A seminar devoted to examining the shift in cultural, technological, material, and professional landscapes that a graduate design candidate must navigate. Through readings, presentations, and discussions, we will explore how these evolved contexts are changing the nature of design practice and thinking. We have to create and maintain a blog where we document our evolving design process, reflect on the outcomes of our work and explore design-related ideas, issues, and contemporary practice.
This is mine.
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Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Wicked: Understanding the Age of Design
Poster by François Caspar - A Golden Age of Design, New York Times
Wicked Problems & Shared Understanding
Jeff Conklin’s explanation of wicked problems and shared understanding, in Building Shared Understanding of Wicked Problems, hit very close to home for me. As a Graphic Designer, I have been caught in the middle of several very intense re-branding and design debates that usually ended with a person in power making an executive decision that everyone else despised and couldn’t relate to. For example, at the start-up I worked for in New York, these forced executive decisions created a lot of social anxiety between the different departments and developed strong disconnections that resulted to more than half of the company leaving within a year. The fact that no one was able to look at the branding problems objectively wasted the company’s time, money and ruined the office moral in a matter of months.
This reading eloquently explains what I learned about the value of problem structuring and understanding other positions well enough to have difficult dialogue about everyone’s interpretations of the problem at hand. People don’t do their best work when they feel their opinions and perspectives don’t matter and that’s what ultimately leads to fragmentation. Teams become dysfunctional and faster than you think, that problem just multiplied into having to replace core people in your institution because they felt they can do better work elsewhere.
Grand Scale
On a grander scale, we cannot walk away from the wicked problems that haunt our current society. A few issues like climate change, racism/intolerance, homelessness, student loan debt are everyday problems that are hindering people from being successful and ultimately making to the necessary changes to start building towards solutions. Although I agree wholeheartedly that shared understanding and commitment is the antidote we need to start fix these issues, Conklin forgot one hugely impactful point about what is thwarting our progress. These essential dialogues where everyone’s perspective must be represented, usually do not have ALL of the people the problem is impacting in the room at the time of “mapping”. How can we take into consideration how a problem is affecting everyone, if everyone is not invited to the table for the discussion? There are many representatives, nonetheless empathy and understanding comes from storytelling and direct experiences. If the organizers calling these meetings don’t see the value in inviting a few of the underrepresented population, then true solutions will continue to be few and far between.
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Sculptures By Christopher Smith
The Woodmere Art Museum is an institution dedicated to telling the unique stories of Philadelphia’s art and artists using their exhibitions and collections. The galleries showcase work from vastly different time periods in the same spaces, so, it presents opportunities for visitors to compare and contrast cultural views and artistic expressions over time. One particular piece that captured my attention is a statue fragment of Still Life by Christopher Smith. Despite it being carved out of glass fiber reinforced cement, the statue displays the relaxed soft form of a woman lying on a plinth. According to the museum website, the statue is a section of a larger work depicting a reclining woman. It is a part of a series of sculptures created from 2000-2003 that convey the narration of the model’s physical reaction to the slab. The Museum only displays the torso section to focus the visitors’ attention to the detail and complexities of the natural form. Smith also has another stunning female form statue on display in the entrance of the museum entitled, Sankofa Kore. The museum website explains that when creating this statue Smith was inspired by male ancient Greek figures whose feet were positioned in a walking pose and arms symmetrically placed at her sides. He also decided to brake conventions of typical woman kore sculpture by depicting the model in the nude. Smith used both of these sculptures to celebrate the truth in female form and placed among the Woodmere Art Museums’ traditional 19th century female portraits, they sang liberation and rebellion.
I believe that these sculptures were to make bold statements about female sensuality and stir up conversations. Not only do they resemble the traditional Grecian sculptures that praised the human form, but they also depict two proud and confident women comfortable in their skin. Since the Museum aspires to facilitate these conversations around Philadelphia artistic expression, it makes sense that their collections manager acquired these pieces.
