Joanne Mackellar

I read in the news recently that apple were thinking about making a tablet computer that can play ebooks, music and movies.

I found this interesting since our last project was based on a digital jukebox which incorporated ebooks, music and movies. While talking with my team mates we thought it would be interesting to see how apple would design such a product? Many questions came into our minds such as what would it look like? Would apple apply their design philosophy for this product?

Read the article at news.com.au for some detail on the product.

While researching on the digital jukebox project I happen to come across a document which states the design process that apple goes by. It’s something worth having a look if you wish to be a future designer. Here’s a link to apple’s design process:

Apple’s design process

I just wanted to take a step back from design and concentrate on personalities for a moment. Quite recently I’ve been watching a series online called “Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory “. Although the series itself has almost nothing to do with design (unless cooking is considered a form of design, which is but a different subject altogether), what struck me with this series is Willie Harcourt-Cooze passion about chocolate making.

For my last project (D2-5 My Friend) I was given feedback that it was felt I wasn’t living the project. That there was no passion behind it. While I felt it was the opposite I took that feedback on board. It wasn’t until watching this series did I realise what our assessor is talking about. While I do enjoy eating chocolate, I don’t think I would ever become a passionate chocolate maker. However I believe I could become a more passionate multimedia developer.

There are many people in the world like Willie. An example my facilitator gave me at the beginning of the year is Graeme Base. Graeme Base who was on talking heads eariler this year, admitted to leaving everything behind in order to do what he loves. Much like Willie.

Unlike Willie and Graeme who are passionate about what they do, I would like to find a balance between what I am passionate about and my personal life. While this post has nothing to do with design I hope you can appreciate what passionate people do to follow what they love.

Since the holidays have been around I have finally managed to read a few books I obtain. I found that the rockport.

The workbooks I’ve collected so far are the logo workbook, typography workbook and color workbook. Each book goes into detail how the subject matter in question works in design and how I as a designer can improve on the subject at hand.

My current interest at the moment is not only HCI (Human Computer Interaction) but also colour. So it’s not surprise that the colour workbook is getting a workout. Colour design book who is by Adams Morioka, goes into detail about the theory of colour. The book quotes:

In a physical sense, there really is no such thing as color, just light waves of different wavelengths

Scientifically this is true. Colour is not real. The book goes into detail how our eyes are just color perceptors and really we only see in 3 colours: Red, Green and Blue. However that does not mean that the book dismisses the use of colour in design. Instead the book goes into detail about how colour is used in everyday life and how we as people perceive colour.

This book also has quotes from famed colour and constructivist theorist, such as Johannes Itten, Carl Jung and Josef Albers.

Next week I plan to write more about my findings and thoughts about colour.