Reading List

1 Design
2 Art
3 Music
4 Economics
5 Health
6 Concepts
7 Books
8 Notable Endeavours
9 Vintage National Geographic Ads
10 Wunderkammer (Articles in Possession)
11 Favourites

The typographer behind the current Helmut Lang wordmark (Hannes Famira) explains the design process behind the logo.
- Read time: 6 mins

- Read time: 6 mins

- Watch time: 4 mins 20 seconds

First encountered in the National Museum of Korea (2018)

2. Art

- Watch time: 5 mins 30 seconds

- Watch time: 3 mins

- Watch time: 4 mins 30 secs

- Watch time: 1 min

- Watch time: 45 secs

- Read time: 9 mins 30 secs

Charles Louis Clerriseau
Edouard Manet
Paul Cèzanne

Alberto Biagetti
Luigi Colani
Nathalie Du Pasquier
Dieter Rams
Naoto Fukasawa
Marcel Bruer
Ricardo Bofill
Massimo Vignelli
Yves Klein
Amédée Ozenfant

3. Music

- Listen time: 1 hr 6 mins

- Listen time: 9 mins

- Listen time: 8 mins 30 secs

- Listen time: 2 mins 45 secs

- Listen time: 5 mins

- Listen time: 63 mins

- Listen time: 7 secs

- Listen time: 15 mins

- Listen time: 9 mins 44 secs

- Listen time: 40 mins

- Listen time: 5 mins

- Listen time: 4 mins

- Listen time: 3 mins 30 secs

- Listen time: 1 hour

- Listen time: 12 mins 30 secs

4. Economics

Spurious Correlation between: Number of people who drowned after falling out of a fishing boat & Marriage rate in Kentucky

Donohue, J. and Levitt, S. (2001). The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime.
The Quarterly Journal of Economics, [online] 116(2), pp.379-420.

5. Health

By the DSM-3 (1952), homosexuality was no longer considered a mental disorder

Blindsight: the ability of people who are cortically blind due to lesions in their striate cortex, to respond to visual stimuli that they do not consciously see.

Allostatic Load: the "wear and tear on the body" which accumulates as an individual is exposed to repeated or chronic stress.

Lithium in drinking water and the incidences of crimes, suicides, and arrests related to drug addictions
Lithium levels in drinking water and risk of suicide
Effects of nutritional lithium supplementation on mood. A placebo-controlled study with former drug users

Daylight Savings and Heart Attack (acute myocardial infarction) #1
Daylight Savings and Heart Attack (acute myocardial infarction) #2
Daylight Savings and Heart Attack (acute myocardial infarction) #3
Daylight Savings and Heart Attack (acute myocardial infarction) #4
Sleepy Punishers Are Harsh Punishers: Daylight Saving Time and Legal Sentences

6. Concepts

Buduwa: Warming one's hands by the fire and then gently squeezing the fingers of another person to transfer the warmth.

Satyagraha(सत्याग्रह): Insistence on the truth.

Yūgen

Saṃsāra (संसार) & Moksha (मोक्ष)

Mono No Aware (物の哀れ): Awareness of transience.

"The most frequently cited example of mono no aware in contemporary Japan is the traditional love of cherry blossoms, as manifested by the huge crowds of people that go out every year to view (and picnic under) the cherry trees. The blossoms of the Japanese cherry trees are intrinsically no more beautiful than those of, say, the pear or the apple tree: they are more highly valued because of their transience, since they usually begin to fall within a week of their first appearing. It is precisely the evanescence of their beauty that evokes the wistful feeling of mono no aware in the viewer."

