Narrative Environments

I have been researching graduate programs in Design lately and have come to understand some distinctions between programs. There are those programs which are geared towards applied practice & taught design skills and there are those which implore participants to explore, research and test skills on their own.
I am particularly interested in the Design Master of Arts program at the University of California, Berkeley. This program asks applicants to write a proposal about a project that will conclude in both an exhibition of work and a written thesis.
Having some experience in both environmental design and graphic design, I am currently in the process of exploring some ideas for a proposal.
As a part of Design 185, Exhibition Design, I am learning about the impact that the narrative of an environment can have on patrons to that environment. Where people look, what people touch, hierarchy of text, image, decoration and information. All of these things must be accounted for and carefully planned.
A narrative environment tells a story, it is the 3-dimensionalization of the narrative of a book or idea in an interior space. This particular kind of design interests me because it is so versatile. Museums, Galleries, stores, display cases, trade-show booths, public information exhibits, graphic design, marketing, interior architecture, interior design, all of these use the resources that an exhibition designer, or more specifically, someone who is interested in narrating an environment, have.

Repetition

I just bought a new camera about two weeks ago. It's a Canon PowerShot S95 and it is probably the highest quality camera I have ever owned.

Although I don't have a photography class, I have been bringing my camera around with me and snapping photos of things I see that interest me.

The cases full of wrapping paper (left) caught my attention because of the pattern they made. Partially random & partially the same (maybe that is where the Gestalt principles are kicking in. I really wanted the wrapping paper to make a pattern, so in photographing it, I have documented the Gestalt thinking process.

Remembering back to my high school photography class has also been fun. Trying to remember all the rules my old photography teacher taught us about; rule of thirds, texture, framing, composition, etc. All things I remember learning about then, but not really fully comprehending until now.

This picture of a tree trunk (right) had a very interesting texture on its main trunk, after taking time to look at it, I decided to document it. This tree isn't designed in any way (unless the gardeners who prune it count?), but I designed this picture, borrowing the texture/ pattern from the tree and using my representation of it in digital form for whatever I may choose.

Interaction of Content & Form in OBJECTIFIED

Although I couldn't make it to our showing of Objectified, I have seen this documentary several times before. In the film, industrial designers and product designers explain how they perform the design process and give brief overviews of their designs. These include fairly basic everyday items which people take for granted, but in the film, each designer brings the viewer to the more complex conclusion that almost every thing in our everyday discourse is designed.

One particular item that especially makes an impact in the film is the re-design of the fruit/ vegetable peeler. The design group who re-made the peeler went through many iterations of the design; including different styles of handle, materials, proto-types, etc.

A common theme throughout the film is the notion that designers should always and are always asking questions, for example "why is it like that?". This big question is at the core of why innovative designers and design firms are able to create such powerful yet subtle modifications to items that consumers already use. To be able to recognize a market, or a product that isn't performing to a high enough standard, then to completely re-think that product to increase use and change how people live.

The film encourages people to think more often about everything they come in contact with on a daily basis, and how the design of these objects affect how we live our lives.

On Brand

I mentioned before that I worked at the Crocker Art Museum and with their recent renovation & expansion, they have re-invigorated their website as well. View it here. It's transformation is marked by several things, 1. new logo, 2. a beautifully designed header that is consistent throughout the whole site and 3. abounding interactivity. Arguably the thing most important to a company or entity is the way in which it is branded i.e. the logo, standard look & feel to all collateral pieces, the streamlined-ness to everything aesthetic about themselves.

The Crocker Art Museum has done a good job of "re-branding" - they have scrapped their busy logo for a more contemporary logotype. Their new identity is posted everywhere & was used as much as possible on all printed collateral at the opening day events & the "neo-crocker art party".

When an entity changes their identity too many times, the general public becomes increasingly confused and potentially skeptical of said entity. Consistency is the best thing a group can strive for. If Lady Gaga had changed her name 3-4 times she may never have been as successful as she became.

