Air Powered Cars Analyzed

A car that runs on air? At first glance, the idea of running a vehicle on air seems almost too good to be true. If we can use air as fuel, why think about using anything else? Air is all around us.  Air never runs out. Air is nonpolluting. Best of all, air is free.

An innovative design which is pure genius was developed by Motor Development International in 2009.  The design is the air-powered car, it is a monumental change. Specifically, the car is designed to run on compressed air.  For the past ten years companies have claimed to be close to releasing a car that runs on compressed air and Motor Development appears to be knocking on the door.  The compressed air vehicle is one of the first commercial applications for the zero-emission engine. The subcompact air car runs on compressed air instead of traditional automotive fuels. A set of carbon-fiber tanks sit underneath the passenger compartment, containing up with 2900psi of compressed air. The tanks power a tiny engine capable of 5.4 horsepower. It has a maximum speed of about 100km/h and a range of around 200-300 km per fuel charge, making it ideal for use within the city. The type of engine that is being used is a single energy engine, which works via a simple compressed-air technology. This car is said to be imported to the United States in the coming year and its retail price is anticipated to be 7,000 euro or about $9,500.

In 2010 another credible compressed-air design surfaced from two engineering professors in India.  The design is an air-compression motor about ¾ of a foot in diameter that would run a scooter.  They focused on the scooter since more than half of the vehicles in India are two wheeled.  The tank of compressed air fires into the turbine of the motor and the vanes of the turbine extend which allows the chambers to accommodate the volume of air as it expands.  The engine can run off the pressure it takes to fill a tire at the gas station.  Bharat Raj Singh and Onkar Singh, the two Indian professors who have designed the motor, spent the last four years developing their prototype.  They expect to cut down about 50 to 60 percent of the carbine dioxide released from tailpipes.   

These designs certainly appear to be the example of utopia for a world searching to find alternatives to fossil fuels and pollution.  But utopia doesn’t come quickly or easily and the production of a vehicle that runs on compressed air may still need to overcome a number of hurdles.  For example, the air tank on the scooter designed by the Indian professors only provides enough “fuel” for about 18 miles before it needs to be refilled.  Additionally, both air vehicles need electrical energy to compress the air into the tank.  The cost of the compressor and the power plant need to be considered.  There will always be skeptics and obstacles to overcome when it comes to innovative design, but the important concept is to keep coming up with the ideas that will help improve society.  Necessity continues to be the mother of invention and the air car is born of necessity.

In the aspect of design when MDI’s Guy Negre was inventing this new idealistic car he used Karl Asplunds’ idea of the design process.  His process consists of inspiration, identification, conceptualization, exploration and refinement, definition and modeling, communication and finally production.  When creating something so creative such as the air powered car, there must be many steps of design put to the test to find the perfect design/model.  A design always has to come from somewhere whether it comes from driving in a car to standing outside, anything can spark the beginning of a fantastic unified design.  Then after many test and models you will find that you have brought yourself to the perfect product that has unified all of your ideas.  To make the utopian design that is practical there are always many tests or models that a designer will end up going through to get to final product they were looking for.  Especially when it is one that will end up improving society.    

The exploration, development and production of designs such as the compressed air vehicle are an example of what society needs to help with current, real problems such as pollution and the dwindling reserves of fossil fuels.  Air vehicles on many levels meet the needs of society today. They have the obvious benefit of reducing local emissions, as well as freeing the consumer to use renewable power sources to compress the air that powers the car.  In addition, the technology and design to build the vehicle is not complex and the cost to produce the vehicle is anticipated to be much less than an electric vehicles or hybrid electrics.  This particular car is stable, extremely efficient, is intriguing and  aesthetically pleasing, and is one of the best designs the world has seen so far.   

                                        

WATCH VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln9hk6kZ_E0

                                     http://www.mdi.lu/english/index.php

http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:MDI_Air_Car

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/alternative-fuel/news/compressed-air-car-myth

Utopian Design

Utopia is near!  The air-powered car is a genius innovative design that was developed by Motor Development International in 2009. It is one of the first commercial applications for the zero-emission engine. The subcompact air car runs on compressed air instead of traditional automotive fuels. A set of carbon-fiber tanks sit underneath the passenger compartment, containing up with 2900psi of compressed air. The tanks power a tiny engine capable of 5.4 horsepower.

