My colleague Sam Martin posted this great preview of our upcoming design mind issue on "Motion:"
"I used to do a lot of traveling. First it was to see the graves of my literary heroes like Yeats (Sligo, Ireland) and Keats (Rome) and then it became something of a sight seeing tour – you know, a more traditional traipse to museums, temples, and historic and natural wonders.
Eventually, though, I traveled just to get away – to see how far away I could get, both literally and figuratively. I wanted to feel the distance, and I wanted to become completely removed from what I’d always known, to really step outside my own culture and experience what it was like to live in Sydney, Nepal, Thailand, or Honduras.
It was a long journey. All told, it took me seven years before I could comfortably accept that it was time to stop moving around the world and start moving at home (we don’t ever stop moving). During that time, I saw a lot and met a lot of people, but one of the most gratifying elements of my travels was the movement. There were times – a lot of times – in which I didn’t want to experience any more culture, or see another temple, or sit on another beach. I just wanted to move. So I’d get on a bus or boat or train and I’d leave just to be leaving, just to be moving.
With the upcoming issue of design mind (due out January 22nd), we wanted to capture this notion of movement in as many ways possible. People, ideas, and technologies move for many different reasons, and motion itself isn’t always what it seems. Our cover artist, French photographer Denis Darzacq, wanted to document the downfall of a generation of Parisians in his photo essay, La Chute, which translates to “The Fall.” And David Hoffer points out in his upcoming article, “Slow Innovation,” that new ideas may ricochet around the culture like pin balls but the ideas that really last move more like molasses in winter.
Also, what are we missing if we move so fast? Tjeerd Hoek explains the job of designing the spaces between moments. And what can we do if we can’t stop moving? frog President Doreen Lorenzo writes a touching essay about Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, in which she discusses her son’s successful bout with the diagnosis, in an article called “The Unique Brain: The link between ADHD and creativity is turning a problem into a gift.”
Of course, travel itself is many different things for different people. I plane hopped for pleasure, but my experience was nothing like the travelers in our feature story “Confessions of Extreme Air Travelers,” some of whom spend more than 300 days a year working the security lines and angling for the exit row seat (they have it down pat, by the way).
It’s also fair to ask about the auto industry. What will become of it? Our designers have their opinions on how we drive in an article entitled “Driver Experience Design.” Most auto innovations have come under the hood, but we think it’s time they get in the cockpit.
The farthest away I ever felt on my travels was Perth, Australia, and the farthest away from home I ever felt was, ironically, in Canada. But some of my fondest memories are of the transit between those places, when I abandon my expectations and stopped checking the train schedules – those times when I gave myself over to the passing of time and to the pure, comforting feeling you get when you can’t be anywhere else.
Look for design mind issue 9, Motion, in bookstores and for sale on this website in the new year. Until then, happy travels."