Namesakes

I stumbled, quite by accident, on something rather extraordinary today. Someone with my name is already out there in the world of design, and what's more striking, I actually like his writing.

Jonathan Baldwin is an instructor at the University of Dundee, where he teaches design - though he doesn't like to tell his hairdresser that, evidently.

"If I make the mistake of saying what I teach, well I might as well grab the scissors and do it myself because "design" is universally misunderstood. "Oh I wanted to be a designer" is a common reply but that's okay. "My ten year old brother does that" is slightly less acceptable. "Is that where you make stuff all day?" they might say, confusing me with their school Craft, Technology and Design teacher (or whatever they're called now) who looked after all the thick kids who couldn't quite manage the complexities of more demanding subjects such as, well, anything."

The quote above is taken from his presentation on Teaching Excellence, and it's well worth reading through. The presentation can be found here. Of particular note are his thoughts on The Bauhaus - and his goal of Designing Education, rather than merely teaching design. Reminds me of another instructor I could name. . . his insights are well worth noting, and I'm not saying that merely because of our suspiciously similar names. 

Design is Dangerous: 1971 Ford Pinto

The Ford Pinto made Time Magazine's list of the 50 Worst Cars of All Time. Not for the normal reasons people dislike a car; oddly, not because it was an especially bad car.

See, the Ford Pinto was best known for having a particularly volatile gas tank. It had a tendency to burst into flames when rear-ended. Now, this sounds like a rather severe design flaw - the gas tank was located in the rear of the car, and wasn't sufficiently protected from impact. 

Unfortunately, it gets worse. Lawsuits in 1977 alleged that Ford was aware of the design flaw, and released the car to the public without correcting it on the grounds that it was more cost effective. The infamous Ford Pinto Memo contained a Cost-Benefit Analysis in which someone - ostensibly Ford - weighed the cost of repairs against the monetary value of a human life, and decided it would be cheaper to pay for possible lawsuits arising from deaths. 

It was later revealed that the memo in question may not have actually originated from within the Ford Motor Company, and that the location of the gas tank - behind the axle - was actually fairly common for the day. The 27 deaths which evidently occurred out of some 2 million vehicles built were not actually significantly higher than the norm. So, was Ford responsible, or not?

The truth is murky, but there are still lessons to be learned. 

If Ford was aware that the design of the Pinto posed a significant risk to the public and chose not to correct the flaw, they clearly needed an ethics adjustment. The government should not pass laws they are not willing to be subject to; the designer should not, in good conscience, release to the public something that she would not personally use.

Is this ethical? Is it safe? Is it usable? Does it solve the problem at hand? These are all questions a designer should be asking, along with the more esoteric concerns. Is it beautiful? Is it simple? Is it cost effective?

The designer must ask; would I want to be remembered for this?

I'm looking at you, Ford.

Design in Society: Utopian Design

A design is Utopian if it purposely aims to improve society.

Some of the best examples of this can be found on the website for the James Dyson Award, targeting the field of engineering design. The terms of entry are simple for qualifying participants: design something that solves a problem. And really, that's what practical design is about. Solving problems.

This year's winner is a project dubbed Longreach. Longreach is a portable device designed for rapid deployment of emergency buoyancy devices - Life Preservers - which are composed of a highly compressed foam compound that's activated by water. When the capsules hit the water, they expand almost instantly to form a fully useful floatation device. These floatation devices are supposed to keep the drowning victim alive until emergency personnel can prepare an appropriate response. 

Every year, hundreds of people drown while rescue personnel are present, unable to get to them in time. Longreach could solve that problem. The expanding foam floatation rings are relatively cheap to manufacture. As such, Longreach could be put into use in a wide array of circumstances, replacing the conventional life ring with something capable of launching a rescue tool much further and quicker than the human arm can throw it. It's currently in the prototyping and testing phase, but it shows a lot of promise. 

Ergonomic Design Criticism: The Laptop

A typical laptop by Acer.

We are now in the age of the mobile computer. 

More and more, laptops and other mobile solutions are replacing the desktop in the workflow of the majority of the world, from students to business use to teachers in school. The ergonomics of the desktop have been well considered, but ergonomic concerns are often discarded when devising solutions for mobility. 

