This collection of essays—at once pithy, polemical, and precise—originally appeared in places as diverse as Eye, Print, The New Republic, and the LA Times, decoding the technologies, trends, themes, and personalities that defined design at the turn of the twenty-first century. A speculative roadmap on what was then termed “new” media, this compilation brings together essays from the earlier publications along with more than twenty others on a variety of topics including avatars, "the cult of the scratchy," television, sex on the screen, and more. Designers, students, educators, visual literati, and everyone looking for an entertaining and insightful guide to the world of design today will not find a better or more approachable book on the subject. (Introduction by John Maeda.)