Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Journal 09
Course Reflection 05
I thought that all of the presentations went really well. Naturally, there were some that I liked more than others...and some that I didn't like at all. I think that perhaps my favorite group out of all of them was the group that created the Curtains with solar panels on the back in order to wirelessly charge a portable outlet so that we can save small bits of energy at a time. It was a fantastic idea and I think that it was even better that they based it on actual technology, that currently exists. Now, there were a couple of ideas that I saw and was shocked by because they were already existing products and it seems that they simply slapped on a "Coleman for the home" label. For example, the collapse-able bowls and the lightbulb changer. They did make some changes but it didn't seem to me like much thought or inspiration from Coleman was put into those two particular items. Finally, I thought it was interesting that so many of the presentations didn't mimic the Coleman brand...either the existing Coleman brand or the Coleman brand they created. I know that simplicity is key when giving a presentation so as to get your point across and to not confuse your audience, but that does not mean that black and white is necessary. A logo or color scheme that mimics Coleman I think really helps to brand the product when one is giving a presentation.
Journal 10
It seems like just yesterday that I was writing my first journal for this class. I clearly remember having a sense of not knowing what it was I was looking for from the class and not knowing at all what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to find that design was at the same time exactly what I thought it was but also exactly what I thought it wasn't. I had always thought of designers as people who live to make things pretty and beautiful. While that does encompass some part of the truth, that part is incredibly small compared the myraid of other things that designers do or can do with the skills they learn. I think that the most important thing that I learned from this class is that you can make anything from you life, you can choose what skills to use in life and apply them anywhere no matter what source you learned them from. There are some objectives that I had in mind at the start of this class for myself that I didn't accomplish but I feel a bit more put together that I was at the start of the quarter.
Monday, May 23, 2011
CR04
For the past few classes we have been working on our Final project for the class. It has been really fun getting to work in a group and combine all of the creativity from each person and seeing a final product produced from it. We haven't done anything else in class other than work on the project, so there's really nothing else to talk about.
Journal 08
Design and the Environment:
Most people – including myself – would assume they knew exactly what “design & the environment” and that would simply be designing products that are recyclable or made of “BPA” free materials. In a way, that is correct but its only part of a greater whole. Design and the environment is about those things described above but its more about designing all aspects of our lives to have less of an impact on our world. A book we read in class (Cradle to Cradle) address many of the ideas about design an the environment, mainly that it’s not only about making products safer and healthier for us as humans but also creating everything in our world to use less resources, and maybe even give more back as we move into the future. Design and the environment can refer to product design but it also refers to the design of all things that fill out world.
Sources & Summaries:
This is a page provided by the Pollution Control Agency of Minnesota that has many different guide sheets on different aspects of product design from power supply, to chemical and materials selection. What was most interesting about this page were the different topics they thought to address that I – personally – hadn’t thought about. For instance the fasteners that hold products together, or extending product life (which seems like something many companies would be against).
This page has an incredible amount of information on “green” design for consumers, manufacturers, and purchasers about a “DfE” label. The page I linked to specifically ahs information about the DfE label, how the EPA determines what products are deserving of the DfE label, and what the DfE label means for consumers. The idea that the EPA is creating a universally identifiable label in order for people to make more conscious decision about what they purchase is awesome.
This is the electronic giant’s website about how they have devoted a certain portion of their resources to being green since 1922. They talk about their “design for the environment” program which they – funnily enough – term as their DfE program (seems incredibly similar to the EPA’s efforts). They focus on three main areas, energy efficiency, materials innovation, and design for recyclability…and go on further to discuss how they achieve these “priorities.”
Probably the coolest site that I found in relation to “green” design. This is more of a website that focuses on collecting and sharing ideas on green design, or designing to save the world. I thought this site was amazing because it organizes the ideas into specific categories like interiors, or technology…it really opened my eyes to the possibilities of designing to impact our world less.
This site deals less with product design and more with architectural design…a more literal interpretation on the intersection between design and the environment. The specific page I linked to describes what this “company” is all about, aka coming up with “ecologically and economically-sensible” buildings (among many other things).
Monday, May 16, 2011
Peer blog reflection 03
-One thing that really struck me in Ricardo's blog was when he said, "I personally believe that people want to be as cheap as possible, but they are exchanging quality for quantity. Products made locally and foods grown locally do not suffer from industrial machines and chemicals and are flat out better even if they cost a bit more." This is something that I wholly agree with, especially with food. I will admit that I am a product of great branding and advertising on the part of WholeFoods market, but their core ideas are something that we should learn to live off of, namely living local. I've run into this in my own family where buy local or healthy is too "expensive," but as Ricardo points out when we pay less we are many times sacrificing quality...and in the end if we buy a more expensive, more durable product initially then it will most likely last longer and we will end up paying less because we are not buying replacements for broken-down products. I like to think of things as investment that we work towards instead of the cheapest thing that we can afford right now.
