Week 07 - Collaboration

Class Format

Todays class was essentially a large discussion. In particular about how we link our own sense of worth with that of our ideas.

 

Group Exercise

Vanity & Ego

Discuss these questions in relation to a group creating a design in collaboration

1. Are you capable of being vain about your art & design?
   - Yes
2. Do you have a healthy ego?
   - Yes
3. What defines an unhealthy ego?
   - An ego where pride has given way to vanity.
4. When others want to change your ideas, do you get offended?
   - No, within reason.
5. When you are asked for opinions on other’s work, do you compare it to your own?
   - Yes
6. When you are asked for opinions on your work, do you compare it to others?
   - Yes
7. If somebody plagiarised your work, would you be proud?
   - Yes, kind of.
8. What is the difference between pride in your work, and vanity about your work?
   - Pride can be encouraging, while vanity is self inflating ("or being a tosser" - Mark).
9. Do you expect others to listen when you speak?
   - Sometimes. I'm pleasantly surprised when it happens.
10. When somebody else speaks are you thinking about what you are going to say next?
    - No, I'm listening
11. Do you form opinions about others quickly?
    - I am reserved with my judgement.
12. What percentage of your judgements about others talents are right?
    - 55%

 

Idea Evolution

In regard to creative collaboration:

Discuss these questions - write a paragraph on each and use examples.

1. Do you have a strong belief in your personal ideas?
   - When I am passionate about what I doing. I have an analytical approach to my ideas so when I am conceiving them I have confidence that I can back them up with data.
2. How do you evaluate your personal ideas over a period of time?
   - Considering the sum of the whole and analysing whether it is a fair representation of myself. Do all of these ideas together convey a sense of my identity. I consider this as a kind of creative truth.
3. How flexible are you in changing your mind about the value of your ideas?
   - If a particular thread of thought is not performing as I wish, I usually already have a back up in mind. An idea is not a solid tangible thing and it should be treated as such - it is a changeable evolving notion.
4. How flexible are you in changing your mind about the value of others’ ideas?
   - Again, I am not precious about ideas. Especially the ideas of others. I also believe that being overly precious with your ideas can stagnating effect.
5. Does hanging on to your old ideas block new ones?
   - No, my short attention span wouldn't allow it.
6. Are you slow or fast in moving on when an idea has burnt out?
   - I would say that I am fairly fast, but I do tend to push an idea to the very end before I give up on it. I have been witness to others who will not give up on a dead idea and it is disconcerting.

 

Research

Video

Eckhart at first made me laugh, then got a bit dull, then got me interested again until he began amusing himself and started a bit of creepy intellectual giggling. It totally creeps me out that intellectual giggling.

 

Images

This is more or less on topic, it is an iPhone application which can put a dollar value on your design ideas. It has been specifically built by and for designers from a variety of disciplines. The developers splash screen is here and the app. is available form the iTunes store for FREE here (where I took a screen shot for the image above). While this screenshot shows the hourly rate in USD, the application is not restricted to the American continent. During setup the questions it asks about your location, education, experience and expenses are thorough and comprehensive. You can also specify the details of a particular job and it will calculate a price based current market value in combination with your profile information. It is also cloud based and as such your information and project history is available across multiple platforms. I can see this type of application as being especially useful for new designers

 

Reflection

For the most part I would say that I rely on an instinctive reaction to the development of ideas, whether they be my own or those of others. There is always this innate sense that this is working or that it is not. I do, however as I have stated, have a predominately analytical approach to the creative process. This may seem conflicting, but I feel it is the interplay between these states which moves my creative process forward and sure - they do argue often. Sometimes the numbers add up but it just does not 'feel' right. At others the numbers seem broken while the idea feels solid.
I am certain that all creatives consider the underlying structure of their process in a unique way, if in fact they even attempt to define it. I actually find it quite fascinating and a dynamic, evolving source of enquiry.

Week 07 - Origination

Class Format

The class today was concerned with chapter 6 'Context' of 'The laws of simplicity'. We also talked about Edward de Bono's 'Six Thinking Hats'.

