Nov 18 2008, 12:56:31 PM EST in category [Assignments]
Fast-food restaurants promote indigestion in more than one way.
Customarily, visual references used to advertise the menu ?that is,
photographs? are more than often fake. Most of the products showcased
as value meals were never photographed as a group, but instead "stitched" from different sources. Not only clients save in buying a
soda, sandwich and fries. Owners also play cheap by resorting to
digital compositions that ultimately deceive the public. To add to the
debate about the nutritional attributes of fast food, we can certify it
can also endanger visual health.
Almost insistently, independent images of food and drinks are brought
together by a digital click and then copied into a background. As if no
one noticed, for example, cookies and muffins are often photographed
once, then repeated and flipped on top of each other to create the
illusion of plurality. These examples can go unnoticed to the
untrained: the inexperienced lack command of shadows, contrast levels
and perspective angles that are a basic requisite of photography, but
also of Photoshop.
However, a few clues suffice to grasp the situation. On your next
visit to a fast food establishment, turn waiting in line into a
research project. Look carefully at the french fries, as represented in
several value meal pictures. You will notice an identical arrangement
in all of them, while sandwich and burger simultaneously appear in a
different perspective angle. If the different items had been
photographed together ? as a true "combo" ? food would probably appear
more real, maybe truly appetizing. But fast food friends are prone to
supersize even their omissions.
In many instances, the cheese, lettuce, bread, and meat images we
are presented with are the product of extreme manipulation. Do you like
your food when it has been played with? At an advertising agency, I
once witnessed a designer "clone" a small hamburger patty into a
half-pound version. No wonder the food we get over the counter never
looks like those in the pictures. With the money earned by fast food
establishments, you would think their owners would go though the
trouble and expense of hiring a fast food stylist and a photographer to
tend properly to their unique needs and expectations.
In contrast, by being cheap, they add to the already artificial
nature of the food they promote, simultaneously diminishing the role of
the graphic designer. It is less expensive to pay for a graphic artist
to make a change on the food, than actually pay for a photo shoot.
Thanks to the capabilities of photo alteration software, photo "chopping" photographs has succeeded at further deceiving the public.
In truth, money-making concerns are not to be blamed alone for,
unfortunately, most people do not take a good look at what they are
about to eat. Be it food, or publicity.
What reaction do you have to those who use your skills to deceive the public? Would you ever do it? What would you do if you were asked to do it?
Nov 11 2008, 10:09:46 AM EST in category [Assignments]
Source:Getty Images Many athletes routinely use visualization techniques as part of training. There are stories and examples of how such techniques provide not only a competitive edge, but a renewed mental awareness and sense of well-being.
Visualization has also been called guided imagery, mental rehearsal, mediation, and a variety of other things -- no matter the term, the basic techniques and concepts are the same. Generally speaking, visualization is the process of creating a mental image or intention of what you want to happen or feel.
Two-time Olympic silver medalists in the shot put Adam Nelson knows this visual process very well. In his hopes of obtaining Olympic gold in Beijing, he went through a session of hypnotism to try to reach "a deep and profound sensory comprehensive subconscious power experience". He believed this intense visual experience would help him achieve his goal of Olympic champion. Click here to learn more about his experience in visualization.
As designers we are called to be visionaries. How do you prepare for a critique or presentation? Does visualizing events or designs help your design process?
Nov 04 2008, 03:27:18 PM EST in category [Assignments]
Source: Getty Images
Established
in 1998, AIGA Design for Democracy applies design tools and thinking to
increase civic participation by making interactions between the U.S. government
and its citizens more understandable, efficient and trustworthy. Independent,
pragmatic and committed to the public good, Design for Democracy collaborates
with researchers, designers and policy-makers in service of public sector
clients and AIGA’s goal of “demonstrating the value of design by doing valuable
things."
Richard Grefé is the executive
director of AIGA and Jessica Friedman
Hewitt is the managing director of its Design for
Democracy program.
