Habitat

Back in the 60′s, Puerto Rico’s government considered the development of a social housing project called “Habitat“. The monstrous structure had its life, for pre-fabricated pieces were actually ordered and many arrived on the island. Thankfully, it was never built.

As this cartoon from 1969 satirically emphasizes, the social implications associated to the design of this structure would have only lead to a catastrophe. It’s labyrinthic layout would have provided a space for crime and drugs to prosper, and a new meaning to the term “cacerío“.

It’s a learning experience to look back at these materials. As a designer, I can imagine all of the blind efforts that must have been pushed forward by the building’s creators. As this case clearly illustrates, designers have the responsibility of understanding the implications of one’s work, specially if the social impact is at a scale that affects communities or cities. Of course, you may think “duh”, but proposals like Habitat make me aware that not everyone out there actually thinks this way.

Today, there are a few of the prefabricated pieces of the Habitat still around Puerto Rico.

Recently my father, an avid architectural historian, managed to track 2 of them down in the town of Arecibo. These pieces never fulfilled their original purpose, but today form a new kind of habitat that keeps intriguing some of us whose curiosities never sleep.

Strategic and grounded, not at the gut level and arbitrary

In the last few weeks I have been moving from meeting to meeting, introducing myself to new clients and re-connecting with some older ones. Face to face conversation has been at the core of most interactions.

During the time, I have become aware of the many identities others bestow on me: artist, graphic artist, digital artist, the creative, the person who makes logos, sign-maker, event planner, the guy who did that exhibit on the train, the kid who makes things pretty, web-site maker, and I have even been introduced as an architect. Not once in three weeks has anyone (other than in the office space from which I now work) used the term graphic designer, or even the idea of design to refer to me or to what I do.

In the Puerto Rican corporate and academic spheres that I have been exposed to, the practice of design (even if called by other names) is still seen as, talked about, and referred to as an icing on a cake which provides decoration (and an extra boost of sugar) to an already functional product. Designers are not at the decision table, and I have yet encountered one example of design included in a larger strategic process. The techniques, strategies and tools of design thinking are nowhere to be found. The idea of graphic designers having a process and knowledge of specific strategies that might foster innovation is scarce. Inspiration, creativity and talent are still at the core of the generally accepted understanding of how designers work and come up with ideas. Read the rest of this entry »

Lost in translation…

I have spent the past few weeks making presentations about who I am and what I do. You know the drill … –Hi, I am a designer… I can help with x, y and z… etc, etc.

This time around, I have been given the opportunities to meet with other designers, museum curators, CEOs, individual decision-markers, and larger groups. At most, I speak for a short 3 mins, quickly showing some of my work while speaking of design thinking and design strategy as core to my way of working. I try to communicate bits that relate to things that I consider myself to be good at and capable of handling.

Recently though, I have realized an issue: I now speak in a language that is not familiar to a non-designerly culture, resulting in me not being understood. I speak of a visual system and I get asked if that’s the logo. I introduce the idea of design strategy and others wonder if that’s the advertising. I propose an interactive online experience and I end up talking about Flash.

I need to find a way to present my approach and ideas to better illustrate what I am trying to offer. In a way, I have to help others, because it will eventually help me, not feel like I did in my first week of graduate school: lost in translation.

NC State University’s College of Design is well represented at AIGA’s BOOM! Awards

Last summer I collaborated with Rebecca Tegtmeyer and Marty Maxwell Lane in the design of two projects for NC State University.

In May, Marty and I worked for the First Year College to design The Brick, a 120 page book to welcome and orient the 2008 incoming freshman class into the university. The rest of the summer, Rebecca joined us as we worked for the College of Design on Collective Intelligence, Collaborative Design, the college’s research publication.

Last night, our work was recognized with two Merit Awards from the AIGA Chapters of Charlotte and Raleigh in their Fifth Biennial Design Competition, BOOM!
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Advocacy Planning to Open Irrigation Channels in Isabela, Puerto Rico as a Tourism Attraction

All photos by Gus Pantell.

The early part of the XXth century witnessed the construction of an extensive web of irrigation channels to distribute water to homes and farmlands in Puerto Rico along more than 35 kms. Still in operation to this day, throughout time different individuals and groups have acknowledged the scenic value of these channels; however, to most they remain unknown.

Conceived by the architectural firm, Jorge Rigau FAIA, Architects, the pilot project was designed to garner support from government officials, institutions, and the general public for the development of Isabela’s irrigation channels as a key ecotourism attraction in Puerto Rico. The “canales” travel across plains, mountains, and forests of varying microclimate, flora, fauna, and views. Maintenance paths that run continuously next to them could today be refashioned as nature trails accessible to the general public, children, senior citizens, and handicapped people alike. This pilot project set out to prove the feasibility of this initiative.

After public access to these facilities had been denied for eighty years, one kilometer of channels was opened up for two days, attracting an audience of over 3,000 registered people, including key decision-makers like the Island’s Interim Governor. Environmental leaders and university professors joined the long lines of visitors from all over the Island.Advocacy is often linked to demonstrations, more than often committed to stop something from happening. In our case, we chose to demonstrate otherwise: How something can, in fact, happen. Letters of support have started to come and decision makers – already engaged – have invited us to sit and dialogue. This is what we planned for.

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Design Dialogues: Looking Back…

This past summer I spent a few weeks in the Design Dialogues Workshop. I posted a ton about this back in June, but it was not till today that I realized that a video had been made of the experience. I had kinda forgotten that Roger Remington had been video recording most of the time. A bit long for a blog video, but it is a good look into what the experience was all about.