 

Group Exercise

Reading Quiz

1. What does the word ENTROPY mean and why is this relevant?
   - deterioration, degeneration, crumbling, decline, degradation, decomposition, breaking down, collapse; disorder, chaos. For Maeda entropy represents the spaces between something. Nothing is the counter balance of something and humans have an innate urge to make something out of nothing.
2. If you are attuned to everything around you, does it help you deal with what is in front of you and why or why not ?
   - This depends on the ambience of the given everything. A space be conducive or not to forming focus. Following Maeda's logic an open simple space invites the urge to fill it and importantly he also says "Being attuned to what surrounds us in the ambient environment can sometimes help us manage what’s immediately in front of us" (from The Laws of Simplicity).
3. How is this different from FOCUS ?
   - Focus tunes out the surrounding environment.
4. Being “comfortably lost” is a balance between what 2 feelings?
   - For Maeda lost equals complexity (bad) and found equals simplicity (good).
5. Describe a recent scenario when you found yourself to be “comfortably lost”. Did you enjoy the sensation?
   - Recently playing with Blender I found myself comfortably lost in tutorials. A knew what I wanted to achieve and that it was possible. While at the same time as feeling daunted by the complexity of the program in front of me, I felt reassured by a clear path to my goal.
6. If you couldn’t hold back the urge to write on the “don’t write on this page” page – what would you write?
   - I would white out the sentence "don't write on this page".

 

Thinking Game – Lateral Thinking

Edward de Bono’s “6 Thinking Hats”. In your blog write 6 labelled paragraphs on your group’s progress to date, using each of the 6 hats as a perspective.
"The White Hat calls for information known or needed. The Red Hat signifies feelings, hunches and intuition. The Black Hat is judgment -- the devil's advocate or why something may not work. The Yellow Hat symbolizes brightness and optimism. The Green Hat focuses on creativity: the possibilities, alternatives and new ideas. The Blue Hat is used to manage the thinking process." (paraphrased from this site).

• Which HAT best represents your group?
  - I would say that we all use a variety of hats.
• Why?
  - Because we are intelligently engaged with the project.
• Describe an Exhibition Group meeting where you may adopt the BLACK hat.
  - A recent sms interaction with my colleagues saw me adopt a black hat where I felt that a particular idea proposed did not sufficiently fulfil its requirements.

 

Research

Video

I was surprised when I saw what Edward looked like, I honestly thought he was a completely different guy. I had him confused with Alain de Bottom, must be the French 'de' prefix.

 

Images

Found this image here.

 

Reflection

The ability to approach a problem from multiple directions is an essential characteristic for a designer. This week again demonstrated ways in which to consciously force this process to occur. A bit of thinking game trickery can shift the context entirely.

Week 06 - Collaboration

Class Format

Todays class covered our legal and ethical obligations in relation to a career in design. The rules are fairly simple; copy what you can, pay for what you can't.

 

Group Exercise

DISCUSSION - Relinquishing Ownership

1. Do you usually think your ideas are the best?
   - A little humility goes a long way, a definite no.
2. Are you shy in presenting ideas?
   - No, ideas are transformative notions. Exchanging them will evolve them. Not being fearful of this process liberates the mind from unrealistic presumptions of ownership.
3. Do you hold back your best ideas?
   - Why would I do that? Holding back prevents communication.
4. Are you happy when others want to change your ideas?
   - Ideas are by nature are transformative. I generally invite other perspectives.
5. Are you totally truthful when you are asked for opinions on other’s work?
   - Context ?
   - Short answer, no.
6. Would you ever present somebody else’s idea as your own?
   - No.
7. Would you borrow just a little bit?
   - Yes / Contact / Enquire / Link & Credit.
8. How would you feel if somebody borrowed just a little bit of your idea?
   - That's cool man, could you 'Contact / Enquire / Link & Credit'?
9. Do you think you have any ideas that are totally original?
   - No, it requires genius or an idiot to have that feeling.
10. Would you feel the same way about that original idea in 30 years?
    - Yes & No. I need to be 30 years in the future to properly answer this question.
11. Does a knowledge of design history help or hinder your idea originality?
    It most certainly helps. 'You Are What You Eat', is a popular idiom which I think of in psychological terms as, 'You Are What You Think'. Anything which enters your mind becomes a part of your mind, this is in fact the process which creates 'memory' (although we still do not know scientifically how exactly this process works).
12. Would you be prepared to sell an idea?
    - How many do you want to buy?

