A few weeks ago I found this cartoon from the 1970′s explaining design to the public. The film explains the importance of design and how it improves everyday life. It also explains the pitfalls of bad and impractical design.
It’s interesting for me, that the ideas behind design haven’t changed that much since the 1970′s. In fact most of what it is said in the video can be compared to Donald Norman’s “Emotional Design”. Design should be functional but also aesthetically pleasing. It’s a pretty interesting video and worth watching.
MASH Design studio in Adelaide are looking for an intern. This could be the opportunity of a lifetime for a lucky design graduate. From their website:
“please be aware of the consequences and that mash is not your regular studio. The position is normally 3-6 months and interns are paid for their contribution depending on the candidates experience and skill set. The concept is an exchange of ideas and skills, where you will work on day to day Mash projects. Applications for the position are to be made to hola@mashdesign.com.au – it is very crucial to look at our portfolio and make sure your work is in line with what we do, if it is then please send us a small selection of your best work”
As a web designer, I constantly ask myself will I break the archetype or not? Is there a need for something new? Despite what the above clip is saying there is some comfort in staying within the archetype.
What is an Archetype?
Although I say the word archetype what does it actually mean? Archetypes are found throughout society. As an example a chair;
The chair on the left conforms to what we as a society consider to be an archetype. While the chair on the right breaks the archetype.
An archetype refers to an underlying theme and pattern which has been hard wired in the brain over years. Chairs thoughout all cultures look similar, as do tables.
Archetypes can be found in every culture around the world. As an example Hungry Jacks are aligning themselves with the blue collar worker archetype. In commericals Hungry Jacks shows a blue collar worker eating their products, typically on the work site.
As a designer, the question about aligning your design with the archetype comes into place. If you align with the archetype your design may have more success, but you would not be creating something new. Going against the archetype you could create something new but your design may not be commerically successful.
Orson Wells on how to win an audience. Although most people will think this has nothing to do with design, I believe otherwise.
Just like an actor we are trying to win over an audience with words, content and images. Designers just do it in a different way. I can similarities in this video and Donald Norman’s “Emotional Design”
Have a look, whether you find it helpful or not, you’ll enjoy the video.
I’m always interested in other aspects and disciplines of design. Although design as a whole is vast I can see there are similarities between disciplines and process.
The other day I found an interesting review site called Red Letter Media. What sets this review site apart from other is the way the reviewer (with a little bit of humour attached) breaks down the movie stage by stage. He explains why a movie works, through character development, what emotion the movie evokes. What really impresses me is he doesn’t say bad or good things about the movie without reason. This reminds me of what we were taught while learning design.
An example is to do with “Disney Eyes”. He explains characters with wide eyes are more identifible and gain the audience’s sympathy due to look that they have nothing to hide. Where are characters with beady looking eyes are less likely to gain the audience’s sympathy due to looking like they have something to hide. This is all true and can be backed up in People Watching by Desmond Morris
He explains in one review that sometimes movie makers forget that they should aim to envoke an emotion, an aspect that I have to remember when designing. As designers we sometimes forgot we are trying to get a reaction out of people not to make things look pretty.
I really appreciate the time and effort this person has put into these reviews. Not only are they humourous but go into great detail! I’ve embedded the first part of the review. For the 2nd part if you are still interested go to his website.
Early last year I wrote an article on intuition. I went into some detail on what is intuition and how it is used on interface design. I will post the article on this blog at a later date.
The other day I was watching “Cloudy with a chance of meatballs” and this clip:
Although it is meant to be an amusing parody of what a first time might be like using a computer it might not be so far from the truth.
Even 23rd beings from the future who come back in time might not know how to use a computer.
“….the potential use of video games extends far beyond the playing of games. They could be excellent teaching devices. In playing a game, you have to learn an amazing variety of skills and knowledge. You attend deeply and seriously for hours, weeks, even months. You read books and study the game thoroughly, doing active problem solving and working with other people. These are precisely the activities of an effective learner, so what marvelous learning could be experienced if only we could use this same intensity when interacting with meaningful topics. Thus, game machines have a huge potential for everyone, but it has not been systematically addressed.”
Earlier this week I found an article on the web designer’s depot on Jakob Nielsen.
Jakob Nielsen along with Donald Norman are considered to be experts within the web usability field.
It’s an interesting article on Jakob Nielsen’s current thoughts on web usability. I found it quite useful and will use it in my future web design developments.
I found the concerns about web usability today quite interesting. When Jakob Nielsen started out, it was in the days of 28.8kbps. I believe because we are in the age of ADSL people are less likely to hang around for a response on a webpage. I tend to think of it like art you have 30 seconds to impress someone, the time is cut down to 1 second with web design.
I suggested people read this article and frequently visit his site to gain more hints on web usability.
Donald Norman’s books Emotional Design and The Design of Everyday things are a good read. I suggest anyone planning on getting into design to have a read of them.