Is that wise? Let's consider the issues for a moment. When dealing with ergonomic concerns, there are five areas to consider: Safety, Comfort, Ease of Use, Performance/Productivity, and Aesthetics. Let's see how a few of the popular mobile devices right now address - or fail to address - these concerns. 

1. Safety

This concern, admittedly, is fairly well addressed. Despite the scare a few years ago about exploding laptop batteries, generally using a mobile device is safe unless you foolishly immerse it in water. Assuming everything is originally in working order. There are some unproven concerns about radiation in cell phones, but a more obvious safety concern exists for men using laptops for their theoretical purpose, i.e., on ones lap. Heat from the discharge fan can lead to infertility in men - not to mention painful burning. Using devices such as a smartphone or tablet device, e.g. the iPad, is one way of addressing this concern. If one is stuck using a laptop, however, the best solution is most likely to keep it off of ones lap, which is something of a painful irony, or of obtaining a lap-desk. Both options have their own issues, which leads me to my next point.

2. Comfort

There are several problems with comfort surrounding laptop use in particular, most of them only arising through long-term use. However, with the new emphasis for many of a mobile device as a sole computing solution, these problems will come up more and more.

One of them is finding a comfortable way to use the thing long term that minimizes strain on various joints. It turns out there IS one way to do it correctly, but it's not always practical. Using it on a desk is often a problem; the screen falls below eye-height, and raising it up to eye-height would require a stand of some kind and possibly an external keyboard. 

Speaking of the keyboard, the keyboard of a typical laptop is cramped - and that's the best case scenario. Using one long term can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome, another reason why they were never intended to replace the desktop computer (with the availability of ergonomically friendly keyboards). The mouse is often even worse; a tiny little pad through which to interact with the contents of a large screen. I speak from the place of most students; a primary laptop user who doesn't really have the funding or space for a desktop.

Smaller devices bring their own problems; when the iPad first came out there was a great deal of discussion among tech blogs about how you were supposed to hold one, and the tiny keyboards of a BlackBerry or the touch keyboard of the iPhone or various Android devices wouldn't be better for long term typing. For short emails or text messaging, however, the problems are minimal.

3. Ease of Use

I would argue that most mobile devices do a good job of meeting this criteria. Microsoft's Windows 7 OS has come leaps and bounds over any previous version of the operating system, and Apple has made ease of use their main goal over the last several years with both OS X (for desktops and laptops) and their iOS mobile platform for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Microsoft has also recently launched their own smartphone platform, Windows Phone 7.

 

Linux is also making great strides forward in this department, but it still lags significantly behind, particularly given incompatibilities with certain hardware. Android, the mobile variation powered by Google, is also supposed to be fairly user friendly, though from my limited experience with the platform I have found iOS to be a bit friendlier. 

But my primary focus is still the laptop, and as such the laptop is no less friendly than a desktop with a similar OS, assuming that one has no problems navigating the smaller keyboard or mouse.

4. Performance/Productivity

The typical mobile device is very useful, and very productive. Having something easily at hand at all times to allow one to send and respond to urgent emails, write papers for class or work on designs immediately as they occur to you is definitely useful, and this is one of the tradeoffs of the mobile platform; because of the need for portability, some of the lower levels are sacrificed to allow for productivity on the go.

This argument - that mobile devices are productive - quickly goes to pieces when one glances through the iOS AppStore and sees the sheer number of apps that do nothing more than play farting noises, but despite this, it's still a useful platform. Laptops, smartphones, and other mobile devices fill a gap that isn't quite covered by the traditional notepad.

In terms of the smartphone, there is a perception that the BlackBerry is more "business" friendly. Perhaps that's true, but the tiny keyboard and ridiculous little mouse pointer don't really speak to the ergonomics of the platform; it's the worst elements of using a laptop compounded and exaggerated, then combined with the best elements of a phone.

5. Aesthetics

There are very few mobile devices that are truly ugly; in terms of software, Windows 7/Windows Phone 7 and OS X/iOS are all extremely appealing on a visual level. Android, in my perception, lags here, as does Linux - both seem to rely heavily on the end user to make up for the shortcomings of their design team, though this is more true of Linux as a whole than Android.

