An at-a-glance understanding of which buttons are pressed most, based on the patina of the two left-most options – at the Shanghai customs checkpoint.
Patina is a long-term, indirect, emergent notion - the idea of aesthetic decay. Many things today are designed for perfection (perfection in the short term, at least), which is quite a direct, linear mode of thought. Jan Chipchase points to an unintentional example of patina above; Tom Armitage over at BERG is at the following on the value of imperfect design: http://berglondon.com/blog/2010/09/03/patina/
Patina is a notion that in many ways can apply only to physical objects, but perhaps information is similar in some way. Not that information decays, but its value does change over time to become context. My metaphors may turn out to be a bit mixed, but for now I'm thinking that information decays towards the more abstract notion of context, in the way that aesthetic objects decay towards the more abstract notion of having "character."
Some information decays beautifully.
