I think that one of the coolest ways that technology has advanced the art and design world is by allowing for the widespread distribtution of older art that otherwise would have been shared with only a small audience. Although I have found many different applications of this use of technology, this site, letterheady, is one of the coolest ones yet. Nothing more than a simple online database of high-resolution scanned images, letterheady is an extensive collection of old letterheads. Letterheads are something that we do not see much of today, and especially not at this ornate and creative level. The letterheads on this site are really awesome and like nothing I have ever seen. I think that this site is especially cool because these letterheads, most of which come from very famous people like Elvis and JFK, would have previously only been seen by those select individuals privlidged enough to recieve a personal note from one of these public figures.
This idea of old and vintage art being “ressurected” by new technology is something I have been seeing a lot of. These pillows from Heather Linz use old textbooks as a design reference point. A very large trend that has taken off recently, Steampunk, mixes old steampowered machinery elements with new technology to create visually stunning works of art like these computers.