As far as hardware is concerned, it must be said; no-one does aesthetics like Apple. Apple understands aesthetics. Whether aesthetics are enough to overcome any other inherent shortcomings of the mobile platform is another question.

Either way, mobile devices are here to stay. Let's hope our wrists can handle the strain long enough to applaud.

Word and Image part 3: Superman Revisited

Designs change over time. Even the most iconic designs have room for revision, if only in small ways. This image features a classic Superman panel from the 1930s, juxtaposed with the revised and updated version by Alex Ross. The scene is Superman's first meeting with Lois Lane, reporter.

Medium makes a tremendous difference. While the original artists were limited by the medium of print and cheap comicbook paper, Alex Ross worked in paint with few such limitations. The result is nothing short of stunning, the figures becoming much more lifelike and detailed. There's something about the stylistic touches and the haze-like quality that almost reminds one of an old movie poster. It has a certain timelessness, like much of his work.

On the topic of words chosen to accompany an image, in both versions the words seem odd considering the Man from Krypton's posture. He fairly towers over Ms. Lane, and it's obvious why she would need reassurance. The newer painting makes this even more clear. He appears almost menacing, a far cry from the images usually associated with the character. The curve of the two characters combined with the lighting draws the eye toward the right, where we are met by the shocked - or fearful - expression on Lois' face. What manner of man is this?

Ross's modernization of the S-shield is prominantly displayed as well, providing another personal stamp on the revised image. Alex Ross favored the version of the shield featured in the Superman cartoons, using negative space rendered in black rather than the more common and friendly yellow.

It's interesting to take a look back and see how designs change, and what a later eye and hand will do to render the same scene.

Word and Image: Part 2 - "By your powers combined. . . "

Comics are a unique medium. Nothing else features words and images combined in quite the same way as in comics, each reinforcing the other. Little else comes close to the power of the comic's iconography. In the space between word and image, magic happens. 

Part of that comes down to the old rule among writers, 'show, don't tell' - except in comics, this is much more vivid. Showing is, after all, what the pictures are for. 

I chose this set of panels from All Star Superman, drawn by Frank Quitely and scripted by Grant Morrison, because they capture a lot of things perfectly. They show the essence of Superman; and they show the essence of good design. 

In this case, by showing us what the words cannot tell us, and using the minimum number of words to move the scene forward. Four sentences, five panels. 

The result is far more than the sum of its parts.

This kind of scene is tremendously hard to capture in word or image alone, but here we see the human side of a character who spends so much time flying above his city, looking down from above like a modern day god - but still has the time to step in and change the course of a life. A man who knows the right words to say, and thanks to Grant Morrison, when to be silent.

Word & Image Part 1: Interactivity in Design

Comics are defined by McCloud as juxtaposed pictorial images arranged in deliberate sequence; though words are not required by his definition, they are an essential part of the media. While a comic book cover lacks juxtaposition, it often contains words and images working together to intrigue, entice, and sell. Comics have a lot of competition - a good cover can mean the difference between having your book picked up and read, and having it sit on the shelf ignored while the children go read something more appealing, like Superman or Spider-man.

In Brian Fies' guest lecture in Design 1 last week, he spoke to this very issue, describing comics as being words and images combined together in a way that transcends both. Each works together, and the message is incomplete without either element. Further, contrast becomes possible, as we can be shown one image and have it described very differently; the image of men robbing a jewelry store, while the narrator describes his foray into "high finance," for example.

The image above was chosen for one reason; by every decent definition available, it does a terrible job of balancing this out. The words repeat the message of the picture, muddling the whole of the issue - rather than reinforcing anything, it merely leaves us with the notion that the characters shown are somewhat dense. Why don't they just move aside, rather than stand there and describe the tower in vivid detail as it falls toward them? The plain purple jumpsuits do little to defeat this idea; even ordinary clothing would be more visually engaging, but as this is a space comic, ordinary clothes are out of the question. Apparently jumpsuits are space-age? The word bubble is the most laughable part of the piece, though to be fair, it was the silver age. Characters were known for being able to make absurdly long speeches in ridiculously little time.

Images can be worth a thousand words; a few words added in can make them more powerful. In the next part of this series I'll be taking a look at an image that does this right. Stay tuned.

