What Does Language Look Like: Introduction

          The title of the latest project to be undertaken is, "What Does Language Look Like?". This module is composed of two parts and takes place within groups of four people. It was designed in order to teach the possibilities for design using text by fabricating  context and presentation. The object of part one is for groups to build a three dimensional display of a randomly chosen word, and to convey the meaning of the word by manipulating the way the letters are presented and its environment. During the second part, everyone will construct a photo/essay accordion book which should also embody the meaning of the key word.
         
           Before choosing the group specific words to be studied, each student created ten, two dimensional pieces containing text. These pieces served to express the meaning of the word by editing the size and arrangement of the letters. After a brief critique, we studied our small compositions in further depth by creating 5 refined ones build on Illustrator. Once this was complete, groups were allowed to select their words.

          The word my group selected was:

    Capture

   

Reflections

            It was a long and in depth process to redesign our flashlight. The project requirements contained many meticulous steps intended to refine and consolidate the ideas within the group. Throughout the project I had a very negative attitude about having to complete the steps I saw as arbitrary when taken into account the amount of other work needed to be completed. However, after finishing the project, my perspective on these steps changed from negative to positive. In retrospect of the project, I am glad that I was introduced to the different methods generating new ideas and studying each one in depth. By having to complete these busy-work studies, I learned more about the composition of the objects and how they exist with space.

          One unexpected thing this project did for me was manifest a deeper appreciation for industrial design and the work done by industrial designers. Not only because of my undying love for design, but for the massive amounts of mental and physical stress they pile on themselves in order to create an acceptable product. The many long hours spent creating this object are no match, however, to the feeling of accomplishment after completing the project. My primary sense of achievement in completing this project lays primarily with knowing that I learned more about idea exploration and the creative processes necessary to create a prototype.

     

Interviews About Our Prototype

After making the final prototype we set out again to find out what the opinion amongst the students was about our light. Adjustments made to the bike included being lighter in weight, more energy effecient, and brighter. Amongst those asked, common responses were:

“I would buy this product...”

“...convenient and useful.”

“A better product than the original...”

By eliminating the problems with using the clamp and light output, the opinion of the light was changed.

Interviews About Our Poorly Designed Object

In order to get a general idea of what the public opinion on our poorly designed object was, we conducted interviews asking KU students what they thought our object was, what they thought about it, and how they would improve it. Common answers included:

“Its really bulky.”

“It isn’t bright.”


“I would make it more easily attachable to the bike...and lighter.”

From here, we were able to refine our ideas into where we wanted to spend most of our time and how we were going to address each problem.

Group Dynamic

As a whole, our group worked great together. Throughout the process of redesigning the bike light, we met multiple times outside of class in order to further the design of the product. As a summary of the dynamic behind appropriation of work, each individual project was generally undertaken by each member of the group. However, once it came time to execute our plans for each task, one specific group member would take it as their responsibility. For example, everyone in our group contributed to the design and prototyping of the product, but I was given the responsibility of constructing and painting it. Zach, Morgan, Liz, and I worked great together and I would work with them again on another project as well.

Storyboard Inspiration

After reading the chapter from “Understanding Comics” I felt inspired by the narrator to create a simplified version of myself in cartoon form, to be the narrator of my storyboard. The image on bottom is of my preliminary sketches of what I imagine myself to be like if I existed in a similar plane to the narrator from “Understanding Comics”.

Final Storyboard

The reason I chose this as my final storyboard was because I believe it had the most interesting presentation. Each window describes a stage in the process of redesigning the bike light.

Storyboards

Poster Preliminaries

Design Prototypes: Make It Better

      After deciding which were the best, we began to build prototypes. Images one and two are prototypes similar to a design I posted under "Make It Better: Design Sketches and Function". Only, in the design to the left, the facets of the bike light come to a point in the back. The anatomy of the crank light, which can also be found in "Make It Better: Design Sketches and Function", would be placed in the cavity of the model along with an LED light and a lens. Image 3 is of another prototype of the same design, this one also having a stronger depiction of the lens shape.

Make It Better: Design Sketches and Function

   Before beginning the process of making a prototype of our redesigned object, we needed to create sketches of the new designs. The image to the left contains drawings of both a preliminary design and the final design as well. One of the first designs that I had come up with utilized the technology behind a crank powered flashlight. In this design, a fixed position (charging unit) was set over the axis with cranks attached to the spokes. As the wheel spins, the cranks would begin to generate a charge and power the light.
    The image on the bottom is of the design which our group settled upon. This design takes advantage of the crank powered light as well, but in a slightly different way. Instead of having a fixed position and spoke attachments, a rod is placed through the axis of the wheel and connected to a belt. The other end of the belt is attached to a separate rod which is set into a rotating wheel. This secondary rod (and wheel) lay within the bike light and are a function of the power source. The secondary rod is also attached to another rod and wheel via another belt. A small brush touches the belt, collecting the static electricity, powering the light.
    So, as the wheel spins, the rod in the axis rotates, causing the belt and secondary rod to rotate as well. Once the secondary rod begins to rotate, the belt within the bike light begins to, as well. As this belt spins, the small brush absorbs the electricity and powers the light.

