mandering

August 30, 2006 5:35 PM

Mandership is mostly concerned with graphic and industrial design, interface engineering, typography, semiotics, and visualization, but it's more. Learn about how the Declaration of Independence wound up in the Ukraine (did it?) a short history of telephone numbers, book spines, and of course simplicity of design. From the same folks who brought you the Optimus keyboard. (previously)
posted by jessamyn (7 comments total)

This is cool. Thanks jessamyn.

Now when are they going to stop being all clever about things and stuff and actually manufacture the Optimus so I can buy one?

/grumbles
posted by quin at 5:50 PM on August 30, 2006

Awesome post. Publishing, design, information and communication sciences all well blended together.

quin: You can buy the 3-key teaser widget now, but the reviews seem to be less than sparkling. "The keys are mushy" seems to be the main complaint.

The full keyboard is still coming. Hopefully without mushy keys and whatever other issues resolved. I want to see one.

Though, I keep thinking that an e-ink or e-paper version might be more cost effective, easier to implement, more durable and more "simple", as Artemy Lebedev states his design philosophy is, though OLED screens are probably more accessible today for ready manufacturing.
posted by loquacious at 5:56 PM on August 30, 2006

huh, what's going on with the declaration of independance?
posted by delmoi at 6:12 PM on August 30, 2006

what's going on with the declaration of independance?

that was my question, it's conflating something quirky and tiny about it -- that weird A that looks vaguely Russian -- with some whole made up story about the original DofI being in the Ukraine! I went looking through their other posts and most of them seemed fairly straightforward and not at all hoaxish, but maybe I'm just gullible, or they're just clever, or both.
posted by jessamyn at 6:18 PM on August 30, 2006

Haha the Unites States of жmerinca bit had me going. Note the date of the article.
posted by roboto at 6:34 PM on August 30, 2006

The Declaration of Independence was indeed penned by Timothy Matlack, but he was a Quaker born in New Jersey, not a brewer from Bratslav. Still, that's a fantastic (as in really cool, in addition to as in complete fantasy) story. I loved it.
posted by LeLiLo at 7:44 PM on August 30, 2006

Excellent, cheers!
posted by twistedonion at 6:56 AM on August 31, 2006