Industral Design Critique: Apple iPod Touch

The iPod Touch is a beautiful piece of good design at work. The 4th Generation version of the product is pictured to the left; the image is borrowed from Apple's website. The overall direction of the device's shape and feel is usually credited to Steve Jobs, most likely with the assistance of Jonathan Ive, the Director of Apple's Industrial Design Group, and a larger team of other designers.

I'm not going to discuss specifications, the AppStore, or anything along those lines. What I'm going to discuss is how the design works.

The elements to consider are Form and Content. Content, in this case, refers to the core element of the device, which is either a mp3 player, or it's a netbook with a built in camera that also plays mp3's - depending on who you ask.

First, harkening back to Objectified, the iPod Touch is built in a way that everything about the device defers to the display. Apart from two buttons and a volume control, the capacitive touch screen is the primary means of interacting with the device, and it takes up as much of the surface area of the product as is reasonable. Internally, it has to contain a Wi-fi antenna, and the new generation also incorporates two cameras, one forward facing, and one at the rear of the device. The front camera is barely noticeable as an opening in the case, while the rear camera is a slightly more visible lens. Each is minimal in size, attracting little attention when not in use. This fits with the philosophy of the device; the screen is everything. To paraphrase Jonathan Ive, a camera is only of value when it's photographing something; the rest of the time, it should be out of the way.

The form of the device is bilaterally symmetrical, but for the presence of the nearly invisible volume control on one side and the camera lens on the back. The polished appearance of the back is smooth to the touch and visually interesting, giving it a sleek look, and the combined black and silver color scheme common to Apple's current product line makes it feel very modern.

iOS in action on the iPhone 4

iOS, the operating system used by Apple's mobile device line, is another element of the good design of this product. Steve Jobs is very fond of using the word, "magical," to describe various Apple products. In as much as certain activities are very easy to do in a very intuitive way, if one invokes Clarke's Third Law, it isn't far off. Of course, I prefer Gehm's Corollary; "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced." Technology isn't there yet, but it's getting closer.

I personally own the previous model of iPod Touch, and have come to admire the entire line from a technology standpoint, but even more so from the standpoint of good design. The first time I saw one in person, I knew there was something different about it, but I couldn't put it in words. Now I can.

As an additional point of interest, Apple's product line is billed as environmentally friendly. For more information, follow the link.

For additional information about the history of design at Apple, click here, as well as additional information about why Apple design works, and more design tips gleaned from Apple.

Simplicity

Simplicity matters.

This becomes clear very quickly in the varied world of design, where it's far too easy to let enthusiasm for the design overwhelm the subject being presented. Perhaps this is most true in the realm of computers and interface design.

There's a school of thought when dealing with interfaces that says that the more you notice the interface, the worse it is. And this is often true; as Colleen Kirsten points out in this article about photography,

When you go to a play, you should never think “Wow, the lighting is awesome, and I like the props and costumes too.” If the lighting, props and costume directors are successful in their job, the audience should merely accept these elements as fact and they should fade into the overall fabric of the play, an unnoticed stitch in the overall pattern.

A design should be distinctive, but it should also get out of the way and illuminate the subject matter - and in the case of the personal computer, get out of the way to let the user access their data.

The desktop, for example. Is there anything less conducive to accessing ones data quickly than a cluttered desktop full of icons? It jumps out, it demands attention, and it makes things hard to locate. Why else would launcher programs like Spotlight and Quicksilver on the Mac, or Launchy and Everything Search enjoy so much popularity? Everything on your system a few keystrokes away - much quicker than hunting through piles of icons or cluttered Start Menus - though the new search bar in the Windows Vista and 7 Start Menu has done much to address this problem.

Now, I admit, I'm as guilty of piling it on as the next guy - perhaps more so. I have two application docks and a taskbar on my desktop. Maybe I need to rethink my paradigm.

Goethe said that "Feeling is all." A simple, efficient interface can make you feel better. There is a reason why Apple appeals to simplicity in so much of their advertising. Because it feels good. In fact, many advertisers play on this understanding we all have, painting portraits of their product as being simple, easy, and enjoyable. Geico is well known for their ad campaign promising "ease," which borders on self parody.

This applies to other elements of the world of design; Gap has a simple, but effective logo, and while their attempt to change it to find greater relevance was misguided, there are those who think that the mistake was actually a genius business move.

