Sustainable Innovation by Nathan Shedroff

What’s a more sustainable world look like?
What’s a more meaningful world look like?
What’s a post-consumer world look like?

These questions do not have definite answer,but can be best answered through a Socratic seminar. The main purpose is to compile potential solutions that people make and come to the conclusion. Nowadays, there is a constant race and competition for the best product. However, in order for innovation to take into effect, there must be an incentive for designers to partake in new investments. According to Nathan Shedroff, the service to users is part of the sustainability principles. The next generation is the driving force behind the technological advances and design systems. Designer should design something today that will benefit the future of tomorrow.

Nathan Shedroff show the tools and tips that designers need in order to create a more sustainable design. He states that to understand the three questions, designers need to understand other sectors of our society such as the business and sustainability sectors. Designer have to learn about economics, finance, ecology in order to come up with sustainable solutions that are able to implement universally to all the different sectors of society.

Nathan Shedroff is convinced that the answer to our problems lie in the hands of designers. Shedroff believes that designers are creative thinkers and creative thinking is what needed to change the way the world run.

*Image from http://www.nathan.com/thoughts/RethinkingConsumption.pdf

Design Objectified

Gary Hustwit's documentary film, "Objectified", is about the ideas, processes and people behind the industrial designs. The film addresses the problem with standardizing designs for the public while maintaining sustainability also. It focus on how designers explain the impact of the objects on consumers’ lives, and what design really is about.

The standardization of designs gives the designer a big picture of what to produce, but it does not lead to an advancement in design. Soon, unique objects become ordinary and people will no longer find any significance in them.

The film begins by stating that initially objects speak to the designer that created it. But then, it is not really about the designer but the people that interact with the object. This interaction reveals that the content of an object varies according to each and every person.

The film shows the viewer that designers have an important job of perceiving the future and anticipating what the consumers will want. Objectified explores and makes obvious of the question that all designers need to ask themselves today, how do we design to better the future?

*Image from http://www.typeneu.com/v2/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/objectified.jpg

Lomography: A picture is a thosand words

Lomography emphasizes casual, snapshot photography. Characteristics such as over-saturated colors, off-kilter exposure, blurring, "happy accidents," and alternative film processing are often considered part of the Lomographic Technique.


The Lomography motto is 'don't think, just shoot.' A true Lomograph is a photo using a Russian-made Lomo camera, known for its poor lens quality, inconsistent exposures, and occasional light leaks. Chance or 'happy accidents' frequently make the image. The photographer is the designer of the photo.

Users are encouraged to take a lighthearted approach to their photography, and use these techniques to document everyday life.Lomography is all about having fun while taking good pictures. The picture does not have to be perfect. The color and the lighting can be off and unnatural, even the angle can be awkward. The picture will still be interesting to look at even if everything is off.


Just take your lomography camera with you everyday and anytime and capture the moment that can last forever.

*Images from http:// lomography.com

Bauhaus' Inspiration

The Bauhaus movement was founded with the idea of creating a total work of art in which arts are brought together. The Bauhaus style is one of the most influential currents in modern design. The Bauhaus had a strong influence in art, architecture, graphic design, interior design , etc.

Walter Gropius, a German architect, started the Bauhaus movement in Weimer, Germany. Gropius based his work on the harmony between form and function. The Bauhaus movement constantly deal with the question of craftsmanship and mass production and the relationship between usefulness and beauty. Many of the issues come up during the Bauhaus movement are still faced by designers today.

Gropius wanted to break down the barrier between classes because he believed that well designed items could reach beyond class. Today, designers make their designs accessible to everyone, reaching beyond class. The main objective of the Bauhaus movement was to unify craft, art, and technology. They believed heavily in the machine, and the idea of a preliminary design course rather than design history. The Bauhaus movement created a new way of thinking that has transposed into design today. Bauhaus created a universal visual language that could be used by all designers and understood by everyone.

