Design is Dangerous

Design can be a very dangerous activity, not because design involves an inherently dangerous situation, however a designer must be aware of all possible aspects of how the design works and how the design keeps people safe. In toys especially, children are a prime example of risk-dwelling citizens, because they are the test subjects who venture out and are constantly learning and making new distinctions in our world, and when parents trust a toy brand to not only provide enjoyment and learning as well as safety for their children, it is a large burden on the designers. The "Magnetix" toy, which is a set of building utilities held together by magnets is a toy line, retired by the company due to design features that led to dangerous consequences.

Image taken from: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07164.html

The design of the Magnetix toy set included several magnetic rods with magnetic balls to connect them. The problems emerged when the Consumer Product Safety Commission ordered a recall of all Magnetix brand magnetic building sets after the death of one small child and four incidents of serious injury which required surgery. The problems arose due to faulty design, where the powerful magnets which connected the Magnetix could be separated easily from the plastic that surrounded it, and if one or several magnets were swallowed could lead to intestinal blockages, which could be fatal.

Image taken from: http://www.amazon.com/Mega-Bloks-MagNext-360-Case/dp/B00175IAV8

The danger imposed by the Magnetix toy set was an unintentional consequence of faulty design. In this case, it was an overlooked aspect of the design. The Magnetix design staff decided on a easier-to-break bond between the magnetic and the plastic that allowed for such complications. After all the products were recalled, the Magnetix toy set was abondoned, and instead new MagNext was released, a heavier duty magnet-based toy building set. The new MagNext design team worked with INTERTEK and SafeKids Worldwide, leading safety testing authorities, to meet and exceed safety standards for their new set.

Works Cited 

"Magnetix Magnetic Building Set Recall Expanded." CPSC Home Page. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07164.html>. 

"Magnetix." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetix>. 

"MEGA Brands | Kids Zone | Magnext." Kids Toys,Free Online Games and School Supplies | MEGA Brands. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://www.megabrands.com/en/kids/magnext/play_safe/index.php>. 

"MEGA Brands | Kids Zone | Magnext." Kids Toys,Free Online Games and School Supplies | MEGA Brands. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://www.megabrands.com/en/kids/magnext/play_safe/index.php>. 

Design in Society

The root of design is in its aspirations for creating a better world with certain functions prevailing. In Kostas Terzidis article “The Etymology of Design: Pre-Socratic Perspective,  he discusses how the greek root of design is related to something we once had, but have no longer, and how the etymology of the word “existence is not only about the distant past, the beginning of things, but also even further because it involves a step beyond, below, or beneath the starting point” (Terzidis, 73). The etymology of utopia comes from the roots u + topos, meaning “no place” or “an ideal place.” Design can be directed not only to reach an ideal place, but to take us back to a time before and beyond it, where we believe all of our dreams come to fruition. Doug and Lisa Powell have begun an idealistic trek down this design road, inspired by their family crises that they share with millions of Americans today.

Image taken from: http://schwartzpowell.com/story.html

Doug and Lisa Powell are husband and wife at Schwartz Powell Design in Minneapolis, and recently learned that their 7 year-old daughter, Maya, was diagnosed with Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes. The diabetes information that was available generally related to Type 2 diabetes and was extremely technical and had a clinical perspective that was not user-friendly. So the design duo went to work on creating a way to grasp and communicate the information to their daughter in a fun way that spoke through a kid-friendly, can do attitude. They created flashcards, charts, forms, and cheat-sheets into a product called Type 1 Tools, originally intended for their daughter, however they saw the incredible benefit America would have with this kind of product being available. The Type 1 Tools product informs people in a friendly and easy way all about Diabetes and how to create a great life with diabetes. 

Image taken from: http://schwartzpowell.com/story3.html

The duo saw that much of their Type 1 Tools was applicable to people with Type 2 (Adult onset) diabetes and began creating products for them, as well as saw the potential for products for others with similar chronic diseases. Doug states that “our goal is to help other families and eventually help eliminate this disease that affects so many lives. We’re donating some of the proceeds to diabetes-related organizations, so that someday there won’t be a need for products like ours.” Through their work, Schwartz Powell Design is helping bring our society closer to a utopia, a time even before and beyond such troubles as diabetes.

Image taken from: http://schwartzpowell.com/story2.html

Works Cited 

"HealthSimple Story." Schwartz Powell. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://schwartzpowell.com/story.html>. 

Potts, Emily. "A Designing Duo Creates Useful Healthcare Tools." STEP Inside Design ­ Graphic Design Magazine with Profiles of Successful Companies, Firms, Projects, and Graphic Designers. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://www.stepinsidedesign.com/STEPMagazine/Article/28579/index.html>. 

Color Transforms

Color is a substance that often brings out much more depth and feeling in the appearance of a design. However, color can be very distracting also. In the film Sin City, color is employed so sparingly that it becomes a real provocation for the eyes, and brings the film into an expressionist dimension with the saturation of color in specific scenes and the coloring of specific elements. These choices bring not only that depth and life to certain aspects of the film, but reinterprets the entire film experience.

Image taken from: http://www.edharriss.com/xsi/version5.htm

In the above still from the movie, the two heavily saturated colored areas are the red heart-shaped bed and sheets, and the golden locks of hair that lay upon it. The interaction between these two colors can be seen by as a warm, blood-like red, representing passion, love, and even communicating death (appropriate to this scene because Goldie is found to be dead). The yellow is saturated and enlivened with orange and brown tones to depict youth and innocence in the woman, and emphasize the name "Goldie," with a visual symbol. Because of these interplays of color, we know why this woman is named Goldie, and why she lies dead in a bed of passion, one in which Marv feels he must avenge.