We
are reminded by Grefé and
Friedman,in this New York Times Opinion piece, that during the 2000 presidential election in
Palm Beach County in Florida, a confusing “butterfly ballot” design for
punch-card voting equipment made it easy to miscast votes for the Reform Party
candidate Pat Buchanan that were intended for Al Gore.
The confusion called national attention to the
design of ballots.
Because design is so important in our democratic
process, the AIGA Design For Democracy issued their Top 10 Election Design
Guidelines.
Take some time to research this issue of Design
and Democracy and then in your blog response, let us know how you feel about
the importance of design in elections—not just in ballot design, but also in
campaign materials, etc.
We aren’t looking for a political debate, instead
give a clear response to how you feel design fits in our election and
democratic process.
Design can be found anywhere. Good design is a bit harder to find? but it could be argued that it could be pretty much found anywhere too. What is really hard to find are the moments that facilitate the execution of good design. October is at least a moment in the year when we can count on having such opportunity.
The activity of pumpkin carving, though it can sometimes be simple, can serve as a canvas for creative development, witty communication and design thinking. Even though many of us may associate such experience with childish associations or community related ideas, there are others the push the limit of the medium to an extreme to create unexpected and innovative results.
Can you think of another activity, like pumpkin carving, that might be culturally grounded to us, but that could be re-shaped from a lens of a design thinker? How do you think that this approach of re-thinking existing processes might affect, aid and influence your work and creation of new projects and ideas?
Oct 14 2008, 10:32:27 AM EDT in category [Assignments]
Bio Mapping is a community mapping project in which over the last four years with more than 1500 people have taken part in. In the context of regular, local workshops and consulltations, participants are wired up with an innovative device which records the wearer's Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), which is a simple indicator of the emotional arousal in conjunction with their geographical location. People re-eplore their local area by walking the neighborhood with the device and on their return a map is created which visualizes points of high and low arousal. By interpreting and annotating this data, communal emotion maps are constructed that are packed full of personal observations which show the areas that people feel strongly about and truly visualize the social space of a community. How will our perceptions of our community and environment change when we become aware of our own and each others intimate body states?
The designer behind Bio Mapping is Christian Nold. To find out more about Christian and his projects click below.
Have you ever wondered the streets of Raleigh and felt emotionally provoked? What gives a place it's unique character? Is it the people, the place, or the things within that environment?
How can this help us as designers? Should designing something with emotional attachment be important?
Oct 10 2008, 10:22:42 AM EDT in category [Assignments]
source:
KVA MATx
More
than 2 billion people live without electricity, most in extreme poverty. The Portable Light project is a non-profit initiative established
by KVA MATx that creates new ways to deliver renewable power and light to the
developing world in a textile form that integrates flexible photovoltaics and
energy efficient solid state lighting.
The
Portable Light Project creates new ways to provide renewable power in solar
textiles that can be adapted to meet the needs of people in different cultures
and global regions.
Portable Light provides renewable solar power to
charge a cell phone and provide bright, white light to support community based
education and household economic development.
Portable Light textiles with flexible solar materials and solid state lighting
enable the world?s poorest people to create and own energy harvesting bags,
blankets, and clothing using local materials and traditional weaving and sewing
techniques in an open source model. Portable Light enables people in the
developing world to benefit from flexible solar nano-technology and accelerates
the movement to clean energy worldwide.
The designers who established the
initiative are Shelia Kennedy, AIA and Frano Violich, both architects, from the
firm Kennedy & Violich Architecture. KVA MATx is a division of their
architecture firm.
?Sheila Kennedy, AIA, principal and founder with
partner Frano Violich, AIA, of Kennedy & Violich Architecture (KVA) in
Boston believes there is an exciting horizon for architects to return to the
design of materials. One of the main missions of KVA and MATx, its materials
research unit, is to expand the diminishing role of architects. Its goal is to
forge a new relationship with materials, one that will draw on mass
customization. "We have always taken existing materials and products and
expanded the palette beyond their usual use. Research with new materials is an
extension of what we have been doing all along," she says. Kennedy
describes two main "design drivers" that she believes are changing
how space is made and organized. The first is the advance in solid-state
technology; the second is the wireless and hardwired distribution and
integration of information infrastructure.? source:
http://archrecord.construction.com/innovation/2_features/0310carbonfiber.asp
Portable Light-- what an amazing idea and
initiative designed by an architect!
