Significant literary effectiveness can come into being only in a strict alternation between action and writing; it must nurture the inconspicuous forms that fit its influence in active communities better than does the pretentious, universal gesture of the book — in leaflets, brochures, articles, and placards. Only this prompt language shows itself actively equal to the moment –Benjamin, Einbahnstraße
via Seth
Benjamin is talking about print, of course – but I of course apply it to design. Some of his particularly evocative phrases (“this prompt language,” “the inconspicuous forms,” “equal to the moment”) suggest the kind of “just in time” and “just enough” interactions that could work for and within the transitory contexts and brief needs of an what Benjamin calls an "active community” and I might call a "mobile" one. Why write a book when all you really need is a flyer stapled to a telephone pole?
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