Display Decisions- Still Life is displayed as the first piece you see when you walk into it’s gallery space. The piece has its own stand spot lit and against a yellow background that makes the light material pop. Sankofa Kore is the last outdoor sculpture the visitor sees before they enter the Museum and the last piece of art as they leave. It’s grand stature, deep bronze material and the botanicals surrounding it paint the picture that it is a monument the Museum is proud to own. I was drawn to both of these pieces not only because of how they were thoughtfully displayed, but also because of their contemporary energy in a traditional atmosphere.
If I were to re-contextualize these sculptures I would love to put them in historic exhibitions with the same monumental treatments and spotlight. I would display Still Life in an American Women’s Rights history exhibition to play the role of the feminist. Among a historic collection of objects advocating for women I feel this bold statue would make a memorable monument. For the label, I would emphasize the artists depiction of the truth in the female form and the confidence in a healthy self image. As for Sankofa Kore, I particularly admire the deep colors and subject matter. On the museum website, I learned that in titling this work, Sankofa Kore, Smith references a traditional Adinkra symbol and the translation of “sankofa” means “return and get it.” The Akan people of Ghana interpret this proverbial phrase as taking from the past what is good and bringing it into the present. Sankofa Kore is a powerful sculpture and I would explain its name in a new label and display it among ancient art from Ghana to connect the modern statue to its rich history. These ideals are very important to our American culture so I would be excited to see what kind of discussions they would bring about in historic settings.
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
The Experience of Modernity
Modernist culture-
A culture emerging from struggle that contains vast resources of strength and health, if only we come to know it as our own.
It is surprising to see how uncomfortably accurate the ideologies of John Thackara are about the meanings of modernity in today’s society. He wrote this piece in 1984 describing modernization as giving humans “the power to change the world that is changing them, to make their way through the maelstrom and make in their own”. What he describes as a chaotic, unstable modern life is very relevant to the state of our current society, and if we are moving as fast as we are with technology progression, why can’t we seem to grow socially and culturally as well? It seems that we are living in a constant state of inner dichotomy where the materialistic desires overwhelm our senses but our spiritual needs are present but neglected because we forget what drove us to forward thinking in the first place. Thackara, describes early modernity as losing its vividness, resonance and depth so it has lost its capacity to organize and give meaning to people’s lives. This is completely accurate in a sense that I have experienced and witnessed people getting so engrossed in doing efficient work and trying to provide financially, that finding a deeper purpose and recognizing new hopes and aspirations never seem like an immediate priority. A quote from Jean-Jacques Rousseau describes the feeling of modernity as the feeling of, “drunkenness that this agitated, tumultuous life plunges you into. With a multitude of objects passing before my eyes…there is none that holds my heart, yet all of them together disturb my feelings, so that I forget what I am and who I belong to”. This sense of personal identity is a major conundrum for modern society because we are choosing to stray from traditions and conventions that made us who we are but still longing to know our roots and purposes. Then there is the clash of those who think that regression into a old state of mind is more beneficial while others only see the future they desire and refuse to look into history for answers and guidance on how to get there. Modern life is still alive to many possibilities, opportunities and meaningful experiences that have never been available to mankind before, but, the realization that being enslaved to an unwavering capitalist mentality, the established hierarchy of men and our own infamies will only delay our progression forward as mankind.
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Service Design
http://www.si-labs.com/#service-design
This is Service Design Thinking.
Why does anyone feel the need to pinpoint an exact definition for this approach of experiential design? Service design, done correctly, has the potential to encompass the necessities and desires of all of the people who come in contact with or interact with it. That innovation of thought in itself should be enough motivation for more people to get involved and start making environmental changes happen. We finally have created a way of design that takes the users opinions into consideration and makes life more efficient for the service providers who have to operate these services on a daily basis. This utopian way of thinking is right at our fingertips, but, people are getting so hung up on what is and is not considered service design and the materialistic hiccups along the process, that the spirit of limitless boundaries is quickly lost. If you believe that service design can have a positive impact on society, then implementing these service design changes in ALL environmental spaces should be the priority.
User-Centered – Who is this service being provided for and why?
