The five best design links, every weekday

Category: History

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unsung.aresluna.org

The curse of the cursor

How direct interaction is being replaced by hidden automation and why tactile control matters.

web-rewind.com

Web Rewind

An interactive journey through 30 years of the web.

itsnicethat.com

Matchbook Book

A vast collection of miniature windows into the graphic sensibilities of a former era.

funes.world

FUNES – 3D Cultural Heritage Archive

FUNES digitizes monuments and cultural heritage into high-quality 3D models, panoramas, and guided stories.

oooooooooooo.xyz

Internet time capsule

An internet time capsule that will arrive once wifi reaches the moon.

wtfhappened2012.com

WTF happened in 2012?

A collection of long-term charts showing societal, economic, and behavioral trends aligned around 2011–2014.

unsung.aresluna.org

Molly guard in reverse

The story of the little plastic safety cover you have to move out of the way before you press some button of significance.

unsung.aresluna.org

How to shoot a screen using a board of keys

The world is divided into two groups: people who know how to take screenshots in a Mac, and...

wikipedia25.org

25 years of Wikipedia

From dial-up days to now, travel through Wikipedia's history.

iterativewonders.com

The word “Computer” meant human (at some point)

Originally named after the person it was meant to replace.

daily.jstor.org

The hidden history of women game designers

Nineteenth-century women turned music lessons into interactive entertainment, complete with spinning wheels and ivory counters.

tangiblemediacollection.com

Tangible Media

A historical collection of information storage technology—information you could hold in your hand.

howbrowserswork.com

How browsers work

A guide for engineers and curious people who use the web every day, but never built a mental model of how browsers work.

ilovetypography.com

Heart-shaped books

Heart-shaped books transformed the printed page into a profound symbol of piety and romance.

ideas.zudiay.me

World map of human ideas

Explore the birthplaces of ideas that shaped civilization.

figma.com

Software is culture

To understand what’s next as software grows more intelligent, we look back on 20 years of interaction design.

wholeearth.info

Whole Earth index

A nearly-complete archive of Whole Earth publications, published by Stewart Brand and the POINT Foundation between 1968 and 2002.

archiviograficaitaliana.com

Archivio Grafica Italiana

A systematic digital archive dedicated to the Italian graphic design heritage.

vitalik.eth.limo

Balance of power

We like progress—whether in technology, economy or culture—but we fear the most powerful generators of such progress.

msuiche.com

When machines pay machines

The internet was built with a missing piece. Three decades later, that vision is finally materializing.