A huge inspiration to me in design has been the Bauhaus school. I love what they stood for, architecture and arts. Their use of san-serif fonts, clean lines, flat colors, diagonals, and white space. With the influence of Bauhaus, I continue to prefer designing in a very clean cut manner; lots of white space, clean lines, few colors. Although, I do enjoy learning about all the different design techniques, especially the ones in the past that helped shape the graphic design industry.

* Images from http://maddart.blogspot.com/2009/08/bauhaus-9090.html

Color Theory

Color theory is a body of practical guidance to color mixing and the visual impacts of specific color combinations. Color is used to express mood, feelings, category, expression, and much more. Color theory was originally formulated in terms of three primary colors: red, yellow and blue, because these colors are capable of mixing all other colors. Painters had long known this color mixing behavior. Warm colors are the yellow through red-violet spectrum on the color wheel. Cool colors are the yellow-green through violet spectrum on the color wheel. The warm and cool color have a psychological effect on the eye of the beholder. Warm colors tend to give the viewer a warm and optimistic feeling. While on the other hand, cool colors have the opposite effect; they stimulate a cold and pessimistic ambiance.

Color when use correctly can be a powerful tool in design that it can literally impact the way people look or act. Color harmony can be defined as a pleasing arrangement of parts, harmony is something that is pleasing to the eye. It engages the viewer and creates an inner sense of order, a balance in the visual experience. When a visual experience is bland that the viewer is not engaged, the human brain will reject under-stimulating information. When a visual experience is overdone that the viewer find it hard to look at, the human brain will rejects what it can not organize. The visual task requires that we present a logical structure.



* Image from http://www.lasalle.edu/~didio/courses/hon462/goethe_chaos.htm

Parking space and Swing

The best way to win back public space is to use the parking we have as effectively as possible. Parking Barrier with Swing is not just another way to park your car. It is for kids who like to play and to interact during daytime and adults who want to find a parking space to store their car overnight. Meant to be used during the nighttime, this parking space doubles as a play space for your kids in the daylight. The parking barrier features a swing that also does double duty. While the kids can play and have fun on the swing, the barrier also ensures that others doesn’t take up the space to park their cars. When you are back from work, the swing hides underneath the ground surface to park your car. The swing bars are concealed in a concrete lab, so no damage to either the swing or your car. The parking-play space is an ideal solution for the urban environment, where kids have to remain inside their homes with no space available for outdoor games.

Human Touch

video

Human Touch were set up by a group of designers in 1998 to manufacture the belief in design to reality.



The use of simple stick figure can tell a story completely but also let the viewer to add in their own imagination. The use of only two color create a strong contrast to draw the attentions of the viewers.

Human Touch has create many product related to the everyday product, as the design want to show that everything have a story. "

"Aesthetics of an object are not only defined by it's exceptional design"...It is a simple belief which all designers at Human Touch continually share and practice. Our goal is to create works that can be universally distinguished and in the end, create in each individual an awareness within the soul and fulfill a physical need.

Human Touch collections are each filled with a story that is both imaginative and functional. This results in not only original designs but items that come alive as they communicate through the language of design.

Popcorn Quilt

The Popcorn Quilt is the most interesting piece in the entire collecting. Each and every little circle piece imitates the shape of a popcorn. The individual pieces also give a 3-d texture to the quilt. The "popcorn"are attached together, but special colored pieces create square within the quilt creating a aquare. The size and shape of each "popcorn" are the same and the colors are similar. Here the texture of the quilt isn’t actual, yet it creates a sense of visual texture. The pattern in the quilt is mostly symmetrical, yet the colors inside each square form are rearranged differently. I feel this makes the composition of the piece more enjoyable. Each piece of the quilt is done exquisitely with pattern, color and texture. This piece illustrates how perception of pattern and rhythm can be created by how the artist chooses to use materials and visual techniques.The use of purple as the base color have a great contrast to the light colors popcorn that create the squares. This quilt was not made for functional usage as it has too many holes and seem very fragile. The large gaps between the popcorn and its texture seem uncomfortable for a quilt. This quilt cannot provide warmth or comfort, but it can be a great art piece to hang on the wall for aesthetic purposes.