 

Blog Exercise – The Legal Framework / Creative Content

PART 1: UNDERSTANDING THE LAW

Research and blog on the following:

1. The Berne Convention
2. IP (Intellectual Property) legislation in Australia 
3. Australian Copyright Law
4. Creative Commons
5. P2P networks and software licences

The work of designers is protected in Australia by the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). It is also protected internationally by various agreements between individual countries, such as the 'Berne Convention
 for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works'. Created in 1886, the Berne Convention is administered by what in 1970 became known as WIPO “The World Intellectual Property Organisation is the United Nations agency dedicated to the use of (patents, copyright, trademarks, designs, etc.) as a means of stimulating innovation and creativity.” (reference http://www.wipo.int/about-wipo/en/). Today WIPO has 185 member states and manages 24 treaties. Australia has signed 16 of these treaties with the most notable of which being the Berne Convention in 1928, the WIPO Convention in 1972 and the WIPO Copyright Treaty in 2007 (interestingly, when we signed has little to do with when the treaties were created and in some instances decades elapsed between the two events). Domestically Australia inherited the bulk of its copyright law from Britain and our courts relied on the British Act of 1911 until our own was enacted in 1968. Generally copyright law in Australia has had a varied and complex history.

Essentially copyright protection today under Australian law is free, automatic and leaves the burden of proof of ownership with the artist. Should the ownership of copyright fall into dispute it becomes the responsibility of the civil court to discern property right.

Ethically designers are first obliged to follow a code of conduct dictated by the law of the land in which they live. In Australia this obligation is first directed by the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). While fairly comprehensive, there are ambiguous areas which require a tighter form of personal moral conduct. The specifics of these areas are multiple and varied in form making them impractical to detail in this text. My personal general stance is to strictly avoid using anything in my design work which is not exclusively mine and if I do to ask for permission first or at least reference the original author. For me this is common sense and courtesy.

"Creative Commons is an international nonprofit that offers free flexible copyright management tools for creative work." (Reference http://creativecommons.org.au/about/cc). It is a more flexible approach to copyright management than traditional copyright law. It is also an international movement.

Peer to peer networks share data between like minded individuals. In relation to software licences it is usually considered an infringement of that licence to share your software over such a network. Both the act of sharing and obtaining software via these networks deprives the software developer of profit.

 

PART 2: DEFINING YOUR OWN ETHICAL APPROACH

Answer these questions:

1. Is it illegal to copy a design?
   - Picasso, 'Good artists copy, great artists steal'. To copy a design in general is not illegal although there ethical implications. To exactly copy especially specific elements could most certainly result in a copyright infringement case.
2. Is it ethical to sell a non-original design as your own?
   - No.
3. What is the difference between ethics and law?
   - Ethics are your personal moral code. The law is a code of conduct dictated by the state.
4. Do you value others intellectual property the same as your own?
   - Yes.

 

PART 3: APPLYING YOUR CODE

Make a list of 5 behaviour principles you consider essential for each of these:

1. At CDU in the MacLabs.
   - Courtesy, respect, punctuality, politeness and good personal hygiene.
2. Outside class in a social setting.
   - Courtesy, respect, punctuality, politeness and good personal hygiene.
3. In a professional workplace in which you may be employed after studies.
   - Courtesy, respect, punctuality, politeness and good personal hygiene.

 

Research

Video

Here is a video about personal hygiene in the office (source). I found this amusing, I hope you do too and it is also relating to all of the environments mentioned in part 3 above.

 

Images

A pretty picture of the WIPO building found here.

