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This past week Nathan Shedroff gave a guest lecture in our UC Davis Design class. Shedroff's main topic was sustainability and the role design plays to the earth present, past, and future. He presented some disturbing insights, elaborating on how design is the culprit in so many things wrong with sustainability and that "there's no such thing as sustainable design." This is what made his presentation so effective; blunt truths which made some designers feel like 'well then what's the point of designing?' and leaving right then. However, after stating some harsh realities, Shedroff goes on with content which explains ways to work around this and do the best we can as designers. For example, design has been the problem with regards to sustainability because poor design creates waste and uselessness. Also "there's no such thing as sustainable design" because 100% sustainability doesn't exist. Fortunately though, well-thought design can help ease both issues. America was much more self-sufficient in decades past (such as the farming lifestyle) and values have changed since then, but Shedroff points out such standards happened in the past and are thus possible. I feel one of the reasons that values have shifted so much is because of marketing influence. It can sway opinions on how people believe beauty is classified, what's popular, and the image one should maintain. Perhaps because of this, too many now largely focus on what's convenient, what they have to do, and what affects them. For example many grocery shoppers don't bring their own reusable totes nor return and recycle their plastic bags. This is because for some it's more convenient to just take the store's plastic bags, there's no laws enforcing otherwise, continuously taking plastic bags doesn't affect them personally, or some just simply aren't aware. Maybe good design could contribute to solving parts of these? It's up to sustainability-contributing designers to answer this.
pic credit: core77
Many of us tend to become attached to the simpler easier to operate things more so than complex things with thick instruction manuals. Something about being able to use a program or maybe an electronic device first try creates this instant bond of familiarity. With recent social networking websites (Myspace, Facebook, Twitter), similar assumptions can be made. Originally Myspace was the main social network website because Facebook was exclusive to college students, but once that was lifted Facebook rapidly grew in popularity. While Myspace remained a domain for music and celebrities, a mass of average users made the switch to Facebook. A large reason was simply, simplicity. Facebook’s layout doesn’t allow for the additional backgrounds or various layouts that slow down load times. Instead their user profiles are uniformed, clean looking, load quicker, and each profile has the same familiar navigation. Now the latest social network craze is Twitter, and it’s tough to get any less complicated. Twitter concentrates on the niche of what people are doing in between all the emails, IMs, text messages, and other forms of electronic communication. Users post quick short updates about what they’re doing. That’s it. Meat of the service. While simple things can’t cover the same ground as more complicated ones, there’s something to be said for their versatility and instant appeal.
Our design class was recently given the opportunity to watch Objectified, a film about the design and purpose of objects. One of the most memorable topics in the film talked about how almost everything that fills this world was at one point decided upon and designed. Their example was Post-its, a simple pad of sticky sectioned paper, but even these had to be designed. Someone had to determine size, shape, paper color, paper type, packaging, etc. We really are surrounded by so many objects in our daily lives; it becomes this massive sea of design. From this laptop I'm writing on to the shoes at my feet, stretching out to the clutter of items and furniture in this surrounding room, everything was designed. So what makes for good design versus not so good design? Objectified brings up a couple more points in saying that good design involves the least design, and how people tend to want what's new and now even though it may not last long. Maybe good design is something that is simple and stands the test of time. Are classic things the epitome of design? Also mentioned was the phrase "form follows function" and how such is not necessarily true anymore. In previous years the form of an object often depicted its usefulness, purpose, content, and value among other things. The invention of the microchip changed all this, with electronics such as the Iphone, GPS devices, etc. It's hard to determine at a glance exactly what the function of these objects is. Maybe ambiguity is the key to modern and thus successful design? This is all up for discussion, but I feel that good design fulfills its purpose without excess clutter, and if executed well it'll leave its mark of success.
