history of graphic design: essay one.

this week we turned in our first write-up (of six) from selected essays out of Looking Closer Five. "The Birth of the User," by Ellen Lupton was very brief, but very interesting. She raised great points about how our world is changing in regards to reading/viewing and writing/designing. She states that the User replaces each of those traditional roles... A lot of her observations reflected much of what i learned in the Edward Tufte course a few weeks ago. Especially the difference in attention span with printed paper (hi res) vs. the screen (lo res). A main, thought provoking point that i pulled from Lupton's essay is with all the control we have as we navigate through a "screaming-grab-your-attention" web site, the reality is that the technology behind this "freedom-to-move-about-the-pages," is actually tracking our moves, thus controlling us.

i've attached my quickie one-page write up //:here.