 

Reflection

This class was a fairly dry affair, although essential to have an understanding of. This was also some common ground for me as the topics covered were a repetition of those covered in Semester 1 through the unit 'Industry Knowledge'. For the reason for this I will quote a recent email I received from Mark Hilton, "As assessors we are required to observe you doing Assessment Tasks or gather evidence that you have done these tasks: in a variety of ways, on a number of occasions".

Week 06 - Origination

Class Format

Todays class covered chapter five, 'Differences' from Maeda's book 'The Laws of Simplicity'. The general topic for this week was concerned with balance, a notion/ideal/sense that I have always had an affinity with (for the astrologists reading this, I was born on the 23rd of October). I will speak more about this in Reflection.

 

Group Exercise

Reading Quiz

1. Describe the relationship between complexity and simplicity.
   - They need each other, "Without the counterpoint of complexity, we could not recognize simplicity when we see it"(from the text).
2. What analogy does Maeda use to demonstrate this relationship?
   - The rhythm of sound
3. In what context does Maeda discuss rhythm / beat in relation to the fifth law. Contextualise this relationship and discuss how this can be used in relation to the Student Exhibition - giving specific examples.
   - Siting simplicity and complexity as respectively silence and sound. The two are mutually dependant, but can at times out weigh the other. The Student Exhibition will ideally carry a balanced rhythm, in that 
4. HOMEWORK: Find visual examples - pieces of design & multimedia work that demonstrate the relationship between simplicity and complexity – post the results on your blog, with contextual analysis and reflection.

 

Research Blog Task

• Research Edward de Bono’s “6 Thinking Hats”.
• In your blog write a short description of each of the 6 hats.
• Contextualize each description to your specific exhibition group task.
• Prepare for discussion of this topic in next week’s class.

 

Research

Video

This just had to show up somewhere here. An animation of the design company logo concept I have been playing with recently. Imported into Photoshop as a series of 242 PNG files, a little editing and add the text, then 'Save For Web & Devices' as a GIF. The version here also had a background added as blogger does not seem to like transparent backgrounds as evidenced here. The final version will be transparent and the rotation will be limited to a quarter turn on a mouse over event.

 

Images

This is an image of my outside workspace where I have been sewing the bicycle helmet cover. You can also see here sections of the Myatt Media logo being constructed. I would like to mention a little more about where I live and how I work at this point. Firstly, my wife and I own a small property in Wagait Beach - just outside of Darwin. While our actual dwelling is quite small, we have a very large back deck with a four metre high ceiling. It is in this space that all of our socialising and some of our work (as you can see from this picture) occurs. Occasionally the laptop comes out here to serve as a makeshift office...

That is our dog Asahi (CLAW!) in the background staring down a kangaroo that has come into our yard to have a drink from the water bowl up the back. Whenever possible this is my preferred space to work in. During the wet the heat or sideways rain occasionally dictates that I retire indoors for air conditioning and cover.

 

Reflection

The balance of simplicity and complexity is not only an important relationship to consider as it relates to design, it is a vital consideration for life in general. I grew up in the suburbs and subsequently spent my entire early adult life in the suburbs. I could not imagine living anywhere else as it was all I knew and I was happy for the most part, but something was always 'not quite right'. In retrospect it has become obvious that suburbia is just that few degrees closer to completely unnatural to make it feel eschew or out of kilter for me. Like an itch which would require more effort to scratch than tolerate, the only environment I had known was mildly irritating me and it always had been.
When my wife and I had the chance to enter the property market it was a purchase of opportunity and convenience. Lifestyle was not a consideration when we bought the property in Wagait Beach so actually living in a semi-rural environment was an unknown factor for the both of us (perhaps more so for my wife who is an extremely social creature). Three years later and we both simply love it, we even recently had a conversation about our satisfaction with the lifestyle balance we have living here. Personally my attempt to pinpoint the balance tipping point between living in suburbia and here was simple and surprising as it was sound, when I have always considered myself more a visual person. The absence of the sounds that I had learned to ignore was made all the more apparent when we housesat for a friend who lived in our former stomping ground some time after moving out here. While this is an over simplification of my transition to our new lifestyle, it is representative. The removal of the subtle din had simplified my living environment and returned a qualitative improvement (as opposed to quantitative). Here I am relating to Meada's first and second laws of simplicity, 'Reduce' and 'Organise'. Thinking in terms of only the physical environment; aural, visual and tactile sensations were removed. These were in turn replaced with other sensations, with which it was possible to organise my environment by squinting. For example it is easier to blur birds chirping into background noise than it is the sound of traffic.
Our life here has a balance here not previously seen, although there are distractions. As an illustration, it has been called to my attention by Asahi that there was a peacock roosting in a tree in our backyard as shown by the following photograph (which in all honesty, I have been angling toward having a reason to post throughout my entry in this section)...