Service opportunities are created by the visitors’ interactions with the service providers during their time of service. That can include anything from a professional phone conversation to going to get a haircut. Everyone wants to be assured that they have come to the right people and they will be assisted as soon as possible. Therefore, “making sure you have a deep understanding of the habits, culture, social context and motivation of users is crucial”.
Co-Creative – Who are the stakeholders and how are their needs being met?
Including the visitors, service providers and management stakes in the service is important, not only for general company moral and atmosphere, but it also can assure reoccurring service in the future. The book excerpt explains that, getting the customers more involved in the service provision process usually results in the customer feeling a sense of co-ownership and will in turn make them more loyal and have long-term engagement.
Sequencing – From the moment they walk in the door, until the moment they leave?
Viewing service design as a pleasant rhythm of consecutive occurrences that make up the entire service experience. It can also be used to tell the captivating and necessary narratives of the experience through various interdisciplinary mediums.
Evidencing – This was real?
This particular principal is the most important in the world of museum exhibition design. Telling the stories will provide the opportunity for empathy and providing a tangible object from that narrative ads an even greater layer of personal association. Physical objects trigger memories through emotional associations.
Holistic – What is the big idea?
This principal encompasses the impossibility that makes service design seem utopian. It is extremely difficult to take consideration every single aspect of service. Nonetheless, we keep moving forward and finding the best service solutions as service opportunities present themselves.
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Poster Project - Part I
Social Media Impact
The good, the bad, and the ugly.
The poster project for this class requires us to deeply research and narrate a particular history of social, economic, and technological development as it relates to various aspects of design practice and the role of design/designers in shaping these developments. While discussing possible topics for our project my group on the topic of body shamming in social media. My group partner rightfully defended women who are proud of their bodies enough to post nudes on Instagram and the freedom they command by displaying themselves in this manner. Although I agree that women should feel liberated enough to express themselves in any way they want, what impact are these women having on young girls still developing their self-esteem? Social media is completely transforming how people communicate and interact with each other and with all of the new technological advances it is still fluctuating rapidly.
I begin my research looking a little deeper into how social media can be both constructive and destructive to a person’s self-image. CNN’s article How girls use social media to build up, break down self-image, acknowledges that teenagers have been faced with the pressures of self-image in traditional media for quite some time, but, the new studies address how social media is more immediately and intimately connected with its users. Because social media applications are so easily accessible and intertwined in our daily routines, it is nearly impossible to avoid. Since the most popular applications focus on self-image, their studies showed that 35% of teenagers are worried about people tagging them in unattractive photos and 27% stress about how they look in images they posted themselves. Collecting likes has become an obsession. Likes have gone from a form of positive social interaction to an anxiety induced longing for validation and attention. One teenage girl described the feeling as, “the more likes, the greater the social standing you appear to have”. To have the highest social standing they must be in “the 100 Club” where they have 100+ followers who like their posts regularly. For users who are a part of the high social standing the game is staying in the club and pressure to keep up appearances, while users on the other side of the admiration, who watch what feels like everyone else have a good time experience social anxiety, otherwise known as FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). One teacher in the CNN article, Teen 'like' and 'FOMO' anxiety, challenged her students to not look at social media for just one weekend and one out of 28 students succeeded. The others “couldn’t stand not knowing what their friends were doing”.
On the other hand, these articles also recognized that social media is the perfect platform to combat these unrealistic appearance ideals and stereotypes. With positive movements like the no-filter trend there seems to be glimmers of light in an otherwise dreary cycle. Over the next few weeks we are looking forward into diving into both sides of this content and understanding the effects of this new era on human society. --And what can we do as designers to positively influence these changes.
…To Be Continued
Relevant Reads:
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Afrofuturism - Reclaiming Tradition & Inspiring Innovation
It’s all over media that “Black Panther” has reached over $1 billion in movie ticket sales in the first month. Why is that?