-If Mike B's blog I really liked his Letter E that he found for the letterforms assignment, but I also really loved how he introduced his reflection to Cradle to Cradle, "Using nature as the blueprint, McDonough and Braungart observe how insects, animals and plants have been living together in harmony since the beginning of time. Humans on the other hand have been rapidly depleting our resources, poisoning our land and water and destroying our environment all in the name of advancement and consumerism." I completely agree with what Mike is saying here and think that it sums up well what Cradle was trying to portray, especially when he uses the word advancement because I came to almost the same conclusion about scientific advancement or progress when I was reading the books. It important that we also make the difference between constructive versus destructive advancement.
-Sarah H, first of all I loved the "S" you found in an incandescent light bulb, and I'm glad that someone else decided to use an open pair of scissors for "X" as well. What I really liked about your peer reflection is reaction that you had to my comment about plagiarism, "Sometimes I think plagarism can build up a fear that keeps us from using the full potential of another persons work and building on it because we have been brought up with this fear that we are going to get in trouble." This is an incredibly important point that I don't think that I discussed enough in my course reflection, and I completely agree that using scare tactics when it comes to plagiarism dissuades progress from building upon past ideas.
-If Mike B's blog I really liked his Letter E that he found for the letterforms assignment, but I also really loved how he introduced his reflection to Cradle to Cradle, "Using nature as the blueprint, McDonough and Braungart observe how insects, animals and plants have been living together in harmony since the beginning of time. Humans on the other hand have been rapidly depleting our resources, poisoning our land and water and destroying our environment all in the name of advancement and consumerism." I completely agree with what Mike is saying here and think that it sums up well what Cradle was trying to portray, especially when he uses the word advancement because I came to almost the same conclusion about scientific advancement or progress when I was reading the books. It important that we also make the difference between constructive versus destructive advancement.
-Sarah H, first of all I loved the "S" you found in an incandescent light bulb, and I'm glad that someone else decided to use an open pair of scissors for "X" as well. What I really liked about your peer reflection is reaction that you had to my comment about plagiarism, "Sometimes I think plagarism can build up a fear that keeps us from using the full potential of another persons work and building on it because we have been brought up with this fear that we are going to get in trouble." This is an incredibly important point that I don't think that I discussed enough in my course reflection, and I completely agree that using scare tactics when it comes to plagiarism dissuades progress from building upon past ideas.
RR03
William McDonough and Michael Braungart book has been incredible to read because of the idea of harmony with nature that they promote.
Chapter 1 dealt with the roots of our carbon-foot print problem. Our society and much of the world is based on a systems (or a series of systems) designed in the Industrial revolution. During the industrial revolution the people leading the revolution 1. didn't design proper ways to deal with waste and 2. could have no idea how far and quickly the world would evolve, so there was no way - even if they had sought to design waste management systems - that they could have designed effective ways to deal with modern waste. In this chapter they also begin to explain the title of their book Cradle to Cradle. Today we live on the idea of cradle to grave that highlights the idea that we are consumers who buy product or things that are really only meant to last one generation. We then throw our old things "away" although they never really go away, they are simply put in a place where we don't have to see or deal with them...at least for now.
Chapter 2 delves further into a point brought up in chapter one, that is it talks about where the by-products of our consumption or consumerism go and the ineffectiveness of the methods we use to deal with all of it. We as a society have a lot of waste and in the past have just thrown it all into landfills where it sits there, or we burn it putting toxic chemicals into the air or environment. The most recent method of reuse (disposal really) is recycling, where we take products made of "reusable" materials and reuse parts of them. But this is really something that only makes a small dent, because not everything that we recycle can be reused or reused forever and for its original purpose. Some things once used can't be reused in what they were originally used for, instead they are weaker after one use so they are continually downcycled until they end up un-useable with all of our other "trash" in landfills. This is one thing that really bothers me personally about our society is that we have "evolved" so far to make our lives easier and more continent but have moved so far away from understand and being able to interact with our environment efficiently.
Chapter 3 simply showcases an example of how we can design items that can be fully eco-friendly and fully recyclable. To do this the authors use the book itself as a prime example of how this can be done. The books itself is made from a sturdy plastic material that can be reused as a books, the ink and the glue are both non-toxic (and the ink can be washed from the pages so they can be reused), and finally the books itself is waterproof so it is not easily ruined (causing you to go out and but a new one).
I found chapter 4 the most interesting because they introduced the idea of biological metabolism and how we can take a clue from nature in order to better design our products. I think that Apple (or any technology company) is a prim example for what is wrong with our consumer society in terms of recycling or the environment. No matter what the product when a new one comes out everyone wants one, even if they have a perfectly functional one...although I am not one to lecture because I am incredibly guilty of this myself. We live in a society that teaches that we can have whatever we want, dream big to achieve, and this kind of thinking has moved away from its original intentions (to inspire) and instead has lead to a loss of being able to distinguish between wants and needs. The idea of metabolism is to design products so that the products or their components can be reused after their lifetime is done, but in an environment where wants and needs are confused this is not on the forefront of peoples minds.
Chapter 5 deals with learning to live of the naturally occurring local environments. For so long the human species has been altering nature and forcing to do things for us, to please us in some way, or to make our lives easier. Instead of doing what our ancestors did and adapting to a local environment we alter it to fit our needs wherever we may be, but instead of calling this destruction we call this "progress" and "scientific advancements." A bonus is that local products (like food) Can be healthier because they aren't treated with chemicals or processed to make them last longer in transit and on store shelves.