Week 05 - Collaboration

Class Format

This half of the class was dominated by the group exercise. In my research I have followed the branding thread.

Group Exercise

Acknowledging Differences – CROSSING THE LINE

This task was designed to develop an awareness of diversity. To demonstrate this we all lined up in front of a line. Mark then read out descriptions and when we heard something that we felt applied to us we were instructed to cross the room. The descriptions ranged from physical descriptions, religious views, cultural background, well a whole bunch of stuff really. Then Katelyn made Mark answer the questions, which was awkward in the context of the exercise. By seeing on a small scale (our class has eight people) differences between individuals within a group we were given an understanding of the differences which exist between people in the wider community. This lead into the following exercise which deals with the differences and similarities between discretion and Judgement.

Professional Discretion & Judgement

Professional discretion and judgement may relate to:

• Assessing when to keep quiet.
  - Being quiet when someone is addressing the group (any class in this course).
• Being aware of and responding to different personality types.
  - This has primarily affected the way in which I communicate with people. Working in sales I met a bunch of different personality types and was required to judge this quite quickly.
• Knowing when it is appropriate or inappropriate to share information.
  - Don't talk about what an awesome weekend you had on Tuesday after not showing up on Monday.
• Knowing with whom information should be shared.
  - Understand the hierarchy of the organisation you are a part of.
• Knowing when to leave the room.
  - A private conversation (about performance management for example) which does not concern you.
• Remaining calm in the face of unreasonable anger.
  - When I worked in customer service this was particularly important. Reciprocating anger can only escalate the situation, if at least one party remains calm the possibility of this occurring is greatly diminished.

1. Add 2 items to the list above.
2. Give a REAL example from your own experience to illustrate all 6 points.
3. What is the difference between “discretion” and “judgement” in your own words?
   - A judgement for an individual is usually a decision based on personal moral values, while discretion is the same with an added layer of respect for the personal moral values of the others an individual might be in communication, proximity or duty of care. 
4. Why do you use these two things in a professional setting?(explain by using examples)
   - To avoid awkward silences or embarrassing smirks. Telling an inappropriate joke can work for both of these; an error in personal judgement could lead to the telling of such a joke and reflect poorly on your values, while told with discretion could give you that edgy, joker about the office reputation you always wanted.

 

Research

Video

Who doesn't know the brand Sesame Street? The sentiment of this song was seared into my formative childhood brain. I now have trouble playing well with others.

 

Images

More on the topic of branding, received via yet another RRS feed from Design You Trust about the designer David Bier? The link rabbit hole had a couple of dead ends and the remainder led professional profiles and the finally led me to this branding company website/blog? Which I thought was strange at first, but after some reading found some useful articles on the topic of branding (be sure to tune in next week). While being a little crass in delivery it does carry some sound advice.

 

Reflection

This unit of the course is concerned with developing a basic understanding of general social psychology. This is important for a designer for a whole a whole bunch of reasons. Broadly I would say that it is important because there is a sociopsychological consideration with anybody we may work with, for or to. That's everybody.

Week 05 - Origination

Class Format

Following the usual format todays class began with a review and quiz about the reading for this week. Chapter four from John Maeda's 'The Laws of Simplicity' actually got me a little bit excited when he mentioned the work of Mike Nourse where he used samples from GWB, which I elaborate on in my video entry below. After this the groups within the class presented their collaborative projects.

