Iconic Icons

Everyday people are exposed to hundreds of icons, from street signs to stop signs, and religious symbols to company logos. Though people may not realize it, icons are everywhere, guiding us through our daily routines. But, what is an icon and what is its significance? According to Housefield, iconography is the pictorial language of signs and symbols and their transformation over time. The word, iconography literally means “image writing.”

Iconography is important in the design world because it enables communication between the designer and viewer. Designers create icons to communicate important messages and meaning to the viewer. When looking at an icon, people are able to identify and understand the icon at first glance than reading a written message. Because this method is very efficient, many icons are used for signs on highways and streets to help us find out way. They are also used to communicate warnings and hazards, to keep people from getting into dangerous situations. Icons can also be used in various situations, even humor.

While searching through the internet, I happened to come across a group called Improv Everywhere, their motto, “cause scenes of chaos and joy in public places.” When browsing through their videos, I found one to be the most memorable, titled “who you gonna call?”

The video takes place in the reading room of the Public Library in New York City. The scene starts out with 3 people walking into the reading room. They dressed with white sheets over their heads pretending to be ghosts. The audience around them stared in confusion wondering what was happening. A few minutes later, 4 men dressed in uniform suits with the iconic Ghost Busters logo walk into the same room. The men immediately begin to chase the ghosts around the library and eventually chase the ghosts out of the library.

As soon as the viewers were able to identify and recognized the iconic Ghostbuster logo and image, they immediately reacted with laughter and applaud showing feedback of understanding. It was the iconic logo that really brought the audience to comprehend and appreciate the scene. Icons are very powerful in that they can change confusion into understanding almost immediately.

Credits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKB7zfopiUA
http://www.blognewsarama.com
http://www.aceinfowayindia.com

Design as a Conversation

Design is a conversation. A conversation between the designer and it’s audience. It is the

conversation that communicates change.

Last week, the popular clothing company, Gap, unveiled a new logo design. The new logo would be described as more “contemporary and modern” than the original logo. But when Gap unveiled this new logo, many customers were not so thrilled about the change.

On social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, many people criticized the new logo design. Commenting on why Gap would do such a thing, destroying it’s own image by replacing it’s iconic blue box logo with something that was thought to be very unappealing and poorly designed by many. Some would even say that the logo looked like a 5^th grader had designed it.

With today’s evolving social media, the upset against Gap’s logo triggered thousands of tweets and Facebook status updates, even a fake Twitter account gathering many followers protested against the new design. After reading all of the feedback, Gap had followed up and responded, “Ok. We’ve heard loud and clear that you don’t like the new logo. We’ve learned a lot from the feedback, we only want what’s best for the brand and our customers. So instead of crowd sourcing, we’re bringing back the Blue Box tonight.” After less than a week, Gap had swapped back to the old logo.

This backlash against the new logo is a clear example of a designer’s conversation with audience. Gap created a design and released it to the public. The public listened and responded with feedback. Gap responded to the feedback with change. This communication between designer and audience is the most effective way to solve problems within the design world. Especially with our advancing technology and social networking, we are now able to communicate and respond much more quickly and efficiently than before. Our design world is ever changing.


Credits: http://mashable.com/2010/10/11/gap-logo/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/12/gap-gets-rid-of-new-logo_n_759131.html
http://www.whitebirchbrewing.com
http://www.farmersmarketowencounty.com

Comparison and Contrast

What makes an object popular? What makes it attract people’s attention? What makes it work? 

There are many infomercials on television selling special products to fix various problems or products just to create convenience to peoples’ everyday lives. But I always wondered why some products became a success and why some were just a flop. I guess the answer is, it’s all in the design.