Quilting @ Nelson Art Gallery

African American Quilts are being display at Nelson Art Gallery. These quilts are beautiful artworks dating from the 1800s to present. Through repetition, color, contrast, and variety the quilts displayed at the gallery each have their own unique rhythm. The quilts offer many stories, and hold emotions that span time. Using rhythm and repetition, the patterns created by the different materials used give a rare feel to each quilt.

This pieces of quilt have a windmill design which lends its rhythm to its distinct color pattern. The windmill design each have a different positions of the colored blades, the windmill actually move counterclockwise. The color scheme enhances the pattern because the alternation between red and green creates a vibrant rhythm which ultimately constructs a balance. The way the windmill blades are faced also displays variety through their different variable movements. The variable movements and dual colors within each frame possibly represent a day in the field where African American slaves worked endlessly.

Each quilt have a story behind it. The connection between the past and the present is represented through the material used in the quilt, and these materials bring a particular presence to the quilts, as if the materials were telling a story all by themselves.

Mind Trick

Les Valeurs Personnelles mean Personal Values. The painting show a room full of oversized everyday object: a comb, a matchstick, a wineglass, a shaving brush, and a bar of soap. These familiar household objects crowd the room. Are these object in fact oversized or is it perhaps that the room is in miniature?

Magritte uses the theme of an oversized object inside a room in several of his paintings. In Les Valeurs Personelles, Magritte changes the scale on the items to create interesting visual interest. In the room Magritte paints a glass, a shaving brush, and soap bar, a comb and a match, much bigger than the other items in the room. He paints a mirror in the room to create a sense of space within a space. Also the use of sky as wallpaper brings the outdoors indoors. Magritte also over emphasizes the scale of the certain pieces by making them significantly larger than they are in reality creating a sense emphasis within the painting. Also Magritte uses the items to create an interesting composition by spacing them and placing them at different part in the room. He creates a sense of positive and negative space in the painting, which makes it interesting.

What is most interesting about the piece are the items selected for the painting. The items hold no particular significance, but the viewer is left to question the items selected. They are everyday object selected and over emphasized which creates a contrasting force with the other objects in the room. The over emphasized scale of the items in the painting create an interesting focal point for the painting as well. People are left to question if the room is miniature, while the objects are normal sized or if the room is normal sized and the items are not to scale. The scale presents a presence of fantasy or a dream sequence. The situation in the painting is not realistic which creates a sense of mystery in the painting. The painting is a great example of the surrealist movement because of the scale change and the de-contextualization of the objects in the room.

Social Media Connection

Websites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter are all designed for friends and family members near or far to stay connected. However, social networks only connect people on the surface level. As new modes of communication develop, people become ignorant in the social graces, and display ineptitude to socialize in real life settings. Social networks are supposed to promote an alternative means for traditional conversation, not an alternate realities in which people hide behind photoshopped profile pictures and escape into a fantasy world. What allures people into social media is the quick, fast, and easy method of communication. Instead of meeting someone in person, one can just simply instant message or chat with the other person online. Furthermore, people are oblivious of the serious maliciousness of viral marketing in which third parties obtain personal information on social networks and use it for their advantage; they gain insight on what people like and use that as a means to solicit advertisements and spam. However, social media is not entirely ‘evil’ as it seems; it provides an avenue for people to share their lives with close friends and families that do not have the opportunity to meet on a face to face basis. As long as people manage to maintain a balance between socializing online and socializing outside, they will not be pulled into an illusionary reality. Social networks should promote online communications in order for people to further current existing relationships that they have in real life – not become a sealed off place that prevents people from socializing outside.

Gestalt psychology

Gestalt, a German theory that studies the brains psychological reaction to forms, and our brains need to create unity within chaos. Gestalt psychology is a theory of mind and brain positing that the operational principle of the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self organizing tendencies, and that the whole is different from the sum of its parts. The Gestalt effect refers to the form-forming capability of our senses. Many artists have called upon Gestalt theories to make their artwork believable relying on the brain to create unity and shapes.

