First there was Friendster.com, then Myspace.com, then Facebook.com and now Twitter.com. Why is it that multiple social networking sites come and go – with each of them having its own dominating reign of a couple of years or so, and then quickly fading away into cyberspace history? If they all exist as social networking sites, how is the “old-school” Friendster.com so different from the “hip and happening” Twitter.com? Each of the died-out social networking sites lacks one thing: sustainability in design.
As Nathan Shedroff described, sustainable design is unattainable, but it would ideally be defined as something that is efficient today, efficient tomorrow and efficient for upcoming generations. According to this definition, Friendster.com and Myspace.com have definitely failed to maintain a sustainable design, otherwise users would still be heavily relying on them for social networking purposes. The deciding factor that explains why Facebook.com and Twitter.com are currently all the rage in the social networking world is the differences in design of the websites. One major design change from Myspace.com to Facebook.com was, for example, having unlimited photo-uploading space as well as the option of “tagging” your friends in photos. One major design change from Facebook.com to Twitter.com is the option of constantly posting alerts about oneself, which is especially useful for those who are always on-the-go and can quickly update their statuses and alert their friends from their mobile phones.
New and improved features such as those described above are clearly the reason for the evolution of social networking sites because eventually, Myspace.com added their own feature of also being able to “tag” friends in photos, and Facebook.com has regularly been changing its design layout to make its use more accommodating to its users. For example, the recently added “Live Newsfeed” option allows users to easily and constantly be updated with their friends’ statuses. So basically, when a newer social networking site is established, people are going to swerve towards the most efficient, convenient and high-featured website. All in all, many of these social networking sites have conjoined so that when an update is made on one site, the same update is automatically made on every other social networking site the individual has – thus, allowing users to effortlessly maintain all of their social networking sites at once.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Reuse, Reduce, Recycle, Restore.
Nathan Shedroff, author of Design is the Problem, is recognized as a pioneer in experience design – “an approach to creating successful experiences for people in any medium” (http://www.nathan.com/ed/index.html). Shedroff defines sustainable design as “design and development that meets today’s needs without preventing those needs from being met by future generations,” although he also states that there is no such thing as sustainable design. Sustainable design allows for something to be efficient today, efficient tomorrow and even efficient decades from now. Or in other words, what is efficient for an individual today must still be efficient for that individual’s children, grandchildren and so on.
Since sustainable design does not technically exist, society must instead focus on more sustainable design in order to envision what the idealistic more sustainable, more meaningful and post-consumer world would be like. This more sustainable design consists of multiple design strategies, all which fall under the categories of reducing, reusing, recycling and restoring. One design strategy, which falls under the reducing category, is dematerialization. A key example of relying on dematerialization as a more sustainable design strategy is the currently popular device, the iPhone. Why would an individual prefer to carry around all of the following devices: a cell phone, an audio/MP3 player, a PDA, a digital camera, a GPS system, a watch and an e-Reader, when just one device can provide all of the above?
(http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone?mco=MTAyNTQzMTI)
(http://www.nathan.com/thoughts/DesignIsTheProblem.pdf)
That is where the iPhone comes into play – and it could be the explanation as to why the iPhone is so widely used in today’s society. One could easily imagine how much less material is required in producing just one iPhone versus the amount of material required to separately produce all of the previously mentioned devices whose features already come installed with the iPhone.
So as the usual American learns during their elementary school years, Shedroff overall emphasizes the ideas of REDUCE, REUSE, RECYLE (and RESTORE). Although America comes nowhere close to Cuba when it comes to sustainability and the idea of creating a completely sustainable community is unrealistic, the newly defined area of experience design is the first step to achieving the more sustainable world that people long for.
Since sustainable design does not technically exist, society must instead focus on more sustainable design in order to envision what the idealistic more sustainable, more meaningful and post-consumer world would be like. This more sustainable design consists of multiple design strategies, all which fall under the categories of reducing, reusing, recycling and restoring. One design strategy, which falls under the reducing category, is dematerialization. A key example of relying on dematerialization as a more sustainable design strategy is the currently popular device, the iPhone. Why would an individual prefer to carry around all of the following devices: a cell phone, an audio/MP3 player, a PDA, a digital camera, a GPS system, a watch and an e-Reader, when just one device can provide all of the above?
(http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone?mco=MTAyNTQzMTI)
(http://www.nathan.com/thoughts/DesignIsTheProblem.pdf)
So as the usual American learns during their elementary school years, Shedroff overall emphasizes the ideas of REDUCE, REUSE, RECYLE (and RESTORE). Although America comes nowhere close to Cuba when it comes to sustainability and the idea of creating a completely sustainable community is unrealistic, the newly defined area of experience design is the first step to achieving the more sustainable world that people long for.