Finally, chapter 6 talks about how we can effectively implement all of the ideas introduced in this book. He talks about the 5 steps to implement the ideas; 1. rid ourselves of known pollutants, 2. make decisions based on informed preferences (knowing about products and what goes into them and creating them), 3. identifying products that are falsely "clean,'" 4. slowly implement small positive steps so that its more of a lifestyle change, and 5. finally using this knowledge to design products that are green for our future.
Chapter 1 dealt with the roots of our carbon-foot print problem. Our society and much of the world is based on a systems (or a series of systems) designed in the Industrial revolution. During the industrial revolution the people leading the revolution 1. didn't design proper ways to deal with waste and 2. could have no idea how far and quickly the world would evolve, so there was no way - even if they had sought to design waste management systems - that they could have designed effective ways to deal with modern waste. In this chapter they also begin to explain the title of their book Cradle to Cradle. Today we live on the idea of cradle to grave that highlights the idea that we are consumers who buy product or things that are really only meant to last one generation. We then throw our old things "away" although they never really go away, they are simply put in a place where we don't have to see or deal with them...at least for now.
Chapter 2 delves further into a point brought up in chapter one, that is it talks about where the by-products of our consumption or consumerism go and the ineffectiveness of the methods we use to deal with all of it. We as a society have a lot of waste and in the past have just thrown it all into landfills where it sits there, or we burn it putting toxic chemicals into the air or environment. The most recent method of reuse (disposal really) is recycling, where we take products made of "reusable" materials and reuse parts of them. But this is really something that only makes a small dent, because not everything that we recycle can be reused or reused forever and for its original purpose. Some things once used can't be reused in what they were originally used for, instead they are weaker after one use so they are continually downcycled until they end up un-useable with all of our other "trash" in landfills. This is one thing that really bothers me personally about our society is that we have "evolved" so far to make our lives easier and more continent but have moved so far away from understand and being able to interact with our environment efficiently.
Chapter 3 simply showcases an example of how we can design items that can be fully eco-friendly and fully recyclable. To do this the authors use the book itself as a prime example of how this can be done. The books itself is made from a sturdy plastic material that can be reused as a books, the ink and the glue are both non-toxic (and the ink can be washed from the pages so they can be reused), and finally the books itself is waterproof so it is not easily ruined (causing you to go out and but a new one).
I found chapter 4 the most interesting because they introduced the idea of biological metabolism and how we can take a clue from nature in order to better design our products. I think that Apple (or any technology company) is a prim example for what is wrong with our consumer society in terms of recycling or the environment. No matter what the product when a new one comes out everyone wants one, even if they have a perfectly functional one...although I am not one to lecture because I am incredibly guilty of this myself. We live in a society that teaches that we can have whatever we want, dream big to achieve, and this kind of thinking has moved away from its original intentions (to inspire) and instead has lead to a loss of being able to distinguish between wants and needs. The idea of metabolism is to design products so that the products or their components can be reused after their lifetime is done, but in an environment where wants and needs are confused this is not on the forefront of peoples minds.
Chapter 5 deals with learning to live of the naturally occurring local environments. For so long the human species has been altering nature and forcing to do things for us, to please us in some way, or to make our lives easier. Instead of doing what our ancestors did and adapting to a local environment we alter it to fit our needs wherever we may be, but instead of calling this destruction we call this "progress" and "scientific advancements." A bonus is that local products (like food) Can be healthier because they aren't treated with chemicals or processed to make them last longer in transit and on store shelves.
Finally, chapter 6 talks about how we can effectively implement all of the ideas introduced in this book. He talks about the 5 steps to implement the ideas; 1. rid ourselves of known pollutants, 2. make decisions based on informed preferences (knowing about products and what goes into them and creating them), 3. identifying products that are falsely "clean,'" 4. slowly implement small positive steps so that its more of a lifestyle change, and 5. finally using this knowledge to design products that are green for our future.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Course Reflection 03
The first of classes that this course reflection covers was a brief introduction to color theory and business/legal issues in design. For the color theory portion of the lecture we were introduced to tint (adding white to a hue), shade (adding black to a hue) and chroma (adding grey to a hue). We also discussed the various color systems, and how color is incredibly important in so many areas from marketing (branding) to psychology. This was perhaps the most intriguing part of the color theory lecture, that is the fact that there is an entire portion of psychology devoted entirely to colors and how they effect our mood. I am currently taking a class titled "Aesthetics of Appearance" and we also had an entire lecture devoted to discussion of color theory and how it affects not only the appearance of the garment on the person but also what kind of effects it has on the viewer. What is find most interesting is that we can characterize color into generalized categories that evoke unified responses from most people in the world. This is definitely from perspective but I expected color theory (in terms of responsiveness) to take into account culture, environment and personal experience...of course, I'm sure all of these things come into consideration since there is an entire specialization of psychology devoted to it. The second lecture was about the business and legal issues involved in design but was more of an introduction to the movie that we watched called Rip!: A Remix Manifesto. This movie focused mainly on a mash-up artist called Girl Talk (who I got to see live the weekend following this movie at Wittfest!) but was a documentary pointing out the complex legal issue of copyrights, patents and trademarks. It brought up many specific examples but made me ask the question, where do we draw the line? Where does using information that is someone's "intellectual property" turn from inspiration into stealing? I have taken a few English classes and one in particular I had a teacher who made us cite everything. If we had any kind of thought it had to be supported by something or it was one of two things; 1. worthless or 2. plagiarism. Now, I must say that when certain books are read over and over again people tend to read the same things from them, just because someone before me thought the same thing and wrote it down does it mean that me putting the same thought down in my own words is stealing because I did it after them? Again, where do we draw the line?