pic credit: Charles & Hudson
'Tis the season is almost here, which means the iconic Christmas tree will be making its rounds soon. These pointy and typically cone shaped trees are often the center piece to holiday decorations. When placed in a mall the decorations tend to be similar to the other interior colors or reflecting the mall's trademark color pallet. For public display outside they're often adorned with the brightest of lights as to shine in any weather condition and to be seen from a great distance. The main personal use of a Christmas tree is found at home, where they serve as festive centerpieces to family events. Often times a tree will reflect the family; lots of arts & crafts ornaments made by the children, or sophisticated decorations maybe indicating a more adult tree, or perhaps lots of personal ornaments depicting favorite sports team or dog breed. Then there are people who like a classic, almost 'Gestalt' tree with unifying colors, rounded uniform ornaments hung in close proximity for eye connectivity, and other decorations to make the tree look like one unit. For those who celebrate with a Christmas tree, they're often the piece which ties all the decorations together.pic credit: Eco-Friendly Christmas
Advertisements are often ignored background elements vying for consumer attention by standing out from their crowd and being effective. One of the more interesting yet breezed-by ad placements is for the backboards of figure skating rinks, and with the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics, figure skating events are buzzing even higher with anticipation. With the spotlight always on the skater, it's easy to miss the numerous ads that speed by. All the ads tend to blur together in a sea of color and typography that can seem ineffective. However when the athlete slows down or has their picture taken, suddenly a quiet ad can explode with exposure throughout the media. These types of ads are now in the background to images of a World Champion taking a bow on the ice, or falling at a crucial moment, or maybe executing a historic jump for the first time. The backboard ad might not be prominent, but still serves its purpose of exposure. Designing a backboard ad involves knowing the guidelines, and as with any design a successful final product will fulfill the goal without being overbearingly dominant. Images aren't allowed as this distracts from the athlete and typically a backboard ad is created from a few spot colors and depicts the advertiser's logo or an icon. Even though they may seem simple, these ads blend well with the surroundings of their placement spots.
pic credit: Video Replay=Artistry?
Color is all around; used to express mood, feelings, category, expression, and much more. We look around and are bombarded by it. Everyone has a favorite color. Perhaps chosen because it makes them the happiest, or maybe because they feel it represents their personality. That's the thing about color; it represents so many facets. Blue for boys, and pink for darling girls. Red means loves and yellow for friendship. Why is this? It has something to do with color theory, or the guiding principles to how we feel about and see color. The often used artist primary colors (red, yellow, blue) lead to secondary and then tertiary colors. Same goes for onscreen primary colors (red, green, blue) and the printing primary subtractive colors (cyan, magenta, yellow). From these come rainbows of colors. Warm colors tend to be the reds to yellow, and cool are greens to violets. Most of this is psychological, with one possible explanation being yellow and orange are associated with a warm sun, while blue green can be linked to a cool river. While plain sense tells us color is just color, as emotional humans it's hard not to associate certain colors with experiences. Red and green Christmas; red, white, and blue American; pink and red Valentine's. Sometimes even the lack of color can become telling. Black and white photography attempts to eliminate emotion of color and focus on shadows and value. Color expresses so much in this society of emotions and association; it can both lift us up or bring down a mood.
pic credit: Photo Articles
The other day while channel surfing, I landed on a shopping network and couldn't help but take note of the product packaging designs. The items for sale were shower gels and shampoos of the sort but the way they were described sounded delicious and mouth-watering. Even the bubble bath was bottled in a soda pop style container. From oatmeal cookies, to watermelon, to eggnog and hot cocoa, every description made me hungry for the real thing. Products like these are cleverly designed to not just serve their functional purpose, but also to appeal to other senses. These products are largely sold on nostalgic scents, bright eye-catching colors, and well-written words on the bottle. All part of good marketing designs. As with many products and goosd today, if they were to be sold on just the bare essentials themselves, store shelves would look much plainer. Many items are purchased based on someone's favorite color, what kind of mood the product gives off, or how attractive the container is. All the extras and accentuates and packaging are what make the complete product design. It's important to take note of some of the 'gimmicks' and put them into perspective, but at the same time give credit to well-thought out designs.
pic credit: Good Housekeeping
This past week Nathan Shedroff gave a guest lecture in our UC Davis Design class. Shedroff's main topic was sustainability and the role design plays to the earth present, past, and future. He presented some disturbing insights, elaborating on how design is the culprit in so many things wrong with sustainability and that "there's no such thing as sustainable design." This is what made his presentation so effective; blunt truths which made some designers feel like 'well then what's the point of designing?' and leaving right then. However, after stating some harsh realities, Shedroff goes on with content which explains ways to work around this and do the best we can as designers. For example, design has been the problem with regards to sustainability because poor design creates waste and uselessness. Also "there's no such thing as sustainable design" because 100% sustainability doesn't exist. Fortunately though, well-thought design can help ease both issues. America was much more self-sufficient in decades past (such as the farming lifestyle) and values have changed since then, but Shedroff points out such standards happened in the past and are thus possible. I feel one of the reasons that values have shifted so much is because of marketing influence. It can sway opinions on how people believe beauty is classified, what's popular, and the image one should maintain. Perhaps because of this, too many now largely focus on what's convenient, what they have to do, and what affects them. For example many grocery shoppers don't bring their own reusable totes nor return and recycle their plastic bags. This is because for some it's more convenient to just take the store's plastic bags, there's no laws enforcing otherwise, continuously taking plastic bags doesn't affect them personally, or some just simply aren't aware. Maybe good design could contribute to solving parts of these? It's up to sustainability-contributing designers to answer this.
