Design is Dangerous

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      Design is dangerous in the aspect of the designer creating or designing something in which they don't take the consideration of safety through the design. Everything in the world that was designed has a sense of safety feature expressed in it, even a gun designed to kill has a safety switch. Design can be considered dangerous when it is deceptive for example if one designs something such as a car without considering the safety features people will think and assume it's safe. Designers often recall the ethics of safety before designing something that will harm others. It can also be considered dangerous because design often opens up doors of opportunity of creating something new. The steps of design or the creative process can be applied into making anything, even weapons of mass destruction. Everything requires some design it was just the matter of the designer sitting down and question how he or she wants to effect or change the world. It can also be unintentionally dangerous because design is like bricks built on top one another. Each design can be constructed based on a previous or another design, this makes it dangerous unintentionally based on the designer because one can take a normal design and turn it into a weapon or a dangerous design. Design is necessary dangerous in a sense but it’s all based on the designers, and how the decided to design and create things. If they follow the code of ethics and design with consideration of other people, design simply cannot be dangerous.

Design in Society

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      A design that is utopian would be hybrid vehicles and technology as it helps the world in using less gasoline as well as less pollution. As the world lives longer it suffers more air pollution and has less resources to provide us with. The hybrid technology not only help change the world for a better future but could be the stepping stone to a new future in which we won't have to use any resources at all in our everyday life. 

      We rely so much on resources to keep our world spinning the design of the hybrid technology cuts this in half as it only takes a small percentage of gasoline to make it run. The hybrid technology not only is used in the concept of automobiles but as designers can be used in the aspect of many other things. An of example would be how the battery of the hybrid charges itself based on the breaking system it has, designers has thought about putting that system into the use of roller coasters, so in the future we’ll be able to have self sustainable theme parks powered by the breaking systems of roller coasters. 

      This step can be applied more towards the retrospect of the future world rather then just roller coasters, as we can take the hybrid systems and apply it to the things that are around us, that we use daily in our society. The design utopian for the hybrid system paves way for the upcoming future, in self sustainable technology.

Color Tranforms

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      Color transforms the design of snowboards in the aspect of it giving it more sense of character and a larger sense of artistic expression. Color is something so complicated that there can be a open door to how it is used. The design of the snowboards each includes a distinguishable design based on their model. Color plays a vital role in this design. Why do companies extract images with flashy colors on their boards? One reason is to attract the consumer of course, we can see various designs some very colorful and some a little more dull. Albers states that color is deceiving through the aspect of it changes according to the perspective and light, that key element is what makes the design on each board so unique. When a person looks at a certain board or design each person’s perspective is different on how they see that design. Color not only makes the board more attracting but it also reflects off the character towards the owner of the board. In selecting a board the consumer usually aims for which model and brand they want, but within that they also have to see if the design on the board fits their character. Color used on the board shows a wide range of what could be designed and used for the boards. The designers can use the aspects of various types of colors to show the essence of a bigger palette for the designer. Pros that design their own boards are able to use forms of color to show a hint of their character to the boards that are being mass-produced. With colors the designers are free to have a wider range to express their artistic designs for the boards.

Soda Bottles

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   The design of the soda bottle is taken into a unique field, as it is not merely just a simple design just to hold the soda in, but also based on the needs of the consumer.

   The soda bottle is something in our society that we do not think is carefully design, and notice. Each bottle has it's own distinct look and design to it. The designer of the bottle has to take into the consideration of the shape and function of the bottle as well as how it stands with their company and how it'll be advertised and look. Aesthetics play a key point in the design, as it has to draw the consumer to it. Although the main point of the soda is the taste, the design of the bottle also has to follow the 5 elements of ergonomics as well. The basic design for the bottle can be seen in the brand Dr. Pepper, their bottle is design in a basic format. Upon the top portion of the bottle it follows a wavy design all the way to the top, the bottle itself is pretty symmetrical and balanced. The shape of the bottle corresponds to the grip of the bottle and how the consumer uses it and handles it.

