A personal touch

Posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 12:34 pm by Shaun Fillmore

With the advent of all things digital, have we lost some of the personal, handcrafted touches that were once common? Our communication in particular has become almost entirely email and/or Social Media based. I am not saying this is a bad thing, for it is extremely convenient, effective and efficient.  So how do we make our communication have more personality?

Well, if you are heavy into Facebook, there is always Pimp My Profizzle. It is a fun way to add some flare to your profile pic. But what about good-ol’-fashioned email. Is that boring signature just not enough? Pilot has found a way to take care of that.

I realize they are using this to sell pens, but what a cool idea.

As a designer I am always looking for ways to personalize things and communicate in a way (usually visually) that expresses something unique about someone or something. I wonder where that will take us next…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 12:34 pm by Shaun Fillmore and is filed under Design, Typography, Web. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  1. Bryna
    June 29, 2010 at 4:38 pm

    I'm FREAKING OUT!!! I want Pilot so badly! I am one of those people who can't do all of my work on a computer. I need handwriting in my life, and I actually still find I process information better when it's on a sheet of paper, rather than a screen. The personal touch of a handwritten email is right up my alley. Thanks for sharing, Fillmore.

  2. tomhodgins
    June 29, 2010 at 4:47 pm

    I have used a Wacom tablet to hand-write some elements for websites I've designed, and just this weekend gave a Wacom tablet as a gift.

    http://wacom.com/index.html

    What I like about the Wacom technology is that you're writing digitally, and it's capturing your movements, speed, motion, pressure as you're writing, and with the higher end models even the tilt and turning of the pen in your hand.

    The possibilities for adding manual input to computers is here today, and with more widespread deployment of these devices I can't wait to see how manual digital input can have advantages of manual input on non-digital devices. Emails are instant, hand-written letters are not. Hand-written emails are. I can't wait.

    Also, for a fun look at how manual input can have advantages over traditional media check out this painting done in 3 hours by a classically-trained painter (who usually works with oil on wood panel)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OLP4nbAVA4

    TRULY fascinating stuff 😀

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