Design Observer :: Join the Discussion http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-love-the-80s/34398/ en-us Design Observer Group 2012-06-12T10:14:57-05:00 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0 ]]> http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-love-the-80s/34398/#comments 2012-06-12T10:14:57-05:00 http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-love-the-80s/34398/#comments 2012-06-08T10:47:32-05:00 You can spare me from today's overly self-righteous designers who have solidified themselves into camps. Vignelli himself existed in a time when design was fluid--he was an architecture, industrial designer and graphic designer. And the exploration of the essentials of design do help society--if eco-friendly cars were pimped out like Miami Vice then maybe they would sell better.
Too bad this same dialogue and fun doesn't exist today. OR DOES IT????]]> http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-love-the-80s/34398/#comments 2012-06-07T13:03:25-05:00
I can't believe I just said orange spout thinner-I haven't used one of those in over 20 years.]]> http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-love-the-80s/34398/#comments 2012-06-06T10:07:35-05:00 It was a time when design, whether it be graphics, fabric, furniture, laminates or whatever, clearly outshone architecture.
Crap architecture was crappier still.
But the images, patterns, colours suddenly unleashed on the unsuspecting world by design, not t have been missed.]]> http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-love-the-80s/34398/#comments 2012-06-06T04:13:44-05:00 http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-love-the-80s/34398/#comments 2012-06-06T03:07:28-05:00
Compared to our time, they were utterly disconnected, and seeing this for the first time in thirty years I'm struck by the generational gap, that kids coming up today might recognize that old telephone, but they will never understand what it meant to live in the pre-digital world, or why a call from a phone booth could be such a big deal - that you'd have to go out of your way, stop the car, a plunk in a coin to communicate with someone.

And it wasn't that long ago. ]]> http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-love-the-80s/34398/#comments 2012-06-05T21:18:19-05:00
In the very first issue of HOW magazine (November/December 1985), a spread is dedicated to a photo of Crockett & Tubbs, and how a crazy new gizmo called the Scitex Response System can electronically remove a holster and strap from Don Johnson’s shoulder. The text goes on the say, “The image was sized, cropped, screened, and output as film separations. The printed magazine cover for Rolling Stones shows no trace of the strap.” The final sentence closes by noting that “The type was stripped in by hand.”]]> http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-love-the-80s/34398/#comments 2012-06-05T13:12:20-05:00 John Massengale http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-love-the-80s/34398/#comments 2012-06-05T08:10:28-05:00
in those wonderful 80s the most innovative company in the world - the one even the most prestigious of car manufacturers looked at for inspiration - produced plastic throwaway wristwatches.
as often and as hard as i try, i cannot look at a swatch the way i looked at it back then. equally contemporary, omnipresent, playful, innocent, and fresh, apple has taken this place for now.

at least the pet shop boys are still playing.



]]> http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/i-love-the-80s/34398/#comments 2012-06-05T07:42:18-05:00