The engine works by using compressed air instead of gasoline for fuel. It has a maximum speed of about 100km/h and a range of around 200-300 km per fuel charge, making it ideal for use within the city. The type of engine that is being used a single energy engine, which works simply by using compressed air.   Even by pushing the brake, the car will use its energy to fill a mini-compressor.

Guy Negre the French auto engineer and creator of this air- powered car has also developed a high-pressure air pump that can fill the tanks in less than a minute. These could be powered by clean electricity from hydro, wind or solar power making the air car completely pollution-free.

            This car is supposed to be imported to the United States in 2009-2010.  If auto companies started selling these air-powered cars it would save our country grave amounts of money.  It would save money so we would no longer need to purchase gasoline for cars and therefore no pollution is put into the environment.  This car not only saves people money from gas but the price of buying the car is so much cheaper as well. The Air Car will cost about 7.,000 Euro which is about 9,500 Dollars.

Watch video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ecnihpu6_8&feature=related

http://www.mdi.lu/english/index.php 

http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:MDI_Air_Car

Color Is Everything

           Can you imagine a world without color… The world would be boring and design would almost not matter.  Color is what brings a design alive and what sets one design apart from others. As Albers stated, with color brings harmony it all depends on the color combination as well as the juxtaposition.  Color is something that is pleasing to the eye. It engages the viewer and it is what helps the consumer differentiate one product from another. Color reveals the predominant colors so if every design within one group were all the same and colorless they would all look so similar, but since color is added into the equation you get a real design something that is unique.  

         Take these boxes of cereal for example:

         They are so color full each design is filled with different shades of all colors.  The color makes the design.  If you were too see these particular boxes of cereal on a shelf in black and white like this…

         It Is such a drastic change that when you take a first glace they almost don’t look like the same product.  The depth of design almost goes completely away.  Imagine a supermarket full of black and white items.  Without the color it would make it extremely difficult to find the product you were looking for.  The color of the cereal box helps you identify which one you want, the brightness within the colors makes the design pop.  The human brain remembers the design by the color and the design put together. If a company were to take away all colors from the design and or logo from their product the product would be almost unidentifiable.  Color can completely transform a single design; it will change the way consumer perceives a product.  

Dangerous Design

            There are many dangerous designs in this world you just need to do some research to be able to find out what went wrong.  In 2009 there was one product that was all over the news it was the Maclaren Stroller.  There were about 1 million strollers recalled because children would end up with fingertip lacerations and amputations. This would happen to the consumer when they would fold the stroller.  The child’s finger would be caught in the hinge and that is where the pinch would occur. 

            When a designer makes a product such as a stroller they should consider that it is a child’s product and that kids are known for fitting their hands into small creases.  The designer should make sure that there are no places in reach of the child for their fingers to be caught, but in the case of this particular stroller it was not tested well enough.  I’m sure the designers did not mean to design the strollers in a way where they would potentially harm the children that were in them. Instead they should have been tested and checked more intently and maybe this dangerous product would have never been recalled, and in the end been called a “dangerous” product. 

 http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/maclaren-usa-recalls-to-repair-strollers-following-fingertip-amputations-69562542.html

The Art of Shoe Design

        As the history of the shoe has evolved there have been more and more styles colors and patterns brought into play.  Have you ever walked into a store or shopped on line for a pair of shoes and they fit you perfectly but the design is awful? I certainly have.  That why there are now companies that have websites where you can make choose your own shoe model and design the colors and patterns on your own shoes. 

