Why does this website exist? That’s the question I found myself wondering today. I was making my way through the usual motions: eating lunch, catching up on RSS feeds, discovering something I found interesting and deciding to write about it. Seems simple enough, right? Except, the feeling of ‘going through the motions’ irked me and felt slightly problematic. On the one hand I have a challenge to meet; on the other, the content I’m producing has become formulaic. My last month of posts runs as: reblog, reblog, reblog, MiM, reblog. And here I was, planning to once again reblog a post from one of my feeds before catching up on February’s MiM, aiming to post that next week. Is that really what I intended by this challenge and, by extension, this website? To become an expensive equivalent to Tumblr and Trakt?
Honestly, I don’t know the answer to that question. My reasons for maintaining a website and creating content for it are myriad. I enjoy the challenge, I find writing cathartic and I like having somewhere to sort my thoughts out. I think of theAdhocracy as equal parts scrap book and playground. As such, it really shouldn’t matter if I reblog the same person two days apart, let alone two weeks. Ultimately, the great thing about having your own website is in the name: it’s your own website. You can do what you like with it. Formulaic content shouldn’t be a worry, it should be seen as a sign that you’ve found something that works. Being inspired by the creators and journalists you follow isn’t a sign that you’ve slipped into writers block, it’s a sign you’ve surrounded yourself with interesting and worthy content. Plus, I enjoy Tumblr and Trakt but prefer to retain the intellectual property of my own thoughts, so posting their content on my own website makes a lot of sense.
As such I’d like to write about two interesting posts I found during today’s RSS session. The first pointed me to something very rare: a brand new RSS feed that I intend to follow. Source looks like an interesting blend of graphic design, information architecture and coding, all explained through the lens of how it impacts and is used by journalists. The first few articles I picked out were well written and very interesting so I look forward to seeing what else comes up. I have Ethan Marcote to (once again) thank for both pointing me in their direction and the fantastic redesign of their site that’s just gone live.
The second is a simpler, guilt-free reblog of the above logo. Designed by Graham ‘The Logo’ Smith as a WIP concept, I absolutely love the simple use of negative space to create such exacting perspective. The entire logo appears to be literally blasting off from the page, which is extremely impressive given the simplicity of the design.
So there you have it – two reblogs for the price of one. Hopefully many more like them will inspire me to collect, collate and discuss their content in the months to come!