in past times, i’d made pilgrimages to check out the state of the art and be inspired by people pushing at it. time to do so again; i have questions about what makes sense for “visual systems” in 2025.
i heard derivative were coming to london for a day of touch designer talks, far-flung friend owen was travelling in to give one, and at least one londoner friend would be there. so i got on the train.
unlike 2008, i didn’t get the sense of revolutionary possibilities. and like 2009, the value proposition of touch designer has the same broad outline to my eyes. which is to say, things are mature and powerful; nothing to be churlish about.
but most of all, what i found at that 2008 event was just as true –
attendees were invariably just as interesting and represented important bodies of work as those formally invited to present […] they made the festival
the photo is the embodiment of that, i could write an essay about each person and/or their work in that scene. happy days.
oh – i asked a question after one talk, and got a “are you toby*spark!” shout-out from the stage. my ego liked that.