The picture below show a piece of paper is fixed to a base with drawing pins. A hand is busy sketching a shirt-cuff upon the drawing paper. At this point its work is incomplete, but a little further to the right it has already drawn another hand emerging from a sleeve in such detail that this hand has come right up out of the flat surface, and in its turn it is sketching the cuff from which the right hand is emerging, as though it were living member.

This drawing is the “Drawing Hands” by M.C. Escher. It is a fusion of 2-D and 3-D art in which the hands are lifelike, while the wrists and sleeves are simple line sketches. This piece has many connection with the Gestalt laws of grouping. The first of which is the principle of good continuation where the hands are positioned in a circle to maintain continuity. Although the circle creates a focal point in the center, the emphasis is on the obvious contrast between the 3-D hands and the 2-D sleeves. Similarly, the principle of connectedness follows the idea of continuation because the hands are within close proximity to each other establishing a sense of unity. The
proportionality between the two hands also develops a balance because they are within a symmetrical setting; two hands with two sleeves each holding one pencil. The title’s play on words also enforces the idea of balance because one hand is drawing the other, and thus, one exist because of the other. In addition, the balanced negative and positive space portrays the principle of similarity because the ground and figure are equidistantly apart. Escher’s art piece is like a visual and mental exercise that implicitly educates the general public about the various Gestalt principles.

The image "Drawing Hands" are found in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DrawingHands.jpg

Typographic Exploration in Hangul

Tuesday October 12, 2009 11:15am



This exhibition is created by Hyunju Lee and Phil Choo, and will be show at the UC Davis Design Museum from October 4, 2009 - December 6, 2009.

The two designers use the Hangul typography as a medium to create the form, pattern and style of the art pieces. They incorporate Korean culture into their art pieces by using Hangul characters as a pattern.

There is one specific pieces that caught my attention. “Hangauri” by Hyunju Lee is a canvas painting. It show a traditional Korean circle folk dance done by intricately costumed women in the countryside. The background is gray which graduates to yellow at a corner, there are 8 concentric rings made from a Hangul letter, overlapped with each other repeately. The colorful letter stand out on the plain background. The art piece using an electronic medium to work like tradition hand made art piece.

For more information, visit: http://www.designmuseum.ucdavis.edu/

The Design Process

Every designer have to go thought the design process in order to create a final design.

Designers are first inspired by an idea.

Then they will figure out how they want to present the idea. The ideas can be present as different kind of form like thought a picture, a sculpture, a pieces of clothing, or a movie. Design can be present a many form, because everything go thought the design process.

The style of the design is based on the designer, each designer have their own style and taste. Style and taste can be very similar or very different among designers.

After the designers figure out how to present the idea and what style they prefer to use, they will put all their ideas together and work on the structure of their design.

The actual construction of the design is done by applying skills and knowledge. The actual work of design can take hours, days, months, or even years to finish.

When everything is done, the design piece need a final touch to it before it can be shown to the world. Painting and picture need to be framed in order to be appreciate by the people. Movies need to be edited and promoted in order to attract audience. Clothes need to be modeled and advertised in order to appeal to customer. Every design need a touch up so that their surface appear to be more attractive.

Design Inspiration

Many great creators look outside of themselves to find inspiration.

Some look to past creator's work

Others draw idea from the natural.

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French Photographer, and the father of modern photojournalism. Cartier-Bresson exclusively used Leica 35 mm rangefinder cameras equipped with normal 50 mm lenses or a wide-angle for landscapes. Cartier-Bresson worked exclusively in black and white. He helped develop the street photography or the real life style that have influence on photographers today.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Behind the Gare St. Lazare

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cartier-Bresson)

He also founded Magnum Photo. According to him, "Magnum is a community of thought, a shared human quality, a curiosity about what is going on in the world, a respect for what is going on and a desire to transcribe it visually."

