How Color Transforms a Design: Ikea Side Table

Ikea: known for its lifestyle enhancing, low-priced furniture that allows their customers to put a personal touch on any room. Personally, I find shopping at Ikea to be a lot of fun (but maybe that's just the designer in me…). They have a variety of furniture and home accessories that can update, renovate, decorate, and personalize. Ikea even puts together room samples so that the work is done for you: just select a room you like, find the furniture in the warehouse, add a little elbow grease and paint, and viola! My favorite part of Ikea, though, is its ability to offer a wide variety of furniture that can be easily matched to other products. How do they do this? Color, of course! Every table, bookshelf, and bed stand comes in a variety of colors that can be mixed and matched. The beauty of these pieces is that they are very similar to one another, but they give a room a completely different feel.

Take this table: the left in "White" and the right in "Walnut Effect"

Furniture can completely change the feel of a room. White furniture makes a room look sleek and futuristic. White can also have a clean and sterile feeling, which is probably why it is used in hospitals. I would venture to say that white is much younger feeling: there is no aged look to a clean white table. Wood furniture, however, makes a room feel much cozier and homier. Rather than feeling hard and stale, a wood table can make the room feel warm. A wood table can also look beautiful when it is a little rugged, with scratches or marks on the surface. A white table with scratches or stains usually just looks dirty and un-taken care of. 

One difference that is notable with these two tables is the color combinations that are available with each. White can be paired with almost anything: a white table can work in a white room, to complete an aesthetic, but white can also fit into a room with many colors. White can work with any color of the rainbow, to create a fresh accompaniment. Wood colored, however, has a limited usage. Wood looks good with cooler colors, like green and blue, but can have an unpleasing aesthetic when paired with red or orange. Wood also does not match all other wood: a warmer honey-colored wood cannot always be paired with a darker maple. Woods can look especially bad if they are almost the same color, but just a little off (similar to how black shirts and black pants do not always match). In all, wood is decidedly less neutral than white. 

I actually own this table, in the red version. The red is very energetic and young feeling, and brightens up any room it's in. It definitely lacks the sleek look of the white, and the homey, mature feeling of the wood version. However, in my drab dorm room, the little red table brightens up the off-white walls and blue-grey carpeting. I have a feeling that this little table will continue to be an easy way to brighten up any of my rooms in the future!

Utopian Design: Bike Lanes

After growing up in Davis, I am no stranger to bike lanes. I biked to school in elementary school and junior high (unless I could coerce my parents or my friends' parents into taking me). However, I had long since fallen out of practice of biking, because of my gratefully received car, when I started UC Davis this fall. In just one quarter, I have re-founded my appreciation for Davis's utopian use of bike lanes. Davis claims itself to be the bike capital of the United States, and was one of the first towns to implement bike lanes. These lanes help bike riding children, university students, and adults navigate their way safely through the streets of Davis.

Bike lanes help bikers and cars feel safer together on the road. In my experience on both sides, bike lanes make the experience much more enjoyable. There is nothing scarier than rushing to school on a weekday morning, and being afraid of hitting the bikers that insist on biking on 5th street (There aren't bike lanes on 5th for a reason people! Take a side street!) As a biker, I know how hard it can be to negotiate traffic when there are bike lanes, and when bike lanes aren't present, I find myself very uncomfortable. I take an extra long route to my job at Baskin Robbins downtown in order to avoid biking on roads without bike lanes.

Though this isn't their intended use, I also think bike lanes contribute the the small town visual aesthetic of Davis. Every time I go to San Francisco, I marvel at how close the cars are to the curb. However, in Davis, the wide street gives a more leisurely and open feeling, unlike the cramped, busy feeling of cities.

Bike lanes encourage bikers: Davis is the bike capital of the United States because the bike lanes make it so easy to get to destinations without a car. Rather than using cars, which use up fossil fuel and create pollution, Davisites turn to the cheaper, environmentally friendly mode of transportation. There is no doubt that the implementation of bike lanes was based on utopian ideas at its conception.

Design that Endangers Society: Aquadots

Aquadots-- a seemingly harmless child's activity. Arrange them in colorful designs! Easy to use! Just spray with water and they stick together! Teach your children about colors and shapes! 

WRONG. Aquadots were recalled in 2007 because when water is sprayed on them (to make your designs permanent) they produce a toxic chemical. And not just any toxic chemical. GHB, also known as the date rape drug. 