 

Group Exercise

Reading Quiz

Answer the following questions as succinctly as possible in your own words.

1. Describe the relationship between teaching and learning according to Maeda?
   - 'The single most helpful thing for my teaching was to experience the other side of learning.' Meada considers the processes occurring between teaching and learning as organic and constantly evolving. He also positions learning occurring more effectively where the student has a passion for the subject.
2. Describe the importance of the use of metaphors in learning, why would you use 
them, how, give an example?
   - Metaphors create similarities through comparison. Alike things are simpler and easier to learn. Maeda's relates this to the visual representation of a trash can in the desktop environment. Hit the ground running. Easy as pie.
3. BRAIN - what does the acronym stand for – why is it important?
   - Basics are the beginning. Repeat yourself often. Avoid creating desperation. Inspire with examples. Never forget to repeat yourself. It is important to Meada because it represents the fundamentals of both his teaching and learning philosophy. Hearing, seeing, doing.
4. Describe a situation where you have been required to teach someone a skill.
   - Teaching drawing at the University of Tasmania during my post graduate degree.
5. How could you apply the BRAIN principle to it?
   - There was certainly a beginning with the basics, repetition and the use of examples. I can't really whether or not I avoided desperation.

Exhibition Presentation

Today Cherill, Katelyn and I presented our design concept for the bicycle helmet cover. I think it went very well as we are a little ahead of schedule. We spoke about the research we have done in relation to exploring, challenging and refining the design. This included describing the interviews we have had with specific experts in related fields such as a cyclist, seamstress, printers and fabric suppliers. We touched promotion of the product via a website which we had begun a mock up for and the shooting of a video for a viral marketing campaign. Over all our presentation was well received.

 

Research

Video

Above is a version of Ministry's 'Rio Grande Blood' which like Mike Nourse uses a lot of GWB samples. This is a fan produced video remix (as there does not seem to be an official video clip for this song) and while it may appear long in the timer, it fades to black at 4:30 until 7:10. Obviously amateur it is still quite clever and worth a watch. The sentiment of the song reflects that of Mike Nourse's video, which Meada references to illustrate his point about repetition. About the music itself, I have been listening to Ministry since the release 'Jesus Built My Hotrod', the track shown here is from their latter years where they seemed to slip into some sort of dub coma. While I appreciate you may (depending on your own audio sensibilities) find this track a little difficult to hear, I do urge you to hang in there until at least the 2 minute mark. Thank you Mr Maeda for giving me this excuse to make a tenuous link between yourself and Ministry.

 

Images

I thought my photograph from this post would make a good helmet cover. Having only the slim link of both being light paintings I was reminded of this image when I received an RSS from My Modern Met about the work of Darius Twin.

 

Reflection

The Maeda reading for this week was concerned with the concept of Learn as relates. You can probably appreciate that I fun linking his illustration of two elements from his acronym to a song by Ministry. So that I learn it here it is again, 'Basics are the beginning. Repeat yourself often. Avoid creating desperation. Inspire with examples. Never forget to repeat yourself.' (from the 'The Laws of Simplicty', chapter 4). Learn stuff and it gets simpler and easier to use.

Week 04 - Collaboration

Class Format

This element of the class began with an introduction to the unit it concerns, BSBCRT402A: Collaborate in a creative process. "This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required to collaborate in a creative process." (from the unit information). It shares time with and is closely related to the Origination unit which has a foundation in developing and conducting a critical discourse (for which it is handy to collaborate with others).

 

Group Exercise

Ethical Behaviour

Ethical behaviour in collaboration may relate to:

• Acknowledging discomfort or anger.
• Being prepared to fully participate.
• Communicating in an open way.
• Honesty.
• Honouring commitments.
• Sensitivity to social, cultural, personal situations and dynamics.
• Showing respect.
• Understanding of the consequences of actions.

