day, but that’s next weekend. My days are all messed up with working from home because they just run into one another. I can see why holidays are so important for marking time. I don’t typically pay much attention to Flag Day, but as circumstance would have it, I was thinking about the U.S. flag a couple of days ago. Here was…

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design family history observations

Dr. Bronner’s Gets a Facelift

By Mary | by Mary

Have you heard of Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile Soap? It’s liquid soap that can be used for pretty much anything, whether as a body wash and shampoo or as a household cleaner. We prefer the Hemp Peppermint variety. The soap is all organic, with Certified Fair Trade ingredients. The funkiest thing about this soap is the packaging, specifically the label. When you purchase a bottle, you get a spiritual/philosophical tome of very tiny print that covers…

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