It was a great conference on many accounts, but most importantly it gave some of us the opportunity to share with students and academics from other institutions.
Having learned my lesson during the Boston conference (where i did not take my camera), I can now tell a selected visual story of the event. If you are interested for a detailed account, see Louise Sandhaus’ blog where she has some very interesting and detailed notes of many of the sessions, panels, and lectures. Read the rest of this entry »
Swipe… review… sign… pay later [repeat?] Understanding Martha Augustinos’ and Ian Walker’s approach to schemas and how it can aid a designer frame reflexive behaviors during a consumer experience.
Reflect about the purchases made in the last few days. Did any transactions involve checks, money orders, cash, or even a visit to the bank? Most likely the quantitative answer to this question will be low, if not zero. Physical currency no longer plays a major role in commercial negotiations. Items, information, and services can be acquired, and sometimes are required (try to reserve a vehicle without a credit card), through the use of credit-based-cards in lieu of tangible currency. The benefits of such a system are hard to deny: a credit card is often faster than paying with cash, avoids having to deal with change, offers an ever-present source of funds in case of an emergency, minimizes economically-based social judgments, and serves as an element that grants certain social power.
American critic Frederic Jameson, in Postmodernism: The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, wrote: “Any return to the haptic and tactile… seem to hearken back to… the “late modern,” when building materials were expensive and of the finest quality and people still wore suits and ties. It is like the transition from precious metals to the credit card: the “bad new things” are no less expensive, and you no less consume their very value, it is the value of the… equipment you consume first and foremost, and not of its objects.” (Jameson, p.99) The credit card is not only a means to consumption, but it now represents consumption itself, and as such, it has developed its own set of appeals. The credit card is now a must and there is no turning back. Read the rest of this entry »
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 »
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 »
It’s that time of year again… it’s back to school time! The adventures of my graduate class continue as we enter our second year of the master’s program. Exciting times are these…
Last year already came and went. The first semester was intense. The second was considerably busy. The third? I can’t wait to find out! I am not at all worried though, for Meredith Davis and Santiago Piedrafita are leading the way…
This semester is special though. Not that the previous ones were not, but this semester I begin to articulate my research interests towards the development of a final project. This experience will force me to concentrate my interests into a series of researchable questions which I will later investigate and work on. About time I got started on this…
A few days ago I was notified that my original abstract was accepted into the conference. This is my final revised abstract.
Understanding Interaction through People, Settings, and Scenarios
At NC State, the Professional Bachelors of Graphic Design prepares students to understand design from a systems perspective. Among courses that address the issue, three are dedicated to imaging. Last Spring, when co-teaching a three-credit sophomore class —Imaging II: Settings and People (Leading to Activity Scenarios)— with Santiago Piedrafita (faculty member), students were introduced to interaction and time-based media through three key ideas: settings, people and scenarios. Each was addressed through a particular investigation: a “site survey (settings);” a “subject study (people);” and an “activity map (scenarios).”
For the site survey investigation, students were asked to build annotated panoramas through layering techniques, documenting and commenting on a particular location of their daily commute. To visualize the importance of people within a system, students collected ethnographic data of other school members, which they then reinterpreted into one-minute biographical video clips and oversized broadsheets. The semester concluded with an understanding of scenarios, exploring how myriad interfaces found on various mobile platforms shape and affect interactions (scenarios) between users (people) and their environment (setting). This investigation was carried out through hand-made rapid-paper-prototypes, later modeled into stop-animation video clips.
Throughout the semester, concepts were introduced through observation and interpretative methods like annotated tableaus, visual essays, authored journals, video interviews, collaborative ideation techniques, activity maps, paper-prototyping, and stop-animation photography. These “image-making” strategies helped students visualize and actualize key aspects (and phases) of diverse design problems (project-definition-driven, project-building, project-making), understanding issues they will come to terms with when undergoing interactive and time-based media work.
A little bit of fun while we counted down to final review with Marty Maxwell Lane, Rebecca Tegtmeyer, Sam Kim and our temporary studio mate, the air conditioner. Read the rest of this entry »
As part of the independent study, I had understand how to scale a system such as a blogging platform across the NC State curriculum. This chart presents one of the proposals suggested for a possible implementation.
As part of the independent study and seminar work, I delved into understanding more about some various communication platforms. This is a concept map developed to explore existing relationships and key players surrounding the blog.
As part of my academic charge this semester, I underwent an independent study with Santiago Piedrafita. In it, we explored various possibilities on how to develop, build and maintain a common curricular system between the different faculty members and the students of the department. What follows is just one of the many presentations since the final work is still underway.
A small break from the semester work. At the end of February we played guests to the candidates of next year’s incoming graduate class. I was asked by the department to do a recap of last semester’s symposium. Read the rest of this entry »
What the point of having a blog if I am not going to post on it? Furthermore, what is the point of researching blogs and not embracing my own?