Taken from the Standard Encyclopaedia of Philosophy
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/japanese-aesthetics/#MonoNoAwarPathThin

Turn on, tune in, drop out (Timothy Leary)

"Turn on" meant go within to activate your neural and genetic equipment. Become sensitive to the many and various levels of consciousness and the specific triggers engaging them. Drugs were one way to accomplish this end. "Tune in" meant interact harmoniously with the world around you—externalize, materialize, express your new internal perspectives. "Drop out" suggested an active, selective, graceful process of detachment from involuntary or unconscious commitments. "Drop Out" meant self-reliance, a discovery of one's singularity, a commitment to mobility, choice, and change. Unhappily, my explanations of this sequence of personal development are often misinterpreted to mean "Get stoned and abandon all constructive activity"

Taken from pg 253 of Leary's autobiography: Flashbacks

7. Books

A list of books that I found significantly interesting/helpful.

Human Thought

Incognito [David Eagleman]
Freakonomics [Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt]
How to Change Your Mind [Michael Pollan]

Social Class/Structure

The Theory of the Leisure Class [Thorstein Veblen]
Social Theory and Social Structure (ch 4 & 5) [Robert K. Merton]

Social/Cultural Anthropology

Sidewalk [Mitchell Duneier]
Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche [Haruki Murakami]

8. Notable Endeavours

List of often cryptic but meaningful statements used to overcome a creative block.
Used by various musicians (Coldplay, David Bowie) in the recording process.

Documents an individual's exploration into various nootropic drugs (drugs to enhance cognitive function), based on the scientific method.
Here, Gwern analyses the effects of various drugs on his cognitive performance.

Gwern details his experimental method and design, involving:
• double blind testing
• data collection - (e.g. sleep, cognitive metrics)
• data analysis - (e.g. multivariable regressions, Chi Squared tests)

Individuals who are identified dressing in uniform of a particular subculture are invited to the studio to be photographed.

Presents an interesting contradiction between people's attempts to distinguish themselves through clothing (Individuality) and the uniform appearance of social cultures

9. Vintage Nat Geo Ads

Triumph Tippa Typewriter (Early 1960's production model)

The Tippa typewriter gained popularity in the 1960's with the growing need for a portable workstation. Dubbed the 'Office in a Briefcase,' the Tippa model was designed by Erwin Pfaffenberger with a flat profile to allow for ease of transportation. Production of the Tippa line began in the 1950's and continued through the 1970's.
This iteration of the Tippa model won various design awards, and is thought to be the peak of Tippa design before its downfall. Shortly after, changes in design led to dissatisfaction with type feel and speed, and the Tippa model had ceased production by 1980.

• Acquired when a family friend had to declutter possessions to move homes (2019)
• Manufactured in Western Germany

Garam Masala flavoured instant Pasta (Maggi)

Garam Masala is a blend of spices that underpins much of Indian cuisine. Many households in India blend their own Garam Masala, and it is said that there are as many different versions of Garam Masala as households.

• Acquired in a grocery store in India (2019)

Spring Water for Calvin Klein 205W39NYC in collaboration with Andy Warhol

• Images shot by Willy Vanderperre
• Water sourced at Shasta Springs by WaterBox LLC
• Acquired in New York (2018)

Duofilm Solution Packaging

For the treatment of warts

• Modernist pharmaceutical design
• Acquired in Sydney (2019)

Nokia N97

In an attempt to cater to the growing market for a touchscreen phone whilst still maintaining the tactile keyboard that consumers knew and loved, Nokia released the N97 in 2009.

This was widely regarded as a disaster, with the N97 being the only device that Nokia has publicly apologized for. The N97 came with various issues with hardware and software, and is considered the release that started the period of Nokia's decline.

• Acquired from a friend (childhood)

Wiltshire Kitchen Mate Spatula

Wiltshire is an Australian kitchen utensil company. This particular Spatula was likely produced in the 1980-1990s.

• Acquired when a family friend had to declutter possessions to move homes (2019)
• Manufactured in Japan

Fireplace tool set (tongs, spade, brush, poker)

Used to stoke/maintain a fireplace

• Acquired in Bathurst (2019)

11. Favourites

A list of favourites.

Comic Strip

Krazy Kat [George Herriman]