What were designers of this toy thinking? Young children do not know to keep things like this out of their mouths. And even if they did, mass producing a toy that can be used to render other people unconscious when ingested is just bad planning. Design flaws are understandable, but this puts worries about lead paint into a new perspective. 

Design of childrens' toys should fun, easy to use, colorful, and most of all, safe. I sincerely hope that the designers of Aquadots had back-up career paths. 

10-Year-Old Fashion Designer Cecilia Cassini

Preteen. Precocious. Prodigy. All of these words can describe Cecilia Cassini, the world's youngest fashion designer. After getting her first sewing machine at age six, Cecilia began designing dresses for girls her age. She believes that every girls should have dresses, and her creations show a taste for vintage fabrics and sequins.

Cecilia encourages all kids to follow their dreams, and believes that you don't have to wait until adulthood to pursue a career. At the age of ten, she has been featured in ten magazines for her designs, and sells her custom made pieces online and at Fred Segal. 

Cecilia also runs a blog on Blogger, where she discusses trends and her day-to-day activities. 

More and more, the young are taking the spotlight. Child stars have always been a subject of public attention, but today's youth take this to a new level. Justin Bieber was discovered on YouTube at thirteen and became an international hit by the time he was sixteen. Nine-year-old Willow Smith, daughter of Will Smith, just released her first music video. 

Designers should keep in mind that the younger generation is a powerful force: designing a product directed at this generation could make a designers career. 

Ergonomic Evaluation: Facebook

As I seem to have taken on a technological theme to many of my blogs, you must have known it wasn't going to be long before I confronted the design of the one and only Facebook. Considering that Facebook had 500 million users as of July 2010, the design must be something special. Though the ergonomic scale has the connotation of belonging in the physical world, in an ever-changing technological universe one must consider evaluations of websites in terms of safety, comfort, ease of use, performance, and aesthetics in order to understand reasons for their success.

Facebook's safety is questionable. Accounts are password protected, though this seems to offer little actual protection: accounts still get hacked, and hundreds of wall posts promoting some online dating site or whatever get posted. Facebook users often volunteer a lot of personal information as well, which can also be dangerous, and users are sometimes very ill-informed on the privacy options. However, privacy settings are generally easily managed, and if users are careful, Facebook has few safety problems.

The physical comfort of Facebook can vary depending on your location (on the couch, at school, etc.) so we must evaluate Facebook's comfort in another way. It seems that our society is much more comfortable with online interactions that with interactions involving another person's physical presence. Facebook provides "comfortable" social interactions for those who are uncomfortable doing so in person. Facebook is an easy way to keep in touch with friends and family; whereas a phone conversation with a random high school friend might be awkward, Facebook communications are comfortable and simple. A user can keep in touch with a quick wall post, rather than a lengthly phone call.

Facebook's performance as a social networking site is obviously at the top. Why else would so many people, with a variety of ages and interests, choose to use it? Facebook is productive for its main purpose: social ties. There are a multitude of way to keep up with friends: posting on Walls, putting up photos and commenting on photos, video posts, and status updates. The News Feed allows you to keep up on general activities of your friends, while Notifications alert you of direct interactions with friends. There are even features which remind you of old photos, and encourage you to rekindle old friendships.

The ease of use category is closely related to aesthetics on Facebook: for a website to be easy to use, generally it must be aesthetically pleasing. The simple homepage is designed with the most important information right around the top; your inbox, friend requests, and account settings are all in place for optimal usage. Friends' updates are organized with the most recent at the top, and less recent as you scroll down. There are many navigation options available on the home page, but the page doesn't look cluttered or confusing. The colors contrast enough to stand out from each other, but not enough to be distract from their purposes. Facebook's design is one of an incredible streamlining of ease of use and aesthetics.

The creators of Facebook continue to edit and tweak parts of Facebook everyday; Facebook is an ongoing study in terms of ergonomic design. Facebook users demand this performance. If Facebook were to fall short in any of these categories, users would simply move on to a new site. Facebook is used everyday without analysis of its design, but as we analyze it we can see why its popularity has risen so quickly.

Instagram

Okay, so I'm a little obsessed with my iPhone, and I just got a new app that I need to share.

Much like the Hipstamatic, which has similar features but costs $1.99, the free app Instagram allows the user to put different filters on their photographs. Each filter gives the look of a different type of camera from a different era in film. This app transforms a simple quick snapshot into an artful photo, and is easier than sending a text (that pesky touch keyboard always gets me…).