I know. I’ve been bad. I have no excuse, other than to say that the semester has been a busy one. Final review is already near (3 weeks down the road) and preparations for it have already begun.
Click image for high resolution.
I’ve began mapping back the work done so that I can prepare for the final event (which will become bearable if denise brings donuts ;)
Soon detailed posts of my work in the past few months will come.
ps. Marty… I promise to get this on the road again :)
It’s here, the end of the semester is here. Contrary to undergraduate times, (when this was a time of exams, final projects and memorization as premonition of Christmas partying) graduate school’s end of semester calls out for (and brings about) reflection, introspection and self-evaluation.
“The human experience of identity has two elements:
a sense of belonging and a sense of being separate.1”
Now that we say more of our selves, are we saying less?
In 2006, for the first time in history, the Canadian National Census questionnaire made its way to the country’s 32.5 million residents. It included a new confidentiality question that asked Canadians to approve or disapprove of their personal information being included in the census. Historians feared that survey participants did not realize the importance of the option and initiated a publicity campaign to educate the country on the implications of such question, and on why people should care about it even though this census is released to the public in 2098. It was an education on how the information will be useful then, specially in regards to identity and the social way of living.
Contemporary digital environments have allowed a re-thinking of our selves and of how we relate, connect and present to/with others. The popularity of digital social networking sites, instant messaging platforms, discussion forums, email, the emergence of the blog as a publishing tool, collaborative online games, and live digital worlds like Second Life have transmuted the way personal identity is thought of and handled.
Online environments allow the users to digitally curate their own lives. The creation of these selves is managed through text, images and as of recently, video. Users can write/post/upload any information they want. Further depth can be achieved by having the digital content annotated, commented and further developed by others. This process is reciprocal in nature, for users can simultaneously act as others, commenting and annotating content. Someone’s digital public image is the product of the sum of individual interventions and social contributions. Personal and external texts are illustrating the image of who we become in a digital realm2. Therefore, we exist by implication. Read the rest of this entry »
What if motivation was me translating between others to improve their communication?
Option Shift Control is almost here, and in one of this weekend’s sessions we will be exploring the idea of motivation, and the role it plays in design planning, projects and execution.
Jaime Suárez and Joel Ramos keep working on the sculptural aspect of the Vieques Main Plaza Fountain designed by Jorge Rigau FAIA. Read the rest of this entry »
Now that we can say more of our selves, will others have the chance to know about it?
“The human experience of identity has two elements:
a sense of belonging and a sense of being separate.2”
Our shadows played together as we walked, yet I am not able to tell you about it.
In 1976, two paleoanthropologists in a group led by anthropologist Mary Leakey, found, not far from the village of Laetoli in Tanzania, two pairs of fossils which today question the nature of those that existed before us. The discovery, as any of this nature, fuelled much debate. Some argue that the fossils, in fact footprints, were made by early hominids who resemble contemporary humans in stride and standing posture, while others, rooting their argument on the historical and artifactual record, challenge the idea that Laetoli marks were made by early iterations of us since there is no evidence of human culture or intelligence during that time period.
New terms and ideas that I am being exposed to in the book Practices of Looking by Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright.
] Globalization [
A term used to describe a set of conditions escalating since the postwar period. These conditions included increased rates of migration, the rise of multinational corporations, the development of global communications and transportation systems, and the decline of the sovereign-nation state, and the “shrinking” of the world through commerce and communication. While some theorists take the conditions of globalization as a given, others see them as ideological, in the sense that their direction and force are not inevitable but are shaped by vying economic, cultural, and political interests. The term “globalization” also works to extend the concept of the local, in that globalization’s advancement depends on the formation of new sorts of local communities not geographically bound.
As part of a studio project, I carried out an exploration in the spirit of the PixelVision. Honoring the tradition of pixelvisionaries, I underwent a personal study of my way to-and-from design studio. I recorded these different videos using a point and shoot canon s70 digital camera, which since it was not really intended for video recording, it provides an “amateurish” feel and look.
In my first exploration, I recorded my way into the studio during the day.
In my second exploration, I recorded my way from home into the studio during the night
In my third exploration, I recorded my way from studio to my home during the night.
After all explorations were done, I made an exercise in which I overlayed all of them together in one film. I went into this with no intentions or expectations, so a few realizations came in with incredible surprise. I was able to note some parts of my mile-long-trip that slow me down and others that I thought were linear in nature but actually caused more variations in path.
In conclusion, if the winds send the Burger King scent into my route, I slow down and the trip takes me an extra 1 minute. Hills are not particularly the slower aspects of my trip and no matter what, there is a 7 minute difference between the faster walks and the slower ones.
Even though this did not developed into a final project, it is a beginning phase as I explore the videographic medium.
Armando Rigau currently pursues a Master in Architecture I at Cornell University. He received his bachelor's degree in Philosophy with History and Spanish minors from Georgetown University.