I know that I was overly excited to see this movie because I finally got my Black superhero movie with an actual budget and amazing production team. When I saw the film, front row and in 3D, I did not expect to awaked by the underlying messages in the writing and the meticulous design decisions that reinforced the storyline beautifully. Spoiler alert, the phenomenal visual displays designed by production designer, Hannah Beachler, envision an entire African culture untouched by Western civilization and flourishing with futuristic technology. The Afrofuturism portrayed in Wakanda reclaim the traditions of our history while also creating an imaginative space for technological advancement. It also aims to celebrate the unique cultural differences in the existing African tribes and strengthen the solidarity between all people if African descent. “It’s [Wakanda] a connection to the continent our ancestors came from, and indicative of what could have been, and what could still be, in unity. It’s a love letter to black people everywhere,” explained Beachler (TNW). Because this designer respects the culture she is portraying and made sure to honor its people and traditions, the movie has so much more integrity and depth. That’s why opening weekend people came to the movies proud to be wearing their own traditional and futuristic African attire. This film just got personal.
After doing some research, I learned that before she began designing an entire society, Beachler explains that for about nine months she had to deeply research the cultures, languages, architecture, science and even the topography of South African planes. The director, Ryan Coogler, and the production team went into such detail, that when they had trouble deciding where to put the main Gorilla City, they traveled to South Africa for three weeks to find inspiration. During their trip, they found a part of the sub-Sahara where the warm grassy plains met the higher regions that snow. “People don’t usually associate Africa or African terrain of any country with snow,” she says. “It added another texture to the nation” (Variety). After finding that perfect placement, Beachler then had to create her take on real societies and mix them with the cultural elements inflicted by the storyline, such as the look of a city that had been hit by a meteorite and the aesthetics of an African country that has never been colonized. She had to envision and build the bridges, districts, transportation, social activity and even the food of Wakanda with careful detail. For instance, the technology of Wakanda was developed through familial traditions to be human centric, so she chose to make a lot of the technology biometric so it refers back to the human form. Another set that she mentioned gave her trouble was the throne room of M’Baku. Like most Marvel movies, the space was massive with high ceilings and a wide-open area. She had to find a way to make the space still feel open but create a sense of intimidation. “To accomplish this, she included severe, sharp angles. ‘That was the hardest’ look to achieve, she admits.” (Variety) After doing all of this in-depth research, Beachler created and distributed a Visual Bible laying out the cultural specificities of the tribes and distributed it to the other team members like Ruth E. Carter, the costume designer.
The gorgeous presentations of an Afro-futuristic society create pride in the physical lands and developments of the African culture, but the costume design really focuses on the people. Carter explains that she was given a strict color palette from the director to work with for the dressings of the main characters. T’challa, Black Panther, the royal was to always be dressed in black, Dora Milaje the warrior of Okoye was to be in striking red uniform and Nakia, the river tribe spy, was to be dressed in Green. Make no mistake that these are the proud colors of the Pan-African Flag and these elements make appearances throughout the movie. The color of police and authority was blue, so, Carter dressed Erik Killmonger, Black Panthers rival, in it to create another sense of visual tension. These specificities and collaboration among the team made it that much easier to pinpoint the indigenous cultural elements that needed to be included in each characters’ wardrobe. For instance, for this film Carter had to reimagine and update the original Black Panther suit and she decided to include a raised triangle motif on its chest and shoulders. “It has a little bit of a sheen to it,” she said. She calls the triangle “the sacred geometry of Africa, and it makes him not only a superhero, but a king, an African king” (NYT). The same amount of thought and detail went into all of the character’s costume designs and some of them were even 3D printed and took six months to get just right. The design team of “Black Panther” perfectly intertwined the storyline of the film, with the history of the cultures and the inspiration of science fiction. The movies’ authenticity is no doubt a reason why movie sales are still climbing past the $1 billion mark. I am beyond proud of this design team and I look forward to continuing to learn all that went into making such an iconic film come alive.