Image taken from: http://livedesignonline.com/news/SinCity2.jpg

This scene shows a stark contrast between the golden yellow locks of Goldie’s hair in color. The small tonal difference in yellow, and the saturation of the yellow on the body of Roark Jr., aka the Yellow Bastard, creates a feeling of sickliness, and of disgust. It is only a small change in yellow, but it is the same tones of yellow that develop in people who are stricken with certain illnesses, therefore we associate the character as being sick in demeanor and mental state as well as physiologically. The coloring of him in the shot draws the eye to him, and his gaze towards Nancy Callahan draws us back to her.

The creative use of color in Sin City shows how color can be used not only as a source of depth and feeling, to make the piece more real, but can even perpetuate emotions and feelings within the audience, which they will then link back to the film and follow the story more complacently.

Will.I.Am and Word and Image

Word and Image are often seen as two very separate entities in a piece, both bringing different aspects to light. People generally believe that the word generally expresses the "exact meaning," and the purpose of the image is to convey feeling and sensation, rather than reasonable meaning. Sometimes, the form of both the word and image both are representations of a common set of feelings and conceptualizations being conveyed to the audience.

In will.i.am and Nicki Minaj's music video "Check It Out,"the word does not express word at all, as the lyrics are in korean, and most of the American target audience will not be reading the words for understanding. Instead the form of the word is what is emphasized, and how the form of the word is used in conjunction with the image conveys the set of feelings and conceptualizations that links the audience with the essence of the artists in this musical display. The words literally pop out, as do the multiple copies of will.i.am and Nicki Minaj that are literally duplicated and popped in and out during the music video. This communicates, through image, not only the idea that the music is fresh and creative, but that it literally pops and stands out in its own expression from the "grayscale" of our futuristic world. The black-clothed audience, sitting at attention with sunglasses shows the conformity that is clearly contrasted with Nicki Minaj and will.i.am, both displayed in colorful and slightly ridiculous clothing, including the green hat on Nicki Minaj and the futuristic purple sunglasses on will.i.am respectively. The dance choreography and movements used by both Nicki Minaj and will.i.am are robotic yet fluid, corresponding to the beats while establishing their own expression of sexy and cool. The word popping out in big block bolded korean letterforms, with neon colored outlines pops and creates an imagination of the letterforms, one of the key forms of conformity, dancing with and accepting the music. The scene with will.i.am in posterized black and white, with only his mouth colored naturally shows a unique element that communicates that the music is like a zebra in a world of black and white, there is still diversity and expression even when simplified to these two luminosities.

The word and image communicate different aspects of the same form that each enhance each other and display how forms can be used in multiple ways.

Ergonomics of Design Part 2

Another key aspect to successful ergonomic design is the ease of use of the product. Is it designed simply and easily not requiring intuitive thinking? The Swiss Army Knife is very simple, and stowed safely, looks like a small metal bar with rounded edges. All the external edges are not sharp for the safety of the user, and the knife has many easy-pull tabs that are installed in each of the tools to make it easier to use one of the tools. Also the spring action that allows the knife to be opened and held open and closed quickly makes the tools very easy to use and facilitates the force of opening the knife. The weight distribution and form of the knife allows the knife to easily fit in the palm of the hand, and one can reposition it very easily when needing to extract one of the tools. When using the tool, the knife's handle comfortably extends just a half inch beyond the edge of the palm, secured in place by the first finger and the thumb, and supported by the other fingers of the hand it is held in.

The performance, or productivity, of the Swiss Army Knife is another aspect of the ergonomics of the tool to be discussed. The Swiss Army Knife's performance is based on the sharpness of the knives, as well as the durability of the whole product, and the ease at which they perform exceptionally at the task at hand. The knives are all sharp enough to slice skin easily, and do not dull much over time. The scissors, and other tools are also sharp enough for most small cutting needs, and of course, common sense would dictate that the Swiss Army Knife scissor shouldn't be used for heavy duty cutting because it is a smaller scissor and therefore weight and force cannot be applied as easily to it to cut through heavy duty materials. Each tool of the Swiss Army Knife is durable enough to withstand moderate hand pressure applied to the sides, making it very sturdy and unlikely to break. This is a key component to successful knife design, not only because it makes the product unusable, but it also makes the knife dangerous, affecting the safety for the user as well.

The final category for effective ergonomic design is aesthetics. The Swiss Army Knife focused much of its energy on making the other four categories the best they can be for the product designed, however, they did not lack in this department when understanding the context of the target audience. The target audience for the Swiss Army Knife will be generally outdoor hunting-type men, or "utility men," of which both categories have a simple and classic aesthetic appeal, and an aesthetic appeal that includes function in its appeal. The Swiss Army Knife creates a classic look, one color (red) on both top and bottom sides, with a silver cross displayed within a shield, reminding one of not only the swiss, but of knights and gallantry (through the association of cross and shield with the Western Middle Ages). The rest of the Knife is the silver of stainless-steel, which gives it a utilitarian look that is classic, and not "over-polished" or "gimmicky." The aesthetic appeal of the Swiss Army Knife focuses on a classic, clean, utilitarian, survival look, yet doesn't exclude itself from different genders, races, and other audiences that will accept the great design of the Swiss Army Knife.

The ergonomics of design all complement each other in the Swiss Army Knife, which is why it has been a strong selling product for over a hundred years, and has become a staple associated with utility and survival.

Ergonomics of Design Part 1

"Good design is a renaissance attitude that combines technology, cognitive science, human need, and beauty to produce something that the world didn’t know it was missing," said Paulo Antonelli. One tool that is a product of good design and has been an icon of long-lasting ingenuity is the Swiss Army Knife. The Swiss Army Knife, made by both Victorinox and Wenger, has been a product that has stayed with constant users and fans not because of its shiny surface, or trendy look, but because it is a tool that satisfies certain ergonomic needs. The five areas of ergonomic design to be analyzed in the Swiss Army Knife include Safety, Comfort, Ease of Use, Performance, and Aesthetics.