   The logo of the bottle is the set theme for the design; it is based on colors and the design of the logo and how it is expressed. Dr. Pepper has a set themed of reddish maroon color, which makes the drink so distinctive and well known to the consumers. If you’re able just to spot the drink on the shelves’ you’ll be able to tell what kind of drink it is.

Ergonomics: Iphone

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   The iPhone is a good example of a device that carries out a good standing in the ergonomics research areas. It's a device that hits all points and is a good device to be used by all.

   The safety of the phone is without a doubt very straight forward, with modern day technology, cell phones have developed to be quite safe. All the points have been looked at, and nothing is going to blow up in your face or anything. The phone comes with many safety features in which to help the user be safe in their everyday life. Features include Bluetooth technology, and many apps including a first aid one to just in case a emergency occurs.

    The comfort of the phone was designed to be one with the user, as well as feature many functions. The phone's sleek design is thin and light to make it less cluttered and a hassle for the user. It has the standard buttons set up in consideration of the user and how it stands towards convenience. We have your standard volume buttons on the left hand side because they believe that's the side that the users would have it most convenient to use it on. As one holds the phone it is held quite comfortably in the users hand, it isn't too big it isn't too small. As generations of the iPhone start to develop we see an improvement in designs based on comfort towards this phone, as the previous generations the phone was more curved shape the latest one the design was changed to a more sharp shape. Apple believed that the sharpest of the phone will give the users a more formidable grip on the phone compared to it's classic curve design. This change plays towards the role of better comfort as well as a bigger step towards function.

   The iPhone takes into a major consideration when it comes into the factor of ease of use. All major phone carriers have to look deep into this part of the design because the don't want to create anything that is too complex for the everyday consumer to use, as well as trying to spread the design for use towards everyone not just a designated group. The iPhone usage is pretty straight forward, you got your phone option in which you can select to make calls received, etc. Then you got the rest of the features in which are all available to you on the home screen. The iPhone overall is pretty much made ease of use because of how simple they decided to keep the design, and changing it form generation to generation.

   The performance of the iPhone is by far it’s most astounding feature and element. It outcompetes all other phones as of right now on the market in performance. It was the first type of phone to develop this type of touch screen smart phone revolutionizing the phone generations. The iPhone performance comes from its fast speed and applications software’s. What makes its performance so outstanding is that the possibilities with this phone are considered to be endless.

   The aesthetics of this phone is probably based on its simple design. The phone doesn’t look like much except for its sleek simple looks. Overall the phone is a well-balanced piece, everything is pretty symmetrical and the color options flow with the theme of apple as well as display a sense of luxury and elegance.

   

Lighting

   Image by: http://www.geekologie.com/2007/09/04/sticky-lights.jpg

   Lighting is an essential to one's household and it is found everywhere in our world and society today. The design of lighting shows how designers combine the essences of form and function. We see basic lights installed in our homes today but what we don't realize are the designs that is implied within them. Lights come in all shapes and sizes which expresses it's form. There are certain lights that are small and mounted into your wall or ceiling and there are free standing ones.

   The form of the light does little if it wasn't followed by the function of it, i mean what's a light if it didn't shine or light your household right? So as designers they have to take into consideration of how much function the design will put out, so how much light will be expressed. We can see most lights that follow the element of balance and is round because that being round spreads the most light using function to it’s fullest. They also take into consideration about how the light will sit or be presented and also how many light bulbs will be used or what type of light bulbs will used.

   There are many designs for lighting out there, all over our society and everyday household, we just have to keep an open mind and give the designers credits for their thoughts into creating it.

