10. Style Matters

STYLE IS A DECISION ABOUT HOW WE LIVE. STYLE IS NOT SUPERFICIAL. IT IS A PHILOSOPHICAL PROJECT OF THE DEEPEST ORDER.

—BRUCE MAU

In 1996, the web was littered with black-and-yellow-striped animated .gifs reveling in metaphors of road construction (Figure 10.1). “This site under construction” was the default home page disclaimer, until everyone realized that the inherent nature of the web was that it would be perpetually under construction. And of course, the web is still under construction—we are still making it, and making it up.