Simplicity matters.

Compare and Contrast

Gap's original logo, left, and the recently
aborted planned change, right.

A good logo says something about what it represents; it catches the eye, establishes a brand, and calls up associations in the mind of the viewer - hopefully positive ones. Over time, these associations become even more embedded in a consumer's mind, locked into place by experience.

Changing a logo can be a good thing. It can capture the attention of new customers, and give a company a 'fresh' image. On the other hand, it can destroy brand integrity, offend an existing customer base, and occasionally make the company look bad. In recent times, Gap considered a logo change and made public their planned replacement logo, which was instantly shot down amid a veritable storm of derision. Let's compare the design of the classic Gap logo with the new one, and see what makes them effective - or ineffective.

The original logo makes good use of shape and symmetry; the text, rendered in simple, high-impact capital letters in a cutaway style, is sharp, and stands out from the elegant simplicity of the background. In all seriousness, it's a square. It doesn't get much more basic than that, and yet, it works. Sometimes the simplest design is the best one, because simplicity is strangely beautiful. The blue and white color scheme is warm and inviting. It's attractive, yet functional.

What we all ask when we look at this logo.

The new logo concept, however, suggests something almost childish. It looks as if anyone could have designed it in five minutes using MS Paint, or for that matter Word. The use of black and blue on white makes me feel bruised; the blue gradient on the square feels somehow out of place, and the Sans-Serif font is dull at best, forgettable at worst. Sans-Serif Fonts are best used for readability on a computer screen, which isn't generally the primary function of a company logo. In fact, the controversy over the logo spawned this parody website. The image to the right was designed by me using the website, and seems a much better use of the concept than the word "Gap." On the whole, it appears to be a misguided attempt to step forward "into the digital age", when what they should have been doing is looking back over the rich company history they already had to work with.

Of course, looking back can cause problems of its own, and Gap isn't the only company who has struggled with identity issues over the years. Even Starbucks ran into some issues after a brief revival of their original logo. Probably not the best move they could have made - a brief focus group consisting of my mother indicated that the replacement design made her feel uncomfortable, and it certainly does seem to have unfortunate implications. That mermaid looks very awkward, and the brown is a far less inviting and warm color for a logo than the green they embraced later.

Logos are a delicate issue; when designed well, they can last a long time, and create positive associations, marking those who use them as enduring, and demonstrating their strengths. Done badly, they can ruin you, and a poor redesign can ruin brand integrity.

Design as a Conversation

Arnold Lakhovsky, The Conversation

 

 

 

In a recent class lecture by Dr. Housefield, we discussed something very important to the field of design; a central premise, a guiding statement, or as Housefield himself put it, a "manifesto."

Design is conversation.

To understand this, we have to understand what conversation is, aside from the painting to the right by Arnold Lakhovsky of the same title. Conversation is usually defined as the communication of ideas between two or more individuals through speech; however, this definition is too narrow. The medium is important, but in this case less so than the message.

Is design communication? Is it conversation? What design does not demand some act, however small, of participation from the viewer in order to make its meaning clear? Understanding is not a static thing, and symbols are meaningless without the context of language; meaning must be derived from the mind of the viewer.

Yoko Ono, Play it by Trust

Yoko Ono reminds us of this with much of her art; many of her designs are explicitly participatory, demanding that the beholder complete them in their own mind. Play it by Trust is a personal favorite of mine - as a long time chess player, I relate strongly to the message of the piece - that life isn't always black and white, and it's difficult to play against someone when you're uncertain where you end and they begin. Peace is there. If you want it.

In another class, I was recently presented with an analogy I found fitting; though originally referring to the writer, it is equally applicable to the the designer, since both are attempting communication. If meaning is not communicated, then the designer is whispering; art for the sake of art is like that. If meaning is spoon-fed to the viewer, the designer is shouting - or reaching. In a well crafted design, like the perfect story, the creator and viewer will meet somewhere between those two extremes.

In that sweet spot, each arrives, ready to converse.

Stone Soup

The concept of Stone Soup is based on an old folk tale, and relates closely to the process of design.

The story is simple enough. A small group of soldiers (this point varies widely depending on the telling) are moving toward a town, where they hope to be fed. The townspeople, naturally, hide all of their food, as soldiers are notorious for being extremely hungry. When the soldiers arrive, no one has anything to eat.