Monday, November 16, 2009
That's so KITSCH.
With the holiday season drawing near, one must prepare for the masses of tacky and exaggeratedly decorated – also referred to as “kitsch” – front lawns [see image below].
The inflatable snowmen, the fake snow and the Santa Claus with reindeer ensembles all fall under this description of kitsch. Originating from the German language, “kitsch” is simply used to describe something that is of bad taste – especially in the arts. “Kitsch” is mentioned in Gary Hustwit’s film, “Objectified,” primarily to contrast the ideal of “good design.” The film defines “good design” as being aesthetic, unobtrusive, long-lived, consistent in detail, environmentally friendly and most importantly, useful. All of these features of “good design” come into play when formulating the bigger contextual picture – that of the relationship between humans and objects. This bigger picture is even placed into consideration when it comes to designing what would normally seem like insignificant objects, such as a toothpick.
In the film, the design process of the Japanese-designed toothpick is discussed – demonstrating the significant, although often overlooked, detail of the ridged top of the toothpick. The Japanese designed this aspect of the toothpick in order to allow for people to break off the ridged top to rest the toothpick on after using it [see image above]. This tiny detail emphasizes the film's recurring idea how there is a design for everything.
Speakers in “Objectified” suggest that designers are constantly looking at things and thinking why things are the way they are, as well as always looking to the future when it comes to design. Returning to the kitsch holiday lawn decorations, as society continues to advance with improving the human-object relationship of design, what will become of these mass-produced items that stray so far away from the ideals of “good design?” Only the future holds that answer, but no need to worry. If one is, in fact, a fan of such kitsch holiday lawn decorations, after the holidays have passed, they will immediately be replaced back in the standard forms of lawn gnomes and pink flamingos. Whatever the fate is of any type of kitsch lawn ornament, the idea from “Objectified” still stands: “We have too many unnecessary things everywhere.”
The inflatable snowmen, the fake snow and the Santa Claus with reindeer ensembles all fall under this description of kitsch. Originating from the German language, “kitsch” is simply used to describe something that is of bad taste – especially in the arts. “Kitsch” is mentioned in Gary Hustwit’s film, “Objectified,” primarily to contrast the ideal of “good design.” The film defines “good design” as being aesthetic, unobtrusive, long-lived, consistent in detail, environmentally friendly and most importantly, useful. All of these features of “good design” come into play when formulating the bigger contextual picture – that of the relationship between humans and objects. This bigger picture is even placed into consideration when it comes to designing what would normally seem like insignificant objects, such as a toothpick.
In the film, the design process of the Japanese-designed toothpick is discussed – demonstrating the significant, although often overlooked, detail of the ridged top of the toothpick. The Japanese designed this aspect of the toothpick in order to allow for people to break off the ridged top to rest the toothpick on after using it [see image above]. This tiny detail emphasizes the film's recurring idea how there is a design for everything.
Speakers in “Objectified” suggest that designers are constantly looking at things and thinking why things are the way they are, as well as always looking to the future when it comes to design. Returning to the kitsch holiday lawn decorations, as society continues to advance with improving the human-object relationship of design, what will become of these mass-produced items that stray so far away from the ideals of “good design?” Only the future holds that answer, but no need to worry. If one is, in fact, a fan of such kitsch holiday lawn decorations, after the holidays have passed, they will immediately be replaced back in the standard forms of lawn gnomes and pink flamingos. Whatever the fate is of any type of kitsch lawn ornament, the idea from “Objectified” still stands: “We have too many unnecessary things everywhere.”
Saturday, November 14, 2009
"No one mourns the wicked"
Throughout American culture, many objects are utilized as symbols. Take, for example, a dove representing peace, or a heart representing love. However, there are also more subtle symbols that have gradually gained their place in American culture as representing common or universal themes in society. Different colors can easily portray a message or symbol to others – simply based on what each color has regularly been correlated with other the past years. Although relying on color as a symbol is not as obvious as relying on straightforward images like the dove or heart, designing the use of colors to portray certain ideas is more commonly found than one might assume.
Almost every American knows the classic tale of The Wizard of Oz – with the characters, Dorothy, her friends and the two opposing witches. In the Tony award-winning Broadway musical, Wicked – which is “The Untold Story of The Wizard of Oz” – designers rely on color psychology to help the audience recognize the personalities of the two opposing witches, Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and Glinda (the Good Witch of the South). For anyone who has seen Wicked, color psychology was clearly used when the costume designers chose the costumes used for the two witches’ characters. For Elphaba – the Wicked Witch of the West, clothing in shades of black were used, while oppositely, for Glinda – the Good Witch of the South, clothing in shades of white or bright pink were used [see image below].