Safety, one of the first key features of ergonomic design, is especially pertinent in the Swiss Army Knife. The fact that a weapon always must take safety into careful consideration is an important issue, as the user knows that safety will not be all encompassing without leaving the weapon being impotent. The user wants the assurance that when handling a weapon, if used properly, he will not be harmed and, when used correctly, only the direction that he intends to attack will receive the attack only when he intends to attack. In the case of the swiss army knife, he wants it to cut what he intends to cut, and what he does not intend to cut, he does not want it to cut. The swiss army knife has been based on very practical solutions to ergonomically and efficiently incorporating safety into the design. By keeping all of the tools facing towards the inner spine of the tool, the only way to cut with the knife is to withdraw the blade via a spring system pull method. This system of safety keeps the sharp edge of the knife facing inwards, leaving the owner and everyone safe until it is intended to be used. Because the entire outside of the swiss army knife is a smooth and simple bar shape, the user is safe from any sharp edges or corners and the tool is as safe as a rounded rock being kept in your pocket, with sharp potential ready for the user's need.

Image taken from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/3/3e/20090906082704!Swiss_Army_Knife_Wenger_Closed_20050627.jpg

Comfort, one of the second key features of ergonomic design, asks whether users physically are satisfied in using the device. The swiss army knife if a simple rounded bar, with indented pull slits for comfortably extracting the knives and other tools. The Mountaineer Swiss Army Knife is just under 3 1/2 inches (91 mm) and weighs only 3.85 oz, super light and compact for the multiple survival tools it carries. When lifting and using the knife, the weights is evenly distributed throughout the whole piece of metal, achieving a perfect balance for holding and using. When one of the tools is opened out, the balance does not change, and the center of weight is not shifted by much, leaving the Swiss Army Knife very comfortable and well designed.

The Relationship Between People and Design

In the film Objectified, the designers are often found thinking not only about the ideal design of an object for a particular purpose, but the extension of how that object will relate to its users. Students of design often are concentrated on thinking about the tools and techniques of design, and the theory behind it, or the "ideal" form that the design will take, rather than the aspect of how will people relate to my design as being a part of their own design. One type of design that relies on being very conscious of the user's perception and understanding is information design.

IDEO, a San Francisco based design firm, partnered with Tendril, an energy management technology provider, to create a unique and user-conscious way of displaying energy information. The Tendril Vision, pictured above, relates to the user through both tactic and optic understanding, having a multi-touch screen for displaying and managing energy use in an uncluttered and user-friendly way. It depicts historical and current household energy use, indoor and outdoor temperature, peaks and valleys of energy use both in the home and in the neighborhood, and even functionality for creating customized energy plans for automatically utilizing routine tasks such as dishwasher, washer and dryer, and adjusting the thermostat to take pressure off of peak hours of energy expenditure and distribute it throughout the day for the benefit of both the user and the company. An away function on the product also allows it to easily and quickly be set to customized energy standards to be used while you have left the house.

The Vision works well because it contrasts white and light imagery on an overall black screen and displays quantitative information about energy consumption and cycles in graphical relatable forms, such as the temperature clock depicted above. The use of blues for cools, reds for warms, and the display of weather as yellow sun and white cloud abstract representations all add to the successful combination of essential imagery without bombarding the user with too much, leaving him/her paralyzed. The clear and bold lines that make up the icons that display various information and options create a sense of stability, order, and control. The very careful use of colors on only specific functions, and the use of white on black otherwise, gives the user a sense that the energy management process is clean, organized and simple.

This creation from IDEO in conjunction with Tendril is an innovative step forward to user-conscious design and to bringing our relationship to the world closer to the sustainable and efficient ideal that modern people aspire to create.

The Delivery of "Word and Image" in Comics

Comics are a very unique medium because they utilize both words and images to express their purpose. The purpose may be to tell a story, or to depict a viewpoint or paradigm of consciousness. The words and image have a symbiotic relationship in delivering the message, requiring both for its effective communication.

In Brian Fies' Mom's Cancer, image and word purposefully interact to communicate small messages that throughout the story lead to an overarching theme, that cancer is a serious and personal event, amidst the chaos of the surrounding world, and that the system that is designed to heal you cements your fate in the process of healing. The interaction between the words and images is what I will be analyzing here.

In the excerpt from the comic above, Brian Fies utilizes the strength of the words to describe how his mom is feeling with the cancer. The images depict a symbolic representation of mom's sensations and reality, but the audience connects to at a physical and intuitive level. The words, by itself, have a vague representation of meaning, as does the image, however, when combined, the image and word communicate the concept to the mind and body at different levels of our anatomy. The contrast between words and image, and the juxtaposition of them in the scenes are the dynamic that links the split mom on the right back to reality, with us understanding that she is being symbolically represented this way.

Also, the placement of the words and images guides us through the storytelling. In comics, the main focal point usually resides in the words, because that is where the central part of storytelling resides, and in the above image, the placement of the words at the very top with small confining boxes for the image of mom to express herself allow the reader to get a sense of the claustrophobia of understanding that she is experiencing, even from herself. The Text, positioned at the top lead the eye from left to right through the sequence to arrive at Fies as the narrator having a somber message, which depicted without image, is much more powerful. The lack of image, in this case, allows us to fill in the blank with our imagination, which is constantly redefining the situation and connected to our physical body and nervous system, actually reacting in small ways to the physical, allowing us to connect and experience the meaning of the text on multiple levels. As well, the very straightforward text in this segment is balanced in speech by the white bubble on the black background that surrounds mom, and creates a personal and foreboding sense that accompanies the frames, especially as the chronological sequence displays lined features on the hair and face that depict a older and more ill appearance as the sequence continues from starting frame to ending frame.