Buttons: Design thinking

NC State Design Thinking button set

So the big question after getting the button machine was: what was I going to do as a first button set to share with others? I decided to make a gift to my classmates, and I made a button out of every single one of the Design Thinking Posters that we each made for this semester’s studio class. The set has all 16 concepts represented.

Design thinking exhibit is [was] up

These are some images of the installation that was part of our first semester studio project where the class attempted to define design thinking in terms of a series of thinking strategies and cognitive frameworks. Read the rest of this entry »

Simon says: design thinking …but wait… what is it? / The poster collection

Recently there has been much talk of corporate cultures —and other disciplines— engaging in the practice of “design thinking“. Such announcements are usually paralleled with ideas of creativity, innovation, and user-centeredness; associations that sound cool and hip but many times result in superficial, inaccurate, and vague information. Wether we like it or not, the buzzword of design thinking is everywhere.

On a recent article in the New York Times, Unboxed: Design Is More Than Packaging, the author, Janet Rae-Dupree, makes an effort to unbox “design” by concentrating on this thing designers do called design thinking. She says: “…design thinking usually involves a period of field research —usually close observation of people— to generate inspiration and a better understanding of what is needed, followed by open, nonjudgmental generation of ideas. After a brief analysis, a number of the more promising ideas are combined and expanded to go into “rapid prototyping,” which can vary from a simple drawing or text description to a three-dimensional mock-up. Feedback on the prototypes helps hone the ideas so that a select few can be used. The results can be startling.”

On another article in the Fast Company website, Design Thinking… What is that?, its author, Mark Dziersk, defines design thinking as consisting of four steps: defining the problem, creating many options, refining selected directions, and picking a winner for execution. He says: “At this point enough road has been traveled to insure success. It’s the time to commit resources to achieve the early objectives. The byproduct of the process is often other unique ideas and strategies that are tangential to the initial objective as defined. Prototypes of solutions are created in earnest, and testing becomes more critical and intense. At the end of stage 4 the problem is solved or the opportunity is fully uncovered.” He concludes the article with: “Design thinking describes a repeatable process employing unique and creative techniques which yield guaranteed results — usually results that exceed initial expectations. Extraordinary results that leapfrog the expected. This is why it is such an attractive, dynamic and important methodology for businesses to embrace today.”

While these two examples, noble in their intentions and approach, describe a bit of what design thinking can be in terms of a traditional object-oriented approach where processes conclude in tangible objects, they do not elaborate on how design thinking operates in this contemporary landscape of information and ever-changing job descriptions. Read the rest of this entry »

Gateways: International Book Cover Exhibit

Detrás del Silencio, Gilda Navarra’s retrospective, has been chosen to be part of Gateways, an international exhibition of contemporary book design that will take place in Porto, Portugal. It will open on July 30th.

Type as message, type as texture 2

Jaime Suárez and Joel Ramos keep working on the sculptural aspect of the Vieques Main Plaza Fountain designed by Jorge Rigau FAIA.
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AIGA NEXT, my contribution to 20/20

At the AIGA Next conference there was a segment called 20/20. It was 20 young designers, each having been granted 1 min to talk or show what’s next. One of the designers, Geoff Halber, asked others to contribute to his presentation by submitting a version of an 08.

My domino version of the 08, already blending with the next version.
Thanks to Kelly Murdoch-Kitt for having taken the photo.

What are some required needs for good graphic design? // Your head

My father and I many times mused about graphic design and architecture. We conversed about the disciplines’ similitudes and differences. We evaluated how each of us could use our fields to impact the other.

Architecture can aid my understanding of balance (specially when it comes to grid work and the alignment of elements), it can fuel my understanding of the different ways my work will affect others, and it can be a catalyst for three dimensional explorations of a basically two dimensional area of study. Graphic design can influence him by improving his communications, by opening a space to create strategical standpoint for the conceptual exploration of aesthetic representations, and in providing a typographical groundwork on which to develop a new layer of expressive meaning.
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Sea level designer –still– reaches mile-high city: the AIGA NEXT Conference

Photo by Stu Alden

I spent this past week at the American Institute of Graphic Arts’ (AIGA) NEXT Conference in Denver, Colorado. For those of you who know me well, yes, this was the conference about which I rambled on all summer while I awaited the results of the selection process of a contest for designers under the age of 26. See the file I submitted as my application for the contest, called Command X. (I know that for many of you the summer seemed endless as I waited for the deliberation. Thanks for sticking with me.)

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Detrás del Silencio in AIGA 50 books / 50 covers exhibition

Last week was the opening of this year’s 50 books / 50 covers exhibition in the AIGA National Center’s Gallery in New York City. Detrás del Silencio, Gilda Navarra’s Biography (and Editorial Revés’s first national award) was showcased as one of the 50 Covers. (Located at the far left of the photo.)

5050 booksCovers

Strategies to Improve Communication

Ten (10) Possible Strategies for Designers to Improve Communication Management with Communities
by Jorge Rigau, FAIA and Alberto Rigau

The following are not presented in any particular order, as implementation of all or some strategies may vary from case to case:

1. Elucidating the Big Picture
Community members often argue their cases focusing in particulars, often missing a large scale, wider-scoped understanding of the issue at hand.

2. Make the Community’s Questions Your Own
Identify questions and concerns that are key to the conflict and address them before they are articulated as such. Answer them directly, and proceed to explain; not otherwise. Making sense is about acknowledging pro’s and con’s.

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