What do you think of this project?not just as a
design project, but also as a social initiative? How do you feel about
architects and other designers leading initiatives to empower people and solve
some of the world?s most important problems?What makes us, as designers, uniquely qualified to tackle projects far
beyond simply designing buildings, spaces, products, etc.?
Sep 25 2008, 10:53:12 AM EDT in category [Assignments]
Do you know where the hell is Matt?
Consider the story of this 31-year-old from Connecticut who in February of 2003 quit his job and used the money he'd saved to wander around Asia. A few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave him an idea: "Hey, why don't you stand over there and do that dance. I'll record it." He was referring to a particular dance Matt does. It's actually the only dance Matt does. He does it badly. Anyway, Matt uploaded the video on his personal site so that he family and friends could see it.
A couple years later, someone found the video online and passed it to someone else, who passed it to someone else, and so on until it came to the attention of the people at Stride Gum. They asked Matt if he'd be interested in taking another trip around the world to make a new video. Matt asked if they'd be paying for it. They said yes.
In 2006, Matt took a 6 month trip through 39 countries on all 7 continents. In that time, he danced a great deal. This second video made Matt even more quasi-famous. In fact, for a brief period in July, he was semi-famous. Matt was known as "That guy who dances on the internet. No, not that guy. The other one. No, not him either. I'll send you the link. It's funny."
Things settled down again, and then in 2007 Matt went back to Stride with another idea. He realized his bad dancing wasn't actually all that interesting, and that other people were much better at being bad at it. He showed them his inbox, which, as a result of his semi-famousness, was overflowing with emails from all over the planet. He told them he wanted to travel around the world one more time and invite the people who'd written him to come out and dance too. Stride thought that sounded like yet another very good idea, so they let him do it. (The result is the video at top.)
How many times have we dismissed someone else's thought? How many times have we allowed others to trash our ideas? How can the design process innovate if it thinks in terms of cancellation? In what ways you think designers could better collaborate to consider more the ideas of others?
Hey, in the end? who knows? Your idea may take you travelling all around the world. ;)
Sep 17 2008, 12:27:24 PM EDT in category [Assignments]
Olympic Aquatic Center
Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium
They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But what if that person knows to obtain the beauty there will be implicit costs taken to achieve this result. To what degree are designers held socially responsible for their work? Often times when a new design is introduced we are captivated by it's beauty and function. Creating good design has as much to do with the end result as it does with the process. As designers, we must constantly challenge ourselves to make sure what we are designing is done with integrity towards the environment and the social well being of people.
The Olympic Games were an excellent example of how the glitz and glamour of design can be used to distract people from reality. Many people in China were displaced and parts of their history were destroyed all to show the world that they are innovators of design. Many people who helped build the Birds Nest Stadium were not fairly paid and displaced. As designers we must embrace the need for social responsibility.
What do you think about social responsibility in design? Are there different types of social responsibility that are more important than others? Please try to justify your responses.
A purchase made in 1994 by Bill Gates, the chairman of the Microsoft Corporation, set a sales record for the highest price ever paid for a manuscript at auction. Mr. Gates purchased the Codex Leicester, a notebook filled with drawings and scientific writings handwritten and illustrated by Leonardo Da Vinci on the many subjects that fascinated him, for $30.8 million US dollars (price has not been adjusted for inflation). It is the last Leonardo manuscript in private hands. Upon its purchase, Mr. Gates promised to lend the 72-page manuscript to museums around the world. He has also recently made available a virtual version of the manuscript.