A similar chronology and contrast of text and image is displayed above. The smooth lines and positioning and stances of the doctors at the left bring a sense of heroism and dynamism to their jobs, portraying them as superheroes, ready the patient. The contrast of this image amidst the storytelling to the right, and the way in which image and word interact to depict the whole of the images of mom enduring various effects and the bipolar reactions of the doctors lead the audience to take in the concept that the doctor's are as lost as the patients in simply dealing with the patients. The zooming in of mom's head in each frame with her on the telephone also commits a very personal relationship between the audience and her, especially with the combination of each set of words depicting a more serious symptom, and the doctor's apparent lack of care or concern.

Also, the use of color in certain parts of the book, rather than the whole book highlight certain aspects to be expressed. The colored mom amidst the black and white representations of the party guests above can be contrasted with the words which bring to mind a polar opposite image: one of party guests alive and well and full of "color," and one of mom's condition and her fate sealed in black-and-white clarity. The color used in the example below, as well as the stylistic drawings of each person contrasted with their black-and-white "normal" representations, depicts each member as a dynamic and powerful individual. In the context with the text, which represents each individual as trying to provide help to mom, the reality is shown where each individual is communicating their good intentions through their egoic self-centeredness, which ends up creating a stark contrast to the super-heroic image depicted in color, the fantasy self amidst crisis. This contrast of image and color gives the audience a chance to step back and be wowed by the ways we as individuals deal with crises, and how our subjective reality can be very different from the objective reality.

Brian Fies succeeds in storytelling by using contrasting imagery, balanced whole images, and the contrasting concepts that evolve from image representing one aspect and text representing another.

What's Your Word and Image Combination?

Images and words are seen as two distinct forms of communication, however, when they work together to communicate a signifier, they often express multiple aspects of the same central concept in each medium of communication. In advertising, this pairing of words and images can be very effective when designed correctly. The relationship between words and images, if supporting each other to express a concept, rather than simply each representing their own message independent of one another, sends a compounding message. After all, the central message of Gestalt Theory, is the sum or whole is greater than and different from its parts.

Three Olives Vodka has a very distinct advertising campaign, targeted at invoking the arousal of young adults, and being subliminally open about the sensual expression attached to their product. "What's your O Face?" is the clever and memorable way of capturing the concept of fun and sexy with the brand name "Three Olives." The advertisements utilize a unique image and word combination that each carry up to 50% of the weight of the overall message, and neither could be understood without the relationship of the other.

The above image alone simply represents a woman in ecstasy and possibly climax, paired with the image of the three olives vodka bottle, which suggests that the vodka is connected to a fun and sexy image. The words of "What's Your O-Face?" on their own would usually lead the audience to begin imagining scenes that the Catholic Church would be quick to reprimand, however, no connection to alcohol would be present. The contrast between the person depicted, in flattering light, clothing, and positioning, and the overall theme (of grape, original, or root beer) allows the image to balance well and creates a great rhythm and flow within the image, while bringing the eyes to the very human and very arousing person depicted in the center, the main focal point of the image.

The unique pairing of both allow an effective concept to be conveyed to the audience in a delightfully fun and seductive way, that is explicit enough to tell us exactly what the product is about (and, for many young adults, what it hopefully leads to), yet is discrete enough to capture an entire marketing campaign and brand image in a slogan that can exchange social knowledge, popular culture, and planned night of excitement that contrasts the mass audience to their boring days.

An Analysis of Denim Jeans

Jeans are a part of all of our lives today. They have become as common as t-shirts, and everyone will wear a pair of jeans at some point, usually in a variety of flavors (baggy or tight, dark or light, bootcut, skinny jeans, regular fit, etc). On May 20, 1873, Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss obtained a patent on what is now known as "blue jeans" pants, and began creating these pants. Blue jeans were worn mostly by blue-collar workers until they became popular among adolescents in the 1950s, and from then on denim has become a common apparel material. Denim jackets, denim backpacks, even denim underwear has entered the market of available clothing for the modern family, but why is denim such a great material?

Denim has some very unique qualities to it. The texture of denim jeans is generally smooth and thick, yet rough and tough. Jeans were created by Jacob Davis installing rivets at certain stress-points of the jeans, which allowed the jeans to hold stronger, and become the "sturdy work-pants" they are typically associated with. Denim jeans have diagonal lines, and vertical lines displayed throughout the jeans. These patterns create balance and unity through repetition. The typical yellow-orange stitching of dashed lines around the seams of the jeans creates a great contrasting and complementary color combination on the jeans, which adds a subtle effect to the dynamism of the jeans. The stress-areas on the jeans allow a darkened area where the dye has collected to show deeper colors, emphasizing these areas that already get scrunched together.

The actual textile of denim is created when the weft passes underneath two or more warp threads, which produces the identifiable diagonal ribbing. Of course the diagonal and vertical lines displayed in most denim jeans creates a staccato visual rhythm and a visual pattern of dark-value and light-value which really creates the vertical and horizontal lines, and the focal points that we look at because of the darkened or lightened values at certain stress points on the jeans. The diagonal lines that are created by the weaving of the cotton that creates the denim jeans creates the dynamic sensation that makes this clothing such a timeless item. It looks hardworking, relaxed, yet modern, and sexy all at once.

Of course the focal points in the jeans are the denim pockets, which are always unique in shape and size, and the front rivet button that hold the pants together right below the navel. The denim jeans takes the concept of a durable and stylish working pants and creates a cheap and effective form to express its purpose.

