# What is a rectiform?

**Canonical HTML:** https://rectiform.com/rectiform/

*rectiform* is my design practice. The name is a small joke about what we make as designers of digital experiences.

## Etymology

- **recti** - like a square, rectangle, or box
- **form** - shaped like

design is often about boxes.  
that is why *rectiform*.

## School

Some years ago I went to *Art Center College of Design* and got a degree in Graphic Design - emphasis on transmedia, branding, and information design. The building is a giant steel box.

About midway through the program I started inventing my own assignments: physical interfaces and websites that weren't on the brief. I think of myself as a maker first. Learning how something works matters. I ignored the few times I was told not to waste time coding. Boxes are fluid.

## Boxes

While studying I learned about type and narrative, the power of metaphor, crystal goblets, widows and orphans, branding, modernism, post-modernism, communication theory, mentorship - and boxes.

Putting things in boxes. Taking them out of boxes. Designing is often about looking at things and understanding what boxes they usually show up in, what boxes people expect them in, and what new kinds of boxes you can invent for those things.

A lot of things can go in boxes. Ideas. Images. Stories. Experiences. People. Work.

To design is to organize natural mess - to act on informational and experiential chaos to bring light to an implicit order or meaning.

We experience the world through designed boxes: displays, pixels, and websites; also labels, profiles, and memes. As a designer, I create and re-form boxes to bring order to the world.

## If you're still curious

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