        The Vans Company has been making shoes since 1966 and the shoes have stayed in style since then.  For many years now on the vans website the company has let the customers mind go wild.  The customer can pick what style of shoe they want, what size and create their own design. When designing on the site you select different sections of each shoe, and choose the colors or patterns you want for each shoe part. You have the option to design every part of the shoe from the outer soles to the laces and tongues, you can have a different style on each part if you choose.  The option that the Vans company gives people to pick their own style is amazing and very different.  Every person has different styles and tastes so it would be impossible for a company to design and produce that many different kinds of shoes.  This website is consumer friendly and well designed.  It is amazing to see that the customers have a choice, and can make us feel like the designers.

http://shop.vans.com/catalog/Vans/en_US/category/custom-shoes.html#/selectShoe

Shelby Mustang

           In august of 1964 was the time when one of the worlds’ most Popular Performance cars was born.  Throughout history this car has had many modifications and is still one of the number one cars around.  Ford continues to impress the consumers with new innovations and upgrades of this amazing car.  Chances are, you've come across this particular car either on the street, at a local auto show, or during a visit to your local Ford dealership. This car is extremely well known for its fantastic performance as well as its up to date sporty looks. It does not matter what year the car is, they are still highly sought after by collectors as long as they are in good condition.  If you are still not clear on what car I have just described it is the Shelby Mustang. 

           From the year 1964-2010 the mustang has only continued to improve its performance as well as gain horsepower.  Carroll Shelby's first Mustang was the 1965 Shelby GT350. What really made it special was it was the first race-ready car ever to be marketed by an American automaker.  People wanted this car because of its fast acceleration, 0-30 mph in 3 seconds, 0-60 mph in 7.5 seconds and 0-100 mph in 21.5 seconds.  The Shelby reached a whopping speed of 117 mph. The car cost $4,547, which was much too expensive for the average person.  But since the cars performance was so phenomenal for the time, those who were lucky enough to buy one got their moneys worth.  The Shelby GT350 featured 306 horsepower courtesy of its modified K-code 289cid V8 engine. This was 35 horses more than offered in the standard 289cid engine. It also featured a four-speed manual transmission and side-exhaust pipes fitted with two-inch Glass-pak mufflers.  Since that car was first put out on the market it has upgraded drastically.  The combination of the added horsepower, refinement and functionality makes the 2010 Shelby GT500 a unique high performance car.  It delivers more horsepower than ever before. It now has 5.4 liter dual overhead cam v-8 engine, has 540 horsepower and 510 foot-pounds of torque!

           Safety in cars in 1965 were not nearly as strict as they are today. The only real safety the Shelby Mustang had was a roll bar as well as a safety harness.  Laws have changed dramatically since the 60’s.  Now the 2010 GT500 has traction control, stability control and front-seat side airbags. There is no spare tire, however, just a temporary tire inflation kit.  The Shelby received perfect five-star ratings from the government for frontal crash protection and front passenger side protection. Rear-passenger side-impact protection garnered four stars for the coupe and five stars for the convertible.

           The cars are very easy to use because they are automatic cars and they have power steering.  They are a smooth ride with good breaks and easy acceleration. They also have many good features like gps systems, air conditioning as well as heaters.  We now think those things are customs in every car but in 1965 when the first models came out those things were non existent.  Those items have helped the cars become more comfortable.  It is also more comfortable to have automatic windows and adjustable seats so you can find the perfect place for you in the car. They have nice leather seating and some have seats in the back.  In 1965 the cars had no seats in the back there was just a piece of fiberglass.

           The style of the Mustang has always been very aesthetically pleasing.  They have the classic “Mustang” racing stripes.  If you saw those stripes coming from a mile away you would probably guess mustang!  They are the typical muscle car accessories.  There is always an option to have that on your car but it adds more of a racecar feel to a Shelby.  One of the most attractive parts about the mustang is the body. The shape of the car has smooth rounded grooves that go down the side of the car as well as a square on top of the hood where the noise and heat from the engine comes out.  It also has a very attractive grill on the front with the addition of the cobra.  But my favorite part about the whole car is of course on the back where SHELBY is plastered on the trunk.