Since Elphaba was portrayed as the “bad” character, at least moreso in The Wizard of Oz, black in her costumes was used to symbolize an ominous look. The color black is often used to dress “the bad guy” in American films or theater productions, since it also symbolically portrays the sense of mystery, seriousness or even death. On the other hand, Glinda was often dressed in pure white or bright pink costumes. White is often associated with purity and peace, while pink is often associated with spring and femininity. Although it is subtle, the color for such characters’ costumes is a crucial element in costume design because would the characters be perceived the same way if the Wicked Witch of the West came frolicking out in a hot pink dress, while the Good Witch of the South came dragging out in a plain black robe?
Almost every American knows the classic tale of The Wizard of Oz – with the characters, Dorothy, her friends and the two opposing witches. In the Tony award-winning Broadway musical, Wicked – which is “The Untold Story of The Wizard of Oz” – designers rely on color psychology to help the audience recognize the personalities of the two opposing witches, Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and Glinda (the Good Witch of the South). For anyone who has seen Wicked, color psychology was clearly used when the costume designers chose the costumes used for the two witches’ characters. For Elphaba – the Wicked Witch of the West, clothing in shades of black were used, while oppositely, for Glinda – the Good Witch of the South, clothing in shades of white or bright pink were used [see image below].
Since Elphaba was portrayed as the “bad” character, at least moreso in The Wizard of Oz, black in her costumes was used to symbolize an ominous look. The color black is often used to dress “the bad guy” in American films or theater productions, since it also symbolically portrays the sense of mystery, seriousness or even death. On the other hand, Glinda was often dressed in pure white or bright pink costumes. White is often associated with purity and peace, while pink is often associated with spring and femininity. Although it is subtle, the color for such characters’ costumes is a crucial element in costume design because would the characters be perceived the same way if the Wicked Witch of the West came frolicking out in a hot pink dress, while the Good Witch of the South came dragging out in a plain black robe?
Friday, November 13, 2009
By golly, they've found Jesus!
For any individual who has browsed for anything online, pop-up advertisements or flashing advertisements on the side of the page are almost guaranteed to bombard the individual’s online experience. Common interruptive advertisements include “clicking here!” to be blown away by optical illusions. But before one becomes a victim of such advertising of optical illusions, one should be aware of the tricks that color can play on us, such as those presented in Josef Albers’ book, Interaction of Color. Albers discusses the color illusion of the after-image/simultaneous contrast and how it can cause unique psycho-physiological experiences.
Referring back to the bothersome online advertisements, an example of the after-image/simultaneous contrast color illusion is seen in the commonly seen “See Jesus!” optical illusion [see below].
Viewers are instructed to focus on the four dots lined up in the middle of the seemingly random-looking image for 30 seconds. Afterwards, viewers can close their eyes, or divert their gaze to a white wall, and lo and behold, an image of Jesus will suddenly appear! Albers provides the explanation that it is innate in our human nature to be inevitably prone to fall for such color deception tricks. The nerve ends on the human retina receive colors, and staring at one particular color for a long time will fatigue that particular color’s sensitivity. Therefore, after staring at the four black dots in the Jesus image for 30 seconds, there will be an automatic shift when attention is taken off of the four black dots – when viewers either close their eyes or divert their gaze to a white wall.
The significance that color deception plays in everyday life is not related to clicking on online advertisements to get a quick entertainment thrill. Ideas such as the after-image/simultaneous contrast emphasize the role that color interaction has in society. Interaction of color is often a determinant of how people perceive things that they encounter in their life, which brings up the interesting fact that no human – even with a trained eye – can prevent falling for color deception.
Referring back to the bothersome online advertisements, an example of the after-image/simultaneous contrast color illusion is seen in the commonly seen “See Jesus!” optical illusion [see below].
Viewers are instructed to focus on the four dots lined up in the middle of the seemingly random-looking image for 30 seconds. Afterwards, viewers can close their eyes, or divert their gaze to a white wall, and lo and behold, an image of Jesus will suddenly appear! Albers provides the explanation that it is innate in our human nature to be inevitably prone to fall for such color deception tricks. The nerve ends on the human retina receive colors, and staring at one particular color for a long time will fatigue that particular color’s sensitivity. Therefore, after staring at the four black dots in the Jesus image for 30 seconds, there will be an automatic shift when attention is taken off of the four black dots – when viewers either close their eyes or divert their gaze to a white wall.
The significance that color deception plays in everyday life is not related to clicking on online advertisements to get a quick entertainment thrill. Ideas such as the after-image/simultaneous contrast emphasize the role that color interaction has in society. Interaction of color is often a determinant of how people perceive things that they encounter in their life, which brings up the interesting fact that no human – even with a trained eye – can prevent falling for color deception.
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