Theoretically, file sharing has never been easier. We have at our disposal tools like Dropbox and Google Drive to send anything from pitch decks to cat videos. But, with storage limits and other annoyances, I feel like these programs end up wasting more time than saving it. Especially if you’re only sharing files between your own devices and don’t want to use cloud storage or your own network-attached storage (NAS), what about good old USB drives?
It’s easy to forget about USB drives these days, but they’re private, secure, physical, and give at least an illusion of control over your data. Even if you have no power or internet, assuming your devices are charged/don’t require power/you have a backup power supply (such as a small uninterruptible power supply—UPS), you can still access your files. Can Google Drive let you do that?
As with many unassuming pieces of technology, this storage medium has become sort of trendy recently. In this post, I wanted to explore a few ways that USB drives have taken over the world occupying the gap between tech and art—everything from a file-sharing club to the presentation of a new typeface.
USB Club
Originally created by one of my favorite teams, the Brooklyn-based Teal Process & Company, and now owned by creative collective garden3d, USB Club functions as a sort of Are.na-esque social network. A USB-based social network? Files on your laptop that you’d like to share, or more importantly, that you feel are worth preserving, can go onto your USB drive to then be synced with the USB Club network—and shared. Once you’ve uploaded a file on a particular day, you can view files that others in the community have synced on the same day.
In order to join the club (I am not a member, but it seems cool!), you purchase a USB drive—either the “Classic,” a 128-gigabyte drive ($40), or the “Transport,” a luxury one-terabyte drive ($180!). Alternatively, you can join their waitlist if you’ve already bought a drive.
Image from Designheads Substack.
PUFF
In a launch event at Index Chinatown in Manhattan last weekend, hosted by none other than USB Club’s garden3d, PUFF by Noware was released to the world. PUFF describes itself as a “designer flash drive” intended “to be worn as a pendant, bag charm, or keychain.” When you add files, play music, or move around, the OLED screen lights up and reacts to these movements. While I’m glad I didn’t go to the launch event (they thank their marijuana provider in a blog post), the product feels interesting, in the sense that a flash drive can be as luxury as you want it to be (if you want to pay $179 for it). However, in comparison to USB Club’s Transport, which, for a dollar more, offers almost eight times the storage, it’s clear all you’re paying for is the screen.
Image by Noware.
USB Locket
Ever feel like you need a closer connection to important files? Not me, but probably someone. Especially if you’ve gotten this far down in a post about USB drives 😃
USB Locket, the brainchild of Manila-based, apparently pork-adobo-loving Alberto Cinco Jr. (he and I appear to share a passion for the NYT mini crossword), is as simple as it sounds: a USB drive attached to a pendant, carrying files important to you. The essay he writes about why he created the project encapsulates a lot of the thought process I had in writing this post. I won’t put it all here, but I’ll quote a particularly interesting section below:
When I first found out about the USB Club project, a social file exchange for designers, artists, researchers, and alike, I became fascinated by the idea of reframing the use of this device that is so familiar yet often overlooked. A lot of questions came into my mind: how did our treatment of files evolve as technology progressed? How are files in flash drives different from files in the cloud? When I stumbled upon an image of a flash drive worn as a necklace, a thought struck me: can a USB hold memories like a locket does?
On another webpage, he writes instructions for how to create your own. Creating your own physical USB drive is something completely foreign to the worlds of USB Club and PUFF. Both require you to buy an expensive product in order to participate in the experience; yet personal memories can be kept and savored without a high price, and in whichever way the wearer wants.
Image by Alberto Cinco, Jr.
I’d like to offer one final example, albeit not yet released.
Sleek by Mikey Okei
A type designer I met on typo.social, the Mastodon instance for type designers or those interested in type design like me, Mikey Okei releases type from Ho Chi Minh City (definitely check out his catalog!). For his new typeface, Sleek, he decided to realize his vision of releasing a typeface physically. For this project, he’s creating a physical zine that people can purchase. The font file will be inside, on—you guessed it—a USB drive. I, too, like seeing typefaces physically; seeing them online just doesn’t feel as satisfying. While digital type has brought much good into the design world, and the world at large, there’s a certain element missing from it that can only be found when type is printed. With the USB included, you get the best of both worlds. I’m excited to see the zine come out: in the meantime, here are some pictures!
Image by Mikey Okei.
Image by Mikey Okei.
Image by Mikey Okei.
Imagine: 900 words about a technology you’ve probably never given much thought to, mindlessly plugging into your laptop every time you want that design brief or random TXT file. But now you are Undeniably Somewhat Brighter about those small storage drives that are so easy to forget.