Frank Chimero’s ladder
Five minutes ago, to my embarrassment, I realized that the ladder analogy I used in Flexible Typesetting was based on Frank Chimero’s ladder analogy from The Shape of Design. Frank wrote in Chapter 1:
The creative process could be said to resemble a ladder, where the bottom rung is the blank page and the top rung the final piece. In between, the artist climbs the ladder by making a series of choices and executing them.
I wish I had realized this at some point during the three years I worked on my book, becuase I would have loved to cite Frank’s excellent book — a book that deserves an active spot on your shelf (even though it is available to read online for free). I loved The Shape of Design, and as you can see it deeply influenced me.
No doubt Frank’s work and writing will continue to inspire me, and to shape the core of my thinking so much that I will again forget it was he who catalyzed the ideas (or, simply, gave them to me).