Sources:
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Design Thinking
Modern technologies and companies are known for constantly evolving and developing their products in in an effort to create a better experience for the users. The most successful products are proven to be developed by people dedicated to “design thinking”, a process where the development team searches for the specific needs of their audience and match them with available technological advances to make high-impact solutions. Design thinking requires the team to not just look for technological advances, but also take into consideration the social innovations of the people using the product. For instance, how do the cultures of the users affect how they interact with the product? An example in Design Thinking for Social Innovation describes a woman, Shanti, who lives in Hyderabad, India with her family, and they live off of water from a local borehole, that occasionally makes them ill. The Naandi treatment center provides their community with fresh water, however, “although Shanti can walk to the facility, she can’t carry the 5-gallon jerrican that the facility requires her to use. When filled with water, the plastic rectangular container is simply too heavy. The container isn’t designed to be held on the hip or the head, where she likes to carry heavy objects.” Furthermore, the center’s payment methods are also charging people for 5-gallons of water per day, and if they don’t need that much the membership becomes a waste of money. When companies misjudge the uses of products in this way it defeats the purpose of providing a community service that benefits the lives of all of those who need it. Design thinking can’t stop at the product itself, it also has to include the product distribution channels in order to make a successful impact.
The design thinking process is best thought of as a system of three overlapping spaces. These spaces do not have to followed in any sequential order, but it is always best to start with inspiration. Again, there is an emphasis here on researching and really learning the people using the product, defining the framework of the project, and benchmarks by which to measure success. It also includes divulging all of the problems or opportunities motivating this new search for solutions. Then, the team typically goes into ideation phase where new ideas start to naturally form by looking at the problems at hand and brainstorming, developing, and testing ideas. In this phase, it is crucial that the team prototypes all of their ideas to find any flaws and obstacles they may face with the final products and attempt to work them out before the implementation. After most of the foreseeable kinks are worked out, the team must now take this project and turn it into a product distributed to the people. Using this way of thinking ensures that modern businesses find various ways to keep a constant sense of innovative creativity and problem solving in their company culture. This new way of thinking can lead to new ideas that no only create real world solutions, but, can also create better more useful outcomes for the people that they serve.
Relevant Reads:
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Playfully Subversive Design
Source: © Kate Jenkins | Woolboro – framed homage to cigarettes by Kate Jenkins
This week, I was introduced to a particular kind of design artists have used to display their opinions on the political and social issues. For over 200 years, designers, makers and manufacturers have used various techniques and mediums to create objects that provoke and amuse their audiences. What I have come to understand is, these artists purposely undermine the established rules and regulations of design to push the boundaries, create the necessary tensions to begin conversations and build awareness for a topic at hand. However, they present their artwork in a light-hearted manner, to keep the audience engaged and interested in learning more. Playfully subversive design has so many variations, so here are a few examples to get a better understanding of how this technique has been utilized.
The Brighton Museum & Art Gallery hosted an exhibition entitled Subversive Design, in 2013, featuring 130 objects in the product, fashion and furniture design fields. The objects explore how the pieces of art relate to the controversial issues during the period of their creation. The museum explains that, “this major exhibition subverts your preconceptions and challenges your relationship with objects you use on a daily basis.” The works also included a wide range of designers from different cultures and time periods, including Alexander McQueen, David Shrigley, Studio Job, Grayson Perry, Campana Brothers, Vivienne Westwood and Leigh Bowery, to display the diversity of technique and style used to accomplish the same end goals.
The galleries were separated into three sections – Big Issues, Form Vs Function & Subverting the Body.
The Big Issues gallery confronted political troubles, sobriety concerns and the environmental issues of the times, using unique artwork like Sitting Comfortably. This “chair” was designed in 1987 by Mishcal Sanders was made with only razor wire meant to comment on the Greenham Common anti-nuclear protests.
The Form vs. Function section presented the idea of designing an object with the purpose of highlighting the part of its context that is mostly in question. For example, Tapio Wirkkala’s Tutenvases initially look like crumpled paper lunch bags at first glance, but they turn out to be ceramic vases. Many people are still against paper bags because they are so temporary and bad for the environment. Therefore making them into a pristine object, made with such a beautiful and fragile materials, creates the visual juxtaposition audiences need to start the conversation, in a playful manner.