Next thing we did in class was listen to 2 speakers, the first a group from Design Circle and the second from Cobego design. Design circle is an OSU club that focuses on design and contains people from the 3 different OSU deign majors (industrial, visual communication, and interior spaces). The group talked briefly about Design Circle itself but then focused more on answering our questions about OSU's design department and the major. It was good to get a perspective on the different majors. The second group was Cobego design, a local industrial design firm founded by a group of students who were graduated from OSU's program. It was nice to see that people who came from such different backgrounds and traveled such different paths to get to where they are today. But what I found most interestting about this class was the video they showed about education. It was actually a TED talk adapted by RSA animates which focuses on educational reform, an issue very personal and close to my heart. Here is the link to the video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U. I loved this video because it brings up so many good issues on what is not only wrong with our educational systems but also with how we are trying to fix them. Coming from the perspective of someone who grew up in what Sir Ken Robinson describes as, "the most over-stimulating time in history," I can say that I have felt that everything he said was spot. I watched throughout my education as so many of my friends were medicated just so that they would sit down and "learn." That is learn to think in a way that is against their very patterns of thinking. I also come from a background where I was taught that I had to work my butt off to be as close to perfect (a definition of perfect also varied on the evaluator) in high school after which I would go off to college, get a degree (or a couple), and finally be a contributing member of society. Unfortunately, I was one of those kids who didn't necessarily know what they wanted to do, I thought I did but I didn't have the perspective I needed on life to truly understand what I wanted to do with mine, nor do I have the perspective now. My mother lives under the paradigm, "do what you love and success will follow." I believe in this too but my problem lies in educational systems telling people that they need to follow a very specific path, and now more than ever (thanks to technlogy) we are expected to do more than ever so we have no time to find what we really love. What's worse, when we do find what we really love we are discouraged from truly pursuing it because we a such a "success"-centered society where success is equated to money and power. What we "kids" need today is time to discover who we really are, flexibility to do what we want, and most important of all the support of not only our families but also educational systems.
Next thing we did in class was listen to 2 speakers, the first a group from Design Circle and the second from Cobego design. Design circle is an OSU club that focuses on design and contains people from the 3 different OSU deign majors (industrial, visual communication, and interior spaces). The group talked briefly about Design Circle itself but then focused more on answering our questions about OSU's design department and the major. It was good to get a perspective on the different majors. The second group was Cobego design, a local industrial design firm founded by a group of students who were graduated from OSU's program. It was nice to see that people who came from such different backgrounds and traveled such different paths to get to where they are today. But what I found most interestting about this class was the video they showed about education. It was actually a TED talk adapted by RSA animates which focuses on educational reform, an issue very personal and close to my heart. Here is the link to the video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U. I loved this video because it brings up so many good issues on what is not only wrong with our educational systems but also with how we are trying to fix them. Coming from the perspective of someone who grew up in what Sir Ken Robinson describes as, "the most over-stimulating time in history," I can say that I have felt that everything he said was spot. I watched throughout my education as so many of my friends were medicated just so that they would sit down and "learn." That is learn to think in a way that is against their very patterns of thinking. I also come from a background where I was taught that I had to work my butt off to be as close to perfect (a definition of perfect also varied on the evaluator) in high school after which I would go off to college, get a degree (or a couple), and finally be a contributing member of society. Unfortunately, I was one of those kids who didn't necessarily know what they wanted to do, I thought I did but I didn't have the perspective I needed on life to truly understand what I wanted to do with mine, nor do I have the perspective now. My mother lives under the paradigm, "do what you love and success will follow." I believe in this too but my problem lies in educational systems telling people that they need to follow a very specific path, and now more than ever (thanks to technlogy) we are expected to do more than ever so we have no time to find what we really love. What's worse, when we do find what we really love we are discouraged from truly pursuing it because we a such a "success"-centered society where success is equated to money and power. What we "kids" need today is time to discover who we really are, flexibility to do what we want, and most important of all the support of not only our families but also educational systems.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Journal 06 (J06): Online Scavenger Hunt
-Links to the websites of 5 manufacturers or retails who specialize in outdoor camping and recreation products: Coleman:
REI:
Eureka!
Wenzel:
Sierra Designs:
-3 images of trade show / exhibition booths from the outdoor recreation and sporting industry.
 |
Source: http://www.tsnn.com/blog-archive/wp-content/uploads/Outdoor-Retailer-2011-smaller.jpg |
 |
Source: http://www.windsport.com/uploads/Image/Features/News2/SURFexpo.jpg |
 |
| Source: |
-Links to the websites of 5 manufacturers or retailers who specialize in indoor home goods products.