An Analysis of a MacBook Pro

Alice Rawsthorn, the Design Editor at the International Herald Tribune says that "many of the best examples of industrial design are things that people don't think was 'designed' at all [...] and what they don't realize is that from the moment they wake up, almost everything that fills their world has been designed one way or another" (Objectified). I'm going to analyze one of the premier products of contemporary industrial design, the MacBook Pro, because it is a beautifully designed tool, because I use it constantly in the design process, and because I am typing this blog on it now.

The day I opened my MacBook Pro, my immediate first insight was that this company focused on great design, and wore that fact proudly. Opening the MacBook Pro's box, you see glossy-white casing all around with an apple stamp, and an inside with a black surrounding protective interior where the laptop sits almost like a ring in a felt box, waiting to be put on and worn. The design of the presentation of the MacBook Pro already has had its effect, as the owner now looks at this MacBook Pro as a piece of him, not just any laptop.

Open the MacBook Pro and you can see the uniform casing body. Jonathan Ive, (senior VP of the Industrial design sector of Apple Computers) discusses that "there is a remarkable efficiency and beauty to how much a single part can do, [... in which] this one part is providing so much functionality, and that this one part really does enable this product." The grid-inspired pattern of the keyboard and layout of the bottom piece of the MacBook Pro, with its black-filled keys and white-luminous letters on the keyboard, give this laptop a unique and well-thought feel. The array of tiny holes to the right and left of the keyboard clearly yet unobtrusively represent the speakers, and the multi-touch trackpad leads to a very intuitive usability, yet keeps the entire interaction between user and tool simple and direct. The power button at the top right, blends in seamlessly, yet keeps functionality elegant.

On the right side of the bottom casing body is the DVD Superdrive, which is a slim holed-out slot. The left side of the bottom casing body has several different holes for plugs, the MagSafe power port, the gigabit ethernet port, a Firewire 800 port, a Mini DisplayPort, two USB 2.0 ports, an audio in port, an audio out port, and finally set of seven mini battery-indicating LEDs. These are all essential elements in our modern world of Plug-ins and connectivity, and Apple fervently discards the rest that most people will not use regularly.

The top of the Macbook pro has a wide-far screen, with a black-glass frame around, and the obvious apple logo on the aluminum casing when closing this fine product.

Objectified

Henry Ford once said that "every object tells a story, if you know how to read it." The movie, Objectified, depicts both content and form of its objects very personally and openly by showing close-ups of many common industrial-designed objects that most people don't fathom as having had a part of the design process, because they are simply "there." The content and the form in these objects are so obvious and unified that the design is seamlessly tied in to make the functionality of the object aesthetically pleasing, and the aesthetic sense in synchronicity with the functionality. Andrew Blauvelt discusses how the toothpick, a very common item has not only been designed in specific ways, but how many objects, including the toothpick have evolved.

In the creation of a handle for common household tools, like a peeler, or shears, both content and form come into play, as the purpose of the handle it to design for ease of use and mobility and the form is an extension of that purpose. Putting great design into everyday things helps people improve the way they live their lives, without forcing them to notice the great design, because it is so natural.

Dieter Rams speaks in Objectified about how great design must be both clear and understandable, allowing users to trust the designed object quickly. He discusses that good design is: innovative, aesthetic, honest, unobtrusive, long-lived, consistent in every detail, environmentally friendly, makes products both understandable and useful, and is as little design as possible.

Alice Rawsthorn talks about how nowadays, we have so many designs where the form has no relation to the function of the object. She argues that, because of the microchip, design is shifting from the tangible and material form in connection to the content, to an increasingly intangible and immaterial form that is very loosely connected with the content, which poses more tensions and conflicts within design. As designers, we are primarily used to working in constraints, and with the constraints freed by the invention of the microchip, the designer is more free to explore other avenues of great design, however now has more conflicts and tensions as to how to explore these other forms in terms of scale, shapes, and user-interactivity, while keeping the product and the design well-suited for the user, and for its own purpose.

Three phases of modern design are discussed by Andrew Blauvelt: the formal relationship of the object, the symbolism and content or the purpose of the object, and looking at design contextually, looking at the human-object relationship. These are the different ways that form interacts with content in objects, as shown in Objectified. Even the film's form of showing close-up, personal stills of objects interacts with the content of the objects, showing their most clear and definite essence, and how the form is shaped to display the content in a functional way, not just for the form, or the object, but for the human using the object as well.

Design in Type

The general populace has a mental image of graphic design as a creation of various images using photoshop for print and web ads, and using 3D editing software for more advanced CGI in movies and games. However, many gloss over the subtle ways that the text we read affects us. Literally, the face of the type we read may present us with a completely different personality and experience of the design we are viewing. The updated Gap logo is an example of this.

The newly unveiled, and recently retracted, Gap Logo has a very different feel compared to the old logo. Gap released the logo as a signifier to show the transition from the concept of the Gap apparel line as having a classic, American look, into a look that would evoke cool, modern, and sexy. Now lets forget about the blue box and really delve into what the type says about both logos.

The old Gap logo has a personality that depicts classic, American, and iconic so well. The characteristic super long stem in relation to the incredibly condensed width of the letters, the classic serif typeface, and the skinny left of the A and upper and lower crossbars that hold the G and the P together create a type that emits classy with classic. The new type, on the other hand, is a very bold and heavy Helvetica, one of the most overused fonts ever created. Not only do the short, stubby, and roundness of the letters not express sexy or cool at all (they do express modern, but the old type expressed a classic modern as well), they almost express an institutionalism. The small tail on the "a" provides about the only bit of personality found in the very structured font. Overall, Gap's new logo, contrasted with their classic, iconic one, creates a feeling of super-conformity and restriction in a field (textiles), which should be about expression and creativity.