Bill Gates describes his purchase:"I feel very lucky that I own a notebook. In fact, I remember going home one night and telling my wife Melinda that I was going to buy a notebook; she didn't think that was a very big deal. I said, no, this is a pretty special notebook, this is the Codex Leicester, one of the Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. And I personally have always been amazed by him because he personally worked out science on his own, and he understood things that no other scientist of that time did. And his work is amazing. He would work by drawing things and writing down his ideas. So he built these notebooks about how light worked, how water worked, how weapons would work. Of course he designed all sorts of flying machines, like helicopters, way before you could actually build something like that. So every one of these notebooks are amazing documents ? they're kind of his rough-draft notes of texts that he eventually wanted to put together."We have learned quite a lot about Leonardo di Vinci and the amazing notebooks that he kept throughout his life in our lectures in class as well as in the film, Leonardo Da Vinci: Renaissance Master. Take a few minutes to read more about Leonardo Da Vinci's life here. If interested, you can also read The Complete Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci here.
For your blog response this week, please provide comments related to the importance of Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks. How do you feel about their relevance? Are they impressive for their progressive ideas, for their skillful illustrations, for their personal insights? Also, please remark about the importance of keeping your own personal notebook about your life in design.
Apr 24 2008, 01:01:46 PM EDT in category [Assignments]
Patricia Oliver Senior Vice President,
Educational Planning and Architecture, Art Center College of
Design, Pasadena, California.
Patricia Belton Oliver, born and raised in Southern California,
received her undergraduate degrees from UCLA in Literature and
Independent Studies. Her undergraduate thesis was on the "Transition
from Verbal to Visual Thinking" and she completed her studies at UCLA
with a Master of Architecture degree. After graduation Ms. Oliver
worked for many notable Southern California architects including Frank
O. Gehry, Charles Moore, Craig Hodgetts and Robert Mangurian at Studio
Works, and Coy Howard. She also worked for Charles Kober and Associates
where she contributed to projects as large as the re-design of several
square blocks of downtown Nashville.
In 1981 Ms. Oliver opened her own office, Oliver Kurze Georges, in
Los Angeles. While maintaining her practice she taught at California
State Polytechnic University, Pomona and eventually became Associate
Dean of the College of Environmental Design. In 1992, Ms. Oliver became
the Chairman of a new department of Environmental Design at Art Center
College of Design. In this position she has developed programs in
Environmental Product Design, Interior Architecture, Environmental
Graphics and Entertainment Design. Currently, Ms Oliver is the Senior
Vice President of Architecture, Planning, and Special Projects, working
with design architects Frank O. Gehry, Alvaro Siza, Craig Hodgetts and
Ming Fung of Hodgetts + Fung, and Kevin Daly of Daly,Genik. In that
capacity she is responsible for the planning, programming and
management of the design projects for the 175 acre Hillside Campus, and
the 7 acre South Campus in downtown Pasadena.
Ms. Oliver has served as President of the Architectural Foundation
of Los Angeles, Treasurer of the National Association of Collegiate
Schools of Architecture, and Associate Director of the Outreach
Community Center for Urban Research. She has served on the Board of
Directors for the InterAmerican Center for the Arts and Architecture,
and on the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Architects,
Los Angeles Chapter. She has been a visiting critic/lecturer at Harvard
University, University of Southern California, Southern California
Institute of Architecture, North Carolina State University and Milan
Polytechnic in Italy. She is a registered architect in California.
Marilys Nepomechie
Associate Professor, Architecture, Florida International University School of Architecture
"? Nepomechie has amassed a resume and a body of work that shout
volumes about the power of creating
productive links. Some 30 design awards to her name, she has
traversed the globe during trips to Rome to enter competitions,
St. Louis and Boston to exhibit work, Istanbul and Rio de Janeiro
to present lectures, Ecuador to deliver a keynote address,
and
the list goes on. Her publications include book chapters and
articles in top academic and industry journals."
Hernan is currently Professor at the Universidad de Chile, Universidad Central and Universidad Finis Terrae in Santiago of Chile and is working toward a PhD in Art History, He will be defending his dissertation in June of this year.
