::kitchen:oyoaha

"You must either make a tool of the creature, or a man of him. You cannot make both." - John Ruskin

There's been a decent amount of talk here at oyoaha about John Ruskin's 100(+)-year-old 'axiom' and how it relates to what we are trying to be and do. At the very least it explains the felt tension about what we don't want to become as we engage with the culture of design. (More on that another time...)

"Precision from a human sacrifices the part that makes him human - the ability to contemplate." - JR

We develop on the Drupal framework. Our front-end, dynamic UI is created using a design-first AJAX via GWT approach that plugs in neatly. The goal of using these simple, low-cost tools (i.e. they don’t eat up limited resources) is to effectively move technology to the back of the priority line. If accomplished, actualizing good brand design gets to move up to priority #1 where it belongs. The end result is a resource for perpetual, low-overhead implementation of a brand process. (Or at least that’s what we have been telling people…)

Although we are still not sure what Web 2.0 really is, we do know the days of proprietary development are sooo 2004. Collaboration is the new modus operandi and, we hope, a shift toward sustainability and effectiveness. We believe standards are the fuel for creative opportunity. We embrace simplicity and ease. We get fired up about resources that don't get in the way of good communication and design. Here are two of our core open source tools:

More about Google Web Toolkit (GWT)

More about Drupal

Question One: What if brand standards were never limited by the ways and means of implementation? Which leads to Question Two: What if standards weren't even required to be tangible things (e.g. a logo, a color, a font…) but instead were a process – a means of implementing an experience? Although we are currently working out the details, we are convinced Brand by Process is our end product.

Everything about The Kitchen is meant to implement this 'process of process' - we'll see how it works out.