A visit to the Gap website, and one can see that ads for cool Men's and Women's wear is laden with bold, Helvetica font. This font does the perfect trick on the website, and with ads to contrast the modern, universal Helvetica font with the super-condensed, serif-laden Gap logo, it creates a great dynamic between American and iconic and modern. With proper use, the typeface can dramatically change the look and feel of any organization's representation and the perceived personality of any represented entity.

Works Cited

"Type: Anatomy." Princeton Architectural Press * Welcome. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. <http://www.papress.com/thinkingwithtype/letter/anatomy.htm>.

"Typeface Anatomy and Glossary | FontShop." FontShop. The World's Best Fonts. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. <http://www.fontshop.com/glossary.php>.

Weiner, Juli. "VF Daily." Vanity Fair Magazine | Vanity Fair. 12 Oct. 2010. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. <http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/10/new-gap-logo-despised-symbol-of-corporate-banality-dead-at-one-week.html>.

Comparison & Contrast

We as humans are very interesting creatures. Many times, what we see, we conclude is the reality of what is in front of us. We do not question that it may be a subjective perception of the truth. Designer's knowledge of this subjectivity, and how our mind perceives that which we see allows them to create dynamic pieces that grab our attention in obvious and subtle ways. The concept of comparison and contrast in relation to our perception is the synonymous with the gestalt principle of figure and ground in perception. In particular, illusions tend to play on our perception of figure and ground, that through our current vantage point we will see the objective world subjectively by comparing and contrasting what we see and reassembling the pieces in a unified form to represent what we believe is in front of us.

Enter Julian Beever. This artist shows us just how our perception really affects us, creating a whimsical world for all to see. He is one of a few artists that has created 3D pavement art. This pavement art creates the illusion of a 3D image by using a projection technique known as anamorphosis which creates a three dimensional illusion for the eye when viewed at the correct angle. The three dimensional illusion of anamorphosis is created by comparing the colors and image that has been drawn on the pavement with the rest of the pavement, contrasting it with certain parts of pavement that are supposed to represent the "background" or "real pavement," and reassembling the image at that angle to create the three-dimensional perspective effect off of a two-dimensional surface. This comparison and contrast creates the "figure" the three dimensional object and scene in this situation, and the background, the connection to the "real world" from the pavement art.

The creations of Julian Beever are not limited to his pavement art, although at this level we can see the obvious ways that our vision and our perception of figure and ground, comparing and contrasting the two creates this very unique illusion, as well as the distortion applied when viewed at the specific angle. Julian Beever also creates murals, large pastel portraits, and renderings of old masters. He uses chalk for all of his pavement work, and his work only lasts for a few days, long enough for him to document it with photography, as after that point the weather will wash it away in a few days. Still, the anamorphosis he uses to create his intriguing effect that utilizes our visual cortex and our perceptual need for unification and our subconscious comparison and contrast of shapes, sizes, colors, and all gestalt principles to determine a three dimensional illusion really sets Beever apart from other contemporary artists.

Works Cited

"Julian Beever." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Beever>.

"Julian Beever's Pavement Drawings." Mon Espace Web (Personnel) / Mijn (Persoonlijke) Webruimte / My Personal Web Space. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. <http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/pave.htm>.

Skaalid, Bonnie. "Figure and Ground." University of Saskatchewan. 1999. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. <http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/skaalid/theory/gestalt/figround.htm>.

Design as Conversation

Conversation is like a two-way street. It engages both the Speaker and the Listener, and requires both. A conversation is different from a monologue because it engages both participants in active roles, rather than a monologue where there is one subject playing the active role and one subject playing the passive role. A conversation essentially allows every member to contribute something created from themselves, to be received, and probably judged, by the other members of conversation.

The rapidly globalizing and connectivity of the modern world has created a virtual framework where a rapid conversation regarding design can be had, and all aspects and sides exchanged very rapidly. The subject of this design as conversation has come in the form of the Apple iTunes Store. Specifically, anyone who owns an iPhone, or has seen any of the millions of commercials airing for iPhones will know about all the apps you can have on one for various needs. When looking at apps to purchase and download for your iphone the iTunes Store has a section for customer ratings and reviews built right in. This is an example of design as conversation, as the app will be created, purchased, used, and then reviewed at the same page that it can be purchased again by another user.

Breaking apart the iTunes feature to analyze it as a modern integration of design as conversation, we see a new process that was not available in the past. The app developer creates his app and submits it to Apple.com, and pays any fees necessary with it, and then he waits for purchases and downloads. The customers download his app and have some favorable aspects to compliment the developer on, however they claim that the price is too high and that their competition has a few features that they don't have, that are truly integral features that the developer simply missed to implement into this initial release. The developer now scours through the ratings and reviews and decides that he is truly committed to creating a great app that will continue to sell and to provide more for his audience. The audience's replies to his production, were equally a production in themselves, as they were helping him course-correct to release a better product. Thereby, with the release of the new update to the app, the conversation begins again, with acceptance and purchasing of his production, and judging and reviewing his production.

Not until recently, a product would be out for years before being redesigned simply because of the time it would take to conduct a proper way of collecting audience response to the product, so that the products means can be tailored so the end can be experienced with better fashion by the audience. By the end of it, design as a conversation is an experience between us social beings.

Aesthetics

aes·thet·ics: a set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty, especially in art.

Aesthetics was brought up in Professor Housefield's Design 1 class on Thursday October 7th. What is Aesthetics? Aesthetics is, as the Oxford Dictionary states above, a set of principles concerning beauty. Beauty is a topic of interest, everyday, all day. Many people look at famous models and paintings and nature as forms of beauty, yet many forms are not recognized for the beauty that they provide.