Word & Image: Street Signs

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   Word & Image is seen through our society in our everyday life through street signs. As we are driving down the streets everyday commuting our life or just merely looking for the right class rooms on campus, there are signs that direct us and guide us towards our destination. We see signs that imply directions as go here or this way, or just simply stop. Each sign uses a distinguishable notation of word and imagery. Shapes that are used transcribe the image referring to what the sign is trying to express. The words follow a simple word in which it directs the viewers to whatever the sign is trying to portray. We see signs as being balanced and symmetrical often coming in various shapes. A sign is got to be able to stand up on his own, as you would see a street sign and such. We recognize that a street size is often a rectangle with the street name in it. Stop sign is a symmetrical figure as well, and color plays an important aspect in the direction the sign is leaning towards. We often imply that red means stop, as followed by the street codes and laws. Signs combine the image with word to convey our direction and help us better recognize these universal thoughts and directions.

Word & Image: Brian Fies

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   Brian Fies expressed this concept very thoroughly through out his presentation. He mentions that he chose to express his feelings in comic form rather then writing a book because it would have a better connection and he would be able to visually show things more clearly. Word and image are strong as they are separately but together they are a power of true understanding. Brian Fies gets this concept in transcribing it through his works. Both of his works are prime examples of the concept of word and image. Comics that he creates share his experiences through the form of work and image.

   The words in his work help us get a better literal understanding in what he is trying to explain and share with us. The Images that he chooses to combine with the words shows us how it would seem if we were to look at it. A good example of this would be when he was explaining how he got the idea of making the comic moms cancer. He was sitting in the room and sketched his mom in the hospital bed, and labels the objects around her. This combines word and image, the word being the list of objects around her to show us what is being used, and the image is the depiction of how he saw his mom laying in that bed.

"Pencils"

   Pencils are used everyday through many different aspects, from kids using it to write in classrooms to designers using it to sketch in the studio. The pencil is the ultimate weapon of expression, and it comes in many different forms. The designers of the various types of pencils have to take into consideration the aspects of form and function. They have to design what is suitable for the people’s needs. My favorite design is the Zebra mechanical pencil. 

   The form and shape of this design is sleek and slim giving the user more control and stability. The scale of the pencil is about the average size of any other pencil, but it is a little bit shorter. The pencil is well balanced, giving the user more freedom in where they want to put their weight when in use. When designers are designing the different types of pencils, they have to consider the forms, and function of the pencil itself. They have to know what it feels like to use the pencil before they disperse it to the consumers. 

   Comfort plays a vital role in this development because function can only play so much. A pencil is a pencil, we see designers trying to add lights to a pencil, spiffy erasers and so on. They try to add so many things to a pencil when the best things to do it keep it simple. The pencil can be created in many different ways to accommodate every different user, but to create a most comfortable one would require changing the whole form of the pencil itself.

"Sony's Playstation"

Images by: Sony

   Through the years we have all seen the new generation of video games come out, what interested me the most was the see the designs of Sony’s play station console and how it has differ through out the years. Sony first introduced their console as the play station with designs you can see above it was the very first few systems to use cd’s. We can see that the design reflect a sense of bulkiness, it was rather big. The shape was symmetrical, the color scheme they decided to go with was dark grey in which follows the Playstation theme. Following that model the console gets a massive face-lift. Changing its name to the PSOne to make way the playstation 2. This console was a lot more sleek and smaller. It was very portable and lightweight the color schemed also changed to make it look more elegant. We can see the form of this model to be very balanced and compact. Then came the Playstaton 2, Sony’s new take on a new generation of games. This console design was not balanced or symmetrical, but it did give the owner the option of whether to lay it down or stand it up. The color scheme was also changed to make it look more modern into a slick black color, themed with the lighting of blue. This console had a very mean concept to it, which will only be brought along later on by the Playstation 3. Lastly the Playstation 3 has minor adjustments from the ps2 console design. Instead of being just a boxy form it’s changed to a wave like form giving it a sleeker look.

