Haven't Posted for a While

http://vimeo.com/20266523
http://vimeo.com/21002810
A few projects! More to come! Very happy.... I love UCD!

Finn the Fish

Okay so not so design related, but my son is so silly! I am thinking of submitting this to AFV. There is a relation to design! Using tidbits of people's lives to design an experience. I don't know that I will ever be unable to find a connection....

Look at this video!

Des 001: Professor Housefield

Professor Housefield's photo taken
from the UC Davis design websitehttp://design.ucdavis.edu/facstaff/current/housefield.html

I am studying for the final in my 1st design class at UC Davis, and thinking about what I will take with me from this quarter. This blog is one thing that will continue to be a part of my life. It is like a diary of learning and I can refer back to and see what I have thought about and been interested in the past, but also it is just a really fun way to practice thinking and writing analytically. Way better to write 900-1500 words a week in an interesting variety of topics, than to have written a 6300-10500 word essay to hand in at the end of class. That essay would have been one I would have been happy to be done with and never think about again. This blog, well, I love to think about what I can add, and to read what I have done.
Professor Housefield was my 1st experience of UC Davis teachers. Having gone to Junior college since 1999, I really did not know what to expect. A more stiff teacher? A more rigorous, uninteresting program? NOT AT ALL. Housefiled was as entertaining as any reality show on TV (and I would totally watch one that followed him in his design and art filled life). I am hoping to link to a song that a fellow classmate mixed of his rap about Johannes Itten. He danced on the tables, tried to breakdance on the floor, and ran around in his socks. He made design an experience. I have a picture of my son with sky blue socks on and it makes me think of Professor Housefield's pretty socks. I will post it later. Thank you Housefield. Enjoy your kids and your vacation, and have fun writing your book. I look forward to taking more classes with you in the future.

Listen to the funk!
http://www.objectifiedfilm.com/objectified-trailer/
Some interesting topics from this quarter ^^

Design is Dangerous: Christmas Tree Lights

Photo from allthingschristmas.comhttp://www.allthingschristmas.com/lights/tree-lights.php

It's the time of year when my family pulls out dusty boxes full of ornaments, decorations, and lights. We scramble to get a tree together, fight over who has to put on the lights, whose turn it is to water the tree, and we try to keep the kids from breaking the heirloom ornaments. Designing the home to be a haven of christmas spirit and cheer against the nasty cold gray days, and freezing foggy nights, we put christmas lights up in the windows and on the tree. There are so many options of lights: rainbow, red, green, white, twinkling, bubbling, LED. We choose our lights according to taste and desired effect, but safety seems to have become less of a concern with the advances in technology. The lights do not burn so hot anymore, they aren't so big, or breakable. But they can still cause a fire. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, electrical fires from christmas trees account for 250 fires every year. While the problem generally arises from the user being inattentive to the thirst of their tree, the designers of christmas lights have certain responsibilities that they need to uphold to prevent fire or electrocution as much as possible. Look to see if your lights have a UL sticker on them. The Underwriters Laboratory Inc. regulates products for public safety. Check out this website for tips on safety.
The designers of christmas tree lights are not making something dangerous, they are making something beautiful and traditional, sentimental and inviting. But lights do pose a risk as any electrical device can. The problem really arises when the lights are placed in combination with a dry tree. The fire happens so fast. Look at this video of a tree catching fire in real time. These lights need to be safe as well as beautiful and the more education the designers can provide to their customers the better.

Designing Change: Wall E

The Disney Pixar movie Wall E is a movie that tries to change society by analyzing the road we are traveling into the future, but my focus is not to look at the warnings that Wall E seeks to provide, but rather to look at the construction of the case for the DVD. The entire case for the Wall E DVD is made of cardboard. There is not one bit of plastic. The case says on it's back that it is "Earth (and Space) Friendly Eco-Packaging." When searching for information on this packaging I came across a lot of negative reactions. People want their plastic cases, but Wall E stuck with it's principle and created the environmentally friendly packaging. 