Following are some selected accomplishments from his diverse résumé:
8 years experience as Administrator 25 years experience teaching 32 years experience in practice (14 years in France and 18 years in Chile) 93.000 mt2 built in Chile 2 First prize winning competition in Chile 1 First prize winning competition in France
Gwen Amos Professor & Graphic Design Program Coordinator. California State University Sacramento
Professor Gwen Amos, is a full-time faculty member at California State University, Sacramento. She received her MA graduate degree from California State University, Sacramento in Education and her bachelor degree from The Kansas City Art Institute. Her graduate work focused on learning modalities. She has taught at the University of Cincinnati, University of California, Berkeley, and California State University, Chico. In the past 25 years she has built a well-recognized Graphic Design program at Sacramento State. Her teaching has its focus in design theory, and how visual creative critical thinking relates to research, audience identification and message development in today?s global environment.
Along with teaching, Professor Gwen Amos has continued her design practice with clients in Northern and Southern California, Denver, Chicago, Houston and Washington D.C. She has received numerous awards from AIGA, Center for Design, and Western Art Directors Club. She has published articles on color for Step by Step Magazine and Before and After Magazine.
Apr 11 2008, 11:17:59 AM EDT in category [Assignments]
There is some confusion about the thought model review dates. There was a misprint on the assignment sheet. Those were last years dates (this has since been corrected). The official dates for the thought model review are:
April 27, Sunday April 28, Monday April 29, Tuesday
Sign up sheets will be circulated in class on Tuesday to choose your specific times. If you have a legitimate conflict with one of these dates, be prepared to demonstrate this in class on Tuesday as well. All reviews must be conducted on one of these days, during the alotted times. If you have any questions, email one of the TAs or Marvin.
Mar 27 2008, 10:28:54 AM EDT in category [Assignments]
ARCHITECTURE: MERCADO STEPHANIE ALICIA MILLER MEGAN ELIZABETH MILLIONES ANASTASIA G MORRIS REBECCA LAUREN PARRISH JONAS MCLUIN PENA DEVANNE E PIETSCH CHRISTOPHER A PINYAN MATTHEW D POWERS NATHANIEL STEPHEN READ LAURA RYLAND RAYMOND J STEPHENS JOSHUA ALLEN STRAWN JOHN BARTON WATKINS JUSTIN MCKINLEY WILLIAMS JENNY LING
Mar 27 2008, 10:18:08 AM EDT in category [Assignments]
A few years ago Richard Florida wrote and publicized a bestseller titled "Rise of the Creative Class" which he then followed with "The Flight of the Creative Class". Both of these books caused quite a splash. His theories including opinions on urban migration and cited areas that had a larger population of designers, hi-tech employees and artists were better positioned to prosper.
This thinking spilled over into the business world with publications such as BusinessWeek and Fast Company posing the question, could designers be the next CEOs? Is design thinking what the post-modern era needs to run its businesses and save sinking ships?
In the past five years, there has been a great fervor over whether designers have what it takes to apply their brand of design thinking to larger business issues including systems design and other applications outside of their core trained disciplines.
Programs such as Business Perspectives for Creative Leaders held at schools like Yale and Harvard bring business leaders and designers together for sessions of exchange and brainstorming on how to develop new ways to approach business problems.
The D-School at Stanfordis another good example of a model that takes non-designers, designers and combines their skills through design thinking to produce what the business world hopes is a model for innovation and success.
Do we have what it takes? Or are designers better at specialized applications of their craft and should we leave the business leadership to the MBAs? Is it a passing trend or a sustainable vision? Is a jack-of-all-trades a dangerous master-of-none?
Then, write a short definition of what YOU think "design thinking" is. (We're far enough along in the semester for each of you to have your own take, for better or worse, be candid!)
Lastly, make a case for or against designers as business leaders. Use at least one outside source to support your answer. You may want to include your own design aspirations as well.