Interaction of Content & Form in Objectified

   The film Objectified showed the aspects of various designs through their content and form. The overall film played out very nicely, the content addressed in the film being the aspects of what is design and what one considers as design. 

   The structure of the film portrayed the message very well, as it being using various examples and interviews from various artists. 

   The form expressed in the film is compiled of various artworks by. It gives the viewers a sense of why and how the artist created what they did. 

   The film is a piece that comes together in all aspects of design. When watching this film I felt inspired by every work that the film used, as well as every comment the artists made. It shows the process of design by the company trying to recreate and redesign the fruit peeler to meet the people’s needs, including those who have arthritis. The film also distinguishes the difference between what is considered art and what is considered design. 

   My favorite part in the movie was when they were interviewing Jonathan Ive of Apple. He considers the design of apple to be created and designed to fit the consumers. He shows us how apple uses all of it’s parts and doesn’t waste any by, showing us that the keyboard panel comes from the metal sheet that is cut form the screen of the monitors. This shows how much aspects is taking when designing a product, not just in getting the final product but considering what process you take along the way.

"Comparison and Contrast"

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   The aspects of design that I thought I would compare are in the designs of two major car company's logo; Lexus, and Infiniti. 

   Both i thought were the most simple, but also visually astounding logos of design. Similarities we see in them are form and figure, both are oval shaped and has their main attribute in the center. They both also have the same corresponding colors to them; either comes in gold or silver to show off its elegance. They are both pretty symmetrical on the outside shape but differ within. 

   The rim of the Lexus logo is a bit narrower then the Infiniti, along side with the attribute in the middle. Each one has a specific meaning and representation to it We see Lexus take the direct path of putting on an elegant L in the middle of their emblem, whereas the Infiniti one we see them do a more subtle approach by displaying a thoughtful lines parallel at one pint then meeting to give off a hint of endless paths, or to state infinity. Lexus has a more verbal approach towards their design. The Infiniti center is also pretty symmetrical according to its form everything is well balanced about it, where as Lexus we see mainly the weight of it being shift to the right. Their logos show what it stands for as it represents the company as a whole.

"Choice of Weapon"

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   A design aspect that intrigued me, was something that i have been using every since i was a kid. It varied through out the years, as it improved with technology, it is my choice of weapon when i step onto that court. When i'm that mode there's only four things that are on my mind at the time: the ball, the net, the opponent, and of course my racket. 

   Through out the years of me playing the sport of tennis, i had changed the type of rackets i had used several times, all based on the design of the racket and how it has improved. It starts with simply new technology and material the racket is made. An example would be how the Prince o3 series came out and introduced a whole new line of racket that allowed the player to have a faster swing. It altered the racket by making the string wholes bigger which gave it more aerodynamics as the racket is being swung. The company head also introduced the technology of making their racket out of titanium and then reintroduced it and came out with a liquid metal series racket. 

   What is capturing about racket designs is there are so many ways to go about it. We can see that the looks of the racket also matters, with every new racket comes a new paint job over it. We see different type of designs that cover the rackets, with a variation of colors, which follows the theme of the racket. The K Factor series by Wilson we see a color designs of mainly red and black for the main rackets. Wilson just released their new line call BLX which has colors of black and orange. The rackets all redesigned with different looks, which is a distinguishable trait towards the sale of the rackets.

"Design as Conversation"

   Communication is a key aspect in design, without it design wouldn't be where it is today. Through the contexts of critics and discussions, every designer has a sense of feedback on how he/she can improve their work. Further discussion would be on how we as designer seek what needs to be designed, and how is this done? Communication. We can be designing for others or simply ourselves, but in every aspects of design we should always tend and follow that near final step. By discussing our work and talking with one another, it can open up our minds to a series of new ideas, as well as light bulb moments in which we can see our work differ in some way. Communication also leads to collaboration, which will only progress our work and understanding of design as a whole. Design is said to be an endless quest, my belief is we can’t anywhere near the end of it without help from others. We may talk to one another through conversation about design but simply just talking about ideas is already brought to be design. Another form would be if some had hire you as a designer, you would have to listen and talk to them about their wants and needs towards that specific design. I mean you can’t just do everything based on yourself, it has to be based on the needs of the patron. And of course what you creat isn’t going to be exactly what they want, but after discussing it with them, you’ll be able to adjust and fix it accordingly to how they would want it. Communication through design is a key factor in achieving what design truly is.

