Pointless Diagrams
January 8, 2014 7:04 AM Subscribe
A new pointless diagram drawn daily...
Wow, these are great. They feel like a smaller-scale Codex Seraphinianus
posted by griphus at 7:20 AM on January 8, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by griphus at 7:20 AM on January 8, 2014 [4 favorites]
WTF These aren't pointless at all. I was just thinking I needed to upgrade the ghost sightlines in my row of stilted river cabins. Fail.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:23 AM on January 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:23 AM on January 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
[_]-----------> |awesome|
posted by reverend cuttle at 7:32 AM on January 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by reverend cuttle at 7:32 AM on January 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
I would love framed prints of a handful of these for my office at home.
posted by jferg at 7:35 AM on January 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by jferg at 7:35 AM on January 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
The total number of profiled individuals who'd likert these results are indeterminate, aren't they?
posted by Smart Dalek at 7:37 AM on January 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Smart Dalek at 7:37 AM on January 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
These, specifically the one in the top left corner of the compilation, make me think of this artist. (Scroll down to High Plane at the bottom.)
posted by phunniemee at 7:38 AM on January 8, 2014
posted by phunniemee at 7:38 AM on January 8, 2014
*Notices Etsy shop linked to from blog and gets briefly excited until I see that he's selling the originals at $200-$500 a pop and not prints.*
*sighs*
posted by jferg at 7:44 AM on January 8, 2014
*sighs*
posted by jferg at 7:44 AM on January 8, 2014
Yeah I'm not sure why most of these are just nonsense and then there's a perfectly legible isometric plan of a Ville Radieuse-themed waterpark
posted by theodolite at 7:54 AM on January 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by theodolite at 7:54 AM on January 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
Cow tools for the 21st century!
posted by Curious Artificer at 8:18 AM on January 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Curious Artificer at 8:18 AM on January 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
These look like instructions for the flat packs from hell.
posted by Ned G at 8:37 AM on January 8, 2014
posted by Ned G at 8:37 AM on January 8, 2014
A new pointless diagram drawn daily...
posted by ennui.bz
Eponysterical...?
posted by RedOrGreen at 8:41 AM on January 8, 2014
posted by ennui.bz
Eponysterical...?
posted by RedOrGreen at 8:41 AM on January 8, 2014
This is awesome. I need some maps/diagrams/layouts what have you for a DnD game I'm running. I'm creative enough in the ideas area to make my own world, but I'm absolute garbage at designing the ruined castle, or the mountain valley.
This is PERFECT.
posted by Twain Device at 9:05 AM on January 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
This is PERFECT.
posted by Twain Device at 9:05 AM on January 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
I am pretty sure he copy-pasted these from patents, or that he draws figures in patents for a living. The level of abstraction and obfuscation are about the same.
posted by whatzit at 9:15 AM on January 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by whatzit at 9:15 AM on January 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
Griphus - that was my first reaction too.
My second was remembering certain occasions in the past when, deep in an unlovely presentation by random.bigtech.company about their new network architecture/database solution/anything really, I'd pipe up and say "I don't understand that diagram..."
"It's how the cross-domain-data-kermumpher-lobular technology works,"
"Yes, I know that's what the label says, but what's actually happening where that yellow arrow crosses the boundary between the pink hexagon and the blue square?"
"I, er... let's take that off-line..."
I don't know how many hours of irreplaceable life have been taken from sentient beings in the creation, production, dissemination and attempted interpretation of those things, but if all involved had stared out of windows aimlessly instead the net increase in humanity's happiness would be a wonder and a joy to contemplate. Perhaps the marcomms people could just pick one of the OP's images at random instead.
(On the other hand, the pleasure of having the presenter switch to the next slide which is Fig. 8: A KITTEN! is unmatchable. It has happened. Moar, pls.)
posted by Devonian at 9:54 AM on January 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
My second was remembering certain occasions in the past when, deep in an unlovely presentation by random.bigtech.company about their new network architecture/database solution/anything really, I'd pipe up and say "I don't understand that diagram..."
"It's how the cross-domain-data-kermumpher-lobular technology works,"
"Yes, I know that's what the label says, but what's actually happening where that yellow arrow crosses the boundary between the pink hexagon and the blue square?"
