Hasta La Ideas

pimg src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/05/aa-kinkos-inside.jpg” width=”468″ height=”344″ alt=”aa-kinkos-inside.jpg”/br /
img src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/05/aa-hope3.jpg” width=”468″ height=”351″ alt=”aa-hope3.jpg”//p

pemTop: The instantly recognizable interior of Fed Ex Office. Bottom: Jim DiMarcantonio and Paul O’Conner working at a href=”http://www.hopebindery.com/”Hope Bindery./a /em/p

pMuch like its name, FedEx Office, the store formerly known as Kinko’s and FedEx-Kinko’s, seems to be in a perennial state of reorganization and flux. Much of the very dated but “refurbished” location on Meeting Street in Providence, Rhode Island is unused and no longer houses any viable service. Nearly half of the location’s floor space is occupied by computer workstations behind a glass partition, like a mausoleum from a bygone era when computers were not an everyday commodity. Stacked boxes serve as storage for the location’s new identity as a printing and shipping outletmdash;a combination that always seemed a bit awkward. For a business that prides itself on its organization and punctuality, (“The World on Time”) FedEx Office feels neither global nor of this time. br /
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By stark contrast, Hope Bindery, a one-room studio owned and operated by a quirky craftsman, a RISD alum named Jim, is bursting at the seams. Located deep in the heart of a mill-turned-studio in Pawtucket, the location boasts no illuminated sign but instead, a hand scrawled note taped to the stairs reading: “Hope Bindery: Third Floor Fourth Door on Your Left.” Inside the space, there is no division between you (the client) and the craftsman. You are all at once in his workspace, forcing you to become part of the work. And, if you hope to have Jim practice his magic for you, you had better be able to speak the language of bookbinding and design./p

div class=”article_quote”The departure from relying on human capital for skilled processes has clearly streamlined transactions and improved business, but it has been at the sacrifice of what made those experiences worthwhile and “human” to begin with./div

pWhile the two don’t offer identical services, the nature of their business, the production of printed matter, and their significance to my personal development as a designer and thinker offer an opportunity to make a revealing comparison between the automaton and the artisan. /p

pAs more of our experience becomes enmeshed in “designed” environments, the automaton will continue to affect more and more of our service experience. The departure from relying on human capital for skilled processes has clearly streamlined transactions and improved business, but it has been at the sacrifice of what made those experiences worthwhile and “human” to begin with. We are all familiar with the automaton in our daily life–the self checkout at your supermarket, the voice on the other end of an 800 number–and in more sacred situations like our classrooms–No Child Left Behind, internet universities. Here, I am exploring the specific situation of FedEx Office and Hope Bindery, illustrating something of the relationship between the artisan and the automaton and providing a snapshot beyond scripted experiences into a more aware and educated cooperative process./p

pimg src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/05/aa-fedex1.jpg” width=”468″ height=”351″ alt=”aa-fedex1.jpg”/br /
img src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/05/aa-hope2.jpg” width=”468″ height=”350″ alt=”aa-hope2.jpg”//p

pBack in the quietly humming, halogen-lit expanse of the FedEx Office, you enter feeling instantly alienated. The black and purple clad employee, who has probably had little training in paper goods (not their fault), follows the guide of a computer system instructing them to enter paper type, quantity, and any other specifications an order may have. The system is effective, standardizes the process, and makes for an efficient and transparent transaction. However, the moment the client attempts to deviate from the preordained path, the shallowness of the protocol is revealed. Essentially all of the “work” autonomy has been transferred from the hands of the transient and unskilled employee, (who remains nameless because each visit to this particular branch seems to yield an entirely new staff), to the machine and its touch screen interface. The photocopiers, just like the computer workstations, sit in mirror positions across the floor, were a revolutionary piece of office equipment at their inception. But now, the entire institution of FedEx Office seems dated and unsure of its position and role in the modern world post-print. /pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/featured_items/the_artisan_and_the_automaton_fedex_office_and_hope_bindery__16510.asp”(more…)/a
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