Comparison & Contrast

Lately, I've been really inspired by the music of Icelandic artist Jonsi. His music incorporates stringed instruments, flutes, drums, pianos and his incredibly broad vocal range. Jonsi is iconic for his soothing falsetto range belting out both English and Icelandic lyrics. What is especially impressive are the music videos that correspond to some of his newest works entitled "Go Do" & "Animal Arithmetic". Knowing about other Icelandic artists has lead me to question if there is a particular style or theme that Icelandic music videos share, and if so, what makes it so.

Image credit: http://skyactivity.com/2009/12/07/jonsi-solo-album-details/.

The tightly cropped scenes and brightly distorted images are reminiscent of another Icelandic music group, Hjaltalín. This group also incorporates interesting instruments into their folk-acoustic style music like the bassoon, cello and others. Interesting similarities are also found in both groups choices for setting—usually somewhere in nature/ outdoors.

The artists who created these films took extreme care in the craft, paying special attention to the juxtaposition of image and sound at any given point in the song. In the case of the first film "Go Do", there is a story both told in the lyrics and expressed through the visual aid of the film. With feathers and different types of bondage, the film expressed the need to escape or break from ones chains, in this film as both a metaphor and a reality.

It's important to remember that people in Iceland are raised differently than people in the US, and social norms are different. Aesthetics start being a part of the education in elementary school with courses in traditional Icelandic knitting and embroidery and so on. With Iceland being so small, Icelanders feel an intense connection to their land, and in turn, use it and worship it.

Design as Conversations

Last December the COP15 Convention (climate change conference) created quite a stir in the little capital city of Copenhagen in Denmark. Representatives from all over the world came to attend and also to protest the event. What was extremely apparent from living in Copenhagen was that this particular event was thought out to every little detail.

Special temporary structures were erected all over the city designed to be stacked and layered together to house information and experiences for all the Conventions visitors. It was obvious that wherever you visited around the city, there was a standard format giving the entire installation a more intensified presence. Everything from energy-saving solutions to sustainable architecture to global warming were addressed. Each day, there were lectures, public art installations, and many other experiences that had been systematically designed in a streamlined way to make this convention send a message.

This image shows the temporary modules with their green-light exteriors in the night sky in Copenhagen's Rådhusplads (Town Hall Center). Concerts and other events were happening at the same time, creating a dialogue between many different types of people and different pieces of knowledge.

The conversation that the City opened up for the people was one about information, facts, and experiences that enact real life. The conversation that the people got involved with became something else. Activism, public expressions of art & politics, protesting; many people were encouraged to speak their mind and participate in an exciting

IKEA

I bought a lamp at IKEA about 3 weeks ago, which I am only now installing in my apartments dining area. Here is a picture of it. I love that when I buy a product from IKEA, I can put it together myself - letting me take part in the creation of the aesthetic of my apartment.

Inspiration from Without

I used to be an art handler at the Crocker Art Museum while they were undergoing renovations and many pieces of artwork needed to be moved, stored and cared for. Since I was a part of the staff there, I was invited to go to the museum's "Friends & Family Preview Day" last Thursday. It was amazing to see the progress that had occurred in the time that I had come back to Davis and not been able to work at the Museum. While I was perusing the halls with an old co-worker, we stopped by the Wayne Thiebaud exhibit and looked around.

Much of what Thiebaud paints is literal—pie, cake, streets, buildings, people, etc. The abstraction in his work is not derived from emotion, rather he is inspired by tangible, often very repetitive things. For example, Cakes, 1963 is an example of the type of staging in many of Thiebauds artworks.

I love Thiebaud's paintings as lightly whimsical colorful pieces, produced with a specialty-impasto technique that is iconic of himself. His works are simple enough to comprehend at a glance, but also have a depth and detail to them which can be critically scrutinized.

As in Cakes, and many of his paintings (to varying degrees) the sense of whimsy is carried throughout; from the decoration on the top of the cakes, to the shapes and color iterations in the shadows & scene. The painting (below) shows some more of the colorful shadows Thiebaud produces in his works.