Post Script: Lastly, if you have not heard of the people that Nussbaum mentions in the article, look them up. Whether you agree or disagree with the message they are putting out there, knowledge is empowerment and it allows you to back up your own arguments and take a professional stance.
Mar 25 2008, 05:12:03 PM EDT in category [Assignments]
The range of topics that we read for contemplation ex 4: critical making is nothing short of impressive. It is continually interesting how each of you interpret the assignment and come up with your own approach to shadowing and documenting your experience. Nice work!
Here are some of the topics from the architecture section:
sports & recreation speardiving drawing football plays (not as easy as it looks! highly strategic) la crosse 2 wooden boat builders a swing dancing lesson
making food tortillas with grandma award winning chili (2 people wrote about chili, both would not reveal the recipe and wrote about its protected nature) making dinner with mom cheesecake with grandma chocolate chip cookies with mom
caregiving household management & logistics with mom watching children in a church daycare
careers a comparison between a surgeon & a mechanic 2 pottery studios a wildlife illustrator framing and matting art hooking up an IT network in a new building installing car stereos how to mix the perfect slushy syrup (think 55 gallon drum, not one glass) laying tile
others how to tie a bow tie writing and playing a song cutting and polishing gemstones shooting & printing black and white photography (with chemicals, not digitally!)
Mar 25 2008, 04:10:12 PM EDT in category [Assignments]
This is just a reminder for all A&D students that your Blog assignments were due this past friday March 21. Please post your response ASAP, and don't forget to include additional references.
Mar 14 2008, 02:41:35 PM EDT in category [Assignments]
Drawing is a powerful tool for investigation and ideation.
In the March 11 lecture, Marvin spoke about drawing as a node in the design process and as a way to externalize ideas and potential design solutions for both the fantastic imagined things that will never come to be and those that are possible to realize.
Consider the following projects that involve drawing as a part of their process: 1000 Journals
All three of these projects employ drawing in a way that involves the user/audience. In the Quinta Monroy project, the future residents participated in a charrette where they were asked to visualize their new space and what they would use it for.
In the culture probes article, Bill Gavers describes his tool that he uses to engage the audience he is designing for in ethnographic-like research to reveal pieces of their lives that might inspire the objects that the design team creates to serve their communities.
The 1000 journals project is entirely audience generated artwork that is collected and published as a compendium. The goal of this project to inspire creativity, regardless of whether we consider ourselves "artists" or not.
With these in mind, how can drawing be used in a project to involve the audience that we create for? How should these creations then be used by the designer/artist that directs the task? Should they be seen as a blueprint for what the audience needs or a way for them to externalize their own thoughts but should be used as no more than inspiration for the project? How do you evaluate this type of collected information?
Respond to the projects and consider the above questions in a cohesive response. (You do not have to answer all of them, select at will.) Include at least one link to a project that is not mentioned that you found to use drawing as an audience engagement tool in a unique way.
Mar 13 2008, 04:47:16 PM EDT in category [Assignments]
Art & Design, Textiles BROWN JAY G BRUBAKER SAMUEL NATHAN CARROLL ALAINA LOUISE DAVIS SAMUEL LEWIS III DELANEY MICHAEL BRIAN DRAPER KENDAL ELISE GATLIN ANNA RUTH HAWKINS LEIGH ANNA HUFFINES TRENTON NATHANIEL KO MICHELLE KONEN KIMBERLY ELIZABETH
Feb 28 2008, 12:07:32 PM EST in category [Assignments]
Every design discipline has got them. For better or worse, its something that we all share. Actually, its something that we all ARE as well as serve.
The user. No wait, let me rephrase.
The consumer. That's so limiting. I am more than what I buy.
The audience. (Insert generic clapping noise here.)
None of them seem right. Or do they? Who is it that we design for and how do we discuss them? The vocabulary that we use to discuss the intentions of our work is a part of a malleable lexicon. However, some basis for understanding must be reached in order to communicate our objectives and evaluate our work.
