Going outside the Line of Control was supposedly a big deal.
The procedure to cross the line was…extensive; going outside the LoC exceeded the risk tolerance of the Guardian, whose subroutine tended toward overly concerned nanny. To compensate, it added supplemental training meetings and a visit to the district quartermaster.
Avery lost count of how many meetings so far as the team went through the pack checklist. The district design office had roots stretching back to consumer quick serve restaurants, and the pack checklist was designed for visual acuity and multiple languages. It felt infantilizing to match photos on the checklist to the objects in the pack, but here we were. Even going over the pack checklist was actually part of the checklist. The packing checklist of gear and equipment was extensive, designed for a range of seemingly unbelievable contingencies, and took the better part of the afternoon.
It didn’t matter that Avery was born outside the line of control. Regulations and norms were strictly enforced. Only the prefect know of Avery’s background, and Avery wanted to keep it that way/ Throughout each meeting the appropriate level of excitement and nervousness needed to be shared - the academy would be proud. Avery knew that things could go sideways quickly outside the line; but the backlist and escort provided for what amounted a quick jaunt outside the line felt excessive.
What...is this?
I’ve been playing around with large language models and text-to-image tools since they first came out. Avery's Journey is a self-directed design fiction exercise and dance with MidJourney and other large language models using street furniture and possible future urbanity as an archetype. These vignettes are little design challenges I’m coming up with, combining Design Fiction and ML/AI. It’s been fun crafting and thinking about what design problems our near-future designer Avery has to contend with, as they go about their career journey.
Elsewhere
⛍ It’s time to liberate our streets by handing back control to local communities – this gets it half right: it's about not requiring only cars on streets, like what we did 100 years ago
🚗 As Cities Eliminate Parking Minimums, Congress Considers Getting in on the Reform
🏘️ ADU's doing what ADU's do: Granny flats’ play surprising role in easing California’s housing woes
🏗️ Citywide Air Rights Map Updated – we need the ability to build more