sound!

More Connotative Images

The story has taken a turn! Before the flower dies a lonely death, it is seperated from its family, and can only view them from a distance. These new connotative images depict the point of view of the flower, as it is ripped from its home, and can only stare from a distance at where it longs to be. Oh the heartache!

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not...

The narrative that I will be doing will be of a flower (Zinnia) that slowly loses its petals. The petals float down to the ground, while the flower hangs its head, and writhes in pain. You can sense the despair the flower feels, as it loses itself. 

Digital Design

The new blogs will be in reference to the class Digital Design.

articles week 6

How Green is Your Brand? - Allison Arieff

The blog discusses what the author learned at a sustainability conference.

Main points include: 

-It was refreshing to see companies such as Dow Chemical invited, because it shows that they are willing to think progressively, and the audience is broad.  They are paying attention to packaging, distribution, and authenticity. 

-Consumers make decisions based on price and convenience. 

-companies, however, still use "Greenwashing" and jump on the marketing bandwagon without actually offering ecofriendly products. 

-Making more stuff, no matter how green, will not reduce global warming or the carbon footprint. We have to consider behavior and innovation. 

-Water as example - In San Francisco, rather than promoting plastic water bottles, a thesis project of a student, offered the solution of installing public drinking fountains (none were previously available outside of parks and buildings.) San Francisco has excellent tap water, and this was a better way to deliver it to the consumer.

The Good Design Plan - Mark Vanderbeeken

good design = sustainable design

1. business and public service innovation

2. public and community service innovation

3. design skills development

4. design policy and promotion

5. organizational and operational efficiency

Cuil Search Engine - Colin Barras

Former Google employees have a new search engine. Claims that it is bigger than Google, and that it ranks its content not by popularity, but by content. Also says that it does not use user IP information, so there is more privacy. 

Web Filtering Moves to the Cloud - Brad Stone

Companies can hire Web filtering and security that works on the cloud to prevent or limit employees from looking at sites like You Tube and Facebook. Relieves companies or costly burden of managing it on their own, and intercepts inbound and outbound http traffic. Gives reports on traffic - which departments are spending the most time on social networks. 

They say they don't want to stop Web 2.0, but to manage access because all day access is not good. 

NY Times by Claire Cain Miller

The blog discusses Verve Wireless, and how it offers newspaper publishers to make their paper accessible on cell phones. Since May - 728 newspapers have joined.“Mobile is actually a better way to reach people than print or even Web. It’s versatile, immediate, travels and is just as compelling–if it’s done right–as a Web site or a printed page.”Of the 95 million mobile Internet subscribers, 40 million actively use their phones to go online, double the number two years ago.

Seth Godin's Blog

Contains a link to a website for a web design company that is only one page. Seth states that having boundaries can sharpen the mind, while the designers behind the site state that their work is refined, simple, and works.

Design Observer, John Thackara

The blog discusses that although it is a good thing to reach out and help poverty ridden countries, often times, we can learn from them, more than they can help us. An example he gives is in a small town in India, where he witnessed farmers feeding chickens what appeared to be grain. It turns out the chickens were eating the maggots around the grain, so the grain could be cleaned and sold. When the author looked online about cleaning grain, he found the first link was to a high tech grain cleaner, that was clunky and less practical than using chickens.

A huge development industry measures progress in terms of economic growth and increased consumption. This industry often assumes without question that urbanization and transport intensity are signs of progress. But, as another example, the author describes a hotel project lead by Giorgi Armani that would displace 500,000 fisherman natives."millions of people are expelled to the margins of fruitful existence in the name of someone else's progress."

The author states that designing a poster about an issue, or launching a media campaign about it, is not the same as helping real people, in real places, change a material aspect of their everyday reality. The follow through, the distribution of a a product meant to help, along with training and maintenance are even more important. 

The author reinforces that we can learn from those in poverty stricken areas, and the best solution is to combine aspects from both sides. 

Core 77 - Mark Vanderbeeken

What change are designers making? 

Core 77 - Mark Vanderbeeken

Does reading on the Internet promote or hinder literacy? 

articles week 4

NY Times...Nick Currie


a look at 5,000 years of chairs in a 5 minute video. Images that may be considered imperfect, but are still enjoyable.


Seth Godin's blog

review of the pixar movie Wall -E. says that it is not your normal Pixar movie - it has little dialogue, no bad guy, and no violence. He states that is not 90 minutes of commerce but a good movie, that will make a lot of money anyways. "Marketing isn't always about pandering to the masses and shooting for the quick payoff. Often, the best marketing doesn't feel like marketing at all."

The Design Blog.org - by Asmita

A cardboard house designed to be used after natural emergencies, such as the earthquake in China. It comes in two boxes, that weigh 41 kg, and can last up to 6 months and can fit 5 people.

The Design Sponge

A surge protector that shows that even technology can be pretty.

ColourLovers - by evad

The color palettes from this post are inspired by classic video games for Atari. "While technology may have limited the color palettes of some of the first, and most popular, video games, their colors are no less influential on modern game design and culture as a whole, and an important part to any design is its packaging." The author states that usually the packaging was misleading, and the games weren't nearly as colorful.