Throughout the semester, Marvin has addressed design thinking and the design process from multiple perspectives. He has often framed a similar concept with multiple terms originating in different cultures. For example, the phrase "solvitur ambulando" attributed to Saint Augustine and the Japanese Zen practice of Kinhin both see walking as a meditative and problem solving technique in addition to a transportation method.
For this weeks question, I pose to you the challenge of naming and defining, who it is we design for amid continuing debate on the issue. Its time to throw your hat in the ring.
Following are two examples of audience naming taxonomies.
Note: These are not examples of the "right" solution, just different viewpoints on the issue.
From these sources and one to two sources of your choosing, make a case for what the "user" should be called in 2008 and in the next five years.
Additional Sources: Empowering the user as the new media participant Author: Park, Ji Yong Source: Digital Creativity, Volume 18, Number 3, September 2007 , pp. 175-186(12) Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group
Feb 28 2008, 11:24:35 AM EST in category [Assignments]
Graphic Design: GREGORY AMANDA NOEL HARDISON CHRISTINA BETH HUSTON MATTHEW RILEY JOHNSON COURTNEY LYN KYRIAKOULIS ANDREW P LAROSA JUSTIN LEIGH MCCLURE KELLEY ANN OBRIEN MEGHAN CAROL PETERS ELIZABETH PAXTON ROMANOS NICHOLAS W SAYLES LOGAN THOMPSON SCHLAX NICHOLAS LEVI SHERERTZ BETSY STEPHENS JONATHAN MICHAEL
Feb 21 2008, 08:52:14 AM EST in category [Assignments]
Architecture:
HINES JASON SCOTT HORA REBECCA ANN JACKSON CAMILLE E JI SEUNGHUAN SR JOLLEYS ERIKA JONES JILLIAN BROOKE KILBY RYAN PAUL KIRSCH MAGGIE ELAINE LLUCH ROCIO LOPES ELIANE MANDU MASON LECHASTIN JAVONTE' MCCLURE KYLER ANNE MCDONOUGH EILEEN
Feb 21 2008, 08:48:10 AM EST in category [Assignments]
"The street finds its own use for things. It's all in the mix.? ? William Gibson
In her Robotic Feral Public Authoring project, Natalie Jeremijenko developed hacks for remote control devices and robot dog toys to transform them into robotic devices equipped with sensors that gather information about toxins in the environment and relay that information back to project participants for mapping. Through workshops involving community members who help build the bots, Feral Robots project has held multiple trials from Ireland to New York City.
From the creator's web site: "The feral dog pack event is designed as an opportunity to enable public discourse and open-ended interpretation of the evidence at hand, and an opportunity to coordinate diverse interpretations. The display of the empirical evidence on the local pollutant is intended to enable and change typical lay-expert communication patterns, by raising the standards of evidence, or at least changing who produces this evidence."
The Feral Robots project sniffs out the span between logic and unreason, the rational and emotional. Designed to encourage participants to reinterpret their environments, the project takes an entertainment based toy and shifts the intended usage to a purpose driven tool with entertaining attributes.
However, as interesting as the results have been, the project has not been accepted as research in the empirical world of robotics and engineering. The publicity and exposure has remained largely under the heading of art and culture.
What we design and plan for does not always remain in the realm of control after we release it for use. In addition to examining the results of the Feral Robots project, the toy manufacturers of the original dogs certainly did not market their product for this kind of alteration.
Was the Feral Robots project successful? How do you measure the success of a project that is intended to perform in the liminal space between rational and emotional?
How do we as designers plan for a potential shift in the reception of our work? Or do we?
Feb 20 2008, 11:38:42 AM EST in category [Assignments]
NEUMAN ZACHARY ORR PRICE EMMANUEL J PRINCE PATRICK RYAN RYAN JOHN SIFTAR SATTERWHITE CHRISTOPHER SEAN STRUTHERS EMILY ALISON TORRENCE JUSTIN T VANDYKE LUCAS P WALLACE VIRGINIA LYNN ZAPATA LUIS PATRICK ZELLMER NATHANAEL JAMES
Feb 14 2008, 03:28:44 PM EST in category [Assignments]
IDEO director of interaction design and NC State grad alum, Danny Stillion, will be here on Thursday, February 21 for a public lecture in Burn Auditorium at 7 pm.
