“I realized today that I really miss living close to my family.”

-Rebecca, Dallas

(scanned postcard, Princes Street, east and west, in Edinburgh, Scotland)

“I was reminded that when you are in the flow of the universe, the universe flows with you, even in inconspicuous matters. Last week I looked at bike racks for my car and was surprised at how expensive some of them are. So I just put it off, knowing the right one would fall in my lap.

Today a friend and I decided to drop in on a thrift shop after lunch and ‘lo, there was a perfectly functional bike rack for $5! And in a thrift shop that usually only stocks clothes and kitchen stuff. I laughed and bought it. Popped it on my car and it fits great. I expressed my gratitude and tipped my virtual hat to the universe.”

- Raymond, Gainesville

Bargains. (by silverfox09)

“I was reminded that sometimes I need to stop pushing my own agenda and just go with the flow. Takeaway: live in the moment, return to center and remember to breathe.”

- Jennifer, Chicago

Photo: freedom (by fotozyth)

More and more, I’m learning the value of shipping things out the door - getting ideas, thoughts, creations, products, services - in the hands of an audience like you as fast as possible, to start figuring out what works and what I did wrong because I had bad assumptions.

My goal was to get this project launched over the weekend, but I didn’t quite understand how long some things would take (locating mass quantities of postcards, stuffing envelopes) and completely forgot the post office isn’t open on Sundays. Nevertheless, the first batch of 25 cards is in the mail now. I’m really looking forward to what people share for their daily learnings, and also to find out what they dig about this project and what I’ve mucked up already.

(via Instagram)

Initially, the names on the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial in Washington, D.C. was presumed to organize the names of fallen heroes in alphabetical order. However, it presented some difficulties upon closer inspection - there were 600 veterans with the last name Smith, and 16 men named James Jones, for example.

Listing the names alphabetically would make the names on the memorial indistinguished — the families and loved ones of those 16 James Jones wouldn’t be able to tell which James Jones was theirs. The solution, proposed by memorial designer Maya Ying Lin, was to list the names of fallen soliders chronologically by date of death.

Not only does this distinguish the deceased for those paying respect, but organizing the names chronologically tells the story of the war - one individual, human person at a time. Instead of looking like a telephone book of listings, each name stands out with the dignity due any individual.

In alphabetical order, it would be easy to scan through the names and not feel the impact of 58,000 unique, individual lives lost. Chronologically, in the order each fell, the weight and solemnity is much greater.

(information on the memorial taken from Envisioning Information by Edward R. Tufte)

Photo: Finding a Name (by Gregory Jordan)

The role of design is not to simplify data and eliminate complexity, but to aid the viewer by clarifying complexity.