His mission was to illustrated time and some of his first projects were People Live Everywhere, Youth of the World, Women of the World and The Child Generation. Magnum aimed to use photography in the service of humanity, and provided arresting, widely viewed images.

I find it very interesting that he once said,"I've never been interested in the process of photography, never, never. Right from the beginning. For me, photography with a small camera like the Leica is an instant drawing."He see his photo as drawing or a sketch rater than a capture of a moment.

Minimalist Interior Design

Purpose of Minimalist Design

Minimalist interiors do not means simple and plain. It means everything that is there serves a specific purpose. Open floor plans with no dividing wall are use often by interior designer but structural changes is not necessary.

The goal of minimalist design is to create a area suitable to the way one want to live. Simple living can leads to a more relaxed life.

Color of Minimalist Design

Minimalist design do not use the power of color to create a dramatic feeling. Wall colors are mostly white based color. White color is highly reflective, which let light to add effect on smooth white walls. Furnitures are usually earth-toned color and has the same style through out the house.

Texture in Minimalist design

Texturee are usually absent in Minimalist design, because texture can go against Minimalist sophistication. Most of the fabrics are sleek and smooth, and soft. Wood flooring and marble flooring is largely use in the designs , flawlessly smooth and shiny.

Simplicity

Simplicity is the key to the design. Collections and artwork are not need as it complicated the look. Geometric shapes and asymmetry design is often used to create a hi-end style design. A designer should be selective and show a respect to the space.

Saturday Afternoon @ SFMOMA

Saturday October 10, 2009 3:57pm

As i was driving on a Saturday afternoon in San Francisco, i happen to drive pass the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I realize that's the museum i always wanted to go in every time i drove pass but never did get a chance. So i decided today is the day, and spent the next 30 minutes trying to find a parking space.

The SFMOMA has fours floors filled with contemporary art in sculptures, paintings, photographs, and videos. The most impressive pieces were installations, large art pieces that you could walk around and through.

Sensate:Bodies and Design is the current exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition takes a contemporary look at the way the human body figures in architecture and design.


“P_Wall,” by Andrew Kudless

P_Wall, created by Andrew Kudless, is a 45-foot-long wall that looks like human bodies. Everyone that walk pass this 45-foot-long wall can not help but stop for at least a minute and look at the wall.

“A Sac of Rooms All Day Long,” by Alex Schweder.

“A Sac of Rooms All Day Long” consists of two inflatable clear vinyl bubble. It is interesting because people do live inside their own bubble sometimes.

My exploration of the SFMOMA was a chance for reflection. Being surrounded by work of art gave me an environment suited for self relection.

Pictures are from SFMOMA website : http://www.sfmoma.org/

Design is ......

Design is a concept.

Design is an idea.

Design is intend for a purpose.

Design can be anything you can think of.

Design often relate to style or fashion, but these elements are usually employed at the end of the design process.

Design is to solve problems. This can be a stickier Post-It, a more user-friendly Ipod, a more efficient energy-saving light bulb, or a space saving dinning table set.

Design is look at in term of its use. Anything that affects the use of a product is part of design. And the success of a design depend on how well it is used. Design is judge objectively by how much and how well it is used.

Art, on the other hand, is subjective.

Art is not about use. It’s about the appreciation of beauty. But Design can be appreciate as well. However, people tend to take great design work for granted. People didn't notice or forgot how well these designs is when eople just use them.

A door handles on my VW Passat are very well designed. Even an 1 year old knows how to open a car door. You grab the handle and pull, and your arm doesn’t have to twist in a painful way in order to open the door. They don’t snag clothes because of their shape. And you can open them with only one finger when you have 5 shopping bag in you hand. But I bet 99% of car owners never even consider the car handle as a product of design. They simply use the door handle without a second thought like it is suppose to be that way.

Good design becomes invisible when it is well used.

Designers create something to use.

Artists create something to appreciate.

Design is Everything.