The final section, Subverting the Body, featured work that brought those prolific statements right to the human form. For instance, they displayed the controversial 2007 Who Killed Bambi? Dress, created by Jean Paul Gaulter and Giles Deacon, is the perfect example of bringing the tough conversation of animal cruelty to the table by making it an animated pattern on a classic pink dress.
These pieces of art featured in the Subversive Design exhibition are perfect examples of how artists use this technique of designing to engage and challenge their audiences with political and social issues in both obvious and unexpected ways.
Sources:
https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/august-2013/subversive-design/
https://brightonmuseums.org.uk/brighton/exhibitions-displays/brighton-museum-past-exhibitions/past-exhibitions-2013/subversive-design/
Relevant Reads:
Eye on Design - "5 Novel, Subversive + Unforgettable Works by Latinx Graphic Designers"
Chris T-T, Blogger in Residence, "The Subversive Design Get-in"
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
“Raising” Artificial Intelligence
“Everything we love about civilization is a product of intelligence, so amplifying our human intelligence with artificial intelligence has the potential of helping civilization flourish like never before – as long as we manage to keep the technology beneficial."
- Max Tegmark, President of the Future of Life Institute
Each week a group is assigned to research a topic and lead a class discussion about the material. This week my group chose to focus on the taboo subject of artificial intelligence (AI). Critics mostly describe AI to be a technological solution that over used and potentially catastrophic to our society. While AI today is known as a super-intelligent machine programmed to complete a particular set of tasks (weak AI), in the future, researchers are looking to create a general AI (AGI or strong AI) to outperform humans at nearly every cognitive task. This idea of machines being about to make better cognitive decisions than humans raises many questions. Does the rise of intelligent machinery mean that people’s skills and knowledge become obsolete? What does this mean for the future work forces? Will we be able to control these machines, if we allow them to make decisions and act accordingly? Can they eventually take over?
AI can be intimidating especially when you have no idea what capabilities these machines will have. Personally, I wanted to get a better understanding of what precautions scientists are taking while they are creating these intelligent machines. So far, I have learned that “‘Raising’ AI requires addressing many of the same challenges we encounter raising and educating children. This includes things like fostering an understanding of right and wrong, imparting knowledge without bias, and building self-reliance while emphasizing the importance of collaborating and communicating with others”. ("Citizen AI") To me, it's interesting to see that programming these morals into the machines is an important starting point in the AI development process. Because scientists know that these machines will be extremely good at performing their goals, we have to ensure that the machines goals are perfectly aligned with ours. In other words, “the concern about advanced AI isn’t malevolence but competence” of the machinery. When considering how AI might become a risk, experts think two main scenarios are most likely to take place.
If the AI is programmed to do something devastating, like autonomous weapons that are artificial intelligence systems are programmed to kill. In the hands of the wrong person, these weapons could easily cause mass casualties. (BENEFITS & RISKS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE)
If the AI is programmed to do something beneficial, but it develops a destructive method for achieving its goal. This can happen whenever we fail to fully align the AI’s goals with ours, which is difficult. For example, if a super intelligent system is tasked with an ambitious geo-engineering project, it might wreak havoc with our ecosystem as a side effect, and view human attempts to stop it as a threat to be met. (BENEFITS & RISKS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE)
By identifying these more specific risks, experts have set the framework for those designing these influential systems. Knowing where these machines can go wrong helps us keep control of the advanced AI technology. It is our responsibility to hold the AI creators accountable for the products they are developing, to ensure they align with human goals along with helping to advance our society.
Sources:
https://futureoflife.org/background/benefits-risks-of-artificial-intelligence/
https://venturebeat.com/2018/03/31/citizen-ai-teaching-artificial-intelligence-to-act-responsibly/
Relevant Reads:
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Set Design
The end of the semester is approaching and our studio groups are well into the exhibition developmental process for our final project. My team is in the midst of finalizing our floor plan, graphic panels, visitor flow, lighting design and set production, so we often find ourselves debating over the best methods to convey the stories we are trying to tell. The storytelling approach allows for the content to be more personal for the visitors and provides more opportunities for empathy and connection to the content, so we came to the conclusion that we want our exhibition to be human focused. Therefore, we created multiple sets and immersive spaces throughout the exhibition to really capture a feeling and create the nostalgic moments of the time period. However, we run into the question of how much detail is necessary in the set design? How do we balance the sets with educational and enjoyable experiences?