Beyond the regular magic of the iPhone camera (i.e. its clarity, quickness, ease of use, etc.) you can now create one of a kind photographs on the phone. That annoying middle step of uploading your photos to your computer so you can edit them? Taken care of! And no need to cart around that nice camera anymore, the iPhone takes perfect pictures and fits into your pocket with ease.

The iPhone camera and cell phone cameras in general are changing how we take pictures. How often do you see people, instead of taking out a camera, using a phone camera to capture the moment? I went out with my family recently, and my mom lamented that she had failed to bring her camera. However, she was able to use her phone (one of the few features she actually knows how to use) to take several nice snapshots. With this new app, your, and her, pictures can look even better with half of the effort.

Here's one that I took with my blog's name, that took all of about five minutes to take and style. The hardest part was picking which effect I liked best (the winner was "Lord Kelvin")

I might even spring for the $1.99 version.

Word and Image: Logos

Some of the most effective logos feature an interaction of word and image demonstrating the aim of their product. While some logos, such as the Nike "Swoosh" are abstract, logos featuring a clue of their origin are some of the most interesting combinations of word and image.

Burger King has a prime example of a logo that combines words and image. The words actually make up the meat portion of the burger; no mistake can be made what Burger King is trying to sell us (though they also conveniently include the word "burger" in their name to keep us on track). Because the interaction of the word and image is subtle, it allows the observer to connect the product with the logo in a stronger way.

The FedEx logo also combines word and image in a discreet way. The arrow in the middle of the word is supposed to symbolize the speed and precision of FedEx. Few people notice the arrow on their own, but once made aware of it, the arrow is impossible to ignore. The discreet imagery has an affect similar to the Burger King logo: the idea of the product is shown without overwhelming the viewer. However, the FedEx logo does fail sometimes with this subtle imagery, like I said, few people notice the arrow on their own. However, the subconscious message is still present. 

Both of these logos use word and image to create a unique branding tool. Without pushing their product in the consumers' face, they allow the interaction of the word and image to demonstrate their products' superior qualities. Word and image come together to create a deeper meaning: in both cases, the logos would lack branding qualities if it were just text on its own. 

Word and Image: Illuminated Manuscripts

Leaf from a Psalter: Initial D with Monks Singing, ca. 1495

Girolamo Dai Libri

Source: Girolamo Dai Libri: Leaf from a Psalter: Initial D with Monks Singing (12.56.4) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In a time before the Internet, before mass-production, even before the printing press, the illuminated manuscript was not just a book, but a work of art.

The term illuminated manuscript refers specifically to those decorated with gold or silver paint, but the term has grown to include any embellished manuscript. These illuminated manuscripts, mostly from the medieval art period, demonstrate how much time and effort was put in to book making before the printing press. While manuscripts continued to be illuminated after the invention of the printing press, they appeared much less frequently and were usually only collected by the wealthy. In some cases, illuminated manuscripts are the only example of painting from a certain time or area.

Leaf from a Manuscript of Valerius Maximus, ca. 1380–90

Workshop of Pierre Remiet

Source: Charles V Manuscript Leaf [French] (31.134.8) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Illuminated manuscripts are important to consider when thinking about word and image, because they are some of the earliest forms of combining word and image. The art form has died out for the most part, in favor of either illustration-free books, or illustrations aimed at children. Very rarely are books decorated in this style in our modern era. However, we must consider the effect of these manuscripts on those who would have seen them: this could have been the viewers' only experience with art in their lifetime.

While I appreciate the artistic value of these manuscripts, they also make me think about how lucky we are today to be exposed to so much literature and art. These books are truly beautiful, but I cannot imagine one book being the extent of my experience with the medium.

Mass Produced Object: Cell Phones

Everyone has a cell phone: from grandparents to children, cell phones are becoming an indispensable part of our society.

Cell phones are being designed so they are easier to use: full keyboards encourage texting phenomenons, they are smaller and easier to transport, memory chips allow us to keep more data than ever before. "Smart phones" allow us to utilize the Internet, so that e-mail, map functions, and Facebook are in our pocket. Form closely follows function in the realm of cell phones: if something can be designed to be sleeker, smaller, or better looking, it immediately is.

Cell phone design is of importance to the consumer because whatever phone you choose becomes part of your identity. The device gets used so often, for key interactions with business partners, family, and friends (and that's just the phone portion). When you meet a person with the same phone, you feel an immediate connection, a recognition of a part of you that someone else has.

