Category Archives: Business

On the Road (original scroll edition) by Jack Kerouac: paper versus oblivion

Posted on 14 May 2013 by Propagandum

What was Kerouac trying to do by typing this early version of his classic novel on 120 feet of long strips of paper joined together with tape? How and why does this strange writing technique change what we feel about … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Media analysis, Publishing, Writing | Tagged Allen Ginsberg, Books, Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, On the Road (novel), Publishing, The medium is the message, Theory of publishing, Writing | Leave a comment

‘Brands, stock markets and traffic are the wilderness of today …’

Posted on 4 April 2013 by Propagandum

‘Nature used to be an unpredictable place of mystery … Now, man-made cultural constructions are becoming increasingly autonomous and slipping out of our control. ‘Wild systems such as brands, stock markets and traffic are the wilderness of today. Nature has become culture and … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Media analysis | Tagged Brands, Karl Grandin, Nature, Shopping, Stock market, Wilderness | 2 Comments

Science, publishing and writing style

Posted on 17 March 2013 by Propagandum

Two examples of each today, and some ideas about outreach, power and sustainability: 1. Cambridge, UK, home of Propagandum Towers and a university or two, every year hosts an excellent science festival. For two weeks thousands of people teaching and learning heavy-duty … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Media analysis, Publishing, Writing | Tagged Cambridge UK, Global warming, Helen Moss, Peter Wothers, Public relations, Publishing, Royal Society, Theory of science, Thomas Sprat, World Book and Copyright Day, World Book Day | 2 Comments

The mystery of the covered-up book cover …

Posted on 9 March 2013 by Propagandum

Wandering into my local bookshop the other day, I was shocked to see this: W – as some people say in cyberspace – TF? What’s going on here? How can you buy a book if you can’t read what it … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Media analysis, Publishing, Typography | Tagged Amazon, Books, Commercial, Cover design, Creativity, David Pearson, George Orwell, Marketing, Meaning, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Penguin Books, Publishing | 5 Comments

‘Only superficial people do not judge by appearances’: type, design and the spirit of the age #2

Posted on 6 March 2013 by Propagandum

What do commercial or designed things tell us about the age we live in? And how do they do this? Writers and artists have brilliantly created a reality distortion field where we expect them to give us the benefit of … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Media analysis, Typography | Tagged Body image, Creativity, Graphic design, Jeremy Tankard, Spirit of the age, Type design, Typeface, Typography, Zeitgeist | Leave a comment

‘Only superficial people do not judge by appearances’: type, design and the spirit of the age #1

Posted on 27 February 2013 by Propagandum

Wandering round Hereford Cathedral last week during a welcome few days away from Propagandum Towers, I found a display case of fine ancient books. They weren’t hidden in any way, but it wasn’t obvious what these books do for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Media analysis, Typography, Writing | Tagged Graphic design, Hereford Cathedral, Historiography, History of science, Old books, Royal Society, Science, Theory of science, Thomas Sprat, Type design, Typography | 1 Comment

Leonardo da Vinci: Philosopher and scientist? #1

Posted on 15 November 2012 by Propagandum

Benvenuto Cellini was a virtuoso Renaissance goldsmith, sculptor and wildly indiscreet autobiographer. Yet he soberly recorded King François I of France as saying ‘there had never been born another man in the world who knew as much as Leonardo, not so … Continue reading →

Posted in Art criticism, Business, Media analysis, Medicine | Tagged Anatomy, Dante, Duchamp, Gestalt, Hayward Gallery, Information design, Large Glass, Leonardo app, Leonardo da Vinci, Metaphor, Philosophy of science, Theory of science, Writing | Leave a comment

Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist (exhibition review) #2

Posted on 2 October 2012 by Propagandum

This excellent exhibition (in the Queen’s Gallery, London) has some fascinatingly different stories to tell of Leonardo’s extraordinary anatomical sketches. We can have our interpretations on the surface or we can dig for them, depending on whether we like our versions … Continue reading →

Posted in Art criticism, Business, Media analysis, Medicine, Publishing | Tagged Anatomy, Apps, Information design, iPad, Leonardo da Vinci, Publishing, Queen's Gallery, Royal Collection, Theory of medicine | 2 Comments

Tales from synaesthetic oceans: shampoo, Rimbaud and the cult of the LP sleeve

Posted on 19 August 2012 by Propagandum

What do you think about this? [Product name] has fresh notes of bergamot and lime, a spicy sensual heart of poivre, beechwood and oakmoss, enhanced with base notes of sandalwood, amber and vetiver. It’s on a bottle of shampoo. For … Continue reading →

Posted in Art criticism, Business, Media analysis | Tagged Aldous Huxley, Cannabis, Captain Beefheart, Hot Rats, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Peter Blake, Pink Floyd, Rimbaud, Rock music, Sgt. Pepper, Synaesthesia, Synesthesia, The Doors, Voodoo Chile, Windows | 5 Comments

What is synaesthesia? Why is it important?

Posted on 6 August 2012 by Propagandum

Crikey – the online Random House dictionary says synaesthesia (synesthesia in more search-friendly US English) ‘is a sensation produced in one modality when a stimulus is applied to another modality, as when the hearing of a certain sound induces the visualization … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Media analysis, Publishing, Writing | Tagged Communication, Daniel Tammet, Freud, Memory, Multimodality, Ramachandran, Synaesthesia, Synesthesia | 3 Comments