summer session II

Remember that on Monday you will be responsible for bringing Robert up to speed on your projects.  We will speak in more detail about our expectations for this review Monday morning.  

1:00 diamonds

1:30 hearts

2:00 stars

2:30 moons

3:00 clovers

-suzanne

connect the dots...

image from http://www.thisischris.com/feature/2002/peeweechristmas.html

a final (brief) missive as i part company with you at the end of the first term. remember that you have created many great design opportunities for your projects...materials, light, color, formal investigations, writing....now is the time to seamlessly weave together all of what you've done as you make a dash to the end of the second term. recalling that brilliant technology interface represented on "pee wee's playhouse"....use the magic screen in good health.

i wish you every success... --patrick

thinking + linking

10(1)


10(2)


10(3)


10(4)

still shots of the famous opening sequence to the "powers of 10,"
a film by ray + charles eames (1968, 1977) that explores the variety
of scales we address as designers in our work.
images courtesy of http://powersof10.com, also an interesting website to explore.


one of the greatest things i enjoy about being a designer is thinking greater than my own projects and interpretations...and linking beyond to the whole course of humanity. that awesome responsibility calls for us all to be engaged citizens of the world and to strive to understand the human condition at many scales. for our work, we mostly concern ourselves with the most immediate environment, the interior, as it shapes human experience and as our foibles, hopes, dreams, and aspirations in turn shape the world around. as you move from schematics into design development, keep the humanity in your projects and remember that a key aspect to being a designer involves thinking out loud in physical form by linking to the fundamental need for human beings to find comfort, mystery, and joy in the places in which we live, work, and celebrate. don't forget your own design philosophies + manifestos as you make this critical shift toward design development. in your projects we should see your efforts as designers to fully articulate your vision for a better world. see the powers of 10 website.

this post goes out to the shooting stars

Check out designer Soojin Hyun's new take on the "home office" via the designboom blog. While you're there, be sure to look around. So much inspiration, so little time!
-suzanne

quotable quotes + images

we've pulled together some words on design by a variety of folk as a source of inspiration for the week. some of the people quoted may surprise you....and their words may help you to think about your concerns as an environmental designer in touch with the world. we would encourage you to think deeply about the impact of your design interventions, both for this study and later in your practice as a designer.


design within a web...
“Good design is a Renaissance attitude that combines technology, cognitive science, human need and beauty to produce something.”
--Paola Antonelli, Museum of Modern Art


on beauty...
"When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.” --Buckminster Fuller


design has social purpose...
"Design is creation in or alteration of the world to meet the needs and desires of people.”
--Dirk Knemeyer, Thread Inc.


the deep meaning of design...
“In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains and sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.”
--Steve Jobs, Apple Computer


http://www.fredmiranda.com/hosting/showphoto.php?photo=25213&sort=1&size=medium&cat=500
design has many outward impacts...
“If I’m going to talk about design, that purely arbitrary and immensely human construct, I should say that by design I mean the process both physical and mental by which people give an order to objects, community, environments and behavior.”
--Bill Stumpf


http://www.softpedia.com/progScreenshots/Karaoke-Song-List-Creator-Screenshot-28087.html
a musical metaphor...
“The designer leads a kind of karaoke existence, always singing someone else's song, and never saying what he thinks should be said.”
--Bruce Mau


when you're feeling stuck...
"Design depends largely on constraints.”
--Charles Eames


http://www.graffiti.org/eyegasm/htm/f/font-font01.htm
something funny...AND perhaps useful...
“A designer should only use these 5 typefaces: Bodoni, Helvetica, Times Roman, Century, Futura.”
--Massimo Vignelli


http://www.fredmiranda.com/hosting/showphoto.php?photo=18098&sort=1&cat=3903&page=1
design brings together many opportunities...
“No design can exist in isolation. It is always related, sometimes in very complex ways, to an entire constellation of influencing situations and attitudes. What we call a good design is one which achieves integrity – that is, unity or wholeness – in balanced relation to its environment. The reason good design is hard to come by is that its creation demands a high degree of emotional and intellectual maturity in the designer, and such people are not found too often.”
--George Nelson



http://www.peterschnitzler.com/pages/Language_1.htm
on style...
“Good design at least part of the time, includes the criteria of being direct in relation to the problem at hand – not obscure, trendy, or stylish. A new language, visual or verbal, must be couched in a language that is already understood.”
--Ivan Chermayeff


and order...
“Design is the conscious effort to impose a meaningful order.”
--Victor Papanek

stunning luminosity

As we developed "juicy" adjectives on Wednesday to describe light, I was reminded of an incredible exhibit I experienced a few years ago at the Tate Modern. The Weather Project, by Olafur Eliasson, sucked museum visitors "into the light" immediately upon entering the space's vast lobby. As described on Tate Modern's website, the artist used mono-frequency lamps, most often used as street lamps, that "emit light at such a narrow frequency that colors other than yellow and black are invisible, thus transforming the visual field around the sun into a vast duotone landscape." To use a few adjectives, the resulting experience was intense, psychedelic, bizarre, ethereal and blissful, all at the same time.

Click here to see additional images of Olafur Eliasson's work with light.
Care to know even more? Check out this great read.

-suzanne