DESIGN LOCAL networked global community

The not-so-old adage is pretty simple: “Think globally. Act locally.”

We started using it a few decades ago as an environmental call to

action. But in today’s networked global community, where pollution

drifts and fl ows across countries and continents, can acting locally

really be enough? Yes and no. Doing the right thing in our own

communities is an important step to save and sustain our wild places

and designed spaces. But we also need to gain a wider perspective

and focus on the big picture fl ickering just beyond our

fundamentally narrow view.

Unfortunately, Font won’t give you any tips on sorting recyclables,

but it will suggest another interesting idea: “Think globally. Design

locally.” Most of us are pretty good at the latter, but maybe don’t

have the time or inclination to go global and seek out smaller, more

intimate pockets of design diversity. The problem we run into

as we all reach for success is that increasingly internationalized

commercial communication is distilling messages down to a

common denominator. And as certain logos and images (and the

copycats they spawn) multiply across the world, fi nding inspiration

in our own backyards – or someone else’s – is getting harder.