This week for my blog post I decided to look a little more at set design in theatre and the way they use very distinct elements to visually characterize spaces. I understand that set design is meant to capture and focus the audience’s attention to what is most important in that moment, and using it correctly in an educational setting could easily help them understand the content in a more meaningful way. An interesting point I learned was, “since the set is generally the first element of a production that the audience sees, its job is to convey the information needed to launch the story. It should not try to tell the audience where the story is going, or anticipate the end” ("Effective Set Design"). Adding too much detail can crowd the space and not allow much room for interpretation. Effective set design understands what the concept and space need to make a strong interpretational statement and atmosphere.
One of the articles I read created a checklist to make sure that the audience enjoys and clearly understands the themes play ("Effective Set Design"). I found the list to be very useful, so I reworded a few of the requirements to align better with our goals as exhibition designers, to share with my team.
The audience will enjoy and understand the exhibition much more clearly if :
The set allows action to fall within the sight-lines of the particular space.
The doors and windows through which content is positioned for maximum visibility.
The set focuses areas where visitors group or specific action is played through careful locating, creating levels, or delivering strong architectural detail that directs the eye.
·Color conveys mood and style accurately; a set for a comedy tends to use brighter colors than a set for a highly charged drama or tragedy.
·Period and location are as accurate as needed to help place the story, without overwhelming it with unnecessary detail.
Sources:
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Growing Sustainability
https://www.murvegetalpatrickblanc.com/realisations/hong-kong/bureaux-ronald-lu
It has become very clear that in our current ecosystem, it is imperative that designers not only pay close attention to the sustainability of the of their products, but they must also be innovative in their way of thinking to create more sustainable environments. Of course, designs have to comply with the worlds new principals of social, economic and ecological sustainability. These principals aim to improve building operational performance, reducing the consumption of non-renewable resources and energy, minimizing waste and creating healthier indoor environments. In order for designers to make these imaginative spaces come to fruition, at each phase of the design, there has to be decisions about how to reduce negative impacts while optimizing site potential.
A great example of this kind of innovative sustainable design was explained by Kamal Meattle in the 2009 TED talk entitled “How to grow fresh air”. In his talk, Meattle introduces the then 15-year period where he tested three species of plants to grow and create fresh air indoors. The Paharpur Business Centre and Software Technology Incubator Park in New Delhi, India is a 50,000-square foot building where they have over 1,200 plants for the 300 building occupants. The three plants, Areca Palm, Mother-in-Law’s Tongue and Money Plant have proven to make that space the “healthiest building in New Delhi”. The Areca Palm removes carbon dioxide from the air and they have four shoulder height plants per person. Mother-in-Law’s Tongue, also known as “The Bedroom Plant”, turns carbon dioxide into oxygen at night and there are six to eight waist high plants per person. The Money Plant removes formaldehydes and other chemicals from the air so it complements the other two plants very well in creating clean breathable fresh air indoors.
After the 15 years of having people conduct their everyday operations in this plant infused office space, their government reported:
A 42% probability that your blood oxygen level will increase by 1% after being in the building for 10 hours
52% decrease in eye irritation
34% decrease respiratory issues
24% decrease in headaches
12% decrease in lung impairment
20% increase in human productivity
15% reduction in energy usage for the building
These statistics and many other displays how we, as designers, should be proactive in our sustainable design and not just react to issues as they occur. Creating natural design solutions that better our health, as well as make our jobs easier, will enhance our indoor environments and quality of life at the same time.
Sources:
Relevant Reads:
Fuecks, Ralf - "Ways out of the Growth Trap"
McDonough, William, and Michael Braungart - Cradle to Cradle- "Remaking the Way We Make Things"