The top 5 blogs

I really like blogs. It is amazing how people can post things about their lives or collect information and media in such a interesting way. At the moment I have five design blogs that I check regularly. These are great sources for inspiration and the best thing is that they are constantly updated, as blogs are.

The first one is Net Diver. This blog is a collection of design and it is wonderful. It's smart and criticizing. It updates on a regular basis and its contents is very inspiring. These kinds of blogs are so important for me when I lost all my inspiration.

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The second one that gets a daily peek from me is Abduzeedo. It is a pure graphic design blog that simply collects images to inspire others but also provides tutorials. This way of sharing design and teaching others is great. We can't be designers without inspiration and if no one wants to share their work then we have completely lost the reason with design. I really enjoy this blog and I really get inspired by the material that is provided.

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The third blog on this list is Monster-Munch. It is also a design blog but it doesn't necessarily focus on graphic design. It is more like a blog about smart and new design from both known and unknown designers. It also covers all different kinds of disciplines with in design. Definitely worth a daily visit.

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The fourth blog that I recommend is about patterns. I love patterns. There is a unlimited amount of patterns everywhere and on this blog, Print and Pattern, they are collected together. Amazing. This is great inspiration when ideas over-filling your head. Patterns are overwhelming design elements that is an explosion of lines, colors and great design. Have a look and feel good.

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The fifth blog that I constantly look at is fine little day. This blog belongs to a middle aged Swedish woman who simply documents the world around her in a highly aesthetic way. She has thousands of projects that she shares with her readers and is a great little push in your back when you're stuck. I also love that it is such a typically Swedish design and it is great to look at the photos she takes, since they remind me of home. Beautiful blog with a very low key feeling to it.

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The need to express ourselfs

During the last couple of weeks we've been talking about things like rss flows, twittr, blogs and so on. There are infinite ways of expressing yourself today. We can let the whole world know how we're feeling. Right now. And the need for doing so seems endless. We want everyone know what we love and hate. If we're happy or sad. If we feel inspired or empty. All of these emotions and feelings we publish on our blogs, twittrs, facebooks and myspaces are in a lot of ways expressed in a one way communication. We just send our messages out there without the need of response. I went in on twistori today and watched it for a while. It is amazing how many people there are that have so much on their mind.
It has also opened up the space for expressing your opinions och discuss thing you believe is important. Before all this, the only once who really where entitled to express opinions in the public space was journalists. Today that space is open for everyone, so you could argue that blogs and such really makes it more equal when it comes to expressing opinions. Internet doesn't judge if your educated or not, if you're a man or a woman, if you're black or white or whether you're young or old. And there is no limit.
What I'm trying to get at here is whether we have more urge to express our opinions today and therefor created the opportunity for it or the opportunity to express yourself at all times have created the urge to do so? I'm not sure but I I do believe that it has created a more balanced forum where everyone can reach out to a big audience if they fell they've got something on their mind.

ICQ - hiding behind the screen

When we first got Internet at home, I was about 13 years old. It was exciting times. As a teenager it is quite comforting sit behind a screen and talk to people in different chat rooms, pretending to be someone you're not. I was online all the time. The problem was that we all used public chat rooms that was filled up with other people, and this was mainly people that wanted to tell the world about their sexual fantasies that we didn't really want to hear about. Then we discovered ICQ. ICQ is a "personal communication tool that allows users to meet and interact through instant messaging services". It works exactly like msn messenger; you add your contacts, they show up on a list and you can communicate through instant messages. So now, with out the tragic middle aged men disturbing our conversations we occupied the phone line for hours (this also meant that no one could call the home phone during this time, but that didn't bother us too much). It was always exciting to get online and see who else was online. Because of the anonymity and the chance to be who ever you wanted behind the screen you could talk about anything with anyone. This gave people a chance to cross social borders and conversing with people they never would talk to in real life. When bumping in to these people at school or down at the shops it was always a bit awkward. It was ok to talk online but not anywhere else.
I have (or more had) friends that go stuck in this. They created this identity online, safe behind the screen, where they could be who ever they wanted and say whatever they wanted. This on the expense of their real personality and real life. One of my friends, as far as I know, are still having massive problems in his social life and basically lives through Internet communication. And I'm sure he's not the only one. The marked is growing by the second and today there is still probably no better way to contact people our age then through Facebook. You can find people from all different times of you life and you can communicate without have to take any social responsibility. Our generation, in many ways, communicates like this (this is only based on my everyday life as a part of this generation): If we don't feel like seeing some, we call them (on their mobiles, not on their home phones). If we don't feel like talking, we text. If we don't feel like texting we send messages on Facebook. For every step we take we communicate on a less and less personal level.
I'm not trying to say that we should stop using Internet for communication, I don't mind it at all, but I think that there is a risk with totally hide yourself behind the screen and never deal with things in the real world.