         There are so many amazing things about the Shelby Mustang and its amazing to see how much it has changed form the year 1964 when they started making them to the 2010 model.  They will continue to improve and will stay at the top of the performance car list. 

http://www.jsonline.com/business/107642558.html

http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z16407/Shelby-Mustang-GT500.aspx

http://www.muscularmustangs.com/shelbystangstory.php

http://www.theautochannel.com/vehicles/muscle/mustang/f65mcont.frame

Making the Impossible Possible

When I was checking my emails I stumbled upon an email from my mom.  It was a chain email entitled “Something different for sure.” I looked down the page and it had an attachment of a slideshow. It was about someone named Erik Johansson, he is from Norrköping, Sweden and he works with photographs in photoshop to turn them into impossible pictures.  Before I had opened this email I was trying to think of a third blog to write about but couldn’t so I took a break. I guess the best artists/designers are the ones you stumble upon. The work Erik does is so unbelievably eye catching and it is different from anything that I have ever seen before.  He takes fantastic photographs and retouches and combines them with another photo and makes an incredible work of art.  His work really makes your mind think and try to figure out the puzzle he has created within the photo.  Even though the photos are impossible photos he makes you believe in them because of how well they are executed. I suggest that you go to his website posted below because his work is truly remarkable.  His views on art are so creative and he really does think outside the box.

                                      
                                                    http://www.alltelleringet.com/

Billboards: Word and Image

         There are many different kinds of advertisements, but one of the most common types are billboards.  When you see billboards as you are driving down the road you usually only have a few seconds to look at them. Therefore they must be memorable, brief and to the point and eye catching.  The company wants their design to lure you in so that you will join their group or buy their product.  That’s why the interaction is so important between the pictures and words.  When your driving you need to be able to look up quickly and understand what the company is trying to tell you.  The one word or the short sentence that is on the board will be connected with the picture the viewer is presented with. The goal is for the consumers to see that and to be able to connect the picture and words together so it stays in their mind.  As seen in this McDonald’s add they only have a few words on the billboard advertising a snack wrap. But imagine that billboard only saying “Open your snack hole.”  I don’t know about you but I would be extremely confused, that’s why the picture was needed.  I know exactly what the company was trying to tell me and the add conveyed that message. It makes perfect sense when you combine the two elements to make a whole. 

http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&safe=active&client=safari&rls=en&biw=1440&bih=764&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=McDonalds+billboard&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Two Halves of a Whole: Word and Image

         Words and images go together like to halves of a whole, the peanut butter and the jelly.  Without one the other doesn’t convey the message as well. Sure you can have a page with just words or a page with just a picture, but do you really know what it means?  For the human mind and eye it is so much easier to understand the concept of something when you put them together.  Take this picture for instance:

         If you look at the left side you see just a black word on plain white paper. You may know the meaning of the word but what does it really mean.  When you see something in that form you have to ask yourself many questions. What does the word fun pertain to in this sense? What is fun? Why is it fun? You cant figure it out, because there is no picture or image to tell you what it is. But the combination of the two put together is what gives you the image of unity.  It helps the human mind better understand what it is seeing. That’s why when you look on the right of the image you now understand what the fun is because you associated it with a picture. Now it is self-explanatory and you can answer all of your own questions.  

            http://studioe.squarespace.com/blog/2010/2/17/word-image-together-they-make-content.html

Kool Kaleidoscopes

“Im a kaleidoscope lost in shapes and colors. There are days when everything seems to be upside down.  Days when im out of control.  Days when control… is you”

In 1816, the kaleidoscope was invented by Scottish scientist, Sir David Brewster, and patented by him in 1817.  David Brewster named his invention after the Greek words, kalos or beautiful, eidos or form, and scopos or watcher. So kaleidoscope means the beautiful form watcher.

Kaleidoscopes operate on the principle of multiple reflections, where several mirrors are attached together. As the tube is rotated, the tumbling of the colored objects such as beads or pebbles and bits of glass will make unique patterns. As the viewer looks into one end, light entering the other end creates a colorful pattern, due to the reflection off the mirrors. Not one pattern will ever be the same. Any arbitrary pattern of objects shows up as a beautiful symmetrical pattern created by the reflections in the mirrors.