Ikea:
Pottery Barn:
Restoration Hardware:
Crate and Barrel:
The Container Store:
-3 images of trade show / exhibition booths from the indoor home goods market.
 |
| Source: |
 |
| Source: |
 |
| Source: |
-Working definition of “indoor home good”
My definition of indoor home good would be any product that is utilized in everyday life within the home.
-3 pictures:
 |
| Source: |
 |
| Source: |
 |
| Source: |
Monday, May 2, 2011
Reading Reflection 02
In Chapter 7 Heskett's talks about the intersection of design and corporate, national and personal identity. Mostly he talks about how designing globally or across cultures is becoming increasingly difficult because of increasing globalization and interconnectedness thanks to things like the internet. What I found most interesting in the chapter was his description of personal identity and how in today's world it is possible to be in one place, be part of that places identity but also to belong to a separate group, a separate identity that exists globally. He puts it well when he writes, "it is possible to be at the same time a member of one culture and a member of one or more subcultures that might have little in common with the dominant form" (Heskett 85).
Chapter 8 talks of systems and how design attempts to tackle systems and changing systems, sometimes unsuccessfully. What I found most interesting was his discussion of new and old systems. He writes, "As so often in history, new technologies tend to be defined initially in old forms and a transition period seems to be necessary before new forms are evolved. Typical examples are the horseless carriage before it developed into the automobile, or desk-top computers, basically a television screen and a typewriter, which still awaits resolution" (Heskett 96). The line about the computer really struck me because I had never thought of a desktop as a transition perion without resolution. Of course, when this book was published I was still in middle school so I suppose my perspective is a bit skewed. I think that if Heskett were to look at the modern (2011) landscape of technology that he would say that we are still moving towards a resolution of the computing issue. We have now created a myriad of devices that have multiple functions and are continually searching for ways to further squeeze more functionality into our devices. Think about it, in 2002 we had desktops, some laptops and the iPod had just been released. In 9 short years we have developed Smart phones that are as powerful as the desktops of 2002, tablet computers that are even more powerful, and the laptop has come and gone as the golden child of computing. I actually think that it's quite exciting to be living in this time, just waiting until the next computing forms comes into being. Now back to the reading...
In the introduction to cradle to cradle McDonough honestly scared me a little bit. I thought I was aware of all the toxins and non-natural products present in my home but I didn't realize that they were so prevalent. I actually found this to be somewhat ironic because were living in a society moving more and more towards creating a "natural" world with foods and products that are processed as little as possible, but most of us rely on products that are incredibly processed and contain so many harmful things. I think McDonough makes it clear just from the introduction that one of the main motivations behind/points of this book will be design focused on bringing together what he describes as two disparate worlds, industrialization and nature. Perhaps my favorite point of his is at the end of the introduction where he comments on how ants have a biomass greater than that of humans (there are more of them by mass), yet their impact on the environment is quite the opposite of ours. They, in fact, have lived millions of years giving back to the environment, "[nourishing] plants, animals, and soil. Human industry has been in full swing for a little over a century, yet it has brought about a decline in almost every ecosystem on the planet. Nature doesn't have a design problem. People do" (McDonough 16).
Chapter 8 talks of systems and how design attempts to tackle systems and changing systems, sometimes unsuccessfully. What I found most interesting was his discussion of new and old systems. He writes, "As so often in history, new technologies tend to be defined initially in old forms and a transition period seems to be necessary before new forms are evolved. Typical examples are the horseless carriage before it developed into the automobile, or desk-top computers, basically a television screen and a typewriter, which still awaits resolution" (Heskett 96). The line about the computer really struck me because I had never thought of a desktop as a transition perion without resolution. Of course, when this book was published I was still in middle school so I suppose my perspective is a bit skewed. I think that if Heskett were to look at the modern (2011) landscape of technology that he would say that we are still moving towards a resolution of the computing issue. We have now created a myriad of devices that have multiple functions and are continually searching for ways to further squeeze more functionality into our devices. Think about it, in 2002 we had desktops, some laptops and the iPod had just been released. In 9 short years we have developed Smart phones that are as powerful as the desktops of 2002, tablet computers that are even more powerful, and the laptop has come and gone as the golden child of computing. I actually think that it's quite exciting to be living in this time, just waiting until the next computing forms comes into being. Now back to the reading...
In the introduction to cradle to cradle McDonough honestly scared me a little bit. I thought I was aware of all the toxins and non-natural products present in my home but I didn't realize that they were so prevalent. I actually found this to be somewhat ironic because were living in a society moving more and more towards creating a "natural" world with foods and products that are processed as little as possible, but most of us rely on products that are incredibly processed and contain so many harmful things. I think McDonough makes it clear just from the introduction that one of the main motivations behind/points of this book will be design focused on bringing together what he describes as two disparate worlds, industrialization and nature. Perhaps my favorite point of his is at the end of the introduction where he comments on how ants have a biomass greater than that of humans (there are more of them by mass), yet their impact on the environment is quite the opposite of ours. They, in fact, have lived millions of years giving back to the environment, "[nourishing] plants, animals, and soil. Human industry has been in full swing for a little over a century, yet it has brought about a decline in almost every ecosystem on the planet. Nature doesn't have a design problem. People do" (McDonough 16).
