She was a lot funnier than I thought she would be. I thought she would be a super-self serious typography person, but apparently not

Some points she mentioned that resonated with me: The toasters (So what if it looks good, does it work?), the pillows (I am guilty of this at home) and especiall the discussion of the shift back towards craftsmanship in design and other industries.

With easy, cheap access to machines and resources that used to be available only to specialists, people are publishing their own books, and creating content and items for consumption that may not have been available before because some corporation didn’t deem it profitable enough.

The computer and the Internet have given us the incredible ability to learn, create and share that did not exist even 20 years ago. No longer are our tastes and fashions dictated to us by large multi-national corporations, but now also the writer down the street who posts his own fiction online, or the jewelry designer mom who sells her products on Etsy, have as much influence on our tastes.

So, how does this relate to my thesis question? Many festivals with camping have miniature cities pop-up over the duration of the event, with their own economies, (think trade blankets, the kids selling “stuff”, posters, jewelry, stickers, t-shirts and even trading help and services.) So, yeah, creating, in it’s many forms is encouraged at many festivals (think recycling bins at Coachella, design contests, video/picture contests) Can I leverage this spirit of creating and helping? It seems many people are already open and receptive to the idea of a community “together”, so can I use this “togetherness” to encourage people to modify their behavior in a more environmentally/community responsible matter.