One of the products that happen to intrigue me the most was the Snuggie. If you didn’t know, a Snuggie is basically a blanket with sleeves. When I first saw the Snuggie commercial I assumed that it was just a brightly colored blanket. I wondered, “why not just use a regular blanket? It would be the same.” But it turned out, it wasn’t the same as a blanket, a Snuggie had sleeves! I thought, “if you are that cold, why not just wear a jacket? It has sleeves, it will keep you warm.” But I guess some people refuse to wear jackets indoors.

When I first saw a Snuggie, I thought it looked very strange and I admit that I had always made fun of the people in the infomercials because I never really understood the idea behind it. But after seeing it on television after many years, I had never realized how popular it became. And then one day, I had a chance to try a Snuggie and it was not bad as I thought. It even had a pocket! The Snuggie is not a just a blanket or a jacket, but a hybrid of both. I guess the reason why it became so popular was because of its convenience and function. Even though in my opinion it is not the most appealing to wear, it’s function over fashion with this design.

Credits: http://www.snuggiesourcefortwo.com

http://www.pioneerlinens.com

Creativity from Without

Where’s the creativity? Where’s the inspiration?

Believe it or not, artists don’t get inspiration by staring at a blank wall all day. They go out and see the world. Experience things. Artists can get inspired everywhere and by anything. Contemporary artist, Lisa Hoke is inspired by the colors of everyday objects. Sculptor and photographer, Andy Goldsworthy is inspired by the environment. These are only a few examples, but all artists get their own inspiration from somewhere or something. Where do I get my inspiration?

I get my inspiration from various things. Sometimes it can be from my favorite hobbies or interests, or even everyday experiences. Even little observations from everyday happenings can spark a whole new fascination. For example, one day after playing guitar, I set my guitar pick down onto the desk and couldn’t help but notice how the shape resembled a tooth. I imagined it as a monster’s tooth. So I took all of my picks and laid them out on to the desk and moved all the pieces around, and then it turned into a guitar PICK MONSTER!

Sometimes when looking for inspiration, I like to listen to music. Though I may not always understand the lyrics or what the song is about, I listen for the feeling and tone of the song. I usually create stories and scenes imagining what it could be about. Every time I listen to the song there is a different story playing in my mind, so if get inspired by an idea, I sketch it out on paper. This is the most effective way for me to find creativity.

Usually whenever I find something that interests me, I think to myself “What if it was like this?” or “Wouldn’t it be cool if…?” My mind wanders and daydreams of all the possibilities. I love being inspired because you may never know where the creativity will lead you.

Stone Soup

A soup made of stones? Not exactly.

 Stone Soup is a book illustrated by Marcia Brown. The idea of stone soup is that everyone is contributing a little bit of something that they have into something much greater. So we recreated this idea of stone soup within our design groups. Everyone brought in various items and our objective was to all collaborate to create and build something using what we had.

The first question that came to mind was, “What are we going to make?” Though we may have not realized it, but we went through something called the creative process, which involves activities such as thinking, looking and doing. “These three procedures can stimulate the artistic problem solving process.” as stated in Design Basics by Lauer and Pentak.

First we looked at the items that every group member had brought. Then we started to think, “What could we make with these?” We looked through the items again and brainstormed a bit, sketching out a plan and discussing amongst ourselves. The most difficult part was trying to decide on what to create as a group because many of us had different ideas and opinions, but once we decided on an idea, we started the building (or doing) process.

As we continued, we would run into problems, “What can we do next?” Then we would turn to this creative process again by looking and assessing, then thinking and solving, then doing. Not necessarily following in the exact sequence of looking, thinking, and doing, but jumping around and sometimes almost doing them simultaneously. The creative process is continuous process, whenever there is a problem the creative process is a way to solve it. 

In the end, this is what we created. The idea was based off of replicating a deck of cards, specifically the king card.

After finishing our project, I had a walk around to see what other people had created. It was pretty amazing to see what other groups had created. Here are some of the other design groups work.