Image by Lydia Halverson

However, being rather clever, the soldiers come up with an idea. They proclaim loudly in the hearing of the townsfolk that they will just have to make some "stone soup." They then get a large pot full of water, start it boiling, and put some large stones in the bottom while the townspeople watch, amazed. They taste the soup. Then, the soldiers ask for some salt. One of the villagers obliges; "if only we had some cabbage," and someone offers cabbage. And carrots. And potatoes, and any number of other vegetables. By the time it's all over, there's enough "Stone Soup" for everyone, and the townspeople are amazed that such wonderful soup could be made from stones!

Except, of course, it wasn't made from stones, nor did the soldiers make it themselves. They just cleverly arranged some collaborative design.

Collaborative design is a process where everyone involved brings many different kinds of things to the table - their experiences, expertise, different kinds of materials - and then work together to create something new and unexpected. This may well be the most common form of design. However, design follows a similar formula when pursued alone; the designer fills the soup with his own experiences and the varied expectations of his clients. The result will be different each time; stone soup is never the same twice, and neither are two designs.

Our design class took part in a group activity based on the story of stone soup, and hopefully I will have pictures to add here eventually. It was a fantastic group bonding experiences, and offered some excellent insights into the design process.

Just 997 more to go this year, and I'll have good luck for... wait.

Update: Pictures! There were about nine of us all together, and the results were... colorful.

First Encounters with Design

Design is everywhere. It's big, it's expansive, and it encompasses practically the whole of the human experience. "Design" is humanity's way of making a mark on the world around us. That mark can look like anything, from the blocks we play with as children to the latest Apple product, the games we play, or things we find in our grandparents houses.

Probably my first encounter with design as a child was growing up playing with Legos. I remember taking all those little multicolored blocks, breaking them down and building them up into new things, houses, space ships, castles. I remember vividly the colors, and the unique texture of the Lego brick. Legos were a passport for my creativity, letting it run loose and travel wherever it wanted - whether that was down the street, or into other worlds of my own creation.

Superman dooms earth... again!

The other object that I look back on as a touchstone of my youth was an old comic book buried somewhere in my grandmother's house. There were a lot of them, actually, but the one that really sticks with me is Action Comics #496, pictured here. I suppose the 'in' thing to do these days is to refer to them as "sequential art," and while that's accurate, to me it was a story about someone incredible doing amazing things. But the object still sticks in my memory for several reasons.

First, the dramatic image. Superman's costume is interesting for a number of reasons, but I may explore those in a later entry. At the time, though, it grabbed my attention, as did the rest of the art work. The colors associated with the era in comics; the artistic style of the period; the smell of the thing. Old books, and comics too, have their own unique, musty kind of smell, and it always evokes fond memories for me.

The sweeping architectural style of Kandor, the Kryptonian "city in a bottle," still resonates with me today. It's always interesting to see how someone portrays a 'futuristic' society, and Kandor is no exception; it's full of eye catching curves and angles, and the brief glimpses of it here were enough to make me want to see more. It has a kind of personality, especially when you combine the architecture with the wild colors worn by its citizens.

Design should have personality; it should say something about the designer.

Introduction

Hi. I'm Jonathan, a 21 year old student at UC Davis taking Dr. Housefield's Design 001 class. I have had limited first hand experience with design, but I have a long standing interest in certain elements of the field that takes me as far back as my early childhood, when I was fascinated by architecture. Also trains; both interests can be blamed on PBS.

As I grew older, I became particularly interested in interface design, which expresses itself in my constant attempts to tweak and perfect the user experience on my two operating systems, Windows and Linux. My other areas of interest include fashion, especially alternative fashion, and game design. I play several different roleplaying games, and I recently realized that part of the reason why I find some more appealing than others is actually because of sound layout choices and clear presentation. Beyond this, I love art, especially fantasy art, and drawing has always been one of my favorite pastimes.

I initially took this class because it just sounded fun, but after the first class period I've already started considering changing to a major in the exciting field of Design. Even if it's hard, it seems like a rewarding kind of challenge.

This blog is a place for me to put my thoughts on "design in society." I'll be sure to have some of them next entry.