The designs that are made within the kaleidoscope are extremely intriguing to the eye of the observer.  There is nothing else that can make the distinctive patterns of the kaleidoscope. All of the shapes of the design are symmetrically balanced which means that every side of the design are exactly the same. The reflections could also be seen as a crystallographic balanced pattern, because the pattern that the kaleidoscope makes consists of constant repetitions of the same shapes.

                                            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSiGte6Z41g

                             http://inventors.about.com/od/kstartinventions/a/kaleidoscope.htm

Lite-Brite Analysis

When it comes to children’s toys design is extremely important.  Inventors cant just make any toy, they have to make one that is designed well and is fun and easy for kids to play with. If you’ve been alive anytime in the past 40 years, then surely you’ve played around with a Lite-Brite at least once or twice.  The Lite-brite board was a commonly used childhood toy to let kids imagination flow.  It was a toy that allowed the buyers to create their own designs as well as follow patterns from the manual.  The designs from the manual are asymmetrically balanced so that the human eye will see an equal visual weight. The designer who came up with the patterns made them that way so that the designs would stand out even more.    The way the litebrite board is composed is quite interesting. There is a black board with equidistance circular holes every quarter inch.  The holes are there for the placement of the colored pins. The pins can be placed in any hole, and can create any pattern or design your heart desires.  When the design is finished there is a light switch that you turn on and it causes all of the colored pins glow. The design turns itself into instant pop art.  The design you have created becomes the focal point of the board and the extra black space turns into the negative space of the image. The designer’s goal of this particular product was to find a way for every person to be able to express their designs through something as simple as a black board and colored pegs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQz04NjXlX0

OBJECTIFIED

           It’s interesting how the movie’s form is designed by its content.  It is quite ironic yet confusing.  Throughout the movie “Objectified” it shows many different designers all over the world and their perspectives on design.  When the designers are talking they are presenting to the viewers many common household items and giving the answers to many questions they might have.  Those questions might be:  what is it going to do? How much does it cost? How well is it going to perform? 

         

           The Designers all talk about what process they go through to make the products that they make.  They talk about what form it will be in, what materials it will be made out of, what will be the perfect design for that particular product and how will it be showcased.  In all reality that is exactly how this movie was designed. Designers had to come up with how they wanted to put this movie together. They needed to see what parts would go together, what would be the best environment to shoot the scenes in and how to use the equipment to make the movie.

         

           Design is ubiquitous, it is unavoidable because everything used in your daily life had to be designed by someone at one point.  In this movie people end up explaining design by using the principles of design. The film contains designers explaining how specific items are created and what work went into making each individual product. But at the same time, the form of the movie and the way it was filmed had to be designed by using the same process.  The director put a lot of thought into the design of the movie to represent the idea of design. Design is hard work, it does not just happen.  

Myspace VS. Facebook

            It seems like it was just yesterday when Myspace was the rave. Users could customize their own backgrounds, add music and videos and write on each others’ pages. Yet with the rapid growth of Facebook, there have been many controversies over the layouts and designs of the two social networks. Though they are both social networks there are many similarities and differences between the two sites.

           On Myspace every profile page follows a predefined structure, which makes it easy for users to get used to. MySpace allows the user to change both design and content on the profile page. The profile pages you can add videos, move graphics and add different fonts, text-sizes and colors to create your own page.  On the other hand Facebook uses a well-balanced design plan, with an obvious choice of color, the white and blue. The layout of Facebook profiles are well set up and neatly organized and it’s easy to navigate through the profiles to find the information you want.

         Both MySpace and Facebook let you upload videos and they both have their own flash player. MySpace will let you have a video on your profile but you can only post videos to Facebook. On MySpace the only way to know if a friend added something new to their profile is to go look at it, and the only way to know if you made a new friends is to look for the person. Facebook has two feeds. One tells you what’s new with you, such as who accepted your friend request or your posted items, etc. The other feed tells you what’s up with all your friends, like who they added and what groups they joined. They both have a place where people can leave messages on your profile and they both have a basic mail system.