From Jon Taplin's Bloghttp://jtaplin.wordpress.com/2008/06/

I think to be a designer of any packaging at all is to take responsibility for the trash you will serve to create. When a new innovation is made people always resist, but I hope to see many more of these cases in the future (at least until everything is digital online, with no packaging whatsoever). Wall E shoves a mirror in the face of our consumer driven society, and asks us to take a look at what we are doing with all of the trash we create. I think that by sticking to it's message and creating a recyclable, biodegradable package that Pixar has once again used it's medium to make people think and learn, and it was done in a non-hypocritical manner. Changing society takes small steps. Designing change is a process of balancing what people want with what the world needs. This package heads in a good direction.

Babies: Color and Gender

To analyze color only by it's relation to it's surroundings is a difficult task, for as humans, we tend to want a steady answer, an ultimate truth. Color is not constant, it's character changes according to many factors. Albers main point in his book Interaction of Color is that color is subjective. Albers analyzes this fact in a very scientific manner, focusing on the interactions of color based on amount, tone, shade, tint, juxtaposition, and even the physical ability of the eye. I think that color is definitely subjective in this manner, but also in the sense of how and where you were brought up. There are too many societal and cultural implications of color, and too many personal responses based on life experiences, for emotional and environmental subjectivity to be left out of the equation. For example, while it is changing in our society, pink is indicative of a girl, and blue of a boy. This may be different in other cultures. That we see red as the hottest color must be cultural as well, because typically the hottest part of a flame is blue. So when I analyze a design and how color can transform it completely, I cannot separate the subjectivity of my life experiences. A really great example of color's subjectivity is baby products. Infants generally have little hair and they lack a lot of gender indicators. A parent will announce the baby's sex by dressing the baby in a manner that will let everyone know, "He's a baseball boy," or "She's a princess." Color is a very important indicator. Lavender, pink, hot pink, purple: these colors all say little girl. Dark blue, dark green, baby blue, orange: these colors all say boy. Obviously, if a child is wearing a dark blue dress, she is most likely a girl, so I will look only at one piece pajamas, and how their color can make a person decide on the gender of a child.

Image from Mom's Favorite Stuff posted by JODIhttp://www.momsfavoritestuff.com/2008/08/20/velcro-baby-pajamas-for-easier-nights/

Choose a gender for each child. Why did you choose that gender? What if they were wearing something else?
We naturally decide that the one in pink is a girl, but if I dressed my 7 month old son in pink, I am sure that people would assume he is a girl as well. The girl in yellow could easily be a boy, but she has a bow in her hair. We look for all of these cues to make a judgment, and color is a cue.
There are also gender neutral colors. Usually sage green, white, yellow, and red are gender neutral. All of these colors can be applied to a form of clothing that is indicative of sex and that would change the rules, but in it's most basic form of clothing, color identifies sex (at least in infants).

The Graduate

Designing a bar can be a key ingredient to getting and keeping customers, as well as advertising the crowd the owner wishes to attract. People are naturally concerned with fitting in. They group themselves with a certain type of person. This may be stereotypical, but it is psychological. Gestalt psychology tells us that the brain tends to group things by similarity. This creates stereotypes. One can assume that the style of a place or a person can be indicative of what they are and who they will associate with. With this knowledge unconsciously in mind, one chooses their attire and decor to make a statement. They communicate so much about themselves or as in the case of a bar, their intended patron.
The Graduate has imposing doors. I wasn't sure if I could go in, or if I was in the right place, but once inside the feeling was comfortable, relaxed, and loud. The giant TV's playing all different sports and the line style food ordering were elements that made the bar friendly. The dimness of the lighting ensures one's focus will be on the T.V's and the casual seating mixed with the traditional bar style seating give the patron a choice of what focus they intend for their visit. Will I eat? Will I take a shot?
The way college towns are portrayed notoriously in teen comedy led me to believe that a bar in Davis would be a 'meet' market. A place for younger college students to drink and dance and hook up. That was my stereotypical vision. After I entered the graduate I found that I was surprised and happy to see that there is a bar here that is reminiscent of home. My age did not stand out (I am 29), and I even got I.D.'d. The designers of that bar were looking to attract a laid back casual crowd interested in sports, good food, and beer. Now that I have been to the Graduate and learned the stereotype of the bar, I can safely say I will go back, and that I need to double check my stereotypical thinking (Gestalt *sigh*).

The Graduate Menu and Front Doorshttp://www.davisgrad.com/images/menu-back-news.jpg