Website Google60, which is described as “an art project to explore distances and heroism in user interfaces,” evokes the 1960s and Mad Men with its punch card-style interface. Type in a search term on the virtual typewriter and you’ll see the machine type out, character by character, the home search page. Then, you can choose what kind of search you want: text based, image based, or latest news. The search results are all key-based, meaning any images you look for are made up of dashes, pluses, and asterisks.

The concept behind is that the distance, i.e.: the “world-factor”, inherent in a user interface adds a heroic dimension of a special kind to what would otherwise be a mere tool. In other words: The more worldly and obstructive the interface, the more intense the user’s desires in front of the machine. (E.g., an image composed of block-graphics that is merely resembling the depicted object might well be more amazing than a photo-realistic representation in high-resolution.)

Google60