"I, er... let's take that off-line..."
I don't know how many hours of irreplaceable life have been taken from sentient beings in the creation, production, dissemination and attempted interpretation of those things, but if all involved had stared out of windows aimlessly instead the net increase in humanity's happiness would be a wonder and a joy to contemplate. Perhaps the marcomms people could just pick one of the OP's images at random instead.
(On the other hand, the pleasure of having the presenter switch to the next slide which is Fig. 8: A KITTEN! is unmatchable. It has happened. Moar, pls.)
posted by Devonian at 9:54 AM on January 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
Someone is a patent application draftsperson and snapped. Beautifully.
...on preview, what whatzit said.
posted by seyirci at 10:16 AM on January 8, 2014
...on preview, what whatzit said.
posted by seyirci at 10:16 AM on January 8, 2014
The prints on Etsy are pretty blatantly architectural. There is one elevation diagram and one building footprint. The others have arrows and paths suggesting the flow of probably pedestrian traffic.
The diagrams on the linked blog are more abstract, but many of them still have strong architectural elements. There remind me of archeological site reports in places, documenting alternative reconstructions of hypothetical, partially destroyed architectural structures. Only a few of the diagrams approach true abstraction.
I was somewhat infatuated with the Codex Seraphinianus for several years and eventually bought a copy of a somewhat affordable reprint. In general, I really like abstractions and distortions of "information delivery media": zoological works like The Snouters and Wayne Barlow's Expedition, J. B. Post's The Atlas of Fantasy, that sort of thing. And over time, the Codex really seems less and less sui generis and more and more a product of its time. You can find similar-looking things on psychedelic rock album covers: I was looking at some of Gong's albums and reissues of Robyn Hitchcock's early stuff, and all of it looked of a piece with the Codex. It's often surprising how readily we look for inspiration in the remote past while ignoring much more recent progenitors. When we forget the ephemeral creative ecosystem that existed when psychedelic art was at the peak of its popularity, our memory seems to fall through to increasingly old references ("It's surrealism!" "It's Dada!" "It's Hieronymus Bosch!").
posted by Nomyte at 11:29 AM on January 8, 2014
The diagrams on the linked blog are more abstract, but many of them still have strong architectural elements. There remind me of archeological site reports in places, documenting alternative reconstructions of hypothetical, partially destroyed architectural structures. Only a few of the diagrams approach true abstraction.
I was somewhat infatuated with the Codex Seraphinianus for several years and eventually bought a copy of a somewhat affordable reprint. In general, I really like abstractions and distortions of "information delivery media": zoological works like The Snouters and Wayne Barlow's Expedition, J. B. Post's The Atlas of Fantasy, that sort of thing. And over time, the Codex really seems less and less sui generis and more and more a product of its time. You can find similar-looking things on psychedelic rock album covers: I was looking at some of Gong's albums and reissues of Robyn Hitchcock's early stuff, and all of it looked of a piece with the Codex. It's often surprising how readily we look for inspiration in the remote past while ignoring much more recent progenitors. When we forget the ephemeral creative ecosystem that existed when psychedelic art was at the peak of its popularity, our memory seems to fall through to increasingly old references ("It's surrealism!" "It's Dada!" "It's Hieronymus Bosch!").
posted by Nomyte at 11:29 AM on January 8, 2014
Very cool.
posted by turbid dahlia at 1:46 PM on January 8, 2014
posted by turbid dahlia at 1:46 PM on January 8, 2014
("It's surrealism!" "It's Dada!" "It's Hieronymus Bosch!")
It's Tarkus!
posted by griphus at 1:48 PM on January 8, 2014
It's Tarkus!
posted by griphus at 1:48 PM on January 8, 2014
Beat me to posting it! What a gem.
posted by a halcyon day at 5:20 PM on January 8, 2014
posted by a halcyon day at 5:20 PM on January 8, 2014
Prints and tshirts are now available on etsy. http://www.etsy.com/shop/NORDEASTindustries
posted by Pointless Diagrams at 2:39 AM on January 9, 2014
posted by Pointless Diagrams at 2:39 AM on January 9, 2014
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posted by moonmilk at 7:19 AM on January 8, 2014