Not knowing much about Thiebaud sparked an afternoon of research for me. He has lived in California for much of his life—teaching at Sacramento State University & University of California, Davis (where he still, on occasion, lectures). His work is recognized as part of the 'Pop Movement', world-wide and I am excited to go back to the Crocker every chance I get to be inspired by his artworks.

Stone Soup

Last week in my Introduction to Design class, we arranged into our small groups and explored the notion of a Stone Soup for Designers.

Stone Soup, although a children's story, can also be seen as a learned process for working with others.

My group brought together supplies; a box, paper, sparkly glue, old tubes, and bassoon reeds to name just a few. We independently looked through what we had and did some sketching, then finally came together and collaborated about what we were going to create.

As we started, each of us explained our initial ideas and how we thought we could best approach the project. As more and more ideas came out in the open, the more excited and creative everybody became. It was interesting to observe the creative process in stages during the Stone Soup exercise. There was a beginning point, where we thought a lot about what materials we had, and what kinds of things we could do with those materials. There was also a definite climax to our creativity—sometime after we had decided on the subject matter and some of the tasks that needed to be accomplished.

What started as a "flower-decorated table" turned into a colorful bus (pictured above) with differently patterned hub-caps and little dancing men in each window. There is even landscaping and a pool on the roof. Making sure not to trample over anyone's ideas, we each listened and spoke and worked together and created this interesting, imaginative, designed thing which brought us together and taught us a little something about being on a team.

Photographer: Michelle Huey.

Hello Internet, Who Are You Today?

I lived in Copenhagen, Denmark last year as an exchange student at the University of Copenhagen and DIS (Denmarks Institute for Study Abroad). One of the classes I took was a digital design course focusing on simple web page construction and linking techniques. My professor was a graduate of Denmark’s Design School and an accomplished digital media professional. She took us on a field study to a digital theatre where we suited up in outfits with sensors and got inside of a white box room. We were digitally transported to an environment where we could draw on the walls and move objects around ourselves.

Learn more about it here.

She was a real advocate for awareness in digital media and the advancement of knowledge. After working in the digital field for most of her career, she was able to bring many interesting points of interest to lectures and to challenge our conceptions of web architecture.

She introduced me to several websites (1, 2, 3) and helped me to understand websites and critically analyze how information is displayed on a web page.

After arriving back in the United States, I have decided that web design is an important component of the graphic design world and that I must know more about it. This quarter I am taking the intro course to web design which is teaching me that not only is there an enormous wealth of knowledge needed to be a web designer, but that the guidelines and principles that web designers follow change at an almost daily rate.

Design in My Hands

It is easy to go through life without realizing that all things man-made are designed. The extent to which these objects are carefully crafted and thought through is not always similar, but none-the-less, they were designed by their creator.

During symphony rehearsal last Thursday, I had a long break between two pieces where I found myself sitting and noting different architectural features in the music building and peoples expressions as they performed. Scanning around my eyes landed on the bassoon that was sitting in my lap. Although I know exactly what my bassoon looks like, I had never really taken the time to appreciate it's long tradition of crafted technique. I never cared about the way the upper joint bulges elegantly without any flaws or the way that the dark polished maple wood juxtaposes against the shiny polished silver.

It's not just the instrument that expresses years of thoughtful creation; even the small 2.5" long reeds (or mouth-pieces) are works of elaborate design in themselves. Made from dried cane, bassoon reed-makers spend hours,

days, even months putting together just one single reed. They use machines to notch, cut, wet, dry, etc. The cane is wrapped with twine in a specific pattern passed down through generations, then painted with urethane or clear nail polish, finally only able to be tested out!

After all this preparation, a reed is hardly complete, now it is the performers job to take the role of the designer and shape the reed with knives and sanding equipment. Some days the reed will need to be shaped several times, and some days it will be fine with no tune-ups needed.