Sam Baldwin

Talking about databases

Last month, I was invited to Eric Li’s Parsons class Instructions for Use to participate in tutorials and give a talk about my tool of choice: databases. Here are a few slides for posterity.

Title slide. Text reads “Databases”.
Three Notion databases: Clients, Tasks, and Projects.
A drawing of connected nodes. Text reads: “Everything is deeply intertwingled”.
Notion’s “Share to web” UI.
“Type Foundry Directory” website and corresponding Airtable base.
Gemma Copeland’s personal website and one of the Arena channels that powers it.
Raw code from a single artwork in MoMA’s collection data next to photograph of said artwork.
An artwork label inside MoMA and a screenshot of the artwork’s webpage showing identical information.
Before and after code, showing how structured data enables better typography.
The various taxonomies present on Nick Sherman’s “Variable Fonts” website.
Fraser Muggeridge studio’s homepage, showing works tagged ”yellow”.
Fraser Muggeridge studio’s homepage, showing works tagged ”rainbow”.
Fraser Muggeridge studio’s homepage, showing works tagged ”centered”.
A project page on the architecture practice OMA’s website.
A book spread showing a project by OMA. The content comes from the same database that powers the practice’s website.
A group of books sharing the same base design, with slight variations in colour and shape. The designs are generated from data.
Image: Atelier Carvalho Bernau
Three people in boilersuits working next to a conveyor belt, dismantling items.
Image: BBC
A man in a boilersuit stands in front of a printed database, wallpapered on to a gallery wall.
Image: BBC

Thanks to Eric Li, Knut Melvær, Matthew Smith, Piper Haywood, and everyone who helped on Mastodon.

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