In The Principles of Aesthetics, Dewitt H. Parker states that "Sensation is the door through which we enter into the experience of beauty; and again it is the foundation upon which the whole structure rests." Parker goes onto state that after sensations, we experience emotions linked to those sensations and iconic images also linked to the emotions, the sensations, or both, however the sensations are the primary connection of aesthetics, for without these sensations, we "may be sympathetic or intelligent, but [we] cannot be lovers of the beautiful."

This begs the question: what sensations create beauty within us? Is it a specific tone of each color that we find beautiful, and another tone that stimulates a different sensation within us? Is an expressionist painting by El Greco fundamentally more beautiful then an artistic creation by H.R. Giger, in terms of sensations created through the medium?

Different sensations are created in different combinations of medium, of different forms of color, and in mixed media, and, I believe the sensation of beauty within a piece lies partially in the eye of the beholder. An artist may have an intention to create a typically aesthetically pleasing artwork, however, creating something that is genuinely aesthetically pleasing lies in cultivating a balance of design aspects, such as unity (even amidst chaos), variety, tension, concision of expression (expressing only what is needed to be expressed), and active audience participation. All of these aspects, and several more, lend themselves to a fantastic creation that, no matter how the combination of materials, can be termed aesthetically pleasing.

Creativity From Without

The expressionists were known for creating beautiful expressive pieces that spoke more than simply about the natural quality of the subjects being painted, but expressed something deeper, from within. While inspiration and expression from within is a common point of interest, expression from without is equally as important of a form of creation.

Sometimes when one is stuck in a rut of wondering how or what to create, one must not look within, yet most explore the outer world. One artist I would like to mention who found creativity from without is Keith Haring. Keith Haring became a thriving artist in New York City, not by participating in the usual galleries and exhibitions, but by displaying his designs in the alternative art communities. He found his creative impulse in seeing all of the blank canvases of black matte paper covering empty advertising panels in the New York City Subway stations. He set to work with white chalk creating many pieces of design for the entire new york public to feast their eyes upon and delight themselves with everyday, and the subway became Haring's initial laboratory for creation.

Haring also continued on to produce many public works designs in the 1980s. Haring created the infamous "Crack is Wack"Mural in Harlem River Park, a mural for the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty in 1986, as well as an untitled mural at the Woodhull Medical Center, and many others throughout the city, as living exposure of Haring's work and creativity in the world around him, and as a ever-fresh artistic addition to our daily lives. Before he died, Haring set up the Keith Haring Foundation, to assist AIDS related and children's charities, and he became an active proponent of AIDS awareness and activism.

Stone Soup

What is Design? Is it a perfectly idealized product, neatly wrapped, with a concrete plan that interweaves all of the aspects seamlessly? In my experience, most products, even highly-awarded ones are concoctions similar to a Stone Soup. These concoctions are not always well-planned, streamlined, specialized products, but many times jumbled, cooperative by-products of lots of effort, creativity, luck, and the right materials and people at the right time, coming together to bring their best designer's touch to the finished product.

Photo taken from: http://designunexpected.blogspot.com/2010/10/stone-soup.html

 In the children's tale, Stone Soup, three infantrymen wander into a town and ask the villagers if they have any food, as they are very hungry. The villagers, having had so many visitors pass through their village and eat up all their food without thanks or anything, now hide their food, so if visitors come into town, they don't have to share their food with the villagers, and they simply pretend they don't have any. The three infantrymen are creative though, and begin to make Stone Soup, literally boiling water and adding stones to their soup concoction, asking for a little bit of produce here and their from villagers, whatever they can spare. The villagers oblige them with a few bits of food and as the Soup starts getting cooked together, like a hodgepodge, the Soup begins to tingle the taste buds, smelling incredibly delicious. Soon, all of the villagers begin pouring into the giant soup pot a few more things that will make the soup taste even better, contributing a bit from everyone, probably because they all want to have a taste of the delicious soup, and with all the contributions, a feast erupts and the villagers and infantrymen share a night of delicious food together.

Photo taken from: http://designunexpected.blogspot.com/2010/10/stone-soup.html

Photo taken from: http://designunexpected.blogspot.com/2010/10/stone-soup.html

On Tuesday, October 5th, Professor Housefield's Design 1 class created their version of Stone Soup. Our group brought together all sorts of materials: colored construction paper, tape, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks. The Design process started, with each individual looking at all the materials, contemplating what to make. An obsession with hanging the still mysterious ornamental creation hooked us on hanging it and attaching the piece to a nearby tree. Soon, some group members began rolling up pieces of paper, taping them together in interesting shapes, and even creating origami. As of yet, no one knew quite what the end product would look like, yet we continued. More people began rolling pieces, I began taping popsicle sticks to the construction paper rolls, and eventually when we had enough rolls, several members began taking the rolls to the tree to attach them in a spiraling fashion. The tree slowly began spiraling up with construction life, with pipe-cleaner flowers popping out of the ground nearby, and other forms of ornamental man-made life contrasting the natural life growing on that spot. A hodgepodge not only of artistic and design creativity emerged, but of natural product and manufactured beauty. The art of design sometimes comes together like Stone Soup.

Photo taken from: http://designunexpected.blogspot.com/2010/10/stone-soup.html

Cooperative: Designed

Design is most often found by the public through various websites, mainstream advertisements, and Gucci and Gap Displays, yet few remember to look in their own neighborhood for an aspect of design. The Davis Food Co-Op is a local supermarket that is visited by a select clientelle who are influenced in more ways than one by their design.

