If/Then Play

Under the editorship of design and media critic Janet Abrams, the new journal "If/Then" investigates the design implications of new media technologies as these are expressed in everyday material culture. Rather than crusading about the technological nirvana to come, the contributors to "If/Then" explore the scenarios in which design plays a role and the products, inter-faces, and experiences that designers can create in those circumstances. Published by the Netherlands Design Institute (NDI), this first issue will present details from their fifth Doors of Perception conference -- a conference that has become legendary as "the forum for designers and digerati, " according to Wired magazine. The most recent conference considered the theme of "play" as it applies to multimedia design and technology, and "If/Then" assembles the views of a divergent cast of qualified experts on a variety of topics related to "play."