Comments on: Welcome to the RetroFuture

Welcome to the RetroFuture

divabat — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:10:23 -0800

Redesigned notebooks, repurposed toys, grow-your-own breakfast, paper radios, parental pants, and more - all from the mind of design fiction enthusiast Matt Brown

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:12:43 -0800

"design fiction enthusiast," excellent phrase!

By: DU

DU — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:37:56 -0800

These are all good but the pants are genius.

By: mhum

mhum — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:49:37 -0800

Oh my god, the names of all those horses. Kid Colorado "the romantic renegade"? Lakrits "the perverted prince"? Hoss Dixon "the forbidden negotiator"? Pure gold. I think I've found my next 15 usernames.

By: dinty_moore

dinty_moore — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:50:10 -0800

As a lefty I am obliged to grumble that the suggested notebook redesign would be even worse to use than the standard. But yeah, nice ideas.

By: PhoBWanKenobi

PhoBWanKenobi — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:57:37 -0800

Oh man, I want a night horse!

By: digsrus

digsrus — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:21:00 -0800

You don't have to rotate the notebook to write in it, but don't you have to rotate it to read it? And then you have those itty bitty lines at the top and the bottom.

By: TooFewShoes

TooFewShoes — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:36:39 -0800

The notebook is interesting, the eggs look gross, but the "Parent Pants" are awesome. In fact, I think I'm going to go put a pocket in the calf of my jeans right now!

By: Strange Interlude

Strange Interlude — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:46:32 -0800

As a lefty I am obliged to grumble that the suggested notebook redesign would be even worse to use than the standard. They could just make one that slants the other way. When I first saw the notebook, I thought this was just going to be another chindogu collection. But there's some genuinely fun and potentially marketable ideas here, like the DEVO egg maker and the 2D alarm clock.

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:47:48 -0800

Matt Brown is a variety of paint. Brown paint, at that. How any parents could name their kid Matt Brown...? Even Homer Simpson ran thru the possibilities. He vetoed calling his first born Louis because he would be dubbed Screwie Louie, IIRC. Oh yeah, but he's a cartoon person. I keep forgetting that.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:10:29 -0800

that slant notebook would save me hours in accumulated arm twisting and book repositioning.

By: Faze

Faze — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 04:20:53 -0800

I'm moved by the his gift to those forlorn and forgotten toy horses, transforming them from something the world had cast off (or never cared about) into potent and powerful creatures pounding across the dark horizon of our imaginations. I'm glad I lived to see the day that there was something called "design fiction" and that there is someone with the cunning, innocence and mental vitality to pull it off so appealingly.

By: Slarty Bartfast

Slarty Bartfast — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:44:37 -0800

Yes, I would totally buy parental pants. They need a tug handle, a pocket, some rubbery thing to chew on, a nose wiper, and maybe a sippy cup holder. Sold!

By: cmoj

cmoj — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 12:53:37 -0800

I know this is a risky thing to say here, but: This is design-as-art, people.

By: rubah

rubah — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:39:25 -0800

Matt Brown is a variety of paint. Brown paint, at that. How any parents could name their kid Matt Brown...? Is it? I doubt little kids know this, and they're pretty much the biggest take-advantage-of-poor-naming demographic. (37.6 million google results for matt browns, only 600k relating to paint. This might just be you. Unless you were referring to matte brown, in which case, I really don't think many people would draw the connection.) This guy has inspired me to draw logos for my family now. I feel like I'm 8 again!