            One of the major reasons for joining a social network is to reconnect with old friends or classmates. Facebook makes this really easy because the whole site is organized by schools and mutual friends.  MySpace lets you search for school friends, but doesn’t put the emphasis on real friendships. Facebook makes it really easy to hide info from certain people and to not show information that you want to be kept private. So, if you only want your close friends to see you contact info, it only takes a second. MySpace has privacy too but it is much more complicated. 

           Even though they are both commonly used social networks, on the outside they may seem like like they have lots of things in common, but when you dig deep into the layouts and the minor details they are quite diverse.

Analyzing Design as a Conversation

"Design is only ever one tool in the mix, but it brings something very special -- from an ability to help people articulate their problems to a focus on ingenious solutions.” These are the words of Hilary Cottam, founding director of Participle, which is a social design business launched originally in Peckham England in 2007 with a dotcom entrepreneur, an industrial designer, an innovator and Hilary who is a social scientist.  Over the past 3 years Participle has opened other offices throughout England.  The goal of the company is to bring designers from different disciplines together to identify and offer design solutions to problems faced by modern society.  The problem could be as simple as how to keep senior citizens involved and active in society without having to leave their own home to looming social and political issues of how to design effective water delivery systems in Africa.

What is surprising is that Participle isn't a traditional group of social workers, it is a design team. The company includes anthropologists, economists, entrepreneurs, psychologists, social scientists, and others driven by design techniques. Cottam who is 42 has used her design  strategies to solve problems like the ineffective health and school system in  England.  The company’s favorite kind of design has to do with making people's lives better, many times taking routine daily concerns and designing effective modern day solutions.  The senior curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Paola Antonelli, says. "Her projects not only work, they give people a sense of hope and strength." 

I think Cottam and Participle are a great example of Design in Society being used as conversation.  In fact, one of her methods is to have her clients “draw” their problem on paper.  It is a great way for a client to communicate their needs to a designer.  This “conversation” between designers and clients helps identify the design issue and sometimes even presents the solution by the time the problem is drawn or modeled.

               

Companies like Participle seem to be part of a new wave of designers who are trying to speak to the world and change it for the better.   They speak to their society and the people in it through the projects they design.  These companies believe that many of the institutions and systems set up in this century are failing and that design can help to identify the failed systems and to build new ones better suited to the demands of this century. Failed systems include the increasing amount of people who live at the poverty level and looming environmental and ecological catastrophes.  Solutions include self-help systems for poor people to sustainable materials used to construct buildings, make clothing, fuel cars and much more.  The important concept is that design is not the only tool needed to solve social issues but it can be very effective particularly when designers from different disciplines come together to attack a problem.

     http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/130/mission-critical.html

                                             http://www.participle.net

Fashions Come and Go

Clothing styles and popular apparel fashions are constantly in flux, and the fashion world is continuously inundated with runway innovations and fly-by-night fads. Over the last century, fashion in the Western world in particular has experienced continual upheavals and major changes. From 1900 to 2000, popular fads have included such fashion statements as rear-enhancing bustles, short flapper dresses, wide-leg bell bottoms, and deliberately ripped jeans. Even though there are a lot of changes in fashion, that’s what gives the decades diversity.

Though the ages have changed and the people have moved on, some styles have come back and that’s what reminds us of the times past.  The fashion runways are usually where the world gets re-introduced to an old fad.  If an old style has been brought into a new decade it is updated and re-polished. But when fashion moves from one decade to the next, it rarely stays the same.  Most people have a really hard time adjusting to new styles that are put out because they are so used to the “old” ones.  When the style gets an opportunity to be re-introduced to a new era it usually skips a few decades before it gets the chance.  Such as the rocker grunge look from the 80’s or the high-waisted skirts and dresses from the 40’s.  When a fashion is re-introduced it needs some time to get completely washed out of style. If you bring a fashion back in a decade where it is not accepted yet… it will completely contrast with the time.

