design by pxlgirl

today we’re gonna go down the rabbit hole into geek world and explore their ideals of creativity flows and examine how or if they can benefit art and design in any way. But first, lets get into the basics. I’ll keep it short and simple, I promise!

closed or open?

there are, simply put 2 models of creating software, one is proprietary, that keeps their app’s programming code hidden and not accessible to the public, the other – open, gives access to the app’s programming code to the public and allows to make changes. The keep on reading… »

the usual suspects (mac/windoze) aside, the open source operating system linux has gained some more popularity among average users. Stability and a relative better security have always been the key features, but now as the usability became much easier, it had made its way to the desktop. The software pool has grown over the years, so that users can obtain an equivalent for many applications on their linux boxes. But can linux also be an interesting alternative for designers? Well, not quite (just yet).

Linux’ biggest problem is a lack of availability of specialized software, or if any exists, it doesn’t provide the functionalities and keep on reading… »

As Wikipedia states:

“A feminist is an advocate or supporter of the rights and equality of women. (…)”

And…

“The word geek is a slang term for odd or non-mainstream people, with different connotations ranging from a computer expert or enthusiast to a person heavily interested in a hobby, with a general pejorative meaning of  a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, especially one who is perceived to be overly intellectual. (…)” keep on reading… »

dropbox has been a popular host for data and file storage. Many designers are using it, as its GUI is simple and easy to use. But not all is gold what glitters. As dropbox is run by a company, we can never be sure how the user’s files are being handled, not to mention security issues. Unfortunately so, dropbox hasn’t exactly been a good example with the things mentioned above:

“Dropbox has been criticized by independent security researcher Derek Newton, who has argued that Dropbox’s authentication architecture is inherently insecure, and by software expert Miguel de Icaza who claims that Dropbox’s terms of service contradicts its keep on reading… »

Why should a designer, other than a geek even bother about such complex things like encryption? Simple. Because no one would write sensitive data on a postcard or dare to transfer money in an envelope without worrying about it to be stolen somewhere. As drastic as it sounds, it describes almost any online communication how data is being transferred through cyberspace. This does not mean that everything should be encrypted from now on, but having privacy tools and a basic understanding about cryptography gives everyone the chance to make a choice about how private or/and secure given data can be handled.  keep on reading… »