Design in Society: Backpacks

Everyone wears them. They come in all different shapes, sizes, colors, and materials. Backpacks are one of the most utopian designs in society because they help humans everyday. A backpack is a simple bag with two straps attached to one side which allows for someone to wear the backpack on their back, that way it frees the user's body. Usually backpacks are the size of an average person's back. If it were too long, it would most likely bump into the back of your legs when walking, and if it is too small, then it wouldn't be practical to carry a lot of items.

(photo courtesy of http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harvesting_tea_in_Bogor,_West_Java.jpg)

(photo courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1860s_external_frame_packs.jpg)

Backpacks are ideal because since the beginning of time, people are always carrying around things from various places or to other people. Often, hunters would need a carrying device when bringing game home. Bags were also made out of straws and people who farmed lands would use them on their backs so that harvesting the land would be easier. The different uses of a backpack date back a long time and helped the society for separate community roles.

(photo courtesy of http://www.infobarrel.com/IBLE_Military_Backpack)

In today's world, a backpack is used by everyone. Toddlers who can start walking can be seen with backpacks to hold their snacks and toys. Students in grade school through college use backpacks for textbooks, school papers, laptops, their lunches, or anything else they need for school. My mother brings a backpack to work because it fits her purse, lunch, and extra socks. Athletes often use backpacks for their lighter sports equipment. Even if someone doesn't fit any of these categories, they still can use a backpack to store and carry around items.

(photo courtesy of http://fotosa.ru/ru/stock/search.asp?ID=2700338)

Backpacks are used worldwide and are one of the best tools for throughout one's life. We don't think about how much we use them and how many we have while growing up, but backpacks are an essential item.

Color Transforms.. at Hogwarts

In literature, colors are widely used as adjectives to describe things, but they also elicit emotions and represent different aspects of human life. Sometimes authors use colors to identify different characteristics within players of a novel or to foreshadow something that will happen. I17)n the Harry Potter book series, color plays a big role when differentiating the four houses at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. J. K. Rowling, author of this series, chooses certain colors to identify each house. Rowling demonstrates what Josef Albers describes as "what colors dominate in our work" and that "everyone has preference for certain colors and prejudices about others" (Interaction with Color, 17). Albers is saying that colors represent something and when used in a piece of work, they are important and convey meaning.

(photo courtesy of http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Hogwarts_Houses)

Two colors represent each house at the school: Gryffindor, scarlet and gold; Slytherin, green and silver; Ravenclaw, blue and bronze; and Hufflepuff, yellow and black. These colors correspond to different characteristics that each house values: courage, ambition, intelligence, and hard work. In an editorial done by Lindsey Skouras, the colors of Hogwarts are broken down and explained. The red or scarlet of Gryffindor represents both war and passion. It's energetic color correlates with how often the house is mentioned and talked about in the novel. Slytherin's green color is often portrayed as the negative connotation, the need for power, envy, and distrustful. The evil wizard, Voldemort, is often around the same colors as the Slytherin house and values similar aspects. The blue in Ravenclaw represent an obsessive, content, and concerned person, like Luna Lovegood. Luna is often living within her own mind, yet is content in the world and intelligent. Hufflepuff's yellow describes optimism and happiness, yet the house's other color is black. This is the pair where the colors are opposed, showing both friendship and fear within the house.

The colors of Harry Potter's world is easily memorable and the four houses represent negative and positive aspects of the characters in them.

Design is Dangerous: Amazon Kindle

(photo courtesy of http://www.geardiary.com/2009/03/16/review-the-amazon-kindle-2/)

The Kindle, by Amazon, is a portable, handheld, electronic device that allows users to digitally read different types of writings (books, magazines, newspapers, etc). It is also known as an "e-book" or an electronic book. Users can store digital copies of books onto a Kindle and bring the device anywhere and read.

The design of this product is simple; there are labels for each button and the product itself only serves one main purpose. There is one large screen for easy viewing and the size is about the same as an average novel.