"Inked"

Images by: Red Demon Tattoos

      An ancient art form that we come across with a lot during our lives is merely the canvas as being one's skin; tattoos. Tattoos are a complex form of design, as it requires precise technique, and the ability to create and construct a unique piece. A tattoo is said to follow you for the rest of your life, meaning no regrets when it comes time for you to sit down in that chair. To have ink instilled in your skin forever follows the idea that the overall piece has to be something meaningful and of course looks good. 

     The struggles with tattoo artists are mainly creating the template for their patrons. I mean there are so many different designs out there one can create, so many different styles one can follow, and simply so many way one imagined their tattoo to look. A master tattoo isn't one who can give the patron exactly what he/she wants, but rather create a piece that's convincing enough to lead the patron towards that; "yes, ink me up." The designs in tattoos mainly portray each artist’s unique styles within their work, and it requires endless practice for them to master this art form. Every time that needle pierces a person skin, the ink is embedded deep into their skin, there’s no room for mistake so every line and every aspect of the design must be well thought and planned out. 

      The design that follows each person varies depending on what that person’s thoughts are. It can be from a complex design of a portrait of someone, to a mere saying or poem written across someone’s body. No matter what the design is tattoos are a sense of complex and thoughtful art form; originated from ancient times – tattoos are bound to last centuries to come as an art form and not merely just on people’s skin.

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Stone Soup

Images by: Long Luu

      As Stone Soup jumps from my childhood into the present, it was very interesting on how I thought we would perceive this concept through our Design 1 class. It led us to a construction of a piece with our group; in which the outcome became a college of pieces we had put together on a tree. My thoughts on this assignment were that it was very creative and a good form of an icebreaker for the groups. Our project consisted of a college idea contributed by all members of our group. 

      We each just started piecing together various parts separately, than sticking it on our piece as a whole. The main focus was the giant flower in the middle, but along the way our other aspects of the college overwhelmed that part and it got somewhat lost within the piece. The piece has various piece doesn't have a specific meaning to it, it's not an everyday object or something that one can recognize. It’s more like a piece for your thoughts, because there's so much happening on it, it's hard to follow just one thought through it. 

      The materials we had varied from various items such as; paper plates, present wrapping strings, and even a Finding Nemo cloth piece. My overall thoughts of our piece were that it was very symbolic like a puzzle; every member contributed to a piece – which very wells follows the concept of what stone soup is. See if you can find Nemo is our piece.

Creativity from Without

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      An ordinary day goes by and a single event or object and be a form inspiration to someone out there. For me that everyday object is something we see thousands of everyday, and something we get into everyday; the automobile. Not simply just a car, but mainly the paint scheme of the car. There are thousands of various types of paints out there that we see these cars in, but to the un trained eye they're simply just primary color. We see cars as a basic white, black, blue, red, silver, etc. but what you don't notice is that each manufacture and each car has it's own different paint code. How does this inspire me? I find inspiration through forms of colors, just seeing these things everyday in the street and realizing that there's a sense of difference in them is inspiring enough for me. The simple cars we see can just have a normal shade of paint; an example would be “Taffeta White” from the Honda Company. We would just see this as a normal spectrum white, but the same car also comes in a similar looking coat of paint, however this one includes pearl in the paint; which Honda calls “Premium Pearl White,” where the pearl gives it an astonishing and elegant glow to it. It’s not just the paint scheme that’s inspiring it’s the thought of mixing various types of paint together to get the overall color is inspiring to me as well. The technique of getting a custom color or just trying to match that color just right is very hard to uphold, because through this process there are so many factors. Should I add a hint of blue or red? There are so many variations of color one can play with in the aspects of painting cars, and that’s what is really inspiring me.  