Peer blog reflection 02
Sarah Howard:
The first thing I noticed upon returning to her blog was the fact that she had changed her color scheme from pink and black, to a minty-green and black. I mentioned i my previous blog post that the pink and black weren't my cup of tea but I certainly hope that she didn't change the scheme because of me! Overall, I think that Sarah writes and expresses her ideas really well, getting her point across effectively. One particular comment I liked was, " 'Nature doesn’t have a design problem. People do.' Without studying abroad in Bolivia I don’t know if I could really grasp how truly valid that statement is." I think that it brings up important issues about how design in some ways does make us lazy and complacent in our world, but part of it is allowing design to take too much importance in our lives. I think that a global perspective is key in understanding what McDonough is trying to say.
Mike B:
One of Mike's thoughts that I loved was, "This chapter really helped me see the importance of design to identity but also taught me that a good identity must be backed up with reliable service and dependability. If it is not then it's just a good design." I completely agree with this and is one of the most important things I consider when shopping for anything. Of course, an entire portion of corporate identity is creating a brand image that people trust and feel provides good products. He also mentioned McDonough when he said, "His talk coupled with the discussion by Janine Benyus on Biomimicry was a great example of how we can stop wasting our resources and use design to build sustainable products and cities." I completely agree with Mike here that we can use bio-mimicry to create a more sustainable world, but also to advance design and society in general by taking clues from the things in nature that have evolved and been refined over millions of years.
Ricardo:
Once again, one of my fellow Kings changed the design of their blog! I really liked Ricardo's original choice of a background, but I also like his second choice very much as well. The simple water against white I actually found very relaxing and didn't draw too much attention away from the text of the blog. Ricardo brings up one of the most disappointing things we've heard yet in class. He mentions a wheelchair that would expand accessibility for the disabled and how it, "was supposed to be such a great invention but it was a dead project because it was too much money to make and insurance companies did not want to support it." I like the simplicity of Ricardo's statement because it really shows that it wasn't something complicated like a design or material issue with the wheelchair, but simply the fact that insurance companies didn't want to pay for something so completely amazing because it was "too" expensive.
The first thing I noticed upon returning to her blog was the fact that she had changed her color scheme from pink and black, to a minty-green and black. I mentioned i my previous blog post that the pink and black weren't my cup of tea but I certainly hope that she didn't change the scheme because of me! Overall, I think that Sarah writes and expresses her ideas really well, getting her point across effectively. One particular comment I liked was, " 'Nature doesn’t have a design problem. People do.' Without studying abroad in Bolivia I don’t know if I could really grasp how truly valid that statement is." I think that it brings up important issues about how design in some ways does make us lazy and complacent in our world, but part of it is allowing design to take too much importance in our lives. I think that a global perspective is key in understanding what McDonough is trying to say.
Mike B:
One of Mike's thoughts that I loved was, "This chapter really helped me see the importance of design to identity but also taught me that a good identity must be backed up with reliable service and dependability. If it is not then it's just a good design." I completely agree with this and is one of the most important things I consider when shopping for anything. Of course, an entire portion of corporate identity is creating a brand image that people trust and feel provides good products. He also mentioned McDonough when he said, "His talk coupled with the discussion by Janine Benyus on Biomimicry was a great example of how we can stop wasting our resources and use design to build sustainable products and cities." I completely agree with Mike here that we can use bio-mimicry to create a more sustainable world, but also to advance design and society in general by taking clues from the things in nature that have evolved and been refined over millions of years.
Ricardo:
Once again, one of my fellow Kings changed the design of their blog! I really liked Ricardo's original choice of a background, but I also like his second choice very much as well. The simple water against white I actually found very relaxing and didn't draw too much attention away from the text of the blog. Ricardo brings up one of the most disappointing things we've heard yet in class. He mentions a wheelchair that would expand accessibility for the disabled and how it, "was supposed to be such a great invention but it was a dead project because it was too much money to make and insurance companies did not want to support it." I like the simplicity of Ricardo's statement because it really shows that it wasn't something complicated like a design or material issue with the wheelchair, but simply the fact that insurance companies didn't want to pay for something so completely amazing because it was "too" expensive.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Hunting Down Design
Clue 1: The Barcelona Chair designed by Mies van der Rohe. It was originally designed in 1929 for the German Pavilion at the Barcelona Exposition. It is still produced today by the company Knoll to exact specifications van der Rohe.
Clue 2: This is the Eames rocker found in the Knowlton Library. It was designed by Charles and Ray Eams, has a body made of molded plastic and rocking legs that are made of wood and remind me somewhat of naval or boat themes. The magazine I am reading is called Urbanistica, and is an Italian city planning magazine.
Clue 3: Peter Eisenman designed the famous Wexner Center on campus (picture above). Something interesting is that it was Peter Eisenman's first public building, and parts of the movie Little man Tate with Jodi Foster were filmed there.
Clue 4: One of the Philip Johnson buildings on campus is the Math Tower (pictured above). We found that the doorway (also shown above) was quite interesting because it contradicted the overall curvature in the façade of the building.
