…is the title of this web site, and it’s true. You can learn to design cool stuff at Before & After magazine. What’s more, if you read enough of their articles, you will learn how to communicate more effectively, and not just from a typographical point of view. B&A have a way of clearly describing how to make things better. If more sites were like this one, the web (and print) would be FAR better.

What is Branch?

Well, I could tell you, or I could brazenly reuse and recycle their own material.

Why we’re doing this (or, a manifesto of sorts) Like a lot of folks, we enjoy shopping. As a social activity, shopping gets us out into the various neighborhoods in our city, allowing us to connect with other people along the way. As a cultural excursion, it gives us a chance to discover what’s new and interesting in the world. And, of course, we derive some joy from finding just the right gift for someone, or for ourselves. At the same time, there’s an element to shopping that we find quite troubling. We buy things that appeal to us—we love a product’s styling, for example—though we may have little idea of where a product comes from. What materials went into its manufacture? Did the wood used to make that chair contribute to deforestation in Asia? Were toxic chemicals used to create the lustrous finish? The people who actually fabricated the product—were they paid a fair wage and provided a safe, comfortable environment in which to do so? How far did the product have to come in order to get to the store, and how much fuel was used in that process? And what of the lifespan of the products we buy? Eventually—sooner or later, but eventually—a product will outlive its useful life. What then? Does it get thrown away? Is it made such that it’ll sit in the landfill for hundreds (or even thousands) of years before it degrades? And in going through that process, will it release toxins into the environment? These are all some pretty heavy thoughts, and they can really sap the joy from a fun day of shopping. The fact is that many people are at least somewhat aware of the sobering factors of our consumptive lifestyle, but that doesn’t keep them (or us, for that matter) from going shopping. As a culture, we’re practically bred to be shoppers—it’s a habit that runs deep and strong. So in looking for a solution to the problems mentioned above, we’re taking a different approach. Instead of asking people to stop shopping (which is, of course, pretty darn impractical), what if we changed the paradigm of shopping itself? What if we could shop in a store that had already done the challenging thinking for us? A place where we could buy products that are wholly appealing—sexy, even—but that are also manufactured and brought to market in such a way that we didn’t have to feel guilty about buying—or, eventually, disposing of—them? This is the basis of the idea for Branch, a new online store based in San Francisco.

I came across it because there is a Daniel Michalik who does design for them.

It’s a great site.

Over at Yanko Design, they have a great assortment of well designed products. As an IT guy, I really liked this one. It’s a simple idea: backup your deleted files in case you really don’t want to delete them. This may seem silly to some, but I think I have a tendency to not delete files (and packrat everything) because of the need to insure things not getting lost. My hard disk might be alot cleaner with something like this.

See: Backing Up Your Trash » Yanko Design