This mass produced object is so much more than just a telephone: your cell phone is your partner, a companion that is always there to help you and guide you.

Objectified: Study of Content and Form

Gary Hustwit's documentary Objectified features a series of interviews with designers and design critics in which they discuss their ideas about design. One of the basic interactions we have with design lies in the interaction between form and content, which are discussed extensively throughout the movie.

The two main types of form are explained well by Alice Rawsthorn, a design editor at the International Herald Tribune. She separates types of form into two categories: analog and digital. Analog design constitutes things that tell us what they do by what they look like: an alien coming from another planet could guess what to do with a chair or a spoon. Digital design centers around the microchip: an MP3 player's form gives very little hint as to what it is used for. Analog products by nature give some hint as to what they are used for, but the microchip has annihilated this theory; form does not need to give a hint of content.

Karim Rashid describes his design aesthetic as "techno-organic"; he seeks to create a "physical interpretation of the digital age." He believes that the design of our surroundings should reflect the growing technology of our times. Rashid compares our less technological furniture designs, like wooden chairs, to using a horse-drawn carriage rather than a car. Digital cameras are still shaped in a rectangular form, which was created to house the rectangular film: why do we continue to create cameras this way? Rashid emulates the question of digital form; his creations emulate the desire to move away from traditional forms, continuing the quest for something new.

This concept connects with my last post as well-- technology is changing the way we design. Technology creates a new medium with which to design; it also creates a desire for the futuristic, as we look toward what is next. Lastly, technology creates a new relationship between content and form, one where designers have more opportunity and flexibility with their designs.

The Listening Post: Data-mining as Art

Data-mining, the gathering of data about individuals from information given on the internet, is a highly controversial subject these days. Countless websites do it: Amazon uses data-mining to suggest other items you may be interested in purchasing, the NSA uses data-mining to track potential terrorists. The use of data-mining provides the "miners" with various statistics of how they spend their time online. Many people fear this invasion of their privacy, but others, like Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen, turn this act into art.

The Listening Post, housed in the San Jose Museum of Art, features small screens that display phrases taken in real time from chat rooms. An electronic voice reads some of these phrases aloud, accompanied by soft music in the background. These phrases vary, the computer program can be set to pick out phrases and words at random, or it can be set to find phrases that start with certain words: "I am", "I like", "I love". You can follow this link to watch a video of the art piece.

This piece brings around an obvious discussion: Many people find data-mining invasive when it's done by the NSA, but does in have the same connotation here? Can this process of data-mining, used to secretly gather information, really be evaluated as art? What is art in our modern and technological lives?

Since the introduction of the Internet, our society has changed rapidly. In the art and design world, the Internet has brought around a mass sharing of art on websites like Flickr, discussion forums on websites or blogs like this one, and much more. With the creation of The Listening Post, we are moving into a new usage of the Internet in art: it has been created literally out of the Internet. Rather than being shared or discussed on the Internet, this piece takes a part of what is inherently part of the Internet, instant chatting, and puts it back into the physical world as art. 

The Design of Time

Arguably, one of the inventions that most changed the lives of human beings was the clock. Before this invention, time was told by the seasons. The time of day mattered less, and the time of year mattered more. Monks were the first users of clocks in the fourteenth century, to tell when to go to prayers, and slowly the practice of keeping time was adopted throughout the world. The time of day became more important when machinery and factories were invented, and workers started being paid by the hour. The concept we most associate with time is money; saving, spending, borrowing, wasting, budgeting-- these words can refer to both money and time.

Even now we are experiencing a change in how we interpret time. With digital clocks, time-telling has become more exact. You are more likely to hear that, "it's 12:16" rather than the more general, "a quarter after 12". Our lives continue to become more dependent on time, a more exactness being put on the amount of time we live in.

Who designed time this way? In other cultures, ones outside of the technological world, time has a slower pace. The time of day matters little, and tasks are completed at a more relaxed pace. In our society though, we rush to class, rush to work, rush to complete everything in the limited amount of time we are given in the day. As a student, I find myself wondering where my time goes; I find myself trying to squeeze in an inordinate amount of activity into the day so that I can complete my studying and have time to socialize.