Clue 5: Finally, Acock & Associates are responsible for the most recent renovation of the OSU Main Library. Something interesting about the library is that the original building was first finished in 1912, and since the building has undergone three renovations (1951, 1977, and 2009).
Course Summary 02
We started this second section of the class by talking about the design process. The lecture portion focused on trying to quantify the process in a way that generalized and described the methods used by designers when going about the process. I was a little surprised by the way it was described because I always imagined it to be a much more fluid and free process. But I then discovered that – like many things – the process is unique to each person, company, etc. We watched The Deep Dive and witnessed firsthand the unique design process used by IDEO. I realize that not all design firms are like this but also that even if the process involves a more rigid structure that creative thinking is a key. The other focus of these classes is design that is non-selfish, or at least design that is focused on better the lives of so many people. This can be in terms of accessibility for physically disabled people or in terms of products that bring luxuries or simple things to a larger population. One of the invetions that most stuck me was the water bottle that could filter even the dirtiest water, and the fact that it was affordable and could change the lives of so many people from those in 3rd world countries, to those in the most developed nation in the world (the US). There are so many things that design can do and really all it starts with is a thought…an idea.
Found Faces :)
 |
| Found this guy on the water shut off valve somewhere at OSU. |
 |
| Coat hook, thought the large "nose" was hilarious. |
 |
| No mouth evident here but I thought the different sized "eyes" reminded me of -> O_o |
 |
| Remote for an old toy boat. |
 |
| Found this pair on the front of my old Gamecube, they even have eyebrows! |
 |
| Ok, poor lighting but the three pronged (grounded) outlet is the best example of a found face that I thought of. |
 |
| I suppose that this one is a bit of a stretch, the the two knobs on the cabinet about the oven and the oven handle itself hit me as a face |
 |
| Even less obvious as the last, this one is formed by the pictures and the fireplace. |
 |
| One of my favorites, center right...reminds me a bit of a South Park character with the "mouth" |
Monday, April 18, 2011
Peer blog reflection
What I find striking about Ricardo’s blog is the visual appeal it presents at first glance. The background picture has a nice set of colors with a certain rustic appeal, as well as the opaqueness of the actual blog area all lends a certain believability to the blog as a whole…I applaud Ricardo for his visual choices. I also liked that he love chocolate (as a self proclaimed chocoholic), but more interestingly Ricardo’s description of why he’s taking the class, “I have always been interested in graphic design, so I decided to take this class because I am changing my major, and I just wanted to see how interested I would be once the class concluded. I don't have any set class expectations, I just want to get a general understanding of design. I am mainly hoping that this will be an interesting class that will help me decide if a road down design will be in my future.” Some of his posts may be a bit short but they really reflect his thoughts on the class, and get straight to the point…plus, he’s a self proclaimed non-conversationalist.
The first thing that struck me was the title of his blog, “a non-jugglers design 200 blog.” It’s unique grabs your attention and makes me want to learn more about Mike as a person, and what he has to think. I really like Mike’s style of writing and how organized his writing/blog posts seem. I myself am incredibly unorganized or at least I feel like I am. Particularly I liked the post about patterns and what Mike describes as a, “Moire Pattern … I chose this pattern because it is always changing. A Moire Pattern occurs when two competing patterns overlap. The result is an ever changing pattern of shapes. The above images are all the same photo but, shown at different distances. Notice how the pattern changes as the image is zoomed in and out.” This is something I hadn’t known and I found it very interesting because I didn’t think that this effect even had a name. But, what I think that I like most about the blog was the fact that Mike and I share a first name, haha.
I absolutely love the interface/set-up of this blog, I may disagree with the color scheme (although I’m really not a black and pink kind of person…so I can’t judge, haha) but the interface was so unique and well done that I was amazed when I first loaded the page. I really like how Sarah relates what she is learning in design to her knowledge of business, particularly when she writes, “In business we learn that it is essential to maximize productivity and that can be achieved by increasing efficiency. In chapter 6 the book gives the example of how starting in the 1960’s businesses began to use a more autocratic style of management as opposed to a Taylor approach and thus emphasizing ‘leadership rather than control, [where] workers were encouraged to interact in teams and contribute more actively to processes’ (Heskett 74).” She has a well designed, well written blog.
Overall I look forward to working with my fellow Kings and reading more of their thoughts.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Designer Investigation Part 03
Jonathan Ives:
 |
| Source: http://www.gearlog.com/2009/02/birth_of_an_apple_product_behi.php |
Jonathan Ives was born in London in 1967 where he spent his childhood until 1985 where he studied design and art at Newcastle Polytechnic University. After graduation he worked shortly for a London design firm called Tangerine before moving to San Francisco to work for Apple Incorporated in 1992. He was then appointed vice-president of industrial design at Apple in 1998 after the return of one of the company’s co-founders (Steve Jobs) as CEO. Since his appointment to this position he and the Apple design team have produced many wonderful products that beautifully combine form and function. Most notable among these products was the iPod in which Ives sought to provide a compact medium for digital music storage and playback, but understood that it was not only about functionality and appearance, it was also about creating an intuitive, useable interface. Ives and Apple are a personal source of inspiration for me because of their attention to detail when it comes to designing their products, from the quality of the materials to the (almost) seamless interaction of all of the components, including the operating system which sets them apart from other companies.