"Origami"

                                                    Image by: Long Luu

      Origami has a lot of aspects that follow the characteristics of design, such as the construction of the object as a whole from simple pieces of paper. Paper is used in our everyday life, and yet it has the ability to become a work of art and design. We see paper as just an ordinary flat object, in which we use for millions of things in our society, but when you take this object and create a origami piece; it becomes a work of 3 dimensional design. 
      Origami fuses many pieces of papers together in creation of one piece, it can also be made from a single piece paper; it just simply depends on what you’re making. There are endless designs out there for origami, but it is something not so easy to do. It takes precision paper folding with a lot of variables that comes in to play such as the size of the paper and the color. 
      There are many figures that we see paper becoming through origami, but we have to consider the minds that originated this technique skill. I mean how were they able to fold the paper so precise in a way with other papers in which to create the famous origami crane, a rather complicated and delicate looking piece. It's the minds of the creator that simply saw a vision through paper and took it upon design to create the art we call origami today. The picture you see above was actually a gift to me made by my girlfriend. It consists of 12 flowers, each flower took 5 pieces of paper to make; so overall it took 60 pieces of papers to make that piece. As you can see from that piece the complexity of origami through paper plays a sense of trying to obtain what we see in our minds into a form of design. 

"Design in a Sense of Smell"

  

                                                     Images by: Long Luu

      Cologne and perfume not only focuses on our sense of smelling good but the bottle itself focuses on our sense of sight and design. The companies manufacture each bottle to have a distinctive and attractive look with some being more creative then others. My mom is actually a perfume collector, from the picture you see above that’s how she chose to display her collection, and that is where I found my inspiration for this blog. The perfume bottle design she has is massive with a lot of different types of designs. I see bottles with loops all around it like a roller coaster and one shaped as a sand glass, as well as bottles being shaped as a human figure. The designs on the bottles not only have to correspond with the brand but also appeal to the consumers and attract them to buy it. I see this as an object we see yet we don’t realize that design prevails within it. Sure we all buy it for the smell, but is that really all we’re buying it for? The design of the bottles has to play a role in the purchase as well, wether you're into just a simple sleek bottle or a more complicated looking design, it's all there on the market. The thing is that the smell and the design of the bottle are both created by people in hope that it’ll relate to other people. I mean sure the sole purpose of cologne or perfume is to make you smell good but the design of the bottle also appeals to others as art. We can see the design of the bottle being manipulated through different shapes and sizes, offering an opened door to the universe of design and endless possibilities.

"Brick by Brick"

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 Recalling back through the early days of my childhood, I see only one toy and hobby that corresponds to design and has also kept up with me the longest in my life is Legos. Legos opens up a child’s mind through the concept of design, and simply gives anyone wielding it a hand to create. Legos opens up the doors and mind through a sense of having each brick and piece be attachable, with limitations of course. Each piece has to correspond to another piece, which kept my mind thinking through a sense that everything has a right piece to it. Not only that there were thousands of pieces and endless possibilities’ of creations, there were also an interface of different characters and colors. 

      Through legos the process of design were endless, each piece was a part of a bigger picture. Every set of course came with a designated design but what opened up my mind was being able to add and configure to that design. My first set if I recall was just a basic set of bricks from which I would construct simple pattern of designs; a red brick, to a yellow brick, to a red brick, and so on. With this object being so quantitative, my collection grew larger and larger as years came along. Following this allowed more designs and objects to be built. Legos follow the characteristics of design through the endless possibilities’ that it holds, brick by brick. In sense I see legos today as carrying the trait of “design” being an endless quest.