Make It Better: Mind Mapping

       At this stage of the process, my group began mapping our ideas with different techniques such as: mind mapping, concept maps, and word association exercises. The image to the left is a list of the many different issues we planned to resolve by redesigning the light. The second image shows one of the methods which we used to help create new ideas. This technique is known as a Mind Map, it helped to give physical structure to our ideas. With this mind map, we generated different ways to charge and mount the light. The final picture is small section of a much larger Idea Map. Here, we utilized Post-It notes in order to quickly write down our ideas for different techniques to generate the electricity needed to power the light. 

Final Object

   


  The object which my group chose to redesign is a basic, mounted bike light. A few of the issues with this object which we hope to eliminate by redesigning it are: poor light emission, weight, weak mounting mechanism, aesthetic design, and energy source.
   

Make It Better: Preliminary Objects

   
     At the beginning of this module, titled Make It Better, we were asked to find objects which we found poorly designed. The end game of this project is to build a replica/prototype of a redesigned object of each group's choice. Along with the physical model, we will produce a poster and PowerPoint Presentation covering the process of redesigning our object.
     A few of the objects which I chose were a water bottle, a lamp, a screwdriver, a water pipe, and a wall plug-in. In order to familiarize ourselves with our objects, we were then asked to sketch our objects from many different angles. As previously mentioned, each group then selected which item they will choose to redesign. In the case of my group, we chose to redesign a bike        light.

Writer's Toolbox

      The Writers Toolbox is a presentation that addresses the many different methods of mapping ideas of the creative process and documenting different thoughts. The methods of creating these idea maps include:

1. Mind Mapping- Giving visual form to ideas and generate non-linear thinking. (diagram above)
2.Concept Maps- More thorough investigation of relationships. (Words linked often by "can be" and "from)
3. Free Writing- Method of getting thoughts onto paper. Different from Journal because focuses on one idea.
4. Brain Writing/Brainstorming- Methods of compiling ideas with others through notes, diagrams, etc.

IDEO

       This video was about a product design group called IDEO. Through the video IDEO founder David Kelly walks us through the process of designing a new and innovative version of the shopping cart. Instead of focusing on the constructive aspects of the process, David focused on the creative brainstorming elements of design.
       "Enlightened trial and error succeeds over the efforts of the lone genius." This quote is a perfect construction of the creative processes of IDEO. Building off of the ideas of others is paramount at IDEO. Not only building on basic ideas, but offhanded and often silly ones as well. David Kelly is a major proponent of the idea that innovative ideas often are born of the ridiculous.

Hallmark Symposium

         The Hallmark Symposium this week was presented by German photographer Joachim Schmid. Joachim was unlike many photographers I have seen because of his method of presenting works. At the opening of the lecture, he stated his fascination with books, saying, "They are democratic, economical, and effectively display information." His love for books was highly reflective of his works, as well.
        Starting his career as a graphic designer, Joachim said that he understands the psyche of simplicity. This was evident once he began to display his works. The majority of his creations included simply faced book covers with few words and no graphics, filled with photographs which correlated to the central theme of the book. An example of a book title and theme would be, "This is Cool". It would be filled with pictures, often taken by others, which were found captioned similarly to the title of the book.  One strange appeal about Joachim was his admittance to not taking most of the photographs which he displays. but that a majority of the images he found while browsing the internet.

Final Poster

        This is the final design of my well designed object. As you can see, my object was a Birkenstock. The reason that I chose this object was because of its iconic yet simplistic style. A style that relies on the subtely of its design to bring appreciation Just as Rams says in his 10 Principles, “Good design involves as little design as possible.” Another Principle that applies to this object is that it is environmentally friendly. A common Birkenstock is composed of cork, leather, and a few buckles. Besides having instant recognition through design and being environmentally friendly, the Birkenstock is useful as it is long lasting

Color Police

Good Color Use:
This label is an example of great color usage. The red of the cherry is made paramount in the design of the label, with all the colors of the design complimenting it. It is obvious that the design was constructed around the image of the cherry.





Bad Color Use:
This image is an example of poor color usage because of the complimentary red and green. Although sometimes using complimentary colors is good to use to allow a design to pop. However the colors almost neutralize each other, weakening the design.

Reading Responses

        Adapting to situations and problem solving with design. In Design by Ralph Caplan we see the protagonist, an owner of a small theater, hit with the problem of racial segregation of seats. Many people were upset about the steps he made, others were overjoyed. Regardless of the outcome, this entry is merely to illuminate that design is a great problem solver.
In Kees Dorst’s Understanding Design we are challenged to see design in a different way. Often people can think of design or designing as a street, with two ends. However design is really an unending spectrum. Design is the implementation to a solution, and can be taken to endless degrees
after.

Dieter Rams' 10 Commandments

                  In this article, design guru Dieter Rams addresses the 10 Principles, or Commandments, of good design. Not only did this open up my primitive perspective on design but also was inspiring to find so many finely tuned aspects that create beautiful design.
The Ten Principles state that good design:
1. Is Innovative
2.  Makes a Product Useful
3. Has Good Aesthetic Design
4. Makes the Product Understandable
5. Is Unobtrusive
6.  Is Honest
7. Is Long Lasting
8. Is Thorough in All Details
9. Is Environmentally Friendly
10. Has as Little Design as Possible

The Principle that I found most influential and important was the last: Good design has as little design as possible. When reflecting on this, it reminds me of the power of subtlety. Often objects are “over-designed” rendering them dated and obsolete. Objects that are remembered and appreciated for generations to come are ones of subtle, yet strong design.

Weak Chroma

Limited Palette

Transition of Hue

Neutrals

Key Color

Dominance of Chroma

Harmonious Values