 |
| Classic iMac, I have one of these sitting in my room. Unlike my old PC's I can still boot it up and play some classic Age of Empires if I like...despite it being almost 11 years old. |
 | |
| Never had one of the original ones considering it cost almost $1000 dollars, but I own many versions of later models...and I love them. |
 | ||
| Finally, the original iPhone. My favorite so far because of the brushed metal backing with the shiny, contrasting Apple Logo. Source: http://www.xtraaz.com/iphone-evolution/ |
Designer Investigation Part 02
Aubrey Beardsley:
Aubrey was born in August 1872 in England, attended Bristol Grammar School as a child and was considered an artistic prodigy. He had poor health throughout his childhood as well. His first works were a poem published in his grammar school’s paper in 1885, and shortly after his first drawings in the same paper. He then did illustrations for the schools Christmas entertainment in 1888 and wrote another piece for his schools paper. Finally after frustration with not gaining recognition he met with Sir Edward Burne-Jones who – impressed by the boys drawings – sent him to attend Westminister School of Art. From then on out Aubrey worked incredibly hard on his illustrations his work being used on covers and in books, including work for the famous Oscar Wilde. It was actually working for Wilde that would later prove to be his downfall. Aubrey’s fame truly started when his characteristic black and white illustrations were featured in The Yellow Book a publication edited by Aubrey and Henry Harland. Despite the incredible quality of Aubrey’s work the critics found it to be too risqué. Some postulate that this reaction to Aubrey’s work was a result of his close relationship with Oscar Wilde who was tried and convicted of sodomy in 1895 just around the time of The Yellow Paper’s publication. Aubrey was asked to step down as editor but continued to do work for authors until his death at the age of 25.
What I find so inspiring about this story is that Aubrey found a way to do something he was so passionate about, and the fact that he accomplished this all at such a young age. I also found the stark black and white images to be very striking and perhaps a precursor to the art-deco movement. Below are some of the images that I found to be the most striking.
Designer Investigation Part 01
Saul Bass:
Saul Bass was born on May 8th 1920 in Bronx, New York and died on April 25th 1996 in Los Angeles. As a child he drew constantly and went on to study at the Art Students League in Manhattan after winning a scholarship to attend the school. He then got apprenticeships at Manhattan design firms, until finally landing at the Blaine Thompson Company advertising agency. Next, he enrolled at Brooklyn College where the Hungarian designer Gyorgy Kepes heavily influenced him. Kepes exposed Bass to the German Bauhaus style and Russian constructivism. After Brooklyn Bass uprooted and immigrated to Los Angeles where he first worked as an art director at Buchanan and Company (an advertising agency) but shortly after established his own studio called Saul Bass & Associates. While working at his studio he began to break into the film industry and make his mark, after first being commissioned to create titles for Robert Aldrich’s The Big Knife and Billy Wilder’s The Seven Year Itch. His true impact on the film industry and the art of film came when he created movie posters and the title sequences of Preminger’s The Man with a Golden Arm in 1955. Before Bass’s interpretation on movie title sequences they had been drab, dull, simple, and more importantly so boring that projectionists wouldn’t even pull the curtain until the movie started. Bass created an opening title sequence of a black cut-out arm a powerful symbol of addiction, the major theme in the film.
 |
| Bass's poster for The Man with the Golden Arm Source: http://library.rit.edu/gda/designer/saul-bass |
After the major impact from The Man with the Golden Arm Bass went on to create over 50 title sequences for major directors including Preminger, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, John Frankenheimer and Martin Scorsese. Most notably he worked closely with Hitchcock to create titles for movies including Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Psycho. During Psycho Hitchcock allowed Bass to direct some of the dramatic sequences including the famous shower scene. Bass then when on to direct a series of shorts the last – titled Why Man Creates – actually wins him an Oscar in 1968. Feeling emboldened by this win he went on to direct a feature-length film titled Phase IV in 1974, but after it flopped he began to focus more on commercial graphic design creating the logos for United Airlines, AT&T, Minolta, Warner Communications, and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. It was until later in his life that he worked on a few more title sequences including GoodFellas, Schlinder’s List, and Cape Fear before he passed away in 1996 of Lymphoma.
 |
| A piece of Bass's work which I was quite surprised he had done. Source: http://corin.wegotways.com/2010/03/23/saul-bass/ |
Personally, I find Saul Bass to be a huge source of inspiration for me in terms of design. He not only influenced the world of design and film but he also created so many new ways in which design and its principles can be utilized. His work in the film industry was visually stunning, edgy and used simple images or symbols to drive the observer straight to the meaning of the entire piece. He was successful not only commercially but had enormous influence on the film industry, which is an amount of success that I can only aspire to.
 |
| Saul himself with some of his commercial work. Source: http://filmicability.blogspot.com/2009/01/saul-bass.html |
Sources:
"Saul Bass / - Design/Designer Information." Design Museum London. Web. 13 Apr. 2011. <http://designmuseum.org/design/saul-bass>.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)