                                            Watch video on You Tube

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrmbwThy3Iw&feature=related

Design through Conversation

               "Design is only ever one tool in the mix, but it brings something very special -- from an ability to help people articulate their problems to a focus on ingenious solutions.” These are the words of Hilary Cottam, founding director of Participle, the self-described "social business" launched originally in Peckham England in 2007 with a dotcom entrepreneur, an industrial designer and an innovator. Over the past 3 years Participle has opened other offices rapidly throughout England.
             What is surprising is that Participle isn't a conventional bunch of social workers or do-gooders, it is a design team. The company includes anthropologists, economists, entrepreneurs, psychologists, social scientists, and a military-logistics expert, but it is driven by design techniques and headed by Cottam, 42, who has used her design strategies to tackle the shortcomings of Britain's school and health systems. The company’s favorite kind of design has to do with making people's lives better, often taking account of routine daily concerns. Senior curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Paola Antonelli, says. "Her projects not only work, they give people a sense of hope and strength."
             I think Cottam and Participle are a great example of Design in Society being used as conversation. They seem to be part of a new wave of designers who are trying to speak to the world and change it for the better. We might call them design evangelists. They speak to their society and the people in it through many different facets of design. They believe that many of the institutions and systems set up in this century are failing and that design can help us to build new ones better suited to the demands of this century. Other design innovators speak with their society through design innovations that help poor people to help themselves. Still others see design as a tool to stave off environmental or ecological catastrophe.
                            http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/130/mission-critical.html

Neo-Crocker 2010

           Today I went to lunch with my cousins that live in Sacramento. We went to a local sandwich shop only looking for a good lunch and nothing else.  On my way out I saw something that stood out of the corner of my eye; it was a brochure.  At first I wasn’t sure what it was supposed to be for, but after a little bit of reading I realized it was for an art event.  It’s called the Neo-Crocker modern culture party, it is held every year at the Crocker Art Museum in Down Town Sacramento.   On a normal day at the museum you would see art works by Albert Bierstadt, Xavier Martinez, William Keith, and Thomas Hill.  But on the night of the Event the atmosphere of the entire museum changes. It transforms from an elegant place of art to a young modern party scene.  This party is unlike any other art event that is put on.  They set up the entire museum with djs, strobe lights, bars and you can even paint all over the walls! It is a very unusual event but yet sounds like such a blast.  Without that advertisement that caught my eye I probably wouldn’t have ever known that this event existed.  This proves the point of design and that it truly does matter.  If the museum had made these flyers out of regular white paper with black ink I would never have picked it up.  They made it so eye-catching that I couldn’t resist.

http://www.neocrocker.com/

Junk into Art

Creativity from without.  What is it…?  It is thinking outside of the box and being able to come up with something fantastic in your imagination.  While searching online about someone to blog about, I stumbled upon an artist.  His name is Joe Pogan he is a sculptor.  He has a very interesting way of creating art.

He likes to collect pieces of scrap metal and make masterpieces out of them.  Pogan’s pieces are so intriguing and eye catching.  They are something that you would never see anywhere else. The whole sculpture is like an I spy game, there are so many items that are put into making one piece that it makes the whole sculpture so interesting.  Pogan definitely uses his imagination to the fullest when it comes to his works.  He specializes in creating animals out of scrap metal. By the time he is done its no longer considered scrap metal, it is truly art. 

 “I create animal sculptures using various "found metal" objects like old watches, sprockets, nuts and bolts. The stranger the piece of metal the better, since the end goal is an eye-catching, fascinating amalgamation of metal with odd nooks and crannies you can explore for hours.” He has much passion in what he does as an artist and loves every second of it.  He makes theses sculptures for the pleasure of others in hoping they will find the same enjoyment out of them that he does.

Here is Pogans Website that shows many more amazing sculptures like the one shown below. http://www.joepogan.com/home.html

Stone Soup

The story of stone soup is an old children’s story.  I remember this story was read to me as a child, and it has now been re-introduced to me on a whole new level.  The point of stone soup is for everyone to contribute to make something marvelous out of all ingredients instead of keeping their own items.  In my design class a few days ago we had a project titled “Stone Soup”.  We were split up into groups and we all had to bring something creative and design related. When we had all of the contributions we were then supposed to make a masterpiece. 