The aesthetics of time are also important: the design of a clock can have a huge affect on how time is told. Like I mentioned before, digital clocks make us consider a more exact time. This can either be forgiving or make us feel as though we are more behind schedule. Personally, I have my time in the morning designated so I have to leave at exactly 8:45 to get to my 9 AM class on time. If I leave at 8:43 or 8:44, I'm early, but if I leave at 8:46, I'm late. With an analog clock, I just have to leave at a quarter to 9. Unfortunately, there aren't any analog clocks in our dorm, and I'm usually running late. The design of a clock can make it harder or easier to tell the time as well: don't you hate those clocks that just have lines, rather than numbers or other distinct markers? I find them much more difficult to tell time on, especially if I'm in a hurry.

Time is something that we often forget has been created. While time moves at its own pace, we are the ones who have divided it up and put so much stress on the usage of time. How would our lives be different if time had been designed in another way? How do the designs of clocks affect how we tell time?

Comparison and Contrast: Another Type of Conversation

In 2005, the Musée d'Orsay created a program in which contemporary artists were invited to have their pieces displayed alongside one in the museum, which houses art from the 19th century. Joel Shapiro created his work Study, 20 Elements (2004) to reside alongside Carpeaux's Dance (1863-69). While these two pieces have a uniquely direct link, as Shapiro's was created in response to Carpeaux, there are many aspects of these artworks which can be explored in comparison. 

Jean-Baptist Carpeaux created The Dance in 1863-1869 for the Paris Opera building. Asked to create a sculpture around the subject of dance, Carpeaux put the spirit of dance in the center, surrounded by a group of female dancers. The spirit leads the dance, urging on the dancers around her. The feeling of movement is presented both vertically as the spirit moves upward and around the piece as the dancers circle the central figure. Carpeaux's piece was quite controversial because of the detailed female nudes it portrayed, and many requested that it be removed from the opera house. 

Shapiro uses brightly painted wood to create his Study, 20 Elements. In his other work, Shapiro often uses rectangular blocks of wood to represent figures and movement. This work features a central yellow block as the largest and most prominent image, and smaller blocks move around its base. The use of color leads the eye upward toward the largest block: the two smaller yellow blocks create a direct line towards it, while it contrasts with the others closest to it. The piece has an air of being off-balance, it's hard to believe that it is free-standing. The whole thing looks very light; the onlooker feels as if he or she could pick it up with one hand. 

The pieces are very similar in many ways. The unity of the shapes, whether they be dancers or rectangles, are all similar but unique. No two figures are the same in Carpeaux's piece, while no two rectangles are the same in Shapiro's work. Shapiro's work also reflects the dynamic of Carpeaux's piece; both pieces have a similar feeling of movement. The overall shape of the works is similar too: both lead the eye upwards to a peak and have a light atmosphere, though they are more bottom-heavy with details. 

This piece seems quintessential in our discussion of design as a conversation and the need for collaboration in art and design. The creations of Shapiro and Carpeaux are directly linked: Shapiro draws inspiration directly from the core design elements of Carpeaux's work. There is no actual conversation here, because Carpeaux will not be able to respond anytime soon, but these pieces give a clear example of how elements of design can be transferred. 

Design as Conversation

As I've mentioned before, collaboration is key to design. There is hardly any design that hasn't been influenced or inspired by something else. Designers draw inspiration from a multitude of sources, including from each other. There is an eternal exchange of ideas that goes in the art and design world, a back and forth as designers try to improve on each others' work. However, design discussion is taking place in other places besides the classrooms and studios of designers: take a look at Gap's new logo controversy. 

Gap created the new logo (on the left) in an attempt to update Gap for the new generation. However, there was so much negative reaction to the attempted change that Gap agreed to return to the old logo. The conversation was not only between members of the public, but between the public and the owners of Gap. Everyone had an opinion on the new logo and wanted to share it via the web; in turn, the owners of Gap listened to their buyers. The mass uproar also demonstrates how much investment people make in brands: one woman said she would no longer shop at Gap if the logo changed. In my opinion, the discussion this change created was good for Gap's business; no matter whether people liked or disliked the logo, the brand was getting noticed.

The conversation of fashion design is ever-changing as well: take Lady Gaga's meat dress that has accumulated so much attention. 

Lady Gaga purposely creates looks that garner attention, she wants people to be shocked and discuss the meaning behind her ensembles. The meat dress in particular was a comment on the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy in the military. She says, "If we don't stand up for what we believe in, we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're gonna have as much rights as the meat on our bones." She also added that she's "not a piece of meat". She creates her image in a way that invites controversy, that invites a discussion of what statements she makes with her outfits. In doing so, she creates awareness of social issues; rather than only promoting her own fame, she makes an effort to reach out and help her supporters. Her conversations are with the media, challenging our social norms.