Add 2 items to the list above - then SORT the 10 items into 2 groups (give at least one example for each group).
To the above list I would add 'A Preparedness to Share' (both your knowledge in the development of an idea and the credit for what you create) & 'Have Humility and Good Humour' (failure to do this risks infracting upon one of the other points).

1. Essential
   - All of the items in the list fall into this category except one. An example for 'Communicating in an open way' is to remain conscious of the listening process when communicating. If you are not actively listening as you talk, you are just telling someone something.
2. Secondary
   - Honesty. For example honesty may be a secondary concern when showing respect or several others in the essential catagory.

Trust & Creative Partnerships

PART 1: Who’s Got a Dollar?

1. Would you volunteer your money - that is, take risk?
2. How did you feel?
3. Did you feel a little sheepish?
4. What about when the ante was upped to ten dollars?
5. Twenty?
6. Did you think the volunteers were foolish?

PART 2: Eye Contact
PART 3: Eye Contact with Touch
PART 4: Proximity – comfortable / closer / further

 

Research

Video

Insert video and comment

Images

Further research on the topic brands, this info-graphic came to me via Design You Trust. This breaks down the most powerful brands on the web as a colour palette. So if you want to be a big player on the inter webs you need to be using some of these colours, ok?

 

Reflection

The exercises in this unit are designed to develop an understanding of the psychology behind the collaborative process. This has begun with basic interactive exercises, which I suspect will take on a more design specific perspective as the semester progresses. This is an important aspect of the course as the act of collaboration is a vital component of the work of a designer. 

Week 04 - Origination

Class Format

Class began with a review and quiz based on Maeda's third chapter 'Time'. This was followed by group discussion and activities centred around defining notions of brand. Unfortunately I was not present for this and so will be filling out this entry with my personal exploration on the topic.

 

Group Exercise

Reading Quiz

Answer the following questions as succinctly as possible in your own words

1. What is the major benefit of saving time?
   - You can do more.
2. How do designers integrate time into their products?
   - The main examples given were the were the iPod shuffle which removed the time it takes to chose and the progress bar on a computer which shows the passing of time.
3. Explain the relationship between making waiting shorter with making waiting more tolerable?
   - Both have the same effect on the person waiting, a more tolerable wait feels shorter.
4. How can you use your timeline to increase your own efficiency as a designer?
   - A timeline improves productivity.
5. Briefly outline an event or activity in which you are adept at time saving?
   - This blog is a good example (apart from this week). By copy/pasting these questions and answering them here as they come up in class I save myself time later.
6. What part of your design/multimedia process do you need to improve at, in terms of saving time?
   - Hang on, I'll come back to this question. Procrastination.

Thinking Game – Analysing Patterns / Branding

Developing creative thinking techniques.

How many of these brands can you name? - I got seventeen.

 

Research

Video

The Invisible Bicycle Helmet | Fredrik Gertten from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo. I think the the designers here had a similar motivation to our own in that bicycle are for the most part ugly. Their solution for wearing an equally ugly collar is of course not the direction we went, we just decided to put a cover on it. I must say that their research was excellent. Having 10 million dollars to implement their design must have been handy.

Images

This came to me via an RSS feed from 9to5mac. An interesting article, at least what there was of it. This was essentially an excerpt from the original Wall Street Journal article where the link rabbit hole leading to the original was a little too treacherous even me, may have something to do with not being a subscriber. The most telling quote from the article for me was “The value of brand is both art and science.” I always get dubious when an accountant says that something they do is both an art and a science, just makes me think whatever number they are talking about was made up. I did dig a little in search of an ulterior motive, but apart from Interbrand being owned by Omnicom who also owns a bunch of big ass advertising agencies in the U.S... I have to stop myself here, before I follow a very dull train of thought. It was uncanny timing that this article come out of the feeds this week.
Edit : Found the original Wall Street Journal article. While not much longer than the excerpt which came to me it did emphasise the the fact that it is not what a brand is worth, more who you ask what it is worth.