The use and distribution of the ubiquitous plastic bag is being called into question in multiple major cities. A cursory search reveals that other metropolitan areas in multiple nations have bans in place or plans to implement them.
Thinking of switching to paper? Before we crown paper bags the king of green, consider the fossil fuel use, green house gas emissions and materials consumption that goes into manufacturing paper bags as well.
So what's the answer? Re-usable tote bags? Wagons? Shop and consume less? Recycle the bags? There are many options to be weighed.
In addition to the position taken is the need to design, implement, distribute and enforce the decision. In all cases, there are several players in the equation.
1. The people 2. The government 3. The corporations 4. The media organizations that distribute the information
Decisions such as the bag ban, similar to water restrictions in periods of drought, require a lifestyle change in order to make them successful as a policy. This requires buy-in from all levels of the strata.
Systems theorist Donella Meadows writes about leverage points, or places to intervene in a system. (see additional resources for article) How can design use this idea to find the leverage points inside the example of the plastic versus paper debate to make an effective change?
Or perhaps, intervention isn't necessary at all, by designer, or any of the four mentioned groups.
What is your position on design and policy decisions that require lifestyle changes to implement? As a designer, where do you fit into this structure?
You may use the bag debate as the framework for your position, but you must include at least one source not mentioned in this post to support your stance.
Pro-bag: Plastic Bag Makers File Suit Against Oak. Bag Ban http://cbs5.com/seenon/consumer/plastic.bag.recycling.2.458279.html http://www.plasticbagrecycling.org/00.0/
Plastic Shopping Bag Quilt by California artist Gioia Fonda
Feb 07 2008, 12:11:01 PM EST in category [Assignments]
ADAMS, HEIDI JO ATTEBERRY, CAITLIN CAREY BRINKLEY, SUSANNAH LEE BROWN, NATALIE SCOTT CALLOWAY, WILLIAM JAMES CHOPLIN, ERIN ELISE SR CORGAN, ELIZABETH MARIE COX, SAMUEL WILDER DUDA, SOPHIA ELLEN EDWARDS, JENNIFER E FLEMING, CHRISTINE LEE FRIEDMAN, GRIFFIN C GREEN, PETER SAFTEL
Feb 07 2008, 12:01:28 PM EST in category [Assignments]
Ownership of one?s creations is a controversial topic that Graphic Designers see more of than other disciplines. Marvin mentioned sharing ideas rather than competing and hording at the expense of learning. He also mentioned the importance of one?s signature in claiming ownership and responsibility. As digital media proliferates, ownership and usage is becoming an issue not only of ?who owns that photograph,? but also of ?who?s accountable for this meaning.? Remixing raises issues of meaning generation as well as meaning degradation. (It is the language of the post-post-modern era.) This raises issues of perpetuating and creating stereotypes that inform cultural relations. Who owns the original? Who owns the appropriation? What happens when what you put out there is miscontrued or taken out of context? Does it matter?
In this era of uncertain ownership, mash-ups and appropriation, where do you draw the line? Form a perspective and write a mini-manifesto on your position of image ownership and of responsibility to the meanings that our work connotes. Use at least TWO examples to support your stance and use a persuasive style of writing. Convince your readers.
A Recent Example of Appropriation Gone Awry:
Bell Canada Controversy
"Canada's biggest phone company, Bell Canada, apologized on September
14, 2007 after billboard ads for their Solo cellphone discount service
showed a young woman decked out in flashy punk rock attire, with a
button that read "Belsen was a gas". Spokesman Mark Langton said that
Bell officials approved the ads after examining sample images that were
smaller than the final billboards, in which the text of the button
could not be made out." (Wikipedia)