Should Design be Moral?

Morality-- rules for living the "good life". Do designers need to take morality into consideration when creating pieces?

Whether or not they are required to make moral choices, more and more designers are creating in ways that are conscious to one of the world's most current problems-- the environment. Going "green" has been a trend for several years now, as designers take note of the state of our planet. Bags, shoes, clothing, home decor-- all of these things and more are being made from recycled material.

Mark Langan is one of those designers that creates out of recycled material. Using old cardboard boxes, he makes beautiful sculptural pieces. Some of these are fine art, some are company logos (below is a logo for the clothing company Propr). Langan hopes that his art will contribute to the recycling movement, that people will see his art and realize they too can contribute.

In my opinion, designers do need to take some level of morality into their work. Not every piece needs to be a strong statement, or communicate a lesson for humanity. However, taking small steps, like making an effort to use recycled materials, should be on designers' minds. Langan admits his contribution to the environment is small, but something is better than nothing. As designers begin creating environment-friendly products, consumers will buy those products; even small contributions contribute to this cycle. Going green is without a doubt one way that designers can be moral. 

Creativity from Without

Not all designers and artists look within to find inspiration from which to create their art. Andrew Goldsworthy, for example, gains inspiration from materials he finds in nature. His ephemeral art does not come from self-discovery; he is more concerned with discovering the meaning within his media. 

Drawing inspiration from media falls into every designer's lap now and again. Designers are not always given free range; often, designers are asked to create from certain materials, or they must create with what is available to them. In our Stone Soup activity, we were asked to create a piece of design from materials that each of us provided. There was no planning involved in our media choices; each person brought what they had and we created with it. 

Designing based on media can also be a choice, many designers allow inspiration to come from the materials they have around them. Not all design has a deep philosophical meaning; the primary goal of most design lies in its ability to please aesthetically. Linda Hoke uses brightly colored cups in installation art to create beautiful wall pieces. She draws inspiration purely from the cups and colors, sometimes going out of her way to find the perfect color of a vintage slurpee cup. In the same way that Goldsworthy creates design out of items found in nature, Hoke creates design out of items that are traditionally used for a completely different purpose.

Inspiration can come from anywhere at anytime. Each designer has a different way of finding inspiration; designers can draw inspiration from within and from without, and many designers are asked to do a little of both. Drawing inspiration from without allows the designer to re-invent their world, whether it be rearranging nature or manipulating cups. 

As design students, there is no doubt that we will at times be forced to create from certain materials for an educational purpose. Additionally, we will probably not have access to pricier art supplies, and we will have to creatively use what we have available. These challenges will force us to explore the world outside of the one we know and are comfortable with. In doing so, we will probably find a more effective way of drawing inspiration from within ourselves as well as without.

Stone Soup

The sharing of media, ideas, and the creative process that constitutes Stone Soup demonstrates core aspects of design. This unique process of shared art shows how a simple activity can demonstrate how instrumental collaboration and the design process are to design as a whole.

Collaboration is inherent in design. Multiple designers are often asked to work on projects together, creating a conscious collaboration. Additionally, consciously or not, designers participate in trends; from fashion to interior, almost all designers are influenced by the zeitgeist. What really constitutes the zeitgeist, translated to mean "spirit of the time", is the collaboration of designers and artists of a certain time who are influenced by each other in their creations. We can see these time-period influences in fashion design, architecture, and art that are classified by time period, i.e. the Renaissance, Modern Art, etc.

In Stone Soup, we collaborated much more literally. Materials are shared, the process is shared; everyone contributes something. The communal art process demonstrated how collaboration can play a pivotal role in design; by ourselves, none of us could have created what we did all together. Each person adds a little bit, and by the end we had a fully formed piece of art which has not one designer, but eight.

Our experience with Stone Soup demonstrated another aspect of design very clearly: the importance of the design process. Lauer specifies the design process as first thinking, then looking, and finally doing. The process went slightly differently for us; we looked at our materials first, then did a little thinking, but for the most part our Stone Soup was "doing". The persisting question of whether to classify the word design as a verb or noun was simple on the day we did Stone Soup: it was without a doubt a verb. Our piece would have turned out differently had we spent more time in the "thinking" stage; not necessarily better or worse, but doubtless it would have had a completely different design.