Everyone in my group had so many great ideas that we couldn’t come up with what to create. We ended up making one large sculpture of random shapes of cardboard that included everyone’s designs on it.  It was a great way to go about the project.  It is a lot harder to come up with one central idea than it seems.  I feel that this project was a great learning experience for many people in the class.  It showed us how to work and communicate between one other, not just as students but also as designers.

When ingredients, tools or ideas are contributed and shared with the group it will make the end product so much more creative and in depth than what it would be alone.  I believe the point of this assignment was not just to re-teach us about the story of “Stone Soup” but also to prove to all of the students that communication as a designer is a huge part of this career path.

Meaning of a Jelly Bean

When you look at a bag of jelly beans ask yourself what you see. Most people see it as just a bag of candy that is there for you to enjoy. But a bag of jelly beans can be used as a step stool for deeper thinking.  If you look at a bag of jelly beans and think about what I just said, you will see what I mean. 

Every year UC Davis has a book of the year. Something the school reflects on and this year it is “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting in the Cafeteria?” by Beverly Daniel Tatum.  The book talks about the issues of racism and racial identity.  Tatum tries to make people realize that even though people may look different and have different ethnicities we are all still the same on the inside. College is a great example of her book it is one big melting pot full of diverse kinds of people.  That’s where the similarities of jelly beans comes in.  If you look at a bag of jelly beans do you notice how not one jelly bean is exactly identical to another. They all have different designs they are unique in their own way. A jelly bean might be red, purple, green, yellow or orange but yet they all have a slightly different shape and yet they all taste different.  The beauty of the candy is the diversity of the design and being able to look past the shallow outside.

What is Design?

          What is the greatest controversy in the world of design?  It is very  likely that it is the definition of design itself. What is Design? Is it a noun or is it a verb?  The true answer is… that there isn’t an answer.  It is a ubiquitous controversial topic for a reason.  I believe it is left up to one’s personal opinion.

          Design, as a verb, could be the act of actually creating the design, imagining it or building it.  As a noun, it is seen as the physical product.  If you think the word design should be used as a noun, you’re correct.  If you think it should be used as a verb, you are also correct; but if you were to use both a noun and a verb to describe design is perfectly acceptable as well. 

        Since this controversy has no right or wrong answer everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. Even though I have just stated that design can be perceived in many different ways, personally, I believe that design shouldn’t be split up.  Separating the word takes away from the full meaning of the word.  Design is about looking at and thinking about the big picture.  When you put the two sides together you create the whole, the final product.   

Design from a Childs Point of View

Thinking of my first encounter with design was an easy thing for me to come up with. Since I was two years old I loved dolls, but in particularly Barbie’s.  That is what sparked my first experience with design. 

Playing with Barbie’s and dressing them up was not just a hobby, for me it was part of my everyday life.  Everything about Barbie’s had always interested me. I was fascinated by the way they looked, being able to change their clothes and being able to take them places.  Having all of the accessories that go with Barbie’s was a huge plus.  To me Barbie’s were not just toys.  When playing with Barbie’s they always had to be perfectly matching. Their bags had to match their shoes and their outfit had to have nice fabrics and colors.  The Barbie lifestyle did not stay contained in Barbie land for long.  Shortly after I discovered my love for the Barbie life, I decided to live it.  Almost every day I would dress up and pretend I was one. I would hold fashion shows with my friends at my house, and I had to make sure that everyone matched and had the best designs. .  Doing all of those things in my childhood created great memories for me as an adult.

Design has always been a part of me and I am still intrigued by it.  From a young age it was apparent that I knew what I wanted to be when I was older.  I wanted to be a designer, and that is still true to this day. I still own most of my Barbie items and dress up clothes from my childhood, I have held on to them because they hold great memories.  But some I have passed down to younger family members to hope that they will find the same joy in them that I once had.