Trailers

What makes a film trailer capture its audience? A few days ago when browsing through youtube, I came across a trailer for a film called Buried, directed by Rodrigo Cortés. Viewing the trailer for the first time, I remembered the importance of first impressions as discussed in lecture as we viewed a short introduction to the film Amélie, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. I had never watched Amélie before, so there were many thoughts running through my mind about this character; like who this character was, what were their interests, and what kind of person they were. Similar questions arose when viewing the trailer of Buried for the first time.


Does this film seem interesting to me? Am I willing to go a theater and pay to watch a film like this? The design of the trailer is very important because it gives a first impression of the film to the viewer. It can determine whether or not people will show up for the film on opening day. The most successful trailers will engage the audience, showing them little snippets of the film to make them wonder and want more.

The reason in choosing this specific trailer was because it seemed very different from the typical trailers that I would normally see. I found the design very fascinating because it used no footage from the actual film itself, it only displayed still images captured from the film. If you have not seen the trailer already, you may think that it will be very slow paced due to the still images, but it is not. The way that the trailer is designed, the images are moving, turning, flipping, appearing and disappearing. The progression is controlled by a set of lines that travel throughout the screen. The lines move in all different directions, changing to colors, increasing with speed, and are cued with sound effects. These are the aspects of creating an environment of intensity and suspense. Also, as the trailer progresses, little bits of information and clues are being revealed through the dialogue, creating mystery and suspense within the narrative.

These are the characteristics of trailer that really made curious and interested into finding out more about this film. I would say that the designers were successful in capturing and engaging the viewer. This was a definitely a good first impression for me. I think I will be seeing this film sometime in the future.



Credits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWVoUBgVcf8&feature=player_embedded

First Encounter

When I think back to first encounter with design, the first object that came to mind were my old pair of roller skates. The first time I saw a pair of roller skates I was a bit confused because I had never seen anything like it before. I thought it was very strange as to why there were wheels connected to boots. I tilted my head in question and was a bit skeptical, but at the same time I was curious as to how it worked.

Looking at the pair of roller skates for the first time, I noticed the bright red shiny material on the exterior of the boot and felt how smooth it was. I spun the large wheels and I felt its rubbery rough texture. I rolled the skates back and forth and felt how fast and smooth it rolled. I noticed how little pieces of dirt collected on the wheels as I rolled them over little bits of sand and rock on the ground. These were some of the characteristics that really fascinated me and later motivated me to try the roller skates.

The roller skates provided a new experience that was an alternative to walking. Putting on skates for the first time made me feel uneasy and a bit scared too because it was something I was totally not used to. But with skates on my feet, I soon learned that could move smoothly with sharp turns and swerves on concrete, which proved to be more efficient than walking. Like wings to help you fly into the air, skates help you glide freely along the pavement without a care. The more I skated the more I grew to love it. And even now, I would rather trade my pair of shoes for a pair of roller skates anytime.

First Impressions

Though some may say, “It doesn’t matter what you look on the outside, it’s what’s on the inside that counts.” Though it is true, what is on the inside matters, but what appears on the outside also matters.

During class, we viewed a trailer of a film called objectified. As quoted from the film, “When you see an object, you make so many assumptions about that object in seconds. What it does, How well it’s going to do it, How much you think it’s going to cost.”

I agree with the statement from this film because I think it is very true. I also think that these assumptions do not only apply to objects, but they can apply to people too. No matter how hard we try to resist from judging other people based on their appearance, it will always be in the back of our minds to judge them somehow. I think it is in human nature because our minds are wandering to figure out, who is this person, when we don’t know them yet, so we make automatic assumptions.

That is why first impressions are so important. It can determine our futures, whether or not we get that job, or make that new friend, or meet our true soul mate. The same can be applied to the design. The design of an object can determine whether or not the consumer will buy the product. The consumer will automatically make assumptions about that product before they buy it. Is it attractive? Useful? Interesting? These are things to consider. Not only are first impressions are important for people, they are also important for design.



Credits:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9E2D2PaIcI&feature=player_embedded