However, the Kindle is dangerous to society in other ways. First, the Kindle directly impacts book sales at bookstores dramatically. Publishers Weekly claims that according to estimates from the U. S. Census Bureau, a “downward trend of bookstore sales continued in July with sales declining 2.3%, to $1.08 billion.” This is a hard hit for all authors, but also for people behind the scenes like employees with full-time jobs. Another aspect that disapproves the Kindle as a more convenient book option, is when using the Kindle as an alternative to textbooks or classroom tools. In a study done by I4U News, 80% of students rejected using a Kindle compared to using a textbook. Students said that it took longer to look up things and to flip through pages. Also, since there wasn't a tangible aspect to each page of the book, it was harder to write notes or highlight in the book.

Another study about using a Kindle inside the classroom, written by Amlink Computers, shows why the Kindle shouldn't be used as a learning guide for younger children. Digital technology promotes bad handwriting skills because kids are going to be used to typing electronically. Flipping physical pages of a book are also ways to improve hand-eye coordination and a Kindle doesn't offer the sense of touch that a book does. A child's eyesight could also diminish if they are constantly viewing a Kindle machine because text shown on a display screen is most likely impose health risks to their eyes.

The Kindle isn't an effective way to solve problems in the classroom or sometimes in your own home because its purpose and design don't promote a healthy way of living and treatment to our bodies.

media:scape

(photos courtesy of http://www.steelcase.com/en/products/category/workspace/group-and-community/mediascape/pages/overview.aspx)

Media:scape is a product designed by Steelcase that promotes media sharing and group conversations. It's design is definitely ergonomic and user-friendly. This product is safe to use because of its simple design and the way it works. First you sit down around the table; Steelcase offers many different types of seating options like wrap-around couches or chairs. Second, everyone can take out their laptops and connect the cord that is inside the table top case. This case is flush with the table so it doesn't stick out on top. The cord connects to a laptop to share visual information from the screen of the computer to a TV like in the photo above. The average users of media:scape would probably be employees of a company, clients, or a group of people who are working and using the product to share digital media. These people would be very safe using media:scape because there are no surfaces or textures that are unfriendly or dangerous.

Comfort using media:scape depends on what type of surfaces are chosen for this product. It comes in different colors, materials, and fabric choices. At the Steelcase showroom in San Francisco, the seating was red wool, which isn't a popular choice among customers. Steelcase provides a vast variety of material selection when it comes to the table surfaces to the seating options.

This video made by Steelcase shows how easy it is to use media:scape. You open your laptop, connect the video cord, and when you want to show your laptop screen, you simple press the clear button on the cord connected to your computer. When new users try media:scape, they can also simply follow the visual directions on the inside flap of the case in the middle of the table. It shows the three steps and what order to follow them in. Another way that media:scape works is by offering an add-on piece behind the main sitting area that allows for people who are joining the meeting to not interrupt because they are invited in the conversation but aren't required to immediately take a seat, which can sometimes be distracting.

At Steelcase, the tour guide demonstrated with two computers how efficient the product was. She took out the two puck cords, connected them in the computers, and switched screens with a simple click of each button. This was an ingenious design and will definitely fit with the popularity and benefits of using shared media viewing in an office setting.

The look of media:scape comes in a large variety depending on the clients and what they want to choose for materials and surfaces. Because of this choice, clients feel like they are designing their own product for their own office spaces and enjoy the product more. Media:scape is a tool that will change how media sharing effects the conference room and will minimize frustrating technological errors, dealing with a single cord, and crowding over one small laptop screen. Steelcase designs products with the user in mind and solving daily problems in the office.

Steelcase

Steelcase redefines the traditional office cubicle. On Friday, I got a chance to walk through their showcase floor with a tour from one of UCD interiors alumni, Jennifer. She walked us through Steelcase's office products and the intelligence behind the design of them.

Jennifer described how the economy is now effecting how offices are built. Since there is less money to buy more space, the office cubicle is downsizing. She showed us a few designs that utilize space efficiently, yet still creating a workable area with privacy. Here is an example of a setting that uses standing height shelving which blocks these desks from the desks behind them. Steelcase also sells panels (the yellow ones in this photo) that work as non-permanent dividers. There is lots of storage space and optimal privacy when wanted.