The process of Stone Soup is one that I would like to revisit-- its employment of so many aspects of design is not only fascinating, but also enjoyable. 

Making Your Mark

Signatures fit into design in a completely unique way. They can be found at the base or on the back of almost every work of art. Artists and designers, though, are not the only ones who create a signature; signatures are used every day to authorize, make agreements, and prove identity. Writing a signature is almost a thoughtless task: we are asked to do it so often that we forget what our signature really constitutes. The origin of a signature differs from person to person, and most are difficult to reproduce.

Handwriting on its own is unique to each individual; when asked to repeat the same letters over and over, sometimes multiple times a day, the letters take on a unique character. Human error means that signatures are never exactly the same, but of all the things we write, they come the closest. Our handwriting is our own design, and a signature is a summary of that design.

Letters are the most abstract of images: a picture of an eye and the word "eye" can mean the same thing to us, but the word is a much more abstract version of that thought. A signature is like an abstract picture of a person; the signature has as much identity as a picture does. This identity is utilized in many aspects of our society: signing bank documents, housing documents, birth certificates, and more. When one cannot agree to something in person, one can send his or her signature as proof of agreement. 

In the end, every person develops some sort of signature, some way of identifying themselves on paper. 

Earliest Memory of Design

Dr. Seuss's books were my first experience with design. When they were read to me as a child, and later as I read them to myself, I was fascinated with the design of colors and shapes that Dr. Seuss, used to create his fantastic stories. In the same way that Dr. Seuss made up nonsense words to fit into his rhyming scheme, he used his illustrations to make a world that matched his imaginative visions.

My favorite book by Dr. Seuss has always been The Sleep Book (pictured above) because of its incredible landscapes. The book features an explanation of how people all around the world (Dr. Seuss's world that is) go to sleep, and every page has a completely different design scheme. The patterns of the designs fill up the whole page; each one truly is a different world.

As a child, I especially enjoyed the movement of each of the pages. Like in the pages shown above, Dr. Seuss uses stairs to create an illusion of depth in each page. The reader's eyes follow the stairs to the line of the water, which leads back down to the base of the stairs. Each of his pages gives the reader a similar feeling of being transported around the page. Rather than having one or two central focus points, Dr. Seuss designs his pages to be a full interactive experience.

Besides the layout design of the pages, Dr. Seuss takes on the identity of an architect, creating whimsical buildings for his characters to live in. The doorways and windows are almost always rounded, rather than square, and the railings ands staircases are always curved. Even the boat pictured above is stylized. In this way, Dr. Seuss employs design to create another world; he challenges the conventional idea of buildings to transport his readers.

The final aspect of Dr. Seuss's work that always intrigued me was his characters' interaction with their world. Not only does Dr. Seuss re-design architecture, but he re-designs how his characters act in their surroundings. His characters sleep above doorways, over stairs, and in keyholes. Beyond creating a whimsical environment, Dr. Seuss's characters themselves embody whimsy.

Dr. Seuss's books are a childhood staple, and for me, they demonstrated how the design of our world can be re-imagined.

Introduction

The name of this blog, "Deign to Design", is a play on words. "Deign"is simply the word design without an "s", but the name can have a deeper connotation.

As we explore the question, "What is design?", we tend to find that there are design elements in every thing that humans touch. The computer I'm writing this on, the keyboard I'm using, this website-- all of them have been designed. The almost omnipotence of design is truly fascinating.

In a world where we are surrounded by design, many fail to notice the elements of design in the world around us. Have I really looked at this couch I'm sitting on in my dorm room? Have I appreciated the smooth wooden arms contrasting with the woven navy blue cushions? Have I inspected the delicate yet suspicious brown stain and wondered how it compares to the scheme of the couch? Perhaps we think we are above design, that it seems to have no concrete meaning in our lives. Who cares about that chair or that table; we need them to use for sitting or eating, but it doesn't really matter what they look like. We are too busy working and going to school to appreciate the world that we, as humans, have created.

Designers deign to design. They lower themselves to that task which goes so unnoticed everyday. Designers toil to build the world that we live in, to create from nothing the way that we live our lives. After hours of striving to be creative, innovative, and to please aesthetically, designers have their work taken for granted. Designers are the ones that deign to take note of design too; observing the world with different eyes, drawing inspiration from the mundane as often as the fantastic.

Deign to design, deign to notice design, deign to notice the world we live in.