 

Reflection

Brand identity is not a simple thing. It covers all aspects of how a brand appears to the public, both the positive and the negative. In the long term the owners of a brand use various people to manage the image of their brand and designers are just one of those people. Designers are however very important when establishing or forming a brand identity. It is standard marketing practice to spend some time and money on how a product will look before it is put to market.
Time I think was an important topic for Maeda to cover. It is a complicated at best topic for those working in a creative field. It was really tempting to slip in a cliché here, but instead here is a list of pretty much all of them. In this chapter I particularly appreciated Maeda's description of quantitative verses qualitative time. Waiting a short time for example can feel the same as a more enjoyable wait for a longer period.

Week 03 - Origination

Class Format

Beginning again with a review of last week and a reading quiz based on chapter 2 of 'The Laws of Simplicity'. We then moved through a thinking game and further collaborative work on last weeks group exercise of idea generation for the exhibition at the end of the year.

 

Group Exercise

Reading Quiz

• What does the acronym SLIP mean according to Maeda?
  - It is an organisational process.
• Define each character of the acronym, S L I P in one sentence
  - Sort individual elements into groups, Label these groups, Integrate the relative characteristics of the groups and Prioritise the importance of each group.
• What does Maeda say is only a pinkie away?
  - The tab key.
• Why is this important to us as designers?
  - To create tabular data sets which make them easier to quickly comprehend.
• What are the principles of gestalt psychological theory?
  - To make identifications based on similarities or groupings.
• Where might one find the aesthetics of blur?
  - 'The aesthetics of blur are common in the history of art...' Maeda uses a broad brush here although he does also give an industrial design example with the controls evolution of the iPod.
• Why is blur important in interactive design?
  - By blurring the distinction between similar sets of information understanding is aided by simplification through collation.
• Why do good designers squint when they look at something?
  - To gain an overall perspective.

 

Thinking Game – Perspectives

In the below exercise adopt 4 different perspectives and describe 4 different interpretations of each of the following non-verbal communications. Write the results directly into your blog.

1. A person nods his/her head up and down
   - An affirmation, an admission, a concession and an agreement.
2. A person’s lower lip trembles slightly
   - Disappointment, shock, sarcasm and remorse.
3. A person smiles slightly
   - Agreement, amusement, sarcasm, time to get sexy.
4. A person yawns
   - Boredom, fatigue, reciprocal and sarcasm.
5. A person shrugs his/her shoulders
   - Confusion, misapprehension, defensiveness and disinterest.
6. A person inhales quickly
   - Anger, disbelief, shock and panic.

The purpose of this exercise was to gain an understanding of how differing perspectives can affect our design choices. Differing economic, cultural, social, political, etcetera circumstances render possible perspectives infinite. The designer is then tasked with defining the perspective from which to create before beginning to do so. This is important as it simplifies the given task by providing perspectival parameters.

 

Research

Video

John Maeda about his transition from making tofu to design on youtube. He pretty much gives a synopsis of his entire career. Inflection at the end of sentences bugs me. I am not sure where I read this, but in psychological terms it is generally considered as a sign of insincerity or insecurity. I just had another look at the video and it is not exactly that he inflects his sentences, more his general vocal pitch which bugs me. This is of course an extremely critical view, he perhaps would not bug me so much if I were in a different mood. I did like his his view on his first computing experience as it was similar to my own, although this was with a commodore 64.

 

Images

Mock up images for last weeks group exercise where we came up with fabric covers for bicycle helmets. My image sources can be found here and here. It of course turns out that this not a new idea, there are various helmet covers available primarily designed it seems to shield the weather. Our groups intention is to develop this further with unique designs like the brain and circuitry to the top and left.

Reflection

The class today demonstrated how how perspectival differences can effect design choices. This is an an important consideration for two reasons. The first being to consider from where we are designing and the second being to consider to whom we are designing. Basically, think about what you are creating in terms of its origin and its destination.
The Meada reading was concerned with with the principle of time as it relates to achieving simplicity. To illustrate his points he returned to the acronym he coined in the first law of reduce. Shrink, hide or embody time. As always it was a comfortable read with easily digestible opinions.