(photo courtesy of http://www.steelcase.com/en/products/category/workspace/pages/overview.aspx)

Another product that I found very functional and appealing for an office space is the Airtouch table. This table adjusts and moves up or down to create a sitting desk or a standing table with just the clench of a small lever. The table uses pressure of air to rise up or down, therefore there are no electronics involved. Along with being able to use multi-functionally, this table also acts as a conversational bridge. If one person is working on a laptop and their colleague walks over, they can signal that they only have time for a quick and brief conversation by adjusting to a standing height. This shows the other person that they can walk up and talk for a few minutes. If you needed to show someone something you were working on, it's also good to raise the table that way the other person isn't bending over a desk. Steelcase also focused on bringing the idea of wellness for the human body at the workplace into their products. The Airtouch offers workers to change the way they are working by easily making a standing setting that suggests more movement and exercise.

(photo courtesy of http://www.steelcase.com/en/products/category/tables/adjustable/airtouch/pages/overview.aspx)

Steelcase is researching and thinking about future products for the office that better serve the people in those spaces and how to make the work inviting and better for the body.

Objectified

(photo courtesy of http://www.yankodesign.com/2007/05/14/kartell-pol-sofa-by-ronan-erwan-bouroullec/)

"Remove everything unnecessary for maximum unity." -Erwan and Ronan Bourellec, Objectified

What the Bourellec brothers design are pieces that are very uniform and minimalistic. This couch they designed, for instance, doesn't contain any other aspect except the simple function of a large, cushioned tool for seating. Because this couch is stripped from all other decoration or additions, it is very simple and clean looking. People look at this couch and the only form of its details they can see are the black surfaces and white surfaces of the fronts and sides. The Bourellec brothers even simplified the color of this couch to easy hues and values. They created a unifying concept of a minimalistic couch which is that piece's sole purpose, using the form of color and shapes.

(photo courtesy of http://designconsciousnessconsciousdesign.blogspot.com/)

One of Brian Fies' points in his talk also resounds to what the Bourellec brothers quoted earlier. Fies says that his design process for this panel was to draw his mother wrathing around in her bedsheets. But he decided to revise it and thought "What if I made her nightgown black" that way the focus is just on her body. He thought even more and thought "What if I made the bedsheets black" and then this image came out. Fies stripped away all the extra elements of this image and focused it directly on the characters body. The form for this image was the simple black and white coloring and the drawing of the body parts of his mother. The content was showing only her body in pain and zooming in on that one simple idea.

In furniture or comic design, designers often over design and create. The revision of their production lets them answer what is the most important thing I want viewers to get out of what I made.. what do I want to say with this piece? This gives designers the exact purpose for their overall goal in their design.

Word & Image II

(photo courtesy of http://www.momscancer.com)

Cover the words of this comic and look at the images from left to right, top to bottom. What I noticed is the difference in facial expressions and the gradual hair loss from the same person. This is basically all that I see different in the six different panels with images. Now focusing on only the text and not the image, you get a sense of what they are talking about, quitting smoking or the cause of it. But you don't know if the same person is thinking these thoughts or saying them or even if it is the same person relaying out their thoughts. When separating words from images, there is a disconnection that goes on because if there isn't much description in the text, then readers have a hard time imagining what is going on. Someone could have read this comic without the images and thought the speaker was a 23 year old, athletic male just contemplating. Or vice versa, the images of an old lady with different emotions on her face could have been about a debate about who she should let cut her hair the next time at the salon.

The reason why images and words work so well in comics is because they narrate a story that only each component could be balanced with each other. Brian Fies who was the author of Mom's Cancer (where the comic was taken from), lectured about the collaboration between word and image and how the two creates the meaning of the whole. What he is illustrating in this comic is his mom who has a disease and her rationality for smoking and how she goes back and forth blaming others or taking responsibility for the condition she is in. This big idea would not have been seen if the words and images of this one comic were separated.