Image taken from: http://daviswiki.org/Davis%5FFood%5FCo-Op?action=show&redirect=Davis+Food+Coop

From the entrance to the Davis Co-Op one can tell that this supermarket is not designed as a large conglomerate with a manufactured experience. The feeling one gets from the entrance is that the building and system within are as organic as the produce and meats they carry. The unique design with attention to outside coffee and dining tables for those who visit the deli section brings many people from different walks of life in to enjoy the various gourmet options of creative specialty salads and hot entrees (choosing between vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and other dietary options), intends for one to not only enter and choose a delicious meal, but browse and select some high-quality food.

Image taken from: http://www.daviscoop.com/

The Co-Op places high priority in pushing the Organic, Fair-Trade, All-Natural, Raw, and other health-conscious labels to the forefront. The meat section is carefully organized to have such attributes as Organic 100% Grass-Fed Beef, as well as Conventional Beef. Raw Cheese, Milk, and Cream are available, as well as specialty products of Goats Milk, and many Vegan and Vegetarian options abound, pleasing the expansive and selective clientelle that enjoys the Davis Food Co-Op above all other supermarkets within the Davis region.

Image taken from: http://www.daviscoop.com/

Their design and catering applies to all areas of the store, as one feels a sense of contribution and selection from purchasing and eating the finest products the Davis Co-Op has to offer.

Works Cited 

"Davis Food Co-op - Davis Wiki." Davis Wiki - The Definitive Resource for Davis, California. Web. 4 Oct. 2010. <http://daviswiki.org/Davis_Food_Co-Op?action=show&redirect=Davis Food Coop>. 

Welcome to the Davis Food Co-op. Web. 4 Oct. 2010. <http://www.daviscoop.com/>. 

The Design of Communication

It is the year 2010, and did any experts foresee the future of the internet with the design of communication applied? In the year 2000, the new frontier of the internet experienced what seemed at the time as the meteor of the dinosaurs: the DotCom Crash. People were hazy and weary about using the internet again, feeling a sensation akin to betrayal, as all of their hopes of the new frontier were shattered and their sense of reality had to be readjusted. And yet, just like the conquering of any frontier, freshly wireless entrepreneurs and self-starting online pilgrims set out to reclaim the desert and rebuild it with information. The article titled "Ten years after the crash, the dotcom boom can finally come of age" from The Guardian.co.uk sums it up best:

"But out of the mess emerged a new way of doing business. The internet did have a profound effect on both society and commerce, just not as quickly as the "digerati" from the dotcom boom, with their inflatable boardrooms and dress-down style, had hoped. Some of the technology trends that everyone now takes for granted were born in the boom, from instant unmetered internet access, web TV and "cloud computing" to social networking and the mobile web. They may have been born in the boom but only in the past few years have they come of age." 

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/14/technology-dotcom-crash-2000)

The Social Network is one of the most interesting entities to have emerged since the dotcom crash. Now, social networking encompasses almost all parts of our life. Organizations announce news on the radio, and then state that you can also follow their news on Twitter. Facebook has become a social phenomena, devouring the previously "cool" MySpace, where everyone is online sharing everything from status updates and photos, to planning events, creating social groups, and now even allowing subscribers to post questions for other people in their network to answer. People at the turn of the century looked at the wireless phone as a true benchmark of technological achievement. Now, not only is cellphones so widely popular, the cellphones have internet access, are equipped with Instant Messaging, Texting, Photo, Video, and Audio messaging, and now the Apple iPhone has brought to the US "FaceTime," the ability to literally call someone anywhere in the world, and can not only hear, but see the person you are talking to, and the situation they are in. The evolution of our social world has spawned the major Hollywood movie, "The Social Network," which depicts (in a Hollywood dramatized fashion) the story of Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook.

How did our Communication get designed this way? The new frontiers of the internet and the craving to push boundaries has allowed to create a global social ecology, where you have your local friends, as well as friends in other cities, countries, even continents that we can frequently and easily keep in contact with and not only tell them about our lives, but show them through the use of photos, videos, etc.

What are the elements of these forms of communication in the new social network. In the first class of Design 1 at the University of California, Davis, Professor Housefield prompted us students to ask "what characterizes a good conversation?" One of the central elements that distances a good conversation from the rest is that a good conversation engages more than just the basic mental abilities. It is engages the emotions, and possibly even the body. Now, in person, it is fairly easier to engage into a good conversation rather than simply through telecommunications, and it is even harder to engage in a good conversation through text. Why is that? Well approximately 7% of our communication comes from the actual words we say, whereas about 35% is tone and rhythm of voice, and the leftover 58% is body language.

This creates the necessity for the online social network's text and the formatting of the text to truly engage the mind and hopefully some of the emotions as well. Seeing tons of Facebook statuses, people scroll through looking for someone's status to pop out and stimulate them. And yet Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites have become giants in our modern day simply because we are a social species and they have designed themselves along a few key design factors: the site or application must be easy to use (because in our modern day in age, if setting up an account takes longer than 5 minutes, we are onto something else), must be simple and attractive (the login pages on the Facebook, Twitter, or Blogger sites all have only two main directions: log-in or sign-up), and must allow the user quick and widespread connectivity and exposure.

All three of these sights, and many of the other social phenomena applications succeed at these goals very well. Our communication has been unintentionally designed these days where between someone's in-person conversations, the individual will open their internet-connected cellphone and update their status on Twitter, Facebook, and now it has become an accepted standard. The design of our new social systems has allowed quick and instant updates of news and weather, instantaneous communication with friends and family in other cities and other countries, and an outlet for sharing everything from meandering thoughts to truly thought-provoking discussions, and has allowed a communal knowledge base to form through our online use. Is the design of our modern internet-connected communication a cause of our current addiction to stimulation, or has our well-fed obsession with instant gratification encouraged the growth of these newly designed forms of social contact and communication.